Author: Andrew Taylor

Town Mayor Dick Sweatman presented a cheque toward studio hire costs to Grenestede Talking News. Seen here with Diana Rees Ken Jordan and Christine Jordan.

Just over 30 years ago a group of people in East Grinstead launched the Grenestede Talking News to relieve the blind and visually-impaired, or those labouring under temporary or permanent disability which makes reading a strain. The recording consists of news and views from the local press along with items of local interest.

They currently have some 70 members who listen on audio tape although an increasing number now take the news on compact disc (audio tape being increasingly difficult to obtain.

The editing teams begin on Thursday each week and the reading and recording-team work is undertaken on Friday evening. This is followed by the copying and despatch team completing the process on Saturday morning – then all the material is taken to the East Grinstead Post Office for onward delivery. (Articles for the blind go free of charge. There is no charge to the listener for the service which is, of course, provided free by volunteers).

The various teams come in on a rota basis which works out at about once in 5 weeks.

Currently they are in desperate need of Friday evening recording engineers. Training on the recording equipment will be given. If you feel you have some aptitude in IT or electronics or just have some affinity with machines and would like to join the volunteers please contact the Chairman in the first instance on 01342 325823. Alternatively.

Could you spare an hour on Saturday morning? There is an immediate vacancy for straightforward job of registering and preparing into Velcro packets.

Please note that to obtain a free bus pass/alternate free railcard for senior citizens or disabled persons the application form can be downloaded from the WSCC website (buspasses@westsussex.gov.uk) or collected from any WSCC library and all District and Borough Council Offices.

Once these forms are completed residents will need to submit their form along with copies of the required documentary evidence and a recent passport sized photo to PO Box 212, Waterlooville PO7 6ZN (this address will be printed on all forms).

A phone line for bus pass/free railcard queries is available (0845 0751018).

Please note that to obtain the senior persons/disabled persons subsidised annual railcards for the reduced cost of £24.00 (disabled £18.00) a form can be collected from either East Grinstead Town Council Offices or the library.

The final round of funding for the Community Initiative Fund (see weblink below) will be determined in March . There is funding still available for all three of our committees based in the Mid Sussex area for local community groups.

https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/leisure-recreation-and-community/grants-and-funding/funding-for-voluntary-and-community-organisations/community-initiative-fund/

The final meetings take place in March, and deadlines are in early to mid February so should you have an initiative that could qualify please do apply to WSCC.

Ken Averill the Chairman of the East Grinstead Town Twinning Association gave an informative and amusing talk to Members about the work of the Town Twinners. Founded in 1962 and now twinned with Bourg de Peage in France, Midelheim in Germany, Sant Feliu de Guixols in Spain and Schwaz in Austria, the work of the Town Twinners has formed hundreds of friendships and visits between the towns. Ken Averill has been Chairman for the past 35 years, and was honoured with the British Empire medal in 2012 for his services to Twinning. You can find out more about the Twinners on their website at www.egtwinning.org.uk

Town Mayor Cllr. Dick Sweatman, presented the current year’s Sports Grants cheques at Monday’s Council Meeting. Seen here among the recipients, were Rachel de Feu and Ray Davis on behalf of the Ashhurstwood Juniors Football Club, Ben Knight from Chartham Park Golf Club, Andy Hayes from the East Grinstead Cricket Club and Peter Brooks representing the Felbridge and Sunnyside Cricket Club. A grant was also made to Imberhorne School, who were unable to attend and the Town Mayor will be visiting them to present their cheque at a later date.

It’s not just a British Astronaut up in space of the international space station (ISS), but soon a shipment of seeds on board will be part of a payload joining him for a very special experiment involving UK students including those at Imberhorne School. In September, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S where they will spend several months in microgravity before returning to Earth in March 2016. The seeds have been sent as part of Rocket Science, an educational project launched by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency.

Imberhorne will be one of up to 10,000 schools to receive a packet of 100 seeds from space, which they will grow alongside seeds that haven’t been to space and measure the differences over seven weeks. The students won’t know which seed packet contains which seeds until all results have been collected by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and analysed by professional biostatisticians.

Mrs Noreen Daw, Imberhorne’s Garden Club Coordinator said: “We are very excited to be taking part in Rocket Science. This experiment is a fantastic way of teaching our students to think more scientifically and share their findings with the whole school. Our Garden Club project has seen success in many competitions, and in conjunction with our work with the RHS as a School Ambassador, we are very excited to be taking part in this project. We will be conducting a dual trial at our Lower School site at Windmill Lane and also at our Upper School site at Imberhorne Lane. The KS3 students Gardening club will work alongside our Science department as a cross curricular activity. The KS4 Gardening Club students will be conducting the study at Imberhorne Lane.

IN a regular feature on the Town Council website, we will be remembering, on the anniversary of their deaths, the East Grinstead soldiers who died during WWI,  and who are named on the High Street War Memorial.

This month we recall (as recorded on The Roll of Honour website):

George BUDGEN

Private G/4759 7th Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment. 12th Division.

Died of wounds 14.1.16. Aged 27

Son of Mr. and Mrs. James Budgen of East Grinstead. Husband of Mrs. Alice Budgen of Saint Hill Green. Keeper on the Saint Hill Estate. Born in East Grinstead and enlisted in Brighton.

Buried Chocques Military Cemetery F. 98

Alfred LEGGATT

Private TF/1780 1/5th Battalion, The East Kent Regiment. Mesopotamia.

Killed in action in Mesopotamia 7. 1.16.

Born on Howden, Yorkshire and enlisted in Ashford , Kent. Resident of East Grinstead.

Buried Amara War Cemetery, Iraq

East Grinstead residents have the opportunity to improve the CCTV coverage in their town by sharing their views at a special consultation event on Saturday 9 January 2016.

Representatives from Sussex Police and Mid Sussex District Council’s Crime Prevention team will be at East Grinstead Library from 10.30am until 12 noon on 9 January to talk about the future of CCTV in the town centre and answer any questions local people may have.

The existing CCTV cameras in Burgess Hill, East Grinstead and Haywards Heath are in need of upgrading and Mid Sussex District Council, working in partnership with the local town councils, is considering the introduction of four additional CCTV cameras at the following locations:

• St John’s Park, Burgess Hill
• King George’s Field, East Grinstead
• Holtye Avenue, East Grinstead
• Victoria Park, Haywards Heath

Mid Sussex District Council is currently running a public consultation to ask local people what they think about the proposals and the current locations of CCTV cameras in each of the three towns, to make sure they are where they are needed most.

Monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by Sussex Police, they play a vital role in helping to prevent crime and disorder, reducing the fear of crime and increasing public safety for both residents and visitors.

“Our consultation has been running online for a few months now but we want to give East Grinstead residents the chance to talk with us face to face about what they think is the best use of CCTV cameras in our town,” said Councillor Norman Webster, Cabinet Member for Health and Community. “We’re really keen to know what people think so please come along and share your local knowledge with us.”

The Council carefully follows the Surveillance Code of Practice to ensure that all CCTV cameras are necessary, operated appropriately, do not negatively impact on the privacy of local people and are suitably located.

Residents that cannot attend the East Grinstead drop-in consultation event can still view all the information and comment online at www.midsussex.gov.uk/consultation. Anyone who would like a consultation form through the post should call 01444 477204 for a paper copy.

The East Grinstead Access Group, whose offices are at East Court, has been helping out at a video shoot in the Bluebell Railway’s engine shed at Sheffield Park. Chairman of the Access Group, Paul Johnson said. “We were approached to see if we could provide some wheelchair users for a promotional video they were producing for submission to the Heritage Lottery Fund, in connection with their grant towards work they are embarking on in the Engine Shed. We not only provided them with Stewart Cook, one of our members, with his ‘mini scooter’, but we were also able to put them in contact with Emma Bashford who is running an internet service for disabled children”.

The video, introduced by BBC newsreader Nick Owen, will be part of a funding bid to replace the engine shed roof and then separate off a section of the shed as an exhibition centre, with a replica Stepney engine which will be accessible to disabled children, as well as able bodied, and where they can pull the levers, and the wheels will rotate on a display screen. The proposed new ramping and ability to get onto the footplate of the locomotives will change the experience for young and old alike. The photographs showing the children demonstrate vividly how restrictive the present experience is – they can only stare upwards and wonder.