Author: Andrew Taylor

A Filipino school has been named in honour of East Grinstead after it was rebuilt in the wake of last November’s Typhoon Haiyan thanks to the generosity of town residents.

Cllr Danny Favor and the Filipino British Nurses Extra Care team decided to help their disaster-struck homeland by raising money for the restoration of a multi-purpose building for school children in Jaro, in the heart of the disaster-struck Philippines.

The money was raised at a charity dinner hosted by the Tarana restaurant in Lingfield, by a concert held with Town Council support at Chequer Mead and with donations from Our Lady and St Peter’s in East Grinstead and St Bernard’s in Lingfield.

Some of the money raised has already been spent on buying new fishing boats.

In thanking the town for all its help to his homeland Danny said: ‘On behalf of the extra Care Team and the
entire Filipino community we give our sincerest and endless thank you to everyone for all their kindness and generous support – most especially to Chequer Mead Community Arts Centre, East Grinstead Town Council and the wonderful people of East Grinstead and others who made these projects possible.’

OFFICIAL candles are available now from Marks and Spencer at £4 each, with profits going to the Royal British Legion but please bear in mind it may not be possible to give everyone back their own candle afterwards.

Alternatively tea lights will be made available on the night.

Town Mayor Nick Hodges will light the first candle after which there will be readings and poems until the lights are extinguished at 11pm – exactly 100 years after we were officially at War.

DONKEYS raced around St George’s field on Sunday in an event organised by the Lions in aid of the Air Ambulance.

Town Mayor Nick Hodges was there to see the fun which included stalls, Susy radio, a fun fair and demonstrations from Synergy gymnastics club on the vaulting horse and trampoline.

 

Photos © East Grinstead Online

The weather advice for the next few weeks is continuing high temperatures with occasional electric storms which may result in loss of power on occasion. UK Power Networks have some advice to prepare in case you do lose your electricity.

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Further to our message yesterday, UK Power Networks would like to update you on the possible severe weather event that is due to continue over the East and South East of England and London area today, Saturday 19 July.

UK Power Networks has now issued a Weather Warning and we will be continuing to work closely with the Met Office. The Weather Warning is due to the Met Office’s forecasts of thunderstorms, localised gust of wind, lightning and heavy rainfall with hail.

How has UK Power Networks prepared for this severe weather event?

Our customers are at the heart of everything UK Power Networks do and if our power network is impacted by this severe weather, our priority will be on restoring electricity to customers as quickly and safely as possible. To enable this we have mobilised additional office and field staff to take calls and fix power lines. We invest in a partnership arrangement with the British Red Cross and can activate their volunteers to support vulnerable customers if power is affected.

In communication with customers, we urge the public to stay well clear from power lines and anyone spotting a damaged power line needs to report it to UK Power Networks.

Contacting UK Power Networks

To report any power cuts and damaged lines on free helplines, please refer customers to the following numbers: In the South East call 0800 783 8866, in the East of England call 0800 783 8838 and in London call 0800 028 0247. You can also see www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk and follow the company on Twitter for updates @ukpowernetworks.

Preparing for a power cut

Below is some advice on how our customers can prepare for a power cut:

• Keep our freephone number handy
• See the website for some useful videos offering you advice during a power cut.
• Keep spare batteries for radios and torches – local radio stations often broadcast helpful information
• Keep an old-fashioned corded phone which you can plug in, as cordless phones won’t work in the event of a power cut
• Take care if using candles, tea-lights and other naked flames
• Keep fridges and freezers closed, with a blanket over as they will stay cold for many hours
• Switch off all your electrical equipment, except one light which will let you know when the power comes back on
• Remember the street lights may also be off so take care if you go out
• Exercise caution in localised flooded areas -specific advice is available on the Environment Agency website.
• Look out for elderly neighbours and other vulnerable people

Town Mayor Nick Hodges, the Mayoress and councillors will attend the Evening Prayer Service at St Swithun’s on 3rd August at 6.30pm.

The service of Evening Prayer will feature a barbed wire-wrapped candle and include an Act of Commemoration recalling the Eve of the Declaration of War on 4 August, 1914.

TOWN Mayor Nick Hodges and Deputy Mayor Natalie Nieson of our French twin town Bourg de Peage marked the 50th anniversary of our ‘twinning’ by exchanging certificates.

The presentations recalled that the towns were twinned on 31 July 1964 ‘to keep and develop our friendship and peace relationships’ and promised that they will continue ‘so that the feeling of European brotherhood keeps increasing’.

WHEN the town’s first ever Flash Mob, organised by Alex Eichner and Linda Hordyk, closed the High Street during the French Market on Saturday Town Mayor Nick Hodges couldn’t resist the call of The Proclaimers…

He didn’t dance quite 500 miles but he had a great time, as did Cllr Liz Bennett, pictured just behind him.

Cllr Bob Mainstone and Deputy Mayor Dick Sweatman, who had been on marshalling duty for the French Market since 7.30am, resisted the temptation to join in an event which had the whole High Street buzzing with fun, but enjoyed the feel good factor it brought to everyone who watched.

“It was brilliant,” said Nick afterwards. “We should do it again next week.”

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Photos: courtesy of East Grinstead Online

DEPUTY Mayor Dick Sweatman met many of the town’s school children last week at the end of their project on The Town that Didn’t Stare.

Dick was a guest at the school along with parents, friends and Jacquie Pinney of the Blond Mcindoe Research Foundation to see a presentation on work the children had done in their project about Sir Archibald McIndoe and The Guinea Pigs.

Photos: Julie Holden

CHEQUER Mead’s garden has been equipped with some very comfortable new furniture thanks to the fundraising efforts of the theatre’s Friends.

The Friends raised the money via raffles prior to shows said chairman Ginnie Waddingham, adding that they were very grateful to all the promoters who had let them use the foyer for their fundraisers.

‘We would also like to thank people for their generosity in buying tickets so we can continue to provide the nice ”extras” that benefit CM and everyone who uses it,’ said Ginnie.

* Anyone who would be willing to lend a hand with one of the raffles occasionally can leave their contact details at the box office marked for the attention of Chequer Mead Friends.

HARE Coursing is an illegal blood sport but there are still people willing to risk a £5,000 fine to watch hares being set upon by dogs.

And as fields are harvested and cleared in the coming weeks, incidents of hare coursing are likely to increase.

The warning comes from Farm Watch who are working to eliminate the cruel sport.

Participants with dogs will typically gather at dawn or dusk and then spread out across newly cleared fields when the dogs will be released to chase the hares.

The most obvious sign is a group of vehicles parked in a rural area perhaps by a gateway to farmland, on a grass verge, on a farm track or bridle path.

These will usually be estate cars, four wheel drives or vans and may contain evidence of dogs inside – such as muddy paw prints and dog hair.

Hare coursers often travel in convoy with transit vans at the front and rear containing minders and the cars in between containing the employers.

Coursers are criminals and give no consideration to landowners’ property and crops. They often have a sophisticated information network and knowledge of rural areas and they invariably know about vulnerable properties in the area, short cuts, and escape routes.

Violent confrontations can occur when participants are approached by landowners or their employees and this means that rural communities can feel very intimidated by hare coursers in their area.

So if you suspect an event is taking place we would advise you not to approach the participants but contact the Police immediately.