Author: Andrew Taylor

THE new public toilets in King Street are due to be open later this Spring, in time for the expected influx of visitors to the town for the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and the arrival of the Olympic torch.

* See below for an artist’s impression of what the new town centre conveniences will look like, and a floor plan, courtesy of ECE Architects.

East Grinstead Museum is looking for 10 enthusiastic people to take part in a one-off, all day creative activity on Saturday 28th April 2012.

Together you will work with a professional artist to create a piece of art inspired by items from the Guinea Pig Club Collection held at the Museum. The final piece of work that you have helped to create will go on display during the Museum’s summer exhibition and will become part  of the Museum’s permanent collection. You will also be invited to the Private View for the official opening of this exhibition.

This creative activity is part of a wider regional project that the Museum has been working towards since acquiring the collection to celebrate the 2012 Paralympics and the legacy of the Guinea Pig Club.

So, whatever your age, if you’re interested in art or history and want to contribute to this unique, innovative (and free) event, please contact the museum for an application form at info@eastgrinsteadmuseum.org.uk or call 01342 302233.

The session will run from 10am until 5.30pm and lunch will be provided. Please send completed applications to the Museum by Tuesday 27th March.

It has been officially confirmed that the Olympic Flame will enter East Grinstead on the A264 starting at Lyndhurst Farm Close and joining the London Road on the way into the town centre before travelling through the historic core of East Grinstead’s High Street. Leader of the Town Council, Norman Webster said “We all feel so proud that East Grinstead has been selected to host the torch. It’s going to be magnificent to see young and old alike greet the Olympic Flame to the backdrop of our town’s Mediaeval and Tudor heritage”. To see the route in full you should visit www.london2012.com/olympictorchrelay.

The town is also expecting to host hundreds of children from across Mid Sussex, and Town Clerk Julie Holden has been busy handling the logistics to accommodate visitors and the many coaches that will be arriving. ”We are working closely with our colleagues at Mid Sussex” Said Julie “ And rest assured that there will be space for one and all to greet the Olympic cavalcade. Just like any other event with crowds, we all need to be aware of safety and take care of young and old alike”. The town centre is expected to be dressed overall with bunting and flags along the shopping streets, and further announcements of what will be taking place are expected soon.

The Charities meeting of 15th March has been postponed to THURSDAY 29th MARCH 2012 at 7.45 pm. Papers will be posted on the Council website a minimum of three days before the meeting (usually a week in advance).

The meeting will be held at East Court.

Come along and find out more about the Traffic Regulation Order Priorities & the Area Infrastructure Plan.

7.00pm Thursday 8 March 2012

All are welcome to come along.

Turners Hill Primary School, Church Road, West Sussex, RH10 4PA

For further information and an agenda please contact: 01243 752727, email talkwithus@westsussex.gov.uk or visit www.westsussex.gov.uk.

NINETY-two-year-old war-bride Patricia Lorange from Canada has been in touch with the Town Council with her eye-witness account of the 1943 bombing which killed 108 townspeople people and injured 235 more, the largest loss of life in any air raid in Sussex.

On 9 July 1943, ten German aircraft crossed the Sussex coast at Hastings and headed for London. At 5.05 pm the air raid sirens sounded in East Grinstead.

At that time 184 people were watching a film featuring Hopalong Cassidy in the Whitehall Cinema in the London Road. A warning appeared on the screen that a German air raid was taking place but few of the audience, mostly children taking advantage of the cheap matinee, took any notice of the message.

Continue reading “An eye-witness remembers the bombing of the Whitehall cinema”

A RADIO campaign across Sussex is asking for everyone’s help to reduce demand for water in order to avoid drought measures in the coming summer.

Below-average rainfall in January did little to refill the Sussex reservoirs in time for the expected Spring and Summer demand, and the snow in February was insufficient to make up the shortfall.

As a result the refilling of Ardingly reservoir, which picked up in December, has slowed down and the reservoir is now standing at only 42% full.

The Arlington reservoir near Eastbourne has fared better, and is now at about 75% full, but underground aquifers in Sussex and Kent are still showing no real signs of re-filling.

More than three-quarters of the region’s drinking water comes from aquifers which are filled by rain which soaks through porous ground such as chalk and limestone.

These natural underground water-bearing rocks act like a sponge to absorb rainwater which has percolated its way down through the soil over many weeks and months, and they take much longer to refill than rivers and reservoirs.

The February snow will help, but a foot of snow only produces about an inch of water, and frozen ground makes it harder for water to percolate quickly through the soil.

In the absence of any prolonged periods of rainfall to bring all local water resources back to normal for this time of year, South East Water is now facing the prospect of further measures to protect public water supplies.

“We cannot rule out the possibility that we may have to ask for special powers to abstract more water than we usually do from rivers, and also to restrict customers’ non-essential use of water with sprinklers and hosepipes,” said spokesman Lee Dance.

“Following our Drought Plan we have increased efforts to find and fix leaks in the Sussex and West Kent area, we are carrying out maintenance at water treatment works to ensure they work as efficiently as possible, and also re-routing water around our network of pipes from areas with more water available to allow the reservoirs to recover.”

But consumers need to do their part and a radio campaign across the county is reminding everyone to save water where they can, to report leaks as quickly as possible, install water butts in their gardens and fix dripping taps.

*Log on to www.southeastwater.co.uk/waterefficiency for more information on water efficiency tips for the home and garden, links to water-saving products and discounts on water butts.