Author: Andrew Taylor

THE West Street library will be holding a circus-themed reading challenge during the summer holidays in which children will be encouraged to read six books. They will be given rewards for each step of the challenge, culminating in a certificate and medal for those who finish six titles.

The scheme is aimed at 4-12 year-olds and is free to join.

Children can register for Circus Stars in the library from Saturday 16 July and will have until 10 September to complete their challenge.

After reading their first books children receive a hologram membership card and pull-out circus stage.

There are 3 sets of scratch and sniff stickers to collect, plus a bookmark, certificate and medal.

There will also be a variety of fun, circus-themed events taking place in libraries across the country throughout the summer holidays.

* For more information ask at the library in West Street.

EAST Grinstead’s Tourism Initiative will once again be organising the children’s competition EG4KIDZ.

This year’s scheme will run from 19 July and will challenge children to look around East Grinstead to find the answers to questions about the town.

Eentry forms will be available for collection from the Tourist Desk in the library, which for 2011 has the addition of a cut out and keep snow leopard mask.

All completed forms returned to the tourist desk will be entered into a free draw and the lucky winners will receive a prize.

THE Bluebell Railway’s new £2.8 million museum was opened by Lord Faulkner, the president of the Heritage Railway Association, at 11.30am on Thursday, 23 June.

The new visitor experience at Sheffield Park, which has been several years in the planning, has been funded by a grant from the National Lottery Fund.

Visitors entering via what was the old waiting room entrance on platform 2 will first see a display of the Bluebell Railway’s history showing how it has progressed from its inception in 1959 to become one of Britains leading heritage railways.

The story details the battles of the early pioneers who fought to save the line, and records the more recent challenge of raising funds to complete its extension into East Grinstead’s main line station.

Visitors can explore the history of the south east’s rail network using information panels and inter-active and audio-visual displays.

The museum will be open between 10.00 and 16.00 daily, whenever trains are running, which is usually from Easter till October, and at weekends throughout the winter.

For further information ring 01825 720800 or view the Bluebell’s website at www.bluebell-railway.co.uk.

COUNCIL leader Norman Webster and town clerk Julie Holden have visited the East Grinstead Sports Club to see the site of the club’s proposed new squash courts.

Work on the courts, which is being funded by the club with the help of grants from East Grinstead Town Council and Mid Sussex District Council, is due to start this autumn.

Cllr Webster is pictured, right, with Jeff Morris who conducted the tour of the club’s facilities.

MAYOR John Saull performed the official opening for the new exhibition at the town library in Cantelupe Road.

Running until the autumn, the exhibit tells the story of East Grinstead’s Art Deco past.

Entry to the museum is free.

THE Mayor, Cllr John Saull, will attend the following functions in July:

• 2 EG Choral Society Concert (Summer Soiree) at Imberhorne School, Windmill Lane
• 3 Chief Scout Award presentation and ploughman’s lunch at Felbridge Village Hall
• 4 Sackville School’s Summer Exhibition
• 5 EG and District Scouts AGM in the Meridian Hall
• 6 Artemis School of Speech and Drama’s end of term performance
• 9 Oriental School of Medicine Graduation Day at Green Hedges Avenue
• 14 Trip to Mindelheim – Town Twinning event
• 20 Guest of High Sheriff of West Sussex at celebration of Roman Villa at Bignor
• 22 Choir Power concert at Chequer Mead

Paralympian Richard Schabel cuts the ribbon on the Victorian carriage adapted for wheelchair users by the Bluebell Railway

TOWN MP Nicholas Soames was appointed to the Privy Council in last month’s Birthday Honours list.

Mr Soames, a grandson of the wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, has been a Conservative MP for 28 years and has represented Mid Sussex since 1997, having previously been MP for Crawley.

He is a former Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and served as Minister of State for the Armed Forces between 1994 and 1997.

His appointment to the Privy Council makes him the fourth of his family over four generations to receive the same honour.

He said: “I have been a member of parliament for 28 years and I am very grateful to my constituents who made me an MP.

“This is a very great honour for myself and my family.”

There was also an MBE for East Grinstead’s Eric Mackie for his services to the community through his voluntary work as president of the town’s Access Group for the disabled.

The group was established in the mid-nineties to look at ways life in East Grinstead could be made easier for people with disabilities.

The issues Eric has tackled since then include the group’s Pavements for People campaign, to keep car drivers from parking on pavements, and a recently revised booklet which lists facilities for disabled people across the town, including a list of local shops which ‘Care with a Chair’.

But the success of the Access Group is all down to team work, says Eric.

"We can’t afford to pay anybody, so we need to run on volunteers and the team here is smashing.

"I don’t feel like a conquering hero, I just feel there’s a job that needs to be done."

Mark Cutler who works at the Queen Victoria hospital was also awarded an MBE for his work on maxillofacial prosthetics.

Mark studied at Brooklands College in Surrey before graduating with a diploma in dental technology in 1983. After completing both the Prosthedontic and Maxillofacial Prosthetic advanced national certificates, Mark then worked at St Thomas’ Hospital, London and at Queen Marys’ Hospital, Roehampton.

With a particular interest in post-burn tissue hypertrophy, Mark was able to attain the European Association for Burn Injury Scientific Fellows Award and is a member of the British Burns Association and The International Society for Burn Injury.

A Royal Navy (Reserve) officer, he was commissioned in 1989, and took on an operational role with the Navy’s medical branch.

From 1993-97 he was a part-time lecturer in maxillofacial prosthetics at Lambeth College in London, and an external examiner at Manchester Metropolitan University from 2002-06.

In addition to his work at the QVH, Mark has lectured and presented workshops in Europe, North Africa, Scandinavia and South America.

TOWN Mayor John Saull attended a charity concert given by the ConChord Big Band at Chequer Mead in aid of the Royal British Legion.

"The event made £1066.96 in addition to around £400 given in donations on the night", said band member Cllr Frank Osborne, pictured centre, with the mayor and Legion representative Martin Forde.

TOWN Mayor John Saull joined West Sussex Deputy Lord Lieutenant Margaret Collins and other dignitaries at a wreath-laying ceremony at East Court to mark Armed Forces Day on 25 June. After a short prayer service, consultant plastic surgeon and burns expert Lt Col Tania Cubison presented veterans badges. The occasion was the fifth held to honour the nation’s service people, past and present.

East Grinstead Mayor John Saull (centre) was among the dignitaries who saw
Haywards Heath Mayor John Sabin raise a flag in support of Armed Forces Day over the Mid Sussex District Council.
(Photo courtesy of Mid Sussex District Council)