Category: News

As a grand finale to the town’s Fairtrade Fortnight a Rich Man – Poor Man lunch was held by the organisers on Sunday at St Peter’s School. Joining the guests were Town Mayor Dick Sweatman and Deputy Town Mayor Bob Mainstone. The Fairtrade Fortnight included Fairtrade breakfasts, stalls at Imberhorne, Sackville and St Peter’s Schools, a visit from a Fairtrade banana producer from Columbia and the Town Mayor and his Deputy representing East Grinstead at the Celebrating Fairtrade in West Sussex event in Horsham on Friday night.

Deputy Town Mayor Bob Mainstone joined a group of fellow Trustees of the Museum together with many of its volunteer staff at the Museum on Sunday morning. Bob, who is the nominated Town Council representative on the Museum’s Board of Trustees, was full of enthusiasm for the new plans to enhance the Museum’s displays about the work of Sir Archibald McIndoe and the Guinea Pig Club. “It certainly is an important year for the town’s association with the Guinea Pigs”. Said Bob, “So we are all very excited that the Museum will be able to play an even bigger part in telling the story to a wider audience both of townsfolk but also a national and  overseas audience.”

Later this year the Town Council will welcome the last remaining Guinea Pigs to their final annual meeting at East Court.

Last summer contractors working for the water supply company undertook major engineering works to pipework underneath the Market Square in the High Street.

The work went on for several weeks and the area was placed off limits while the work was completed. Several of the paving slabs were replaced by metalwork covers and as a result gaps were left to be filled in.

These gaps did not use the original stone and left the Market Square looking in a poor state.

The Town Council have been in frequent discussions with West Sussex Highways, the body responsible for the paved area, and at long last a suitable natural stone replacement has been sourced and plans are now in place to reinstate the area.

Town Clerk Julie Holden said “Although this has taken longer than we wished, the end result means that the heart of our historic High Street will be picture perfect once again. The new stone will need time to weather in to match the existing pavings, so it may not look a perfect match to start with.”

Over 100 competitors took part in the East Grinstead & District Lions Swimathon on Saturday evening at Kings Leisure Centre. The event was sponsored by John O’Dwyer, owner of the East Grinstead McDonalds franchise, and together with Town Mayor Dick Sweatman and Lions President Mike Barty, welcomed swimmers of all ages who were taking part to raise funds for their own good causes, whilst also supporting their community via Lions charities.

Teams representing Sackville, Imberhorne, and St Peter’s schools competed alongside the 1st Forest Row Falcons, 8th EG Scouts, Tadpoles, Bloomin’ Arts, Pericles and Parkinsons UK and swam in relay for 25 minutes raising £3,000 during the evening. Once all sponsorships have been collected, teams will be presented with cheques during the Lions May Fair in East Grinstead High Street on Bank Holiday Monday May 2nd.

L-R: Lions president Mike Barty, John O’Dwyer, Mayor Dick Sweatman

Sackville School who entered 7 teams and are largest event supporter

Parkinsons UK

Bloomin Arts

1st F Row Falcons

East Grinstead & District members to get a better understanding of the modern world of IT. Laptops/ iPads and iPhones were all devices that the older generation have had to get to grips with while the youngsters are using them from early ages.

The once a week session was set up on a trial basis in early 2015 by the Youth Council under the guidance of youth advisor Caroline Halpin who runs the activity of the Youth Council and helps facilitate their ideas.

The service was in danger of being cancelled, as the Town Council (who fund the youth council) would not be able to continue to finance the club from April, however as this has been such a success and is a format that is being considered for launching in other places, it will be transferred to outset youth from April. The Youth Council will now be able to consider other schemes and ideas to help support the community going forward.

Chairman of Public Services Cllr Liz Bennett said “The youth council have some great ideas and it is fantastic to see that this idea will become a permanent resource for Age UK East Grinstead & District members”

Pam Mitchell, Chief Officer of Age UK East Grinstead & District said “This is such a valued class by the members. We are delighted that Outset Youth, taking over the finance for providing the co-ordinator will allow it to continue on a permanent basis”.

For more information about this service, or to sign up for classes, please contact Sue Willox on 01342 327046 or email members@ageukegandd.org.

24 year old Frazer Chamberlain is training hard and hoping to be chosen for the UK Judo squad that will take part in this year’s Rio Olympics. Frazer, who went to the Meads Primary School and then on to Sackville School, first became interested in Judo at the age of six. So dedicated did he become that he transitioned to training full time at the Camberley Judo Club and has subsequently competed internationally representing Great Britain. His haul of medals in 2014 and 2015 are putting Frazer at the forefront of his sport.

All of this involves not only hard work and dedication, but also considerable expense travelling the globe to take part with air fares, visas and accommodation all needing funding.

Frazer needs to achieve a points total of at least 500 to be considered for the squad ,and he is currently ranked in the top 50 with 290 points and has until May to make the big push for points.

There is a Virgin Giving page where you can pledge support online at http://tinyurl.com/mhnyjkg and by clicking on the Gift Aid button it increases your donation by 25%

Here’s hoping that this athlete with strong East Grinstead links will be able to join Team GB at the Olympics in Rio this August.

Fairtrade banners will be seen all over town during Fairtrade Fortnight which runs from 29 February – 13 March. Not only do they highlight the fact that East Grinstead has been a Fairtrade Town for 10 years with the support of the Town Council, but also indicate the number of churches, schools and community groups involved in promoting Fairtrade goods and raising awareness about the Fairtrade. Basically the banner message Choose products that change lives means local community supporting global community.

Millions of farmers and workers in developing countries work hard every day to grow the food we eat. Yet many don’t earn enough to know where the next meal is coming from. Buying Fairtrade goods in shops and supermarkets helps them to achieve fair and stable prices for the goods they grow and supply. In this way they can they feed their families and provide much needed healthcare and education.

Fairtrade Breakfasts will be held at St Peter’s School on Friday 4 March, St Swithun’s Church on Saturday 5 March, Imberhorne School on Friday 11 March, and at St Mary’s Church on Sunday 13 March. A full list of these and other Fairtrade Fortnight events can be seen on www.fairtrade-eg.co.uk. Town Mayor, Dick Sweatman, will be attending some of these events.

Leaflets about Fairtrade and the Fairtrade Town Group can be collected from the Fairtrade East Grinstead Library display which runs from 29 February – 13 March

Starting the week before Easter, be sure and keep your eyes open for the bright yellow leopard posters which will be appearing in the windows of some of the shops and attractions around East Grinstead.

Each of the numbered posters has a ‘Did you know’ historical fact about the town and once spotted the secret number can be written down inside the trail leaflet. Once completed the leaflet should be handed into the tourist information in the library where it will be entered into a free prize draw. Prizes have been kindly donated by Deers Leap Park and Scotts Cinema and the Easter Bunny! Three Lucky winners will be picked.

The trail leaflet, designed by Town Promotions Officer Roger Gwatkin, also has some other Easter activities. Town Promotions Manager Dawn Spalding explained. “Roger has worked hard to produce an eye catching trail leaflet which will give children and their adults a fun activity whilst also learning a little more about our town.”

On Saturday The Town Mayor Dick Sweatman joined  over 170 local senior citizens at the the East Grinstead & District Lions party held annually in Sackville School’s main hall.  The partygoers received a drink on arrival before being entertained by the Copthorne Players.  After the hour long show, a light tea was served with background music supplied by The Hatch Band from neighbouring Colemans Hatch.  Over 100 senior citizens without their own transport were collected and taken home afterwards in a fleet of minibuses and Lions club members private cars.

East Grinstead Town Mayor, Cllr Dick Sweatman gave a short speech before the party, and with assistance from the Lions May Queen handed out spot prizes to some of the partygoers.  Cllr Sweatman and the May Queen also distributed boxes of biscuits to all partygoers before they left.

East Grinstead has a new leaflet to encourage visitors and locals alike to discover the many attractions in and around East Grinstead. 20,000 copies of Discovering East Grinstead 2016 will be distributed around the South East over the coming year ‘.

It is a very important leaflet for us’ said Dawn Spalding Town Promotions Manager  ‘We work hard to get the feel of this leaflet just right to showcase what we have on our doorstep and I think this year we have created something special.’

To pick up your copy of the new leaflet, visit the tourist information desk in East Grinstead’s library.