Category: News

The youngest surviving member of the Guinea Pig Club, Jack Perry, returned to East Grinstead on Saturday to celebrate his 90th birthday with family and friends. Included in the party were former and current members of the Town Council who have supported the Guinea Pig Club over many years.

Jack was injured and sustained burns to his face and hands when his Halifax bomber crashed during the second world war. He was brought to the Queen Victoria Hospital and treated by Archibald McIndoe. Jack was just nineteen when he was injured. He became one of the founder members of the world famous Guinea Pig Club and has acted as their social secretary organising events and reunions through to the present day. Next year the Club will celebrate its 75th anniversary. Jack went on to a successful career as a draughtsman at Plessey and later at the Atomic Energy Establishment at Harwell.

The Guinea Pig club originally had a total number of 649 members and their names appear on the plaque at the Queen Victoria Hospital. There are now 39 survivors world wide and of these 23 live in the UK. Jack is the youngest at 90 and Des O’Connell the oldest at 96.

East Grinstead is the home of the Guinea Pig Club and the statue of McIndoe now proudly stands in the High Street. All the instruments invented by McIndoe and the story of the work he pioneered is stored at the Town Museum. The Museum are working to gain funding for a new display project so that the story of the Guinea Pigs and McIndoe can be put on view to the public. Cllr Bob Mainstone, a Museum Trustee, commented, “It was an honour to celebrate with Jack on the occasion of his 90th birthday and it is important that the Museum will be able to bring Jack’s amazing story of the Guinea Pig Club and the great work of Archibald McIndoe to the residents and visitors to the town. It is a question of raising enough funds to secure the future of the Museum and tell this incredible story of our town’s history.”

Group of family and friends – jack seated with his wife Mary.

Jack Perry with two trustees of the Town Museum. Bob Marchant, Secretary of the Guinea Pig Club, and Cllr Bob Mainstone, Town and District Councillor.

Imberhorne School, East Grinstead, has won the Fairtrade Fortnight Award for Schools this year, in a decision announced last week, and for the second year running, recognising the school’s activities in March.

The Imberhorne Fairtrade Steering Group coordinates the Fairtrade movement in the school and submitted the successful application. It follows the school winning the nationwide Margaret Demidecka Fairtrade Award (secondary schools category) last year, and the prize of £350. The award was renamed this year to the Fairtrade Fortnight Award for Schools, but still honours Margaret Demidecka, the late Fairtrade pioneer.

The school claims the £350 prize again to help further activities in the school. To scoop the trophy, the school had to put together a portfolio showing the judges everything that the school had done over Fairtrade Fortnight, and then beat secondary schools across the country to claim the prize. The judges were looking for imagination, impact, educational content and relevance to this year’s theme: “choose products that change lives”.

Kathy Wise, Education Campaigns Officer at the Fairtrade Foundation, said: “we had a very high standard of entries this year and it was fantastic to see all of the different activities that schools got up to over Fairtrade Fortnight. Once again Imberhorne’s entry really stood out because of the extent of learning that they did around Fairtrade and the fact that they involved every year group. They also really increased impact by fundraising and getting radio coverage for their event”.

The award was started by the Tring Justice and Peace Group in 2006 in memory of Margaret Demidecka to recognise the Fairtrade Fortnight activities that take place each year in schools.

Losing a loved one can be a traumatic experience.

There are lots of things that need to be done, at a time when you probably least feel like doing them, including informing what can feel like a never ending list of government departments and local authority services.

That’s why West Sussex County Council, in partnership with District and Borough Councils in West Sussex, is introducing the ‘Tell Us Once’ service in July.

‘Tell Us Once’ is a Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) service which is offered during death registration appointments.

It’s a free service, which notifies several government and council agencies of the death. These include:

• The DWP;
• HM Revenue and Customs;
• Identity and Passport Services;
• Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA); and
• Council services, such as Adults’ Services, Blue Badge, Children’s Services, Council Tax, Electoral Services.

At registration, the Registrar will add the details of the deceased to the Tell Us Once national database.

You will then be given a unique reference number which will enable you to activate ‘Tell Us Once’ with a visit to the website or a single call, should you wish to take up this service.

For more information, please visit www.westsussex.gov.uk/births-marriages-and-deaths.

HUNDREDS of onlookers enjoyed the Dance in the High Street yesterday, which saw a two-hour variety show mounted in the heart of the town centre.

After days of sunshine, the weather broke and it was grey skies overhead as a steady drizzle rained down for most of the day.

But East Grinstead folk are made of stern stuff, and they weren’t going to let anything rain on their parade or dampen their enthusiasm.

More than 120 volunteers had spent months planning the event and it just showed, said organiser Lex Eichner, the importance volunteering plays in the life of the town and in bringing the community together.

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Photos courtesy of East Grinstead Online

On Monday 6 July at the Disability Access Group AGM three local businesses were presented with Burrin Awards for their special efforts to assist the disabled, people in wheelchairs and for pushchair access.   The London Road clothing store White Stuff , the Queens Walk café Poppins and the Forest Row restaurant Roochi were the recipients of the 2015 awards.

The Burrin Awards are presented annually and are named after Matthew Burrin who was a former Chairman of the Disability Access Group and local Councillor.

Deputy Town Mayor, Cllr Bob Mainstone presented the awards to representatives of the three businesses and said “White Stuff, Poppins and Roochi deserve a lot of credit for their efforts in making their premises easy for access and providing facilities for people with disabilities.  Their staff are very helpful and welcoming to all customers. We look forward to seeing their Burrin Award certificates proudly displayed in their premises.”

Cllr Peter Reed, Chairman of Mid Sussex District Council, opened the AGM and  congratulated the Disability Access Group for the excellent service they provide.  He thanked the volunteers who work tirelessly to help others.

A proposal was agreed that each year the East Grinstead Town Mayor would be appointed President of the Group.  This proposal was accepted at the Town Council meeting later that evening with thanks to the Disability Access Group for the Honour.

The Disability Access Group committee for 2015 – 2016 was elected as follows:

• Chairman:  Paul Johnson
• Secretary: Kathy Mackie-Clark
• Treasurer: Olive Harper
• Executive committee members: Cliff Barrow, Eddie Harper, Rosemary Rowe, Bob Astington, Andrew Brock

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):

 

 

Guy Francis Ormand DEVITT

Second Lieutenant 7th Battalion, The Rifle Bigade. 14t. Light Division.

Killed in action near Ypres. 30. 7.15 Aged 23.

Son of Andrew and Jane Dales Devitt of “Coldshott” Oxted, Surrey.

Commemorated on The Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium MR. 29

Arthur Francis Bewicke LITTLEWOOD

Corporal 1603 1st Battalion, The Honourable Artillery Company (Infantry) 3rd Division.

Died of wounds in base hospital at Etaples 7.7.15. Aged 31.

Son of The Rev.E.H. and Mrs. J.F.Littlewood of Lingfield Lodge, East Grinstead. Enlisted, Armoury House, Tower of London.

Buried Etaples Military Cemetery. F.40

Charles James TREE

Lieutenant 9th Battalion, The Worcestershire Regiment. 13th Division.

Killed in action on Gallipoli 20. 7.15 age 25.

Son of Warren Williams Arrowsmith and Juliana Bevan Tree of 4, Landsdowne Crescent, Worcester. Local connection unknown.

Buried Lancashire Landing Cemetery, Gallipoli.

TOWN tourist officer Simon Kerr hosted friends, family and colleagues at the library last night (Friday) for a celebration of his retirement in two weeks’ time.

A much-loved and familiar figure in the town for the past 18 years, Simon’s enthusiasm for photography and his natty dress sense were celebrated in a retirement cake decorated by his colleague Dawn Spalding with a camera and silk ties.

His colleagues said they had valued Simon’s devotion to duty, his willingness to get involved with whatever was going on, and the sheer good fun of having him around in the library, where the tourist desk is based.

Joan Roberts, the former chief librarian, said she was delighted to have been proved so comprehensively right when, as one of the interview panel nearly two decades ago, she had decided Simon was the right man for the job.

“The tourist officer post ago was a new idea, a new venture, and I think it has been a spectacular success,” she said.

Simon, in reply to these plaudits, said he had had the time of his life, adding that while he was retiring from the tourist desk, he had no intention of retiring “from being Simon” and is now looking forward to becoming involved in other areas of town life

Photos courtesy of East Grinstead Online