Category: News

MAYOR John Saull cut the ribbon to mark the opening of East Grinstead’s newest business, Wok’n Rolls in the London Road.

The new restaurant and takeaway specialises in sushi, noodles and filled rolls.

Mayor John, who is pictured with owners Chris and Christine Pollard, was one of several councillors who went along to the launch to express their support for the new venture.

“The Council is always pleased to see new businesses starting in the town and we all wish Wok’n Rolls every success for the future,” said Cllr John O’Brien.

COMEDIAN Tim Brooke Taylor was guest of honour at Chequer Mead’s Greenstede Gallery last month, where artist and "Goodies" fan Jenny Doyle put on an exhibition of work celebrating the iconic TV comedy series starring Tim and his fellow Goodies Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie.

Jenny baked some special fairy cakes marked with an OBE to celebrate the recent honour given to Tim, who endured a two hour traffic jam to see her work.

"Jenny’s really captured the mood and the complete zaniness of what went on," he said.

THE Town Council is looking at ways in which the whole of East Grinstead can celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June next year.

There are already plenty of ideas up for discussion including flower shows, gala dinners, concerts and fun fairs, with the broad intention of holding several days’ worth of activities around East Court over the proposed long Bank Holiday weekend, with a real “something for everyone” community celebration.

A small working party of Councillors, supported by Council officers, has been set up and members are hoping to identify others within the community who would be willing to join this steering group through a public meeting.

Invitations have been sent to organisations within the town, but the Council is also extending a general public invitation to gauge interest, explore ideas, and co-opt people to the working party: and if raising funds is a goal to cover costs and support a charity, how these funds would be directed.
The public meeting will be held in the Main Hall at East Court Mansion at 7pm on Thursday 4 August.

Chairman of the Amenities and Tourism Committee Frank Osborne said: “This is intended to be ambitious – a real community event with all areas of the town contributing. Our first step is to hold the meeting to see who is prepared to step forward and help make the Jubilee celebrations something the town can really be proud of, as the whole nation celebrates.”

THE East Grinstead International Arts Festival comes to town at various venues including Chequer Mead, several cafes and Saint Hill, from the 6 – 13 August.

It will open with a fun day in the High Street and a belly-dancing workshop at Chequer Mead where the Mona Lisa will be recreated in cup cakes.

James O’Connor, a talented 12-year-old pupil at Sackville School who has been awarded the festival’s Most Promising Young Artist of the Year award, will display his paintings at Chequer Mead throughout the week. Work by students attending classes in the town and in Forest Row will also be on display.

 

There will be a lunch-time piano recital at Chequer Mead on Monday 8 August when international concert pianist Gabriel Arnold will play Chopin, Brahms and Beethoven.

Tickets are £10 and seating is limited.

DEPUTY Mayor Liz Bennett lent her support to a car-washing fundraiser in aid of Meridian FM, the town radio station, by giving their outside broadcast van, nicknamed Twiggy, a wash.

The station, which costs around £1,000 a week to run, has appealed for £50,000 to keep it going over the coming year.

“Meridian FM does a really important job within the community so I was very pleased to take part in the Car Wash which raised £180,” said Liz.

Later in the day she helped raise a further £900 in the Meridian FM Mighty Quiz.

“This was a brilliant effort by all the presenters and members at Meridian FM,” said Liz, “and its success shows the support the station has from the town community it serves.

“Everyone has rallied together at a crucial time in the future of the station, and the efforts being put into saving it show people appreciate the Meridian FM team who work as volunteers for the good of our community.”

Liz added that she was “very proud” of the station and the work it does, and appealed to everyone within its audience area to be generous in helping to secure Meridian FM’s future.

ACTING Sergeant Graeme Prentice has been newly appointed to the East Grinstead police team.

Before joining Sussex Police, Graeme gained a BSc(Hons) degree in Business Management and then worked in a customer service related role for four years.

But he had always harboured an ambition to join the police force in the footsteps of his uncle, an officer in the City of London Police, and in January 2006 he started with Sussex Police at their Ashford training school.

Graeme subsequently spent three and a half years as a PC on the Neighbourhood response team (NRT) based at Crawley Police Station and then moved to the Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) where he managed the Ifield and Gossops Green areas of Crawley for just under a year.

In 2010 he passed his Sergeants exam and gained a category 1 pass in his Sergeants Interview Board.

He worked as Acting Sergeant for three and a half months with the Crawley Neighbourhood Response Team before moving to the East Grinstead Response team in the same rank for 6 months.

He returned to Crawley for a short period last April before taking up his appointment as the Neighbourhood Policing Sergeant based in East Grinstead in June. He is currently awaiting full promotion to the rank of Sergeant.

"I have enjoyed my first 6 weeks at East Grinstead and already have organised warrants, plain clothes operations and an initiative to combat mobile phone thefts within East Grinstead town centre.

"I currently have three police officers and four police community support officers on my team who cover East Grinstead and its outer areas.

"I hope I can cement my position within the East Grinstead NPT and make a positive impact on the community."

THE newly-elected East Grinstead Town Council has agreed to the setting up of a neighbourhood plan working group to start putting together a formal Town Plan.

This is in response to changes outlined in the coalition Government’s Localism Bill, first published in December 2010, which sets out the framework and key principles for a system of neighbourhood planning in England. It seeks to create new planning tools to help empower communities to shape and manage development in their local areas.

Chairman of the working group Cllr Heidi Brunsdon said: "This fundamental change to the planning system has a significant local impact. With neighbourhood plans, communities such as East Grinstead will have real choice about the issue of growth. We will have the opportunity to develop our own planning policies and ensure that those neighbourhoods which choose to grow feel the benefits of that decision. Our aim is to give people real choice, and real influence. Localism and neighbourhood plans firmly put decisions for such change back in the hands of those who know what’s best for this town – our residents."

The working party’s next steps are to revisit earlier plans and research, and to consider ideas drawn from a recent strategy-day to develop some formal proposals: these will then be subject to public consultation before being fed into the planning authority, Mid Sussex District Council, to include in the overall District Plan.

Throughout the project local residents, organisations and businesses will be invited to contribute their views and thoughts. These consultations are intended to be a mix of informal and formal including a public meeting to present emerging ideas towards the end of the year.

THE search is on for a Handsome Prince to play opposite lovely Abbie Lomax when she appears as Snow White at Chequer Mead this Christmas.

Aspiring Princes are asked to get in touch with Lesley Lowy at Chequer Mead theatre on 01342 302000.

A TEAM of of 16-18 year olds from East Grinstead represented the town at the annual international Youth In Europe event held in Mindelheim last month.

Eight pupils from Imberhorne school, and two from Sackville, were accompanied by Imberhorne teachers Paul Byrne and Amy Gillman, together with Mayor John Saull, Cllr Norman Webster and his wife, and Ken Averill and Peter Waters from the East Grinstead Town Twinning Association.

The games consisted of a variety of events, including a water slide and a see-saw, and the Mayor was mentioned in the local press as having distinguished himself in one which involved the skilful use of a fire-hose.

The East Grinstead team came second overall after the winners Tramin. Tramin, in the South Tyrol, is twinned with Mindelheim and Schwaz.

All the competitors from the twin towns were put up in hostel accommodation over the weekend, and enjoyed the opportunity to meet young people from across Europe.

Among the other events provided for visitors during the weekend was a church service to mark the 50th anniversary of the twinning agreement between Mindelheim and Bourg de Péage, and a tour of the town.

The East Grinstead contingent also visited Munich, visiting the Olympic Stadium and Tower.

Twinning chairman Ken Averill said: “All our team members gave of their best, and they were a real credit to the town.”

We will be featuring all the new town councillors in a series of profiles over the coming months. This month we feature Mayor John Saull, and Cllr Nick Hodge.

JOHN was born in Hale, Cheshire in 1935, and educated at Altrincham Grammar school. He took an early interest in civil aviation, working for a small aerial photography and charter company at Ringway (Manchester) airport, where he spent his leisure hours working on the aeroplanes and flying in them whenever to opportunity arose.

After leaving school, he took an Aeronautical Engineering Apprenticeship at A.V.Roe, Manchester, which he completed in 1958. During this period he worked on Vulcan bomber production including some flight testing, and space projects. He subsequently became the first technical representative on the AVRO 748 commuter aircraft and went to Argentina in 1961 on board the first aircraft for the national airline, based in Buenos Aires.

The ferry flight took eight days which gave him the opportunity to see "the whole wonderful country" at close hand, during what he describes as "a fascinating, but testing assignment".

John married Silvina, who worked as a stewardess for an opposition airline, before coming home at the end of 1963. By this time, he had been invited to join the Air Registration Board (ARB), the UK airworthiness regulator, and the couple moved to London and then to Redhill, close to the ARB headquarters.
Cranfield College of Aeronautics was John’s next venue where he obtained an Air Transport Engineering degree, and took the "unmissable" opportunity to obtain his Private Pilots Licence flying Auster aircraft, one of which he has co-owned for some 30 years.

In 1966, John, and Silvina moved to Bristol with their daughter Annabelle, where John was responsible for the oversight of the construction standards of the supersonic airliner, Concorde.

Daughter Vanessa and son Charles, were born during the family’s seven years in Bristol.

The work on Concorde was fascinating, says John, and took him to all the UK manufacturing plants and to the French assembly line in Toulouse, on regular liaison visits.

He was involved with the development of the aircraft from initial build of the prototypes through to airline route proving and made several flights during this time.

His next assignment was in Trinidad, West Indies, where he took up the management of a team of UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) airworthiness advisors to the Directors of Civil Aviation in many of the Caribbean islands, effectively from Guyana to Belize, which followed UK regulation standards.
This was a "fulfilling and pleasurable experience" professionally and socially, and on Sundays John used to fly the family to Tobago for lunch and a swim.

On their return from the Caribbean in 1980 the family moved to Ashurst Wood, sending their children to local schools where they finished their secondary education.

John took up several senior positions with the CAA, finally retiring as head of operating standards in late November 1995, after 32 years as a safety regulator.

At his retirement he was able to say "there was hardly a day I didn’t enjoy or find stimulating, working with a such a group of aviation professionals".

He has served as a member of the Council of the Royal Aeronautical Society and is a Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. He continues his flying and aviation technical safety work as Executive Director of The International Federation of Airworthiness, an NGO and UK Charity, and he is a member of several safety committees.

John has also co-authored two published technical books on the safety record of technological industries.

Locally, he has been a member of the East Grinstead tennis club for over 25 years.

"It has a been a very pleasant experience bringing up a family in Ashurst Wood , where we have made many acquaintances – and a great honour to have been elected Mayor of East Grinstead.

"I look forward to working as a member of an active Council and being involved in supporting its wide variety of activities."

COUNCILLOR Nick Hodge, the new Chairman of the Charities Committee, has lived all his life in East Grinstead.

He was born at home in Kennedy Road and was educated at St Mary’s and Sackville schools in the town.

After completing his law degree and solicitors final examinations, Nick served his articles in Crawley before qualifying as a solicitor 19 years ago.

He became a partner in his current firm in Redhill in 1994, and, other than time away for education, always lived in East Grinstead, where he has made his home with his wife Lucy, originally from Reading, and their 7-year-old daughter, who attends St Peter’s School.

Nick is a keen football fan and a supporter of Crystal Palace.

When younger he played football for various town teams in the junior leagues, and indeed has tried his best to keep playing at a "sympathetic level" until recently.

Nick stood for election as a town councillor as he is passionate about East Grinstead, and wants "to help the town to achieve its potential as a jewel of Mid Sussex".