November 2008 Archives

Workers at Woolworths stores in Elmbridge, Runnymede and Spelthorne are facing job loss fears as the company goes into administration.

Firefighters went out to a minor garage fire in Edinburgh Drive, Staines, at about 3.45am on Saturday (November 22).

Police attended the fire but said it was not being treated as suspicious at this stage.

Two Rivers Shopping Centre will be getting into the spirit of Christmas when approximately 150 carol singers from Spelthorne Schools join The Salvation Army Band on Thursday December 4 from 6.30pm.

The Salvation Army is one of the largest, most diverse providers of social services in the UK. Worldwide there are over 1.6 million members, with programmes including homeless centres, drug rehabilitation centres, schools, hospitals and medical centres, as well as nearly 16,000 church and community centres.

Detectives have issued an e-fit following the theft of cash and a mobile phone in a distraction burglary at the home of an elderly Staines couple.

A man called at the door of the property in Bremer Road saying he believed one of the fireworks he had set off for his daughter's birthday had gone into their garden.

Local drama group, Thorpe Players, is looking to the future with its next production. The play, "Comic Potential", is set a few years hence, when daytime TV soaps are even further down the scale than they are now. Actors are not always Humans any more, some of them are Androids. But what happens if an Android falls in love? Director Karen Noble was drawn to this futuristic love story, saying that "This play gives the group a great challenge; it is a chance to show both human and mechanistic movement and emotions. It is wonderful opportunity to explore beyond the norms of our currently known limits."

The group is presenting the play at Thorpe Village Hall, Coldharbour Lane, on Wednesday 3rd to Saturday 6th December at 8pm. Tickets are a credit-crunch friendly £8 and are bookable in advance on 07923 583295 - any unsold tickets are available on the door each evening. "Comic Potential" is by Alan Ayckbourn and is written with all his usual observant wit. He gives us an heartwarming play which is sometimes farce, and sometimes something much deeper, set in a time when "everything has changed, except human nature".

As someone who hated hospital, the way Florence East died echoed one of her worst nightmares.

When the healthy 95-year-old fell and broke her leg on Boxing Day last year, little could she have known she would never leave hospital and would die six weeks later following complications during an unrelated operation.

An inquest heard on Wednesday last week (19), Mrs East, of Westbourne Road, Staines, died at St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey, after a tiny hole was torn in her throat lining during an endoscopy - an exploratory operation into stomach problems she was having.

Jenny Hazell, one of our youth players, has been selected as one of the 20 finalists for the Miss Fresh Photographic competition which is being held by the Miss England organisers. Jenny Hazell from Staines is a Student studing Drama with Creative Writing and is hoping to win the title and prizes worth over £1000 and a place in the Miss England semi final next June. Every year, Miss England is selected for the finals of Miss World which has a first prize of $100,000. During 2008 the Miss England contestants have raised over £100,000 for various charities around the country including £35,000 for the Institute of Cancer Walk with Cancer Campaign.

She has two weeks to getpublic support. For more details and instructions of how to vote for her, see our group website www.tpts.abelgratis.co.uk

Victim Support, which offers help for witnesses giving evidence in court, is appealing for volunteers to be based at Staines Magistrates' Court in Knowle Green.

No formal qualifications are required to become a volunteer as training is given but they must commit to working one day a fortnight.

For more information call Denise Backhouse on 01784 492299.

Police are battling to reclaim two areas of Staines which they say have become hotbeds of drug-taking and drinking.

Police community support officers Deborah Tippetts and Adam Justice said they have found evidence of cannabis in the youth shelter in the playing field which runs alongside Commercial Road in Staines, and said that children had used the alleyway just off Kingston Road to smoke.

PCSO Tippetts said: "We get quite a lot of youths hanging around on the corner by the alleyway. We have caught quite a few kids smoking in there.

An Italian Market will be coming to the pedestrianised area of Staines High Street on Thursday November 20 and Friday 21.
The market, called "Italia In Piazza", imports all of the food it sells except the bread directly from Italy, which includes cheeses, cured meats, biscuits, pastries, cakes, olive oils, balsamic vinegar and olives.