Sunbury Matters

I wonder if you were lucky enough to get a ticket for the Rotary lecture at Halliford School a month or so back. The speaker this year was Allan Winn, CEO and Director of Brooklands Museum who gave a fascinating overview of the Brooklands legacy; on our doorstep we have such a wealth of history.

There have been so many awful and dramatic stories in the media about Sunbury: terrorism, armed robbery, drug dealing and intimidation, burglaries…So I want to redress that balance with some good and positive stories.

Later this month local residents Steven Lonsdale will start the huge job of creating what has become a symbol of a Sunbury Christmas.

I attended the Community Safer Stronger Partnership meeting in the council chambers last month. We hear about one burglary after another in the area at the moment and antisocial behaviour on the increase.

Since April this year the community foodbank in Sunbury has received over 8.6 tons to surplus food for distribution, the equivalent to nearly 20,000 meals.

This photo was taken in Thames Street, Sunbury about 1930, in front of the flint wall of the Old Vicarage, just to the west of St. Mary’s Church. It shows a fascinating selection of fire engines used in the village over the previous century or so.

You, like me, may well have been to the cinema to see the much acclaimed film ‘Dunkirk’ recently. What an epic it is too. The film truly brought home the horrors of this conflict and the bravery of those involved in the evacuation from the beaches.

Interact is part of the Rotary organisation, and is specifically designed for those between the ages of 12 and 18 who wish to serve their community. Sunbury Manor School has recently celebrated the first year of its Interact Club.

You could not imagine driving or walking through Lower Sunbury without seeing the beautiful Church of St Mary’s overlooking the river. Immortalised in literature thanks to Charles Dickens, St Mary’s is part of the fabric of our little village and something to be preserved.

The Sunbury and District Welsh Society is 60 years old this year. The present-day members were delighted to welcome to their annual garden party and AGM in July Helen Birnbaum, whose father, Islwyn Morris, founded the society with a group of fellow exiles in 1957. She travelled from Lancashire to be there.