By Dawn East When I came home from a year’s travel sabbatical in July 2019, I found myself feeling a little lost. I was going to be re-turning to a job I’d fallen out of love with and I had no idea what I wanted to do next. From out of the blue, an ad […]
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Spelthorne Borough Council is honoured to announce that, for the 10th year running, the Sunbury Walled Garden and Staines Ceme-tery have been awarded Green Flag status. This international award is a sign to the public that the space boasts the highest possible environmental standards, is beautifully maintained and has excellent visitor facilities. Cllr Richard Barratt,
A Decade of Success for Sunbury’s Walled Garden Read More »
By James Ford-Bannister and David Young It takes two to tango…………………. but not necessarily to cha cha, waltz, or foxtrot if you join one of ballroom dance classes on Thurs-day evenings whose leader, Clare, has developed some fun ways of learning basic steps whilst main-taining social distancing. Many of the other groups at Riverside have
Notes from the Riverside Arts Centre Read More »
Government White Paper – Planning for the Future As we go to print, the Strategic Planning Manager for Spelthorne Council is await-ing the outcome of the Government’s cur-rent consultation on the Planning for the Future white paper and whether it will introduce changes that affect our Local Plan in relation to Green Belt and other
By Cllr. Bob Noble, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for the Environment, Spelthorne Borough Council Spelthorne Borough Council, along with many other inter-national, national and local authorities has finally de-clared a climate change emergency, so why should anyone care? By now, there can be very few people who are not aware we human beings are having a
So, what is actually meant by declaring a ‘climate change emergency’? Read More »
We always love seeing local photos taken by you. Thanks to this months contributors Paul Zanon, and John Sayward. Do send any photos to monica@villagematters.co.uk
By Monica Chard Nothing was going to stop local residents from making their gardens look beautiful for the annual Spelthorne in Bloom competition. This year it was even more important to spread some cheer in the form of colourful blooms. Lockdown earlier in the year had seen many of us enjoy our gardens and discover
Spelthorne Still Blooming – Albeit Socially Distanced! Read More »
By Claire Leonard Aquarius Performing Arts is a Musical Thea-tre class for children aged 4-12. Specialising in the three disciplines of Musical Theatre, acting, dancing & singing, each of our stu-dents have the opportunity to enhance their skills by working towards a presentation for parents at the end of term. We encourage them to perform
The Age of Aquarius Read More »
By Nick Pollard It may seem odd these days, when statues are being pulled down or hidden away, but a century or so ago the British Empire was celebrated nationally each year. Empire Day originated in Canada but was introduced to the UK by Lord Meath in 1905. It was particularly aimed at school children
Empire Day at Shepperton Green School Read More »
By John Maxen Following Laura Harrison’s interesting article of observing butterflies during lockdown in October’s Sunbury Matters, I thought I would relate my own experience in a new hobby taken up during lockdown – Moth Trapping. There are over 2,500 species of moths in the UK, and are generally demarcated into two main groups, macros
With thanks to Nick Pollard In Autumn 2015 Sunbury’s boatyard, George Wilsons & Sons closed for good. We ran an article on it back then, which we are now reprinting. The decision to do so followed the demolition of the old green boat sheds on Lock Island, opposite St Mary’s Church recently. They may have
As Boat Sheds are Demolished, We look at George Wilson & Sons Read More »
By Sarah Tune I love creating beautiful garden areas from plants and everyone always asks for evergreen shrubs. Why? Because they make an ideal hedge, which will benefit wild life or they are good for filling gaps in a flowerbed. Did you know there is so much more you can do with them? You can
The Joy of Evergreens Read More »
We must all be aware of the growing litter problem in our area. But one man decided he would do his bit to tidy up. Adam Stevenson enjoys his walks and runs around Sunbury, but faced with what he saw as an increasing problem of litter, he took matters into his own hands, literally. He
Litter Picking. Let’s Get Involved! Read More »
Currently the delivery of local council services in Surrey is split between Surrey County Council (SCC) and 11 Borough and District Councils and is known as a two-tier model. Borough and District councils organise your refuse collection, planning, meals at home, social hous-ing, parks and open spaces, environmental health and licensing, whilst SCC provide adults
#Residents Against Surrey Single Unitary Read More »
By James Ford-Bannister and David Young During September we at the Riverside, along with much of the country, began to look at the various ways we could restart our many activities as the Covid19 restrictions began to be relaxed. Plans were being made by dancers, actors, musicians, painters, projectionists and administrators as to how they
Notes from the Riverside Arts Centre Read More »
The Mayor and Mayoress were pleased to attend the annual visit to Weybridge Mariners Club, of a Flotilla of Dunkirk little Ships on Friday 11th September, but somewhat different from other years. Observing restrictions there was no dinner, no handshakes and certainly no hugging. The spirit of good fun and companionship was not deterred. Cllr
Mayor joins Dunkirk Little Ships Read More »
The front cover of this issue is up for auction. It is by Helen Blizard. Helen, a former Top of the Pops singer, has performed in the West End and as a TV actress and scriptwriter for EastEnders, Fools and Horses, and London’s Burning. She is also an avid supporter of local charity Their Future
Bid for Front Cover Art to Support Their Future Today Read More »
Surplus to Supper is a local charity, estab-lished in 2017 and which is currently bridging the gap between food waste and food poverty. We are based at Sunbury Cricket Club (Lower Thames Street). The Charity currently collects food from local Retailers and redistributes it to Food Banks, other Charities and Schools within the Spelthorne, Richmond
We Need Your Help to Create Change Locally Read More »
We always love seeing local photos taken by you. Thanks to this months contributors Simon Reilly and Drew Reeves. Do send any photos to monica@villagematters.co.uk
Well I really appreciated that last bit of extra sun-shine bringing autum-nal warm and letting us have some last minutes enjoying our gardens and open spaces, however there is no denying that the daylight is getting shorter and it is very dark by 8pm. We have seen the typical seasonal uplift in vehicle crime and
Sunbury & Shepperton Beat Read More »
Well done two young ladies for growing some super sunflowers. Little Summer Rose, aged 5 was the overall winner, but we also had to include this huge, but slightly faded beauty from Lucy. Her mum explains the battle of the sunflower v squirrel: “Our growing attempts were thwarted by our local squirrel: 1) nibbled the
Rotary Winning Sunflowers Read More »
