October 2008 Archives

An 85-year-old woman had her wish for a disabled bay outside her home granted after an obdurate councillor moved his car just hours after being exposed in the Herald & News.

Cllr Kevin Flurry had refused to move his blue Rover from outside Celia Poole's Woodthorpe Road home to allow her to have the bay painted to help her with weekly chores and trips to the hospital.

Ashford Camera Club will meet on Thursday November 6 for its annual projected image competition.

The club will meet at St Matthews Church Hall in Muncaster Close, Ashford, at 7.45pm.

The African Children's Choir will be performing at Staines Salvation Army's hall in Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, at 7.30pm on Friday October 24.

The choir is made up for 22 African children aged 10 to 13 who have lost one or both of their parents through AIDS or poverty, and tour the world raising money for their education and raising awarness of the challenges faced in their home countries. Admission is £3.

A Costa Coffee shop was officially opened on Monday October 20 in Church Road, Ashford.

Deputy leader of the council Cllr Caroline Spencer, conservative for Ashford East, cut the ribbon to open the coffee shop at 3pm.

A physiotherapy receptionist at Ashford Hospital will retired on Friday October 17 after 43 years of dedicated service.

Trecia MacLaren started work at the hospital in May 1965, aged 16, will enjoy a leaving lunch party on Friday.

Three Ashford charity shops are counting the cost after being broken into by thieves.

Staff at RSPCA, FARA, Princess Alice Hospice and Charity At Home have found their Church Road shops all hit by thieves hunting for money in the last fortnight.

A transformer in the the main switch room at the Thames Water plant in Staines Road West, Ashford, caught fire yesterday (Tuesday) at about 1.30pm.

Firefighters from Staines and Sunbury had to isolate the plant's power supply before extinguishing the blaze.

A spokeswoman from Thames Water said they were continuing to investigate.

Ashford Hospital has been spared ward closures by the Healthcare Commission after taking action following warnings about inadequate hygiene.

The hospital was threatened with having wards shut down after an inspection in June by the health watchdog found 'serious' failures in the cleaning of medical instruments and mattresses.

A prolific criminal from Ashford is on the run from police after failing to return to prison.

Thomas Barlow, 26, of Beards Road, was convicted of offences including burglary, aggravated vehicle taking, criminal damage, driving while disqualified and two counts of obstructing a police officer in 2005 and jailed for four years.

A patrol of six scouts from the 7th Ashford Troop have won this year's Campercraft Cooking Competition open to Troops from all over Surrey.

On arrival at the competition at the Bentley Copse Scout Camping Centre at about 3pm on Saturday October 4, patrols set up their site, put up a shelter, built an open fire and prepared and cooked a two course meal.

The meal was a set menu of beef stew with mashed potatoes and carrots and a dessert of pancakes with various fillings for the judges to sample.