November 2008 Archives

Pupils at Ashford Park Primary School in Station Crescent, Ashford will be trying their hand at litter picking on Thursday (November 27).

Surrey County Cllr Denise Turner-Stewart secured a £1,000 grant from Surrey County Council to conservation group Civic Pride to buy 150 litter grabbers and hundreds of gloves and bags.

The equipment will be lent out to schools and community groups to use to make Spelthorne a litter-free area, but children at Ashford Park Primary will have the first crack of the whip on Thursday (November 27).

Ashford British Legion has apologised to anyone who was disappointed not to see a representative at the Ashford war memorial on Armistice Day.

Branch president Stan Heath said he was committed to attending the Hounslow memorial service and other members were obliged to other remembrance commitments.

Hat-trick hero Warren Harris paid tribute to fellow young gun Byron Harrison after Ashford Town's 5-1 thumping of nine-man Billericay Town on Saturday.

The Tangerines were 2-0 up at the break thanks to Adam Logie's effort and Harris's first of the game.

A pensioner who died in a fire at his home in Parkland Grove, Ashford, on Monday, has been named as 88-year-old Jack Webster.

The widower's body was discovered on the ground floor of his home of 60 years by firefighters, who were called to the scene at about 2.30am by neighbours who smelt smoke in the air.

Michael Hall of Cycle Man bike shop in Church Road, Ashford is on a mission to reunite a 75-year-old silver cycling medal with its rightful owner.

Mr Hall, 80, says the medal was given to him two weeks ago by a man who said he found it in the street. It was awarded for second place in a 50-mile race for Ashford Wheelers cycle club in 1933.

Mayor of Spelthorne, Cllr Simon Bhadye, will attend a carol service on Sunday November 30 at St Hilda's Church in Stanwell Road, Ashford, at 9.30am.

A 73-year-old depressive was killed when he fell under the wheels of a train at Ashford station, an inquest heard on November 13.

Hamish Miller, from Ashford, who suffered from bipolar disorder and had been depressed for about 10 years before his death on May 14, leapt from the platform and into the path of a freight train, according to two witness statements read out to Woking Coroner's Court.

Startled neighbours have described seeing an "almighty plume of smoke" as they watched fire crews battle a bungalow blaze.

Colin Ball said the fire, which happened at about 5.30am today (Thursday November 13) in Ashford Avenue, was the most dramatic event in the road for nearly 40 years after firefighters from Staines and Sunbury fought the flames for over an hour, using 2 hosereels and six breathing apparatus.

Retired Mr Ball said: "Me and my wife were fast asleep when we were woken by flashing lights. I looked out there and at first couldn't see anything and I don't know who raised the alarm.

Thugs walked down two Ashford roads on Monday evening smashing up cars with For Sale posts they had taken from front gardens.

Police are appealing for witnesses after the criminal damage attacks in Marlborough Road and Chesterfield Road at about 11pm.

This year's Ashford on the Map Christmas celebration will be held in the Church Road multi-storey car park on Wednesday December 3.

About 500 people attended last year's event in the grounds of Brooklands College but organisers have been frantically searching for a new venue since workmen moved onto the former Ashford Grammar school site.