Charity/voluntary

A concert will be held on Saturday July 4 to celebrate America's Independence day.

Spelthorne Choral Society will be hosting the event at St Matthew's Church, in Church Road, by playing classical American music inspired by the day.

The event is being sponsored by Ashford Rotary Club, and the start time is 7.30pm.

Tickets cost £10 and can be booked by ringing 01784 211944.

The re-elected Surrey County councillor for Ashford has created a neighbourhood watch for her area.

Cllr Carol Coleman, of Nelson Road, decided to set it up after a burglary happened in the road in May, and is in the final process of sorting out the paperwork.

The aims are to keep the residents vigilant and make them feel safer by notifying Surrey Police when they see suspicious behaviour.

A young boy was the centre of attention at a carnival style theme day held to celebrate his remission from cancer.

Seven-year-old Alfie Ward, whose birthday was on Monday May 25, found he no longer had neuroblastoma, a tumorous cancer which affects the nerves, on April 28, so on Thursday May 21 Spelthorne Infant and Nursery School, in Chertsey Road, Ashford, held an event for him.

A brother and sister from Ashford will be walking 18 miles through London on Monday May 25 to raise money for charity.

Sarah and Andrew Lambourne, aged 16 and 18 respectively, will be walking from Waterloo to Hammersmith for Macmillan Cancer Support in memory of their grandmother Florence, who died in 2005 of bowel cancer.

The pair, of Salcombe Road, Ashford, are hoping to raise £200 for the charity.

To sponsor them, visit www.justgiving.com/sarahlambourne

Blood donor sessions take place on Sunday, March 8 at Ashford Community Centre in Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, from 9.30am-12.30pm and 2pm-4.30pm.

Volunteers need to be between 17 and 60 years old, in general good health and weigh more than 7st 12lbs.

For more information call 0845 771 1711 or visit www.blood.co.uk

The Rotary Club of Ashford brought in a record collection of £8,849 this year through their Christmas float touring the streets of Ashford and Stanwell.

The float had to be replaced after it was destroyed by arsonists last year and a replacement was bought through donations from local councillors, businesses and residents.

And the Rotarians were delighted after beating their previous best of £8,756 last year.

Thirty-one new beds have been made available at Ashford & St Peter's Hospitals to deal with unprecedented demand during the cold snap.

The A&E department has been inundated with a higher than usual number of elderly patients with respiritory problems and pressure on the hospitals has been compounded by a flu outbreak among staff.

Spelthorne Council will be donating its extra revenue from car parking following the 2.5% cut in VAT to charity.

Motorists were not passed on the Government cut due to the cost and difficulty of making the changes and the council has made an additional contribution to make up a £22,000 kitty.

Parcels of food and toys were distributed to families worst hit by the credit crunch by volunteers from the Salvation Army last week.

More than 400 packages were put together at the Woodthorpe Road church by forty volunteers before being handed over to social services workers who passed them on to the most needy families.

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.