Clubs/societies

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.

Tributes have been given for a community midwife who gave her time helping people less fortunate than themselves.

On Monday May 11 a thanksgiving service was held at the Salvation Army Centre in Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, to remember Wendy Howells, who passed away on April 23 of a pulmonary embolism.

Ghost hunters from Spelthorne will be on the prowl as they undergo an investigation in a haunted abbey in June.

Middlesex Paranormal Investigation (MPI) will be spending a night at Beaulieu Abbey in the New Forest to try and find evidence and apparitions of ghostly goings-on to raise money for war charity Help for Heroes.

Ashford camera club are holding a special event on Monday April 27.

A slide show will be shown by Mike Rimmer on Ancient Egypt, who will lecture his audience through the show.

The meeting will take place at 7.45pm in St Matthew's Church Hall, in Muncaster Close, Ashford.

Are you new to the area or looking to make some new friends? If so there is a social group in the area that may be just right for you.

Groups have been established thanks to the Dear Dilys agony column which is published in editions of the Informer newspaper, and they've been going strong for 18 months.

Former Zimbabwean cricketer Henry Olonga, who has campaigned vigorously against Robert Mugabe's regime, gave a talk to Rotarians at Ashford Manor Golf Club on Monday February 23.

More than 70 guests from the Staines, Ashford, Shepperton and Shepperton Aurora Rotary Clubs were treated to a talk followed by a performance of Nessun Dorma from the cricketer turned opera singer.

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.

Budding songwriters can hone their skills at weekly masterclasses every Monday during term time at Ashford Youth Centre in Kenilworth Road.

The sessions cost £25 a term and anyone interested should contact Spelthorne Council on 01784 446433 or leisure@spelthorne.gov.uk

A claim that drivers parking in front of Ashford Congregational Church are forcing pedestrians to walk in the busy road to get past them was rebuffed by the church pastor this week.

One nearby householder, who asked not to be named, took photos of the offending cars parked outside the church in Clarendon Road at about 11.15am on Monday December 3, and called the police to come and talk to the drivers.

He said: "This type of parking is becoming far too frequent in this local area. The road is frequently used by elderly people, attending the Fordbridge Centre, and by mothers with prams."