Alan Barnes is a prolific international performer, composer, arranger, bandleader and touring soloist. He is best known for his work on clarinet, alto and baritone saxophone where he combines a formidable virtuosity with a musical expression and collaborative spirit which has few peers.

His range and brilliance have made him a “first call” for studio and live work since his precocious arrival on the scene more than thirty years ago.

His recorded catalogue is immense.  He has made over thirty albums as leader and co-leader alone, and the list of his session and side-man work includes Bjork, Bryan Ferry, Michel LeGrande, Clare Teale, Westlife, Jools Holland and Jamie Cullum. He has toured and played residencies with such diverse and demanding figures as Ruby Braff, Freddie Hubbard, Scott Hamilton, Warren Vache, Ken Peplowski, Harry Allen and Conte Candoli.

In British jazz, the young Barnes was recognized – and hired – by the established greats of the time:  Stan Tracy, John Dankworth, Kenny Baker, Bob Wilber, and Humphrey Lyttelton.  But he is equally respected for his longstanding and fruitful collaborations with contemporaries such as David Newton, Bruce Adams, and Martin Taylor. He has received over 25 British Jazz Awards, most recently in 2014 for clarinet, and has twice been made BBC Jazz Musician of the Year.

He will be joined by the Terence Collie trio at the Riverside Arts Centre on Sunday, 22^nd December.

For full venue, time and booking details, click here

The following welcome email has been received from the Council:

Spelthorne Council has extended its public consultation on a new Local Plan for the Borough, which sets out proposals for where housing, employment and other development will be built up to 2035. The original consultation period already exceeded the statutory minimum 6 weeks to take account of the Christmas break. However, the General Election wasn't originally expected and therefore we've again extended the period within which local residents can respond.

The consultation will now run until Tuesday 21 January 2020 and gives another two weeks for residents to give their views on the proposed allocations and policies.

A Council spokesperson said: "Effective consultation and engagement with the local community is vital in the preparation of a new Local Plan, which will affect all our residents. We've already had a large response but we recognise that the elections are some people's priority at the moment. Extending the consultation gives us more opportunity to arrange further public presentations if needed in the New Year to ensure everyone is fully informed and can have their say."

• The Local Plan consultation opened on Tuesday 5 November 2019 and now runs up to Tuesday 21 January 2020 
• Three more public information dates have been added to provide further information to residents on the Local Plan for Spelthorne; Tuesday 10 & 17 December at 7pm and Monday 16 December at 2pm.  Book now for your place here
• Further information on the Local Plan and how to respond here
• Keep up to date with all Council news by signing up to our e-newsletter here or register for My Alerts here which will keep you informed on selected information by email.

Lynne Gardner

Planning Policy Technician

Council Offices, Knowle Green, Staines-upon-Thames, TW18 1XB

Tel:  01784 446449

Spelthorne Borough Council has launched a public consultation regarding the draft framework of its new Homelessness Strategy, which will address homelessness and rough sleeping in Spelthorne for 2020 to 2025. The consultation will run from Monday 2 December to midday Monday 13 January.
The overall aims of the strategy are to ensure nobody sleeps rough in Spelthorne, ending the use of bed and breakfast accommodation, reducing the length of time people stay in temporary accommodation, increase the use of the private sector for homelessness prevention and investing in staff training and development to improve the Housing Options service.

You can view further details on how we aim to achieve this and also the consultation here. Hard copies are also available at the Council Offices in Staines-upon-Thames, as well as at all local libraries, so that residents without internet access will be able to feed into the consultation.

Hot on the heels of the really excellent Bad Influence show on Friday, the next Music Night at Sunbury Cricket Club is in less than a couple weeks’ time on Friday 6^th December when we welcome THE MERSEY LEGENDS for our now traditional pre-Christmas gig to kick off the festive party season in our customary style.

It’s always great to welcome them back, as we know we can guarantee a proper rave-up as ever, with a rip-roaring evening of wall-to-wall Mersey Era classics just like the Cluib’s had for the last five years or so. The Mersey Legends are led by Yanni, born in Liverpool and who played at The Cavern with his band The Seftons in the heyday of the beat boom – the band were top of the bill when the Cavern re-opened in 1967.

He has been true to his Liverpool roots ever since, creating a band and a brilliantly honed act specifically designed to celebrate the great sounds of the Mersey Era. Get this one in the diary and get a gang of friends together, because we’re sure it will be a great party night as always. There’s more info at www.themerseylegends.co.uk.

Tickets are £7.50 on the door, and food will be available as usual.

As in previous years the Christmas Market will be held from 5-8pm at the bottom of The Avenue which will be closed to traffic from 3 – 9pm. The Market will feature stalls galore, food, gifts, Santa’s Grotto and the big community raffle. The Salvation Army will be playing carols from around 6.30pm. All monies raised will be going to good causes.

LOSRA will have its own stall so please visit and have a chat to our members, renew your membership or raise your concerns.

The next Music Night at Sunbury Cricket Club is on Friday 22^nd November, when the Club is delighted to welcome BAD INFLUENCE whose scheduled August gig had to be postponed, and who haven’t played at the club since they closed the show with a rousing set at last year’s Beer Festival.

They are led by Val Cowell (vocals and guitar) and Richard Hayes (lead & slide guitar), who have been permanent members since the band formed in 1986, and the line-up is completed by Pete Stroud on bass (formerly with Peter Green’s Splinter Group and familiar to you as bass player with Buddy Whittington) and long-time drummer Harry James (former member of Thunder and Magnum).

They play a distinctive brand of up-front blues and rock, blending original material from their albums with interpretations of material from the likes of Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt and Fleetwood Mac. It will be a fine evening of archetypal Sunbury Music Night fare. There’s more info at www.badinfluence.org.uk.

Food will be available from about 7.15. As you know, this is the first Music Night after the refurbishment of the Club bar, so it’s a good opportunity to come and check out the new surroundings (although of course the hall itself hasn’t changed).  We look forward to seeing you there.

Our periodical newsletters are always worth a read but, from time to time, they assume greater significance and our autumn 2019 offering is no exception. Not since 2007 when the Council’s local plan was last revised has there been a more significant moment.

Click here to view our newsletter and get involved with the Council who would welcome your comments and feedback

Very much on-topic, the Council announces that it is urging Government to re-think excessive ‘housing need’ figures on the day the Council starts consulting on the next stage of the Local Plan (see article of 4th November below).

To see the Council’s notice, click here

Further to the article posted on this site on 4th November (scroll down) the following will help to visualise what is being proposed:

For map illustration of proposed 20mph zone, click here

For diagrammatic illustration of street calming proposals in French Street, click here

Spelthorne Council's Cabinet met on 25 September to discuss the next stage in producing a new Local Plan for the Borough.  The Preferred Options consultation will run from Tuesday 5 November 2019 to Tuesday 7 January 2020 and there will be a range of public events to provide further information.

Information about the Local Plan will be communicated in a number of ways to ensure all residents have the information available to them.  If you register on the Council’s consultation portal at https://consult.spelthorne.gov.uk for updates you will receive an email or letter notifying you when the consultation begins.  The Bulletin, distributed to residents in the first week of December, will be a bumper edition with 8 pages of Local Plan news. 

Spelthorne must plan for 603 new homes per year over a 15-year period as part of the Government's aim to see more housing built.  The first consultation on the Local Plan took place in May and June last year and asked the public to consider options for how Spelthorne will meet its need for housing, gypsy and traveller pitches, employment sites and other uses.  The next stage will be to set out draft policies for the new plan and proposed sites across the Borough to be allocated for development.  The selection of sites follows the preferred strategy, following previous consultation, to maximise building on land in urban areas such as town centres, particularly Staines-upon-Thames, and to consider releasing some 'weakly performing' Green Belt for development.  This will enable the protection of the Borough's most important green spaces.  If the Council  does not have a viable Local Plan it will be much more difficult to control future developments.

Please make sure you read our autumn newsletter which will be distributed to all households in Lower Sunbury shortly after the commencement date, 5th November. It may also be read online at www.losra.org after that date.