Doubtless of little concern to responsible drivers, it's nevertheless worth noting that speed cameras along the Surrey stretch of the M25 are now being used to enforce speed limits, having only previously been used for traffic management.

The cameras, which are positioned behind the electronic speed signs on overhead gantries, were installed in the 1990s and later upgraded in 2009 enabling them to enforce speed limits.

It is only now that the decision has finally been taken by the Surrey Safety Camera Partnership (comprising Surrey County Council, Surrey Police, the Highways Agency and Her Majesty's Court Service) to bring the enforcement function into immediate effect.

And now, as they say, for something completely different! On Friday 6th Feb. the Cricket Club has what it hopes will be a special occasion, not perhaps for the virtuoso performances, but because it is promoting a special Music Night in aid of The Mayor of Spelthorne’s charities. Cllr. Suzy Webb, this year’s Mayor of Spelthorne and one of our local Sunbury East councillors is a great supporter of the Music Nights, so we are delighted to present a special night, featuring the Music Club’s ‘house band’, specially named The Chain Gang, for the occasion. The band comprises some of Sunbury’s familiar musical suspects, in aid of the Mayor’s charities for her year in office, which are Parkinson’s UK, Salvation Army Youth Outreach Service and The Purple Angel, which supports dementia sufferers and their carers.

The volunteer band, giving their services free to maximise the income for the charities, comprises Karl Green (Herman’s Hermits and Dave’s Not Here) bass & vocals, Gerry Cook (The Saxons) guitar & vocals, Kevin Welling (Dave’s Not Here) keyboards, guitar & vocals, Ian Saunders (Dave’s Not Here) drums, and Music Night host Paul Watts on vocals & guitar, plus on harmonica, Adam Russel, who has appeared at the Club with Skeleton Crew and The Nashville Teens. The band is called The Chain Gang, in honour of the Mayor’s chain of office, which has no more room for further insignia commemorating its annual incumbents, so is serving its final year before being replaced.

It will be a rousing evening of R&B, rock ‘n’ roll, blues and rock covering quite a few decades, and the Club is sure it will be a thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile community event, which we hope you will support, as your entrance money will be a direct donation to the charities. The Mayor and the Club look forward to seeing you there.

If you’re planning to celebrate Valentine’s Day by going out for a nice dinner, the last thing you want to worry about is whether or not the restaurant takes food hygiene seriously. Fortunately, the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme does all that for you.

The Food Standards Agency is urging you to ‘look before you book’ and check the food hygiene rating before deciding where to go for your special date.

The truth is, you can’t tell a restaurant’s hygiene standards by how clean and tidy the staff look or by how romantic the décor and ambience is.

It’s the things you can’t see – like germs spread by bad hygiene practices – that you need to consider. There’s one easy way to set your mind at rest – check the food hygiene rating. This tells you about hygiene standards in restaurants and other food businesses.

It’s really simple to check. Just go online and visit http://ratings.food.gov.uk/authority-search/spelthorne or, if you’re out and about, look for the green and black sticker. If you can’t see one just ask the staff.

The ratings are determined by local authority food safety officers and range from 0 to 5, with a 5 rating meaning very good food hygiene standards.

In Spelthorne, 93% of food businesses are rated as satisfactory, good or very good so there are plenty of places with good food hygiene standards you can choose from. This means you can easily avoid taking your special date to those places not meeting the grade.

Cllr Jean Pinkerton OBE, Cabinet Member for Health said: “When planning your meal out, make sure you check the hygiene ratings online and choose a restaurant that takes food hygiene seriously. This is also an important time for local food businesses as a good food hygiene rating is something to be proud of. Accountability is one of Spelthorne Council’s key values so we are encouraging all food businesses in Spelthorne to display their rating.”

For more information about the scheme visit www.spelthorne.gov.uk/foodhygiene

Whether you are a frequent or occasional visitor to the Sunbury Health Centre, you may be interested to know that the Centre is running two patient surveys: 

‘I want Great Care’ - is a national ongoing NHS survey that is quick and easy to complete, either by a paper form from the Health Centre or online at iwantgreatcare.org.

The other survey is much more detailed and specific to Sunbury Health Centre. It will run for two weeks from Monday 26th January. Forms will be available at the Health Centre during the two weeks or you will be able to complete the survey online through the Sunbury Health Centre website or the linked Patient Participation website. sunburyhealthcentre.co.uk or sunburyhealthcentre-ppg.com

The Patient Participation Group also holds regular ‘Open’ meetings where patients can hear updates from Doctors and staff at the Health Centre followed by a Q&A session. The next meeting is on Monday 9th February from 6.30 - 7.30 at the Centre and is open to all patients of the Practice.

Runnymede & Spelthorne Citizens Advice is a charity created to serve the local community, providing advice and information on a wide range of subjects. It deals with 5,500 clients a year and has an annual turnover of £330,000.

They need to recruit four skilled trustees to join their board and are looking for people with strategic vision, independent judgement and a willingness to give time and commitment to being a trustee. They are particularly looking for someone with either finance experience at senior level or in Human Relations/Personnel; or Media Relations.

LOSRA is pleased to bring this advertisement to our readers' attention. For more information, click here

The following email from Spelthorne Council has been received by LOSRA and we urge all residents to attend. Please note the 23rd January deadline for the submission of written questions or, simply, to confirm your attendance. (Note, failure to give notice does not preclude attendance).

Spelthorne Borough Council will be hosting a public information event to clarify issues and misunderstandings relating to Kempton Park. You are invited to attend this event. See below for a list of people who have been invited.

The event will be on Tuesday 3 February at the Hazelwood Centre (London Irish), Croysdale Avenue, Green Street, Sunbury TW16 6QU. Doors open 6.15pm for refreshments and there will be displays of information including planning context, with Spelthorne Council staff on hand to answer questions, followed by the event comprising introduction, pre-submitted questions with responses and finally, an opportunity for questions arising from the floor.

This main event will run from 7pm, and is estimated to finish no later than the venue closing time of 10pm. Please ensure your questions are sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Friday 23 January. Please let us know you wish to attend; those with booked places will be given priority for seating on the night. To book, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your name and contact details. These details will not be publicised or used for any purpose other than arranging bookings for the event. For clarification of any the above details please contact Joanne Jones at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 01784 446421

The Kempton Park information event will be attended by:

Roberto Tambini (Chair) – Chief Executive, Spelthorne Borough Council

Liz Borthwick & Lee O’Neil – Assistant Chief Executives, SBC

John Brooks – Head of Planning, SBC

Heather Morgan – Staines-Upon-Thames Regeneration Manager(Former Head of Planning)

Cllr Robert Watts – Leader of Spelthorne Borough Council

Cllr Alfred Friday – Sunbury East Councillor

Cllr Ian Harvey – Sunbury East Councillor

Cllr Tim Evans – Surrey County Council and Halliford/Sunbury West Councillor

Cllr Sandra Dunn – Halliford/Sunbury West Councillor

Cllr Bernie Spoor – Sunbury Common Councillor

Also invited:

Kwasi Kwarteng, MP for Spelthorne

Other Spelthorne Councillors

Kempton Park Racecourse / Jockey Club

Residents’ Associations: LOSRA; Kempton RA; Batavia RA; Green Street Action Group; Stratton Road

Corner Group; Weir Estate RA

Interest groups: Keep Kempton Green; Lower Sunbury Traders; Model Aircraft Club; Model Railway Club

Plus: All residents in the ward and adjoining areas who might wish to attend.

Regards

Joanne Jones

Community Development Manager

Spelthorne Council

Sceptical novelist Charles Condomine invites self-proclaimed medium Madame Arcati to his home for a seance, hoping to gather material for a new book. When the hapless psychic accidentally summons the spirit of Condomine's late wife, Elvira, his home and life are quickly turned into a shambles as his wife's ghost torments both himself and his new bride, Ruth.

For many years this play was the longest-running comedy in the history of British Theatre and is now brought to us by the Shepperton Players at the Riverside Arts Centre, Thames Street on 29th, 30th & 31st January. Tickets at £10 may be bought through the box office on: 07505 206757.

To help encourage more re-use and recycling, Surrey County Council would like to know what you do with your unwanted clothes and home textiles.

The questions in the survey include what happens to items which could still be used, and what happens to items which aren’t suitable to be used again. To complete the survey, click here

The next Music Night at Sunbury Cricket Club falls on Friday 23rd January, and it’s a very special occasion, as it’s a Jazz Night which commemorates the 80th anniversary of the birth of Tubby Hayes, probably the greatest British jazz musician of all time, who died tragically young in 1973 when he was just 38. The gig features THE SIMON SPILLETT QUARTET – Simon is one of the UK’s very best tenor saxophonists, winning the British Jazz Award in 2011, and is recognised as the leading exponent of Tubby Hayes’ style of jazz within the genre – he was described by Jazzwise magazine as “the world’s leading Tubby-ologist”. Simon is also a noted writer and publishes hius biography of Tubby Hayes in a few months’ time.

He has acquired a reputation as one of the most distinctive, hard-swinging and exciting saxophonists on the current UK jazz scene, a regular at Ronnie Scott’s Club (he is appearing there the week after our gig) and performs at major festivals across the UK, as well as recording critically acclaimed albums and broadcasting on BBC Radio 3 with his own group.

His press reviews include high praise from leading jazz observers; “Formidable” (Humphrey Lyttelton, BBC Radio 2); Phenomenal” (Dave Gelly, The Observer) and “saxophone playing of the highest order” (Jazz Journal magazine), and The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings observed that “Spillett doesn’t shake you by the hand so much as grab you by the throat….”

Simon’s quartet features major names from the world of British jazz royalty; pianist John Critchinson was a member of Ronnie Scott’s band for eighteen years; bassist Alec Dankworth is the son of legendary bandleader John Dankworth, and has appeared at the Club with Tony Kinsey’s Quartet, and drummer Clark Tracey is the son of renowned jazz pianist Stan Tracey. There’s more info at www.simonspillett.com and there is plenty of video if you search his name at www.youtube.com

It will be an exhilarating evening of top class bebop jazz. Simon is a really exciting performer. and even if you are not a dyed-in-the-wool jazz aficionado, enjoyment of a really entertaining and electrifying show can be guaranteed. It really is a 'must see'.

Local residents have decided not to pursue the current request for a Judicial Review after the Court advised that there is no case to answer.

Surrey CC were aware of the legal challenge and therefore spent thousands more pounds of residents' money on expensive lawyers ensuring that the planning process used to pass the Eco Park application was procedurally armour-plated.

Surrey have simply ticked the right boxes in the procedure. It doesn't make what they have done, or what they are doing, any more right or good; and certainly not green or 'Eco' in safeguarding the health of Spelthorne's SCC tax-paying residents. The procedure needn't be decent, honest or truthful. That's irrelevant as long as it's legal it would seem.

A far more ecological and lower cost approach for Surrey residents, and one which would have removed the environmental risks (remember, judged too dangerous for the RHS's plants at Wisley!) from surrounding residents and schools, would be to send our processed waste to one of the many larger incinerators already built away from population centres and which are crying out for more waste fuel to remain viable. These facilities would also process the waste more cheaply per tonne with much more efficient energy recovery.

By contrast, Charlton Lane with its low energy recovery disposal, is ranked no better than landfill by DEFRA. In spite of SCC's misleading statements to the contrary, the County is not required to burn processed waste near to where it arises in order to excuse this low capacity inefficient plant. The much more 'Eco' and cheaper solution would also have avoided the need to build an unnecessary and disproportionately massive (for its small capacity) industrial plant at Charlton Lane.

Contrary to Surrey County Council's claims, no exceptional circumstances exist to justify what will be a huge plant in the green belt to dispose of a lesser amount of dry waste (45k tonnes per annum versus 400k tonnes in a not much larger and far higher energy recovery Eco facility). No, the only real benefit of this proposal is to ensure that the PFI grant profits for processing our waste are paid to SCC's exclusive PFI contractor, SITA, rather than to a cheaper and more 'Eco' competitor. It's shameful.

LOSRA together with Spelthorne Against the Eco Park (SATEP), the group campaigning to stop the development, are exploring several other avenues, and will not give up on such a misguided proposal which will soon turn into the biggest and dirtiest white elephant ever proposed in the County.