fishmongers now open at 39 - residents' association

Fishmongers Now Open at 39 Bridge Road, Hampton Court, East Molesey, KT8 9ER...

... and a free local home delivery service is

still available. Fishman Direct, Alan the

Fishman from the village, has recently opened

a fishmongers in East Molesey. Opening

hours are Mon to Sat, 9am to 6pm with late

night opening on Thurs and early opening on

Sat. Alan hopes he can continue bringing a

selection of fresh seafood to Thames Ditton on

Saturday mornings. We wish you all a merry

Christmas and a happy New Year and we look

forward to your continued support.

Call 020 8127 0252 or01372 461 741Visit www.fishmandirect.co.uk

57800_ISFC.qxd:SPRING inside Cover 2005 19/2/10 10:08 Page 1

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SPRING 2010

The Magazine of the Thames Ditton and Weston GreenResidents’ Association

Published quarterly since Spring 1970

EditorKeith Evetts6 Church WalkThames Ditton KT7 0NW020 8398 [email protected]

Magazine DesignGuy Holman24 Angel Road,Thames Ditton020 8398 1770

DistributionGeorge Cammack19 Riversdale Road,Thames Ditton020 8398 8727

Advertisement ManagerVerity Park20 Portsmouth AvenueThames Ditton KT7 0RT020 8398 5926

ContributorsYou are welcome to submitarticles or images. Please contactthe Editor in advance. Next deadline 7 May.

AdvertisersThames Ditton Today isdelivered to an influential4000 households throughoutThames Ditton and Weston Green.Call for rates for full page, half andquarter page advertising.

In this Issue:News from the Residents' Association…………………… 7

Policing the Neighbourhood …………………………… 13

Why Residents' Association Councillors? ……………… 17

Felicia Browne, Weston Green's Revolutionary ………… 21

Your Residents' Association in Action 2009/10 ………… 24

What Community Hospital?! …………………………… 29

Margaret Briggs, Writer ………………………………… 33

Curtain Up at the Vera Fletcher Hall …………………… 35

The Theatre in the Village ……………………………… 39

Spring Crossword………………………………………… 41

Solution to Winter Crossword …………………………… 43

Services, Groups, Clubs and Societies…………………… 44

By Hook or Crook ……………………………………… 46

Cover photo: Spring bursts out in a local garden – Editor

www.residents-association.com

Officers and staff of the Association are volunteers, but we must fund costs of this magazine,administrative and election expenses, and other expenses such as spring bulb-planting and thevillage Christmas tree. The subscription is only £3 per household. If you can contribute more,please do so. Subscriptions (in an envelope please) may be left at Boots Chemist, 14 High Street,or Thorkill Road Pharmacy, 94 Thorkill Road, Thames Ditton. Or mail to Membership SecretaryPeter Haynes at 6 Onslow Gardens, Thames Ditton KT7 0JJ. Thank you.

57800.qxd:Thames Ditton SPRING 2005 2/3/10 12:23

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the next residents’ association open meetings are

TUESDAY 16 MARCH (AGM) AND TUESDAY 27 APRIL, AT 8.00PM

AT THE VERA FLETCHER HALL, 4 EMBERCOURT ROAD, THAMES DITTON

ALL WHO LIVE OR WORK IN THAMES DITTON AND WESTON GREEN ARE WELCOME

Thames Ditton & Weston Green

Residents’ Association

Annual General Meeting

8.00 pm on 16 March 2010,at Vera Fletcher Hall

Agenda:

1. MINUTES of the 2009 Annual GeneralMeeting and matters arising therefrom.

2. CHAIRMAN’S ANNUAL REPORT: toreceive, discuss and adopt the Annual Reportfor 2009-2010.

3. ACCOUNTS: to receive the Accounts forthe year ended 31 December 2009.

4. APPOINTMENTS: to receive nominationsand appoint officers and an Auditor:

President Vice PresidentChairman Vice ChairmenHon Secretary Hon Treasurer Auditor

5. ELECTIONS: to adopt a candidate tostand at the Elmbridge Borough CouncilElections on 6 May 2010

6. RESOLUTIONS: to consider anyresolutions submitted in writing to theSecretary by 2 March 2010.

7. GUEST SPEAKERS: Illustrated talk byGuest Speakers Joan Harlow and Paul Langtonof Esher Local History Society: “TheFascinating History of Thames Ditton”

President: Ann LevickVice-President: Edward Rowe,Vice-President: Maureen Sheldrick

Thames Ditton CouncillorsDavid Lowe,8 Embercourt Road, Thames Ditton 020 8398 4957

Ruth Lyon,11 Riversdale Road, Thames Ditton 020 8398 3396

Karen Randolph, Deepfield, Giggs Hill Road,Thames Ditton 020 8398 5005

Weston Green CouncillorsLorraine Sharp,168 Ember Lane, Esher 07970 874 925

Tannia Shipley, ‘Clinton House’27 Lower Green Road, Esher 020 8398 2484

Surrey County Councillor:Peter Hickman, Little Lodge,Watts Road, Thames Ditton 020 8339 0931

Officers:Chairman: Libby MacIntyre,24, High Street, Thames Ditton 020 8398 5534

Vice-Chairman: Martin Wilberforce,7 River Avenue, Thames Ditton 020 8398 4732

Hon. Treasurer: Bob Huxster,5 Station Rd, Thames Ditton 020 8398 3489Hon. Secretary: Tricia Bland,29 Station Rd., Thames Ditton 020 8339 0485

Membership Secretary: Peter Haynes6 Onslow Gardens, Thames Ditton 020 8398 6019

Conveners of Sub-Committees:Health and Community: Karen Randolph (see above for details)

Planning: Graham Cooke23 Ashley Road, Thames Ditton 020 8398 8509

Highways, Drainage: Andrew Roberts,1 Boyle Farm Road, Thames Ditton 020 8786 6882

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7

News From the Residents’ Association

18 November to 17 February

After another successful Christmas Fairthe holiday period was quiet. Shop closurescontinue with Lottie and Thomas departingthe High Street for the Web. Criminalactivity seems to have picked up inFebruary with some episodes of burglaryand anti-social behaviour and a lamentablesmash-and-grab raid on Assimi: the shopwas closed at the time and fortunatelyowner Bernard Leon, a craftsman of thehighest quality, was not hurt in the raid.His shop was soon back up and running.

ParkingSurrey Highways officers have drawn

up the proposed parking scheme forThames Ditton. Detailed plans are on ourwebsite. The scheme has taken intoaccount previous consultations: in view ofintractably conflicting opinions a muchreduced scheme is proposed, limited tothe area of the High Street and close tothe Station. It will free critical roadjunctions from obstruction, providecurfew parking in Basingfield Road, andlimited short term parking for shoppers inthe High Street and Summer Road.

The scheme will be presented to theLocal Area Committee for approval priorto the official consultation period of28 days to begin in April. Surrey willnotify residents by an advertisement in thelocal press and by the posting of noticeson lamp posts. The scheme will be on theSCC website in due course. As news isreceived, we will keep residents informed

via our website and the RA notice board.The results of the consultation will becollated and the authority for any changesis to be delegated to the Head of ParkingServices, the Chairman of the Area LocalCommittee and the local CountyCouncillor (Peter Hickman). The finalscheme for implementation will take intoaccount the results of this consultation. Ifdiverse opinions are expressed then aconsensus view will be taken.

Meanwhile we continue to press for aconstructive approach to charging in AshleyRoad car park. Usage dropped followingthe imposition of punitive charges for half a

smash and grab raid at Assimi 5 February


8

day and longer, and the council’s revenuefrom the car park is significantly down. Thismakes no sense. On 12 February all thetraders and businesses wrote to ElmbridgeCouncil to reject a proposal for a separateannual season ticket for businesses and toask the Council to reconsider. The current£4 per day charge for all users is killing theHigh Street, increasing congestion andtraders’ staff, some of whom are part time,cannot afford the increase. The rulingfaction’s policy is clearly that if borough carparks do not make a profit they should besold off. Residents’ policy is that the carparks are community assets with a purpose:we want them to be well used and to unclogneighbouring streets. Only when they arenearly full should charges be raised.

Surrey has acquired new powers underthe Traffic Management Act to act ondouble parking and obstructive parking.The task is being devolved to boroughcouncils, and Elmbridge subcontractenforcement to NSL (formerly NCP) whoseten to a dozen Civil Enforcement Officersare for the most part concerned only withElmbridge’s car parks. There are sparse butregular street patrols in the Borough and theofficers can issue a Penalty Charge Noticeto any vehicle that they believe is parked incontravention of the parking regulations.There is no extra budget for the extensionof activity. Elmbridge’s position, fairlyenough, is that if an enforcement officerhappens to be nearby when a call about badparking is received, they may be able totake action. However, in recent days therehave been ‘raids’ to ticket cars double-parked in the High Street or obstructivelyparked near junctions. If the council took amore sensible view of parking in the carpark, this should not be necessary.

HighwaysWinter ice made the pothole

nightmare even worse. Insurance claimsacross Surrey rose to around 40 per day.Our Highways Convenor Andrew Robertsagain compiled a list of “qualifyingpotholes” in Thames Ditton and WestonGreen to help press Surrey Highways toaddress them. As of mid February theyare fixing an average of 25 a day, startingwith priority roads, and are spendingabout £120,000 a week on them. Thequality of repair has been questioned.

On the morning of 10 Februaryoutraged residents reported SurreyHighways contractors cutting down 17of the flowering cherry trees that lineHampton Court Way. It transpired thatthis was part of a project to widen thepath for a cycle route at the behest of theCounty Cycling officer and the East AreaCycle forum. Residents had not beenconsulted. The proposal was put throughDecember’s Area Local Committee but

pothole nightmare continues


9

officials had not mentioned loss of thetrees as part of the project, which iscosting £70,000, nor, it turned out, hadthey made provision to replace them. OurCouncillor Peter Hickman has made verystrong representations to have the treesreplaced when the work is done.

The vandalised lamp on the oldFountain in Thames Ditton’s ConservationArea – gift of Hannibal Speer in 1879 – wasfinally replaced by Surrey after eight monthsof shilly-shallying. To get the job done, wehad to chivvy SCC in the media, and PeterHickman met the cost of £400 from his localmember’s allowance as neither Surrey norElmbridge would pay from their budgets.

After a year of patient lobbyingAndrew Roberts succeeded in gettingNetwork Rail to remove the large,unsightly signs on the railway bridge byThames Ditton station that perenniallyattracted graffitists. To celebrate that andthe new Fountain lamp, Andrew providedand planted spring flowers at the Fountainand round the octagon in the High Street.While Elmbridge plant and water basketsand troughs from public funds elsewherein the borough, notably in Cobham, notone is provided for Thames Ditton orWeston Green: we are working on that.

Other itemsFollowing public consultation Elmbridge

are pursuing a diluted version of DogControl Orders which will make it illegalto walk more than four dogs simultaneously,or to allow dogs to foul enclosed sports andchildren’s play areas and public cemeteries.The council has abandoned ideas requiringdogs to be kept out of water and kept onleads in areas of the commons. Overall,respondents to the consultation were

substantially against Dog Control Orders atall, but there was support for someindividual measures and the diluted formshould have majority acceptance.

After a presentation by council officersat our Open Meeting in February,Elmbridge will mount an experiment inlitter control without bins along AlbanyReach during the summer months whenusage is high. There will be provision toremove any litter that does accumulate.They (and we) will monitor the resultsand if the situation deteriorates, the binswill be reinstated.

The Ember Centre should move toThames Ditton Hall in April following agrant from central government to developan ‘Intergenerational Centre’ for childrenand retired people. Facilities should beupgraded to a level commensurate with thatof the present Ember Centre venue, theVera Fletcher Hall. It follows a year inwhich the council’s rulers first tried to closethe Ember Centre, then came up with asuccession of lame alternatives that wouldhave seriously degraded this valuableservice to the more elderly. Thames DittonHall, formerly the Youth Centre, was theobject of a protracted and successfulcampaign by Residents to preserve thepremises for community use, when SurreyCounty Council wanted to sell it off fordevelopment that would have seen areduction also in car-parking space used bylibrary visitors and parents of Junior Schoolchildren. Thames Ditton Hall’s situationshould be improved and consolidated by theinvestment, at a time when the ElmbridgeCabinet has made clear its intention todispose of some other Elmbridgecommunity halls one way or another.


10

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There has been much opposition acrossthe county to Surrey’s intention drasticallyto cut back bus services, and to axe schoolservices. We suspect that the county’sruling executive will decide to go aheadanyway, although Residents’ councillorPeter Hickman reports that cuts in schoolservices may be deferred for a year afterHead Teachers lodged strong objections.

Council Tax will go up by nearly twopercent overall this year under theConservative administrations of the councils,several of whose members are both boroughand county councillors. Avoiding broaderpublic debate on the medium termconsequences, the ruling faction inElmbridge is cutting staff by around 10%.Services will be affected. They also want toreduce by two-thirds the council’s Overviewand Scrutiny bodies where their decisionsare monitored and criticised.

Surrey County Council has signed acontract to replace orange street lightswith bright white lights of greaterefficiency. This will take five years county-wide, and is funded by government. Lampswill be controlled remotely and monitoredfor defects in real time. Their timing willbe better adjusted for the ambient lightingcycle. Lights will be directed downwardsto limit light-pollution.

PlanningThe latest planning application for the

Olde Harrow site was rejected by the AreaPlanning Committee in Elmbridge. Slightlyless barracks-like in appearance, with animproved roof-line, the design’s scale andmass was little different from the last onewhich the Planning Inspector threw out onAppeal. Cynicism was aroused when thearchitects’ plans of the frontage were so

shrouded with imaginary trees that youcouldn’t make out the building frontage!They were asked to resubmit a version thatplaced less demand on the imagination.Meanwhile, residents in the vicinity secureda planning expert and our Associationcommissioned a technical appraisal from anindependent architect. Their evidencebuttressed our Planning Convenor GrahamCooke’s arguments, representative of thepublic objections, to the Committeemeeting, which carried the day unanimouslyamong councillors on the Committee.Graham comments: “We all hope thatwhatever plans are now put forwardrecognise the sensitive nature of this site. Itis regrettable that we will all have to put upwith a boarded up building for even longerbut that has to be a price worth paying to geta better long term result.”

The new owners of The Newlands(Grade II Listed) have received planningpermission for new windows and doors tothe grim 1970s’ institutional buildingadjoining the house. The owners haveagreed that the listed part should be heatedand well looked after pending furtherapplications for development, in order toprotect the special features, and Elmbridge’sConservation officer is visiting periodicallyto check the whole of the listed part. Theoriginal house was granted permission in1948 for use as a children’s home. In 1970the council granted permission for 38 flatletsin the new building to be used forcommunity housing for the elderly. Theapplication for new windows wasaccompanied by a statement declaring theintention to develop “38 studio flats” in the70’s addition. Whether a change of use isintended is unclear. A separate application isto be made for 6 flats in the listed part.


The struggle to preserve the setting ofHampton Court Palace continues with anonline petition to the Prime Minister to takethe wasteland river frontage of the formerJolly Boatman into public ownership. Thiscould offer the prospect of an attractivegreen riverside route to Hampton Court viaAlbany Reach. You may sign the petition athttp://petitions.number10.gov.uk/hampton-court or follow the link from our website.

Doings and datesSadly, past Chairman Geoffrey Hutton

A.R.I.B.A. died in January. Under hisleadership in 1969/70 the Association joinedthe Civic Trust and other like-mindedorganisations. Geoffrey played an active rolein the campaign to prevent the village frombeing used as a through route and ‘rat-run’especially by heavy lorries. He fought forbetter standards in planning, was one of thefirst members of the Thames DittonConservation Area Advisory Committee,and working with Octagon and architectKatarina Halasz he brought about the award-winning restoration of the Ferry Works site.He was one of the first benefactors to theAppeal to restore the Vera Fletcher Hall.Geoffrey’s later initiatives resulted inElmbridge leasing land at a peppercorn rentto Ajax Sea Scouts where developersconstructed the Scouts’ new HQ in return forthe surrender of their existing lease someyears before it was due.

Alas other deaths during the winterincluded former TDT Editor MargaretBriggs (p.33), and Kay Tadd, who wasHead of the Infants’ School from the mid1980’s until the late 90’s and formed the‘Friends’ of the school. She will be fondlyremembered by all for her patience andgood humour, for the interest she took in

the children and for developing the schoolto a high level. Death also claimed GraceGoy, who with her husband Neville was amainstay of Cubs, Scouts and Rangers inThames Ditton and Weston Green, and wasmade MBE for youth work in Lambeth.

The new charity Walsingham Care(see last issue) welcomes enquiries aboutsupport for the elderly who need care orassistance. The telephone line has beenfaulty but it is now working properly:Contact 020 8398 6774

The next events for the St NicholasAppeal are an Open day at the church onSaturday 13 March from 10.00 to 16.00,and a fashion show on 17 April. Fundsraised now amount to over £70,000 andthere is some way to go.

SubscriptionsPlease make use of the separate form

thoughtfully supplied with this issue to sendin your 2010 subscription to theAssociation. Subscription is a small wayyou can help the Association’s volunteers,all unpaid, to meet the expenses of runningthe Association, working away at issues ofplanning and local administration, keepingyou informed through this magazine andour website, taking initiatives to improvethese villages, and maintaining a strong andindependent local voice in the councils.

ElectionsIn this May’s Borough Council elections

we hope you will turn out to support yourResidents’ Association – residents likeyourselves, accountable only to you. Pleasedon’t stay away from the polls and leavethe field to the politicians.

Thank you.www.residents-association.com

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13

Policing the Neighbourhood

Greg Turner is a family man, and heenjoys his work. Promoted police sergeantafter a spell as the beat officer for ThamesDitton, for the past few years he’s headedthe Neighbourhood Team for East Elmbridge– an area stretching from Oxshott toMolesey. It numbers 16 officers dividedinto five areas, for each of which there isa constable and usually two PoliceCommunity Support Officers (PCSOs).

They spend at least 80% of their timeon neighbourhood policing, the rest onother policing tasks from time to timeimposed. Higher management has to be –and is – firm about refusing tasks thatwould nibble away at their primary role:to be known to the community andcontactable; to deal with problems that thecommunity flags up as important; and tonip issues in the bud before they escalate.

There aren’t enough bodies to provide24/7 neighbourhood coverage throughout,and it’s not necessary: response teamsbased at Esher cover the borough roundthe clock. Discrepant central governmentfunding means that in our area around £80per citizen is spent for a year’s policing,while across the metropolitan border inresidential Kingston, the figure is around£170 – which pays there for a sergeant,and at least one constable and two PCSOsin every ward. Our team has to prioritisein order to be around at likely peak timesfor lawlessness, and also to avoid being sopredictable that criminals can plan for‘off-peak’ activities.

Greg keeps 14 of the sixteen in hispatch on operational duties andmaximises the time they spend ‘outthere.’ Much of a constable’s time has tobe spent on paperwork to meet thecumulative burden of governmentregulation. If a citizen is stopped andquestioned, information and reasons haveto be recorded. Preparing files for courttakes a deal of time, and to make a casefor surveillance or discreet CCTVcoverage under the Regulation of

Sgt. Greg Turner of the Neighbourhood team


Investigatory Powers Act can take awhole day. PCSOs however have morelimited powers and consequently muchless paperwork, and so they are able tospend nearly all their time on the beat.

We may get nostalgic for the genialvillage do-it-all bobby, thumbing hischinstrap under a blue lamp of anevening, but with fast moderncommunications there are better ways topolice a wide variety of crime, some of itvery nasty. In 1933 PC Sidney Pattendenwas shot three times by thieves he and acolleague tried to arrest in ‘a ThamesDitton tennis pavilion’. These days, thestrategy is for the police on the beat tosummon a rapid response once trouble isdetected that cannot easily be resolved.Resources can be summoned from EsherTargeted Response Team, or theNeighbourhood Tactical team (a Sergeantand 5 Constables) who work from Walton.Occasionally the police helicopter may beinvolved. This may at times seem to thecitizen to be disproportionately heavy, butif the helicopter is nearby anduncommitted when a call is received, itcan be very quick and effective.

The strategy relies on PCSOs andpolice knowing the area and covering it,and on residents providing pertinent andtimely information. Many of us arereluctant to call 999, but we should do sonot just when someone’s in danger, butwhen the police have a chance to preventan imminent crime or catch theperpetrators in action, even if the crime isnot a serious one. While ourneighbourhood officers are accessible andcan be telephoned, if they are alreadyattending a problem then to call them canadd delay in circumstances where there is

some urgency. With a call to 999 the rightpolice response will be deployedimmediately from somewhere even if ourown are out. When there’s no urgency, use0845 125 2222.

Around one-fifth of theNeighbourhood Team’s time is spent onofficial engagement with the community,which includes police panels, work withschools, ‘meet the beat’ and other sessionsto meet the public on and off the street,hear concerns, set local priorities andwork on crime prevention. The team findsit encouraging that residents’ prioritiestend to be traffic offences and anti-socialbehaviour, reflecting a low level of moreserious crime in the neighbourhood. Themore serious crime – indeed about halfthe crime in Surrey – is mostly attributedto criminals from outside Surrey’sborders. Exchange of intelligence withneighbouring forces is a Surrey priority.

Another management priority is toencourage officers to use their discretionto resolve low-level incidents without thepanoply of formal action. In Greg’s view,this is welcome. Endorsement from theChief Constable gives officers the supportthey need to do this rather than be drivensolely by box-ticking ‘targets.’Perpetrators can be admonished and basicinformation recorded without needing avisit to the station, fingerprinting, and thefull paperwork that comes with a formalcaution. Immediate action can be moreeffective than the marginal prospect ofcourt some time hence; and in recentyears the Crown Prosecution Service,short of funds, has proved reluctant toprosecute unless there is a very highprobability of conviction. This can bedemoralising to law enforcers.

14


The local police stations themselvesare set to become things of the past. Thishas been triggered by budget shortfalls,but in truth many of these buildings,especially the older ones, have become amaintenance burden that can’t bejustified. The station in Esher will likelybe sold. The one in Molesey will probablyfollow suit: staffed by volunteers andopen 12 hours a week, it is visited onaverage by just ten members of the publicduring those hours. The savings will fundabout 200 new police officers, full policeconstables, to go on the beat. So how willthe team cope for office space, how willthey keep a base within the community?Some of the force may be based in theCivic Centre in Esher, where there is adeal of under-used space; and there areimaginative ideas like basingneighbourhood officers in other publicbuildings – libraries or public halls, forpart of their time.

In Thames Ditton and Weston Greenthere’s no doubt that neighbourhoodpolicing has been a success. We see moreof our police on the beat; they try to beresponsive to our concerns, they havebeen notably effective in reducing theamount of anti-social behaviour over thepast two or three years. It’s not eradicated,but it’s much less. Three years ago therewere five ASBOs in our area. Now thereare none. Most crimes are comparativelyminor and opportunist, and some could beeradicated if residents were more sensibleabout locking windows and vehicles. Oneof our PCSOs lately tried all the car doorsalong Speer Road of an evening, andfound seventeen unlocked. Seventeen!One with a mobile phone, laptop andsatnav left on view.

Residents are supportive, and theirvigilance and observation is essential tothe effort. Generally they don’t wastepolice time, although on occasion theycould be more tolerant of, or moreproactive with, their neighbours. Theteam favours mediation, and in the eventof a local dispute the first question isalways: “Have you spoken to yourneighbour about it?.”

There is a lighter side: a straight facemay be needed when you find anexpensive unlocked Mercedes with thekeys inside on the drive of aNeighbourhood Watch co-ordinator; oryou are called to deal with a ‘dangerousstray Alsatian’ but arrive to find it eating abiscuit and playing with a three-year-old!Or when an ornamental tree is reportedmissing – whilst on patrol a day or solater the local officer was amused toobserve one of our lighter fingeredresidents planting the very same tree intohis own front garden (quickly recovered,returned and the thief’s aspiration for aslot on Gardener’s World shattered !).

Police aren’t automatically likedeverywhere in the UK. The tough, hardimages of the television series mayimpress villains, but they can alienate theordinary citizen. Neighbourhood policingbridges this gap. In this area, we’refortunate to have an intelligent,approachable and patient neighbourhoodteam that works. They’re good. Theyknow and like the area and are part of it.You should make a point of getting toknow them – on the street or at the policepanel meetings. They deserve our support.

See their web page atwww.surrey.police.uk

15


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Why Residents’Association Councillors?

In February this year former EsherCouncillor Peter Heaney and I metresidents from Barnet, North London,who wanted to set up a Residents’Association and put up candidates in thelocal elections on May 6th. Fed up withbeing excluded from decisions by theTory administration and feeling they hadno voice on how their council tax wasspent on their services, and furious atplans to build on playing fields that hadbeen gifted to the local people in the1920s, they felt their only action was toform a Residents’ Association and put upcandidates – whose sole mandate wouldbe to represent local people.

We shared with them our constitution,registration with the ElectoralCommission and details of how ourResidents’ Associations worked –officers, open meetings, Thames DittonToday magazine and Residents’Association website. What impressedthem most was the way RA councillorsattended the open meetings and wereaccountable to the local community.

As a councillor of many years I cantake for granted the value of havingResidents’ councillors on ElmbridgeCouncil compared with national partypolitical ones. The main difference isindependence and accountability.Residents’ councillors are not attached toa national political party, which has awhip which can override local concerns

and has an ideology from Westminster.Unlike councillors from the nationalparties who often see local government asa stepping stone to Westminster – asshown in the recent jostling to beselected as Conservative parliamentarycandidate – RA councillors have loyaltyonly to their local community.

The Thames Ditton & Weston GreenResidents’ Association was set up in 1934and put up candidates for the EsherCouncil in order to have a voice on thedecision making body – on issues such asthe route of the Esher Bypass, which wasproposed to go through the commons ofWeston Green. Today our Residents’Councillors have seats and votes on theCouncil committees and can influencedecisions. Last year the Conservativeadministration proposed to close theEmber Centre for the retired. OurResidents’ Association led the successfulcampaign to save this vital facility for ourolder residents. They were able to do thisbecause we had councillors on thecommittee who saw the documents thatalerted us in time to the proposals to closethe Centre.

The lesson from this is that, withoutcouncillors on the Council committeeswhere decisions are made, a Residents’Association is toothless.

Another area in which we aredistinctive is in our consistent support for

17


the Green Belt and heritage. It isunfortunate that for all the protestations ofsupport from the political parties, theyhave all too often found excuses forvoting for developments which wouldirretrievably change the character of ourborough. Last year the Conservativesvoted en-bloc for the massivedevelopment on the Jolly Boatman siteopposite Hampton Court Palace over theheads of ward councillors anddisregarding 3,000 local petitioners. Theyalso all voted en-bloc to build two hotelson green belt land at Sandown Park and

Moore Place, Esher, – against all theCouncil’s own policies to protect greenbelt from development.

Defending our environment meansconstant vigilance. The Residents’Association, through its planningcommittee, vets every planningapplication, makes representations to theCouncil’s Planning Department and givesevidence at appeals. It was Residents’Association councillors who led thesuccessful battle against the housingdevelopment on the Tennis Club site, the

18

Ember Centre Chairman Joy Woodhead joined by Residents ̓Councillors Karen Randolph, TanniaShipley and Long Ditton councillor Shweta Kapadia present a huge petition to save the Centre. Wewere first alerted to the plan to close it, buried in a long council committee document, because wehad councillors on the committee. With representatives on the council and support across the wholecommunity we mounted a successful campaign to preserve this excellent facility for the elderly.


over-development on the site of the OldeHarrow and the proposed flats at 29 HighStreet, Thames Ditton, which would haveharmed the character and appearance ofthe Conservation Area and meant loss ofemployment.

We do not work in a vacuum. We holdregular open meetings where everyonecan air their views on current planningproposals and other matters of concern toresidents from major traffic proposals todog dirt and litter on the riverbank. Thepolitical parties hold no open meetingsand so their councillors are not so wellinformed on local needs.

Residents’ Association committeemembers are seasoned volunteers whocare about the community but would notwant to work within a party politicalframework. The varied experience of RAcommittee members such as surveyors,architects, lawyers, business people,provide a backing for our councillors notfound in the political parties so that RAcouncillors are the best briefed in thecouncil.

I often meet the argument that“consultation is fine but don’t you needparty politics to get things actually done?”My own experience is that the opposite istrue. Party politics are largely irrelevantfor the issues we face at the local level.We take a practical approach to localissues – not some ideology likecontracting out of providing publicservices leading to selling off public halls,closing public lavatories, putting upcharges in all car parks, ending frozenmeals for the elderly and cutting back thechildren’s Shout holiday scheme. Wenever forget that we are spending public

money on public services and our aim isto deliver value for money. HereResidents councillors have a record ofmaintaining and increasing servicesthrough good management. In the 14years 1992 – 2006 Residents councillors,supported for most of this period by theLiberal Democrats, ran the Council verysuccessfully, building the new XcelLeisure Centre, introducing recycling,enhanced old people’s services, thechildren’s Shout scheme and our Artsprogramme. The Council was awarded“Excellent” status, putting it in the top10% of all councils in England.

All the political parties profess supportfor greater freedom for local governmentbut in practice they ensure they increasetheir control of our affairs. Voting byparty whip all too often overrides votingon the merits of each individual case. Ioften recall W.S. Gilbert’s lines:

“I always voted at my party’s callAnd never thought of thinking for

myself at all“At a time when trust in the national

political parties has reached a new low,we firmly believe that the way forward isthrough community policies not nationalpolitics, and through local solutions tolocal problems. We are lucky inElmbridge that we have a real alternative.RA councillors are not a “front” for anyother group but have always stood ontheir own merits and policies, believingthat at the local level councillors shouldbe accountable first and foremost to theirelectorate and not to a party politicalgrouping. RA councillors exist to giveexpression to this belief.

Councillor Ruth Lyon

19


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On the eighteenth day of a drear coldFebruary in 1904 came the cries of anewborn baby girl from a houseoverlooking Milbourne pond, then full ofwater. It was a day after Puccini’sMadame Butterfly was premiered inMilan, and about a week after theJapanese torpedoed the Russian Fleet inharbour at Port Arthur – unsportingly,they omitted to declare war beforehand.Welcome to the world, Felicia Browne,and to Weston Green.

Her father Harold was a director of thefamily firm in a new field that was to beiconic in the twentieth century:advertising. Of liberal views and keen onthe arts, he had plenty of money. He

attracted and in 1898 married EdithJohnson, a twenty-seven year old actressand singer with the D’Oyly Carte Operacompany. Children followed swiftly, andthe growing family moved to The Elmsthree years later.

Now The Elms is a fine mellow housedating from Queen Anne, which radiatesnational and local history. General SirJohn Lambert lived there, mentioned byWellington in dispatches from Waterloo –where the General commanded the 10thBrigade against Napoleon’s dictatorship.Then Leonard Seeley, a significant forcein publishing, lived at The Elms with hisprinting works in sheds in the back gardenand offices in Fleet Street: his nephew SirJohn Seeley became Professor of ModernHistory at Cambridge and endowed theSeeley History Library there. Otherowners include a member of theBurmester family famous for banking andport wine; and more recently, Dr. EwartAkeroyd, who developed the means tomake drinkable water from sea waterwhich saved the lives of many torpedoedseamen and downed aviators in thesecond World War. In short, there isnothing to suggest fertile ground forrevolution in The Elms.

But Felicia, the fourth of five Brownechildren, was to carve her own path. Shestudied art at the Slade from 1924-26,with a bent for line drawings and forsculpting in metal; then from 1928 she

Felicia BrowneWeston Green’s revolutionary

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pursued sculpture in Berlin, winning astate prize for a metal plaque. Felicia didnot inherit her mother’s looks: a malefellow-student described her as ‘a ratherplain dumpy young woman in horn-rimmed spectacles and a black hat.’ Shewas an intense and private person,characterised as painfully truthful andhonest but with a lively sense of humour.Sadly, her parents drifted apart and soughtlegal separation: by 1916 Edith hadreturned to the stage. Harold Browne diedin 1924 and Edith seven years later, bywhich time Felicia was already deeplyengaged with the anti-fascist left, andover the next few years she is said to havegiven most of her money to help thosewho wanted to get out of Berlin. Shevisited the Soviet Union in 1931, andwhen she returned to England from Berlinin 1933, the year Hitler becameChancellor, she joined the ArtistsInternational and the Holborn branch ofthe British Communist Party near to herstudio in Bloomsbury.

Then, while at Guy’s Hospital, shedistributed leaflets and attempted toconvert some of the nurses tocommunism. The Security Service – MI5– was not slow to spot this, and opened afile on Felicia Browne which is now inthe public domain at the NationalArchives. They put an intercept on hermail. It became clear that her addresses inBessborough Gardens and then GuilfordStreet were being used as cover foroverseas postal communications tocommunists in Britain. The file in theNational Archives has copies ofintercepted mail, including some ofFelicia’s own letters with line drawingsmuch in the socialist-realist style.

Felicia went on to win a special prizefrom the Trades Union Congress in 1934for designing a medal to celebrate thecentenary of the Tolpuddle Martyrs who,led by Methodist preacher GeorgeLoveless, had founded the Friendly Societyof Agricultural Labourers to protest againstthe gradual lowering of wages in the1830s. (Although trades unions were nolonger illegal, the Martyrs were arrested,found guilty under an ancient and obscurelaw of swearing an oath to each other, andtransported to Australia. This was toomuch for the collective conscience of thenation, and Home Secretary Lord JohnRussell arranged their release and returntwo years later).

The Tolpuddle Martyrs had raised“…the watchword liberty. We will, wewill, we will be free.” A century later, inthe gathering gloom of the 1930s, libertywas being threatened across Europe. Inthe second Republic of Spain an unstablePopular Front government was in electedoffice by the skin of its teeth. Came 1936,and a ‘People’s Olympiad’ was to bestaged in Barcelona as counterpoint to theOlympic Games in Hitler’s Berlin. Anenthusiastic Felicia set off by motor carwith a left-wing photographer friend tosee it. They reached Barcelona in July,just as General Franco’s colleaguesmounted a military coup against theRepublican government. The rebel fascistibotched the coup, and things degeneratedinto complicated civil war. Barcelona andmost of Catalonia were detached fromcentral control and fell into anarchy.

Felicia Browne did not hesitate. Holdin your mind’s eye a picture of this

23

Continued on page 27


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dumpy, quintessentially determined youngEnglish woman as she appliedunsuccessfully, in macho Spain, to jointhe Republican militia or failing that thelocal Red Cross: “I am a member of theLondon Communists and can fight as wellas any man,” she protested. Eventually,on 3 August, they gave in. She joined themilitia and was sent to Tardienta on theAragon front.

Some three weeks later, with minimaltraining, Felicia Browne was in a smallraiding party waiting to blow up a rebelmunitions train. They were ambushedthemselves, and wiped out. The onlysurviving eye-witness, another foreignvolunteer, reported that Felicia met herdeath when she went back to help aninjured Italian comrade. They were bothriddled with bullets. She was 32, thefirst British combatant, and the onlyBritish woman combatant, killed inaction in the Spanish Civil War. Hernephew Peter writes to me that Felicia’sbrother William (Billy) Browne alsodied later in the Spanish Civil War,

posted ‘missing presumed killed’ in1939.

Felicia Browne’s name isunremembered in the place of her birth.Her local connections are not strong.She’s not one of the many who movedhere after making their pile elsewhere, orinherited or married their money andposition. Her ideals were not so verydifferent from Christian ones. Naïve shemight have been, not knowing that theworldly will always seize ideals andpervert them to gain dominion overothers. But she gave her art for her ideals;gave her money away to help others; andfinally gave her life not only for a causebut to help a comrade. There is no grandheadstone to mark her end. Her grave isunknown.

So let’s raise a toast to Felicia Browneof Weston Green. Somehow I thinkGeneral Lambert, from The Elms acentury before, would have been pleasedto invite her for dinner. And, I like tothink, she would have accepted.

Keith EvettsReferences:

The Spanish Civil War:Drawings by Felicia BrowneLawrence & Wishart, London.1936;The impact of the Spanish CivilWar on Britain: war, loss andmemory: Tom Buchanan 2007;Brit ish Women and theSpanish Civil War: AngelaJackson 2002;Oxford Dictionary of NationalBiography;National Archives file KV2 |560 C382668;Internet resources; Mercer Collection, and privatesources, on The Elms

27

1936: London billboard proclaims Feliciaʼs death


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Strapped for cash, the NHS isclosing community beds. This meansthat patients either stay in expensiveacute hospital beds or are heaved outto fare as best they can at home.Thereʼs no extra funding for homenursing. The NHS are avoiding therequired consultation with thecommunity. Karen Randolph isleading the county-wide, cross-partyresistance based on caring andcommon sense.

For many of us our main contact withhospitals is as an occasional outpatient.And even fewer of us have had any reasonto understand in any detail how the healthsystem works. We expect it to be there forus, to provide the care we need, when weneed it, and where we need it.

Technical improvements now meanthat if we do have to go into hospital weare likely to be home in a few days. Butwhat if we have a stroke? Or break a hip?As we get older we are increasingly proneto these and other health related problems.But once the immediate operation, ortreatment has taken place, what happens ifwe no longer need to stay in a largegeneral hospital but are not ready to gohome?

This is one of the areas whereCommunity Hospitals are so important.With their location within the community,

these smaller, less high tech, hospitals(not always easily identified as they maynot have community or cottage in theirname) offer a variety of health servicesincluding in most cases, beds. Althoughthey differ in the range of health servicesthey offer, in general community hospitalsprovide skilled nursing care, appropriatetherapies (eg physiotherapy, occupationaltherapy – ie helping people to relearn oradapt the skills required in their dailylives so that they can live life to itsfullest) and general help with theadjustments needed after illness ortreatment. For example, a number of yearsago my father was failing to make anyprogress for many weeks from a stroke –until he was placed in a hospital where thenurses actively encouraged and cajoledhim into walking into the dining room forhis meals, or to the bathroom or dayroom. Had he stayed in a major hospital,where the staff had no time to help him orto understand his needs, or had he beenforced to go home (which admittedly hewanted to do) he most certainly wouldhave remained in a wheelchair orbedridden. Because of the frequent helphe was given by the nurses in a hospitalenvironment, he regained hisindependence.

It isn’t just patients who have been ina major hospital who benefit: manybenefit by being able to go into acommunity hospital instead of an acute

29

What Community Hospital?!


30

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hospital especially if they might needrepeated stays in a hospital setting forone reason or another (for minorinfections, sorting out drug doses etc).Obviously where possible people shouldgo home, but there can be many reasonswhy returning directly home may not beappropriate.

But what about Thames DittonCommunity Hospital? What is it? Whereis it? For those of you who don’t knowalready, our own ‘Community Hospital’was planned and built at Emberbrook inthe 1990’s, providing both outpatient andintermediate care/ rehabilitation inpatientservices. Outpatient services would beprovided at Emberbrook Health Centreand the NHS authorities agreed that up to14 intermediate care beds would beprovided, by contract, within the nursinghome adjacent to the Emberbrook HealthCentre. Unfortunately, the NHS renegedon this arrangement and withdrew fromthe contract. So we now have, thanks toMEDICS with the help of the Friends ofThames Ditton Hospital, a very successfuloutpatient clinic at Emberbrook HealthCentre – but no inpatient beds. Althoughwe still refer to this arrangement as‘Thames Ditton Community Hospital atEmberbrook’, the hospital as it wasplanned just a few years ago, does notexist in this form, though efforts continueto find a way to enable local people tohave the benefits of locally providedintermediate care beds.

The very provision of communityhospital/intermediate care beds anywherein Surrey is now very much ‘on theagenda’. We all know that public sectoreconomies are just around the corner.

NHS Surrey (formerly known as SurreyPrimary Care Trust) however has its own,existing financial pressures even beforethe public sector economies kick in.Their immediate response has resulted inthe cutting of 70 community hospital bedssince the beginning of October 2009. Thishas included 6 of the 18 beds at Molesey,our nearest community hospital. At thesame time the major hospitals servingSurrey are encountering crippling ‘bedblocking’ problems because they areunable to discharge those patients who nolonger need a bed in an acute hospital butwho are not yet ready to go directly home.So while patients are ‘stuck’ in acutehospitals, beds are being closed incommunity hospitals! Even without thepresent bizarre situation over hospitalbeds, the loss of these beds has potentiallyserious consequences for the healthservice in Surrey as a whole – and for allof us. To quote Linda Nazarko, aconsultant nurse and visiting lecturer fromthe Nursing Times, 3 January 2006:“[Community Hospitals] offer sub-acutecare so that acute hospitals candischarge quicker, and provide ongoingrehabilitation following illness or injuryand high-quality palliative care…” Is itany wonder then that we see communityhospitals (with beds), not as the problembut as part of the solution for the presentproblems in the health sector in Surrey?

Karen RandolphYou can help support the continuing

case for Thames Ditton Community

Hospital by documenting for Karencases where patients need acommunity bed in Thames Ditton butare denied one.

31


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Margaret ‘Peggy’ Briggs, who died onChristmas Day aged 93, edited thismagazine for nearly eight years in the1980s (and survived). Her passion waswriting, and she would love to know thatthe death certificate describes her simply as‘writer.’ She was a warm and remarkablewoman, a joy to know.

Determined to have a career as well as afamily, she worked for ‘Punch’ – where shewas sacked for causing an advertisement toappear upside down; then for an author and aliterary agent. She saved £1 a week until shehad enough to start a secretarial bureau. Shemarried John in 1939. While he was with theRAF she took refuge with her first child inthe countryside where she ran a small-holding and later, a tea shop during the War.

Three sons produced, Margaret became aprofessional writer for the Evening Newsand other publications, including occasionalpieces for The Times. Her one book ‘JamTomorrow,’ as Margaret Norton, waspublished by Gollancz in 1965: but it was atthe short story and occasional verse thatMargaret excelled. Twenty of her storieswere featured on the BBC’s ‘Morning Story’and she gave three talks on ‘Women’s Hour.’

When John died in 1980, Margaretlooked for somewhere to live and, recallingthe beautiful Green with old white housesthat she once admired during train journeys,she found Thames Ditton, settled in DittonClose, and quickly became part of villagelife. She gave her time to this magazine andwas active in establishing the University of

the Third Age in Elmbridge, where shetaught creative writing to students seasonedby the years.

One’s initial impression of a ratherstraitlaced old lady – a Quaker, to boot – wassoon dispelled by the twinkle in her eye andby reading her verses, dealing with subjectsfrom politics to sexuality in a robust fashion,often salty, often amusing. One of ourcrossword-setters of national rank, with abrain still sharp as a diamond, she liked to gothrough the clues before publication. I recallone recent moment when, agonising over aclue for the words ‘hop picker,’ shetentatively suggested an anagram: “hope***** is in order.” We looked at each other,and burst out laughing. Clearly, not on!

So farewell, Peggy Briggs, writer – anda good one. We will all miss you.

Editor

33

Margaret Briggs, Writer


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Newcomers to Thames Ditton,Weston Green and Esher areamazed to discover the Theatre inThames Ditton at the Vera FletcherHall, where the old VictorianVillage Hall built in 1887 tocommemorate Queen Victoria’sGolden Jubilee was restored andreopened in 1992 into an intimate126 seater theatre/concerthall/pocket opera house. Not manysmall theatres, let alone villagehalls, have been able to attract starssuch as Petula Clark, who is theHall’s Patron, Dorothy Tutin, DenisQuilley, Janet Suzman, John JuliusNorwich, Susannah York, VirginiaMcKenna, Covent Garden operastar Donald Maxwell, Louis deBernieres of “Captain Corelli’sMandolin” fame, Rodney Bewes,top poets such as Wendy Cope andJenny Joseph, and the RoyalShakespeare Company.

A highlight of our Spring programmeis the return of Rodney Bewes with his“Three Men in a Boat” on Friday April23. Jerome K. Jerome’s classic tale ofthree friends’ trip up the Thames – notforgetting Montmorency the dog – hasgiven pleasure to millions since the bookfirst appeared in 1889. Rodney’sadaptation of how Harris got 40 strangerslost in Hampton Court maze and otheradventures was a hit at the EdinburghFestival and at the Yvonne Arnaud and

the show reflects his own love of the riverand of his 24ft Edwardian skiff whichfeatures on stage. It seems a long timesince Rodney starred in the “Likely Lads”but he has lost nothing of his ability tocharm, amuse and entertain his audiences.

Michael Friend Productions havebrought to Thames Ditton theirproductions of Ayckbourn’s “Damsels inDistresss” and “Role Play” and Shaw’s“Pygmalion” and “Mrs. Warren’sProfession” which all received rave

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Rodney Bewes – Three Men in a Boat


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Private practice:YewhurstWeston GreenThames DittonSurrey KT7 0JZ

NHS practices: (up to 16 years)St John’s Health Centre Oak Lane Twickenham TW1 3PHHampton ClinicTangley Park RoadHampton Nurserylands TW12 3YH


reviews on their national tours. On FridayMarch 19 they return with Shaw’s “Armsand the Man”, his classic 1894 play setagainst the background of war in theBalkans and which is as fresh andrelevant today as when it was firstperformed. He called it an “anti-romanticcomedy” attacking the then popularheroic view of war and it features one ofhis most charming and memorablecharacters- the chocolate cream soldier.

World class musicians The LondonMozart Trio and the Harpham Quartetwith Ramon Wodkowski bring us topquality concerts in April and June. It isquite a coup getting the London MozartTrio on Saturday 5 June who go on toplay at the Wigmore Hall in July. Britishpianist Colin Stone plays for BBC Radio3, has performed around the world andrecorded many CDs, combining hisperformances with his work as Professorat the Royal Academy of Music. Polishviolinist Kryzysztof Smietana’s WigmoreHall concert in 2000 moved The Strad towrite “...some of the loveliest stringplaying I have heard” while Israeli SagiHartov hardly needs an introduction as hiswonderful cello playing has given suchpleasure to us at the Vera Fletcher Hall inearlier concerts. They will be playingDvorak’s Dumky Trio Opus 90 andRachmaninov’s Elegiaque Trio Opus 9.

The Harpham Quartet on Friday April30 brings back clarinettist RamonWodkowski with Anna Harpham, (violin),Ciaran McCabe (violin), Ann Beilby(viola) and Rowena Calvert (cello) in aconcert which includes works by Brahms,Mozart and Howells. They are rising starsin the music world and were chosen to

perform at the opening night of the 2008New Year Series at the Purcell Room andhave appeared at the Wigmore Hall, theCadogan Hall and for BBC 3.

On the lighter side of music MoleseyMusical Theatre bring us their“Broadway Dreams” on June 16-19. Youare invited to join the tension and dramaas performers audition for a newBroadway show right up to the first night,with great music and dance from showssuch as Anything Goes, Carousel,Chicago and We Will Rock You.

Our children’s shows are alwayspopular and this Spring is no exceptionwith “Dangerous Dave” on SaturdayMarch 20 and “Arabian Nights” onSaturday May1st. In inimitable streettheatre style Dangerous Dave and hissidekick “Herbert Lemon” fights hisway out of a Wet paper bag, climbs theslippery pole of Peril, escapes from thepickled egg jar of Doom and becomesthe fearless inhuman Cannon Ball !!Sheherazade’s fabulous tales of theArabian Nights stories of are brought tolife by The Theatre of Widdershins withsuperb puppets, storytelling and originalmusic. A tale from the desert, a tale fromthe bed of the ocean and a tale straightfrom a donkey’s mouth – they transportthe children into a mystical land in ashow dripping with lavish colours andtextures.

See page 39 for times and ticketsfor these shows. You can keep intouch with events at the Vera FletcherHall on the website:

www.verafletcherhall.co.uk

37


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39

THE THEATRE IN THAMES DITTON

Friday 19 March 8.00pm

Michael Friend Productions presents

ARMS AND THE MAN

Bernard Shaw’s classic 1894 play set against thebackground of war between Bulgaria and Serbia.This ‘anti-romantic’ comedy about the chocolatecream soldier was an original, witty attack on the

popular heroic view of war.

Tickets £12.50

Friday 23 April 8.00 pm

Rodney Bewes in

THREE MEN IN A BOAT(To Say Nothing of the Dog)

The star of “The Likely Lads” brings Jerome K.Jerome’s classic story of three friends’ trip up the

Thames – how Harris got 40 strangers lost inHampton Court Maze and other adventures.

Highlight of the Edinburgh Festival.

Tickets £12.50

Friday 30 April 8pm

THE HARPHAM QUARTET

Anna Harpham (violin), Ciaran McCabe (violin),Ann Beilby (viola), Rowena Calvert (cello) join

Ramon Wodkowski (clarinet) to play clarinetquintets by Brahms, Mozart, Howells.

Supported by the RC Sherriff Trust

TICKETS £11 (under 16 years free)

Saturday 5 June 8pm

THE LONDON MOZART TRIO

Colin Stone (piano) Krzysztof Smietana (violin) andSagi Hartov (cello): three outstanding world class

musicians play trios from the great romanticcomposers: Dvorak’s Dumky Trio Opus 90 and

Rachmaninov’s Elegaique Trio Opus 9.

Supported by the RC Sherriff Trust

Tickets £11 (under 16 years free)Wednesday 16 – Saturday 19 June 7.30pm

and Sat matinée 2.30pm

Wednesday 16 – Saturday 19 June 7.30 pmand Saturday matinee 2.30pm

Molesey Musical theatre presents

BROADWAY DREAMS

Join the performers from auditions to first nightof a new Broadway show. Great music and dance

from shows such as Anything Goes,Carousel, Chicago…

Tickets £11 – £8 From Box Office 020 8941 3255

YOUNG PEOPLE’S THEATRE

Saturday 20 March 2.30pm

Noisy Oyster presents

DANGEROUS DAVE

Dangerous Dave and sidekick puppet“Herbert Lemon” present some of the most mind-

bendingly silly stunts ever performed. Marvel as thesuper hero climbs the slippery pole of Peril,

becomes the fearless inhuman Cannon Ball....Inimitable street theatre with unsuspecting

audience participation.For 5 – 10 years.

Tickets £6

Saturday 1 May 2.30pm

Theatre of Widdershins presents

ARABIAN NIGHTS

Sheherazade’s fabulous talesare brought to life with superb puppets,

storytelling and original music.

Tickets £6 (for 4 – 10 years)

Tickets for all shows from Joan LeiferTel: 0844 884 8832, and The Pro Shop,

52 High Street, Thames Ditton.

To hire the Vera Fletcher Hallcontact manager Helen Mason

Tel: 08456 528 529

www.verafletcherhall.co.uk

AT THE VERA FLETCHER HALL


40

R U S S E L L - C O O K E || SOL IC I TORS

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including wills & estate planning, conveyancing,

family law, criminal litigation, tax advice,

employment and personal injury

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Kingston-upon-Thames

Surrey KT11QN

T 020 8546 6111

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Weston Green Road

Thames Ditton Surrey KT7 0JN

t: 020 8398 2778 f: 020 8398 1806

e: [email protected]

www. westongreenschool.org.uk

Key Stage 2 is being phased in fromSeptember 2010with childrenmoving into Year 3

Please telephone for

more details.

Co-educational Preparatory School

for children aged 3-11 years

Weston Green Road Thames DittonSurrey KT7 0JNt: 020 8398 2778f: 020 8398 1806e: [email protected]


41

Spring CrosswordBy Michael Jackson

A £5 Voucher for spendingin any Thames Ditton orWeston Green shop will beawarded to each of the firstthree correct entries openedafter the closing date of7 May 2010

The completed puzzle (orphotocopy) enclosing yourname and address, with theenvelope clearly marked‘Crossword Competition,’should be sent to:

Thames Ditton TodayCrossword Competition6 Church WalkThames DittonKT7 0NW

ACROSS21. Adoring nothing more than a French dance (8)26. It’s ups and downs in the playground (6)29. Recommended opinion (6)10. Men immersed in dogma in this building (8)11. Circular tower with guns on top (8)12. Cocktail mixer from American sect? (6)13. He of the dreaded Inferno (5)14. Let’s face it are meals ready for taking

here? (9)17. Monarch was veering so erratically (9)19. Chastise by hand (5)22. Roman Legion leader is on a par (6)23. A crowned poet (8)24. Declare a lightweight mountain cat (7)25. Make certain (6)26. He dodges tackles or Tax liabilities (6)27. Who is reflected in the mirror (8)

DOWN22. State gets an addition for another (7)23. Pupil of Plato (9)24. Eyelike spots as on peacock feathers (6)25. My paintings are ‘all leg.’ I annoy purists

here (8,7)26. Mavis is in the church choir (8)27. ...and Martin is out of the chair! (7)28. Design impressed on paper showing height

of river (9)13. An egg dies when you tread on the clutch (9)15. Gives an opinion very quickly (9)16. One recumbent (8)18. Dave ran on porch of 5 down (7)20. Quite spontaneous browning returning to

mountains (7)21. On a Norfolk river is gold and a writing

table (6)


42

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No call out chargeand no minimum charge,

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full public liability insurance.

Tel: 020 8398 0207 Mobile: 07973 636672

56 Speer Road, Thames Ditton,Surrey KT7 0PW

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4343

Solution to the Winter Crosswordby Michael Jackson

Congratulations to the first threecontestants whose correct entrieswere opened after the deadline.Each wins a £5 Voucher forspending in any Thames Ditton orWeston Green shop.

Sheila Bailey65 High StreetThames Ditton KT7 0SF

Luke Reader33 Balaclava RoadSurbiton KT6 5PW

David Helsen2A High StreetThames Ditton KT7 0RY

M.P.B. LANDSCAPES

Fully Qualified-Merrist Wood TrainedOver 9 Years Experience

All aspects of work undertaken

Paving – Fencing – Decking – Brickwork – Turfing – etc.

Professional & Reliable

Tel: 020 8398 3509Mobile: 07957 281748

Email: [email protected] Blunden


Services

Cheer (Concern and Help for East Elmbridge Retired) Trudy O Keefe 01372 474555Dittons and Weston Green Neighbourcare Sue Mayes 020 8398 6714Elmbridge Borough Council Community Support ServicesInformation, Meals Services, CommunityTransport, Bus Permits 01372 474552/4Elmbridge Community Alarm Service 01372 474560Elmbridge Relief Carers Scheme 01372 474547Ember Centre for the Retired Mon & Thurs 020 8398 9870

At other times 01372 474553Esher and District Stroke Club Ann Pollock 020 8398 6132Voluntary Action Elmbridge Mrs Carole Roycroft 01372 463587M.D.H.S. Household Services (& garden tidying) Carolyn Smart (Manager) 01932 248533Surrey Mobile Library Service 01483 517402Surrey Youth and Adult Education Service Elmbridge Area 020 8979 8334

Groups

Girl Guiding in TD & WG Mrs K Williams 020 8398 13001st Thames Ditton Brownies Mrs. Bronach Hughes 020 8398 16283rd Thames Ditton Brownies Mrs Heather Horler 020 8398 03642nd Thames Ditton Rainbows Nicki Sutherland 020 8398 42021st Weston Green (All Saints) Scout Group Alan Nolan-Davies 0844 414 28261st Weston Green Guides (All Saints) Mrs. Louise Lewis 020 8398 48432nd Thames Ditton Guides Mrs. Bronach Hughes 020 8398 16281st Weston Green Brownies (All Saints) Mrs K Williams 020 8398 13002nd Weston Green Brownies Mrs J Epps 020 8395 05951st Weston Green Rainbows Mrs Helen Hill 020 8398 31354th Thames Ditton Ajax Sea Scouts Alison Derrick 020 8398 0041Dittons Scout Group Keith Berry 0208 398 3447Coffee and chat (United Reformed Church) Mrs. E. Barker 01372 467491Emberbrook Trefoil Guild Mrs. Adrienne Nealing 020 8398 5582Esher Floral Art Group Mrs. M. Dingle 020 8398 3943Friends of Bushey and Home Parks Mrs. Julie Cohen 020 8943 2017Friends of Walsingham Care Miss Valerie Chicken 0208 398 2932Molesey and Dittons Neighbourhood Watch Chairman: Pat Farmiloe 020 8398 2787Parents and Toddlers (St Nicholas church) Information 020 8398 7211Ripieno Choir Nick Harris 020 8399 7231Surrey Bell-ringers Nick Pattenden [email protected]

Clubs

Albany Motor Yacht Club Secretary 01784 466651Arts and Heritage Club Carol Butcher 01932 867511Claremont PROBUS Club Mr. P. Collins 020 8398 3125Claygate Bridge Club Hon. Secretary 020 8398 1710Colets Health & Fitness Giordano Orsini 020 8398 7108Dittons Skiff and Punting Club Hon Secretary 020 8398 1642Dittons & Hinchley Wood Royal British Legion Hon Secretary 020 8398 6263Ember Players (Drama) Ember Sports Club Anne Segall 020 8941 4528

SERVICES, CLUBS, SOCIETIES AND GROUPS

44


Ember Sports Club Mrs. Pauline Wareham 020 8979 8977Ember Sports Club: Bowls John Garland 01932 220221Ember Sports Club: Croquet Dr. David Cooke 01932 862841Ember Sports Club: Tennis Margaret Robinson 01372 842401Esher Bowling Club Roger Cooper 01372 468109Esher Bridge Centre Paul Whicker 01372 460157Esher Camera Club Billy Buchanan 020 8398 3169Folk Dance Club Pam Phillips 01372 373745Hinchley Wood / Dittons PROBUS Club Geoff Francis 01932 867771Long Ditton Cricket Club Nigel Hardy 020 8398 8361Long Ditton Garden Club Mrs. Ann Allen 020 8398 1718Model Railway Society (Hampton Court) Secretary 01932 241224Mothers Union (All Saints) Val Lomax 01932 860344Old Cranleighan Rugby Club Tony Price 07801 837129Old Cranleighan Hockey Club Eds Copleston (Men) 07775 940703

Helen Hawes (Ladies) 07771 557900River Club (BMYC) David Walker 0870 460 3586Rotary Club, Esher Geoff Morris 01932 868454Rubber Bridge TD Lawn Tennis Club Val 020 8399 9972Surbiton Croquet Club Alec Thomas 020 8398 2391Surbiton Golf Club Secretary 0208 398 3101Surbiton Hockey Club Secretary 020 8398 2401Thames Ditton Lawn Tennis Club Chris Lewis 07770 562569Thames Ditton & Esher Golf Club Mark Rodbard 020 8398 1551Thames Ditton Squash Club (Colets) Dave Peck 020 8398 7108Thames Ditton Cricket Club Howard Frish (Secretary) 07947 561449Thames Ditton Marquetry Group Jasmine Berry 020 8398 4358Yoga for Health Club Mrs. Celia Rowe 020 8398 2700

SOCIETIES AND ASSOCIATIONS

Ember Choral Society Linda Bridges 020 8399 5402Esher Recorded Music Society Miss S. M. Garrat 020 8398 8541Esher and Molesey Garden Society Julia Presland (Sec) [email protected] Court Way Allotment Association Lettings: John Morgan 020 8398 3049Lynwood Allotment Society Louise Flaig 020 8398 7704Molesey and District Antiques Society Linda Lambert 020 8398 1476NADFAS (Decorative & Fine Arts) Kingston Mrs. Valerie Windsor 020 8549 9967National Trust: Richmond Association Membership Secretary 020 8894 2972Soroptimist International (Kingston District ) Secretary: Pat Harman 020 8390 3507Thames Ditton Women’s Institute (W.I.) Secretary 020 8398 8615Thames Valley Amateur Radio Transmitters Society Chairman 0148328 4279

OTHER

Cancer Research UK Mrs. Vivienne Harris 020 8398 6787University of the Third Age (U3A) Ken Kingham 0208 979 8053Vera Fletcher Hall Lettings: Helen Mason 08456 528 529

Membership: Sue Morris 020 8224 2536

Please contact the Editor to amend these listings

45


46

Again we need to fight for freedom of speech in the face of government laws which,for whatever ostensibly well-meaning reason, curtail it. Plus ça change, plus c’est lamême chose:

In 1807 Robert Salter, a poor labourer ofThames Ditton, who had been outspoken in hispots at a nearby inn, was indicted for sedition atKingston Assizes. The charge read (it helps ifyou declaim the next bit out loud, with pomp):

…being a wicked seditious and evildisposed person and greatly disaffected, andintending the liege subjects of our said Lordthe King to incite stir up and move hatredand dislike of the person of our said Lordthe King, and also to the Laws and theGovernment established in the Realm, on thetwenty-seventh day of August in the forty-seventh year of the reign of our Lord the King George the Third at the Parish ofMoulsey, unlawfully wickedly maliciously and seditiously did declare these Englishwords:

“DAMN the Laws of this Country, the King, the Prince of Wales, theDuke of York and all the Royal Family. I wish that they were allblown up into the middle of Hell with Gunpowder.”

Said in front of many witnesses, but as to sedition - and this is why we must notallow the jury system to be eroded – the jury of good citizens found: NOT GUILTY.[[ laughter in court ]]

SCIENCE TUITIONA Level & GCSE Tuition

Biology, Chemistry & PhysicsTel: 020 8398 7365

Alan Tucker: 2 Gainsborough Close, Esher KT10 [email protected]


wow!Two waysto treatyour Pet

www.beechhousevets.com

Beech House Veterinary Centre,Milbourne Stores, Weston Green,

Thames Ditton, Surrey KT7 0JX

Consulting Hours 11am-1pm 4pm-6pm

Monday - Friday

To keep them happy, play with them,exercise them, give them loads ofpraise and cuddles and spoil them

with some special treats and toys. Sopop into the “Beech House Pet Stop”for a wide selection of the very best.(All the products and food we sell have been carefully

chosen with your pet’s best well-being in mind.)

Beech House Veterinary Centre -Passionate about Healthy, Happy Pets

To keep them healthy, pets should be seenat least once every 12-months by a vet. Sowhy not bring them along to Beech House,Thames Ditton for their regular healthchecks. This way, we can detect potentialillnesses early and nip them in the bud.

Our easy parking, fresh, modern & involvingpremises and professional engaging team willgreet you each visit, making your wholeexperience more enjoyable.

Prevention, we think, is better than Cure.

Regular health checks willensure a longer, healthier

and happier life.

Ring now to book 020 8398 4752

A307 Portsm

outh Road

Hampton Court Way

Weston Green

Weston Park

Weston Green

Weston Rd

HAMPTON CT

THAMES DITTON

KINGSTON

ESHER

HINCHLEYWOOD

Well-Pet Centres also at:Hersham01932 220768Cobham01932 868688Shepperton01932 222257HERSHAM

51380_ISFC:SPRING inside Cover 2005 25/2/09 14:55 Page 2

ARIES CONSTRUCTION LLP(formerly Ditton Construction)

Tel: 020 8941 9191Fax: 020 8941 6664

Mobile: 07836 608086Email: [email protected]

GENERAL BUILDING

EXTENSIONS & LOFT CONVERSIONS

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ROOFING : PLUMBING : ELECTRICAL

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INSURANCE CLAIMS : FIRE, FLOOD, STORM DAMAGE

SUBSIDENCE AND UNDERPINNING

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GROUNDWORKS & DRAINAGE

PROPERTY MAINTENANCE

13 Thames Court, Victoria Avenue

West Molesey, Surrey KT8 1TP

Free Estimates – Fast, Efficient, Friendly Service

Local References Available

Published by the Thames Ditton and Weston Green Residents ̓AssociationPrinted by Impress Print Services Ltd., Unit 10, 19 Lyon Road, Hersham, Walton on Thames, Surrey KT12 3PU

56363_BC:SPRING Cover 2005 26/11/09 12:18 Page 1

fishmongers now open at 39 - residents' association

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