Local People

A family have launched a large fund raising campaign to raise £40,000 for an operation to cure their son of cerebral palsy.

Tracy Smith, 36, of Frobisher Gardens, in Stanwell, needs to to raise the money by October this year so she can send her six-year-old son Oliver to America to cure his mild cerebral palsy.

Six Spelthorne schools started a competition on Saturday (6) for the chance to win their very own allotment.

The competition, which is co sponsored by the Staines Informer was launched at The Elmsleigh Shopping Centre and will see pupils competing for a raised bed allotment and seeds, gardening equipment and expert advice on how to get started.

Pupils from Buckland Primary School, in Berrycroft Road, Staines, Kingscroft Junior School, in Park Avenue, Staines, Manorcroft Primary School, in Manorcrofts Road, Egham, Shortwood Infant School, in Stanwell New Road, Staines, Hythe Primary School, in Thorpe Road, Staines and Stanwell Fields School, in Clare Road, Stanwell, will be encouraging people to vote for their schools.

Residents in Spelthorne will face a 0% increase in council tax and staff will forgo any increase in pay or allowances as the budget for 2010/11 was announced on Thursday (24).

In a full council meeting held at the Civic Offices, in Knowle Green, Leader of Spelthorne council John Packman also declared that cuts were to be made to make savings in an effort to balance the budget.

Mr Packman stated that due to the economic downturn the council needed to help residents that were finding times tough.

Stanwell residents are worried their town may suffer after the only Labour councillor for Surrey has decided to stand as an MP in Swindon.

Victor Agarwal, Surrey County councillor for Stanwell and Stanwell Moor heard he had been selected as Labour's candidate for Swindon North on January 9.

Campaigners are hoping two large developments in Stanwell will be rejected at a Spelthorne Council planning meeting on Wednesday January 6.

The two developments have been rejected before at previous meetings, and campaigners for both are furious they have been re-submitted and said they feel there is little difference between the two.

A hopefull band will be launching their debut EP at a promotional gig in Staines in December.

On December 12, the Dirty Crawlers, whose four members are from Ashford, Staines, and Chertsey, will be performing at The Hobgoblin, in Church Street, to promote their first EP Bottleneck.

A neighbourhood watch co-ordinator and a police officer from Spelthorne have been given awards by the Prime Minister for their work in the borough.

Vicki Kapoor Sood, of Hadfield Road, Stanwell, and crime reduction officer Vic Smith visited ten Downing Street on November 4 to be given separate certificates by Gordon Brown at the community crime fighters award.

The victim of devastating fire in Stanwell earlier this month has died in hospital.

Maria Jones, 64, of Windermere Close, suffered burns to her arms and legs after she was dragged out alive from her house on Monday October 19 by two neighbours.

Mrs Jones passed away on Sunday October 25 in St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey, and post mortem examination carried out at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford concluded she died from injuries sustained in the fire.

The cause of the fire, which occurred at 4am on the day and completely gutted the house, is no longer being treated as suspicious by police.

A police spokesman said: "Following a joint Surrey Police and Surrey Fire and Rescue Service investigation the cause of the fire at a residential address in Windermere Close, is believed to have been the result of an electrical fault."

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An extremely rare brown shrike was spotted on Staines Moor prompting thousands of birdwatchers to drop everything and flock to the beauty spot over the last ten days to catch a view of the small brown spectacle. Herald & News reporter Russell Butt donned his wellies and grabbed his binoculars to see what all the fuss was about.

There's not many things more frustrating than when your holiday plans go awry.
So imagine the surprise of one small, brown bird who should be heading from Siberia to South East Asia for the winter, but has found himself perched atop a hawthorn bush in Staines.

Imagine its further surprise to instantly achieve celebrity status on arrival, with more camera lenses being pointed at it than Kate Moss gets stumbling out of a Soho nightclub.

An extremely rare bird has been sighted in Staines Moor, attracting a throng of bird watchers in the process.

A Brown Shrike was first spotted on Monday October 11 in some Hawthorn bushes on the moor, about 100 metres north east over a concrete bridge over the River Colne.