October 2008 Archives

FREE advice to help prepare companies for an emergency is on offer.

Hillingdon Council has organised the November 5 event at The Arena, in Stockley Park, West Drayton.
The day of advice, which starts at 10am, will include showing businesses how to be prepared for an emergency and a question and answer session with emergency service workers.

To book email civilprotection@hillingdon.gov.uk or call the Civil Protection Service on 01895 250515.

Social Buddies is a fun and friendly group that has been running since September 2007. Members are in the 30 to early 50s age range and live in Middlesex and surrounding areas.

They have a regular pub social on the first Thursday of every month at The Gate, Rickmansworth Road, Northwood, from 8.30pm. They also have many other events each month and recently these have included greyhound racing, Jack the Ripper London walk, pub meals, comedy nights, live music, theatre and charity events.

Members are free to submit events and to co-ordinate them or purely come along to planned events.

Membership is currently free.

The webpage is : http://activityexchange.com/SocialBuddiesMiddxArea/

So if you wish to improve your social life and make some new friends, please contact Su at socialbuddies@googlemail.com

A DISPERSAL order has been set up in the Long Lane area of Hillingdon.

Hillingdon Police along with Hillingdon Council targeted the area in a bid to combat drug dealing and alcohol related incidents.

The order, which gives police and community support officers the power to make trouble-makers leave the area, lasts from 12.01am-11.59pm , October 17-February 22.

To the east of Long Lane the order includes: Long Lane at the junction with Clifton Gardens and up to Windsor Avenue, Sutton Court Road, Snowden Avenue, Oakdene, Burleigh Road, Festival Close, Windsor Avenue, parallel to Cowdray Road and across the sports ground including Home Covert Woods and Swakeleys School playing fields to Clifton Gardens, Wilkinson Close, Woodcroft Crescent, Denecroft Crescent, Leybourne Road.

To the west of Long Lane the order includes: From Sweetcroft Lane junction with Long Lane to Blossom Way, Vine Lane and Court Drive to the junction with Long Lane, Harwood Drive, The Close, Montpelier Close, Stocks Place.

Unaccompanied youths, under the age of 16, may be escorted home by officers if found after 9pm and are involved or at risk from anti-social behaviour.

Anyone who refuses to leave could be fined up to £2,500 or imprisoned.

HILLINGDON'S Picassos and Michaelangelos can develop their budding talents at art classes which begin on Friday, October 17.

The classes last for six weeks and take place at St John's Church, Royal Lane, Hillingdon, between 10am and midday each Friday.

The cost of the course is £20 and is payable by cheue or cash on the first day.
All levels are welcome, and artists from all different media are encouraged to attend, with materials provided.

For more information contact St John's on 01895 461945.

Children's Charity NCH now known as Action For Children is working in co-operation with Barclays Bank and Hillingdon Credit Union in promoting savings both for children and adults in Hillingdon.

Every penny saved in the Credit Union is covered by government guarantees and adult members of Hillingdon Credit Union can borrow at a much cheaper interest rate than the Doorstep Lenders such as Provident Personal Finance (180%+ APR) or Shopacheck lend at.

Many people cannot get access to credit in banks and more people are turning to credit unions. Unlike many others credit unions insist that members save while they repay loans so that they build up a nest egg for themselves.

Both savings and loans are covered by a free life insurance in the Credit Union which is not available through banks or other lenders.

Anyone who is interested in finding out more can contact Margaret Murray on 01895 250958 or email her at info@HillingdonCU.co.uk

Hillingdon Credit Union is a financial co-operative that has been running since 1981. Patrons include John McDonnell MP and Nick Hurd MP.

ANYBODY who has always intended to branch out and disocver more about their family tree now has the perfect opportunity.

The Hillingdon Family History Society meet at 7.30pm on Thursday, October 16 at Hillingdon Park Baptist Church, Hercies Road, Hillingdon.

It is an open evening and all are welcome to the meeting which will take place in the Research Room at the church.

The Research Room will also be open from 10am to 1pm on Friday 17 and 24 October.

For more information contact Hillingdon Family History Society Secretary Patricia Reynolds on 01895 444442.

A kind hearted Hillingdon optometrist will focus his efforts on raising money for the visually impaired by working for free on Thursday, October 9.

Harsh Shah, 44, from Eyewise Opticians in Long Lane is taking part in the World Sight Day Challenge, and will donate all the money he earns to the charity organising the event, Optometry Giving Sight.

The money will go towards developing eye-care services in countries where they do not currently exist.

Mr Shah said: "We take it for granted in this country, I feel like I can give something back to a profession that I've been in for 25 years.

"It only takes a little money to make a real difference to someone."

Mr Shah also raised money for the charity on Sunday by completing the Great North Run.

DANIEL Treacher is just five years old, but last year he was diagnosed with duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), which means he will be wheelchair bound by the time he is 12 and is unlikely to live past his early twenties.

A kind-hearted friend of Daniel's mother has agreed to swim a mile every hour for 24 hours tomorrow (Saturday) to raise funds to help the charity, Action Duchenne, find a cure for the disorder.

Daniel lives with his mum, Susanne, his dad, Phil, and his brother, James, six, in Glebe Avenue, South Ruislip.

Mrs Treacher, 33, said: "We went to the health visitor last August saying we had bought Daniel a bike and he couldn't ride it because he kept falling off.

"Hillingdon Hospital did blood tests and one of the tests came back too high.

"They sent us off to Hammersmith Hospital and they said they thought he had DMD.

"It was pure chance that we went to the health visitor. I had never heard of DMD before. We just thought he was clumsy.

"We read on the internet about the symptoms and to hear that your son is going to be in a wheelchair by the time he is nine or 10, and is unlikely to live past his early twenties came as a shock.

"The doctors have said they need to see how he progresses but it will get worse, it's just a case of when.

"He is such a happy little boy and is always smiling. I can't imagine that in a few years time he is not going to be able to walk."

Mrs Treacher asked her friend, Graham Hardie of Moorcroft Lane, Hillingdon, if he would take part in the swimathon and he said yes.

She said: "The charity doesn't get a lot of funding from the government and they need that extra little bit to help get it into the research labs.

"Hopefully if they can do that Daniel won't die.

"I am just overwhelmed that Graham has agreed to do it. It's a tough thing he is doing and when you think how far a mile is and how long it's going to take it means so much.

"I just feel he is putting himself through it all for me."

Mr Hardie, 39, said: "I have been training almost every day since the start of August.

"The hardest point will be when we start to get into the evening because at that point you are into double figures.

"I used to swim quite a lot but in the last 10 years I haven't done much.

"I'm doing it for Daniel and all the others who are like him. Anything we can do is a bonus for these guys."

Mr Hardie is aiming to raise £5,000 and his employer, Microsoft, have said they will match whatever he raises.

To sponsor Mr Hardie for the event 2swim4life, which is being held at High Wycombe Sports Centre, go to www.justgiving.com/2swim4life_gh.

LIFE saving equipment was removed from a river bed just two months before a father died trying to save a drowning girl.

Leonard Woodman, 37, of Ryefield Avenue, Hillingdon, acted like a hero when he jumped into the River Colne in Denham Country Park, after he spotted a 15-year-old girl being dragged under the water on May 10.

Bucks County Council had taken the decision to remove all the safety equipment from the river in March because it was damaged and vandalised, Amersham Coroner's Court heard yesterday (Wednesday).

Mr Woodman was walking along the river with his partner, Dani Woodman, and their two children, Ronnie and Maddie, when they noticed children playing in the river.

Ms Woodman said: "We saw a girl being sucked under the water. She kept being dragged under and then reappearing.

"Lenny took his shoes off and started to walk into the river. He went onto the weir and I didn't see him again.
"I saw two of the children wade into the river and pull the girl out.

"I ran up to an old man and told him what happened and then I called the police."

However, when the police arrived they could see no sign of anyone struggling in the river and Mr Woodman's body was later found by a fire service boat.

A inspection of the safety equipment the day of the accident also revealed that the signage telling people not to go into the river had been extremely vandalised.

Coroner Richard Hulett advised the county council to look after the signage to ensure nothing ever happens like this again.

He said: "There are rather a lot of people who look at signage and warnings and manage to ignore them.

"The specific circumstances of his death is he acted selflessly. He had great courage to go to the rescue of a child and it would be totally wrong to criticise that.

"As far as the county council is concerned I would hope the whole of this episode has served to put a variety of issues uppermost in people's minds."

The verdict of the inquest was accidental death.