New singing venture28 April 2012

A new 'singing for pleasure' group is starting up on Thursday evenings at the Vera Fletcher Hall, the "KT Singers" - local composers may like to send in a catchy theme tune and lyrics based on the KT postcode!

They are looking for new members (of all ages over 14 years). It could be you! You don't have to be able to read music.

The scope will initially be hits from 1960-90 and maybe more recent, with West End show songs and movie numbers included. All will be harmonised and led by a qualified singing teacher in a friendly style with no pressure, the aim being "to have fun and enjoyment and walk out at the end having had a really good evening."

The group starts on 31 May and continues Thursdays thereafter, 7.45pm to 9.15pm with no need to book ... just come along from 7.15pm and the class will start at 7.45pm. It will cost participants £8 per week (with a try-out £4 for your first go). Organiser Liz Sims tells us that this should cover the costs of the hall, teacher, music, refreshments, and advertising to get things going.

Call 020 8337 1100

The Ripieno Choir needs help31 March 2012

Anyone in the audience at the Ripieno Choir's recent concert, "Bach and Beyond" in All Saints Weston was left in no doubt that here is a well-disciplined amateur choir of professional quality, taking on a wide range of most demanding music and producing a mellifluous and balanced peformance, with top quality paid instrumental accompaniment.

Founded over fifty years ago to sing carols in local hospitals at Christmas, the choir has latterly sung them around Thames Ditton to raise funds for charity. Its glittering past includes winning the cup for unaccompanied choirs at the Surrey Music Festival in 1949 when the late composer Herbert Howells, praised the choir for its remarkable blend. After winning the cup a second time, the choir was invited to sing for composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. In the ’sixties, the choir was invited to take part in BBC’s "Let the People Sing" contest and won the regional section three times, going on to sing at the Royal Festival Hall and to be recorded by the BBC. In this millennium, the choir has sung in Brussels, Holland, France and the Cathedral of St John the Divine in Manhattan.

To continue to perform at this level, making accessible to local people - at very reasonable prices - glorious sung music of high quality, the Ripieno Choir is in need of your help. If you, or anyone you know, would be willing to join the sponsors of this choir then please download and read this letter, which explains where the choir is at and what they'd like to do or continue doing. The Ripieno Choir has earned local support and is very well worth backing. They will, by the way, sing for you by arrangement!

Welcome to the Business Index - resident Sally Strang26 March 2012

Based in Thames Ditton and part of the wide network of Travel Counsellors with buying power and service-oriented expertise, Thames Ditton resident Sally Strang is the latest addition to our searchable Business Index. As a Travel Counsellor Sally offers tailor-made travel bookings - both professional travel and holidays - with the best deals (normally no charge to client). Also luxury holidays, honeymoon and city breaks.

Sally tells us: "I have lived in the village for 12 years now with my pilot husband Rob and my 14 year old son who enjoyed his time at both the infants and junior school in TD. We absolutely love living here and have many friends made via both schools and the George and Dragon Golf Society that my husband plays in. I’m lucky enough to have travelled extensively all my working life as I have been in the travel industry a long time. I often join my husband on the trips when he is Captain of the aircraft."

Kill a mole with the Elmbridge Help Desk2 March 2012

Last year, Elmbridge Borough Council's "award winning pest control service" offered to kill your pesky loft squirrel in a new service, for a bargain price of £110 involving three visits. There was an unmissable "introductory special offer," we recall.

This year, Elmbridge have enlarged their armoury and will now kill your mole. The contract price for a mole's head is not yet published on their website here. There appears to be no special offer to launch the scheme.

Such a service might have proved a bargain here in 1702, when a mole ended the House of Orange. King William III went out for a ride on his horse, Sorrel, near Hampton Court. Sorrel reportedly tripped over a molehill, ailing William was thrown, suffered a broken collar bone and died from pneumonia just a few days later. Jacobites were elated on hearing the news and drank a toast to "the little gentleman in the black velvet waistcoat." This "opened the door to a troop of lurking foes" as Churchill later put it. Queen Anne, last of the Stuarts, succeeded, oversaw the Treaty of Union between England and Scotland 1 May 1707, and the rest, as they say, "is history."

Turning from history to literature, the softer side of moles was memorably portrayed in Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows, when Mole's distate for housework at the onset of spring endeared the creature forever to the hearts of the English.

Moles acquired more sinister connotations when the darkness and secrecy of mole existence became used figuratively for damaging espionage, of an individual kind. The first use according to the OED seems to be about 1922 when on 28 December the Morning Post wrote: "... those who may be directly or indirectly affected by the underground burrowings of our Bolshevist moles will be familiar with their methods and plans."

Foxes, now... the council won't do anything to control those blighters.

Heart in the High Street / Lights Appeal update28 February 2012

The Lights Appeal organisers would like to thank everyone in the community who has supported the various fund raising events throughout 2011. The money raised from these initiatives went towards financing many additional tree holders, lights and timers for Thames Ditton High Street enabling us to light up the High Street in spectacular fashion for Christmas 2011. 40 individual trees on shops, businesses and private residences ensured that the High Street twinkled throughout the festive season. It took approximately 10 days, with considerable manpower to install the timed electrical system (which required over 400m of cabling), install the bespoke tree holders, trim and dress the trees with lights, then erect the trees, take them down and organise disposal. It was a major undertaking and achievement and, as a result, most retailers felt the High Street Lights helped boost their business over the Christmas period and many claimed the 2011 Christmas Fair was the best in years with the 'Lights' making a considerable difference. Most gratifying of all, as the installation utilises the highest quality materials, it will ensure the Lights will be enjoyed by future generations for many years to come.

We are now turning our attention to fund raising for Flags for the High Street - in time for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and Olympics this Summer. Again, this is to support our local shops and businesses while cheering and uniting the wider community. The first planned event is a Race Night taking place on Thursday 1st March at 8pm at The George & Dragon. Everyone is very welcome to attend. There are still a number of horses awaiting sponsorship at £10 each and if you would like to 'own' a horse and have your name printed in programme then please do get in touch.

If anyone would like further information on the High Street fund raising initiatives/keeping the Heart in the High Street Campaign, please email RA HonSec Tricia Bland.

Pot of money available for sports clubs - act now9 February 2012

Time is getting short but one suspects that recent attempts to prompt sports clubs to seek Olympic legacy funding are a sign that not enough have been received for the pot of money available!

Local sports clubs big and small can apply for up to a maximum of £8,000. Eligible costs include equipment, coach development, new coaching programmes and facility improvements all aimed at increasing participation, improving the experience and membership at local sports clubs. Sports clubs and organisations can apply for 90% of the total amount sought and they must demonstrate how the funding will provide a legacy, and is inspired by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Closing date for the applications is 29 February 2012.

For advice or an application form for the Legacy fund, please contact Elmbridge's Leisure Development Manager on 01372 474583 or email leisure@elmbridge.gov.uk

Flood strategy8 February 2012

Surrey County Council must now produce a Local Flood Risk Management Strategy, which will include:

Information on local flood risk in Surrey, highlighting where problems have already occurred, or where areas fall in risk categories Clarification of which authority is responsible for what in relation to the prevention and management of flooding Detail on the measures that will be undertaken to manage flood risk Clarification on how work is prioritised.

This is an important subject, particularly for those who may be on the flod plain and whose insurance is affected by the flooding factor. There is a phase of public consultation before the draft is produced. To have a chance of influencing thinking, please take the time to fill Surrey's short survey. The deadline for responses is 31 March 2012.

Fed up with cars speeding in your area?2 February 2012

The Elmbridge Community Safety Partnership invites residents to volunteer for Community Speed Watch (CSW). Members of the community, with the support of the police, are trained to use handheld radars to monitor speeds at spots thought to be troublesome. Owners of vehicles caught speeding are sent letters - with the aim of changing their behaviour.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please contact the Neighbourhood Policing Team direct on 101 or the Community Safety Partnership on 01372 47 4399. You may like to do this particularly if you live in a road where residents believe there to be persistent speeding problems and need to establish the facts indisputably. At the periodic police panel meetings held before our Open Meetings, residents can ask the Neighbourhood Police team to give some priority to such roads but they need residents' help to monitor speeds there for a suitable period of time.

Get your local business listed

Six in every ten people search online for local information every month. Over fifty percent of local searches are for a restaurant or some other entertainment, and most of the rest are searching specifically for a business phone number or address. People searching online locally are also motivated to take action. Studies indicate that nearly forty percent of searchers then contact a business online, while just over forty percent then make contact with it offline. You can get your local business listed in our new business directory free if you have advertising in Thames Ditton Today; or for a mere £10 (payable to the RA) if you don't. The more businesses are listed there, the more it will be used.