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ANOTHER AWARD FOR STOKE D’ABERNON PEOPLE!
Following hot on the heels of the Fuller’s award for the Old Plough public house, Ian Nelson, your Residents’ Association chairman recently received an award at the “Chairman’s Volunteer Reception” hosted by Peter Martin, chairman of Surrey County Council and held at County Hall, Kingston-upon-Thames. This annual reception and ceremony is to celebrate the various unsung individuals who do much to support and improve the life of Surrey residents in their respective communities.
Many of you will be aware of Ian’s contributions, they range widely from not only being the long term chairman of the Residents’ Association but also to organising the classic car gathering on Cobham Heritage Day, fundraising for the local defibrillator, initiating the Stoke d’Abernon Christmas event and involvement with the Chatterbus timetable, not to mention tree and bulb planting in our village. A helpful and community minded individual.
Bray Road Street Party
On 10th June the third annual Bray Road On 10th June the third annual Bray Road street party was held under favourable street party was held under favourable skies — with the weather we had in May skies — with the weather we had in May to July it would have been unlucky to have to July it would have been unlucky to have picked a wet day! The event was again picked a wet day! The event was again organised by residents Deena Dawes and organised by residents Deena Dawes and Elaine Bowles with many attractions and Elaine Bowles with many attractions and live music in the capable hands of ‘The live music in the capable hands of ‘The Stoke Buskers’, better known as Matt Stoke Buskers’, better known as Matt from local shop The Good Elf, together from local shop The Good Elf, together with a musical colleague. Elaine and with a musical colleague. Elaine and Deena thank all who helped to make the Deena thank all who helped to make the event a success either by assisting or by event a success either by assisting or by supplying equipment. Will another party supplying equipment. Will another party be on the cards for next year?
Open Wide!
Dr Claire Morrice is opening a new dental practice in Stoke d’Abernon occupying the shop unit previously occupied by Pool Clean and Bramley’s Apple.
Claire has worked in private practice in East Horsley for 20+ years. She says: “Cobham Dental is focused on providing the best possible dental care to every patient. Our ethos is
to help patients feel as comfortable and at home as possible, establishing a relaxed and friendly atmosphere which delivers an outstanding dental experience”.
The practice will open in November 2018 offering general family dentistry, hygienist treatments, Botox therapy, teeth whitening and more.
http://www.cobhamdental.co.uk/
Travellers
In common with other local and county authorities, for many months now there have been instances of travellers with large motorised vans taking up residence on council owned land (both Elmbridge and Surrey) as well as on private land. Sainsbury’s car park in Cobham has been affected several times resulting in a height restriction barrier being installed. Locally The Tilt and the Leg of Mutton field have been invaded with resulting expensive damage to the latter’s football pitch. Some other nearby areas affected include Oatlands recreation ground in Weybridge, Esher Rugby Club and the recreation ground in Ashtead.
Mostly the travellers just occupy the land but very occasionally some tools such as bolt cutters and angle grinders have been employed to effect entry. In August Elmbridge Borough Council (EBC) obtained a 12 week court injunction preventing the taking up of ‘residence’ on EBC land. This will not necessarily put an end to incursions taking place, but moving-on of the travellers may be a little quicker with High Court enforcement.
With unforced occupation normally the police do not have a statutory duty to move on the travellers and a county court order is usually necessary which can take some time to obtain. On council owned land, apart from showing that the travellers are in occupation without consent, certain conditions regarding compliance with Human Rights and child welfare need to be met. To possibly ease the situation, David Munroe, Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey, has requested that transit camps for travellers be established in the county as there are none at present.
The Editor Calls Time And Says Farewell
I first had the idea of a Stoke d’Abernon newsletter some 9 years ago (where do the years go?) when we attempted to win the Surrey Best Kept Village competition sponsored by Fuller’s Brewery — having a village green complete with a duck pond might have helped our chances! I hope in the intervening years the 18 editions of the newsletter have been both interesting and informative, but life and standards change and as the old adage goes ‘nothing stays the same forever’. So now seems the right time to move on from the Residents’ Association and to pass the baton on to someone else.
Some words of thanks seem in order, and I would like to thank all contributors to the Newsletter both past and present. To Ian for perusing my ramblings and especially to former work colleague Julia, for her ever critical eye and constructive comments on numerous drafts and revisions—all done over cappuccinos in various Wimbledon coffee houses!
I have thoroughly enjoyed serving you all. I wish my successor(s) well and of course I wish you, the readers, happiness and everything that you would wish yourselves. Goodbye, John
Garsons Farm
If you have not already discovered, Garsons of Esher this spring introduced a whopping £4 per person (not per vehicle) charge to go onto their pick your own fields. For the many people who in past years found a pleasant walk around the fields at no charge and without a car nor picking any produce, Garsons still would like to charge £4 per person.
South Western Railway
Following the disastrous introduction of a major timetable revision by other franchisees, the major timetable change planned by SWR for December will not now occur. Apart from ongoing strikes, the predicted year on year passenger numbers are missing target. The SWR franchise terms are being re-negotiated to take account of all of the above.
We were promised better services but it would seem unlikely to ever improve upon those in 1957 when the average journey from Stoke d’Abernon station to Waterloo took some 32 minutes, (40 minutes today) and in those halcyon days there were 3 trains in each direction every hour – such is progress!
Green Belt News
This is still something of a waiting game and with the summer parliamentary recess and the overriding exigencies of Brexit in about 6 months, possibly little will have changed by the time you read this, indeed next year now seems likely.
However, following an appeal by the developers, the Government Planning Inspectorate has allowed a development of 40 homes on Guildford’s Green Belt at Treetops Farm, Old Portsmouth Road. In May Elmbridge Council replied at length to the Government’s ‘Draft Revised National Consultation on Planning Policy Framework’ (NPPF) asking for clarification on a number of issues including the Green Belt. Meanwhile the council have commissioned Ove Arup (as last time) to explore the overall building possibilities within the borough.
Cobham Remembers
Cobham and Surrey Heritage organisations have been holding various local events to commemorate the end of the First World War. The marquee on their September 8th Heritage Day featured a display by the Surrey Light Infantry Museum and local information and artefacts. A programme of words and music together with a short lm will be shown at: St Andrew’s Churchgate House Centre, Downside Bridge Road, on Friday 19th October ( a prior booking ticketed event).
Election for Local Councillor
Following the local council elections in May, long-standing councillor James Vickers resigned, thus a by-election was necessary in July. James has served us in Stoke d’Abernon and Oxshott for a long time and we thank him for his sterling efforts on our behalf over the years. Our recently elected Elmbridge Borough councillor is David Lewis, who is well known in the area and, whose wife Mary is a councillor on Surrey County Council – one could say a family affair between the two councils! We wish David well in his new rôle.
David Lewis will be among local councillors at a ‘Your Voice Matters’ public meeting to be held: 7pm on Monday 26th November Cobham Village Hall, Lushington Drive.
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