Archive

  • Bunch of ‘Buddies’ head for the G8 summit

    Children from New Malden Methodist Church have made 97 "buddies" to send to the G8 summit, urging world leaders to help every child get an education. Their effort, applauded by Kingston and Surbiton MP Edward Davey during a visit on Saturday, is part

  • Ken puts a block on riverside flats plan

    Developers have pulled the plug on plans to build 231 flats on the former Kingston Power Station, after damning criticism by London Mayor Ken Livingstone. The application was for one of the most important sites in Kingston, adjacent to the riverside

  • It’s the final countdown

    We'll find out on July 6 if London has been successful in its bid to host the world's greatest sportsfest, the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012, writes Ross Feeney of South London Business. Leaders from the five candidate cities will be gathering

  • The MPs will see you now

    Conservative councillors are holding a surgery on Saturday, July 2, at Charles Sumner House, Alpha Road, Surbiton from 10-11am. Ward councillors Kevin Davis, Maureen Rowley and David Booth will be at the monthly session, held on the first Saturday of

  • In stitches at the museum

    Anyone with preconceptions of embroiderers' guild members as being strait-laced conservative women will be startled by the Kingston branch's latest venture. For not only have members launched an exhibition of "naughty underwear" to demonstrate their

  • £3,500 for baby charity? That’ll be the bounce

    There was a real spring in the step of the Born Too Soon charity thanks to pupils from Alexandra Infants School. Pupils raised £3,500 by holding a sponsored bounce, and presented £750 of the money to the neo-natal charity last month. The school, in

  • Special needs teacher reaches award finals

    Kingston College teacher Katherine Greening is a finalist in the London heats for special needs teacher of the year. She has been put forward for the special needs section of the teaching awards, partly for her work on the college's Pathfinder Course

  • Full crime figures made available for the first time

    A detailed breakdown of crime figures in Kingston unveiled by the police can, for the first time, be easily accessed by the public. Annual Metropolitan Police crime figures have previously been restricted to borough-by-borough breakdown. But the new

  • Funday on scrap heap

    Attempts to revive a funday to celebrate Tolworth have been thwarted because of a shortage of time and support. The cancellation of Tolworth Day has been branded as an example of the town suffering from "Cinderella syndrome" missing out on events enjoyed

  • Councillor gets grilling at meeting

    From June 14, 1980 Women were afraid to walk in Kingston town centre after 6pm for fear of being mugged, according to a newly-formed residents' association. Fears were so great that some single women without cars were becoming virtually housebound

  • Banker killer freed early

    A paranoid schizophrenic who killed a former banker from Putney in a vicious knife attack has had his minimum sentence cut by half, it has emerged. John Barrett repeatedly stabbed 50-year-old Denis Finnegan, of Dryburgh Road, with a kitchen knife after

  • Early closing at Beales: bigger centre planned

    Walton's Beales department store is to close to make way for the Heart of Walton shopping centre. The store, which has been in the town since 1979, will cease trading on January 14 next year. It has agreed an early surrender of its lease to landlord

  • A wheely good turnout at Waddon Ponds for festival cycle ride

    Pedal power was the favoured mode of transport on Sunday as dozens got on their bicycles for the Wandle Valley Festival family cycle ride. Cyclists young and old turned out for the event which began at 10am at Waddon Ponds, Mill Lane, Waddon, and finished

  • Battle of the supermarket: MP joins protesters’ cause

    The battle against the proposed supermarket in Epsom's Upper High Street gathered pace as campaigners took part in a Sunday morning protest meeting, promising to escalate the fight. The protestors, who held an open air meeting in Epsom's Upper High Street

  • Appeal for male singers saves 61-year-old choir

    Kingston's Orpheus Choir has been saved following an appeal by the Comet for male singers. The future of Kingston's oldest choir, founded in 1944 was threatened in April due to a lack of male voices to meet the full choral range. Since the Comet publicised

  • Stall profits go to children

    The Maple Children's Centre has benefited from the generosity of a Kingston businesswoman and a creative bunch of local youngsters. Murilyn Hutchinson who runs children's arts and crafts workshops pitched a stall at the Ham Fair on Saturday and donated

  • Pollution level fourth highest in Hook Rise

    The pollution measurements taken from the A3 roadside in Hook Rise show the fourth highest concentration of harmful pollutants out of more than 60 government measuring sites. The league tables show the average concentrations of pollutant PM10, which

  • Travellers face eviction by trust

    Travellers occupying a site in Surbiton are set to be evicted if a repossession application from the site owners is granted by the courts. A spokesman for St George's Mental Health Trust which owns the land at 21 Upper Brighton Road said the trust

  • Shop’s 70% off prices ‘misled’

    Kingston Trading Standards has helped stop misleading pricing by The Officers Club stores nationwide, after reporting problems at the Kingston store to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The chain of stores, one of which is located in the Bentall Centre

  • Star cricket team plays for charity

    Stars of sport and showbiz descended on Richmond when The Bunbury's celebrity cricket team played its first charity game in the borough. At the event on Sunday on Richmond Green, the Bunbury's team included the club's founder, actor David English, comedian

  • Inquest hears climber’s last minutes after plunge

    A Surbiton and Kingston Mountaineering Club member battled in vain to save a fellow climber from New Malden who plunged 300ft in the Lake District, an inquest heard. Seventy-year-old Reginald Vernon, an experienced climber, fell after losing his footing

  • Asbo for ‘drunk’

    A Cobham man has been banned from swearing or being drunk in public for the next two years, following a series of offensive incidents. Gary Sweeney, 23, of Bennetts Close, was handed an Antisocial Behaviour Order at Staines Magistrates on June 6. He

  • Public invited to town plan display

    A exhibition illustrating dramatic ideas of how Kingston could look in the year 2020 is being unveiled on Monday as part of a huge public consultation. Concepts already mooted by planning chiefs to transform the town centre as part of K+20 scheme include

  • Bentall Centre’s food court closes to make way for fashion

    The Bentall Centre has closed its food court after 13 years of business to make way for large retail spaces that will house the latest fashions. The six operators serving food on the centre's top floor closed on Friday and are to be replaced by several

  • Firefighters prevent lethal explosion

    New Malden and Kingston firefighters helped prevent a potentially lethal explosion in Raynes Park. Called to a rubbish fire at derelict garages in Crossway just after 8pm on Wednesday last week , they discovered it was close to 47kg of propane cylinders

  • Asian detective’s ordeal leads to calls for review

    The National Black Police Association is calling for a review of the Met's anti-corruption unit after an Asian detective it pursued for six months cleared his name on appeal. Former Kingston detective constable Nabeel Akhtar, described by colleagues

  • Man charged over stabbing

    A Hampton Wick man has been charged with attempted murder, following a stabbing on Wednesday last week. Ibrahim Elgohary, 55, of Lower Teddington Road, appeared before Richmond Magistrates' Court on Friday, June 10, accused of attempting to murder 50

  • ‘Best innocent of indecency’

    Football legend George Best is "totally innocent" of allegations that he indecently assaulted a young girl in Surrey, his agent said yesterday. The ex-Manchester United star is alleged to have attacked the girl, who is aged under 13, last month. Best

  • Community stalwarts honoured

    The Queen recognised several local people in her Birthday Honours list this week. Gamekeeper Leslie Walter Strudwick, who has worked at Hampton Court Palace for 41 years, was awarded the Royal Victoria Medal. His job requires a huge knowledge of local

  • Stabbed cyclist was attacked on way home

    Police have issued e-fit images of two men who stabbed another man four times in the back in Surbiton. The victim, a white man in his early 30s, was attacked while cycling home through King Charles Road, Surbiton, at 6.20pm on Sunday, May 29. He was