Just before the children broke up from school the children at Gossops Green Community Primary School were treated to some special DIY.
Headed up by Neal Allison and his team from The Apollo Group once again came up trumps for the school (some may remember the write up on the school play area at GGCPS. Apollo were the company who donated their time to install the play area to help the school <click here to see the write up>), now, with their bird box programme. Neal told us “it’s a great programme. We take our our old wood and pallets and give them to Mencap who then make them into easy to assemble flat packed bird boxes. We then buy them back. This helps us with the programme and gives Mencap some much needed funds as well as being proactive. It’s good for them, good for us, and great for the environment”. We asked Neal what the children think of it. Neal said “the children love building the bird boxes. They love to take them home to put up in their garden. It’s also good exposure to simple power tools, especially safety wise, at a young age”.
Pictures:
Crawley Happy Times popped in to watch the bird boxes being put together. We were most impressed with the patience and expertise of the children. Mrs Martin, Head of GGCPS was very pleased with the programme and welcomed Neal and his team with open arms.
We took some footage of the children whilst putting together the bird boxes who accomplished a massive twenty four very attractive looking bird boxes.
Video:
If you would like to know more about this programme and many other community programmes run by The Apollo Group please feel free to visit their website here.
Christmas at Schaffer with The Brook School Maidenbower
There was Christmas cheer for Crawley Council’s sheltered accommodation residents last week when they got festive at Christmas parties and were visited by local schools.
Carey House Christmas with West Green Primary School
Carey House in West Green enjoyed festive songs and a nativity play from four and five-year-olds from West Green Primary School.
Carey House Christmas with West Green Primary School
Residents at Schaffer House, Maidenbower, joined in the Christmas songs with youngsters from the Brook School.
And Atlee House in Broadfield celebrated the festive season with a party and were joined by a member of staff from the council’s contractors, Apollo.
Christmas party at Atlee House with Neil from Apollo
Apollo recently made improvements to the community room At Atlee House, making it bigger and meaning dancing to the Hokey Cokey was a breeze.
A new alerts service will keep residents informed of changes to Crawley Council services during bad weather.
The snow updates system will update subscribers by email whenever new information about services is available.
People can also register for local weather updates from the Met Office using the same system, provided by Crawley-based company GovDelivery.
, said: “Unfortunately disruption to some services during severe weather conditions is inevitable, although we do everything in our power to minimise them.
“This system is very handy for both residents and visitors as they will be able to get up to the minute information about whether our leisure centre or theatre is open for example or if refuse and recycling collections have been disrupted.”
The council will be extending the alert system in the New Year to offer information on a wider range of services.
The Town Hall in Crawley will close on Christmas Eve at 1pm and reopen at 8am on January 4 2011.
But many of Crawley Council’s other buildings will remain open during the festive period.
Tilgate Nature Centre and Walled Garden will only close on Christmas Day, it will open between 10am and 4pm from Boxing Day to New Year’s Day. The Walled Garden Café will be closed on Christmas Day but will open between 11am and 2pm for hot and cold drinks and snacks on Boxing Day; the café will close on New Year’s Day.
K2 Crawley will open from 7am-3.30pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The leisure centre will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. It will open from 8am-5.30pm on December 27, 8.30am to 5.30pm on December 28 and 7am-9pm on December 29 and 30. The centre will be open during its usual hours on Sunday January 2 but will open between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Monday January 3. Hours will return to normal from Tuesday January 4.
Specific programmes and activities may vary so for more information visit www.freedom-leisure.co.uk/k2 or call K2 Crawley on 01293 585300.
3G and five-a-side pitches will be closed from midday on Christmas Eve through to Sunday January 2.
The Hawth theatre will close on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and the Box Office hours will differ over the festive period. The Box Office will be open from 10am to 8.15pm on December 23, from 10am to 5.45pm on Christmas Eve, 11.45am to 5.45pm between December 26 and January 31 and 11.45pm to am to 5.45pm on January 2.
Adventure play sites will be open until 11am and 4pm until Thursday December 23. They will reopen on Wednesday January 5.
Bookings for community centres can be taken until 12noon on Friday December 24 and the centres will reopen from Sunday January 2.
Anyone with an urgent problem over Christmas should ring the emergency number on 01293 551636.
Residents can still pay for council services during the Christmas break by using the online payments facility on our website at www.crawley.gov.uk. You can also visit the website for information on council services, opening times, emergency contact numbers, shopping, events, parking and much more.
Seventy-five young carers from all over West Sussex have enjoyed time out from their usual day-to-day responsibilities.
The County Council took the group to see Worthing pantomime ‘Aladdin’ for an afternoon of heroes, villains and comedy, followed by a feast of party food and Christmas craft workshops.
It’s a world away from their home lives, where the young people often live and care for someone with an illness, disability, or drug or alcohol problems.
Cabinet Member for Children and Families, Pete Bradbury, said: “It can be really tough for these young people to keep up with school work, while looking after a relative.
“They are to be admired for the help they give, but too often they have to grow up before their time, and take on an adult’s role.
“Children are children for such a short time. It’s our job to support them as much as we can.”
The pantomime day out is one of several events jointly organised each year by the youth service and the young carers team for the 8 to 16 year olds.
Activity days are held every half term and end of term holidays with camps during the summer holidays.
Street dance and circus skills are planned for February half term with three separate events for the north, south and west of the county.
There are also seven local young carers groups that meet on a regular basis in Crawley, Horsham, Burgess Hill, Worthing, Littlehampton, Bognor Regis and Chichester.
For more information email youngcarers@westsussex.gov.uk or telephone them on 01903 236562.
Father Christmas is still at County Mall until Christmas Eve, he has set up home in Debenhams on the Top Floor Children’s Department and will be around to meet all the good little boys and girls of Sussex everyday from 11.00-5.00pm, however on Christmas Eve he will be closing at 3.00pm to get his reindeer fed and ready for the busy night ahead…… visiting Father Christmas is absolutely free and every good little boy and girl will receive a free present.
This Christmas, County Mall is giving away £6,000 between three local charities: Home Start, Rockinghorse and Chestnut’s Challenge.
We are asking you to vote at our interactive Christmas tree within the centre, or simply vote here on our website. Voting will be open until 24th December 2010.
After Christmas, the £6,000 fund will be split between the charities and they will receive £3k, £2k and £1k depending on the number of votes they received.
Here’s a little information about the three charities:
Home-Start
Home-Start is a charity consisting of community volunteers supporting local families coping with bereavement, ill health, financial difficulties, depression, disability and isolation.
They offer friendly, practical support in the home and through family groups.
Rockinghorse
An independent local charity, which aims to make life better for sick and disabled children across Sussex. Rockinghorse has been making life better for sick children for 43 years, by supporting children’s hospitals respite centres across the county.
Chestnut Tree House
For every life-limited local child that Chestnut Tree House is caring for, there is another child somewhere in Sussex that they are not yet caring for due to lack of funding. Please help them meet the challenge of reaching every one of them. Chestnut Tree House is the only children’s hospice in Sussex, providing practical and emotional support, expert advice and dedicated care for local families with children affected by cancer, muscular dystrophy and other life-limiting illnesses.
A couple of weeks ago we were asked by the BBC to give an interview about the council and their ‘large amount of money’ they had put away. They then went on to interview Councillor Bob Lanzer, Leader of Crawley Borough Council.
Unfortunately, true to the usual ‘negativity’ of the average news publications or TV news, the BBC had made up their minds this was to be a negative story and therefore only used a small section of our interview which made it all sound negative, putting our council in a bad light, although the rest of the interview was very supportive. So in response to this we requested an interview with Councillor Bob Lanzer to get the more positive side of this story. You can hear what Councillor Lanzer had to say and the questions Shelley put to him in the interview below. Shelley also asked about the snow and how the Council are dealing with this situation. If you would like to comment, please feel free to do so below.
We would like to thank Councillor Lanzer for his time. If you wish to write to the council please send your correspondence to: -
Crawley Borough Council,
Amenities Department,
Town Hall,
The Boulevard,
Crawley,
West Sussex, RH10 1UZ
Festive first aid advice for a safe Christmas in Sussex
Sussex St John Ambulance is offering some festive first aid tips to ensure people enjoy an injury free Christmas and New Year.
The leading first aid charity will have volunteers on duty at events across Sussex throughout the festive season.
Operations manager Dan May said: ‘Putting up decorations, playing with new gadgets and carving the turkey can turn a joyous occasion into a disaster with injuries ranging from cuts through to heart attacks.
‘Children under five and people over 65 are most likely to have an accident in the home, and on average approximately 80,000 people will go to hospital over Christmas and the New Year.
‘We believe that anyone who needs first aid should get it but only two out of three people would know what to do in an emergency. St John Ambulance is determined to be the difference between lives lost and lives saved so we have come up with some basic first aid for a number of common festive injuries.’
St John Ambulance advice:
• Make sure your cupboards are stocked with pain killers, indigestion tablets, Calpol for children and other remedies as chemists and doctors may be shut. You should also make sure that your first aid kit is fully stocked and in date.
• Symptoms of indigestion and a heart attack can be similar so it’s important to establish the type of discomfort being experienced. The key symptoms of a heart attack are tightness in the chest and pain that spreads out from the chest to the arms or jaw. Sweating and shortness of breath is also common. If you suspect someone is having a heart attack, prompt action is vital. Call 999 immediately and, if the person is conscious, give them a single aspirin tablet to chew (300mg) unless you know they are allergic to it.
• Take care when carving the turkey – if you cut yourself, cover the wound with a clean dressing and apply pressure. If bleeding persists, seek further medical help.
• If someone suffers an electric shock when putting up Christmas lights (inside or outside) isolate the electricity and seek further medical advice.
• If children get bikes or roller blades make sure they wear a helmet to protect their head from an injury if they fall. If they fall and hit their head and you are concerned, seek further medical advice.
• If someone is choking, it’s important to ask them if they are choking and always encourage them to cough. If they are unable to speak, cough or breathe give five blows to the back. If this doesn’t work, give up to five abdominal thrusts by standing behind the casualty, while ensuring they remain leaning forwards, and putting both arms around the upper part of the abdomen. Clench your fist and place it between the navel and the bottom of the breastbone. Hold onto your fist with your other hand and pull sharply inwards and upwards up to five times. Check the mouth again. If, after repeating three cycles of back blows and abdominal thrusts, the obstruction does not clear, dial 999 for an ambulance and continue until it arrives.
• Wrap up well for winter walks – hypothermia can set in easily among the elderly and young children. Always take a mobile phone to call for help in case of emergency
• Beware burns from flaming Christmas puddings. Always run a minor burn under cold water for AT LEAST 10 minutes, and if the burn is still hot, continue to cool down in 10 minute cycles. Serious burns should also be cooled down and require hospital treatment
St John Ambulance runs a comprehensive range of first aid courses at venues across the county. These courses teach you how to deal with a number of scenarios including management of unconscious casualties, resuscitation, heart attacks, bleeding, and burns.
For more information about St John Ambulance or to book a first aid course visit www.sja.org.uk/sussex or call 01273 371 500
WEST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL APPOINTS NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Kieran Stigant will become the new Chief Executive of West Sussex County Council tomorrow (Friday) subject to a recommendation from a cross-party interview panel being approved by the full Council.
He has been the Council’s Interim Chief Executive since October following the departure of Mark Hammond.
Kieran has worked for the County Council for nearly 20 years in a variety of roles and been a member of the Chief Executive’s Board for the last 12 years.
His current post has been as Executive Director for Communities – responsible for a wide range of services including roads and transport, waste management, Fire and Rescue, and libraries.
County Council Chairman Mark Dunn, who chaired the appointment panel, said today: “The formal recruitment process allowed us the opportunity of testing the market in order to find the very best qualified person to steer this authority through some very testing times and enormous financial pressures.
“I am delighted that after a very rigorous process we can recommend Kieran Stigant, and I am confident that he will provide the leadership needed during what is a rapid period of change for local government.
County Council Leader Louise Goldsmith said: “Finding new and innovative ways of delivering services and working with our communities to really develop the ‘Big Society’ agenda in West Sussex will be another key task for Kieran.
“It is a huge job because more than 760,000 residents in West Sussex depend on our services. I have every confidence in him, and am looking forward to working closely with him.
“Kieran will also be responsible for ensuring the success of the new public health role that the Government is giving local authorities, so he faces a very busy agenda.”
Kieran, 45, said: “I am grateful for the confidence that has been shown in me, and look forward to working with a wide range of partner organisations, and our local communities over the coming years.
“I am under no illusions about the scale of the task, but I do believe that strong partnerships are key to ensuring a decent standard of services for the residents we are here to serve.”
The County Council will be told tomorrow that the new Chief Executive’s salary will be £175,000. There will be an additional performance bonus as part of the package but this is not automatic and will not be available during the first year of employment.
An Oxford graduate, Kieran joined West Sussex County Council in 1991 as a group accountant before taking up the job of assistant to the Chief Executive in 1992.
He has held several posts in recent years including Director of Environment and Development, and has worked on a number of significant projects internally, with partners and on the national scene.
Impressive SATs results for primary school students
Pupils across West Sussex are celebrating success in their SATs tests this year.
Overall 80% of 10 and 11 year olds in the county achieved Level 4 in English and 78% in maths.
Level 4 is the expected level for this age group.
In fact 75 primary schools in West Sussex scored higher than 80% for English, while the number of schools boasting above 80% for maths is 68.
Arundel C of E Primary is the top achieving school in the county, where 100% of pupils achieved Level 4 in both subjects.
Arundel is closely followed by St Giles C of E Primary School, Haywards Heath, and Stedham Primary School, Midhurst.
Cabinet Member for Education and Schools, Peter Griffiths said: “Eighty per cent is a good figure, the same in fact as last year. Both pupils and teachers should be proud of their achievements.
“The council does recognise however, that this year’s league table does not give a full picture because a number of schools opted for Teacher Assessments instead of the National Curriculum tests, where the teachers formally assess their pupils’ performance.
“This has made it difficult to make meaningful comparisons with historical data.”
Teacher Assessments are robustly reviewed and these results are shared with parents and the schools that children are transferring to.
West Sussex County Council today (Friday) announced steps are already under way to address shortcomings in its procedures for safeguarding children after the publication of an Ofsted report.
Following a two-week inspection, the County Council has been rated as inadequate for safeguarding.
However, the inspectors found that services for working with Looked After Children were adequate.
Pete Bradbury, Cabinet Member for Children and Families, gave details of the inspection report to a meeting today of the full Council and announced the formation of a specialist team with an urgent brief to speed-up the rate of progress made since the last Ofsted inspection two years ago when safeguarding was also rated as inadequate.
He said: “The report is deeply disappointing and I acknowledged that in my statement to the County Council.
“The inspection process is now much more rigorous and, of the 29 local authorities inspected this year, 12 are now rated as inadequate, including West Sussex.
“But we make no complaint about the process and fully accept the findings and the criticism. We do not in any way minimise the shortcomings that have been highlighted. We know what needs to be done and we are going to get on with it.
“I want to assure our residents that the protection of children is an absolute priority as far as this Council is concerned.
“The improvements made within children’s social services have not led to the speed of progress we would have liked. The Ofsted report makes it clear that we need to step up the pace.
“We are forming an improvement team which will include experts who have helped other councils in a similar situation. They will work alongside staff to address the shortcomings identified by Ofsted.”
Pete said the ‘Improvement Team’ would be fully funded from the Council’s contingency fund, so there would be no impact on council taxpayers or any other services.
The team will report to an independently chaired Improvement Board – membership of which is being finalised by the County Council and the Department for Education.
Pete added: “We will also be strengthening the role of our own Corporate Parenting Panel.
“I am also going to strengthen the role of the Local Safeguarding Children Board, consisting of representatives from a wide range of public sector organisations, which has also been criticised in the report.”
The Ofsted inspectors said that the restructure of the department in April of this year had been well handled, staff morale had improved and the Council’s campaign to retain existing staff and recruit more social workers had reduced the vacancy rate calling this ‘a very good achievement’.
Pete said: “Social workers have one of the most difficult jobs in society, and since becoming Cabinet Member for this service in May, I have been impressed with their hard work and dedication.
“What today’s report makes clear is that they need more support and better processes and procedures have to be properly embedded.”
“The demands on the service since the Baby Peter tragedy have been intense because, rightly, everyone is being increasingly vigilant about children.
“I also told the Council today that the department is currently in the process of re-auditing case files to check that assessments at the time were thorough and that risks were appropriately assessed.”
Pete said examples of the increased workload in West Sussex included a 21.6 per cent increased in the number of referrals in the last year compared with a national average of 11 per cent.
“The number of children subject to a Child Protection Plan at the end of September was 540 – an increase of 15 per cent in the last year compared with a national average of 4.7 per cent,” he added.
Terry Bamford, Chairman of the Local Safeguarding Children Board for West Sussex, said: “There are clearly major challenges and issues as a result of this report for the LSCB. We will need to focus on areas such as performance monitoring and management oversight across the partnership.
“The report says the LSCB should develop a specific and measurable plan to respond robustly to the concerns in the report. This will be the main item on the agenda for our next full partnership meeting in January.”
Judith Wright, the Director of Public Health for West Sussex, said: “This report highlights many areas where progress is being made to improve child safeguarding but overall it does not make for comfortable reading.
“There are lessons here for all of the public sector agencies with a responsibility for protecting and supporting vulnerable children, and that includes the NHS. We are grateful that the inspectors have produced a report which clearly points out where we can and must improve, and we will work with all of our colleagues to ensure those improvements are made.”
Pete Bradbury also spoke today about the adequate rating for the way the County Council works with Looked After Children.
“This is a much more positive report, but there is no room for complacency and we want to see more done in future. Adequate is not enough. It is another reason for strengthening the Corporate Parenting Panel.
“It is also one of the reasons why our future budget plans include proposals for much earlier social worker involvement with families in crisis or at risk, to avoid children having to come into the care system.”
Residents can watch Pete Bradbury being questioned about the Ofsted report on the new digital democracy pages of www.westsussex.gov.uk
RECORD AMOUNT OF FOOD DONATED FOR FREE CHRISTMAS CRAWLEY BOOTCAMP!
In true Christmas spirit, Sussex Bootcamps have had a great turnout for their annual free week of Turkey-Busting Bootcamp. Crawley Bootcampers raised a record amount of food for Crawley Open House Homeless Shelter. Ben Davis, co-owner of Sussex Bootcamps, dropped a van full of food donations off at Crawley Open House and had a chat with Manager Pam to find out more about what they do over Christmas. “Over Christmas we have 48 people for Christmas Dinner and up to 60 people a day in our day centre for buffets all over the Christmas period. We are usually lucky enough to get more than enough donations but it all tends to be last minute so often we don’t know what we have until the day. As well as food, we provide hot showers, warm clothing, bedding and advice workers. We have a wonderful team of staff who always offer a non judgemental friendly environment for anyone who needs us. Thank you Sussex Bootcamps for your generosity.”
Steve Cork, Ben’s business partner, says the business feels very strongly about giving back to the community. “We want to celebrate the success of our Fitness Bootcamps, feel it is important to appreciate all we have, especially our health, and to help those less fortunate by collecting food from everyone who attends.”
Sussex Bootcamps are taking a well earned rest over Christmas before starting the next round of Bootcamps on January 4th. If you are interested in loosing those Christmas pounds and starting the New Year off well, please visit our website www.sussexbootcamps.co.uk, email us at info@sussexbootcamps.co.uk or call 01444 340 030. We look forward to helping you improve your life!
Young people from Bewbush Youth Centre have left their mark on the regeneration of Dorsten Square by creating a graffiti art cube.
Working with local graffiti artist, Skribblez, 11 young people took part in two design workshops at the youth centre and created the graffiti art last weekend (December 11 and 12).
The cube, a small sub-station owned and maintained by EDF Energy and located by the bus stop, has been transformed into a bright and colourful display featuring original designs.
Councillor Lenny Walker, Cabinet member for Leisure and Culture, said: “This is a fantastic piece of work which the kids are very proud of; I know people’s taste in art differs widely but this shows our youngsters in a really positive light and at their creative best”
“It means the area has a piece of contemporary art which reflects them and gives them a real sense of ownership in their area.”
The work was part of the area’s regeneration and was coordinated by staff from Crawley Borough Councils’ Community Arts and Community Development Teams, with support from West Sussex County Council Youth Service.
Further designs will be created at the cube in early summer and autumn 2011.
(l-r) Danielle, Liam Bent, Mike, Robson Murray and Shane Cook
Christmas sparkles still light the tree in Langley Green Parade this year thanks to the neighbourhood’s forum.
The Langley Green Forum were so pleased with the lights which were installed last year they have decided to sponsor and pay for them for Christmas 2010.
Local people make up the forum and discuss issues and improvements for Langley Green.
The group are keen to get more people involved and if you’d like to know more contact Toby Shaw at toby.shaw@crawley.gov.uk or call 01293 438655
The next meeting will take place at the new Langley Green Centre on March 2 at 7pm.
ILLEGAL wines and spirits worth £8000 were seized by officers from West Sussex County Council Trading Standards Service when they raided two premises in Worthing with Sussex Police and HM Customs this week.
The swoop was part of a drive to protect local businesses and prevent consumers from being conned at Christmas by rogue traders selling food and drink that is falsely described.
The drink, which included vodka, whisky and brandy, was poor quality, falsely described and counterfeit. In past cases, counterfeit vodka has proved to be very dangerous to people’s health and can cause blindness. HM Customs’ officers also discovered duty evasion on the goods found.
Peter Evans, County Council Cabinet Member for Public Protection, said: “This joint raid was part of our Trading Standards Service’s ongoing drive to protect consumers and legitimate businesses in West Sussex from the activities of counterfeiters.
“As well as conning people out of their hard-earned Christmas cash, counterfeiters also make large amounts of money by exploiting the reputation and trademarks of established brands.
“Their activities impact upon the West Sussex economy and could ultimately lead to local, legitimate businesses closing.”
If you suspect anyone of selling counterfeit goods you can report direct to the Trading Standards Service using the anonymous reporting facility on its website at www.westsussex.gov.uk or contact Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06 or visit www.consumerdirect.gov.uk.
Due to the severe weather conditions the cleansing teams will be clearing and gritting the following roads today:
Fitchet Close (Langley Green)
The Birches (Three Bridges)
Black path from Furnace Green to Three Bridges
Creasys Drive and Harvey Close (Broadfield)
Billington Drive (Maidenbower)
East Park (southgate)
Craigans ( Gossops Green)
Neighbourhood Maintenance & Grass Verge Cutting Teams
Please see the attached for snow clearing/salting going on this week. The team also has a Ford Ranger with a salt spreader attachment going to Tilgate Park, The Hawth, K2 and this afternoon will do some of the steep hills etc.
Tree wardens celebrate growing success of national scheme
West Sussex County Council tree champions planted themselves at the House of Lords to mark two special occasions.
Volunteer tree wardens, network coordinators, politicians and council officials from across the country gathered to celebrate 20 years of the national Tree Warden Scheme. It was also to mark National Tree Week.
The scheme and National Tree Week are run by The Tree Council, which promotes the planting and conservation of trees and woods.
The Tree Warden Scheme is a national initiative to enable people to play an active role in conserving and enhancing their local trees and woods.
Deborah Urquhart, County Council Cabinet Member for Environment and Economy, said: “It is a fantastic achievement to be celebrating such a milestone.
“Congratulations to all our tree wardens who have achieved so much over 20 years by planting trees, caring for them and highlighting their importance.”
There are 184 tree wardens in West Sussex, appointed by parish councils or other community organisations. They gather information about their local trees and encourage practical tree, hedgerow and woodland projects.
They recently took part in an orchard survey which was co-ordinated nationally by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), to locate, map and record the remaining traditional orchards throughout the UK.
On Monday 13th December, St Wilfrid’s Catholic School held an exhibition to celebrate its Arts collaboration with the Creative Partnership. The exhibition was a huge success with staff, students, parents, representatives from The Creative Partnership and, of course, Visual Artist, Becci Kenning in attendance.
This term a group of 21 female students from Year 10 have had the fantastic opportunity to be a part of a full funded Arts based project called Creative Partnerships. They have been working with visual artist Becci Kenning, creating art work with a focus on scale and viewpoint and the impact these two elements can have on an audience.
The exhibition showed the final culmination of the students work, their visits and application both in an artistic and mathematical manner.
Mike Lewis, Assistant Head and Co-Ordinator of the event, comments, “This project has been a great success for the students at St Wilfrids. It has allowed expression of ideas and real creativity at a level which has stretched the students but has also inspired them. The School is immensely proud of the girls and their final pieces which certainly have achieved the “Wow” factor due to the scale and level of detail.”
The Creative Partnerships programme brings creative workers such as artists, architects and scientists into schools to work with teachers to inspire young people and help them learn. For more information please visit www.creative-partnerships.com
West Sussex Libraries will operate different opening times over the festive period.
All Libraries will be closed on Christmas Day, Monday December 27 and Tuesday 28 and January Saturday 1 and Monday 3.
Ferring, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint and Southbourne Libraries will also be closed on Christmas Eve.
All other Libraries will close at 1pm Christmas Eve and 5pm on New Years Eve.
Arundel, Broadwater, East Preston, Findon, Petworth, Pulborough, Southwater and Witterings Libraries will close at 1pm on Christmas Eve and will have normal opening hours on New Years Eve.
There is a special offer on now until New Years Eve for all Library customers – ‘2 for 1’ on all DVDS, Blu-rays, CDs and audiobooks.
Visit www.westsussex.gov.uk/libraries for more information.
SHOPPERS are being urged by West Sussex County Council Trading Standards Service to make sure they know their rights when seeking festive bargains online or in the high street.
Earlier this year, Government surveys revealed:
• 75% of UK consumers didn’t know there were differences between online and offline consumer rights.
• 10% of consumers admit to being unsure of their consumer rights with online purchases.
• 24% of internet users were unaware of the seven-day cooling off period for most online purchases.
Online:
You can get a full refund on many products if you cancel within seven days – but you must take reasonable care of the goods you are returning. You are entitled to a refund of the original delivery costs. However, check who will cover the cost of returning goods.
Goods should be delivered within 30 days of the order, unless you agree to a different delivery time.
Complain to the trader if you have a problem shopping online.
When buying on the internet always make sure you know who you’re dealing with. Trading Standards advice is:
• Check the trader’s details on its website, including its geographic and email addresses.
• Don’t assume ‘.uk’ means that the seller is based in the UK.
• Read all trader reviews and help others by writing reviews when you make purchases.
Check if the seller is a member of a trust scheme, such as Internet Shopping Is Safe (ISIS) or Safebuy, as a sign the retailer is committed to good practice.
In the High Street:
Items purchased face-to-face do not carry an automatic legal right to a refund or exchange if you change your mind or it doesn’t fit.
But many stores, particularly large chains, have goodwill policies that permit this. If you are not sure about an item you are buying check the store’s policy before purchase.
Know your rights:
The Sale of Goods Act says all goods must be:
• ‘Of satisfactory quality’, which means a standard that a reasonable person would regard as acceptable, bearing in mind the way they were described, what they cost and any other relevant circumstances.
• ‘Fit for their purpose’, which includes any particular purpose mentioned by you to the seller. For example, if you buy a computer game and say to the trader you want to play it on a particular console, it must be compatible.
• ‘As described’ on the package, display sign or by the seller – for example, a jumper described as cashmere mustn’t be acrylic.
If an item is faulty the trader (not the manufacturer) is obliged to sort the problem out – repair, refund, replace or compensate depending on how long you have had an item, what the problem is and how much use you have had out of it. You must have proof of purchase to insist on this.
Your legal rights do not change at Christmas.
However, many stores extend their ‘goodwill’ policies so people can exchange or obtain refunds for unsuitable gifts after Christmas. If it’s important to you – check before you buy.
Your legal rights are not affected by the sales – but many stores vary their goodwill policies regarding sales items.
Peter Evans, County Council Cabinet Member for Public Protection, said: “Following the advice of our Trading Standards experts will help you get value for money when you go bargain hunting over the holiday season.”
If you need further advice about your rights call Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06 or check their website on www.consumerdirect.gov.uk
