Do you live in Broadfield? Do you want to get involved and make a difference to what happens in your neighbourhood?
Crawley Borough Council would like to invite you to be part of a team working with representatives from local organisations to take part in a neighbourhood audit in Broadfield. We are looking for six residents to be part of the team, which will plan and carry out the audit.
The project will involve speaking to people who live and work in the area to find out what they think of the neighbourhood and local services to ensure that they have a say in what happens and that future services meet their needs.
You will receive training to develop skills to carry out the audit. Being part of the team will provide you with the opportunity to meet new people, develop new skills and make a difference to your community. Volunteer expenses will be covered.
The project will start in May. If you are interested in getting involved or would like more information, call Kathryn Ripley on 01293 438633 or email kathryn.ripley@crawley.gov.uk
This year’s Crawley Family Bike Ride takes place on Sunday 26th June – and includes free entrance to Nymans Gardens, owned by the National Trust.The annual ride is from Oriel High School in Maidenbower to Nymans Gardens in Handcross and back. Registration starts at 10am and the ride is suitable for all ages and abilities, although children must be accompanied by a parent/guardian.
The route, which follows National Cycle Route 20, is:
• Under the railway line to Furnace Green
• Through Tilgate to the Broadfield Stadium/Thomas Bennett roundabout
• Under the subway to Broadfield
• Up the hill to Pease Pottage
• Short stretch to Handcross
The ride is led by experienced cyclists. There is usually light traffic on the route and a slow pace ensures everyone can keep up.
Arrival at Nymans Gardens should be at about 12 noon. All riders will be granted free access to the gardens. The return ride starts at about 1pm with arrival back at Oriel High School at approximately 3pm.
Creasys Drive staff are set to help raise much-needed funds for Crawley youngster, Milly Vaughan, who is set to travel to America for lifesaving cancer treatment.
Milly Vaughan with her granddad, Tilgate Park Manager, Kevin Tidy
The Creasys Drive Adventure Playground funday kicks off at 11am on Sunday (March 27) and families can join in a host of activities until 3pm for a suggested donation of £2 per adult and £1 per child.
A call on Facebook from milly’s family and support from Creasys Drive staff has seen people from across the town donate their time, services and prizes for the fab funday.
The event, at the Broadfield based adventure playground, will raise cash for five-year-old Milly’s trip to Florida where she will have proton therapy for a brain tumour.
The tumour was discovered when Milly was just one, following ill health since birth. Over the last four years she has undergone two courses of chemotherapy as surgery is not possible and doctors have now decided the best course of action is proton therapy.
There’s something for the whole family to enjoy including a bouncy castle, raffle, tombola, face painting, pampering sessions, welly throwing, arts and crafts, tug of war, penalty football plus drinks and snacks.
Milly, who’s grandfather Kevin Tidy manages Tilgate Park for Crawley Council, will have her flight and accommodation paid for by the NHS, as will her parents, Emma and Paul.
But, the three month trip will cost a lot in living expenses and there’s still bills to be paid back home; the funday fundraiser will go some way to helping the family cover expenses for the vital trip.
For more information about the funday call 01293 561847 and to find out more about Milly and her condition log on to www.millys-journey.co.uk
The town has bagged five stars for its clean streets following an anonymous inspection last year from Clean Britain Award judges.
The 2010/11 rating means Crawley is one of just 22 towns and cities in the country to receive five stars.
Organised by the British Cleaning Council and the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management, the Clean Britain award reflects Crawley Borough Council’s hard work to make the town a clean, green and healthy place to live.
Councillor Keith Blake, Cabinet member for Environment said: “I’m very pleased to see how well Crawley performed in our first venture into the Clean Britain Awards. It demonstrates how much effort has gone into fulfilling our pledge of a greener, cleaner Crawley.
“It is due to the hard work and diligence of our Amenity Services street cleaning team, the Community Wardens for litter enforcement, and for Crawley residents in reducing litter on the streets.”
During their anonymous visit last October, Clean Britain judges were out to spot how the town measured up to criteria like litter, fly tipping, waste bin management, cigarette butts, chewing gum, dog fouling, cleanliness of signage and street furniture (benches etc), graffiti and tidy hedgerows on pedestrian routes.
The assessor visited parts of the town including Memorial Gardens, the station, Langley Green, Broadfield, Manor Royal and Southgate.
The Friends of Broadfield Park got off to a cracking start to 2011 by planting 800 daffodil bulbs on Saturday.
As well as the mass planting, work also continued on clearing coppices to make Broadfield Park more accessible.
The Friends are also taking a keen interest in the plans for a new ‘free school’ to be located in Broadfield House. Proposals show that the school, if granted planning permission, will take some park land. Detailed plans will come before Crawley Borough Council for approval soon.
The next working party will be on Saturday February 26. All who want to help are welcome. Tools and advice on use will be provided.
The Friends group also has a very good website, which shows progress and the close working arrangement the Friends have with Crawley Borough Council.
Crawley Football in the Community Football courses have been bringing high quality, enjoyable football to young children of all abilities for 10 years. Children are encouraged to appreciate the benefits of teamwork, to have a go, develop their confidence, and gain new skills as well as developing existing ones. The aim is for all children to have an enjoyable time, make friends and enjoy sport in a safe, structured fun environment.
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.
Town pets are in for a treat when Creasys Drive Adventure Playground kids get cracking on pet crackers filled with hand-made treats.
The Christmas gifts for four-legged friends will be on sale at the playground’s festive fair on Sunday 12 December.
Visitors will be able to pick up a host of Christmas crafts, home-made sweets and hot festive food as well as look forward to a visit from Santa.
Money made at the fair will go to the Mayor’s charity, Home Start, and the Golden Lion’s Children’s Trust which has helped some playground visitors and their families over the last year.
The fair kicks off at Creasy Drive Adventure Playground in Broadfield at 12 noon and finishes at 3pm.
On Wednesday 3rd November 2010 Tek Express ’ “The Laptop Specialist” proudly turned ten years old. This is a great achievement for any business. Shelley went along to meet joint owner Sam Francis and to find out the secret of their success.
Statement from Tek Express on their birthday:
Today marks a very special day for us as it’s the 10th anniversary of our company! We’re not sure where the time has gone but we are very pleased to celebrate such a great achievement and we want to commemorate this special day by giving something back to our loyal customers – so we have come up with an exciting new service. As an avid reader of our newsletter, you will know that its purpose is not to sell you services but to keep you in touch with laptop news. So this is a special one-off edition.
Maintenance for all
As the business world continually develops we here at TEK Express, The Laptop Specialist have seen customer needs change rapidly in recent years. We’ve been offering a laptop swap out service to our blue chip clients since way back in 2000 and have supported smaller businesses since 2002. But until now we’ve not offered an individual maintenance service to our customers and their laptops.
Having received a lot of feedback from our customers on the need for such a solution – we’ve taken the time to analyse all the requirements and to then try and build a solution that will be useful for the individual laptop users.
So here’s what we’d like to offer. For an annual fee, we will repair all problems, whether general hardware failures or the result of an unintentional accident. Once inspected, we will repair it within 5 working days (parts availability permitting) and have it ready to return back to you. If you need us to arrange the collection and delivery back, we will do this at cost for just £25.00. If the laptop is going to be in our workshop beyond that time, we can provide you with a working internet machine to tide you over whilst your laptop is being repaired. To kick off the service, you will need to send the unit into us for our ‘MOT’ service where we run full hardware diagnostics and the removal of dust and foreign debris from the working parts. We also use a ‘UV wand’ to sweep over your laptop safely killing 99% of bacteria and even dust mites within 10 seconds. We class this as preventative maintenance helping us to advise you of an issue before it evens happens. So what does it cost I hear you ask, can you believe as little as 16p per day?
Joint owner Sam Francis is very proud of their 10 years in business
And as it’s our 10th birthday today, we are feeling generous. If you take out this service before the 30th November, we will carry out the MOT and arrange the pickup and delivery for free – yes, we are willing to throw in £25.00 courier fees. The normal cost of this service alone is £69.95 – this is our present to you!
If you are interested in this offer, please email us at sales@tekexpress.co.uk, all we need to know is the make and model of your laptop so that we can come back to you with a fixed price.
End.
If you visit Tek Express please mention you saw this article on Crawley Happy Times
Crawley kids can use Venture play sites for free throughout October half term.
Cash for free play comes from Crawley Borough Council’s Play 4 Crawley Portfolio which allowed a host of new play opportunities following a successful bid to the Big Lottery Fund.
It now means that children across the town can use all four Adventure Playgrounds, Creasy Drive, Cherry Lane, Waterlea and the Millpond, for nothing between 11am and 4pm Monday to Friday during the half term week beginning October 25.
The playgrounds in Bewbush, Broadfield, Langley Green and Furnace Green all have fantastic indoor and outdoor play space, a tuck shop and organised activities run by qualified play workers.
Thoughtful kids at Creasys Drive Adventure Playground are gathering gifts to send to less fortunate children and they need your help to get them there in time for Christmas.
Once again the charitable playground is co-ordinating the Love in a Box appeal and generous youngsters are already filling shoe boxes with gifts for under-privileged children in Eastern Europe.
Last year Creasys Drive children sent 214 shoe boxes but each box costs a minimum of £2.50 to send meaning they also had to raise £535 to send their Love in a Box.
The playground is asking for donations of gifts like toothbrushes, combs, toothpaste, flannels, small bags of sweets, small chocolate bars, soap, small toys including Happy Meal toys, gloves, scarves and more – except toy guns or anything related to war.
Fundraising events and donations from council staff help the playground raise the cash they need to send the boxes but they would also happily accept financial donations too.
Children at the playground pack and wrap every box before they are collected at the beginning of November by the appeal organisers, an Eastbourne-based charity called Mustard Seed Relief Mission.
People can bring gifts to the playground or make up their own shoe boxes.
All donations need to be received by Tuesday November 2.
For more information call Creasys Drive Adventure Playground on 01293 561847.
Crawley Council is calling on Broadfield residents to give up an hour of their time to have a say on their neighbourhood.
The Broadfield community meeting will give locals the opportunity to share ideas about improving the area, speak to councillors, hear from the neighbourhood police team and ask questions.
The meeting aims to establish a strong Broadfield Forum made up of residents who are willing to get involved and help make positive changes to the area.
Broadfield community meeting will be held on Tuesday 28th September at Broadfield Youth and Community Centre at 7.30pm.
For more information contact John Dale on 01293 438412 or email: john.dale@crawley.gov.uk
Friends of Broadfield Park are calling for volunteers to help keep the area in tip-top condition.
The group met on August 5 where they agreed three more clear-up and pruning dates for 2010; Saturday August 21, Saturday September 18 and Saturday October 23 all between 10am and 1pm.
The Friends also formed a steering committee to help organise events who will be meeting shortly.
Anyone interested in helping should contact Councillor Lee Gilroy on 07593
A new committee has been formed with one mission in mind. To restore Broadfield Park back to it’s former glory.
On Thursday 1st October over 20 Crawley residence made their way to Broadfield Community Centre to hear Councillors Alan Quirk and Lee Gilroy discuss the plans set out for this project.
All were keen for the go ahead
“Back in 1830 the house was used as a hunting lodge for Tilgate Estate (as it was called then)” one lady spoke up and told us. “I worked there when I was young. Previous to that, it was a hotel but went up in flames, with a horse drawn fire engine attending to battle the fire.
A large number of attendees
Up until the mid 80′s, Broadfield Park was a splendid venue for picnics and a spot of fishing in the lake. The ‘white house’ (as it was referred to in the 70′s) was a grand building overlooking the flowered gardens. In later years (early 80′s) it was the home of Radio Mercury. Unfortunately time took it’s toll and the garden became overgrown and unsightly in some areas. This is all about to change.
Currently the park is looked after by the Council who do their best to deter any unsavoury visitors or dumping of waste, but the park is still not used by the community due it’s over zealous growth.
The vision for the revitalised Broadfield Park
Alan Dixon, Assistant Parks Manager for Crawley Borough Council told the attendees “this is going to be a large project and we are appealing for volunteers from the community to help. Although everyone is welcome to assist, we are expecting most of the volunteers to come via Broadfield, Tilgate and Pease Pottage”.
John Braidley and Rachel Wickerson will be heading up the work on the dam, lake and landscape. John said “we have already done alot of work on the dam but the spillway needs further restructuring. This work is vital to the surrounding offices and homes as when it rains the lake can and has overflowed, causing damage in various ways”.
Colin Hayler, Friends of Goffs Park Manager, came along to show his support and told us a project of this magnitude is feasible giving Goffs Park as a great example of what can and has been achieved.
Also present, in support of the project, were the local constabulary in the form of PCSO Ashleigh Hanlon, PCSO Aaron Arnold and Community Warden Team Leader Sandi Forsyth. They told us the park is currently being used by unsavoury persons who leave dangerous paraphernalia which is unsafe to the rest of the community, so they wholly support the plans in the hope this will stop.
Friends of Broadfield Park Meeting
It soon became clear from this meeting that everyone was singing from the same hymm sheet. The plans were drawn and another meeting was set for Thursday 29th October at 19:00 with the first action date as Saturday 14th November.
Everyone is welcome to get involved. The work will entail planting shrubs and doing general cleaning up of the park. It was suggested Thomas Bennett School might want to get some of the children involved, maybe as an after school activity, so they can look back when they are older and feel proud of their accomplishment.
Crawley Happy Times thinks this is going to be a splendid project which we would encourage anyone to get involved in. It was a pleasure to attend a meeting with so many enthusiastic and caring individuals who really want to make a difference in the community they live in. Some of the attendees are dog walkers and happily take a litter grabber and bin liners with them, placing all the rubbish they come across in black bin liners which are then placed at pick up points for the council workers to grab on their rounds. How brilliant! Great work
RT @NRE_Southern: UPDATE: Delays between Haywards Heath and Gatwick Airport until further notice - line now blocked http://t.co/jtqaeicm#fb#54 mins ago
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