Carshalton welcomes its second Frost Fair on Saturday 7th December 1-6pm. The Friends of Honeywood Museum and local charity EcoLocal are again organising the event and are keen to spread the word about this exciting and atmospheric family event.

In the beautiful setting next to Carshalton Ponds, the Frost Fair promises to be a traditional winter event with activities for all of the family. Outside Honeywood Museum and in the nearby Memorial Gardens there will be farmers’ market and craft stalls offering a varied range of tasty treats and a variety of wonderful gift ideas. As it gets darker, the area will be lit with twinkling fairy lights and you can do some shopping with the smell of hot food & hog roast in the air. There will also be choirs, live music and entertainment of various types with a seasonal feel.

Inside Honeywood Museum, there will be story telling for the under sixes, a shadow theatre show ‘Vasalisa the Wise’ for the over sixes and Santa’s Grotto in the magic of the newly refurbished ‘childhood room’ surrounded by toys from a bygone era.

Why not head to the Honeywood Café for mulled wine, mince pies and other food and drink?

The Friends of the Ecology Centre will be running their Christmas Fair and Winter Wonderland Trail alongside the Frost Fair.

The annual Christmas Fair will have hand-crafted gifts, teas, coffees and homemade cake and their Winter Wonderland Trail, from 1pm-4pm, offers the chance to create festive edible tree-decorations for your favourite winter wildlife and explore the delights of the award winning Ecology Centre.

Cost: £1 per person for the Winter Trail. Suitable for: everyone. No booking required.

There’s a competition for best photo of the day. Send your pictures to EcoLocal’s Facebook and Twitter pages and if we think yours is best, you win £20!

Entertainment and stalls for the day!

Amplified stage

1pm-1.25pm – Nylon Ostrich – Five piece alt rock band from South London.

1.30pm-1.55pm – La Petite Vache – tunes from Brittany and France, featuring the hurdy gurdy, two fiddles, accordion and mandolin.

2pm-2.25pm – Carl Chamberlain – Poet

2.30pm-2.55pm – Zero Carbon Band – Upcycled classic pop songs with new words and homegrown songs with homespun props and audience participation.

3pm-3.25pm – Chris Crooks – singer songwriter of Mexicana/Americana: presenting songs from his latest album, “Crimes and Misdemeanours.”

3.30pm-3.55pm – Kodakromes – alternative rock and sub pop

4pm-4.25pm – Moth – Chilled out accordion driven trip hop chanteussing.

4.30pm-4.55pm – Andy Gibbons – Great songs, great voice and one great acoustic guitar.

5pm-5.30pm – Dirty Spoons – energetic folk band, infusing their music with character and well rounded tones.

5.35pm-6.00pm – David Fisher Trio – Dave Fisher and his fantastic trio bring sing-a-long Christmas songs to close the night!

Non amplified stage

1.00 Pennyroyal Clog Dancers – Clog dancing, what more needs to said?

1.40 Carshalton Methodist Church – The Church choir and friends present a programme of Advent and Christmas songs.

2.20 All Saints Handbell Ringers – A mixture of traditional and Christmas tunes rung on one and a half octaves of English handbells

3.00 East Surrey Morris Men – Proudly keeping the English tradition alive!

3.40 Sutton Chorale / All Saints – A selection of Christmas carols seasonal music

4.20 Steampunk Morris – Morris dancing with a Steampunk twist!

Stalls and Organisations:

Festival Walk

Giggly Pig – Hog roast and sausages

Just be Natural – skincare products made from Carshalton Lavender

Nut Knowle Farm – goats cheese

Boutique Blooms – flowers for all occasions

Antares Concepts – hand crafted wooden toys

Lovingly Made – Cupcakes, Celebration Cakes, handmade truffles & chocolates

Emmas Art – Mostly recycled items – painted tin, pottery and wood

Wandle Tree – decoupage and wooden items

Cheam Woodturners

Belmont Bead Company and Suzy Q Too – beaded jewellery and childrens activity 

West Fisher Winery – English wines

Tillingboune Trout – Smoked fish and meats

Honeywood Walk

Friends of Honeywood Museum

Women’s Institute tea stall

Hallsgate Wood – Rustic artefacts made from British wood

Koula’s Kitchen – jams and preserves

Wrights Original – traditional ginger drinks

Chalk Hills Bakery – artisan baked cakes, rolls and bread

S&S Patisserie – patisserie, puddings and confectionary

Selsdon Ceramics – pottery

Memorial Gardens Marquee

EcoLocal Energy Road Show exhibits

Carshalton Lavender – Local Lavender Growers and Distillers

Made at the Wishing Well – recycled jewellery

K Designs – hand painted glass

Sutton Fostering Service – Information of fostering caring

Simply Scarves – beautiful choice of scarves

Baby Name Illustrations – pictures and sign of custom names

Shop with Love – Handmade soaps and gifts

Belle Gifts – Vintage/historical home décor and jewellery

Memorial Gardens

The Hope Bar – beer and refreshments

Red Gingham Bakery – Delicious cakes and fudge

Little Honey Bee – skin care products and candles made from beeswax and honey

Hocus Pocus – fair-trade goods

Goan Food – samosas and curry sauces

The Pizza Project – handmade wood fired pizza

If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Heather on 020 8770 6611 or email heather@ecolocal.org.uk.

Cllr. Alan Salter says: “Carshalton Athletic Football Club has submitted two planning applications for 1) a new “3G” pitch (no. C2013/68433) and 2) for use of flood lighting for training on Monday to Saturdays up to 21.15 hours and on Sundays up to 18.00 hours, except for weekday games and cup matches up to 22.30 and 23.00 hours (no. C2013/68432), thus changing the current planning conditions for hours of use.”

Alan adds: “This will be heard by the Council’s Development Control Committee (DCC), and will include a statutory consultation of local residents by Sutton Council in the vicinity of the club (21 days from 6^th to 27^th December). This follows the proposal to vary the lease the Club holds as a tenant of Sutton Council to enable the Club to apply for funds from the Football Club Foundation for the new 3G pitch.

Cllr. Hamish Pollock says: “If planning permission fails, the club cannot apply for these external funds and the lease variation falls. If planning permission is granted by the Development Control Committee but the funding application to the Football Club Foundation fails, then the lease variation also falls and the use of the pitch will be the same as now, with no new 3G surface.”

Hamish adds: The Council has been advised that should the planning application and grant application succeed, CAFC intends to bring training into the football club grounds and away from Wrythe Recreation Ground. It has also indicated that it intends to provide extra parking in the grounds to reduce parking pressure elsewhere, planting of trees to reduce noise, and reduction in light spillage. A Joint Consultative Committee of residents, councillors and the Football Club has been set up to deal with residents’ concerns, which will meet quarterly.

Plans can be viewed at the Council’s offices at 24 Denmark Road, Carshalton SM5 2JG. The Development Control Committee meeting is likely to be held in the New Year.

Cllr. Jill Whitehead says: “Your local Lib Dem councillors met the school head recently with residents to discuss the school plans to redevelop its site and to submit a new bid for sports facilities to Sport England. The school will shortly be submitting a planning application for redevelopment of old and condemned educational buildings in the centre of the site, to make much needed and welcome improvements to the learning environment.  These will all be one or two storeyed buildings, and will be situated away from local homes where possible.

Jill adds: Also, early in the New Year the school intends to make a second planning application which will be for an “All Weather” sports track, sports hall and netball courts, which will be reduced in scope compared to the last set of plans. These will be situated behind homes in Colston Avenue but the proposal is to shield facilities by a row of trees.  An exhibition of plans will be held shortly for residents to make comments.

Local Parks: Sprucing Up Our Green Spaces. Carshalton Park and Grove Park by the Ponds are both benefiting from a programme of extensive bulb planting by the Lib Dem-run Council, to bring an extra splash of colour to Carshalton next spring. Plans also include the planting of some new trees in the parks and on the street verges and also a cleaning up of the WW1 War Memorial at Carshalton Ponds.

Cllr Hamish Pollock says:

“These improvements should make a real difference to the local area.  The council in partnership with Wandle Valley Regional Park Trust has also consulted on plans for the “Wandle Valley cycle trail” to pass through the eastern end of Grove Park and so link up the Westcroft Centre and the proposed cycle trail through Carshalton Park. This is very good news for those who prefer to cycle in safety off the local main roads”.

The latest planning application for the extended use of flood lights from Carshalton Athletic Football Club off Colston Avenue, Carshalton, is now in at the Council’s planning office, this is no. C2013/68432. You can look this up on the Sutton Council web site: www.sutton.gov.uk quoting the above number.

The planning application is for the use of floodlighting on Mondays to Saturdays up to 21.15 hours and on Sundays up to 18.00 hours apart from on 50 occasions (weekdays) when the floodlighting to be used up to 22.30 hours and 23.00 hours for cup games. (Variation of conditions 1, 2 and 3 attached to app. no. C2009/60729 which stated the floodlights shall be switched off 30 minutes after the final whistle but no later than 22.30 hours for league games and 23.00 hours for cup games, the use of the floodlights were limited to 120 matches per year and the use of the floodlights were limited to five times per year on Sundays. On these days the lights needed
to be switched off 30 minutes after the final whistle but no later than 18.30 hours).

Jill, Hamish and Alan certainly share many local residents’ concerns and we will do our best to ensure that local residents’ views are known to the council’s Development Control Committee in due course when the matter comes up for a decision. More in a future posting….

Cllr. Hamish Pollock took a progress photo today 1st December of the 2 and 3 storey development of “mews” houses in Cedar Close, off Salisbury Road, Carshalton, that is replacing the bungalows of the former Cedar Close.  The properties are being marketed.

A drop in the number of people claiming jobseekers allowance in Carshalton and Wallington is another welcome boost to the economy, local MP Tom Brake has said. On 15 November, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported the UK has seen the largest annual fall in the number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) in more than 15 years. In Carshalton and Wallington the JSA claimant count in October showed a fall of 21.5 per cent, compared to the same time last year. It means the number of people claiming the benefit fell by 438 to 1603.

Tom said:-

“Local unemployment has been falling for 8 consecutive months now. This is a very encouraging trend and a sign that the economy is slowly healing while people are helped off benefits and into work. Jobs are crucial to building a stronger economy and a fairer society. Liberal Democrats in government have helped business create more than a million private sector jobs, and now we are working to help create a million more. There is still more to be done particularly as people are still struggling with rising costs. I will continue to support local job creation by organising events like the recent jobs fair and by helping make Carshalton and Wallington an attractive place to start up and expand business”

Across the UK, the number of people now in work has jumped by 378,000 in the last year to a record breaking 29.95 million. For more detailed information about unemployment in Carshalton and Wallington, please check here

Frost Fair returns to Carshalton

Cllr. Jill Whitehead says:

Carshalton welcomes its second Frost Fair on Saturday 7th December 1-6pm by Carshalton Ponds. Organised by charity EcoLocal with the Friends of Honeywood Museum the fair is a traditional winter event with activities for all of the family. The fair includes craft stalls, hog roast, music and entertainment, children’s activities at Honeywood Museum and the Ecology Centre. Full details next week!

More volunteer stewards for the Fair still needed – please contact Tansy if you could help for an hour or two.

 

Further to our web site posting of 9th November 2013, Cllr. Alan Salter says:”We are pleased to report that the recent planning application for houses and flats on the site of the care home in Parker Close off Salisbury Road has been rejected by Sutton Council, following objections by your three Lib Dem local ward councillors and very many local residents”.  The site backs on to some even-numbered properties in Blakehall Road, some odd-numbered houses in Carshalton Park Road.

The scheme included alterations to existing elevations involving formation of three gable roofs and erection of a part one, part two storey two-bedroomed self contained dwelling with raised terrace area, all with associated car parking and refuse and cycle storage. You can refer to details of the application by visiting the council’s web site at www.sutton.gov.uk using the reference C2013/67895/FUL.

The hunt is on to find the people who make the most difference to their communities in Sutton.

Sutton Council’s 2013 Community Awards are now open and nominations are being encouraged and invited.

The awards, which are run annually, are designed to make sure that local “heroes” get the recognition they deserve for what they do.  They could be a volunteer, a charity worker, someone who organises events, a carer or just a good neighbour.

There are five categories and nominees will need to be someone who has:

• Given outstanding service to the borough by keeping Sutton safe
• Made a difference to peoples’ lives by going the extra mile
• Brought the community together through local events, clubs or projects
• Increased prosperity, employment or access to the borough through business initiatives.
• Brought credit to the borough through outstanding achievement (this could be academic, sporting, artistic or cultural.

Nominations have to include a short explanation of why the person is being put forward for a community award.

The closing date for submissions is Sunday 5 January 2014.

There’s more information and a nomination form on the Sutton Council website at sutton.gov.uk/communityawards

The winners will receive high street shopping vouchers worth £100.

A Carshalton or a Sutton Hero?

If there are a lot of people who want to support a particular unsung local hero then please let us know and we can work together to put in a strong submission for them.