April

23 April: Double 100 Cycle Challenge

Redhill Aerodrome

A 100 mile or 100km ride to raise funds for Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance.

Time: Register from 6.30am, challenge starts at 8.30am.

Contact info phone 01622 833833, email juliec@kssairambulance.org.uk or Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance website.

25 April: Reigate Arthritis Care Support Group talk by Roy Weedon from Health Watch

The Woodhatch Centre

Time: 2.30pm

26 April: RSPB Epsom and Ewell Group outing to Pulborough Brooks RSPB Reserve

Meeting at Pulborough Brooks Reserve for an evening stroll to listen for nightingales.

Time: 7pm

Contact: janetegilbert@btinternet.com or visit the RSPB Epsom website

May

4 May: Tattenhams Market

The United Church of St Mark, St Marks Road, Epsom Downs, KT18 5RD

Tattenhams Indoor Market held the first Saturday of the month 10am - 2pm. Featuring stalls selling greetings cards, jewellery, gifts, homecraft items and lots more. Free entrance and refreshments available.

11 May: Nonsuch Abbeyfield Open Morning 

The Old House, Epsom Road, Ewell, 82 Mulgrave Road, Sutton and 82 York Road, Cheam

Time: 10am - 12pm

Further information contact 020 8394 0050 or email admin@nonsuchabbeyfield.org

12 May: RSPB Epsom and Ewell Group outing to Elmley

Departing from Meadway on an outing to the reserve on the Isle of Sheppey to watch a variety of waders including lapwing and redshank.

Time: 8am

Contact: janetegilbert@btinternet.com or visit the RSPB Epsom website.

15 May: Talk by Simon Richards 'The maintenance and development of Bushey park'

Bourne Hall, Spring Street, Ewell, KT17 1UF

Time: 8pm - 10pm

Cost: £2 members, £3 visitors to include refreshments and raffle.

Further details visit the Ewell Horticultural Association website

19 May: RSPB Epsom and Ewell visit to Rye Harbour

Departing from Meadway for a trip to Rye Harbour on the South Coast.

Time: 8am

Contact: janetegilbert@btinternet.com or visit the RSPB Epsom website.

22-25 May: Banstead Operatic Society present Mel Brook's The Producers

Epsom Playhouse, 42 Ashley Avenue, Epsom, KT18 5AL

Cost: £16 Wed, Thurs and Sat matinee, £17 Fri and Sat evening.

Details contact 07716 496878 or john@banaos.org.uk or visit the Epsom Playhouse website

23 May: Reigate Arthritis Care Support Group talk The Work of the Macmillan Nurses by Helene Poursain

The Woodhatch Centre

Time: 2.30pm

25 May: London to Brighton Challenge 2013

Take part in a weekend/overnight challenge to walk or run 100km on behalf of Princess Alice Hospice with hot meals provided on route and brunch in Brighton and supported rest stops every 12.5km.

Cost: Registration £85 and minimum sponsorship of £400

Further details phone 01372 461869 or email fundraising@pah.org.uk or visit the Princess Alice Hospice website

27 May: Surrey County Show

Stoke Park, Guildford

To include monster trucks display, sheep show, dog show, forestry, flowers, food and music.

Tickets available with a discount in advance on the Surrey County Show website.

28 May: RSPB Epsom and Ewell visit to Chobham Common

Take part in an evening stroll in the Surrey heathland to watch for nightjars.

Meet at 7.30pm at Gracious Pond Road, Chobham

Contact: janetegilbert@btinternet.com or visit the RSPB Epsom website

From bats to butterflies

With spring finally here, it’s the perfect time to dust off your walking shoes and get out and about in our countryside. We have devised a varied and exciting walks and events programme for 2013 that caters for everyone – from bat walks in Priory Park to learning about conservation management on Reigate Heath.

Family fun

If you’re looking for activities to entertain the children with, have you thought about visiting Priory Park Community Festival where there’ll be entertainers, community stalls, conservation activities and much more? It’s a free, fun-packed day for everyone.

Nature lovers

For the nature lovers amongst you, there’s the chance to join our countryside rangers at Reigate Heath as they take you on a guided walk which looks at the wildlife and history of this unique site.

Bird song

If you’re an early riser, then we have just the walk for you! You’ll need to be up with the larks to take part in the dawn chorus walk at Banstead Woods, which starts at 5.30am.

Explore Reigate and Banstead

To find out more about these walks and others on offer, visit our website to download our Guided Walks and Events Programme for 2013 and get exploring!

We’d love for you to share any pictures you take when out and about in the countryside with us – you can upload them to our Flickr group or join the countryside Facebook group (search for Countryside - Reigate & Banstead Borough Council) and share them with the group.

You can discover what’s on offer across the whole of Surrey by visiting the Explore Surrey section of Surrey County Council's website.

Many items can be effectively recycled at home – food waste, dried leaves, grass cuttings – by creating your own compost, which can then by used in your garden, on your allotment or for potting plants around the home.  

Why compost?

It’s good for your garden – it provides it with nutrient rich food.

It’s good for the environment – home-made compost is natural and peat-free

It’s good for your pocket – it reduces the need for you to buy peat products for your garden.

What do you need to do?

1. Find the right site – your bin or on bare soil are ideal.
2. Add the right ingredients – vegetable peelings, dried leaves are just some of them
3. Fill it up!
4. Wait a while – check its progress. After 9-12 months, the ingredients should have turned into a crumbly dark brown.
5. Collect the compost – lift the bin off the compost or open the hatch at the bottom and scoop out the fresh compost. If you have built your own, rake it out.
6. Use it and watch your garden bloom.

If this interests you, then why not rethink your rubbish and get composting. Surrey Waste Partnership is offering subsidised compost bins (available from £15). Visit the Surrey Waste Partnership website or call 0844 571 4444 and start composting today! You can also find helpful tips about what can and can’t go into your compost. 

Celebrating our volunteers

The Mayor’s Volunteer Awards 2013 is an annual event that celebrates those in our community who have contributed by volunteering. So, if you know someone who gives up their time and energy in the community then this is your chance to recognise them by nominating them for one of this year’s categories.

And the award goes to...

We spoke to one of last year’s winners to find out a little more about what the awards mean. 

Nigel Gray won the 2012 award for Individual Trustee for Radio Redhill, a hospital radio station for East Surrey Hospital. Nigel is Chairman of Radio Redhill and is responsible for maintaining and improving the quality of the station’s broadcasting output. He was recognised for all of the additional work he does for the station.

What do you most enjoy about your role?

Achieving high standards of broadcasting. We’ve won 45 national Hospital Radio Awards. We strive to provide the very best possible service to our hospital listeners and this is only achieved by concentrating on the training of members on an ongoing basis. I take my part in the training and enjoy encouraging the newer members to achieve high standards, which, in turn, gives them great satisfaction.

What did being nominated for a Mayor’s Volunteer Award mean to you?

I did not expect to be nominated and I was grateful for the recognition that the award gave to the contribution that I and other members of Radio Redhill have given to the hospital community - and in fact to the local community as a whole - for many years.

Why do you think recognising our volunteers is so important?

So many aspects of the community are enhanced by the contribution made willingly by so many volunteers. East Surrey Hospital, in particular, benefits enormously in so many ways by the volunteers who work there in many capacities. The Volunteer Awards give recognition to that volunteering effort, encourage the winners to carry on with the good work and hopefully persuade others to either carry on start volunteering. 

Nominations are now open

Nominations are open now and will close on Friday 7 June. If there's someone you think should be recognised, nomination couldn't be easier! It can all be done electronically - visit the Mayor's Awards page on our website for the online form and for more information.

Next Step works with landlords and the Council to help families in need of housing into private rented accommodation, by providing a deposit guarantee.

The scheme has many advantages:

• It is free of charge.
• NextStep manage the process of filling vacancies with tenants they work with. They manage all the paperwork needed to start and maintain a tenancy (except gas safety and EPC certificates).
• All applicants undergo an assessment and NextStep provide references.
• They administer tenants’ claims for housing benefit, including dealing with queries.
• The scheme provides financial security through a six-month guarantee bond, whilst NextStep work with tenants to save their own deposit.
• They also provide advice on landlord and tenancy matters to help the tenancy run smoothly.

Horley landlord, Tom, said: “I’ve been a landlord for over 25 years. In recent years I have established a very positive working relationship with NextStep and they’ve found me some fantastic clients. They provide excellent advice and support on both landlord and tenant matters. I would definitely recommend NextStep to other prospective landlords.”

For more information visit the housing pages on the YMCA website or call 01737 378482.

Several local councillors and our staff recently took part in the Reigate & Redhill YMCA SleepEasy in support of their campaign to raise awareness about the problems facing local people without a regular roof over their head.

Cardboard beds

Bedding down in cardboard boxes in the Town Hall car park, councillors Julian Ellacott, Mark Brunt, Lisa Brunt, Graeme Crome, Jonathan Essex and Frank Kelly were all relieved that the rain and snow kept away. It was however a very cold night with temperatures dipping to a chilly -5 degrees.

Under the stars

Housing Options Officer, Philippa Ibbotson, one of our Housing Officers, explained why she also chose to spend a night under the stars.

"Each night, YMCAs up and down the country provide rooms for around 7,000 young people who don’t have anywhere else to sleep. However this is only part of what they do. I agreed to sleep rough for one night so the YMCA can provide a whole range of support for children and young people, helping them to build a future."

Great success

Redhill and Reigate YMCA work closely with the council to help prevent homelessness for young people in this borough.

This event was hailed a great success and raised well over £2,000 - if you would like to find out more about what sleeping rough means or any of the other work the YMCA does please visit the YMCA website.

We’ve launched an exciting new Entrepreneur Academy to equip you with the skills you need to set up your business, as well as an opportunity to win £5,000 in a Dragons’ Den style competition to get your business off to a flying start.

Entrepreneur Academy

The Entrepreneur Academy will cover:

• business planning
• finance
• marketing
• legal advice
• and online business promotion.

You will also become part of a network of like minded people with the same commitment and drive, where you can learn together.

The monthly sessions, starting in May, will run over six months from 3pm to 7pm at East Surrey College. Each session is a mix of trainer-led learning and real life examples from local business people.

Dragons’ Den

At the end of the course, entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to pitch to a ‘Dragons’ Den’ style panel of business people for the chance to win £5,000 of start up funding for the best business idea.

Business mentors will continue to be on hand for all the entrepreneurs to help and advise them through their set up and initial trading.

Helping local businesses thrive

Simon Bland, Business and Community Engagement Manager, said: “We want to create a commercial environment where businesses can succeed and thrive. We set up the Entrepreneur Academy in response to feedback from local businesses who told us that when they first started out, they found it difficult getting the right sort of help and funding to get their business idea off the ground.

“This initiative will provide practical advice and skills as well as the opportunity to get vital funding so that our budding entrepreneurs can turn their business ideas into a reality.”

Don’t miss out, apply today

There are only 12 places available, so book you place today to make the most of this fantastic to get your business idea off the ground.

The programme is open to anyone with a new business idea who lives in the borough of Reigate & Banstead and is aged over 18.

To apply or find our more about how we are supporting local small businesses see our website or email community.liaison@reigate-banstead.gov.uk