Reigate & Banstead Borough Council is inviting food businesses which earn a top rating for food hygiene to share the good news with customers through Twitter and Facebook.

If yours is one of the 1,050 food businesses in Reigate & Banstead, one of our food hygiene inspectors has most likely visited you at some point to check your food hygiene policies and practices to give you a rating and, if needed, advice about improvements.

Over the next year, our environmental health officers will visit around 350 establishments, around 90% of which are likely to receive a very good 5 out of 5 for hygiene. If yours is one of them, we would like to share the good news on social media with our 7,600 followers on Twitter and 3,300 on Facebook.

“It would be great to have 100% of our food businesses achieving a top score of 5 in the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme,” says Councillor James Durrant, the council’s portfolio holder for enforcement.  “By sharing with our social media followers those businesses that achieve a top score, we hope to encourage more restaurants, cafes and so on to up their game and aim for a 5.”

Cllr Durrant continues: “It’s good for businesses to display a 5 rating sticker in their window as it gives customers confidence that food hygiene at that establishment is very good. We also want to keep the scheme fresh in residents’ minds to encourage them to ask establishments what the food hygiene rating is there if the information is not already on display.”

To find out more about the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme at Reigate & Banstead visit our website [insert link: http://www.reigate-banstead.gov.uk/info/20301/food_hygiene_rating_scheme]. To search for the rating of local food businesses, what the different ratings mean or find out more about the scheme nationwide, visit http://ratings.food.gov.uk/.

Now in its 18th year, Star for a Night is a well-established and successful performing arts project for 11 to 18 year olds. The project is funded by Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, external sponsors and ticket sales and provides the following to participants free of charge:

• A professional audition
• 8 weeks of tuition in dance/musical theatre
• The opportunity to perform on-stage
• The chance to win a scholarship to a local performing arts school

The project helps young people in the following ways:

• Gives young people a platform to express themselves
• Stimulates young people’s creativity
• Builds young people’s confidence and self-esteem
• Develops young peoples singing, dancing and acting skills
• Improves young people’s vocabulary and communication skills
• Brings together young people from different backgrounds and helps social integration

The long-term impact of Star for a Night is demonstrated by the difference it makes to young people’s lives. Previous participants have gone on to The Italia Conti Academy - a theatre arts training school in London and The BRIT School - a British performing arts and technology school in Croydon.  Many of the young people come back year after year and it is amazing to see them grow as people and performers. Those who are too old to perform come back to help as volunteers.

We would be grateful for small donations towards the cost of the project and are also happy to discuss an exclusive sponsorship package for your company.

To sponsor Star for a Night 2017 or request further information please contact:

Emma Parnell

Leisure Services

Reigate and Banstead Borough Council

Town Hall, Castlefield Road,

Reigate, RH2 0SH

Tel: 01737 276322

Email 

Our speaker this month is the delightful Tina Fotherby from Famous Publicity.  Tina worked for four years with one of Britain’s most famous retailers, and former TV Dragon Theo Paphitis. As well as looking after his PR needs, she was Head of PR for his stationery chain, Ryman.

Famous Publicity delivers a wide range of services that are tailor-made to suit a client’s needs. Tina will be talking about how to use PR to raise your profile.

Don’t miss out-book your space today!

James Hallam Ltd, one of the UK’s most respected independent Insurance Brokers, has opened a new office in Redhill, as part of the continued growth of its Corporate Risks business.

The Redhill office opened on 21 September, new offices in Birmingham and Ashford earlier in 2016.

James Hallam, Redhill joined the Surrey Chambers of Commerce in October 2016, and the team are looking forward to building their local business network through the coming months and years.

The prime focus for the Redhill team will be middle market corporate business in the ‘coast to capital’ region stretching from Brighton and Hove, up through Surrey and Sussex to South London.

Nick Thomas will lead Redhill and has over 25 years’ experience working in corporate insurance broking primarily with major broking houses in London; he has excelled as a Client Executive, Sales Developer and Sales Leader with roles including Head of National Development at HSBC Insurance Brokers. Nick is also a widely qualified coach, and has lived locally in Reigate for 20 years.

James Hallam provide a one stop shop for clients' corporate insurance requirements from Property Damage and Business Interruption, Employers and Public/Products' Liability to more specialist or emerging risks such as Professional and Management Liability, Cyber, Crime, Employment Practices, Trade Credit and Marine. The core service teams can draw on the expertise of specialists in a range of these areas.

James Hallam have developed a model that allows them to attract some of the most experienced and skilled professionals in the industry. Unlike many larger competitors, James Hallam are an independent Broker free to focus exclusively on the needs of their clients; this has allowed them to develop an enviable reputation for client service and retention.

Surrey Skills Academy is a ‘single point of information’ for access to a wide range of training and learning opportunities including courses, information, and signposting to partner and other organisations.

Below are courses running shortly, there are still places available to register. The courses are free to attend.

If you would like to register for any of the courses below, or would like further information please e-mail

CIEH Level 2 in Food Safety  18/01/2017  Consort House, Redhill    9.30-16.30                                                                                                        

Emergency First Aid At Work   30/11/2016  Consort House, Redhill    9.30-17.00                                                                                                        

Emergency First Aid At Work 13/12/2016  Woodhatch Community Centre 9.30-17.00

Emergency First Aid At Work 30/01/2017  Consort House, Redhill  9.30-17.00                                                                                                    

Emergency First Aid At Work 4/01/2017  Virtual / Generic       9.30-17.00

Emergency First Aid At Work 19/01/2017  Virtual / Generic       9.30-17.00

Emergency First Aid At Work 28/11/2016  Fairmount House, Leatherhead   9.30-17.00

Requalification                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Pre-Retirement              03/01/2017     Fairmount House, Leatherhead    9.30-16.30                                                                                                                

Pension Session           03/01/2017 & 10/01/2017 Fairmount House, Leatherhead  9.30-16.30

To find out more have a look at the Surrey Skills Academy website.

Additional courses available via Skills For Work.  There is a small fee for these courses, but there are a lot available, so please do have a look if you are interested in subscribing or referring to others:

The new round of funding is open from 14 November 2016 for spend between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018. The deadline for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) will be 24 September 2017.

Expressions of Interest (EOI) from Small and Medium (SME) sized businesses that are looking to expand and to create new jobs but not finding it easy to source the finance required. Grants of up to 40% of a total project cost can be provided to applicants that meet the eligibility criteria, are located within the Coast to Capital Region and can demonstrate how the investment will lead to job creation and growth.

Applications from all sectors are welcome but the programme particularly would like to see applications from companies in the following sectors, which have been identified as key sectors for the Coast to Capital region :

• Advanced Engineering
• Manufacturing
• Environmental Technologies, Goods and Services
• Creative, Digital and IT
• Healthcare, Medical Technology and Life Sciences

Start-ups, existing businesses and social enterprises are invited to apply. The proposed new activity must be additional to existing business activity. Businesses must be able to incur the total project costs between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018 and the grant may only be used for capital items.

This programme will only fund new activity and therefore retrospective costs are not eligible. For the purpose of this programme new activity is defined as that happening after the EOI has been approved and this has been communicated to the applicant. Find out more