Ice skating
Until 4 January
Priory Park, Bell Street, Reigate, RH2 7RL
Ice skating on real ice and under cover in Priory Park. Open every day except Christmas day.
To book or find out more, visit www.reigateonice.co.uk

Pride Personal Training Company
Sunday 21 December, 11.30am - 12.30pm
Coleman Redland Centre, Croydon Road, Reigate
A group workout in aid of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home for all ages and abilities. It is a free event but donations are welcome. Limited spaces so booking advised.
For more information contact martyn@pridept.co.uk

Bolshoi Ballet: The Nutcracker (streamed live)
Sunday 21 December at 3pm
Halequin Theatre and Cinema, Redhill
On Christmas Eve, Marie’s godfather, Drosselmeyer, gives her a strange toy: a wooden nutcracker carved in the shape of a little man. At midnight, when the celebrations are over, all the toys magically come to life. The nutcracker grows to human size and takes charge of the tin soldiers, flying to the rescue of Marie, who is threatened by the Mouse King and his mouse army.
Tickets: £13-£15, available from www.harlequintheatre.co.uk

Penguins of Madagascar
From Friday 26 December - Thursday 8 January
Harlequin Theatre and Cinema
Super spy teams aren't born...they're hatched. Discover the secrets of the greatest and most hilarious covert birds in the global espionage biz: Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private. These elite of the elite are joining forces with a chic undercover organisation, the North Wind.
Visit the Harlequin’s website for times and tickets.

WWI Centenary Film Season: Joyeux Noel
Sunday 28 December at 1pm.
Harlequin Theatre and Cinema, Redhill
On Christmas Eve during World War I, the Germans, French, and Scottish fraternize and get to know the men who live on the opposite side of a brutal war, in what became a true lesson of humanity.
Tickets are free but can be booked in advance from the Harlequin's website.

Film: Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Harlequin Theatre and Cinema, Redhill 
An event for Reigate & Banstead Remembers WWI.
Tickets are free but can be booked in advance from the Harlequin's website.

Star for a Night, the council’s annual talent show for young people, is back for 2015, with auditions taking place in January at Redhill’s Harlequin Theatre.

The show is about giving local young people the opportunity to develop and show off their talent for performing arts. Participants receive free expert tuition in their chosen field and also benefit from the valuable experience of performing in a real theatre in front of a paying audience in the final shows. These are all great for helping young people develop their team work skills and self-confidence. In return, we are looking for enthusiasm and commitment from participants.

There is also the chance to win a one year scholarship to Urban Play dance classes or So You Wanna Be performing arts school.

How to take part

To take part in Star for a Night, participants must:

• be aged 11 to 18
• live in or be educated in the borough of Reigate & Banstead
• available to take part in an audition, the rehearsals and final shows.

Auditions take place a the Harlequin Theatre on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 January. Registration is open from 12.30 to 3.30pm with audititions taking place throughout the session until all the acts have been seen (around 4pm).

The aim of the audition is simply to assess individuals’ capabilities, and it is not scary – don’t worry, Simon Cowell is not on the panel! Last year 80 young people from around the borough took part in Star for a Night, either as singers, dancers, a speaking role or behind-the-scenes.

Find out more and download an application form from the Star for a Night page on our website. For an informal chat about Star for a Night, call Sue Sergeant in Reigate & Banstead’s Leisure Services team on 01737 276700.

Allergen information must now be given on labels and on food that is pre-packed, sold loose or served when you are eating out, in a clearer and more consistent way.

The rules behind this new approach identify 14 main allergens and will mean:

• these allergens must be emphasised in the ingredients list, when present. Food businesses can decide how they highlight this allergen information, for example, by highlighting the text in bold, italics or underlining
• all information about allergenic ingredients must be located in a single place – the ingredients list
• any allergy advice statement must direct you back to the ingredients list for allergen information
• the phasing out of the phrase ‘contains gluten.’

For some time you may see old and new style allergy advice statements. For more information on what to look out for when buying packaged and unpackaged foods and when eating out check out the Food Standards Agency ‘advice on food allergen labelling’ leaflet.

Carry a ‘chef card’

A chef card, which can be handed to restaurant staff, provides you with a place to jot down the foods you need to avoid. These are available from the Food Standards Agency website.

Always check

So if you or someone you are with has a food allergy, always check the list of ingredients for allergens information. 

Over the festive period we generate about 30% more waste – but did you know you can recycle most of this in your black box (for paper and card), your food caddy and your grey mixed recycling wheelie bin? Cardboard, paper, glass, plastics, tins, cans, foil and Tetrapak cartons – we want them all please. For a reminder of what you can recycle and what should go in each container, pop across to our home refuse and recycling webpage. And if our recycling service hasn’t reached you yet, our recycling banks across the borough can take a wide range of items, including clothes and other textiles in any condition. 

Give your food caddy a good stuffing

Many of us admit to throwing away more food at Christmas than at any other time of the year. So if you find you have raw, uncooked or leftover food that you can’t use, please put it in your food caddy so we can recycle it.

But before you throw any food away, is there a way you could use it? The Love Food Hate Waste website is packed full of food tips to help you through the big day, make the most of any leftovers and avoid eating turkey sandwiches for six days in a row. 

What to do with that Christmas tree?

Once Christmas is over, are you left with a (real) Christmas tree you don’t know what to do with? If you’re a member of our garden waste service we will collect your tree – just leave it out in or next to your garden waste bin on your usual collection day. But please remove any decorations or pots first.

If you’re not a member, you can take your old Christmas tree to your local Surrey County Council community recycling centres near you.

Thank you

We would like to thank you for rethinking your rubbish and recycling more. We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. And please don’t forget that some of your recycling and refuse collection days will change over the festive period. Our bank holiday collections webpage has more details.

If you’ve got a great business idea but need a bit of help to get started, or are the very early stages of running a business, sign up for our next Entrepreneur Academy to develop your skills to set up your business. You’ll also get the chance to pitch your idea to a panel of business experts in a ‘Dragons' Den’ style competition for the chance to win £5,000 to help get your business off to a flying start.

Free sessions

Starting in March 2015, the free monthly sessions will cover a range of essential business topics, including:

• business planning
• finance
• marketing
• legal advice
• networking.     

Run in partnership with hosts East Surrey College, seminars and workshops provide an opportunity to work and grow with other start-up businesses, hear from local professionals and develop your business proposal.   

The scheme, now in its third year, also offers the opportunity to become part of a network of like-minded entrepreneurs with the same commitment and drive, where everyone can learn together.

Dragons’ Den

At the end of the course, entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to pitch to a panel of business people for the chance to win £5,000 start-up funding. Business mentors will continue to be on hand for all participants to help and advise them through their set-up and initial trading.

“The whole experience has been very motivational and informative and the chance to pitch to real investors has been invaluable,” said Angelica Nightingale who won funding for her reusable puree pouch for babies and toddlers on the 2014 Entrepreneur Academy, which concluded last month. “The funding will be vital in helping me to launch my product to the market. If you’re thinking of starting your own business, this is a great place to start.”

Don’t miss out, apply today

There are only 12 places available, so register your interest to make sure you don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to turn your business idea into reality. 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 visit the How we can support your business page on our website, email catherine.mcdemott@reigate-banstead.gov.uk or call Catherine on 01737 276008.

If you are interested in the future of Gatwick airport, you can share your views on proposals for increased runway capacity at Gatwick or Heathrow airports.

The Airports Commission is seeking views on the three options for a runway in the south east following the publication of an assessment of proposals for additional runway capacity at Gatwick and Heathrow airports. The consultation presents the Airports Commission’s analysis of the proposals shortlisted last year: two proposals for expansion at Heathrow Airport and one for Gatwick Airport.

The commission would like to hear the views of members of the public on its detailed consideration of each proposal. This includes factors such as cost, noise, property loss and construction, economic benefits and environmental impacts.

Respondents are invited to give their view on the strengths and weaknesses of each short-listed option as well as commission’s review of the underlying evidence and analysis.

The deadline for the consultation is Tuesday 3 February.

To take part and to find out more information, visit the consultation's page on the government's GOV.UK website.