Derby Day Musical Fun presented by St Cecilia Chorus
Saturday 6 June, 7.30pm
Banstead Community Hall, Park Road, Banstead, SM7 3AJ
For more information visit the Borough of Reigate & Banstead Arts Council website.

Gatton Park - Gardens and Park open day
Sunday 7 June, 1pm-5pm
Park and gardens open all afternoon, bird hide open, free guided tours and free activities for children.
Gatton Park, Rocky Lane, Reigate, RH2 0TW
Cost: adults £4, children go free.
For more information visit Gatton Park's website.

Reigate Caves open day
Saturday 13 June, 10am-4pm
Discover Reigate’s history underground in the town’s old sand mines.
Tunnel Road, Reigate
Find out more about the Reigate Caves on the Wealden Cave & Mine Society website.

Trench open weekend
13 and 14 June, 10am-4pm
History really comes alive in this section of replica trench system based on an actual section of trench from the Ypres Salient in 1917.
Windacres Farm, Russ Hill, Charlwood, RH6 0EL
Tickets £6 adults, £3 children and £12 family.
For more information visit The Trench website.

Armed Forces Day flag raising
15 June, 10.15am at the ceremonial entrance of the Town Hall, Castlefield Road, Reigate, RH2 0SH.
For more information visit the World War I page on the council's website.

East Surrey College open day
Saturday 20 June, 10am-2pm
Find out what the college may have for you: see the facilities, their different courses and speak to tutors.
East Surrey College, Gatton Point, London Road, Redhill, RH1 2JZ
Visit the college's website to find out more.

Family History Course
Saturday 20 June, 10-11.30am
A free taster session led by an experienced professional genealogist.
East Surrey College, Gatton Point, London Road, Redhill, RH1 2JZ
For more information or to book online or visit the East Surrey College website.

Surrey Independent Living Fair 2015
Thursday 25 June, 10am-4pm
Surrey Independent Living Council is holding an exhibition fair, with workshops and activities, to showcase the diverse opportunities and choices available in Surrey to help disabled adults and children, older people and carers to live more independently.
Epsom Downs Racecourse, KT18 5LQ
Entry will be free for visitors and a shuttle bus is available from Epsom station to the Racecourse.
Register your interest to attend at the Surrey Independent Living Council's website.

Strawberry Fair Food Festival 2015
Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 June, 10am-4.30pm
Head to Priory Farm to join in with the farm’s annual Strawberry Fair Food Festival.
Priory Farm, Sandy Lane, South Nutfield, RH1 4EJ 
Entry is free
For more information visit the Priory Farm website.

Reigate Community Festival
Saturday 4 July, 10.30am-10pm
Boasting a lively mix of displays, stands, live music, and children’s entertainment as well as a wide selection of food stalls, including a licensed bar, it is the perfect day out.
Priory Park, Bell Street, Reigate, RH2 7RL
For more information visit Reigate Community Festival online.

Wheels for Troops
Saturday 4 July, 11am-5pm
Charity motorbike ride-out around the Surrey countryside, raising money for Armed Forces charities.
Memorial Park, London Road, Redhill
Find out more about Wheels for Troops on its website.

Reigate Caves open day
Saturday 11 July, 10am-4pm
Discover Reigate’s history underground in the town’s old sand mines.
Tunnel Road, Reigate.
Find out more about the Reigate Caves on the Wealden Cave & Mine Society website.

Digging the Trenches: The Archaeology of the Western Front
Saturday 11 July, 2.30-3.30pm
A talk by historian Andy Robertshaw examining the ways in which archaeology can inform the understanding and interpretation of World War I.
Surrey History Centre, 130 Goldsworth Road, Woking, GU21 6ND
Tickets £5
Visit Surrey History Centre’s website to book your tickets.

Chipstead Village Fair and Flower Show
Saturday 18 July, 12.30-5pm
Flower show marquee, side shows, craft stalls and a variety of activities for children.
Elmore, High Road, Chipstead, CR5 3BS
Entry for adults is £4, children (aged five-15) £2, under fives go free.
Find out more from the Chipstead Village website.    

Our new Five Year Plan 2015-2020 has just been published, explaining where we will be concentrating efforts over the next few years, as we deliver our services to you. The plan contains details of our 13 priority areas for work, supporting the three key themes within the Plan of:

• People – supporting our residents so they can enjoy happy and healthy lifestyles
• Place – helping to make the area a great place to live and work
• Organisation – being a great council.

Our vision is to be a leading council – one that helps make the borough a great place to live and work in and a council that delivers quality services and support. We will be working hard to provide value for money and to become an increasingly commercial organisation, knowing that our government grant is likely to end by 2020.

Our Plan emphasises the need for communities, partners and residents to also play roles in the future. This will include using online tools and self-serving via our website where possible, and using community action and self-responsibility to solve local challenges.

With summer come wasps and the wasp season is now well underway. If you find you are being troubled by a wasps nest on your property we can offer professional help from experienced pest control professionals, with protective clothing and specialist insecticides, to help get rid of them. We offer a pest control service for properties in the borough, which can help you get rid of all sorts of pests, including wasps. We can treat commercial properties as well as residential ones.

How to book

Our online book and pay pest control service available on the Pest control page of our website lets you book an appointment and pay for the service, all in one transaction. If you can’t book online, call us on 01737 276000 (Monday to Thursday, 8.45am to 5pm and Friday 8.45am to 4.45pm). We can complete your booking online on your behalf.

All treatments must be paid for in full at the time of booking by credit or debit card.

'Bee' careful

Sometimes people get confused between bees and wasps. We seek to protect bees, so our pest control service doesn’t include their removal. If you think you have bees, get professional help from Reigate Beekeepers. For more information on how to tell the difference between bees and wasps check out our Pest control webpage.

With the weather getting warmer, why not dust off your walking shoes and explore some of the wonderful countryside our borough has to offer? If you prefer company when you walk or want to learn more about some of the areas you’re discovering, our countryside rangers run free guided walks across the borough throughout the year.

Butterflies and bats

If wildlife is your thing, join local conservationist Andy Kaye and our countryside rangers for a walk on the spectacular Stagbury Down where you’ll learn more about the butterflies and other wildlife on this Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Or in the late summer evenings, use echolocation and our bat detectors on the guided bat walks around Priory Park and Earlswood Lakes.

History and heathland

Team up with one of our Countryside Rangers and local archaeologist Peter Harp for a historical insight into Nork Park during a guided walk around this fascinating but often overlooked site. Or why not discover why lowland heather is so important to wildlife during a late summer walk around Reigate Heath.  

Wild things

Our Guided Walks and Events programme also features activities run by partner organisations, which are so important in helping us manage our countryside areas. If your children want to build dens, cook over a campfire and spend a day in the woods, Surrey Wildlife Trust has just the thing, running events in Furzefield Wood in the summer and at Halloween.

Download our free Guided Walks and Events programme for full details of other walks and events including dates, meeting times and points. Some of the events run by partner organisations request modest donations.

Time on your hands?

The Downlands Countryside Management Partnership, Gatwick Greenspace Partnership, Reigate Area Conservation Volunteers and Surrey Wildlife Trust all provide valuable support in managing our countryside. Our partners are always looking for volunteers to help in this work. So if you would like to give some time please do get in touch with them – our guide includes their contact details.

Going solo

If you prefer to make your own way on foot around our borough, you may be interested in our self-guided walk leaflets, available on the Walking page of our website. 

Happy walking.

Have you been affected by rural crime? Perhaps you live in a village or in the countryside and have an opinion on how the police can best serve rural communities.

The National Rural Crime Network (NRCN) is calling for people who work or live in rural areas to give their views on policing in their community, the impact crime and anti-social behaviour has on them and their neighbours and to ultimately help shape the future of crime prevention and rural policing.

The survey, which is taking place with support from the Home Office, aims to build a body of information to improve national awareness of crime in rural areas as well as provide a clearer picture of attitudes towards crime to help inform government and local policy.

To take the survey and find out more, visit the NRCN’s website. The survey is open until Wednesday 24 June.