THE European Open will be held at the London Golf Club for the second consecutive year from May 28 to May 31 following its successful return to England last season for the first time since 1994. A world class field, including defending champion
A SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD boy who raped two teenage girls has been jailed for 12 years. The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, approached his first victim on Plumstead High Street in the early evening of April 2 this year. He then dragged her
AN 89-YEAR-OLD man has been beaten and robbed in his home by two men pretending to be police officers. The thugs forced their way into his property in Walpole Road, Bromley Common, after he opened the door to one of them when he said he was
FAMILY and friends of a missing teenager whose body was found in the Thames are paying tribute to him one year after his disappearance. Josh Beasley, of Effingham Road, Lee, went missing after going out drinking with his friends in Greenwich
HUNDREDS of people across the News Shopper area will lose their jobs when Woolworths closes down in January. The historic chain has shops across the region including Sidcup, Bromley, Eltham, Lewisham and Petts Wood. It has more than 800 stores nationally
A SKATER hockey team based in Bexleyheath and made up of youngsters from Bexley, Lewisham and Greenwich have qualified for the European Championships after finishing as runners-up in a national competition. London Street Warriors’ under-
A POPULAR annual bike race will take place at Footscray Meadows in Sidcup on December 27. The race, which is organised by Gemini Bicycle Club and has taken place since 1970, will see mountain bike and cyclo-cross bike riders compete in several different
AN MP is calling on the Government to rethink the Dartford Crossing price increase. The cash toll for a car or light van to use the bridge or tunnels used to be £1 24 hours a day. It was increased on November 15 to £1.50 at busy times
Students from schools in Forest Hill and Sydenham are taking part in a collaborative project between the Royal Ballet School and the National Gallery which fuses original dance and art, writes Jenny Stevens. At a workshop on December 8, 66 students
Bognor Regis Town 0-2 Ebbsfleet United THE Fleet successfully negotiated the first hurdle in the defence of their FA Trophy title at Bognor last night with two goals in injury time of each half settling the affair for Liam Daish's side. Ebbsfleet
Welling United 2-0 Weymouth A DULL night at Park View Road ultimately saw the Wings earn a place in the second round of the FA Trophy after seeing off troubled opponents Weymouth. However, the win was overshadowed by a poor turnout
A PLAQUE has been unveiled to celebrate a town’s heritage. A blue plaque in Dartford’s High Street will commemorate three Salvation Army members who helped lift a ban on public gatherings. The unveiling took place on December 8 at One
MONEY is to be spent by the council on preventing another 9/11 terrorist attack. Bromley Council has been given a government grant of £105,000 as part of a £6m national strategy called Prevent, which aims to reduce the threat of terrorism
THE London bound carriageway of the A2 near Pepperhill has reopened. The road was closed after a serious crash involving a motorbike and a car at around 8.45am today (December 17). A biker was treated by air ambulance at the scene for injuries
A HIGH-SPEED train will take passengers from north Kent into London in less than half an hour - but commuters could face paying up to 35 per cent more to use it. The 140mph Hitachi-built Class 395 train is due to come into service with rail
On this day in... 1849 – William Coke bought the first ever bowler hat from Thomas and William Bowler at Lock’s of St James’s. 1985 – The Smiths recorded their last session for John Peel. 1986 – Davina Thompson became the world’s first recipient of
It’s Not Just Parades and Pioneering, You Know. Mention Scouting to anyone, and what usually comes to mind is boys in shorts tying knots and eating cold baked beans in the rain. One glance around the hall where my Explorer Scout group meets
THE society held a competition at The Small Hall, Christ Church, Charterhouse Road, Orpington, on November 25. Judge David Wood awarded 10s in the slide category to Barbara Pettigrew and Jan Gilkes and to David Barnes and Martin Bales in the monochrome
AT A recent meeting of the club, newcomer Peter Oszmann beat all comers in a short film competition with the amusing two-minute short Eggvolution. The club welcomes new members to the Emmanuel Church, the Grove, West Wickham, every Thursday evening.
LAST month, The Kentones barbershop chorus, under the direction of Mike Corr, entered the Beckenham Music Festival in three classes: large choir, gospel choir and barbershop. The chorus is very proud to have been awarded first prize with honours in
A WELL attended meeting of the society on December 2 welcomed the return of Barbara Stevens, who gave a lively and well illustrated talk about shops and shopping in Downe. Based on her 40 years of living in the village and from her investigations and
CHILDREN of all ages had fun learning about the importance of trees at a park’s winter open day. Conservation group the Trust for Urban Ecology ran the free event at the Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park, John Harrison Way, Greenwich, on December 7.
RESIDENTS are being encouraged to recycle their Christmas trees once the festive period is over. Lewisham Council will be providing several collection points where residents can leave their old trees. Last year more than 7,000 Christmas trees were
A CAMPAIGN to push the Government to pass a new law reducing carbon emissions has been successful thanks to the involvement of residents. The Climate Change Bill, which became law on November 26, commits the Government to reducing the country’s carbon
HINDU children have joined in the Christmas spirit by making Indian inspired snowmen. It took about 20 children at Lewisham’s Sivan Kovil temple, in Clarendon Drive, four days to create the snowmen, which were put on display at Westminster
A CAFE has been nominated for being one of the greenest buildings in its borough. East Greenwich Pleasaunce Cafe, Chevening Road, Greenwich, is due to open next year but is already a finalist in the Green Building category of this year’s Green Guardian
THE Christmas season was kicked off in style with a street market, live entertainment, stalls and Santa. The event, organised by Sidcup High Street promotions team and Bexley Council, saw Sidcup High Street and part of Main Road, filled with
£700k scheme will try to find ‘new future’ for estate marked by murder AROUND £700,000 is to be spent finding ways to provide “a new future” for an estate, a year after an 18-year-old was murdered there. The money will be used to find
CHRISTMAS CRUELTY: If you consider yourself a decent person who would not be cruel to animals, it cannot be right to support the animal cruelty caused for your Christmas meal. There are wonderful and healthy vegetarian Christmas meals. These include fake
REGARDING the article Kidd Legacy Land Will Remain Recreational (News Shopper, November 12). This reveals the true nature of the misinformation being put out by the Dartford’s deed trust and obligations committee. It claims “all aspects of this part
TOWN IN TROUBLE: I was interested to read the letter printed on December 3 (High Street’s Future Has Been Damaged, News Shopper) about Orpington town centre as I was about to write on very similar lines. I have lived in Orpington for 69 years. My parents
I AM absolutely appalled with the behaviour of some of the youth of today. My 67-year-old father was returning home on the bus after a hard day in the office. The last thing he expected was to be spat upon and have a can of drink thrown at him on the
I MUST disagree with AW Bays when he states it is not a good idea to have stations manned until after the last train at night (Late Shift Unnecessary, News Shopper, November 26). Hopefully having an employee on the station during the late evening would
REGARDING the state of Orpington High Street, the number of shop closures, the dreadful traffic conditions and the general decline of the area, since the monster Tesco store development began (High Street’s Future Has Been Damaged, News Shopper, December
A 40-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested in connection with the murder of a traveller whose body was found with his hands and head missing. The Bexleyheath man was arrested under a European arrest warrant in Madrid on December 11 and is currently
CARE CUTS: Regarding Care Cuts to Hit 2,000 (News Shopper, December 3). My 88-year-old mother is one of the casualties of the care cuts. For some years now her medical condition has qualified her to attend an Age Concern Club, but now she has been told
I READ with great interest the letter by G Last (The Council Does Not Care Anymore, News Shopper, November 26). I wish more people would write and complain about the way residents are treated so shamefully by this council. What will Bexley borough
YOUR anonymous correspondent asks “Is Council Out To Clog Up The Roads?” (News Shopper, November 19). I do not think this is its intention, it is just clueless and incompetent. Humps increase noise and pollution, can damage low slung cars, are jolly
IN THE running for the Green Secondary School award in this year’s Green Guardian Awards is Blackfen School for Girls in Blackfen Road. Faced with a choked and leaking pond, surrounded by a wildlife area so overgrown it was inaccessible, staff and pupils
THE father of a 16-year-old killed in a road where safety measures are being introduced has doubts they will work. Safety measures for Elmstead Lane, Chislehurst, which has claimed the lives of two youngsters, have been approved by Bromley
PEOPLE in Bexley are being urged to cast their vote to try to get a park a £400,000 makeover. The cash is part of a £6m package available over the next four years to improve London’s green spaces. Blackfen’s Parish Wood is one of 47 parks on the voting
Waste produced by families across the UK should be used to provide energy, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers says. In its report Energy from Waste: A Wasted Opportunity? the group says the Government should classify waste as an energy resource and
CONSERVATION volunteers have been carrying out coppicing work in the ancient Lesnes Abbey Wood. Members of Lesnes Abbey Conservation Volunteers have also been teaching the public how to carry out the woodland skill during two sessions. Coppicing is
A FOUR-DAY expedition over 50 miles through Snowdonia in snow and hail was among the adventures enjoyed by young people from Bexley. Nearly 200 of them have just been presented with their Duke of Edinburgh awards by Bexley mayor Councillor
PEOPLE living in the Crayford area are being invited to a public question time to quiz the authorities about crime and anti-social behaviour in the town. The event, organised by Bexley’s Community Safety Partnership, will be held at the Crayford greyhound
Primary care trusts throughout the capital are being asked to stump up money to wipe out the debts of London’s cash-strapped health trusts. LINDA PIPER reports. THE trusts, including Bexley Care Trust, are all holding board meetings in the
WHILE many of us will be opening Christmas presents at home with our family, a six-year-old boy from Hextable will be spending the day in hospital. Drew James was just like any four-year-old, with a love of Star Wars and dinosaurs. Then
WITH the “local” under threat, a Bexley MP has joined a national campaign to try and save the British pub. Pubs are now closing at a rate of five a day and this year the Red Lion, Footscray High Street; The Harrow, Abbey Road, Abbey Wood and
TWO families are raising cash for children’s charities by turning the outside of their homes into a bright Christmas display. Bishop Jonathan Blake has decorated his home in Danson Crescent, Welling, in aid of Save the Children. Attractions include
CASH turned down by Belvedere villagers who feared the plans would ruin their village may go to Sidcup instead. But Belvedere councillor Daniel Francis says if Bexley’s ruling Tory group wants to, it could create a “win-win situation” for both
SENIOR council staff are getting a below inflation pay rise. A Bexley Council cabinet meeting has decided the 2.45 per cent rise, in comparison with a current inflation rate of 4.9 per cent, will be backdated to July this year. The senior staff are
FIREFIGHTERS were called to a car fire in Orpington last night. A Peugeot 206 was set alight in Valley Road, off Sevenoaks Way at about 12.10am today (December 17). The fire which destroyed the vehicle, was probably started deliberately
THE driver of a Nissan Pajero had to be cut free after crashing her 4x4 into a tree in Bromley. A 38-year-old woman was taken to hospital after she was cut free from the vehicle by firefighters. The incident happened in Southborough
FIREFIGHTERS were called to a domestic kitchen fire in Welling yesterday evening. All the occupants of the house in Yorkland Avenue had left the building by the time the fire crew from Sidcup arrived. A member of the public raised the
