Sunbury Matters Articles

Spelthorne Borough Council is honoured to announce that, for the 10th year running, the Sunbury Walled Garden and Staines Ceme-tery have been awarded Green Flag status.  This international award is a sign to the public that the space boasts the highest possible environmental standards, is beautifully maintained and has excellent visitor facilities.  Cllr Richard Barratt, […]

By James Ford-Bannister and David Young  It takes two to tango………………….  but not necessarily to cha cha, waltz, or foxtrot if you join one of ballroom dance classes on Thurs-day evenings whose leader, Clare, has developed some fun ways of learning basic steps whilst main-taining social distancing. Many of the other groups at Riverside have

Government White Paper – Planning for the Future  As we go to print, the Strategic Planning Manager for Spelthorne Council is await-ing the outcome of the Government’s cur-rent consultation on the Planning for the Future white paper and whether it will introduce changes that affect our Local Plan in relation to Green Belt and other

By Claire Leonard  Aquarius Performing Arts is a Musical Thea-tre class for children aged 4-12. Specialising in the three disciplines of Musical Theatre, acting, dancing & singing, each of our stu-dents have the opportunity to enhance their skills by working towards a presentation for parents at the end of term. We encourage them to perform

By John Maxen  Following Laura Harrison’s interesting article of observing butterflies during lockdown in October’s Sunbury Matters, I thought I would relate my own experience in a new hobby taken up during lockdown – Moth Trapping. There are over 2,500 species of moths in the UK, and are generally demarcated into two main groups, macros

With thanks to Nick Pollard  In Autumn 2015 Sunbury’s boatyard, George Wilsons & Sons closed for good. We ran an article on it back then, which we are now reprinting. The decision to do so followed the demolition of the old green boat sheds on Lock Island, opposite St Mary’s Church recently. They may have

By James Ford-Bannister and David Young  During September we at the Riverside, along with much of the country, began to look at the various ways we could restart our many activities as the Covid19 restrictions began to be relaxed. Plans were being made by dancers, actors, musicians, painters, projectionists and administrators as to how they

The front cover of this issue is up for auction. It is by Helen Blizard. Helen, a former Top of the Pops singer, has performed in the West End and as a TV actress and scriptwriter for EastEnders, Fools and Horses, and London’s Burning. She is also an avid supporter of local charity Their Future

Surplus to Supper is a local charity, estab-lished in 2017 and which is currently bridging the gap between food waste and food poverty. We are based at Sunbury Cricket Club (Lower Thames Street). The Charity currently collects food from local Retailers and redistributes it to Food Banks, other Charities and Schools within the Spelthorne, Richmond

Well done two young ladies for growing some super sunflowers. Little Summer Rose, aged 5 was the overall winner, but we also had to include this huge, but slightly faded beauty from Lucy. Her mum explains the battle of the sunflower v squirrel:  “Our growing attempts were thwarted by our local squirrel: 1) nibbled the