December 2008 Archives

The Pinner local history society is holding a meeting which will feature a talk on the changes to Middlesex churches after the Reformation.
The event will take place at 8pm on January 8 at the Village Hall, in Chapel Lane Car Park, Pinner.
The meeting is free to members and a suggested donation of £2 for visitors.

A pensioner had £40 snatched from his hand in a bookies in Harrow on Saturday (December 20).
The 82-year-old was in Coral Racing, in Uxbridge Road, Pinner, when a man grabbed the money from his hand and ran out of the shop with another man at 5.23pm.
A 23-year-old has been arrested in connection with the theft.

Pinner travel club will welcome in the New Year with its latest talk on Friday January 2.
The focus of the meeting will be the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antartica.
It is set to start at 8pm in Pinner Village Hall, Chapel Lane, Pinner.

A Harrow eyesore could soon be removed after a supermarket chain said it would soon submit a planning application to build on the site.

The former Apollo pub in Pinner Road, North Harrow, has lain derelict for nearly two years.

Councillor Bill Stephenson told the Harrow Observer he had seen a letter from Tesco confirming an application was on its way and that he believed the site would be a smaller Tesco Metro store.

A Nower Hill High School pupil has scooped top prize in the Harrow final of Jack Petchey's Speak Out Challenge.

Emmanuella Odita, 15, from the school in George V Avenue, Pinner, gave a speech on her chosen subject which won her an iPod and the chance to go through to the grand final of the Speak Out Challenge being held in July next year.

Carolers can be heard in the streets of Pinner on Friday (December 19) when they sing some festive favourites under torchlight.
The annual event, organised by the Pinner Association of Churches (PAC), will take place around the Christmas tree in the High Street.
Singing is expected to begin at 6.30pm and last for an hour.

West End Lawn Tennis Club is seeking to introduce floodlighting to more of its courts in Cuckoo Hill Road, Pinner, so that members can play longer into the evening.

The association has been turning youngsters away because it currently only has two courts out of six that can be illuminated at night - limiting court capacity - but a planning application lodged with Harrow Council seeks to increase this number to four, with backing from the Lawn Tennis Association.

The suggested shut-off time for the lights is 9.30pm in order for the club to hold inter-club and inter-county evening matches.

A previous floodlighting scheme was rejected by Harrow Council and the club lost its appeal against that decision just a few months ago. In this latest application, the eight lighting columns are shorter to mitigate some of the neighbour complaints.

The original planning appeal generated a 400-strong petition in favour of the plans - presented to the Labour MP for Harrow West, Gareth Thomas, who himself threw himself between the idea - as well as a letter of support from Kim James, the headteacher of West Lodge First School, in West End Lane, Pinner.

Grimsdyke Brass Band hopes to bring some festive cheer to Hatch End on Sunday (December 14) when it performs at the Harrow Arts Centre.
Christmas Brass will start at 7.30pm in Elliot Hall at the centre in Uxbridge Road.
Tickets are still available on 020 8864 0684 or at www.grimsdykebrass.co.uk.
They are priced at £10 with free admission for under 16s.

Burglars fled empty-handed after breaking into a church in Elm Road, Pinner.

Two windows at the side of the house of worship were smashed and two cabinets broken into inside during the raid.

The church told police the incident could have taken place anytime between 9am on Monday December 1 to 10am last Friday.

Are you a top puzzler, the pride of your local pub quiz team?

We are looking for people to set quizzes, crosswords and puzzles to be published in the Observer series in our New Year edition.

If you would like to set a puzzle or quiz for our readers please email davidtilley@trinitysouth.co.uk, write to Harrow Observer series, Gazette House, 28 Bakers Road, Uxbridge, UB8 1RG, or visit our website www.harrowobserver.co.uk

Closing date for submissions is December 19.