Leatherhead
& District Chamber of Commerce
Members’
Newsletter - November 2005
A Seasonal
Message …
It doesn’t seem a year since I read John Howarth’s Christmas Message in the Newsletter twelve months ago, and now I find it is my turn to write a short piece.
Looking back over the year, I am aware of a change for the better in Leatherhead, with fewer empty units and more of a buzz about the town. Andy Newbold and Euan Gabbert have published their new book ‘A Day in the Life of Leatherhead’ which shows the area in a new light, with proof that there really is Life in Leatherhead. If you want to show anyone where you work or live, then this book encapsulates the new, lively and vibrant town that is all around us.
Looking forward to next year, I understand that Leatherhead Tomorrow have ideas for a number of projects to enhance many aspects of town life, and I look forward to sharing these developments with you in the new year.
The Chamber will be joining with Parallel Business Centres and St Mary’s Church in Fetcham for the annual Business Carol Service on 22nd December and I urge you all to put this date in your diaries. The Service begins in the Church at 6.00pm, and afterwards there will be refreshments and mince pies in Fetcham Park House. Please let Anne Kelly (info@parallel-fetcham.co.uk) know if you will be attending. I look forward to your company on that evening.
The Board of the Chamber
would like to thank you all for your support over the past year, and looks
forward to working on your behalf in the year ahead.
I wish you and your families and friends a very Happy Christmas and a very good New Year.
Peter Snell, Chamber President
The Leatherhead
& District Scene
Patricia Lawless, Chamber Director, laid a wreath on behalf of the
Leatherhead Chamber of Commerce during the Remembrance Ceremony at the
Leatherhead War Memorial on Sunday 13th November.
Illuminated Christmas Trees
will be brightening Leatherhead Town Centre during the 2005 festive season …
due once more to the unstinting efforts of David
and Sylvia Sharland, who dedicate many hours each year to oversee the
bookings, then decorate, deliver and erect the trees … and they also dismantle
the displays at the beginning of the new year.
Our sincere thanks are extended to David and Sylvia for the enormous
contribution they make on behalf of us all ~ and we wish them both a most
enjoyable Christmas and a very Happy New Year.
Our thanks also go to the businesses throughout the town centre who have
booked one or more Christmas trees for this year’s display, bringing seasonal
cheer to Leatherhead for the enjoyment of residents, workers, shoppers and
visitors during Christmastime.
Lucy’s Letter …
… Lucy Hanson ~
Leatherhead Town Centre Manager
The Halloween revelries which took place on Monday 31st October in the town centre were a real winner, and went down a ‘treat’ with everyone who took part. The standard of costumes worn for the competition was excellent … so high, in fact, that Chamber President Peter Snell found it very difficult to choose the overall winner! We wanted the youngsters of Leatherhead to be able to enjoy Halloween in a safe environment, so Swan Centre Management and Town Management decided to work together to put on the Halloween event. Due to the spooktacular success of this one, it definitely won’t be the last, and plans are already afoot for next year! Our thanks to all those businesses who took part in the trick or treat, which helped to make the event such a big hit.
The 2005 Christmas Festival is taking place on Saturday 10th December from 11.00 a.m.. It will follow the usual format, featuring roving music, stilt walkers, street entertainers, childrens’ workshop, face painters and the like. The afternoon will host the traditional Carol Concert and Father Christmas Parade. Thanks to Harringtons Bakery we will once again be able to finish the day with a fantastic firework finale. Posters and fliers will be sent out shortly, and if you could find room to display a poster and help to publicise the event it would be really appreciated.
The monthly Farmers’ Market will be taking place a week early during December on Wednesday 21st, just in time to get fresh local produce direct from the farmer for your Christmas Dinner.
If you
would like further information regarding any of the above or would like to find
out about more events happening in the Leatherhead area please look at the
website – www.visitleatherhead.com
or contact me, Lucy Hanson, via Tel: 01372 363652 or Email: lucy.hanson@molevalley.gov.uk, or
pop in to see me at the Help Shop, 25-29
High Street, Leatherhead.
…
Patricia Lawless ~ Swan Centre Manager
Leatherhead has recently welcomed some new
arrivals and enjoyed various really ‘positive’ events, a few of which I would
just like to mention.
I must just say that the success of our
Halloween celebrations way surpassed our expectations. It was the first time we had staged such an
event, and so had not known what level of response to expect … we were
therefore delighted that the occasion attracted a large crowd, with most of the
children appearing in fancy dress, and we received lots of positive comments
from parents, shop keepers and businesses.
So, a big ‘thank you’ to all
those who contributed towards making the afternoon such a success.
I think you will all probably know by now
that Costa Coffee has arrived in the Swan Centre, located in the square between
Next and Sainsbury’s. Since its opening
in late September, the unit has been busy both inside and out. The outside tables and umbrellas and the
wonderful smell of fresh coffee have greatly improved the atmosphere in and
around the square and, hopefully, Costa Coffee has brought more people into the
town.
On the 14th of November the Swan
Centre multi-storey car park was awarded the prestigious Park Mark Safer Parking Award.
It is of special note that our car park is the only one in the whole of
Mole Valley that has reached the high standards required to qualify for the
Award. These standards relate to
lighting levels, signage, tidiness, safety, the number of incidents of damage
to and thefts from vehicles and the management of the car park. The Park Mark Scheme is a joint initiative
between the Associations of Chief Police Officers, the British Parking
Association, the Home Office and Scottish Executive.
[Patricia Lawless, Swan Centre Manager – Tel: 01372 376358]
Police Community Partnership Group
The Group continues to support the views of the Leatherhead area with representation from many of the local associations.
Our local Police Officers, PCs Fran Davey and Jason Wood, continue to be an identifiable presence in the retail area, which is considered to be a deterrent to anti-social behaviour. It is to their credit that the Halloween Night was a great success in the town. Officers had already spent a lot of time in advising shop-keepers against selling eggs and flour to children in the days before.
The PCPG held a public meeting at the end of September, which included presentations by Mark Wilson of Mole Valley District Council, who spoke on the new Licensing Act, and also Steve Playle of Surrey County Council's Trading Standards.
The impending changes in the Licensing Laws are a concern to many retailers, and I would welcome any feedback on how you feel these changes have affected anti-social behaviour.
In recent weeks you have no doubt seen the Press coverage with regard to the proposed restructuring of the Police Service. Members of the Group are contributing to the consultation. Authorities with less than 4,000 officers are likely to merge. Options favoured at present are for Surrey to merge with Sussex and, possibly, Kent. A decision is anticipated during the early part of next year.
[John Hickey, Buchanan & Curwen, Email: johnhickey@b-and-c.co.uk]
Taking place on Saturday 15th October at the Parish Church Hall, LeatherheadAhead’s annual ‘Quiz Night’ was a great success which raised more than £700 in support of the Leatherhead Christmas Festival.
Over 100 people took part in the event, which was substantially supported by local traders who donated some very generous raffle prizes. Teams had to pass muster by correctly answering a wide variety of questions ranging from the silly to the serious, including both picture and music rounds. The general consensus was that everyone had enjoyed a very entertaining (and informative!) evening.
The winning team, The
Gladiators, took home some splendid wine goblets as prizes, but there
was some consolation for the “almost there’s” and “also-ran’s” as well, with
tubes of Smarties and tubs of bubbles being awarded for their efforts!
‘Congratulations’ and ‘Well
Done’ to both the organisers and the contestants … our thanks to you all for your marvellous
effort towards making Christmas in Leatherhead ‘something special’ !
[Paula Sabine,
LeatherheadAhead, Tel: 01372 378604 & Valerie Wilson, LeatherheadAhead,
Tel: 01372 378125]
The Chamber extends a warm
welcome to our new Members ~ we hope they enjoy the benefits of Membership, and
we look forward to meeting them at future Chamber events.
Became a Chamber Member during October, and
is located at 42 Woodbridge Avenue, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 7QN. Run by Simon Grimmer, Director, the business
is able to provide telecom solutions from single line installations to full
corporate systems. For more information,
please contact Simon via Telephone: 08450 505755, Fax: 08450 505756, or Email: simon@intelligenttelecoms.co.uk. You can also visit the company Website at: www.intelligenttelecoms.co.uk.
Also became a Chamber Member during October,
and specialise in the recruitment of sales and marketing professionals. Based at Stocks House, 9 North Street,
Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 7AX, Office Manager Sarah Lamborn will be pleased to
hear from you on Telephone: 01372 860100.
You can also contact Pzazz via Fax: 01372 860115 and Email: pzazz@pzazzuk.com,
and its Website address is: www.pzazzuk.com.
A third new Member to the Chamber last month,
and run by Proprietor Miss Zen George, The Leatherhead Local is an independent
Directory of Businesses and Services in the Leatherhead Area. For full information, please contact Zen at:
19 Poplar Avenue, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 8SH, by Telephone on: 01372 376420,
Fax to: 01372 372441 or via Email: leatherheadlocal@btinternet.com.
You may like
to make a note in your Directories of the changes to Member details given
below:
Carter Fielding Associates Ltd – has moved to a new address: 41 Bridge Street, Leatherhead,
Surrey, KT22 8BN.
As a follow-up to the excellent wine tasting
quiz held during the ‘Mix & Mingle’ at Indian Ocean in the summer, Chris
Leveritt hosted an Italian wine tasting event at Vecchia Trattoria on the
evening of 25th October. VT’s
wine importer, Douglas Harrison of Harrison’s Vintners, introduced two white
and two red wines, and explained their provenance and character as the two
dozen guests sipped and enjoyed learning more about the wines they were
sampling. Allowing Members the
opportunity to then meet and get to know one another, the tasting was followed
by a light main course & cheese … accompanied, of course, by more of the
tasted wines – Vernaccia, Batar (an unusual wine, tasting very much like a
Montrachet white burgundy, and no wonder, at £50 per bottle!), Valpolicella,
and Valpolicella Classico Superior, which turns out to be a cousin of the
magnificent Amarone wine. A most
successful evening, much enjoyed by everyone who attended … and many thanks
indeed to Chris for arranging and hosting the event.
Vecchia Trattoria was
also pleased to join in the spirit of the day on Monday 31st,
marking Halloween with candle-lit
Jack-0-Lanterns crafted from hollowed-out pumpkins both in the dining room and outside, and with witch, bat and ghost
decorations (Casper-type ghosts that is) decorating the walls and doors. The staff also put a witch’s hat & black
shawl on Pandora, the resident sculptured statue at VT (she wears a Santa hat
at Christmas). Along with the
neighbouring businesses, Susan Leveritt manned a table outside, providing
treats for the youngsters as they paraded up and down the High Street dressed
in wonderful seasonal costumes, visiting tents & booths, watching
performances, and filling their trick-or-treat bags for subsequent closer study
at home! Following these special events,
a pleasing number of ‘trick-or-treaters’ and their families visited the
restaurant to enjoy its Halloween Special
Meal … and VT look forward to welcoming them all next year when the High
Street is once again filled with throngs of young adventurers.
[Susan
Leveritt, Vecchia Trattoria, 24 High St., Leatherhead, Tel: 01372 383290]
A hard-hitting stage show, co-sponsored by ExxonMobil,
is making young people around Surrey stop and think about the consequences of
careless driving. Around 4,000
sixth-form students and 16-17 year-olds will see ‘Safe
Drive - Stay Alive’, a
no-punches-pulled production that is based on events surrounding a real road
accident.
The youngsters are shown a video
reconstruction, which is paused to allow members of the police, ambulance and
fire services, as well as an A&E consultant, to explain their experiences
of the accident. The most powerful talks
for many in the audience come from the parent of someone killed in a road
accident and a person disabled by a young driver.
Surrey Fire & Rescue worked with Surrey
Police, Surrey Ambulance, Surrey Road Safety and the Health Authority on the
initiative. It is specifically aimed at
young drivers and those about to start driving lessons; 20 per cent of young
drivers crash in their first year.
ExxonMobil Public Affairs manager Nick Thomas
spoke at the launch event about the company's passion for safety and its
efforts to eliminate hazards before accidents occur.
"Concern
for the health and safety of our employees and contractors also extends to our
customers and neighbours, which is why, when we heard of Safe Drive - Stay
Alive, it appealed to us," he said.
"It's an initiative that fits
entirely with our goal of working towards an environment where 'nobody gets
hurt'."
ExxonMobil helped launch the programme in
Fife two years ago and will be supporting its roll-out in Aberdeen later this
year.
[Gemma
Leaming, UK Public Affairs, ExxonMobil, Tel: 01372 222244]
Happy Anniversary Curves Leatherhead !
It’s been 1 year since Curve’s opened its doors to the Leatherhead community, and in celebration we would like to invite all ladies affiliated with the Leatherhead Chamber of Commerce to accept a FREE WEEK! In addition, we are also running a ‘Rest of the Year FREE’ offer. For further details of either offer, or to make an appointment, please call us on: 01372 388 588, or visit Curves at: 70, Kingston Road, Leatherhead, KT22 7BW.
Curves offers a proven 30-minute workout … No Men, No Makeup and No Mirrors … to find out more, please visit our website at: www.curves.com.
IT’S GREAT TO WORKOUT AT CURVES!
(An
opportunity to publicise your organisation to the Membership. Up to two profiles will be presented in each
Newsletter, and contributions are published in order of receipt. Your next Newsletter will be printed at the end of January 2006.)
I have just
joined the Leatherhead & District Chamber of Commerce and am looking
forward to meeting some of you at future Chamber functions.
My
publication – The Leatherhead Local – was first printed in October 2005, and
is a community-based A5 magazine, delivered free to 2,000 homes. Its aim is to promote businesses and services
in and around the Leatherhead area.
To date, I
have had a wonderful response from the businesses I’ve approached – all of my
advertisers see the benefit of reaching 2,000 homes in Leatherhead for very
little outlay … in fact, I was told by one of my advertisers that a month’s
advertising in my magazine costs less than the amount spent on instant coffee
for the office!
It’s a
really straightforward and simple publication which ‘does the business’ for my
advertisers, and you can’t say fairer than that!
The
Leatherhead Local has (almost) begun to sell itself, as much of my business is
generated by word of mouth, which really gives me a buzz. However, like my advertisers, one can never
have too many customers!
So, if
there’s anyone out there who you think might like to appear in the magazine,
then do let me know and I’ll be pleased to follow this up with a friendly
telephone call – I don’t do the ‘hard sell’!
My own
background is in retail, and I know … especially with the trading environment
as it currently stands … how tough it is out there.
Prior to my
most recent role as assistant to the CEO of Moss Bros Group Plc, I have worked
with the Managing Directors of Simpson Piccadilly, Burberry, The Scotch House,
Guerlain, Givenchy, Christian Dior and the UK agency for Giorgio Armani and
Valentino.
So with 25
years’ experience in retailing I do have a real understanding of retailers and
their businesses, and recognise their need to increase awareness of their
business along with customer numbers without spending a fortune on advertising
– retailers do not want to waste their money on expensive and ineffectual
campaigns – and these are the criteria for ALL companies.
I am
delighted to be a member of the L&DCC, and as I’m also a resident of
Leatherhead, I look forward to becoming involved in the issues surrounding this
fantastic town.
For further information about
The Leatherhead Local
please give me a call:
Zen
George: (
01372 376420
Fax: 01372 372441
Email: leatherheadlocal@btinternet.com
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DECEMBER Cinema Broken Flowers (15) 106 mins Mon
5th, Tues 6th & Wed 7th, Thur 8th at 7.30pm That Hamilton Woman (PG) 128 mins A Special Tea & Cake Matinee Thur 8th
7.30pm Flight Plan (12A) 98 mins Tue 13th,
Wed 14th 7.30pm, Thur 15th 2pm & 7.30 Live Theatre Dick Whittington - Christmas Panto Starring Simon Gross Poor traveller Dick battles against
circumstance and giant rats, accompanied only by a resourceful cat, in his
journey across land and ocean, to make his fortune. But will London’s gold paved streets lead
him to get the girl too? Starring the
flamboyant Simon Gross, from ITV’s Hell’s Kitchen, there’s nothing better for
a Christmas treat. HELL’S
KITCHEN STAR TO LIGHT UP LEATHERHEAD Nobody could be more appropriate for the part of
pantomime dame ‘Sarah the Cook’ than Hell’s Kitchen star Simon
Gross. His antics with Gary Rhodes on
the ITV prime-time reality show, attempting to tell a whisk from a spatula,
and learning how to boil an egg, entertained the nation. Now he’s set to do the same thing – live
for Leatherhead. But even if his
cooking is gross (!) his performance won’t be. Simon is a born singer, dancer and
entertainer, with a diverse career behind him. Simon’s stage appearances stage appearances
include the European tour of The Best of Broadway, and the west-end
hit show Singalongabba. He has also
played opposite Wolf from ITV’s Gladiators for two years, as Dame
Dolly in Snow White and Robin Hood. His television appearances include Channel
4’s What the Butler Saw and BBC’s On the Road with Maureen
Rees. Shortly he will be playing
The Narrator in Side by Side Sondheim at The Union Theatre, directed
by Andrew Lynford from BBC’s Eastenders. Sat 17th 11am, Sun 18th 2pm, Mon 19th 2pm, Tues 20th 2pm, Thur
22nd 11am, Fri 23rd 2pm, Sat 24th 11am, Mon 26th 2pm, Tues 27th 2pm, Thur
29th 2pm, Fri 30 2pm. For Schools: Tues 13th 10.30am/Wed
14th 10.30am January Dates: Mon 2nd 2pm, Tues 3rd 2pm, Sat 7th 11am. Tickets: Adults £15, Children/CONCS £12, Members
£10 JANUARY Live Theatre Dusty the Concert Staring Karen Noble Dubbed the “Queen of Soundalikes”
Karen Noble is one of the world’s top female vocal impersonators. Here, in her most famous guise, she pays
tribute to the late, great, Dusty Springfield. Friday 13th 7.30pm. Tickets £14, Members £11.50 The New Squadronaires Orchestra You’ll be ‘Flying High’ after an
with The New Squadronaires Orchestra – a riveting tribute to The RAF
Squadronaires. This authentic recreation features some of the finest young
musicians of today, dressed as the original band were – clean cut, in RAF
uniform. Friday 27th 7.30pm. Tickets £15, Members £12.50 Love Letters Starring Colin Baker and Louise
Jameson Love Letters chronicles the lives,
loves, triumphs and tragedies of Andrew Makepeace Ladd the 3rd and Melissa
Gardner through their correspondence spanning more than a generation.. It is
an elegant and witty show, beautifully crafted by one of America's most
gifted and prolific playwrights. Sunday 29th 3.00pm. Tickets £16, Members £13.50 We’ll Meet Again Direct from a record breaking season
at the Winter Gardens – Blackpool, We’ll Meet Again is now a
nationwide tour for 2006, and features the songs of Vera Lynn, Bing Crosby,
George Formby and comedy moment of Max Miller and Tessie O’Shea, and many
more. 2.30pm Monday 24th 2.30pm. Tickets £15, Members £12.50 |
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The
Leatherhead Theatre 7
Church Street, Leatherhead, Surrey
KT22 8DN For advance
ticketing and further information: Please telephone the Box
Office on: 01372 365141 (Tuesday
to Saturday – 2.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m.) Visa,
Amex, Mastercard, Delta and Switch cards are all accepted Alternatively, please visit The Theatre or Email us at: boxoffice@the-theatre.org www.the-theatre.org |