Good Causes

WHAT better way to spend your wedding anniversary than doing something to help others?

A DATE for a proposed Sipson Fete has been pushed back to May 5.

Heathrow Villages community development worker, Kate Birch, has been planning the fete with residents for the past month.

The aim is to inject some cheer and community spirit into an area which suffered the blight of the third runway for more than eight years.

The date was originally pencilled in for March, but because of weather worries and funding concerns it has been moved back to May 5.

Anybody wishing to get involved and help with stalls or entertainment can email kate.birch@groundwork.org.uk.

A FORMER territorial army recruit has collected and dispatched more than 800 'goody boxes' to soldiers in Afghanistan this year.

Sue Turner, of Drayton Gardens, West Drayton, is the Heathrow co-ordinator for the charity SOS (Save Our Soldiers).

Last Wednesday was the deadline to send gift boxes to soldiers, to ensure they arrive in Afghanistan for Christmas Day.

She said: "We cut off early so we don't clog up the British Forces Post Office system and stop family mail getting down to the troops."

CHILDREN at a primary school were the happy recipients of more than £100 worth of stationary and art supplies from a nearby retailer.

Staff from Wilkinson, in Fairfield Road, Yiewsley, dropped in to St Matthew's Primary School, in Yiewsley High Street, to deliver the goods.

This week the Uxbridge Gazette has thrown its weight behind the campaign to stop High Speed Two (HS2).

The hugely expensive project will benefit no one in our communities. Destroying glorious countryside, demolishing properties, blighting neighbourhoods and causing untold upset for the many households on its route will do nothing for the environment or the local economy.

There is no reliable proof it will help the national economy either.

Thirteen councils, including Hillingdon, have lined up to challenge the evidence for the £32billion proposals, and now the Gazette does too.

Make sure you have your say before the current consultation finishes on July 29.

POLICE have been criticised by an MP over a disproportionate response after 40 officers in riot gear fruitlessly raided a vegetable garden.

Officers swooped on Transition Heathrow's site in Vineries Close, Sipson, just 24 hours before the Royal Wedding.

They were searching for items which could have been used in connection with criminal damage, but no items were seized and no arrests made.

The raid took place on today (Thursday) at 7.15am.

A CAMPAIGN group fighting to save Yiewsley Swimming Pool believe they may be able to do just that thanks to a 75-year-old plus covenant on the land.

Hillingdon Council confirmed the decision to close down the pool in August, even though it costs just £32,000 a year to run.

Their stance was that they said the brand new multi-million pound pools in Uxbridge and Hayes meant the pool could no longer compete. The council backed this up by saying the pool needed at least £100,000 of investment to bring it up to scratch.

AN EQUINE training facility which caters for youngsters to form close bonds with horses has been opened.

Full training courses will be offered to riders of all ages at the centre in Wise Lane, West Drayton, which was set up with the help of councillors.

A GIRLFRIEND of a soldier who has recently served in Afghanistan has stripped off for a charity calendar- to raise money for two charities.

Carla Dugard, 22, of Sipson Way, West Drayton, is Miss March in the Forces Foxes 2011 calendar which has just gone on sale.

The calendar is aimed at raising funds for the Combat Stress military charity, specialising in the care of Veteran's mental health.

A GROUP of activists who 'swooped' on a derelict market garden in opposition to Heathrow's third runway are being threatened with eviction.

Transition Heathrow, a group of youngsters in their 20s, living in Harlington High Street, set up a project called 'Grow Heathrow' in March.

They claimed the patch of land in Vineries Close, Sipson, which had laid unused, and have since cleared it up, and turned it into a 'community hub' for the village.