Most dog owners will probably already be aware that from 6 April 2016 it will be a legal requirement in England for all dogs, by the age of 8 weeks, to be microchipped and registered with their keepers' contact details.

All keepers, including breeders, must also ensure their dog's microchip contact details continue to be kept up-to-date. Key points that dog owners and breeders should be aware of:

• if an owner changes their details, moves house or changes contact number they must make sure details are updated on the database
• if a dog without a microchip comes to the attention of the authorities, the dog's keeper may be served with a notice requiring the dog to be microchipped within 21 days, and may face prosecution and a £500 fine if they do not comply
• the only exemption from the requirement to microchip a dog is where a vet has certified in writing that the dog is unfit to be microchipped 
• anyone breeding dogs will be responsible for microchipping their puppies before they sell or give them to new keepers

Free microchipping is available at some charities including Battersea Dogs Home and The Dogs Trust. Alternatively speak to your local vet.

This advance warning is published for the attention of all residents living in roads close to the London Irish Hazelwood grounds off Green Street.

Following the parking problems at the time of last year's London Irish Mini Festival, the Vice-chairman LOSRA met with the Chairman of the Amateur RFC on 18th May 2015 to explore ways of reducing the nuisance of blocked streets and driveways which resulted from inconsiderate parking by visitors to the Festival.

This year’s festival will be held on Sunday 24th April 2016 and the numbers of attendee’s are envisaged to be similar to last year.  The busiest time for traffic will be 8am to 10.30am, peaking between 9 - 10am as teams arrive for a 10.am start.  The event has a staggered finish from approximately 2pm (age group dependent), with the last games finishing about 4pm.

In his recent email to LOSRA, Eric Griffith, the Chairman LIAFC wrote:

"L. Irish will be putting in place the same level of car parking planning and provision as last year, as well as improvements based on feedback received.  Visiting teams will be directed a week before the event to use public transport, car share as much as possible and that parking on local streets in not available, and to use Kempton Park.  Please be assured we will do all that is reasonably within our control to manage the traffic flow, direct attendee’s to designated parking at Kempton Park and to use the shuttle service, but we have no legal rights to enforce no parking areas,….we rely on the goodwill, cooperation and common-sense of our visitors."

Having to rely on the 'goodwill, cooperation and common-sense of our visitors' is about as much as can be expected and much will depend on how efficiently the visiting clubs communicate with their individual members. We shall see....

"In terms of sheer ability and potential, Jason is probably the finest young jazz musician this country has produced. His playing has great poise and maturity which is unusual in somebody so young." - Stuart Nicholson, author, Jazz: The Modern Resurgence.

Jason emerged in the late 1980s as a jazz pianist influenced by Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner. In his early 20s he recorded three solo albums, including A Clearer View (1990), his debut album, which was produced by Wayne Shorter and led to him appearing on the cover of The Wire magazine. Jason also worked with Jean Toussaint, Tommy Smith and Branford Marsalis, and presented Artrageous on BBC television.

Work with Sting and Jeff Beck

In 1998 Sting invited Jason to join his band following the death of Kenny Kirkland. He toured with Sting for the next six years and recorded three albums. He then became a member of Jeff Beck's band, touring for six years and recording three albums. During these years with Sting and Beck, Jason also worked with Chaka Khan, Des'ree, Mica Paris, Carleen Aderson, Manu Katche, Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel.

Return to solo work

In May 2013 Jason told the Huffington Post that after twelve years of touring as a session musician he was now re-establishing himself as a solo artist, specifically in jazz. On 4th November 2013 he released the album Anything but Look on Lyte Records. It features Will Downing, Omar, Joy Rose, Jacob Collier, Tim Garland and Pino Palladino.

Jason also teaches music, lecturing at his alma mater Guildhall School of Music and Bath Spa University, among others.

Jason's performance starts at 7.30pm and tickets may be purchased at the door £12 or, via the website £10: www.moodindigoevents.co.uk

Our Spring Newsletter, currently with the printers, will be delivered to Lower Sunbury households from 16th March.

To view a copy online, please click here

Further to the article published on this Site on 10th February, the following is a reply email from the Waste Operations Group Manager, Surrey County Council to an email sent by one of our members:

As you will probably be aware , Surrey County Council makes policy and then we ask SITA to implement it and therefore I think your mail is more for me to answer that SITA. SITA's employees are working under the instruction of Surrey County Council in this respect. 

Firstly I would like to clarify that Surrey householders may bring their own household waste to the Community Recycling Centre free of charge. There is no restriction on the amount that you can bring or how it is transported. The waste will be accepted whether it is in a car, van or trailer, although residents bringing waste to the site in vans or trailers will need to obtain a permit from the county council. Therefore in the context of your e-mail below, residents may bring as many bags of leaves from their homes as they like as leaves are considered to be household waste. There are however certain types of waste that don’t fall within the definition of household waste. Waste produced by construction and DIY projects in the home including improvements, alterations or repairs and from excavations, are classified as industrial waste and the county council is not obliged to accept these materials free of charge. Examples of these types of waste include kitchen and bathroom fittings, doors, windows, timber, fencing and sheds, rubble, soil, paving slabs and plaster.

Anyone wishing to dispose of these types of materials, whether a householder or a trader, must pay the appropriate charge and this can only be done at a transfer station where facilities exist to weigh the waste and apply the appropriate charge. 

To assist the public with small amounts of this type of waste, Surrey County Council has , for the past 20 years, adopted a policy that allows householders to bring small amounts of construction waste in their car, free of charge.  Over the past few years the quantity of construction and DIY waste that is brought to our sites has increased significantly, and we have also identified that traders are using large cars to transport this waste to avoid payment. The council can no longer bear the cost of dealing with this waste and in April 2016 we will introduce charges for certain types of construction waste even if brought in a car. 

Prior to the introduction of these changes we have tried to better define what constitutes a ‘small’ amount of construction waste in order to make things clearer for both the residents and site staff. 

We published information on our website which advised residents that we would consider ‘small’ amounts to be that, which would fit within the boot of a car with the seats up and we asked our contractors staff to communicate this to residents at the recycling centres. 

Having listened to our residents we realise that we did not give enough prior notice of this definition before implementation and therefore we have instructed our contractor to relax these restrictions until we have undertaken further communication with our residents. We will  provide further information in March 2016 on the charges that will be applied for this type of waste from April. 

I hope this clarifies the situation

Regards

Richard

Richard Parkinson
Waste Operations Group Manager, Environment Service, Surrey County Council

Advertising Positions Vacant is not usually part of this Site's function. However, we are pleased to assist Lower Sunbury's premier local attraction at the Walled Garden which is a registered charity.

Part time assistant wanted for our gallery cafe. Lunchtimes plus some additional hours and occasional weekends. Must be friendly, flexible and hard working.

Call Carole 01932 788101