WARREN CLARK GOLFING DREAMS!

It doesn’t take much persuasion to get me to go to a golf club, if only there were more hours in the day!

I therefore greatly enjoyed visiting Horne Park Golf Club where Suzanne and I had the pleasure of meeting Warren Clark and his mum Dawn. Warren has autism, learning difficulties and a curvature of the spine but despite these challenges has set up a charity, Warren Clark Golfing Dreams to help people like himself. He has demonstrated how adversity can be overcome when in 2019 at the Special Olympics he won a gold medal in golf.

The charity delivers Starting New at Golf (SNAG) and Tri-Golf sessions to disabled and disadvantaged individuals and groups and aims to make a difference to the lives of participants, encouraging them to be socially active and challenge themselves.

They have now received full planning permission to build an inclusive centre which will provide an accessible community/sports hall, training kitchen, changing room facility, sensory room, quiet/prayer room and will offer inclusive community events and training in golf, multi-sports, bar and catering, retail, front of house and groundsman duties. It will also offer health and well-being facilities. Fund-raising is now underway to enable construction to begin and when completed the centre will provide opportunities for disabled and disadvantaged people to learn skills and attain qualifications to help find employment.

I was also able to demonstrate my less than impressive golfing skills in their golf simulator, in front of the Chair of Tandridge Council, Mike Crane, who was also in attendance and is a strong supporter of the charity.

Happy 100th Birthday Ivy!

Suzanne and I had the wonderful honour of wishing Ivy Batchelor a very happy 100th birthday. A resident of Le Personne Homes, an Almshouse charity in Caterham, it was a pleasure to spend time in her company. Still as sharp as a pin and agile on her feet, she still goes out on the bus regularly and is a member of the Salvation Army. The 12th of 13 children, she is herself a mother, grandmother, a great grandmother and recently a great, great grandmother.

There are 43 flats at Le Personne and most of the residents were there to sing Happy Birthday and watch Ivy cut her cake. There was a lovely atmosphere and it was also great to meet some of the team and Chair of Trustees, Pat Cannon.

2025/26 Elmbridge ‘Junior Citizen’ Child Safety Event.

Suzanne and I, accompanied by the Mayor of Elmbridge and other local dignitaries, attended the Elmbridge ‘Junior Citizen’ Child Safety Event’s VIP Day which was held at the Sandown Park Racecourse in Esher.

Running from the 12th to the 20th January, the event brought together around a thousand year 6 primary school pupils from across the borough – pupils who are at an important stage in their lives as they prepare to transition from primary to secondary school. The event provided the children with the opportunity to participate in a number of interactive safety workshops which this year covered a range of topics designed to help the pupils to stay safe in the future. Participating organisations included South East Coast Ambulance Service, Surrey Child and Family Health (School Nurses), Network Rail/ South Western Railway/ British Transport Police, Thames Basin Heaths Partnership, Places for People Leisure and Take the JUMP.

We witnessed safety education workshops, which included pupils and teachers from Chandlers Field Primary School in West Molesey and Cranmere Primary School in Esher. For more information visit the Child Safety Media website at – https://www.childsafetymedia.co.uk/2025-26-elmbridge-junior-citizen-child-safety-event/

HMP Coldingley – A Cat C, Training and Resettlement Prison.

Suzanne and I recently visited HMP Coldingley near Woking, where Prison Governor, Dom Clegowski, welcomed us and arranged for Sam Williams to give us a tour.

It is a Category C, training and resettlement prison for men with a remit to help prisoners learn new skills and be better prepared for release into the Community. To this end they have a DHL facility on site, a printing operation and a graphic design and sign making facility; all of which were in active use when we toured round and had the opportunity to chat to Teresa Shearer, Head of Education, Skills and Works.

The prison was built in 1969 and is now undergoing staged refurbishment as the original cells did not have any toilet or basin facilities; instead an automated one in one out system allowing prisoners to access facilities is in operation at night for about of third of prisoners , which can lead to inmates waiting in long queues. The prison does have an on site doctors surgery, dentist and opticians and extensive gym equipment which was being well used whilst we were there.

Like many of the other prisons we have visited, they are operating near full capacity and are constantly battling an influx of drugs and drone flights; but the prisoners get to spend a large amount of time outside their cells and there seemed to be a genial relationship between the staff and inmates.

A Fascinating and Educational visit to Surrey Coroner’s Court.

Suzanne and I were warmly welcomed to the Coroners Court in Woking by Senior Coroner Richard Travers and Area Coroner Simon Wickens.

Being my first visit to a Coroners Court, it was fascinating and very educational, learning why a death might be referred and the stages of investigation that a coroner may request, from a post mortem, to an investigation to an inquest. Unlike other courts it is not adversarial with two parties opposing each other; instead it is inquisitorial with the coroner leading a fact-finding investigation into who, when, where, and how someone died. The investigation of the coroner can lead to a Prevention of Future Death Report if it believed action should be taken to prevent future similar deaths.

Suzanne and I were given a tour of the five courts, two are designed for juries; which interestingly in a coroners court only have 11 jurors. A jury is required for specific types of deaths, primarily when a death occurred in custody (like prison or police), was violent or unnatural, the cause is unknown, or if it resulted from police actions, a work-related accident, poisoning, or disease.

Christmas Day at the Salvation Army Church and Community Centre in Staines.

In all honesty, I don’t think I have ever put a pinny on before on Christmas Day!

However, when Suzanne and I turned up on Christmas Day at the Salvation Army Church and Community Centre in Staines, it was all hands to the pump. After helping serve teas and coffees we joined the volunteers preparing food bags for everyone to take home at the end of the day, before being on hand to serve Christmas lunch. The kitchen team did an amazing job as they turned out over 70 Christmas lunches with all the trimmings.

Those present enjoyed singing carols before lunch and had a visit from Santa afterwards, before watching the King’s Speech on a large screen.

It was a meticulously well planned occasion, with some Christmas lunches also being delivered to those unable to attend, and huge thanks and congratulations go to the army of volunteers which ensured everybody had a wonderful day out and a very Happy Christmas.

Sir John Rutter’s Christmas Celebration.

Suzanne and I have been thoroughly entertained at a number of festive events but it seemed we left the best to last as we enjoyed a wonderful night in the company of Sir John Rutter at Guildford Cathedral. The Guildford Cathedral Choir was joined by Septura Brass along with organ, harp and percussion as we were treated to a selection of traditional carols, excerpts from Benjamin Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols” and four carols by Sir John himself. In between, the packed audience chipped in singing some of the well known carols finishing with a rousing Hark! The Herald-Angels Sing.

It most definitely got us in the mood for Christmas!

I Wish Lab22 Had Been Around When I Was at school. 

Based in the offices of PE Limited in Guildford, Matias and Sabrina Seijo have created a wonderful learning environment for junior school children which provides a hands on introduction to science. They encourage children to observe, question and hypothesise and then help them develop skills that are applicable in various areas of life not just science.

In primary Schools, due to class sizes, space and time pressures and sometimes the inexperience of teachers, science is often not taught in a constructive or stimulating way and therefore young children do not become curious or aware of the possible future directions a love of science could take them. Lab22 provides a space for school children to come and learn about different aspects of science through hands on experiments wearing lab coats and then they are given further experiments to take away with them. PE Limited very generously cover all costs including transportation of the two hourly sessions.

Matias and Sabrina are looking to expand the number of participating schools and their concept is something which hopefully could be scalable in the future to enable many more young children to creatively explore the magic of science.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE HIGH SHERIFF OF SURREY.

Find out more about Artventure at – https://www.art-venture.co.uk/

Age UK Surrey Christmas Carol Service.

I do not think I have ever seen Guildford Cathedral looking so packed and so festive than at the Age UK Surrey Christmas Carol Service. Suzanne and I, together with the Lord Lieutenant, the Mayor of Guildford and many other dignitaries from across the County, thoroughly enjoyed joining in with the rousing carols and listening to the wonderful music provided by The Guildford Cathedral Singers, Rock Choir and Tormead Prep School Choir (the latter turning up and performing in their school uniform despite the term already having finished!)

Age UK has been supporting older people across Surrey for 60 years and this was an opportunity to celebrate everyone who supports Age UK and all their volunteers who make such a difference.