Wednesday 11 July, 7pm to 9pm, Bromley Football Club,Hayes Lane, Bromley BR2 9EF
(Light refreshments and Information stands from 6.30pm)
Guest speaker will be James Cleverly, Chairman of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. This will be an opportunity for you to hear about how the local services plan to cope during the Olympic games.
Plus presentations from the Youth Council and the Safer Bromley Partnership (including Fire Brigade, Police, Ambulance, Council, PCT)
Question/Answer session on the night, advance notification of questions requested.
All welcome to attend.
To enable me to plan seating arrangements please RSVP by email or phone.
From Monday 2nd July 2012 Bromley Police will be able to deploy Taser equipped vehicles to quickly and directly respond to emergency calls.
The arrival of Taser in Bromley is part of a gradual rollout of Taser to all London Boroughs, so that each borough will have two Taser equipped vehicle available to respond to violent incidents – in addition to the support that MPS TSG (Territorial Support Group) and CO19 (Firearms) provide.
The Metropolitan Police currently has 1140 Tasers, of which 446 are deployed overtly by CO19 Firearms Command (116) and the Territorial Support Group (450). The remainder are allocated to training sites, or used in covert operations that are not deployable in support of normal Borough operations.
Bromley will have forty officers trained in the use of Taser – at any one time a maximum of four of these will be on patrol in two vehicles.
Chief Inspector Darren Murphy from Bromley Police said: “Taser has been safely and effectively used by the Metropolitan Police since 2003. This is about making sure that our officers are best equipped in their duty to protect the public.
It enables restraint of violent individuals safely and efficiently, it is often less harmful to offenders than striking them with an asp or using CS spray and it is a less lethal option than using a firearm.
Any time that a Taser is discharged the circumstances will be looked at for monitoring purposes and for transparency. There is a robust system of accountability including unique identification on each discharge and downloads from the Taser itself”.
Recently our Association wrote to NatWest to ask them to clean up the steps outside the bank’s entrance. A BIG THANK YOU to NatWest the area is now litter and weed free.
We also wrote to Barclays in regard to the raised flower bed outside the bank which is full of weeds. We are still waiting to hear from Barclays.
On Saturday some of you may have seen the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Ian Payne and Mrs Payne walking our High Street talking to residents and visiting shop owners/managers. The Mayor’s Office had kindly accepted our invitation to present the awards for Beckenham’s Best Dressed Window and the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Ian Payne and Mrs Payne also took the opportunity to get out and about on our High Street.
Deputy Mayor, Copers Cope Area Residents’ Association and Beckenham Business Association
We met at Zizzi’s (thank you Emilio for opening up early for us) and took some time to discuss with the Deputy Mayor the importance of local community groups such as the Copers Cope Area Residents’ Association and the Beckenham Business Association working together to keep Beckenham town centre thriving.
We had all been impressed by the efforts of businesses for the window competition, and it certainly created a buzz around town, with stunning windows designed by all participants.
Our members often express concern in regard to the vitality of the High Street, with closure of shops and shops lying empty being a particular worry. We hope the competition gave a boost to the High Street and got more of us into our own local shops to see what they have to offer. It’s been said before… “use it or lose it” – if we want to keep a thriving High Street we need to shop there.
The winners
We are delighted to announce the winners of the Diamond Jubilee Window Display Awards:
1st – Beckenham Flower Studio
2nd – Red Boutique
3rd – Beckenham Toys
Joint 4th – Chas Norman Cameras, Julienne Dancewear, The Kitchen Range
5th – Thackray Williams
We visited the top three shops and Deputy Mayor, Cllr Ian Payne presented their awards.
Well done to Beckenham Flower Studio for winning the first Best Dressed Window competition! There will, obviously, be a different theme for next year’s competition – but who will hold the trophy in 2013?
Deputy Mayor and Beckenham Flower Studio (Winner)Deputy Mayor and Red Boutique (2nd place)Deputy Mayor and Beckenham Toy Shop (3rd place)
Good news for our High Street, Clintons Cards are staying open. They have a sign up in the window saying “We are pleased to announce that our store is remaining open. We would like to thank our loyal customers for their continued support.”
A new shop had opened at 50 High Street (next to Marks and Spencer). Fee & Brown is an ‘artisan’ coffee shop specialising in coffees and homemade cakes/snacks.
Following robberies on the Halifax and Argento jewellers a CCTV camera has been installed. You can see it on the
lamp post outside Paddy Power at the end of The Drive.
7 pm Saturday 7th July 2012, Penge Congregational Church, High Street, Penge.
A grand community concert by the Crystal Palace Band , Beckenham Junior Choir & Youth Voices and Royston Primary School Choir. See flyer below for further information.
The very full programme of the concert includes, among other numbers, the following music and songs:
Marching Strings (Marshall Ross), Driving in the Park with you (Franz Lehar), Top Hat, White Ties and Tie (Irving Berlin),Downtown (Tony Hatch), Out of the Blue (Hubert Bath), Cricketers of Hambledon (Peter Warlock), Je ne sais pas (Hubert Gregg), My Heart will go on (James Horner), And this is my Beloved (Borodin), Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White(Louiguy), Nightingale sang in Berkeley Square (Manning Sherwin), Lord of the Dance (Ronan Hardiman), Palatians (Steve Walkley), Frankenstein (Carey Blyton) and begins with Fanfare of Penge (by another Beckenham composer, Gordon Carr).
Every year the British public loses billions of pounds to ‘scammers’, who bombard people with online, mail, door-to-door and telephone scams.
Officers within the Metropolitan Police Service’s Specialist and Economic Crime Directorate have produced a comprehensive fraud prevention booklet entitled, ‘The Little Book of Big Scams’. The guide explains some of the most common scams in existence, ranging from the simple to the sophisticated and provides the reader with essential advice to reduce the chances of them being parted from their money – tips are included on how to avoid door to door scams, bank and payment card scams, mobile phone scams, internet scams as well as handy hints everyone can read to protect themselves.
People from all backgrounds and income levels are targeted by scammers – anyone can fall victim to fraud. This booklet is primarily aimed at the elderly and vulnerable in society as they are particularly at risk; but anyone who reads it will benefit.
Did you know that the Beckenham Flower Studio on the High Street holds flower arranging classes on Tuesday nights? For more information please contact them directly.
As some residents and many businesses will know Beckenham is currently without a Town Centre Manager (TCM). The position is currently being advertised by Bromley Council. The TCM role is very important for businesses and residents as it is key in promoting Beckenham, securing funding for our town centre, organising events to keep our High Street vibrant and maintaining standards in the street scene by keeping it clean, tidy and safe.
Ever walked down the High Street and thought “why don’t the Council just fix this up” or “let’s have some more events in the town, get everyone out” this could be the job for you.
It would be wonderful if the vacancy was filled by a local person passionate about Beckenham. Although the majority of the position will focus on Beckenham, we understand the position will also cover other town centres including Penge.
For more information please follow the link below.
Take a stroll down the High Street to see the windows and vote below. During the voting period shoppers will receive 10% off artwork at Gallery Seventeen.
As part of Project Spiderweb, a multi agency collaboration to reduce Theft of Personal Property on all modes of transport in London by 10% by July 2012, the British Transport Police have created some videos shorts that show examples of how thieves work on the transport system. Check them out at the link below.
Get down to the High Street just before 10.00 to see the Torch and Convoy come past
The Relay is expected to reach the Manor Road, Kelsey Park Road, High Street junction at 09.57. The Torch Convoy itself is anticipated to take around 15 – 20 minutes to pass a particular point although additionally there will be advance vehicles and partner activation vehicles ahead of the convoy.
Saturday 9th June 11.00am-5.00pm
Churchill Theatre Bromley
The Churchill Theatre will play host to the newest vintage and retro fair. Handpicked traders will offer a fabulous range of men’s and women’s vintage clothing and accessories from the 1930s through to the 1990s. There’s also retro records, record players and phones and a tea parlour offering scrumptious cakes.
Copers Cope Area Residents' Association (CCARA) & West Beckenham Residents' Association (WBRA) 