There are four more Sky Rides in Havering this year following two different routes.

On Sundays 9 August and 8 November, each time starting at 10am from Upminster Library, Corbets Tey Road, Upminster, RM14 2BB, is the South Havering Circular ride.

More information on the Upminster ride is available here

On 19 July and 13 September, each time starting at 2pm from Lodge Farm Park, Lodge Avenue, Romford, RM2 5AD, is the Romford Ride through Raphael and Lodge Farm Parks.

More information on the Lodge Farm Park ride is avaible here

Havering Sky Rides are free and include guides.

A list of other local Sky Rides is available here.

Votes sought for public art work

Local people asked to vote on a local character for art bench on at site of new bridge.

Havering Council and the sustainable transport charity Sustrans are asking local residents to vote for one figure that represents the local area to appear in a piece of permanent public art near the new bridge over the River Beam in Bretons Outdoor Centre.

The artwork comprises a bench with three 2-D life-size silhouettes standing behind it. These are cut of sheet steel which will weather over time as the Portrait Bench becomes a distinctive part of the local landscape. Sustrans want these silhouettes to immortalize local icons whether it be local famous faces, characters from the past or someone living in the area today. Karl Brierley of Sustrans said “The Portrait Bench artwork is all about the characters that the local community are proud of.”

The following local characters were chosen for the shortlist and it is now up to the public to vote for one character.

Humphry Repton (1752-1818)  Famous landscape gardener.

Edward Hillman (1889-1934)  Aviation extraordinaire of the 1930s.

Ian Dury (1942-2000) Popular singer, songwriter, and actor.

Ian Fisher (1971 – 2013) – Elm Park local Fisher was a Warrant Officer Class 2 who lost his life in Afghanistan.

Amy Marren (born 14 August 1998). British Para swimmer.

To find out more about each character and to vote on your choice please visit the following link.  

http://tinyurl.com/Portraitbench

A vote will also be conducted at the Eastbrookend Country Fair from 11am-4pm on 7^th June at Eastbrookend Country Park, Dagenham. The results of the vote will be released following this event.

We will be welcoming

Dr Saini supported by Dorsey Precht from Havering CCG and

Jessica Jarvis from Age UK

The Little Theatre
Methodist Church
The Drive
Harold Wood
RM3 0DU

10-13 June at 8pm, Plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee, £7 on the door or reserve on 01708 476534

The theatre company has been working on a project called ‘As You Were’ and have been interviewing local ladies in their eighties and nineties about their experiences and memories.

A play based on these interviews is being performed in the foyer of the Queen’s Theatre on 20^th May and I’d like you to invite you and your members to a special free performance.

There will be a paid public performance at 8pm, but at 3pm we are performing a free matinee for older people in the borough and people who run the services they use.  It will only last an hour and we’d be delighted if you could come and spread the word; as we’d really like an audience of our participants’’ peers to see the show.

Below are some links, providing more information.

http://www.romfordrecorder.co.uk/news/havering_company_turning_memories_into_community_play_1_4039139

https://www.facebook.com/events/1563620250579897/

You and your members can reserve your free tickets by calling 01708 4333333 and quoting which organisation they are from, but if your require any further information, please let me know. From next week, I’ll have some flyers I could drop off with you.

Many thanks,

Lauren Bracewell

The AGM was a well-attended event this year with Cliff going through the years events.

There was a bit of sadness as two of the stalwarts of the committee Shirley and George Watling stood down from the committee, the rest of whom were willing to stand for a further 2 years and were elected accordingly.

A great show of thanks were given to Shirley and George with a presentation of a lovely bouquet of flowers. The picture of George which was taken at the AGM didn’t do him justice so I have included one of my favourite pictures of him from last year’s picnic.

Thank you Shirley and George for all your hard work and commitment in the past, we are all sad to see you go step down.

Fraudsters have set up a bogus website claiming to be the official site of National Savings & Investments (NS&I) and are contacting members of the public, cold calling them and offering them the chance to invest in 65+ Bonds (also known as Pensioner Bonds).

Members of the public who are searching for the official website (for example on search engines) may be directed to the fake one which then asks them to supply contact information.

Victims are then receiving a follow up e-mail and/or phone call from the fraudsters who are requesting evidence of identity documents and bank account details either over the phone or by sending the victims fake forms to fill out. A common name that appears on the emails sent by the fraudsters is ‘Kevin Archer’.

Avoid being a victim of fraud:

• Do not pass personal or banking information to companies that cold call you.
• Please note that the only domain name (website address) that is legitimate is www.nsandi.com
• National Savings & Investments (NS&I) do not make sales calls to potential customers (cold calls) so do not enter into discussion with cold callers claiming to be NS&I.
• The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau is committed to tackling all types of fraud and the Cyber Prevention and Disruption Team aims to do this by disrupting and taking down fake and fraudulent websites.
• If you have been a victim of fraud or suspect a company of fraud please contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or via the online reporting tool at www.actionfraud.police.uk

For full information goto http://www.haveringmuseum.org.uk/ which will also give all activities from now until March.