Our educational system in Great Britain has degraded in quality for a long time. Without a decent system in place, which works, we cannot have a country to be proud of, which is a major part of the international community - be that in research, in business
Weybridge Vandals head coach Ian Bardgett insists there is no doubt the team can challenge for the London Division Two South West title next season. Bardgett closed the season - and his four-year spell in charge - with a 36-31 defeat to play-off
Drummer Pete Cater is on a mission and a single-handed one at that - to keep big band music alive and kicking. In recent years the broadcast media has relegated the huge sounds of more than a dozen musicians coming together to the backdrop of X-Factor
Before he looked through keyholes, judged other people's cooking skills or invented his own pasta sauces, Loyd Grossman was a punk-rock star - hard to believe I know, but true nonetheless. Now, after Gregg Wallace and John Torode ruthlessly stole the
Whatever Dillie Keane tells you about the future of Fascinating Aida, don't believe her, she will inevitably change her mind. Britain's top female comedy trio are back on the road to celebrate 25 years since they first started - it's actually 27 but
A self-styled ‘legitimate businessman’ who supplied growing equipment for a countrywide network of cannabis factories has been jailed for three years. Nigel Piper spent three years running a simple transport operation, providing hydroponics
On entering the snug surroundings of the Scream Lounge, the audience are immediately assailed by contrary sensations, write Haf Williams. Sweet-smelling aromas mingle with a stark set, dominated by an ominous sign bearing the words criminally insane
Sam Atkinson lifted Epsom District Swimming Club’s first county trophy for many years on the final day of this year’s Surrey Championships. The 18-year-old clocked one minute, 56.02 seconds to win the men’s 200m freestyle, achieving a national qualifying
Brian McDermott is eager for Harlequins RL to get the most out of Warrington winger Kevin Penny in his one month loan at the Stoop. Penny, who is ineligible for Saturday's Challenge Cup clash with Wakefield, grabbed a try and troubled St Helens with
A man has been arrested for growing cannabis after a drugs raid. Police seized the drug and cash during a raid on a flat at Festival Court, Cleeve Way, Sutton on April 1. Officers from St Helier Safer Neighbourhoods Team carried out
The ownership of Selhurst Park remains the main stumbling block for the CPFC 2010 Consortium's takeover of Crystal Palace. The group of wealthy businessman, who have so far kept their identities secret but are believed to include TAG Worldwide
David Cameron cut through talk of erotic poems for vegans to announce he wants to stop the South West London Healthcare Review, which threatens the future of Kingston Hospital’s maternity and accident and emergency units. During a visit to
David Lloyd at Raynes Park has launched new state-of-the-art facilities aimed at families. The centre has invested £1.5m in transforming its previous bowling alley into a contemporary 12-lane facility. And they have added a new centre aimed at families
Striders of Croydon’s Steve Starvis finished 30th out of 1,055 finishers at last weekend’s Maidenhead 10-mile road race. His time of 56 minutes, 55 seconds places him ninth in the club’s all-time rankings while Helen Furze was 16th in the women’s
Brentford’s Marcus Bean added the art of diplomacy to his armoury when he took on the captain’s armband at the weekend, according to boss Andy Scott. The 25-year-old, already on nine bookings this season, deputised for injured-skipper Kevin O’Connor
Warlingham were pipped 23-20 in their London Two South East clash at Old Dunstonians on Saturday which allowed the hosts to avoid relegation. Dunstonians started the stronger with a try in the corner to take a 5-0 lead. But, on the half hour, Ben
Teddington have had an outstanding season and have remained unbeaten in league and friendly fixtures all season, writes Terry Brown. They were deservedly crowned champions of Surrey League One some weeks ago. Whitgift, who had faltered a little in
Head coach John Young wants Old Whitgiftian to use the heartbreak they suffered when losing last year's play-off to inspire them to victory this season. The Surrey One runners-up face Hampshire One runners-up Petersfield away from home this weekend in
A former night club doorman appeared in court today charged with kidnapping and murdering Walton schoolgirl Milly Dowler. A shaven-haired Levi Bellfield appeared via video-link at Staines Magistrates’ Court this morning in front of a packed
Sutton Churches Tennis Club is offering juniors free tennis coaching this Saturday (11am). Qualified coaches Adrian King-Owen and Kirsty Garrett will be giving tips to over-eights from 11am-11.45am and youngsters aged 3-8 from 11.45am-1pm. The club
Kingstonian boss Alan Dowson has admitted complacency has left his side still needing three points to be certain of a Ryman League Premier Division play-off place. A 6-2 defeat to champions Dartford on Saturday made it three reverses in
Mike Schmid has paid tribute to the ‘special players’ who have swept Esher to National One title glory. Esher secured a place in the Championship next season with a 31-12 victory over Blaydon last Saturday. A 16th successive win ensured
A man who sexually assaulted two women on board a train was chased down the tracks after forcing open the doors to escape. Concerned passengers raised the alarm with staff after the man inappropriately touched a 21-year-old woman while her
Staines Town lost ground in the race for the Blue Square South play-offs with a 2-0 defeat at Bath City on Saturday. The long journey to the West Country saw chairman Alan Boon presented with a cake and candles for his birthday, but there wasn’t too
Three late tries put a harsh look on the scoreline as South London Storm, missing a dozen regulars, lost 44-16 at Rugby League Conference national champions Bramley Buffaloes in the National Express Challenge in Leeds on Sunday. Storm took a seventh-minute
St Anthony’s Hospital, Cheam, Surrey (www.stanthonys.org.uk), will be holding a free special awareness evening about fibroids on Thursday 20 May at 6.30pm at St Bede’s Conference Centre in the hospital grounds. Guest speakers Mr Khaled Aba-Oub, consultant
Sutton & Epsom may be down, but they proved they weren’t out with an eight-try battering of North Walsham in their final National Three London match. With relegation having been confirmed and Sutton’s only league victory over the Norfolk side having
A drug-dealing mother who claimed large quantities of drugs found at her home were for ‘pain management’ is to be kicked out of her home by Croydon Council. Police found heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis during two raids on Deborah
Danny Wilson has challenged his London Welsh side to repeat their Nottingham heroics when they host Pool B favourites Exeter this weekend. The Dragons kept alive their Championship play-off promotion hopes with a 17-10 win at Meadow Lane on Sunday,
Crystal Palace could be short of strikers this weekend as they await news on injuries to Alan Lee and Calvin Andrew. Lee aggravated his groin when he came off the bench against QPR on Saturday and had to be replaced after 12 minutes, while Andrew was
The Futureheads, Mystery Jets and Serj Tankian are among the latest names to be added to the bill at the Reading and Leeds Festival. The festival, which runs between August 27 and 29 at Little John’s Farm in Reading and Bramham Park in Leeds
Wilf Kroucher FC won 2-1 at the weekend with goals from Kwame Boayke and Alex Koupland settling a tight encounter with Trinity Reserves. It keeps the pressure on Strathclyde’s County Thistle at the top of the Lucozade Sport Performance League Division
Paul Hart has urged Crystal Palace fans not to expect too much too soon from teenager Wilfred Zaha after the 17-year-old signed a two-year professional deal last week. The youngster made his senior debut last month when he came off the bench
Surbiton hosted the England Hockey U14 Girls’ South Regional final on Sunday, with Canterbury defeating Sunbury 4-1. Six teams qualified for the finals, split into two pools of three teams, with the winners of each pool qualifying for the final
Promoted Old Mid-Whitgiftian finished their season in fine style on Saturday, beating London Three South West champions Gosport and Fareham 33-10 at Lime Meadow Avenue. Old Mids, who finished second, set about their opponents in determined
A semi-naked man driving a car erratically near school gates has caused concern among parents. Sutton police have appealed for information about the man seen driving a red or maroon car in the roads around Devonshire Primary School in Sutton
Eastbourne Town 0 Leatherhead 4 The Tanners demonstrated a textbook performance in ruthlessly collecting the points at basement side Eastbourne Town on Saturday, with a brace of goals in each half underlining their play off ambitions. On hard dry
Hersham show jumper Sam Hutton took two titles in the space of 24-hours at the British Open in Birmingham last week. The 20-year-old claimed the World Class Development U23 Pathfinder on Wednesday riding eight-year-old gelding Astral 57, before
Ashford Town 0 Metropolitan Police 1 On a very cold Monday evening at Ashford Town in Kent, the Blues got off to a convincing start and managed to hold on for a deserved win and three Ryman Division One South points. Phil Ruggles set the standard
Surbiton go from squad to match practice for the upcoming National Championship semi-finals with two friendly games over this weekend. On Saturday, the third-placed National Premier Division side host promotion play-off hopefuls National Conference
Streatham-Croydon’s Surrey Three destiny is now in the hands of the Gods after a demoralising 24-5 defeat to Worth Old Boys, writes Owen Jones. To make matters worse, Streatham then saw Merton guarantee their survival with a high-scoring win over Old
Harlequins director of rugby Conor O’Shea has told full-back Mike Brown to forget about England for the time being and concentrate on his club form. The 24-year-old bagged a brace - to add to scores from David Strettle, Tom Williams, Chris
London Mayor Boris Johnson paid a fleeting visit to Sutton high street to speak with shoppers and traders. Flanked by an entourage of camera-snapping Conservative supporters, Mr Johnson enthusiastically strolled down the high street with Philippa
Striders of Croydon provided the first two finishers at Saturday morning’s Roundshaw Downs 5km parkun. Matt Morgan won in 17 minutes, three seconds, ahead of Justin Macenhill (17:19), while Suzy Yates (21.27) was first woman and 18th overall.
A judge has condemned free alcohol policies at late-night bars after two men were seriously assaulted following a cheap drinks promotion. Daniel Costello, 21, of Monarch Parade, Mitcham, and James Bryant, 22, of Staverdale Road, Carshalton,
Just as Wimbledon tennis fortnight sees us brushing off a dusty racket and heading to the nearest court to attempt an over arm serve, cult show Dancing On Ice sees fans heading to Streatham Ice Arena for a quick whizz around the rink. But
Hounslow Wanderers slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Copland, in the shadow of an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, in their Middlesex County League clash on Saturday. Wanderers went close after five minutes when a home defender cleared Mike Wilkinson’s header
Ashford Cricket Club’s first XI are targeting promotion this summer having gone so close last year. The club, based in Short Lane, Stanwell, missed out on back-to-back promotions, finishing third in Surrey Championship Division Three. Skipper Richard
Purley John Fisher weakly signed off from this year’s league programme, allowing visitors Sevenoaks to rack up 20 unanswered points very quickly. Johan Malcolm then kicked a penalty for PJF, but the Kent side ran the ball at every opportunity, carving
Surbiton scientists working on an island in the North Sea abandoned their research to help save the life of an injured and struggling seal pup. David Livingstone and Claire Mellish, of Howard Road, Surbiton, and fellow Kingston scientist Ian
A benefit cheat who fled to Turkey after skipping bail in 2001 has been jailed for two-and-a-half months. Margaret Gregory, who was living at Hurstcourt Road, Sutton, when first arrested nine years ago, claimed more than £8,000 in housing and
A cheeky butler is using his semi-nude service to raise money for charity. James Bailey, 23, from Cheam, set up the Pink Butlers after a close friend was diagnosed with breast cancer in her early 20s. The company provides a semi-naked
Brentford defender Karleigh Osborne took a big step towards saving his Griffin Park career in Saturday’s 3-0 triumph over Huddersfield Town. The 22-year-old helped the Bees keep a third cleansheet in his five starts since a training ground bust-up with
Cricketing legend Sir Ian Botham will continue his latest charity walk from Sutton this week exactly 25 years after his famous first walk from John O’Groats to Land’s End. Beefy’s Forget Me Not Walk will cover 10 towns in 10 days, from April
A new scheme making it easier for African and African-Carribean residents to get tested in Lambeth has been launched. NHS Lambeth believe there are more than 1,000 people in the borough with HIV who are undiagnosed. Lambeth already has
A fraudster who ripped off customers by selling fake copies of Microsoft Windows from his home in Walton has been named on a list of criminals ordered to pay back money for their crimes. Alexander Bell, 45, from Burwood Road, Hersham, was sentenced
A parish council for Cobham could be on the cards. Gerry Acher, chairman of the Cobham Conservation and Heritage Trust, warned this week he would consider it as a last resort if communication from Elmbridge Council and Surrey County Council
Customer needs are the focus for newly appointed Chair of NHS Surrey, David Clayton-Smith. Mr Clayton-Smith will take up the Chair from May1, and hold the position until April 30, 2014. His current role, as Chairman of Highwood Brewery and 25 years
A group of fundraising explorers have designed a new version of the classic board game Monopoly to show people their planned route for a 24-hour cycle around London’s landmarks. “Nepalopoly “ was the brainchild of three members of the Wimbledon
The mother of murdered teenager Sally Anne Bowman has backed the Prime Minister over Labour’s controversial policy of keeping innocent people’s DNA on a national database. Mark Dixie, who raped 18-year-old Sally Anne as she lay dead or dying
Would-be education ministers are revising for their toughest test of the election campaign - a grilling from readers of the Streatham Guardian. We will be interviewing the education spokesmen for Britain’s three biggest political parties before
A doctor is running this year’s London Marathon to help his 18-year-old nephew who suffers from a rare eye condition. Dr Dev Malhotra, a GP with Brigstock Medical Practice in Thornton Heath, is raising money for research into choroideremia
A famous view which inspired the Victorian novelist George Eliot during her years in Putney is to be ruined by a block of flats. The author, who wrote the semi-autobiographical The Mill on the Floss while living at Holly Lodge in Wimbledon
Potions and transfiguration are subjects normally left to Harry Potter books, but Greenacre School for Girls decided to bring some Hogwarts magic to life. To mark National Science and Engineering Week, 24-30 March, the Science Labs became 'Greenwarts
A brand new Morden police station remains closed to the public four months after it was officially opened. Critics claim Metropolitan Police red tape has prevented officers opening a public counter in the Abberconway Road station, that houses
A song written by a South Thames College music student was performed by a mass choir at London’s iGospel concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Monday March 29th. Ashley Williams’ song ‘Make a Change’ was written with the help of several South
David Cameron was left stunned by saucy gift during his visit to Kingston Hospital on Saturday morning. Appearing live on Kingston Hospital radio, the Tory leader was given a book of “Erotic poetry for vegetarians and vegans” by DJ Julie Mullen
