Welcome to your local community website...
A NURSERY class could be established at a South Harrow school where just 10 per cent of the youngest children have English as their mother tongue.
Roxbourne First School would offer 60 fully subsidised part-time places - half for the three-hour morning session and half for the afternoon session of the same duration - in a classroom currently occupied by Reception children.
EMERGENCY services had to deal with three roads crashes in as many days.
The last of the incidents was a five vehicle smash in Northolt Road, South Harrow, on Monday morning at 2am.
A SOUTH Harrow church held a rededication ceremony on Sunday to mark the completion of works to repair and shore up the building.
Christ Church Roxeth in Roxeth Hill, which is led by Rector Mark Philps and attracts around 220 Anglican parishioners over three services each Sunday, began to show signs of severe subsidence several years ago.
Churchwarden Margaret Price said: "We had a lot of underpinning done and refurbishment of the toilets and restoration of the stained glass.
"We think we had subsidence because the foundations are only 3ft deep and 150 years old.
"The project has taken two or three years. It's been entirely funded by the congregation apart from a grant from the Diocese of Willesden."
Christ Church Roxeth was built in 1862 using designs from George Gilbert Scott, the architect of St Pancras Station in north London and it is now a Grade II Listed building.
"We had been observing the problems for the last few years and it got to the stage where it needed action," said Mrs Price.
"We had to section off the chancel while it was being repaired. We couldn't use that for two or three months.
"The east wall of the church was falling away from the main building and had to be held up for a year or two and the stonework started to deteriorate.
"The stone around the stained glass was crumbling and the roof had to be tied into the main building.
"But just as we finished the first phase, we noticed damage to the north side and rather than wait until it got really bad, we decided to deal with it straight away, and that cost us quite a bit more."
Sunday's rededication ceremony was attended by the deputy mayor Councillor Chris Mote and his wife and Archdeacon of Northolt, Rachel Treweek.
Mrs Price said: "We had some of the builders come along, the structural engineer and the architect. We had a good turnout."
BOOKIES believe Tony McNulty will lose his seat at next year's General Election but colleague Gareth Thomas will remain in the House of Commons.
High street chains Paddy Power and William Hill are giving punters odds of 2-5 that Tory candidate for Harrow East, Bob Blackman, will topple Tony McNulty.
COUNCILLORS are to meet Royal Mail representatives in the New Year to discuss the sudden and mysterious closure of South Harrow Post Office.
The franchise branch, based inside KP Retail in Northolt Road, South Harrow, shut without warning in October with both Royal Mail and store owner Kaushik Shah blaming each other for its demise.
PLANS have been deferred to build the properties needed to rehouse the remaining tenants on the Rayners Lane Estate yet to get a new home.
The next stage of housing association Home's multi-million redevelopment of the borough's largest social housing estate, in South Harrow, comprises 135 homes and flats in Eliot Drive, Drinkwater Road and Coles Crescent lying in 2.4 of the 15.4 hectare estate.
They will replace 11 "poor quality" four-storey blocks of flats and two-storey terrace houses currently being demolished and will add to the 657 properties already built since 2001.
Harrow Council's planning committee was told in a report "the proposal would deliver a mix of large family houses and a smaller number of one and two bedroom flats to address the specific housing needs of the Rayners Lane Estate" but decided to postpone its decision until December at its meeting on
Families will be able to enjoy a new open space of approximately 1000 sq m that will
incorporate playgrounds specifically for 2 to 5 year olds and for 4 to 8 year olds, while 157 car parking spaces, new roads and courtyards are planned.
The replacement affordable housing is being part-funded by the private sale of some properties: in this case, 105 of the homes would be rented out by Home to existing tenants and 30 sold to generate revenue.
Due to the recession, Home has had to modify its initial masterplan and roll its fifth, sixth and eight proposed development phases into one in order to make a bid for funding from the Homes and Communities Agency that has been accepted in principle.
A Harrow Council spokeswoman said: "The items was deferred for a site visit. The committee have also asked to see some clearer drawings for what is a large and complex proposals in order to assist them in their consideration of the proposals."
A RESIDENTIAL home that provides respite care for children and teenagers with severe learning disabilities has been called "outstanding" by inspectors.
The Firs, a Harrow Council-run service based in an suburban house in Northolt, received the top grade by Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education) following an unannounced inspection conducted on October 15.
Officials said in their subsequent report: "Children and young people are well looked after, stimulated and encouraged to participate in the home during their short break.
"The staff and managers have an excellent understanding of the health, physical, social, cultural and emotional needs of children and young people.
"The staff team work extremely well with all professionals involved with children and young people."
Five beds available in the home to provide overnight and holiday stays for young people aged between five and 19 who have learning, sensory and physical disabilities and need one-to-one support.
Centre manager Eithne Staunton, said: "We are absolutely delighted with this grading as a lot of hard work has been put in by all the team and management at The Firs to achieve this, with support from the children and young people as well as their parents or carers."
A laptop was taken from the boot of a 68-year-old man's car parked in the car park of Sainsbury's in Northolt Road, South Harrow, between 5pm and 6pm on Friday.
Gold jewelry and cash was stolen in a burglary in Kings Road, South Harrow.
The crook smashed a kitchen window to enter the property between 12.30pm and 6.30pm on Friday (06/11).
REDUCE! Reuse! Recycle!
That was the message children at Newton Farm First and Middle School in Ravenswood Crescent, South Harrow, wanted to spread at their special assembly on Friday.

Recent Comments
"Hi i Live in Ipswich where the weather is freezen & our housews are the pre war houses with not doub..."
"home group are a joke! they spend more time building homes than they do taking care of the homes the..."
"This a disgusting situation which I believe Post Offices Ltd have a lot to answer for. The un-annno..."
"This is an appalling situation which leaves thousands of local residents without easy access to a po..."
"great market what needed in this area thx to mr. max..."
"Take a look at the Eastcote Lane School Website, also you will find details of the Eastcote Lane/Rox..."
"When do we recieve the £25 cold weather payment please?..."
"great market but the local should support it more looks like if people do not care of the great and ..."
"well if you read the article properly it does say that it was believed to have been started by a pas..."
"We walk in the park twice a day, every day of the year. Where will the sand be? Will we be able to w..."