Raphael Park 110th Anniversary

Celebrate the completion of Raphael Park's £1.87million restoration on its 110th anniversary

Work on Raphael Park is finally complete and residents are being invited to celebrate by coming along to an entertainment-filled day on Monday 2 June.

The event also coincides with the 110th anniversary of the park.

 

In March 2013, the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded £1.87million to improve its facilities. The grant, along with Council funding and a generous grant from the Veolia Havering Riverside Trust, has completely refurbished the popular green space.

 

This has involved improving and restoring entrance gates, planted areas, railings, benches, and walkways, and construction of a refreshment kiosk and toilets adjacent to the children’s play area.

 

One of the major changes around the entrance on the Main Road has seen the construction of a café with a terrace, new areas for the park’s offices, and a new community meeting room.

 

To mark the completion of the project, there will be a whole day of events in the park on 2 June.

 

In the morning, school children have been invited to meet the popular children’s book writer, Nick Butterworth, author of Percy the Park Keeper, and watch a Punch and Judy show.

 

Live music will be played on the new bandstand from 11am until 6pm, and at 2pm there will be a special Tea Dance in the marque near to the band stand.

 

At 1pm, a plaque will be unveiled near the main entrance by the new café followed by speeches.

 

Punch and Judy will also make an appearance to entertain visitors at 4pm.

Free Concert in The Park

Free classical concert The Westminster Philharmonic Orchestra will be performing at this year’s Summer Concert on Sunday 15 June from3.00pm. The concert will once again be in the gardens of Langtons House, Billet Lane, Hornchurch, RM11 1XJ The concert is free, so why not pack a picnic and enjoy the music in these beautiful, historic gardens?

Carer's Week

Caring for carers If you help look after a friend or family member then Carers Week, which runs from Monday 9 June to Friday 13 June, has an event for you. The Big Event at Romford YMCA between 11.00am and 3.00pm on Wednesday 11 June has a host of activities taking place including cookery demonstration, eyebrow shaping sessions and yoga classes. Find out more and get involved.

Armed Forces Parade

Attention! Armed Forces on parade

Havering Council is proud to support the Armed Forces and you can show your support on Saturday 28 June when the Armed Forces Day Parade takes place.

The parade starts at 10.30am in South Street and finishes at Tollgate House in Romford Market Place.

H'ART Festival

H'ART Festival - Havering Art - runs from 1st to 15th June throughout the borough. Exhibitions of artwork - sculpture, drawing, oils - as well as music, film, and all things creative, in libraries, Upminster Park and churches.

Two events I would like to highlight ...

Saturday, 14th June, 7.30 - 10 p.m. At St Luke's, Front Lane, Cranham. Concert by Andrew Linham Jazz Orchestra (see www.andrewlinham.co.uk) £5 at the door, includes art exhibition and free glass of wine) Andrew is a young local, professional saxophonist who performs internationally and in the UK, including at Ronnie Scott's

and 

Sunday, 15th June, 6.30 - 8.30 p.m. Free concert featuring Helen Yousaf & band in concert, with Bishop Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Chelmsford officially closing the festival.

Fostering Event

Find out about Fostering event

Could you rise to the challenge and reap the rewards as a foster carer?

Come along to our open event to find out about fostering. There will be a presentation, as well as the chance to meet and chat with our fostering team and current foster carers.

Date

Tuesday 27 May 2014

Time

18:30 until 20:00

Location

Town Hall, Main Road, Romford, RM1 3BD

Admission

Free

Website

Fostering web page

Council Election Results

27 May 2014

Local and European election results The Local and European elections took place last Thursday, 22 May and the votes were counted on Friday and Sunday.   The full results for the Local Elections and European Elections can be viewed online.   Following the local elections, the number of seats held by the political groups on Havering Council are:   Conservatives                      22 Residents’ Association       19 UKIP Local Residents         7 Independent Residents      5 Labour                                   1   Discussions are currently taking place between the political groups to decide who will form the next Administration. The election of the Leader of the Council and the Mayor will be subject to a vote at the next Full Council meeting on 11 June.

Open House Returns

Mini Open House Havering returns

Nine of Havering’s best buildings will open their doors to everyone for free as part of a Mini Open House on Saturday 31 May, and there’s also a heritage walk around Rainham Village.

​
Residents and visitors can enjoy a trip to a number of listed buildings including Upminster Windmill, Rainham Hall, The Old Chapel, Bower House, Langtons House & Gardens and Upminster Tithe Barn Museum.
 
Romford Fire Station is also opening its doors to the public and fire fighters are sure to be popular with children as they show off the station and engines.

Other buildings included in the open day are the RSPB Rainham Marshes Visitor Centre and St Albans Church. There is also a guided walk titled ‘Upminster old and new’ with local historian Brian Evans. 
 
With free admission to all buildings, the programme also includes a number of tours, displays and walks.

 

A leaflet which details each of the buildings and events will be available in all Havering libraries.

  

More details below:

 

Langtons House and Gardens
Billet Lane, Hornchurch, RM11 1XJ
Open between 10am-4pm
 
St Albans Church
Kings Road, Romford, RM1 2SS
Open between 10am-6pm
 
RSPB Rainham Marshes
Purfleet Enviropnment & Education Centre, New Tank Hill Road, Purfleet, RM19 1SZ
Open between 9:30am-5pm
Regular tours between 10am-4pm
 
Rainham Hall
The Broadway, Rainham, RM13 9YN
Open between 2pm-5pm. Last entry 4:15pm.
 
Bower House
Orange Tree Hill, Havering-atte-Bower, RM4 1PB
Open between 10am-4pm
 
Upminster Windmill
St Mary's Lane, Upminster, RM14 2QH
Open between 2pm-5pm.
Regular tours, last tour 4:30pm
 
Upminster Tithe Barn Museum of Nostalgia
Hall Lane, Upminster, RM14 1AU
 
myplace Centre
Dagnam Park Drive, Harold Hill, RM3 9NE
Open between 9am-5pm
 
Upminster old and new
A walk through time with local historian Brian Evans. Walk starts at 10.15am and finishes approx. 12.15pm.
Meet at Upminster Library, Corberts Tey Road, Upminster.
 
Romford Fire Station
198 Pettits Lane North, Romford, RM1 4NU
Open between 10:30am-4:30pm
 
The Old Chapel
St Mary's Lane. Upminster, RM14 2QR
Open between 2pm -5pm

The Western Front Association

Western Front Association.  The human face of the Great War. A talk about the work of the Association to ensure that all of those who served their county and made the ultimate sacrifice in the Great War  are not forgotten. Upminster Library, Wednesday 21st May at 6.30pm  £3 members / £3.50 Non members.  Book tickets at any library

Breaking the Code

Breaking the Code.  Tom Briggs, from Bletchley Park Trust, tells the story of code-breaking, Bletchley Park and the incredible men and women who worked there.  Come along and see Tom and his Engima Machine in action.  Hornchurch Library.  D-Day, June 6.  6.30pm.  Tickets £10 (£11 non-members).  Buy tickets from any Havering Library, or email us here

Become a Dementia Friend

A national public awareness campaign launched in May on the Dementia Friendsinitiative, to help people develop an understanding of dementia and turn it into action to help people in their community living with the disease by becoming Dementia Friends.

 

Dementia is one of the biggest health issues facing the UK – there are currently approximately 670,000 people in England who have dementia with one in three of us over 65 developing the disease.

 

Public Health England and Alzheimer’s Society have come together to form the Dementia Friends campaign which is encouraging individuals and businesses to become a Dementia Friend by watching a short video online or attend a face-to-face information session, to increase their understanding and use this to help people with dementia in their communities.

 

The campaign aims to create a network of one million Dementia Friends across England by 2015. As part of the campaign, adverts are now appearing on TV, online and outdoors.

 

To support the campaign locally, Havering Council and the local Clinical Commissioning Group ran a number of information sessions during national Dementia Awareness Week. Sessions are around 45 minutes long and after attending one, you become a Dementia Friend, learning to support people living in the community with dementia, whether a little extra patience for a stranger, or visiting a relative who may have forgotten who you are, but who benefits hugely from your visits.

 

We would like to continue to encourage as many individuals as possible to get involved and attend a session, or view the online video through which you also become a Dementia Friend.  

 

To find out more, as well as to register for a local information session, visitwww.dementiafriends.org.uk

Fostering was meant-to-be for Romford Mum

​Foster carer Donna Taylor

​Havering Council is marking national Foster Care Fortnight with a series of information events, where anyone interested in fostering can find out everything they need to know, from financial allowances to emotional support, and how it will affect them and their family.

​The events taking place are as follows and anyone is welcome to attend:

Romford Market Place:

 

• Friday 16 May, 10am to 2pm 
• Friday 23 May, 10am to 2pm

 

Havering Town Hall, Main Road, Romford

 

• Tuesday 27 May, 6.30 to 8pm

 

To support the national campaign to recruit more foster carers, Havering carer Donna Taylor has spoken out about how fostering changed her life, and saw her family grow.

 

It was a chance comment by a colleague when Donna, 41, worked in finance that first planted the seed to become a foster carer.

 

Donna, of Romford, said:

 

“My colleague was a foster carer and said he thought I’d be good at it. I already supported a little boy in Gambia and had always wanted to adopt, so I think that caring streak was always there.

 

“But after my colleague’s comments, I went home and discussed it with my husband, and while he wasn’t sure about adoption, he was completely okay with fostering.”

 

That was five years ago and now Donna and husband Jason, 40, are parents to not only their own two children, a son aged 17 and daughter aged nine, but foster carers to a brother and sister aged 11 and nine.

 

The foster children have been with them almost the entire time they’ve been fostering. They started out as short-term carers, with a few placements before the siblings joined their family, alongside their baby brother who was three-months old at the time, and has since been adopted by another family.

 

Donna added:

 

“They still see their brother and we have a great relationship with the adoptive parents. They also still see their parents regularly; I think it’s important to keep those links.

 

“The children were only meant to stay with us short-term, but we became attached to them and they to us, and now they are just part of the family.”

 

Now a full-time foster carer, while her husband works in the city, Donna strongly feels fostering was meant-to-be for her, as shortly after she began the process to foster, she was made redundant from her job.

 

She is also keen to point out that you are never on your own when you foster, you have a social worker and constant support, including from other foster carers, who enjoy an active social life and real friendships.

 

Donna added:

 

“I think I found my calling with fostering. I enjoyed my job in finance, but never felt it was really me.

 

“Anyone who’s thinking about fostering should go along to an event, or apply, and start the training. It’s the most rewarding thing you can do to see a child prosper and know you played a role in that. For me, it was important to find a balance in fostering, with my own children, and it was a struggle at first but I think I’ve found the right balance now. But I couldn’t have done it if my kids were any different; they are so laid back and caring and have completely accepted fostering into our family.”

 

Anyone who would like to find out more about fostering but cannot make the events should visit www.havering.gov.uk/fostering, call 01708 434 574, or emailfostering@havering.gov.uk.

Havering and history

For the first time ever, Havering's historic archives are now online

Havering Council’s Library service is making history even more accessible to residents with popular archive material now online thanks to Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and Veolia North Thames Trust grants.
Last year, the Council announced that the Veolia North Thames Trust awarded £20,000 to digitise exhibits that told the colourful story of Rainham's History, for a project titled: 'Rainham: a village near the Thames'. Additionally, the HLF awarded £49,000 for a similar project based on Romford, titled: 'Romford: the birth and death of a Victorian town'.

The Veolia project tells the history of Rainham, as well as the surrounding areas of South Hornchurch and Wennington. It specifically focuses on its agricultural past and relationship with the River Thames.

The funding has allowed the libraries to digitise part of their extensive Local Studies collection. The new online catalogue now features more than 700 historic photographs, maps, illustrations and much more, which residents can see from the comfort of their own home.

The collection includes parish maps from 1812, Rainham rate books from as early as 1840 as well as scrapbooks compiled by the well-known local Historian Frank Lewis during the 1960’s, which contain valuable information about what was happening in the area at the time.

A group of dedicated library volunteers were responsible for the projects and were trained in heritage, research, conservation of materials, and basic cataloguing to carry out the task.

Anne Lehva from Rainham was one of the volunteers for the Veolia project, she said:

“It’s been a hugely worthwhile and wonderful experience. This (online catalogue) is such an amazing resource for learning more about family history and the local area, and I’m looking forward to seeing it being used and appreciated by others.”

‘Romford: the birth and death of a Victorian town’, the HLF project, includes exhibits portraying Romford’s rich history, which relates to the Victorian and Edwardian period and the redevelopment of Romford in the 1960s.

The focus is on the existing image collection, which includes glass plates and lantern slides, photographs; including unique images that capture the old town and early views of the 1960s town emerging. Postcards and prints, including a collection by the local artist Alfred Bennett Bamford, plans such as Edward Gotto’s map of Romford 1853, and manuscript notes of Arthur Cornell illuminate the story of the town and provide rich resources for additional online research.

It also includes images of the last days of the old town, the demolition of pubs and houses, the end of the cattle market and closure of the market through to the construction of the shopping centre and ring road.

The catalogue is being updated every week with new material, and residents are advised to keep checking for new additions.

These and much more are now available to view online via the Havering Libraries website. Users will need to and click on the link on the home page, or the Local Studies and Family History tab.

Those interested in becoming a volunteer, or those who would like to donate to the collection should email libraryservices@havering.gov.uk

Fostering Fortnight

Havering marks Foster Care Fortnight with a series of events

​Havering Council is marking the national Foster Care Fortnight 2014 with a series of events, allowing people interested in fostering to find out all they need to know.

​The annual fortnight runs from Monday 12 to Sunday 25 May. It is run by the Fostering Network and aims to raise the profile of fostering.

Havering will be holding two information events in Romford Market Place, on Friday 16 and Friday 23 May, followed by an event at Havering Town Hall on Tuesday 27 May, to mark this year’s campaign.

The borough currently has around 90 foster carers and is always in need of more. At any time there are around 200 children and young people in care, who need stable, loving homes.

Foster carers are responsible for looking after a child or young person, ensuring they go to school, keeping them healthy and providing everything they need.Carers receive generous financial allowances to cover all costs of caring for the child, which also includes money for birthday and Christmas presents, and holidays.

Anyone aged over 25 is able to apply to become a foster carer, you do not have to be married or own your own home, and sexuality and ethnicity do not make a difference. Anyone who has the time and space in their life for a child, and a passion for helping them to do well, can be a foster carer.

The fostering information events will allow anyone interested in fostering to ask questions, find out more and they can also speak to a current foster carer to find out more about their experience.

The events in the market place take place from 10am to 3pm and at the Town Hall from 6.30pm to 8pm.

Kathy Bundred, Head of Children's Services at Havering Council, said:

"Becoming a foster carer is one of the most important jobs anyone can do. Giving time and love, as well as a home, to a child in care can make all the difference to their future.

"The important thing to remember is children are just children, and children in care are no different to any others. Anyone who opens their home and becomes a foster carer has my complete admiration. I'd encourage anyone who's ever thought about fostering, whether a fleeting thought or a long-held ambition, to come along to our events and take that first step on one of the most rewarding journeys you can take."

Anyone who would like to find out more about fostering but cannot make the events should visit the Fostering pages.

You can also complete an online enquiry form​, call 01708 434574, or emailfostering@havering.gov.uk.