February 2009 Archives

A WOMAN has criticised the police for failing to stop hooligans hanging around in a car park after she was woken by a raging inferno just feet from her home.

Amanda Turburville, 27, of Columbus Gardens, Northwood Hills, was woken by her smoke alarm at about 3.30am on Sunday (22) - just an hour after arriving home from a night out celebrating her birthday.

An abandoned car had been set alight in the car park next to her house which had then rolled backwards and set another car alight, as well as completely destroying her garden fence and decking.

She said: "The fire was started intentionally and if the fire brigade hadn't got there when they did it would have smashed through my kitchen window and proceeded to burn my house down whilst we were sleeping.

"The smoke was so thick; it somehow penetrated the house and caused our smoke alarms to sound, even though we had no windows open. Luckily for us, although the car did explode, we don't think the car had a full tank, otherwise the consequences could have been a lot worse.

"This little car park is well known to have groups of hoodies hanging around smoking dope, playing football, drinking, swearing until late at night and throwing beer cans all over the place, especially in the summer.

"After five years of putting up with this and after a few phone calls to the police - which aroused no reaction on any occasion - it has followed on to a serious incident like this.

"The police did not attend this incident either. They turned up at my door at 7.30am to take some details and that was it.

"Upon inspection of the damage, after the police left on Sunday morning, I found a knife quite blatantly sitting there on a wall right next to where the car was originally set ablaze.

"However, upon reporting this find to the police, I was told to either dispose of the knife, or to take it to the local police station myself.

"We moved to the area nearly 20 years ago and it was such a lovely place to live, however in the last five to 10 years it has got so rough.

"These youths do not live down my road so there's no reason why they should congregate there.

"I just want the police to now sit up and take notice of this ongoing problem. I hope they are not waiting for there to be dead bodies in the equation before they take action."

So, it's the morning after the Step class at Highgrove and I'm shattered. I had a really big lunch yesterday as well so I was shattered even before I got to the class. I probably wouldn't have gone if it wasn't for this blog and the fact I had already paid for the class.

For some reason I thought the class would be similar to the Legs, bums and tums and Aerobics class. It never actually occurred to me that it would be based around an actual step. Why I thought that I do not know.

As I was setting up my step (I used two rather than one because I obviously thought I could take it) the instructor came over to me and asked if I had ever been to the class before. I of course said I hadn't and when I said I had never even been to any sort of step class before she looked quite shocked. She told me the class was in week six out of eight and so it was quite advanced. My heart sank. She then took my extra step off of me. Embarrassing!

As I have said in a previous blog, I am not very good at choreographed dances - especially the advanced type.

However, reassuringly, she told me to go at my own pace and not to worry about what everyone else was doing. She also said no one else would be looking at what I was doing. I didn't believe that though.

We started off with some basic steps on and off the step and also on the floor, and I found this confusing enough. I had a huge mirror in front of me but I tried not to look in it because I didn't want to look at myself making a fool of myself - I left that up to everyone else.

After a little bit of stretching we really started to get into the swing of things. We started with one move and carried on adding another until there was a long sequence of moves.

I managed to get the hang of it (a bit) towards the end but there were still a few moves I just couldn't get. Considering I started in week six, rather than week one like any other normal person would do, I think I did okay.

It was really quite fun actually and I did work up a bit of a sweat. My calves were killing me for two days after the class. I'd definitely consider going back, even if it was just to better my coordination.

It was also the first fitness class I had seen two men in. Amazing.

My next challenge is Stretch and tone at Highgrove.

NORTHWOOD School is celebrating after winning a national school newsletter competition.

The school in Potter Street came first in the secondary school category of the competition, run by Hewlett-Packard, for the outstanding writing and design skills of their newsletter INFORM.

Headteacher, Tim Westrip, said "Students and staff put a huge amount of time and effort into producing this informative and well worthwhile newsletter.

"It gives us great pleasure in being able to communicate the many positive achievements and activities that take place at Northwood School."

Their prize was a HP printing kit and goody bags.

NORTHWOOD Residents' Association now have their own community noticeboard.

Waitrose in Maxwell Road, Northwood, have given the association their own board near the car park entrance, which is expected to go up today (Thur).

They would like to thank the manager, Mike Hall, for agreeing to it, and particularly the deputy manager, Steve Peppiatt, who arranged it all.

THE honorary secretary of Papua New Guinea Missionary is speaking in Northwood Hills.

Chris Luxton will speak at St Edmund the King Church in Pinner Road, to mark Women's World Day of Prayer on March 6 at 2.30pm.

NORTHWOOD Safer Neighbourhood Team are holding a public meeting.

Members of the team will be at Holy Trinity Church Hall, in Gateway Close, Northwood, on Monday (2) from 6.30pm until 8pm.

A MUM whose son was hit by a car and left for dead in the road is appealing for witnesses to come forward.

Finn Andrews-Carlo, 17, was planning to celebrate his 18th birthday this Saturday (27) with a party at his home in Northwood, until he was injured by a hit-and-run driver in a stolen car.

He was on his way home from work at The Harefield pub on his motorbike on February 13 when he was hit by a car just after 11pm outside The Northwood Hills restaurant, in Joel Street.

His mum, Kerry Andrews, said: "He was coming down Joel Street towards the roundabout when a stationary car on the other side of the road just pulled straight in front of him as if it was going into The Northwood Hills.

"He went over the top of the car and they just drove away and left him for dead in the road.

"It just makes me so angry that there's some person who has done this.

"He wouldn't normally come home that way from work but he needed to get some petrol and money from Tesco Express."

Finn is still in Hillingdon Hospital with a broken thigh bone and four broken toes and he might have to have a skin graft on his foot.

Ms Andrews said: "He is very low and he is trying to deal with pain. He has lost a lot of weight too, but I am hoping he will be let out on Friday.

"He had just started working as a chef at The Harefield pub when this happened and even though they said they will try and keep a place for him he will probably lose his job.

"He is in the middle of doing his A Levels at West Herts College in Watford as well and he is missing out on a lot of course work, but I am hoping we can salvage the course when he comes home. It would be such a shame for him to lose out."

The silver Renault car that hit Finn was reported stolen from Leaf Close, in Northwood, by the owner on February 14.

Anyone with any information about who stole the car or who was driving it when it hit Finn should call the police on 0300 123 1212.

NORTHWOOD Hills Conservative Association had a good turn out at their most recent annual general meeting.

Two dozen people attended the meeting at Fairfield Hall, in Windsor Close, Northwood Hills, last Wednesday (18).

Councillor David Simmonds, deputy leader of the council, was the guest speaker and Ruislip-Northwood MP, Nick Hurd, also spoke.

Brian Fredericks is staying as the chairman and Peter Czarniecki is staying as the treasurer and sharing his secretarial duties with Ron Emery.

So, unsurprisingly, studio cycling was very different to my previous two classes.

It took me a while just to work out how to use the bike, but luckily the other people in the class were very friendly so I didn't have to make a fool of myself for too long.

After lowering my seat to the right level and adjusting the resistance to what I thought it should be I jumped on. That first second on the bike made me realised how much pain I was going to be in the next day....and I was.

It wasn't like any other moving or stationary bike I had ever been on. There were no buttons to press and the seat was a lot more painful. Fortunately I bumped into a friend (she does five fitness classes a week!) so I got to have a little chat in the breaks.

The class wasn't too full - probably because it started at 6.15pm on a Friday - but don't let that fool you. It was still pretty hard.

I stupidly sat right next to the speaker so I had loud dance music pumping into my ears the whole way through the class, which was very annoying.

The 45-minute session basically involved everyone following the instructor and turning their resistance dials up, but occasionally down - fortunately.

We alternated between sitting, standing, hovering (basically that means standing but not moving your top half) and normal cycling but without actually having your bum on the seat. It was mainly two minutes of hard cycling - pretending you were cycling up a hill - and then a short water break. However, towards the end of the class we had to do eight minutes with no rest. That almost killed me.

Most of the time I ended up just watching my stomach hoping it would get smaller by the end of the class, but funnily enough, there was no change.

As I haven't exercised in a while I decided not to push myself too much because I was actually quite scared I would faint. Don't get me wrong, I did sweat a fair amount, but my legs weren't aching the next day - a clear sign I hadn't working hard enough.

I was horribly sweaty by the end of the class, but I didn't exactly find it fun.

I think my next challenge will be Step at Highgrove

GRIDLOCKED roads and commuter parking might finally come to a standstill if a parking scheme is given the go-ahead in Northwood Hills.

A consultation into whether a scheme should be introduced started on February 2, after Councillor David Bishop handed in a 465-signature petition to Hillingdon Council in November 2007 requesting one.

He said: "With the growth in car numbers and rail fare increases our station and residential roads have suffered increased commuter parking and the situation has become progressively worse every year."

Stephen Pink, of Tolcarne Drive, said: "Since the roads around all other tube stations in this region are covered by parking management schemes, weÕre delighted the council is recognising that.

"With no car park in this area, the rampant commuter parking in the side streets has contributed significantly to the overall decline of Northwood Hills as a shopping and business area."

At the moment the only restrictions in the area are imposed between 11am and noon in the high street.

Tim Ford, manager of Boots chemist, said: "We would support a scheme similar to the ones in Northwood and Ruislip whereby you get half an hour free and then pay subsequently.

"We believe a lack of good parking in Joel Street is having a detrimental affect on businesses here.

"There's an element of commuter parking but I also believe the parking restrictions are unclear and inconsistent."

John Morgan, chairman of Northwood Hills Residents' Association, said: "We do appreciate that there's a parking issue in roads within about five minutes walking distance of the station, and we are for a scheme, but not one that covers all of Northwood Hills."

The roads involved in the parking consultation, which finishes on Monday (23), are Briarwood Drive, Colchester Road, Ferndown, Highland Road, Lichfield Road, Ryefield Crescent, Windsor Close, York Road, Joel Street between Pinner Road and Tolcarne Drive, and Tolcarne Drive up to number 99.

For more information contact the council's parking management team on 01895 250631, email parkingmanagementschemes@hillingdon.gov.uk or write to Traffic Management (4W/05), Civic Centre, Uxbridge, UB8 1UW.

You can also go to www.northwoodhillsparking.co.uk.