February 2011 Archives

A WOMAN accused of causing the death of a Northwood Hills police officer's wife through dangerous driving has made another appearance in court.

Diane Wright, 49, wife of Sergeant Dave Wright, who works for the Northwood Hills Safer Neighbourhood Team, was killed in a car crash near Baydon, Wiltshire, on September 23 last year.

Paula Barnes, 43, of Aldbourne Road, Baydon, has been charged with the offence and appeared at Swindon Crown Court on Friday (18).

She is due to return to the court on April 15, to enter a plea.

THE results of a consultation on five potential locations for a new secondary school in Three Rivers have today (21) been published, with Maple Cross sites proving popular.

Last February the Gazette reported how Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) earmarked £82.5million to increase school places where pupil numbers have risen, and plug a projected deficit of 259 places by 2016.

Five possible sites were selected out of a list of 30, put together by HCC and Three Rivers District Council.

Residents were asked to mark their preferences during the two-month consultation, entitled Site Allocations 'Issues and Options', which ended on January 14 this year.

A BLIND pensioner has blasted the 'undignified' swimming facilities for disabled people at a Mill End leisure centre.

Teresa Lee (pictured left), 61, of Fotherley Road, Mill End, says William Penn Leisure Centre offers woefully inadequate pool access, apart from a 'degrading' hoist and 'old fashioned' upright steps, which she describes as 'impossible to use'.

The mother-of-two, who has two grandchildren, has resorted to paying to use a private pool in Denham, Buckinghamshire.

COUNCIL tax will be frozen for Hertfordshire residents for the second year running.

Those living in typical Band D properties will continue to pay £1,118.83, after the freeze was approved by councillors on Friday (18).

Residents will not pay a penny extra for county council services including roads, schools, social care and fire and rescue during 2011-12.

DESPERATE requests for debt advice in Three Rivers have doubled in the past four years, according to the Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB).

CAB district manager, Marion Seneschall, said the Rickmansworth branch, based at Northway House in the High Street, has received 11,000 calls in the past year alone.

Speaking at the Three Rivers District Council pensioners' forum on February 11, Ms Seneschall told a 60-strong audience that the majority of enquiries were debt-related.

A 'BOY racer' who killed a former Northwood School pupil in a car crash has been jailed for five years.

Jack King (pictured), 17, who took his GCSEs at the school in Potter Street, Northwood Hills, suffered massive head injuries and died instantly after the accident in Elm Avenue, Eastcote, on May 7 last year.

Mr King, of Cranbourne Drive, Pinner, was the front-seat passenger in a Ford Fiesta driven by friend Alex Jaggs, 19, of Eastcote Road, Ruislip, who lost control and smashed into a tree.

THE fundraising efforts of two cyclists who drowned on a round-the-world tour will be continued by their friends and family.

Karen Puddifoot, 27, of Grove Farm Park, Northwood, and friend Tim Roney, 21, of Sarratt, were killed after the boat they were travelling on capsized in Halong Bay, off the coast of Vietnam, in September 2009.

Karen's brother, Chris, 22, tragically died in a car crash just two months later, as reported in the Gazette.

38 GATEHILL ROAD - Demolition of existing garage and construction of new basement level.

38 GATEHILL ROAD - Installation of rear dormer to loft.

39 ELGOOD AVENUE - To carry out tree surgery to one Silver Birch tree.

70 RAISINS HILL - Single storey side extension with roof lantern to side, involving the demolition of existing attached garage to side.

They are often the subject of teasing or ridicule but 'man boob' operations have more than doubled at BMI Bishops Wood Hospital in Northwood.

Reporter SIBA MATTI spoke to plastic surgeon Neil Toft to find out more about the condition, which for many men is no laughing matter.

WHILE many women would love to have bigger breasts, increasing numbers of men are going under the knife to achieve the exact opposite effect.

KIND-hearted pupils at a Northwood primary school have raised vital funds for a poverty-stricken child in northern India.

Children at Hillside Junior School, in Northwood Way, are sponsoring Poonam Lodhi (pictured right), who lives with her family in a slum in Lucknow.

The eight-year-old eats only if her parents have earned money the day before, and often goes to bed hungry.