February 2009 Archives

A record number of youngsters flocked to polling stations this year, wanting to ensure their favourite candidate was elected to the UK Youth Parliament.

More than 7,000 young people voted at more than 20 polling stations across Harrow in the week leading up to the announcement - almost 2,000 more than in last year's election.

Harrow's two places in the UK Youth Parliament were won by Aakash Bharania, and Rhiya Pau, both 15, while Amar Chandarana and Mahek Metha claimed deputy spots.

The budding Gordon Browns and Boris Johnsons, who had all been nominated for the posts by their peers, were given the results at the Civic Centre last week and will now join members drawn from all over England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) was set up nine years ago as a way to improve youth participation in decision-making.

Harrow had previously been allowed just one elected Member of Youth Parliament (MYP) on the UKYP and one deputy, but has been asked to elect two of each for the past two years.

Councillors are supporting the campaign for Gurkhas' rights and encouraging the public to get behind the ex-servicemen.

Harrow Council has put forward a motion that will urge local MPs to support the campaign and write to the Prime Minister to demand help for retired British Gurkhas.

Labour group head Bill Stephenson, council leader David Ashton (Conservative) and the Liberal Democrats' head Chris Noyce have all backed the plans.

The council is also asking its chief executive Michael Lockwood to look sympathetically at street collections in aid of the ex-servicemen who have been suffering financially.

Mayor of Harrow Councillor John Nickolay said: "I hope we are speaking for 99-100 per cent of the public when I say the Gurkhas are so grateful for what they do have and that they deserve to be treated with respect.

"They are from Nepal, but they are so patriotic for Britain."

Chairman of the Royal British Legion Harrow branch John Stelfox said: "We will obviously help in any way that we can.

"We have 15 Gurkha members in the Harrow British legion and I do know a lot of them are suffering financially, so any support we can give them we will."

The motion was heard at a council meeting last Thursday.

People over 60 in Harrow and Brent can now use their Freedom Passes to enjoy free travel at any time of day on any buses, trams, Tubes and trains run by Transport for London.

The lifting of the previous restriction on travel during the weekday morning peak time came as part of a new five-year deal with London councils.

A 20-year-old man was found stabbed to death at a service station in Wealdstone tonight.

The young man suffered fatal knife wounds to the body at High Weald Service Station in Wealdstone, shortly before 9pm.

Another 20-year-old man also suffered stab wounds and was said to be in a stable condition, said a Scotland Yard spokesman.

Former Harrow mayor Graham Hines has died at home at the age of 80 after suffering several months of illness.

Mr Hines spent 24 years as a Conservative councillor and was deputy mayor in 1974/75, becoming mayor the following year, and chaired the education and highways committees.

Present Mayor of Harrow, Councillor John Nickolay, said: "I knew Graham Hines for more than 50 years.

"He was responsible for recruiting me into politics, after knocking on my parents' door, and he was a great example to follow.

"Graham was particularly interested in education and highways and, of course, served with distinction as mayor. He was an inspiring figure and we will miss him greatly."

Mr Hines was living in Hereford, Herefordshire, at the time of his death and is survived by his sister, wife, two married sons and five grandchildren.

The funeral is being held on Tuesday, February 24 at 2pm at Much Birch Church, in Much Birch, Hertfordshire.

Donations, in lieu of floral tributes, can be made to Marie Curie Cancer Care, and sent to the undertakers Bayley Brothers Hereford Ltd, 1719 Cotterell Street, Hereford HR4 OHH.

Angry commuters have blasted a rail company after a series of problems.

Since the start of the year London Midland trains from Euston to Northampton, which run through Harrow and Wealdstone and Wembley Central, have suffered delays, some leaving travellers stranded for hours.

Robert Williams, of East Lane, in North Wembley, uses the line to travel to Euston most weekdays.

He said: "Three or four times a week trains are curtailed at Wembley Central - the services just stop and don't run through.

"You never know whether you are going to make it in to work two hours late or 45 minutes late. There is no communication and there are never any staff to answer any questions.

"It was always difficult but recently the service has been practically non-existent. It's the new misery line."

The problem has led Anthony Wood, chairman of the Harrow Public Rail Users' Association, to request a meeting with a manager from the company to discuss the situation in April.

He said: "It is a very serious problem that needs addressing.

"People have complained to me about the late running of services and lack of announcements. It has been going on for a couple of months and they don't seem to have got their act together."

The line has been plagued with problems since January, when overhead power cables were damaged, causing widespread cancellations to services in and out of Euston.

London Midland is owned and run by the Go-Ahead group.

A spokesman for London Midland said the company's new timetable could be to blame.
He also blamed the weather and Network Rail, which is responsible for the track.

He said: "Network Rail has been doing a lot of engineering work on the lines, so we have had to work around that. Also the weather had a big impact and we have had staffing issues.

"The service has not been as good as it should be and it is something the management is working on."

A Wealdstone resident who helps cancer sufferers and their families has received an Indian expatriate gong for his services to the community.

Yemen-born Jayendrakumar Shah, 52, of Byron Road, travelled to the capital Delhi to collect the Hind Rattan Award - meaning Jewel of India - from the Non-Residents of India (NRI) Welfare Society on January 25.

He said: "I've been working as a legal advisor with Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre in Charing Cross Hospital.

"The Hind Rattan is given to Indians making their own way within their own country and their leadership is being recognised - they are making a success."

In 2005, Mr Shah, a married father-of-two, was invited to meet the then-Prime Minister Tony Blair when he was a legal advisor to Brent Indian Association.

A whole community was brought together on Friday in an emotional farewell to popular Harrow teenager Danny Fernandes, who died three weeks ago.

An incredible 700 people packed into St Michael and All Angels Church, in Bishop Ken Road, for the teen's funeral, with others coming to the crematorium later on.

Friends read out heartfelt tributes and poems to the 19-year-old, and his older sister Lucy, 21, paid her respects with a tearful rendition of Danny Boy.

Speaking after the ceremony his mum, Patricia, showed her gratitude to the many who came to give their support.

She said: "I know it was difficult for people to get up and say what they did about Danny and I know that Lucy didn't think she would be able to sing. But I'm glad they did because it was very touching.

"It sounds strange, but if a funeral could be described as wonderful that's what it was. I think it was a great tribute to young people, who often get heavily criticised, to see them all in one room paying their respects. It really did bring so many people together."

Since Danny was killed by a train at Headstone Lane train station three weeks ago, his family has been inundated with messages from friends. The corner outside NatWest bank, on the junction of High Road and Long Elmes, just yards from his home in Long Elmes, has been flooded with flowers and gifts.

Groups on internet social networking sites like Facebook have had as many as 2,000 people pay tribute to the former Hatch End High School pupil, and the testimonies continued from the hundreds who knew him on Friday.

Patricia added: "The amount of people who turned up was absolutely amazing, we were totally blown away.

"As a family we knew Danny was a lovely boy and a nice kid but it has been comforting to see that everyone else was lucky enough to find that out too.

"Hearing people's tributes to him and listening to the number of people who thought so highly of him has been an enormous help to me and those memories feel like the glue that's keeping me together.

"Danny was a complete free spirit and I know he is still beside us all. He is probably being typically Danny-like, trying to help everyone, and I can still feel him with me."

Handheld computers will be put in bin lorries so updates can be fed back instantly to Harrow Council and vice versa.

Refuse workers will use the devices to make notes about progress on their rounds and any problems encountered.

This will let the authority's call centre give out the latest information when residents phone with a query or complaint, or for managers to send a message directly to crews to go back for a missed bin.

By tracking the 30-plus vehicles in the fleet the council can re-draw the collection routes to make them more efficient.

The system will be introduced within the next year after being approved by Councillor Susan Hall, portfolio holder for environmental services, last week.

Harrow Council is spending £2.2 million on the project over the next decade but hopes to save cash on things including its fuel bills.

A charity representing the borough's 5,000-strong Russian community is inviting residents to take part in two new cultural projects.

The Russian Immigrants' Association, based at the Community Premises in Northolt Road, South Harrow, will run activities to preserve members' memories and to explore Russian literature in the hope of breaking down the barriers between English and Russian neighbours.

In the first project Natalia Kharina, a student at Swiss Cottage's Central School of Speech and Drama, whose mother Natalia Nikolaeva runs the association, is to host a programme of drama workshops.

The 19-year-old, from Kenton, said: "It will be a series of workshops based on the themes of The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, one of my favourite books.

"It's based in Communist Russia and explores whether human flaws exist, and what was banned back in Russia."

Weekly one-hour workshops will be held to develop ideas into a script, not necessarily a direct adaptation of the novel, and a performance staged in May.

The second project will be a heritage club set up for 10 to 15 Russian pensioners to socialise and record their memories of Russia and Britain, and take photographs of their communities.

Exhibitions will be held twice a year to teach other residents about the culture and history of life of people from the former Soviet state.

Natalia said: "Elderly Russian people do not have a lot of things to focus their minds on and feel their heritage is being threatened.

"We want to bring older people together and share stories, and interest English people as well."