The Epsom and Ewell Time Bank is launching soon and they’re having a social gathering early June 2023. If you’re interested in registering or have any questions, this is your chance to get involved.

As Benjamin Franklin once said, “time is money.  But in truth, it’s much more valuable that … it’s Productivity, Freedom, Enjoyment, Friends / Family and giving back to your neighbourhood and building a stronger community,” so says David West, Founder of the Epsom and Ewell Time Bank who is launching the community project to benefit everyone saying, “It’s free to join and use, giving it’s members an opportunity to meetup and exchange their skills, experience and time.”

For every hour you help someone, you earn an hours credit, which can be spent on someone helping you.  It’s a way to meet new people, make friends, and feel more involved in your community.

David told the Times “By sharing your time you are redefining the nature and connections within your community from the bottom up.  Working together, building new relationships and creating new opportunities for the common good.” He went on to explain “We are apart of the Time Bank UK charity, using their Internet Time Bank software to match people with  the community projects and work.”

The Epsom and Ewell Time Bank was at the weekend’s Festival of Ewell and is organising a social gathering and Q&A in June 2023. If you’re interested in registering for the Time Bank or have any questions, this is your chance to get involved.

The Time Bank community is free to join and all activities are managed by Time Banking UK’s web-based software and overseen by a Epsom and Ewell Time Broker.

David West at The Festival of Ewell

To find out more about the social gathering and stay up-to-date, follow the Epsom and Ewell Time Bank on Facebook and Instagram. For more information on Time Banking, se Time Banking UK’s website or email the Epsom resident and organiser, David at EpsomTB@gmail.com.

Epsom and Ewell Time Bank Registration – https://tol2.timebanking.org/epsomandewell

Epsom and Ewell Time Bank Facebook Group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/831821940256246

Epsom and Ewell Time Bank Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/epsomandewelltimebank/

Time Banking UK – https://timebanking.org/howitworks/

How does Time Banking help? Time Bank claim:

– 85% meeting more people.
– 80% felt more part of the community than before.
– 74% made new friends.
– 74% experienced a lift in mood or reduced depression.
– 69% felt they could ask for or receive more help.
– 66% said they experienced reduced loneliness.
– 60% said their quality of life, health and wellbeing had improved.

People from across the borough joined forces with Citizens Advice Epsom & Ewell (CAEE) to raise
vital funds for those at the forefront of the cost-of-living crisis.

Nearly 50 staff, volunteers and supporters went the extra mile on Sunday 14 May 2023 by walking a
self-guided 5 mile route around Horton County Park or 10 mile route through the Epsom countryside
to raise funds for the charity.

Image: Cllr Kieran Persand, Chris Grayling MP, Sue Grayling, Lisa Davis CEO CAEE, Louise Curd CAEE, volunteer Chris Bruce CAEE, Cllr Bernie Muir

Supporters who took part on Sunday included MP Chris Grayling and Horton councillors Bernie Muir and Kieran Persand. Epsom and Ewell Rotaries both fielded volunteers to help on the day plus some CAEE staff and volunteers who gave up their Sunday.

The event is expected to raise over £1,000. Anyone who would like to walk the route and donate or
even just donate, can visit the CAEE Just Giving page. All funds raised during Sunday’s event will go
directly into supporting frontline services.

One of the people CAEE has helped is Tom (not his real name), a man in his 50s who lives alone in a
rented property. He is typical of many of CAEE’s clients and their multiple (and sometimes hidden)
vulnerabilities. When Tom first came to CAEE he was defensive, lacked confidence dealing with
people and his finances and had spiralling rent arrears, council tax liabilities, water arrears and other
debts. His paperwork was chaotic and incomplete and Tom found appointments challenging.

Over a period of time, advisers at CAEE have been working regularly with Tom and he has taken
giant leaps forward and is now in a much better situation. CAEE has empowered Tom to work at a
pace that he can cope with to help him overcome some of his difficulties.

Lisa Davis, CEO of CAEE, said: “We’re so grateful to everyone who rallied together this weekend. Every day our advisers hear from people who are stressed, isolated and frightened as they try to deal with the cost-of-living crisis. We’re working flat out to help people find a way forward. But we’re a charity and our services are stretched. All the funds raised by the people of Epsom and Ewell will help us get crisis support for those who need it.”

Brownie leader Mary Zoeller from Epsom has been recognised for her outstanding volunteer work by Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla.

Led by Queen Camilla, the Royal Voluntary Service has recognised 500 outstanding volunteers from across the UK with a Coronation Champion Award. The awards celebrate and recognise the tireless work of volunteers around the country, which formed a key part of the coronation celebrations for His Majesty the King.

Mary received the award for her work volunteering with Girlguiding and other local charities. Over the past thirteen years she has inspired girls to have exceptional experiences as leader of 1^st Ewell Village (St Mary’s), as well as being Epsom division and assistant county commissioner for Surrey East.

The Coronation Champion Volunteer Awards were judged by a panel consisting of specialists in the volunteering field and charity leaders. Mary is one of only 500 people in the UK to be awarded a Coronation Champion Volunteer Award.

Mary attended the Coronation concert at Windsor Castle on Sunday 7 May in recognition of her award.

Mary said: “I’m very shocked but absolutely delighted to be named a Coronation Champion. In Girlguiding, we all work hard to make a difference to girls and young women’s lives and it’s wonderful when our volunteering efforts are recognised. Attending the concert on Sunday was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one which I will always remember.”

Brownie in 1^st Ewell Village (St Mary’s) Libby, aged 9, said: “All the brownies are so excited and happy that Brown Owl won this award. When she told us about the award, we clapped really hard. Brown Owl deserves this award for always making sure we have the best time at Brownies every week. Brownies is so much fun, Brown Owl always helps everybody with a big smile.”

About Girlguiding 

Girlguiding is the UK’s largest youth organisation dedicated completely to girls, with around 370,000 members. Girls can do anything. We help them know that, whether they’re 4 or 18 or in between. All girls have a home at Girlguiding – whoever they are, and wherever they are. We show them a world of possibilities, big and small. We help them think big and be bold in a space where they can be themselves, get creative, explore, and have fun. We’re a powerful collective voice – with girls, led by girls – changing the world for the better. 

We’re 300,000 Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers, who come together to laugh, learn, explore and have adventures, in communities across the UK and virtually. We’re 70,000 volunteers who make guiding happen by giving time, talent and enthusiasm. Registered Charity No 306016 girlguiding.org.uk 

For over 35 years a close friendship has existed between the 1st Cuddington Sea Scouts in Epsom & Ewell District and the Karel Doorman Zeeverkenners Groep of Bergen Op Zoom in the southern Netherlands. The roots of the relationship go back to the 2nd World War, Arnhem, disrupted schooling and a Royal Navy Admiral.

The relationship centres around reciprocal visits on a 3 or 4 yearly basis; and 2019 saw the last pre-pandemic visit. The Groups kept in touch over lockdown (and they had a brief joint paddle-boarding session with a motorcycling leader in 2020), but there was incredible excitement when at the end of April 2023, 74 Dutch Sea Scouts and leaders arrived in a double decker coach for their 12th visit.

Their journey had taken them via a day trip to Canterbury and they arrived to meet the 1st Cuddington team who were cooking dinner. Over the course of the week they had a week with joint boating at the Warspite Water Activity Centre on the Thames; a hike down (and up) Box Hill with Warspite Scouts and Explorers, London Zoo, a day of boating at the Dockland Scout Project in central London, kipping on a ship in the West India Dock, exploring London, swimming in Guildford, widegames with Explorers, joint discos and much more.

Neighbours at 2nd Cuddington provided accommodation for the girls whilst the Dockland Scout Project supplied both accommodation and a day of boating in the shadow of Canary Wharf; there was also support from Scout partners at Ajax Sea Scouts

About Scouts

• Scouts, the world’s largest youth movement, was founded on 1 August 1907.
• In the UK, Scouts is supported by The Scout Association, enabling 7,000 Scout Groups across the country to provide opportunities to over 475,000 young people aged 6-25.
• There are now more than 638,000 individuals actively involved in Scouts in the UK.
• All genders, races and backgrounds are welcome at Scouts. Every week, it gives almost half a million people aged 4-25 the skills they need for school, college, university, the job interview, the important speech, the tricky challenge and the big dreams: the skills they need for life.  
• Scouts helps members gain these skills by encouraging them to ask the big questions and listen with wide open minds. It helps them to take a deep breath and speak up, think on their feet, ignore the butterflies and go for it. With Scouts, young people don’t give up – they get back up and try again, often with the support of the friends they’ve made there.  
• Over 200 activities are offered by Scouts around the UK, from canoeing and caving to coding and community projects, made possible by the efforts of over 163,000 adult volunteers.
• Worldwide, Scouts has over 50 million members, both male and female, and operates in nearly every country in the world.
• UK Scouts has over 250 Scout Activity Challenge badges. These require participants to achieve a level of understanding and skill realistic and appropriate to their age range.

Another short and tragic life buried in an unmarked grave in Epsom’s abandoned Horton Cemetery is brought to life by one of the volunteer team of researchers. The full story can be read on www.hortoncemetery.org

The story of Valentine Ridley: At just 6 years old, in 1897, we find Valentine and his sister Elizabeth in the Greenwich Union Poor School. Their father George is “in house”, that is, living in the workhouse. There is no mention of Valentine’s mother or his younger sisters. Later in October Elizabeth is released ‘c/o Father’.

In May 1898 Valentine and all three of his sisters were admitted, along with their father, to the Greenwich Union Work House, their address is given as Snead Street, New Cross which is shown on Booth’s Maps as “comfortable” two storey houses, with bay windows, usually shared by two families.  Sadly, by August of that year Valentine was in the Brighton Road, School, Sutton.  His father is now shown as ‘out of house on leave’. In June of this year Valentine’s youngest sister, Florence,  was transferred to the Work House Infirmary where she died in October 1898, having lived a short sad life, so possibly George’s ‘leave’ was due to this event.

Periods of leave were granted to look for work, deal with family problems or celebrations.  Someone like Valentine’s father George, became known as an “in and out” as they spent their lives in and out of the workhouse/infirmary.

The 1901 Census, taken on 31^st March, shows all three children in the Banstead Road School, Sutton, but on 23^rd Dec 1901 Valentine, Elizabeth and Mildred are discharged from the Brighton Rd School and returned to the Workhouse again. These two schools were run by the same authority and seem almost interchangeable.

on 18th November 1909 he is admitted to the Ewell Epileptic Colony where he lived for the next 7 years. According to the 1911 Census he developed Epilepsy when he was 16 years old, just one year prior to being admitted. With no family to care for him we can assume that the Greenwich Union was happy to pass his care to the Epileptic Colony in Ewell.

Valentine died on 21^st February 1916 and was buried in the Horton Estate Cemetery on 25^th February in plot number 2014a, he was just 23yrs old.

The ‘Epsom Colony’, part of the Epsom Cluster of five mental hospitals’ had been opened in 1903 to care for “the Epileptic insane of the Metropolis”. This new approach housed patients in a collection of villas, avoiding the stigma of living in a mental asylum.  The treatment consisted of a specially regulated diet and doses of potassium bromide, the first effective treatment for controlling epilepsy.  The patients were expected to contribute to their costs by working on the hospital farm or in the kitchens, laundry or bakery, all of which supported the Epsom cluster of hospitals.

Lesley Lee

Copyright: The Friends of Horton Cemetery

Each year the Council formally recognises a member of the Epsom and Ewell community who goes above and beyond in a voluntary and/or campaigning capacity. The Active Citizen award is within the incumbent Mayor’s gift. The individuals are permanently recorded on a special citation within the Town Hall and receives a medal at the evening reception honouring volunteers from across the borough.

Photo: Anne and Clive Richardson (left) with the Mayor and Mayoress of Epsom and Ewell

So it is with great pleasure we congratulate Epsom Rotarians Anne and Clive Richardson being awarded the Epsom & Ewell Borough Council Active Citizens Award by the Mayor of Epsom & Ewell Cllr Clive Woodbridge. The award was made during the evening of 10 March 2023 at the Mayor’s Civic reception. Anne and Clive  have given much of their time to help with many local charities through Epsom Rotary Club and are active within the Epsom & Ewell Twinning Association.

Photograph Competition Open to Scouting and Guiding Groups

Each year Epsom Rotary hold a club photography Competition open to Scouting and Guiding Groups. This year the theme is the built environment and entries are welcome by the end of March 2023.  For details of how to enter, visit the website :

https://www.rotary-ribi.org/clubs/page.php?PgID=892508&ClubID=874

Epsom based Surrey Stands With Ukraine’s charity director returned from Ukraine recently. Interviewed yesterday by Epsom and Ewell Times (E&ET).

E&ET: Why did you go?
Lionel Blackman: The fantastic Epsom and Ewell team of volunteers of Surrey Stands With Ukraine has raised over £380,000 from the generous public and sent over £1 million worth of donated supplies to Ukraine over this first year of the War. A charity should know those who distribute aid on its behalf and after one year it was time to meet some of our Ukraine partners in person.

Photo is of a destroyed house in the Ukrainian village of Moschun just north of Kyiv.

E&ET: Who did you meet?
LB: We have supported a variety of groups relieving the civilian victims of the war. I met a team of English women who help refugees at the Polish border railway station of Przemsyl. Groups based in Kyiv who send our supplies to Ukrainians who continue to live near the front-line, who evacuate elderly and children from such areas and who are helping rebuild communities whose homes have been destroyed.

E&ET: Was your visit worthwhile?
LB: In Ukraine I just spent one and a half nights in hotels, half a night in an air raid shelter and one night on a train. It was deliberately a short visit so not to distract our partners from their vital volunteer work and their ordinary paid employment. But still, getting to know them better and being fully satisfied as to their commitment to honest and selfless voluntary charitable service is important for our own charity, our wonderful volunteers and our donors. We can continue with ever more confidence that we are doing the right thing and spending the funds appropriately.

E&ET: What did you see of the war?
LB: There were drone attacks on Kyiv the night I stayed hence half of it spent underground. Hosts told me that the air raid sirens sound every other night. Is Putin trying to wear you all down? I asked. “Never, he will never do that”. This is the thing. Putin is uniting a nation he thought he could divide.

I visited Moschun. The defenders of this village held the line and stopped the Russian army getting to nearby Kyiv last year. Most of the homes are destroyed. The Negotiator’s Annual Estate Agents Awards organised by our charity’s trustee and Epsom resident Grant Leonard, raised funds for 20 generators that we sent to Moschun with the assistance of local Epsom, district, national and Kyiv Rotary.

E&ET: When will the war end?
LB: A charity can’t get involved in the politics but personally I am of the opinion that Putin needs to be defeated militarily and the people of Russia have to turn against this war before it will end.

It is the UK Government’s role to aid foreign military. A charity can only support civilians whose lives should not be attacked in any war. In this war civilians are being killed and maimed and made homeless in their thousands.

Surrey Stands With Ukraine and the great public of Epsom and Ewell and beyond have to help the civilian victims for the long haul and keep giving.

Just imagine that once beautiful house in the photo was in Epsom?

Epsom and Ewell Times marks Holocaust Memorial Day (Friday 27th January) with an article about Surrey characters who saved Jews from persecution and we report on the work of a daughter of a Holocaust survivor, now living in Epsom, who is saving today’s refugees.

Marking Holocaust Memorial Day (27th January) Surrey History Centre highlights local characters who saved Jews from persecution. Across Britain many so-called ordinary people made extraordinary and often brave attempts to help rescue and settle people escaping Nazi oppression. Surrey was no exception: individuals and committees alike demonstrated remarkable compassion and team spirit in helping refugees during the 1930s and 1940s.

Some of these extraordinary people were themselves Jewish refugees from Europe: people like childcare specialist, Alice Goldberger (1897-1986) from Berlin, who set up a hostel for child Holocaust survivors at Weir Courtney in Lingfield in 1945; Dr Hilde Lion (1893-1970), an academic from Berlin, who established Stoatley Rough School in Haslemere in 1934; and Julius Warschauer (1907-1982) from Berlin who chaired the Mayor of Guildford’s Refugee Committee, and was helped in the pastoral care of Guildford’s Jewish refugees by his father Rabbi Malwin Warschauer (1871-1955).

Read the full story from the Surrey History Centre HERE

History repeating?

Nina Kaye, who lives in Epsom and is one of the founders of the Epsom & Ewell Refugee Network, is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. Her mother, Marianne, was born in Vienna in 1925 and had to flee when the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938. Marianne’s mother was granted a visa for Great Britain but she was not permitted to bring any dependents with her, so Marianne had to apply for a visa for the kindertransport and, at the age of 13, travelled alone from Vienna to Stockholm. Later, in 1943, she was able to rejoin her mother in London.

In 2015, Nina wanted to offer Syrian refugees a room in her house but there was no organisation that matched refugees with private families offering to host them. So she helped set up Refugees At Home (www.refugeesathome.org) , a charity that has since become one of the leading organisations to match people with a spare room to refugees and asylum seekers in need of somewhere to stay. Since then she has hosted more than 30 refugees in her home.

At the same time she was involved in setting up Epsom & Ewell Refugee Network (EERN), a local organisation whose aim is to help support refugees and asylum seekers in and around Epsom. EERN is a volunteer led local organisation with an enthusiastic support network. Before the Ukrainian crisis, EERN was helping around a dozen families and some individuals settle in to the area and make a new life for themselves, providing English lessons, offering support to find jobs, helping children settle into schools, organising events and addressing many of the issues that arise. Since the war in Ukraine started, EERN now support around 180 families, helping them integrate into the community. Host families in this area have been very kind and generous and EERN offers support to both the families and their guests.

EERN’s most pressing need is for more sponsor families and potential landlords for Ukrainian families. If anyone can help, please contact epsomrefugeenetwork@gmail.com

The race known as The Tadworth 10 was held on Sunday 8th January 2023 at 11.30am, started and finished at Epsom Racecourse. The race is a scenic and challenging 10 miles, 2-lap course comprising 50% road and 50% tracks & grass and was supported by around 700+ runners of all abilities. Much of the proceeds from the race go towards assisting two local charities. The Sunnybank Trust that supports adults with learning disabilities in North East Surrey to live without prejudice and have confidence, opportunities and control over their own lives. And the Woodland Trust that plants trees and preserves woodland and created the 650 Centenary Wood in Langley vale, Epsom.

William Caruana a senior runner of Epsom and Ewell Harriers came 12th in a time of 1 hour 6 minutes 47 seconds, with Jeremy Garner of Epsom Oddballs Running Club close on his heels 4 seconds behind.

Local photographer Steven McCormick followed the event with thousands of images covering every bib number. The photographs are for sale with proceeds going to the same charities.

See his website HERE

In the middle three weeks of December local rotarians escorted Father Christmas around the streets of Epsom accompanied by Tilly the train and a band of helpers from local youth associations.  Joining the effort were Wilsons of Epsom on two of the nights, when they provided a driver and a Santa Claus.

It was a truly wonderful experience with young children and adults saying how delighted they were to see Santa Claus; and they gave generously to help local charities.  This year knocks on people’s doors returned and they were pleased to see the Train and Santa after the COVID lay-off.

With today’s Social Media such as WhatsApp, children were ready and waiting.  It was a wonderful sight when the train started down a street to see little groups in the darkness waiting.  Tilly was also happy to have so many photos taken of her.

Around £6000 was raised for local charities, which included the youth organisations who helped.

Epsom Rotary, over the festive season, supported a group of young carers to a pantomime trip, a Christmas Card Appeal raised £250, the Christmas Hamper and Balloon Race Competitions, Carol singing and collections in the Ashley Centre raised even more cash for local charities. They supported the Meeting Room by collecting and donating presents and collecting donated foods from Waitrose.

Rotary and the local charities they support thank the marvellous generosity and spirit of Epsom and Ewell’s wonderful local community.