Ball raises £3,000 for hospice

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A charity black tie ball which drew nearly 150 guests at the Sofitel Hotel, Gatwick, raised £3,000 for St Catherine's Hospice.

Honour for blood donors

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Two Reigate blood donors were among more than 130 to be honoured by the National Blood Service at a special awards ceremony in London.

Grand day for a coffee

A coffee morning hosted by borough mayor Roger Newstead raised over £1,000 for South East Surrey branch of Cruse Bereavement Care, one of the mayor's chosen charities. Councillor Newstead is pictured with Beverley Platt-Higgins, of Cruse Bereavement Care.

A new computer – at last!

Children and staff at Bobtails Playgroup at St Francis Church Hall, Horley, welcomed a new arrival that they and parents have been looking forward to for two years. The group and parents spent two years collecting 22,000 Tesco for school vouchers for a new laptop computer.

Hiroshima remembered

Members and supporters of Reigate and Redhill CND remembered Hiroshima Day last Wednesday by gathering for a short commemoration at Shaw's Corner Memorial in Redhill. Poems and narratives were read followed by a minute's silence "in the hope for a nuclear-free world".

Adventure trip to France

The 34th Reigate (Meadvale) Explorers and Scouts have returned from the Gorges de Tarn in the south of France. The group of 18 Explorers, eight Scouts and seven leaders spent eight days enjoying activities such as canoeing, white-water rafting, caving and rock climbing.

Children cut ribbbon at revamped store

Children from Reigate's Busy Bears Nursery were presented with £200 for their funds when they cut a ribbon to mark a £200,000 revamp of the Co-op food store in Trehaven Parade, Reigate. Helping manager Clive Mason are Jasmine Mills, Benjamin Mackay, Harley O'Connor and Madeline Roberts.

Firm wins top award

Mystery shopper visits and a panel of independent industry experts led to a retailer triumphing at the Annual Independent Marketing Awards. RDO, of Reigate, won the national award for best large independent retailer for consumer white goods. At the ceremony, Roger Sargant, managing director of RDO, accepted the award on behalf of his company and its 23 staff. RDO was set up by Roger's father Ken in 1952. Ken's original business partner, Mike Jenns, pictured here with Mr Sargant, still works there after 44 years.

New Rotary president

The Rotary Club of Horley has a new president - Roger Hamson. Mr Hamson, who recently retired from BAA at Gatwick and whose main interest is sailing, accepted the office from Rotarian David Ross.

Rural ride raises funds

This trio were among 75 cyclists who enjoyed a 48-mile ride through the Surrey and Sussex countryside to raise funds for a national children's charity. Alison Swain, Vanessa Sturley and Julie Sinclair set off for the one-day ride from the Connevans offices in Reigate to finish in Brighton at Ovingdean Hall School for the deaf. The ride raised funds for DELTA, a Surrey-based charity helping deaf children. Organisers hope the event will top last year's fundraising total of £9,000. Connevans, which makes equipment for deaf and hard of hearing people, has hosted the start of the DELTA ride since 1995.

Fundraising driver drops in

Alan Biggar, an investment manager who is raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust by driving across the UK in his vintage Morgan Plus 4, stopped at the offices of Brewin Dolphin in Reigate to receive £200 raised by staff and clients. Mr Biggar, head of the Edinburgh office of a Brewin Dolphin subsidiary, embarked on his drive following the death from cancer of a colleague's 17-year-old daughter.

Pink day raises funds

STAFF at the Renaissance London Gatwick Hotel raised £250 for Cancer Research at a Think Pink day, part of a special week of fun and fundraising. Activities included quiz nights, special breakfasts and a tug-of-war every morning.

Twin towns celebration

REDHILL Corps of Drums joined Reigate and Banstead town twinners celebrating a milestone anniversary. Members of the borough's twinning association were joined by the Redhill Corps in German twin town Eschweiler, near Cologne, for celebrations marking the 150th anniversary of the founding of the town. Residents from Eschweiler's other twin town, Wattrelos in France, also joined in. Reigate and Banstead has been twinned with Eschweiler for 23 years, as well as Brunoy, near Paris.

St John teams triumph

HORLEY and Gatwick St John Ambulance and Redhill Cadets are celebrating winning through to the finals of the charity's national competition. Horley and Gatwick division came away from the competition's regional heat at the University of Surrey laden with silverware, having finished second in the adult First Aid class and fourth in the cadet and Badger First Aid classes. Mother and daughter Diana and Natalie Payne will represent Surrey in the national finals in the Fairfield Hall, Croydon, on July 5, having won the Cotton Shield for Adult Care and the Bailiwick of Guernsey Cup for highest team test.

Bonnets galore!

WOODHATCH volunteers and members have made 200 bonnets using a Save The Children knit kit. It was a project that began when volunteer Joan Harris was moved by a story about newborn babies dying in Sierra Leone and Kenya on Channel 4's The Paul O' Grady Show. Woodhatch staff soon got behind her, handing out knitting patterns. The Woodhatch Centre Hair Salon invited customers to knit them as they sat under the hairdryers. Their target was 100 hats, a number they doubled.

Scouts win highest award

THE 34th Reigate (Meadvale) Explorer Unit met HRH the Duke of Kent for the St George's Day parade of Queen's Scouts. Pictured are Oliver Lawrence and Ashley Back with Explorer Leader Spencer Mitchell at Windsor Castle. They won the Queen's Scout Award, the highest in Scouting. To gain the award the two boys completed a four-day hike in the Malvern hills and worked on the hospital gardens at East Surrey Hospital, Redhill.