Gifts galore at Alison Townsend’s store in Farnham’s popular Lion & Lamb Yard.
Is it any wonder that independent shops across the Waverley borough are struggling?
Major supermarkets, pharmacy chains and gardening centres continue to flourish whilst hundreds of our smaller independent?
Most of us who shopped regularly and supported our independent traders is now during lockdown – forced to buy our cards – birthday and anniversary gifts from major supermarket and garden centre chains, which continue to trade as they either sell food, pharmacy or garden products.
Waverley’s towns and villages are proud of their small independent shops, many of which are owned by local residents, who reflect the originality and character of the town or village where they were founded.
In Farnham, the pandemic has hit our Elphicks store. A business in which its owners have invested heavily in recent years. Another is David Manns in Cranleigh. A family business which has been going strong since 1887 and is now struggling and during `October entered into a (CVA) voluntary arrangement with its creditors.
Here’s a statement we received from one of the most popular independent departmental stores in Surrey.
Statement from the Directors of David Mann & Sons Ltd.
‘Due to the recent challenging retail environment coupled with the impact of COVID-19 the directors decided to take early and decisive action to seek advice on the options for the company to enable it to continue trading, survive the pandemic and trade strongly thereafter.
As a result, the directors appointed advisors to assist them with the company’s restructuring, to address legacy creditors and future proof the company in this current economic climate.
Following the guidance provided, the decision was taken to propose a company voluntary arrangement (CVA).
The CVA proposal will enable David Mann & Sons Limited, with appropriate professional support, to provide a mechanism which will allow the company to have a more profitable and flexible business structure thus making sure we have adapted in these unprecedented times appropriately.
We can confirm that David Mann & Sons Ltd. is not in liquidation and look forward to reopening just as soon as this current lockdown allows.’
So come on Waverley residents – let’s all pitch in and help save David Manns? If we don’t it will probably, like so many other businesses, end up as a block of residential flats?
The Farnham Society, together with Chambers of Commerce around Waverley are lobbying their MPs. However, in the present COVID climate, it is difficult to make a case for opening smaller independents in the dire situation we are in with rising infection rates and hospital admissions rising.
So – how do we help our independent businesses?
When normality returns – and it will – it is then that we return to our village butcher, our baker and candlestick maker. Because they are part of what we are and where we live. They are what makes our towns and villages – and our borough of Waverley special. They need us and we need them.
There is absolutely no doubt that the latest lockdown announcement will have a huge impact on many people’s mental health.
If you need to talk to someone, there is support available
However – remember the following: Here’s a message from the Godalming Balloon Company. This is just one of the small local businesses in Waverley that operated throughout the March 2020 lockdown and is still going strong. A brownie and a balloon – could lift all our spirits.
Oooooh if a small business ever needed you, it’s now!
Hours may have to be a little flexible (I have two smalls to homeschool) but on every level, I willensure balloons are received…after all, who doesn’t need ain their life?
PLUS: My roomie @nellys.bakes does a glorious selection of cakes and brownies!
A driver has died following a two-vehicle collision in Alfold, according to Surrey Police.
Officers were called to the A281 Horsham Road on Monday afternoon (January 4) following a crash involving a bus and a car.
A Surrey Police spokesperson confirmedthe driver of one of the vehicles was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 6 pm. Two other passengers suffered minor injuries as a result of the crash.
The road was closed in both directions while emergency services dealt with the incident; the road closure was in place southbound at the Dunsfold Road junction and northbound at theB2133 Loxwood Road junction.
A force spokesperson added: “Anyone who witnessed the collision or has any dashcam footage, or any other information which could help, is asked to contact us straight away via webchat on our websitesurrey. police.UKor by calling us on 101, quoting incident reference PR/P21002200.”
Residents of the village on the Surrey/Sussex border have been fighting off developers on all fronts in recent years, as traffic continues to build up along the main Horsham to Guildford Road. There have been a number of serious accidents in the village centre on the Loxwood Road – and on the A281 which has seen HGV movements increase exponentially in recent years.
The Waverley Web has been studying the very informative Exel- spreadsheet provided to Waverley councillors and the public by Farnham Residents’ Cllr Jerry Hyman. We have linked it into the page below as it shows in detail, town by town and village by village the spread of COVID-19 – 31 December.
We believe that any light that can be shone upon the rates of infection by any Waverley councillor has to be appreciated by the public. We found the in-depth statistical information very useful, as it revealed the hotspots in the borough. We have heard on private e-mails that many Farnham and some Cranleigh and eastern villages residents have found it very helpful. Let’s hope it makes us all very wary of what we do and how we do it -doesn’t it? We are not aware that on the official WBC website there such detailed information. Well done Cllr Hyman for the hard work this must have entailed.
Farnham Residents’ Cllr. for Firgrove.
Attached is my spreadsheet of the latest PHE Covid case data for the Waverley and surrounding MSOAs, covering tests to Boxing Day.
Farnham, and particularly the North Farnham areas of Upper Hale, Hale, Heath End, Weybourne and Badshot Lea, do appear to be suffering due to spread from Aldershot and perhaps visitors from Guildford (and the train connection to Woking, a recent hotbed of infection).
South Godalming is bucking the trend, being the only Waverley MSOA with a 7-day rolling Case Rate less than 200.
Of course, the south Godalming folk should not rest on their laurels, as the mutant virus may have since caught up with them. The cases reported today are people infected between 7 and 10-14 days ago, and with the effect of pre-Christmas Tier 4 visitors and Christmas Day family mixing yet to be seen, the current situation may be somewhat different.
You will see the light orange and darker orange hotspots for the period under Cllr Jerry’s microscope a few days earlier. These include – Farnham – to be expected in view of shoppers flooding in from Tier 4 areas when Waverley remained in Tier 2. However, the higher infection rate in small villages such as Witley and Wormley – are not easily explained. Could this be as a result of schools – such as `King Edwards – or perhaps Surrey County Council’s decision to send everyone from the eastern villages to the Witley dump? Cranleigh’s recycling centre is only open for certain materials on a Monday and at weekends so it’s off to Witley they all are forced to go?
The infection rate in Cranleigh is growing, as is Godalming where its popular shops had a burst of activity shortly before Christmas.
Judging by some of the comments coming from junior doctors – remember the guys and gals our MP Jeremy Hunt had a fight with a while back when he was Secretary of State for Health? Here’s what one told us.
“Just spoke with a junior doctor. She’s broken. Physically and mentally exhausted. Her hospital is on the verge of not being able to cope. Strongly believes that without public support and people sticking to the rules the NHS isn’t going to be able to save you.”#Covid19UK
And if the message below doesn’t keep us all here in Waverley away from meeting up with your friends or family tonight, for a New Year’s Eve celebration – nothing will!
SW Surrey’s Hunt chump will never get over losing out to Boris the Bulldozer will he?
The former UK health secretary has proposed taxing the over-40s to cover the costs of social care for the elderly.
He says “it’s now – or never” – to fix a social care system that is broken. Hunt broke ranks on Tuesday to propose a “tax surcharge to people over 40,” a measure introduced in Germany and Japan. He said the taxes were “only a small amount extra, but as you get older you start to pay a little bit more.”
Buy to Let landlord and multi-millionaire MP Jeremy Hunt who came under fire for setting up a buy to let property business – and snapping up seven flats in one town. Mr Hunt has set up Mare Pond Properties with his wife Lucia and used it to buy the apartments in the upmarket marina Ocean Village in Southampton. The Cabinet minister says the money he makes from the business will be used to make donations to charities and good causes.
Our MP Jeremy Hunt, Conservative chair of parliament’s health and social care committee, called for “boldness” from prime minister Boris Johnson, his rival for the party leadership last year. Because of course, he knows what the word boldness means – having upset every young junior doctor in the country on his watch – the very same guys who are now heading-up the teams fighting COVID-19. Some of whom have lost their lives in the process!
Hunt says Boris should ‘seize the opportunity’ created by his large majority in the Commons and the public mood in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
“I just think the year after the pandemic, if we don’t do it now, it really is now or never. Because the public has never understood better how important our care system is.
Wake up, Mr Hunt! The public knows only too well how important the care-system is? They have been paying for their elderly parents and other family members down to their last penny. What rubbish you talk about down to their last £23,000 down to their last couple of pounds more like!
Under your watch, many of your residents were refused any NHS contribution towards their care, despite needing nursing-care input, for long-term health conditions whist in nursing homes. Appeals ignored, as families dug deeper into their own pockets. And now you suggest, they should be taxed more forevermore?
Mr Hunt says the current funding model for social care is widely seen as unfit for purpose, leaving huge bills for many who need care and significant pressure on cash-strapped local authorities and providers.
Perhaps he hasn’t read the new model of care proposed by Surrey Heartlands NHS Trust. The Trust that runs healthcare on his patch in Waverley?
Perhaps he should read it now? Because this is what the local health bodies have told Cranleigh Parish Council what health care will look like in the future.
Having discussed your concerns with colleagues across the Guildford and Waverley Integrated Care Partnership (ICP), we can now more clearly explain our joint position on our future plans.
‘Whilst we recognise the importance of local nursing home provision for those who need it, because of the rapidly changing nature of the way care is provided in the community, it is simply not possible for the CCG or SCC to make a firm commitment to purchasing a specific number of beds for NHS-funded care in the future. As an ICP it is our responsibility to ensure the best health outcomes for our local communities; with a Parish Council Meeting 17 December 2020 Page 5 of 7 significant shift away from bed-based care for older people – due to patients having better outcomes if they are recovering or being cared for in their own place of residence – we will continue to invest in enhanced community services and support to allow more people to be cared for at home wherever appropriate. This investment includes the creation of community-based multidisciplinary teams, aligned with the local geographies of our Primary Care Networks, creating a much more personalised and locally-based service. These expanded neighbourhood teams will include GPs, pharmacists, district nurses, community geriatricians and Allied Health Professionals e.g. occupational therapists. This approach means that community-based care in Guildford and Waverley will be in line with the NHS Long Term Plan and is where we want to focus much of our future investment for older people.
In conclusion, whilst there will always be a need for some level of NHS funded care home beds, the landscape is rapidly changing; in line with the NHS Long Term Plan, we are putting much more focus on community-based care, supporting people in their own homes for as long as possible, which is evidenced to improve outcomes and quality of care. We appreciate that the position explained earlier this year was different and we again apologise for this. We are, however, obliged to consider our current operating position and ensure our plans are aligned with best practice evidence and national strategies.
In light of this, we consider that it is not, therefore, appropriate for us to make a long-term commitment to purchasing additional bed-based care as this would be contrary to our overall direction of travel as a local health and care system. In the meantime, as I’m sure you will appreciate, our focus now has to be on responding to the pressing demands of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. We hope this helps to clarify our current position more clearly.
He says efforts to fix the system have repeatedly hit a wall, with ministers shying away from reform as many proposals have sparked a fierce backlash.
So says the longest-serving Health Minister in the history of this country?
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt who this week proposed a tax on the over-40s to fund social care.
Hunt broke ranks on Tuesday to propose a “tax surcharge to people over 40,” a measure introduced in Germany and Japan. He said the taxes were “only a small amount extra, but as you get older you start to pay a little bit more.”
The MP, a cabinet member for much of the past decade including as health secretary between 2012 and 2018, said both countries had avoided “public pushback” with the measures.
“I think the biggest battle now is with the Treasury because the sums of money are eye-watering. We were even more bankrupt as a country after the Second World War and then we had the imagination and vision to set up the NHS, and I think this is another 1948 moment.”
Johnson promised to “fix the crisis in social care once and for all” on the steps of Downing Street in his first speech as prime minister last year.
Oh, dear! As we said before – Hunt’s having a Trump moment!
If you were mixing on Christmas Day then this is really important as cases of the virus in Surrey continue to grow.
It may shock you to know that if you’ve been in contact with someone that has COVID-19, you will be most infectious around New Year’s Eve or Hogmanay as it is known in Scotland. You also may have no idea you’ve even caught it!
Here at the Waverley Web, we know of residents in the borough who have mixed with family members who are known to have tested positive for the coronavirus but are not themselves seeking tests. Simply because they cannot be bothered!
WHY?
They may be utterly unaware that they are infectious as they drop into their local garage for petrol, go to work or call at the supermarket for a few groceries, to celebrate New Year.
Unless they are tested, they may never know!
Hospitals are now under extreme pressure with some London hospitals reporting that they are running out of oxygen. They cannot believe they are in the same position they were in early on in the pandemic!
There have been 825 new cases of coronavirus recorded across Surrey in the last 24 hours, according to figures released on Monday (December 28).
The largest number of new cases was recorded in Reigate and Banstead with 116, followed by Guildford with 106, 81 in Tandridge and 75 in the borough of Waverley.
Latest NHS England data reveals another 14 new Covid-19 related deaths – six at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, seven at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust and one at Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust.
One nurse follower has asked?
If the NHS is at breaking point, why has the government abandoned the £100m Nightingale Hospital at London’s Excel centre? Department of Health couldn’t even tell us what had happened to it, a week or so ago!
The Waverley Web understands – there simply aren’t enough staff! And as we write, many nursing staff, who have not been vaccinated, are testing positive, and are therefore forced to leave their posts and their patients.
By now it will not have escaped your notice that Waverley has now moved from Tier 2 to Tier 4 which has no doubt brought many of our residents close to tears!
Everything you need to know – and instructions you should heed are in the link below: This includes a message from John Ward, the Leader of Waverley Borough Council
However gloomy you may feel- and however anxious you are about the future. Just take a moment to reflect on what Christmas Day 1914 was like for these guys.
Let us all hope for a brighter 2021. The shortest day is now over, minute by minute light will return and Spring is not so far away now? So let’s hang on in there. Let’s get through Brexit, get vaccinated and let 2020 become a salutary lesson on the importance of Infection Control.
Here at the Waverley Web, we wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a healthy, safe and happier New Year.
The speed of COVID’s acceleration is spelt out in stark data on HSJ today which shows the number of COVID positive inpatients in English hospitals rose 2,256 to 16,183 over the seven days to 19 December.
The 16.2 per cent increase compares to one of 7.4 per cent in the previous seven-day period, underlining how the pandemic is speeding up.
If this rate is maintained, the English NHS will end 2020 with approximately the same number of COVID positive inpatients as at the peak of the pandemic on 12 April.
The Health Service paints the following picture for the regions:
London: Responsible for the largest rise in patients, up 817 (39 per cent) to 2,909 on the 12 December figure.
Eastern: Inpatient numbers jumped 536 (38 per cent) to 1,943, the highest ever total recorded in the region.
South East: A rise of 376 inpatients (19.3 per cent) to 1,943, the highest total recorded since 20 April.
South West: The fourth region to see a dramatic increase in inpatient numbers, up 208 (24.7 per cent) to 1,051, a figure last recorded on 17 April.
Midlands: The region with the highest number of COVID positive inpatients. The number rose 7 per cent to a level equivalent to that on 14 April.
North East and Yorkshire: Rose 4.5 per cent to 2,413. The region reported a similar number on 9 April.
North West: Inpatient numbers remained flat for a fortnight. Its 2,253 inpatients is very similar to the number recorded on 28 April in the region.
WORRyIng. No Plan B for The Big C!
The ending of contracts with the independent sector has put cancer surgery in the capital under threat,writes Ben Clover on HSJ today.
COVID admissions have put pressure on services that can no longer turn to alternative providers. Although many of Waverley’s patients receive their cancer care at The Royal Surrey Hospital, some are also in the care of London hospitals.
The HSJ discovered that NHS England ended contracts with HCA, The London Clinic and the Cromwell Hospital at the end of August, after concerns about underutilisation.
Under the previous deal with the private sector, rules were in place to make sure low-priority private patients were not treated ahead of NHS patients who needed surgery urgently.
HCA and The Cromwell have confirmed the contracts were ended in August and were not renewed.
HSJ understands NHSE, under pressure from the Treasury, was not willing to pay the prices asked by the three private providers.
Since the start of the Pandemic private hospitals received millions in Government funding despite most extra capacity going unused. The NHS contract with the Nuffield Hospital in Guildford has ended. Around two-thirds of beds in private hospitals like The Nuffield in Guildford and Mount Alvernia were not used during the summer. However, the Independent Provider Network, which represents private providers said any profits made were returned under the terms of the contract.
Just a little something to make you smile – after all this gloomy news.
We see that Sainsbury’s is saying that if the travel ban on UK freight continues for much longer we could see shortages of lettuce in our shops.
Don’t mess with me – when I say the word ‘Confidential’ I mean it!
A couple of days ago we wrote about the Ding-Dong not so Merrily on High at Waverley Towers in the bad-tempered pre-Christmas council meeting. But we reported on only half the Pantomime! The curtain then rose on the second act – during which The Borough Solicitor’s advice – no, actually more like an instruction – was ignored by all but one of the Tory opposition.
The political fracas followed Mayor Penny Marriott’s motion to hold a ‘sensitive property matter’ that was subject to a legally binding confidentially agreement’ behind closed doors. Enter, centre-stage on her broomstick, or was it the parachute she used to protect her backside in the last election came Julia Potts, leader of the Tory Group. The lady did protest her ‘extreme concern’ that the matter that had generated extreme public interest was to be debated in private.
Galloping in as the pantomime horse – the *rse end, of course, came ‘Oh Carole’ Cockburn claiming it was perfectly easy to debate confidential items in public just as she had done many times when she was Mayor – “provided the meeting is well chaired!”Giving a second kick to the present Worshipful Mayor for the second time in one evening.Neigh!!
Next on stage in a bid to halt the “Tories political grandstanding” came Baron Hardup AKA Deputy Leader Cllr Paul Follows, who said the council was merely “adhering to legal obligations it was forced to abide by.” In part made necessary in view of the “disinformation” that had already been spread publicly on the subject by the Tories!
He resented being accused of misleading the public and could if he wished, reveal e-mails written by non-other than former solicitor Wonersh Cllr Michael Goodridge and comments made in public – saying, “we can provide the evidence.” He claimed, the Tories had, either not read their papers, or were trying to present false information.”
Godalming’s Widow Twanky – Steve Cosser – so steamed up and puffed up we thought he was going to implode – claimed the confidential papers revealed how the matter – the identity of which we at the WW know not – has been handled. “The secrecy that surrounds this site, could and should be scrutinised by the public. “You are setting a dangerous precedent shoving an issue into Exempt that doesn’t need to be there” he yelled!
Is this coming from an experienced councillor who has seen numerous items debated in private by his crowd during its controlling years – mainly in a Conservative Group Pre-Meeting?
Perhaps we should ask our legal advisors’ for their view, said ‘Aunty Elsey’ – Cllr Jenny Else, who regularly claims she always obeys the council’s Code of Conduct and its rules!
Borough Solicitor Daniel Bainbridge told members” “The recommendation from officers is that you debate EVERYTHING on this item IN EXEMPT. This is not the first time the council has been asked to consider something entirely in private, and there are very good legal reasons why at this stage in the proceedings this should happen.”
“I cannot stress more strongly the risk to the council if the contents of the report are discussed in open session.”
Having listened, but obviously didn’t hear his advice, or chose to ignore it – Cllr Else, together with 19 of her colleagues voted against; Only one Tory – Cranleigh’s Cllr Mary Foryszewski opposed the Tory whip. The remaining 34 councillors, based on the legal advice voted to exclude the press and public.
Will ignoring the whip find former Mayor Mary chained to her dog kennel?
