01 January 2006

A Happy New Year to the three people who read this page ;)

Transports of delight over road schemes

Lewisham Council has won the most funding it has ever had from TfL – £2.8million – to pay for transport improvements next year. This sum maintains the increase won by the borough last year after putting forward a persuasive case for spending on a variety of projects.

Prison for man who had gun 'to kill himself'

After three months in custody, Gill was sentenced to five-and-a-half years at Croydon Crown Court by Judge Timothy Stow. Gill also admitted a charge of dangerous driving in Rushey Green, Catford, on July 24 this year. Judge Stow jailed Gill for six months to run consecutively to his five-and-a-half year sentence.

Councils push scheme to wrap up Christmas

RESIDENTS are being urged to recycle items left over from their Christmas festivities. Council bosses want people to recycle everything from old greetings cards and wrapping paper to wine bottles and jam jars. Lewisham and Greenwich councils are asking residents to leave their Christmas trees at recycling collection points. Lewisham residents can leave trees at nine collection points across the borough, including Deptford Park and Sydenham Wells Park. For more information, call 020 8314 7171 or email recycling@lewisham.gov.uk

Delightful comedy provides real alternative to panto

The Importance of Being Earnest, Brockley Jack Theatre, Brockley Road, Brockley, now until January 7, Tickets £10/£7, box office 020 8291 6354. This production at the Brockley Jack Theatre is performed as if we too were in a Victorian era and is very loyal to the text. Yet the humour and the behaviour translates so well into contemporary times.

Wedded bliss for gay couple after 32 years

AN ELDERLY gay couple have been granted their Christmas wish, the chance to make their 32-year relationship "honest". Alan Ashmole, 74, and Ivan Rowland, 68, last week became one of the first couples in the borough to exchange vows in a new civil partnership ceremony. The pair say they were delighted to tie the knot on the day gay marriages' became law across England. Mr Ashmole and Mr Rowland, of Codrington Hill, Forest Hill, married at a ceremony at Lewisham Register Office, on December 21.

Driver discovered in pool of blood

A VAN driver slashed his wrists with a kitchen knife days after he was caught drink-driving, an inquest heard. David Wilson, 58, wrote off his van in an accident and a breath test at the scene proved positive. Southwark Coroners' Court heard how days later he was found lying face down in a pool of his own blood at his home in Meadow Close, Catford, on September 23.

Arrest after four-month police manhunt

AN ALLEGED kidnapper who sparked a massive manhunt has been captured by police. Dwayne Callender, aged 23, was arrested in Brockley on December 20 ending a four-month search by Lewisham police. News Shopper ran a number of appeals trying to trace Callender and the case was also featured on the BBC's Crimewatch programme. The charge relates to the capture of a bus driver, who was bundled into a car in Musgrove Road, New Cross, in the early hours of September 1.

Aiming to be your mayor

Councillor Darren Johnson, who has twice stood as the Green candidate for London Mayor, will not challenge current Lewisham Mayor Steve Bullock in next May's poll. The Greens have chosen Lewisham Environment Trust chairman Mike Keogh as their mayoral candidate. Cllr Johnson, who represents Brockley, says he wants to concentrate on his responsibilites as a councillor and member of the London Assembly.