The Closet is an exclusive stockist of floating glass lockets. These are unique lockets that are designed by you and custom made for a bespoke piece of jewellery that tells your story, a special memento that reflects you or that special someone.

You are the creator of the locket. Create something personal to reflect beliefs, hobbies and personality. With lots of charms to choose from it’s easy to create a personal and memory-invoking piece.

The lockets are made of stainless steel, which means they are nickel free, hypo allergenic and have a non-reactive surface. It also means they do not rust or oxidise.

These bespoke lockets make beautiful gifts for any occasion: new baby, bridesmaid, Mothers day, birthday, wedding, graduation or anniversary.

If there is a specific charm or locket that you are looking for, please get in touch. We will happily fulfill bespoke orders.

The Closet Boutique
9 Station Way
Cheam
Surrey
SM3 8SD
020 8642 2959
www.thecloset-boutique.co.uk

Congratulations to Village Travel for their “Stand up to Cancer” coffee and cakes morning on Friday 17th October, a fantastic £303.00 was raised from customer contributions so well done to everybody involved and especially Jennie and Clare of Village Travel who organised it.

Village Travel are unique, created from the despair of Ambassador Travel’s liquidation in January 2013 by the four employees Dave, Jennie, Clare and Tara who now own and manage the Company between them. With a loyal client base Village Travel is thriving and proud to continue serving the local community with over 100 years travel experience between the Directors who are all well travelled to provide personal recommendations for many wordwide destinations.

At the Caribtours awards dinner held in September at the fabulous Claridges Hotel in Mayfair, Village Travel were given the “Highest Increase In Sales” award for the UK and the trophy is proudly displayed in their office in Cheam . They are also amongst the final contenders for the “Best New Business” at the Sutton Business Excellence awards ceremony due to be held at the Holiday Inn Sutton in November.

Whitehall Museum in Cheam village is an hidden historic gem. The Tudor building is a rare and important survivor from a different age; so it seems sad that many local people are unaware of its existence. We’d like to change that! With the support of the London Borough of Sutton and the Friends of Whitehall, we are applying to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a major investment in this iconic building. The funding will completely refurbish the museum, improve access, introduce new exhibitions, upgrade our visitor facilities and enable us to launch new activities and local events.

The final project has 3 distinct elements – knowing, sharing and saving Whitehall.

Knowing – learning everything we can about Whitehall and its 500 year history. Learning about the people who lived and worked here, about Cheam Village and its community. Who built Whitehall – and why? Was the building originally a Tudor farmhouse, a meeting place, or a local inn?

Sharing – encouraging more people to visit Whitehall, to volunteer and to get involved in our local history and heritage. At present the building is difficult to negotiate for anyone with a physical disability. We aim to make it easier to get around the house, and to ensure the exhibitions are as interactive and accessible as possible.

Saving – restoring the building to the best possible condition, upgrading its services and facilities, and ensuring Whitehall will be able to open its doors to thousands of visitors for many years to come.

How you can get involved and help:

* We want to hear from local businesses. What do you think we could do at the museum to attract more people to the village – more visitors for us and more customers for you? If you have any ideas or would like to talk about our plans in detail, please contact Jane or Jon (details below)

* Many people living in the village have told us that they don’t know about Whitehall and have never visited. Help us get the word out – Whitehall is free and fascinating! Could you display a few copies of our ‘What’s On’ guide for your customers? Or visit our website: https://www.sutton.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1909

* The funding for the project is coming from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the borough. The Friends of Whitehall are also committed to making a major contribution. But the work needed to make Whitehall a great local attraction is expensive and we still need to attract more sponsorship and donations. Could you make a donation towards the project? Donations large and small will be welcome – there’s a donation box inside the museum. Or would you pledge to sponsor some of the resources we’ll need when we re-open? A new bench for the garden or restoration of a painting perhaps? If so, please get in touch with Jane (details below)

* The Friends of Whitehall support the museum in many ways – they provide volunteers, bake cakes, run events, raise money. They are a fabulous local charity. Please support them – either by joining them or by going along to one of the events they work so hard to organise in and around the village. You can find out more information by visiting their website at: http://www.friendsofwhitehallcheam.co.uk

Their next major event is at the Mistletoe Market in the Parochial Halls on Saturday 22nd November 2014 from 10am-4pm. Drop in, buy some Christmas presents, treat yourself to cake!

If you want to know more or think you can help contact: jane.allen@sutton.gov.uk or jon.ward@sutton.gov.uk

Cathedrals Express Britannia Class steam locomotive the 70013 Oliver Cromwell

As pointed out by in the article by Cllr Mary Burstow, On Saturday July 5, the train is scheduled to be hauled by Britannia Class steam locomotive, 70013 Oliver Cromwell starting in Horsham at 8.45am. The train will supposedly depart from Cheam at 09:35.

It will then pick up passengers in Ockley, Holmwood, Dorking, Leatherhead and Cheam before heading into the Kent countryside to Canterbury.

Passengers will have nearly four hours to explore the city with its stunning architecture and world famous buildings, including the cathedral .

It is one year since the Cheam Chamber of Trade was reformed.
I am very grateful to the dedicated team on the Committee who have helped to move the organisation forward.
We have successfully launched our website and newsletter, and have plans to enhance the content.
An extremely successful Christmas Event was held with many thousands of happy visitors making their way to Cheam, and enjoying the entertainments put on for them by your Committee. We believe that the Village will have benefitted substantially from this show of goodwill, and we hope to build on the success of this venture, possibly introducing a Mid–Summer Event next year.
We also hope to introduce into Cheam a programme called ‘Totally Locally’ which focuses attention on the advantages of buying locally, and the multiplying beneficial effect this has on the local economy.
We now have a good means of communicating, as a group, with official bodies including the Council, the Police, Transport for London, local elected Counsellors, schools, colleges, etc.
Many thanks must go to Richard Marston and his Committee who arranged the very successful Cheam Charter Week recently.

What is needed now is some ‘new blood’ on the Cheam Chamber of Trade Committee, because we have unfortunately had to say goodbye to a couple of stalwarts, and for the Committee to open up to the broader traders group so that we can hear your ideas and try to progress the Chamber.
To that end, we will be holding our Annual General Meeting to mark the end of the first full year as a reformed group.
All business owners and managers are encouraged to attend, and we hope and expect that representatives from the Council, Police etc will be available for their input.

Please come to the AGM which will be held at 6.00pm at the St Dunstan’s Meeting Room (behind St Dunstan’s Church in Church Lane, Cheam) on Tuesday 10th June.

Agenda

1. Apologies for Absence and Chairman’s Opening Remarks
2. Current Committee Members, Introduction and Comments (with particular thanks to the two Committee Members who have had to stand down recently)
3. Financial Status
4. Topics for Discussion from Traders and Other Attendees
5. Election of Chairman and Committee Members for the Forthcoming Year
6. Any Other Business