Where's George?

Now that the gym is up and running (partially) work has started on transforming the ground floor of Maple Lodge. As part of this work our site manager's (George's) office has been demolished. George can now be found in the front half of Maple Lodge (the old marketing suite). His contact details are the same, but he is still sorting out internet access so if you need to get in touch with him, it's probably best to call him.

Committee Nominations

Ahead of the AGM on Saturday, we have received the following nominations for the 2008/09 Hamptons Residents Committee.

Executive Officers

Chairman: Barrie McDowell
Vice Chairman: Lisa MacLaren
Treasurer: Nick Bolton
Secretary: Marie Bunby; Jonathan Pettit
Social Secretary: Leigh Anne O'Brien
Estate Liaison: Tim Green; Jonathan Pettit

Street/Block Representatives

Albany Hall: none
Beaumnt Drive: Emma Brown; Mike Cowley
Canterbury Hall: Roger Bond
Fordham Close: none
Heatherlea Grove: Bert Bunby; Oliver Owen
Lewiston Close: Lucy Bureau
Lincoln Hall: none
The Maltings: Joe Savage
Portland Close: Bea Nash
Priors Barn: Matthew Taylor
Sherbooke Way: Fiona Barron; Martin Massey
Vermont Hall: none
Woodbridge Court: Paul Pieterse

Love Parks Day

I know this was a few weeks ago and with all the hooha in the press and other media over who's allowed to do what at the Hamptons, I have been in two minds as to whether to post these pictures. But, you know, this was a great event attended by over 500 people from the Hamptons and the wider Worcester Park area - all of whom seemed to have a good time. Regardless of what you think of the architecture or anything else about the Hamptons.....Mayflower Park is a great local facility for everyone to enjoy and this was a great day as the pictures show.

Everybody Out

Just in case you didn't know, there is a strike planned by Local Authority workers on Wednesday 16 July. As a result, we are not expecting our usual bin collection until Saturday 19th at the earliest. There are communal bins that can be used if your own bin gets too full but please do not leave bin bags out as they attract the foxes (and will not be collected!).

Contacting George

George, our new site manager, started work earlier this month. When he is not walking the site, he can be found in the office on the ground floor of Maple Lodge. George can be contacted by telephone on 020 8330 9482 or on his mobile 07508 219 533.

Watch (out) for the Birdies

You may have seen that the swans on the lakes have a few cygnets in tow. You may also have noticed that there is a bit more debris in the lakes than we would normally see.

The two are linked! The swans have become very protective of their new arrivals and are prone to attack people who get too close. It has, therefore, become too dangerous for Ray and Rob to retrieve objects from the lake and we have asked them not to do so while the swans remain protective of their brood. I hope you understand and support us doing this.

I think it also sensible to advise you to take care when you go down to look at the swans in the next few weeks. They are certainly pretty but they can give you a nasty whack if you get too close!

Watch the Birdie(s)

Oh i know this Old Blogger can seem a little pre-occupied and negative at times with his don't park here, shut that door there and don't make too much noise anywhere else...but really he's an old softy. So in the spirit of being positive, spring and all things bright and beautiful, these two pictures were taken on the lakes by our Landscaper, Russell, on Tuesday.

Gym Doors

There have been a couple of ocassions is the last two weeks when the doors to the gym have been left unlocked or actually left open.

During this hot weather, if you do open the doors or you are the last to leave the gym, please please take the time to make sure that all the doors are shut and locked before you leave. It only takes a couple of minutes.

We don't have people who will lock up the gym for us so we are all responsible for gym security.

Gym Update II

Well, Sean continues to work tirelessly on our behalf in pushing the gym build along. Clearly the date on which we take ownership of the gym has been pushed back but we are now in the process of finalising the flooring options and getting ready to order equipment. Most of the internal finsihing is now complete (to a very high standard) and the disabled persons' lift should be going in next week.

We understand that services (water, gas, electricity etc) to the gym will be in place towards the end of the month.

If I can, I will take some photos today to show you all how it's looking up there.

Love Parks Week

Welcome back to the Sixties? Well no not exactly. Love Parks week is a week long series of events to celebrate parks and the part they play in our lives. As part of this, we will be holding a small community event in Mayflower Park on Sunday 15 June.

The aim is to have a fun day and to show how our Park can help benefit Hamptons Residents and the wider community.

The programme of events is currently being fnailised but if you have any ideas, why not email us at hamptonsresidents@gmail.com?

Further details about Love Parks Week can be found at: www.loveparksweek.org.uk

Gym Update

So, where are we? Unfortunately, a few issues are conspiring to delay our move to the first floor gym – so we thought we’d let you know of the main outstanding issues:

A recent visit from the NHBC flagged up several areas where the build does not comply to Disabled Access Regulations – in particular the layout of the changing area and the need for shower facilities in the disabled persons toilet area in addition to those in the main changing areas. This will require changes to the layout. The NHBC has also asked for longer vision panels to be installed in the internal doors to allow wheelchair uses to see through them.

We are still waiting on decisions on the flooring solutions for the gym and comparison costings.

We are also waiting for service installation for gas, sewerage and electricity to the new gym.

The lift shaft is ready to be installed and is just being put back until other works have been completed – we are hopeful that this can be done during April.

As you are well aware, we have capacity issues on the existing gym and we are keen to get to the new gym as soon as possible.

We will keep you updated.

Lighting

We are working hard to resolve the lighting issues on site. Over the last week CEM have liaised with EDF and have dealt with a number of the lights to the roadways/paths across the development. We hope that you have noticed the improvement (please let us know if there are still issues with lights near you).

However, there are some electrical problems which still need to be dealt with. We are still waiting for a visit from EDF to resolve the issues with the non-functioning fountain and fountain lights on Beaumont Drive. This visit has been booked for 14 April 2008.

Estate Manager

As you may have noticed, Dennis has now left the Hamptons. The HRA and CEM are now beginning to process of recruiting a new site manager as a matter of urgency. In the meantime, we have a temporary Estate manager, Shaun (not to be confused with Sean) who wll be here until a permanent eplacement can be found.

Shaun can be contacted at Dennis's old email address: estatemanager@surreyhamptons.com

I'm Back

At a new address I'm afraid - please tell your friends!

Not sure what happened but I haven't been able to log onto the original blog for a few weeks. As there has been so much going on (of which, more later) I thought I'd bite the bullet and sign up for a new blog.

Isn't the snow nice?