The club won the Student Championships in March for the second year in a row and now have a Commonwealth champion and many British champions amongst its numbers – it is becoming a breeding ground for weightlifting talent.

They have also recently won the London Regional Universities Competition and in June will be sending its under 20 & 23 teams to the Fulda Youth Cup in Austria. Along with other world-class athletes that train at the University, the world-class facilities are fast becoming synonymous for producing and refining sporting talent.

Our hugely successful Rugby team is looking for men and women players for next season – check out their site for details and you too could be part of the success story whilst playing in the beautiful setting of Bushy Park.

Teddington Antler James Lightfoot-Brown has recently been handed an England 7s deal! The club have congratulated him on this huge achievement and wished him well on his way.

Teddington Athletic are also on the lookout for new members for their football teams of various age groups. The Under 10′s in particular (Under 11 next season) are on the lookout for new members so get in touch and you could soon be cheering on your kids in the park regularly.

The club play on Saturday mornings and train on Thursday evenings in Bushy Park. There is an additional trial on the 26th May in Bushy Park near the main Teddington gate for those interested. You can read about other club news, opportunities for volunteering and sponsoring on their website newsletter.

As you might have heard, the London Olympic games are nearly upon us! To mark 50 days until the opening of the games, LBRUT have organised various celebration sporting open days across the borough.

To help warm up for the Olympics there will be an array of fun activities and the Teddington open weekend is open to all – you can try a range of sports, win competitions and challenges (with prizes) and reap the rewards of special membership offers.

Saturday June 9th at Teddington Sports Centre (Broom Road) 9am-2pm:
•Tennis 9am-10am (5+ years)
•Basketball 10am-12noon
•Wheelchair Basketball 10am-12noon
•Fitness Classes:
9:30am-10:30am Stretch & Tone
11:30am-12:30pm Zumba
•Gymnastics 10:30am-11:30am (5+ years)
•Table Tennis 11am-12noon (6+ years)
•Hockey 12noon-2pm
•Judo Tots 1pm-1:30pm (3-5 years)
•Judo 1:30pm-2pm (5+ years)

Sunday June 10th at Teddington Pools & Fitness Centre 12:30am to 3:30pm:
•Boxing 12:30pm-1:30pm (for adults and children 8+ years)
•Diving 1pm-1:45pm
•Swimming Races 1:45pm-2:30pm
•Water Polo 2:30pm-3:30pm

Twickenham Road has had sections resurfaced recently in preparation for the Olympic cycling road races. Now ageing gas pipes are causing concern – Richmond Council have held urgent talks with the gas board and brought forward repair work in order to minimise any impact along the Olympic cycling route.

From Monday 21st May, Park Road will be closed in one direction when work starts to replace the ageing Victorian gas mains that have led to many leaks over recent months. The work that will lead to traffic and parking disruption in the area, is expected to last for 7 weeks but be completed well before the races on July 28th/29th.

The change which will also see the demise of analogue Ceefax, is necessary to future-proof new services such as wireless broadband, local TV and high-definition TV and also to ensure all areas will be able to receive the new stronger Freeview digital TV signal using an aerial.

As well as general official advice available online, some older and disabled viewers might need extra help with this process and the Switchover help guide can help with this process for those over 75 or eligible disabled. RHP are also offering a service and engineers are available to help residents tune in to the new signal.

The switchover for the area started on April 4th and locals that have upgraded their TVs and other equipment have been encouraged to recycle these where possible to help the environment and prevent kit from ending up in landfill sites.

TVs without digital tuners built-in can still be used to receive digital TV by adding a digital tuner box but many are taking the opportunity to upgrade their TVs. Some items can be taken away with the delivery of a new TV, others can be disposed of using the schemes such as Richmond Council’s or Freecycle.

This is still at a consultation stage and you can register your views on this issue by emailing the Head of Parks at trees@parks@richmond.gov.uk – the deadline for feedback is 12th April 2012.

Notices have been posted in council-owned park areas

Already a hotly debated topic, concerns have been raised that professional dog walking companies visit the borough, sometimes walking up to 15 dogs at a time, because nearby boroughs already have such limits in place. Specific issues include fouling and generally keeping dogs under control in these areas.

Councillor Virginia Morris: “Dog owners are important users of our parks and Richmond Council promotes and encourages responsible dog ownership. Most owners are conscientious; however, a small minority are not and this spoils the enjoyment of our open spaces and parks for others.”

Opponents to this new rule argue that dog owners that currently have more than four dogs may be forced to walk their dogs separately, find alternative dog walking areas or even be forced to re-home some dogs.

Reputable dog walking companies in the borough will also be hit by this ruling – potentially losing business and driving up their charges if they cannot walk as many dogs simultaneously. It has also been noted that this ruling would affect responsible as well as irresponsible dog owners/walkers equally.

There is an online petition to limit the maximum instead to six, that has already received over 600 signatures against this proposal. If 1,000 are collected then the petition can be presented at a council meeting and the ruling can be debated further.

[Update 06/04/2012] Separately, the government are also planning to clean-up our Royal Parks through on-the-spot penalties for littering, failing to clear up after dogs. The new laws are expected to start in July.

The TFL Cycle Security Plan includes improving security at stations that are plagued by the highest numbers of bicycle thefts – this is more of a problem in outer London. Surprisingly Twickenham, Richmond, Hampton Wick and Teddington all feature in the top 25 of bicycle theft volume (from over 700 stations). About 1,000 bicycles stolen each year in Richmond Borough. 40% of these within 400m of Richmond station.

Richmond Council in partnership with South West Trains will be providing a new secure, covered cycle park at Teddington station. These secure compounds offer a good value compromise between open parking (open also to thieves) and cycle lockers (take up too much space). Currently there is covered parking for over 100 bikes at the station – facilities inspired by the explosion in bicycle journey numbers in recent years.

The 3 new secure shelters will be built on platform 1 (ticket office side) and provide a new home for 30 bikes – being enclosed by a fence and accessed using a security gate (opened with a swipe card). Similar schemes have dramatically reduced theft and tampering of bicycles. The existing stands on this platform will remain.

Thanks to Richmond Cycling for the info – cycle users might like this site that is useful for those cycling in and around the borough & London.

Sadly though, Hair Associates opposite on The Causeway will be closing after many years serving their clients in Teddington due to issues with their lease agreement. The salon will close this Wednesday, 29th February and most team members will be transferring to the Twickenham branch.

This comes as many local businesses are bracing themselves for the 5.6% increase in business rates this April.

As It Is stock is currently all on offer to clear all stock – owners will soon be changing to sell exclusively shoes under the new name “Heels for Leather“.

Canta Napoli has lost its appeal to overturn their refused planning permission for the altered shop-front and have now been told by Richmond Council to put shop front back how it was previously.

After a long absence following the fire that destroyed the shop and customer items in Pearl dry cleaners, this unit is currently being refurbishment to re-open again soon as the same dry cleaning business.

Hamptons International is now open for business (where Field Goulding was situated previously) and are offering a free bespoke marketing package for new instructions before the 31st March.

“Caffe Teddington” will be opening in 4 weeks in the empty site (previously Litho 130 printers) and not replacing Elli’s Fine Foods as previously reported.

Marks & Spencer has applied for extended licensing hours which will probably equate to longer general opening hours – until 11pm most days and 10:30pm on a Sunday.

Work still continues on the new Travelodge – latest estimates are that it will be opening in mid-April with the restaurant/apartments being ready for June. The Council decision to deny the change of use for this block from office space to apartments was overturned and billboards advertising the nine luxury apartments area ready displayed on site. There are currently three restaurants interested in taking on the restaurant space.

Johnsons Shoes are celebrating their 60th anniversary this year! This small family owned chain of nine stores started in Teddington in 1952 and has been going strong ever since.

Richmond Council are investing the money into improving various aspects of the centre including tiles, paintwork, changing room lockers and benches.

Visitors to the centre will also benefit from improved ventilation and changes made to ceilings, walls and windows that will all help save energy and regulate temperature.

Councillor Pamela Fleming “The refurbishment is welcome news for its members and anyone interested in looking to improve their health and fitness.

I would also encourage residents with injuries to try the hydrotherapy pool. It’s a wonderful asset and one of a kind in London in that it can be accessed by the public without a referral.”

The centre offers a range of membership schemes with no minimum contract: from over 60′s swim-only discounts, gym/fitness centre only or swim-only rates (£38/£25 a month respectively) up to gold membership for £45 a month which includes unlimited access to the pool, fitness suite, as well as classes at this and other sites.

Another stretch of the high street will be worked on by Thames Water now from the 7th until the 10th of February – potentially creating more tail backs during busy times.

In addition to this, unfortunately yet more work is required on the railway bridge roundabout because the previous additional repair & rebuild did not meet the council’s required standards after it was replaced during bridge strengthening work.

Locals might feel history repeating itself – several years ago the same roundabout was moved several times due to long vehicles such as buses finding it difficult to manoeuvre around the raised roundabout.

Council contractor Conway Ltd will carry out these works between 9:30am and 4pm from Monday 13th February 2012 at the junction of Broad Street, High Street and Park Road. Weather permitting, the work should take one week.

During this time, traffic management will be put in place to prohibit right-turns into Park Road (from Broad Street) – instead road users should cut down The Causeway or find alternative routes. Parking restrictions will be in place nearby and cars parking in “no waiting” areas may be towed away.

The company is currently recruiting to fill a variety of positions for the new restaurant. As with all Carluccio’s, management positions include incentives such as trips to Italy as part of the package!

The reasons for the closure of Belmont Bakery have recently become clear – the owner has been fined £10,000 for hygiene breaches and ordered to pay £6,000 in costs for the case. The bakeries in this small chain have now been closed after a bankruptcy notice was served in November. Food hygiene regulations were found to be seriously breached after surprise inspection following a tip-off by a resident.

Ellis’s has left the high street and are now concentrating on private catering and cakes for special occasions. This newly launched business will launch in February. This unit won’t be empty for long though because in it’s place “Teddington Cafe” will be opening in 6 weeks.

The lawn-mower shop on Stanley Road has now disappeared as mysteriously as it opened and Midnight Movies on Kingston Road is now also closed. Oakleys furniture store looks like it now has new owners and has been rebranded “Furniture Outlet” – with mostly the same stock on sale.

“Higher Space” has opened in one of Teddington’s oldest buildings, above BoHo boutique, offering various treatments and classes including yoga, meditation, reiki healing, chakra balancing, acupuncture and various types of massages. Contact higherspace@rocketmail.com for more info or to book any treatments.

If you haven’t yet done so, you can visit the Teddington Constitutional Club as a guest. The club is a hidden gem on Stanley Road, just off Broad Street. The private club has many amenities include a large bar, lounge area, function room (for hire), pool table, dart board and three full-size snooker tables. Various events are held regular including DJ Ann Taylor’s Northern Soul Nites on Thursdays.

New architects practice Fletcher Crane have revealed plans and artists impressions for the new £450,000 community hall which will be funded through a combination of insurance money and donations.

The timber-framed design was developed with input from consultations with the Church’s congregation and local community and will meet the various requirements that include optimising natural light, security and maintenance.

The plans are now online and are attracting some comments that highlight that the striking modern design might not be in keeping with character of the surrounding area and “more like a modern office than a church hall“. If given the go-ahead, work will start on the project in June 2012.

Another artists impression has been created, this time for the replacement clubhouse for Teddington Rugby Club & Teddington Town Cricket Club – designed with the rugby club’s recent success in mind as a replacement for a much-loved but ageing building.

The fund-raising for this project is ongoing but at the last published update was well over £100,000 from various events and private donations. The club hope to achieve the remaining £150,000 through funding, grants and corporate donations.