Surrey weekly round-up: 18 May - 24 May 2024
Thorpe Park The story about the tallest rollercoaster in the UK opening at Thorpe Park in Surrey proved a popular read this week.
A variety of local issues featured on the BBC News website, BBC Radio Surrey and BBC South East Today.
We have picked five stories from the past week in case you missed them.
Chief nurse remembers arrival in 'freezing' UK
ST GEORGE’S, EPSOM AND ST HELIER UNIVERSITY HOSPITALSA award-winning chief nursing officer from Surrey has described her first weekend in the UK in “freezing” hospital accommodation with no lights.
Arlene Wellman MBE said she arrived from Trinidad on a Friday night in 1996 and had “no-one to turn to all weekend”.
She said previous tenants had taken light bulbs with them, leaving her in the dark and cold and with accommodation offices closed for the weekend.
The St George’s, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals and Health Group, where Prof Wellman is chief nurse, is launching an app to pair new arrivals up with a colleague to help them settle into life in the UK.
New evidence uncovered on cello and nightingale
One hundred years ago today, the BBC broadcast a live duet from a wood in Surrey between cellist Beatrice Harrison and a nightingale that sang as she played.
Doubts have long been cast on the authenticity of the recording, with claims that a bird impressionist was brought in for the landmark performance.
However, a BBC Radio 3 documentary, due to be broadcast on Sunday evening to mark the centenary, claims to have uncovered evidence to counter suspicion.
Presenter, writer and musician Kate Kennedy, told BBC Radio Surrey that archived letters and unpublished accounts "proved beyond a shadow of a doubt" it was real.
Anger over carbon monoxide escape from restaurant
Michael ReevesA council said residents could have died after a restaurant was fined for carbon monoxide escaping into flats above it.
One of the residents who went to hospital after the incident at Okra Lounge, in Station Approach, West Byfleet, also claimed he “could have been killed”.
Woking Borough Council said if it wasn't for carbon monoxide detectors in the resident's homes, “the case could have been much more serious, potentially resulting in fatalities”.
Okra Lounge Ltd, which runs the restaurant, has been approached for comment.
Secamb to pool resources with neighbouring trusts
PA media The South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) has announced a collaboration with four of its neighbours in a bid to drive down costs and improve patient care.
It will work with the East of England Ambulance Service, the London Ambulance Service, the South Central Ambulance Service and South Western Ambulance Service.
Called the Southern Ambulance Services Collaboration, the trusts will pool resources in areas such as buying equipment and training staff.
The specifics of the collaboration are still being finalised.
Leap of faith for vicar with a fear of heights
Rev Anna MooreA vicar from Surrey with a fear of heights is set to take a leap of faith with a charity skydive.
Rev Anna Moore will drop from 12,000ft (3,657m) over Headcorn, Kent, on 25 May while strapped to an instructor.
And while she admits to "more than a few nerves," she is hoping her descent will raise a healthy sum – and awareness of her church, St Matthew’s in Redhill.
She said: "Obviously I’m a tad apprehensive, but I wanted to do something to raise awareness – as well as money – for all our team is doing."
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