Thanks to a series of special workshops at Chichester’s Pallant House Gallery, art is helping a young woman from Bognor Regis regain her confidence following a horrific attack in 2009 which left her wheelchair bound...

Carefully turning the pages of her treasured sketchbook, Lizzie Wingate is full of enthusiasm about textiles and her love for ‘bling’, both of which will feature in an artwork to mark the end of her college course.

Warm, chatty and blessed with a lovely smile, Lizzie is passionate about art and from the well-thumbed, bulging sketchbook it is evident she spends hours on her ideas and is constantly inspired.

But it is only in the last two years Lizzie has discovered her creative side. Three years ago she was the victim of a devastating assault in a Worthing nightclub which has changed her life irrevocably. At the time she worked with children with special needs at The Angmering School. Designated driver, she had driven herself and a group of friends into town for a night out. That evening she accidentally knocked into a woman who in response launched a horrific assault on her, hitting her head against a concrete pillar and then stamping on her back while wearing stiletto shoes.

The assault - for which no one has ever been brought to court- has changed Lizzie’s life irrevocably. She now suffers epileptic fits on a regular basis, and now depends on a wheelchair to get around.

“Obviously I can’t drive now, so I have lost that bit of independence, I have to have carers 24/7, one of my best friends Georgina does a lot of my caring, and my benefits have just been reduced by £100 a month, so it’s quite stressful and it’s hard work,” she explains.

She admits she does get low at times, especially during periods of bad weather when she is unable to get out and about and for a long time after the attack Lizzie felt too scared to go out, and still suffers flashbacks of what happened that night.

She was encouraged to apply for an access course in art at Chichester College and from that she was introduced to Pallant House Gallery’s community programme which she says has helped turned her life around.

“I met people and gradually step by step I felt safe coming here,” she says. “If there is any problem I’ve only got to talk to people and they will help me. It’s great fun and I love it, I see it as a social thing too.”

Lizzie is part of the gallery’s Partners In Art programme, a fantastic project which brings together a volunteer and a person who needs extra support to help follow their mutual art interests.

She admires Henry Moore and Jann Hawarth’s Mae West work which hangs in the gallery, and enjoys meeting the other artists in her group. Being in the gallery there is always a lot of inspiration and the opportunity to share ideas, and she is a great fan of the gallery’s library.

Prolific and passionate in equal measure, Lizzie would like to go to university eventually but says after her college course she will be taking a break to get her health back on track.

Lizzie says she has benefited so much from the programme and is now one of the gallery’s most ardent volunteers, helping out at fundraising events and was even there last Saturday working with groups of children, and chatting to visitors.

In recognition of her fundraising contribution and her personal circumstances, this month Lizzie was presented with a special coffee machine by gallery sponsors De’Longhi, which will now give her more independence at home.

“It means I can make hot drinks now, which is fantastic,” she says. “Before I couldn’t because if I had an epileptic fit and had a kettle in my hand it would be a lot of hot water going everywhere - unless you are in a situation like mine you don’t realise.

“Little things like that make a big difference to my life, I can be a bit more independent, and it’s much safer for me.”

At home much of her time is spent working on her ideas which helps her cope with her health problems.

“The whole living room is full of art equipment, the problem is because I have to have everything at a low level it looks more messy,” she laughs. “I do find it therapeutic to sit there and now I can have a drink inbetween, I love it.”

Her next fundraising drive will be a sponsored silence with her friend, which she says will be hard as she loves chatting, but she says it will be for a great cause.

“I like to get involved with fundraising because of how much of a difference Pallant House has made to my life,” she says. “When I first started I was too scared to go out of the house, I came here and it was like coming to another home.”

]]> 1.3549432 Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:00:45 +0000 http://www.chichester.co.uk/final_call_to_businesses_across_chichester_midhurst_bognor_regis_and_littlehampton_for_nominations_to_the_observer_and_gazette_business_awards_1_3549347

A FINAL call is being made to firms across the area for this year’s Observer and Gazette Business Awards.

The deadline to place your nomination is Saturday, so don’t miss out on the chance to see either your own company shine or show your support for enterprising efforts during the past year.

With our biggest-ever tally of 19 categories for our 2012 awards, we have already seen a wide range of responses from businesses keen to promote their success amid testing times.

But we are eager to attract as diverse a mix of companies as possible to have the chance to be put forward for an accolade.

With awards up for grabs in everything from start-up firm of the year, medium business of the year, through to the lifetime achievement category, it is set to be another memorable event.

So if you are involved with a business across Chichester, Midhurst, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, don’t be shy in putting your companies forward.

This year’s awards will be capped off by a glitzy black-tie evening at the end of next month compered once again by ITV’s Fred Dinenage at the Hilton Avisford Park on Friday, March 30. As past winners have told us, gaining an award has had a significant impact for companies in terms of their marketing and the prestige that comes with claiming an independently-judged award.

Make your nominations online at www.josouthevents.co.uk to see all 19 categories or email jeanette.hockley@chiobserver.co.uk with your nominations- either for your own firm or other worthy candidates across our area.

MILLIONS of pounds worth of investment in a new John Lewis store for Chichester is fast taking shape in the city.

Located in Portfield Way on the site of the former MFI and Paul Simon outlets, it will be opening on Thursday, April 5, in time for the key Easter trading period.

As an At Home branch, its focus is on core electrical and furnishing goods, with additional ranges of travel and nursey products in response to customer feedback. There will also be cafe faciltiies at the two-storey store which features 350 car parking spaces. The launch day will feature live music performances and entertainment for customers.

Gavin Smith, occupation manager with the firm, is responsible for the final stage delivery of the project and believed it is well on course for completion.

He said: “We are on target for the store opening before Easter trading in April. It has had its challenges due to it having previously been two stores that we are creating ours from. Once the construction work is finished we will be doing the final shop work in eight days, which includes moving £3m worth of stock in just three days.

“Each shop has its own design elements which make it different from others in the group and in Chichester’s case that is in the layout of its escalator and some different offerings including nursery and travel goods.”

Branch manager Claire Dunkason is joining from her present role at the retailer’s Poole store and will shortly be joined by her team of around 140 employees next month.

She said: “I am so excited that we are going to be openign in just a few weeks time. For me this is all about the people that work here and they will be working at other stores including Southampton in the month before we open so they will familiarise themeselves with the company.”

Computer terminals in the branch will allow shoppers to browse the wider johnlewis.com assortment including fashion, beauty and carpets and order for home delivery or next day collection at the shop via the retailer’s ‘click and collect’ service.

This allows customers to order products from johnlewis.com before 7pm and collect them at the branch after 2pm the following day or opt for home delivery.

Advertiser’s announcement

AN online business directory has hit out at unethically placed listings and reviews in the West Sussex area.

Find It, powered by Qype, Europe’s leading consumer reviews site, has cut thousands of misleading or malicious reviews from its 13.5 million online listings.

Taking a tough stance on third parties who abuse online reviews, Find It and Qype have taken down over two thousand fake reviews in the last month. Around three per cent of new reviews have been deleted since the partnership declared war on unethical listings.

With a new review appearing every 30 seconds on everything from hostels and tourist attractions to hairdressers and minicab companies, Find It and Qype have implemented a continuous campaign to keep the directory clean and ensure all business listings and reviews for West Sussex are accurate and fair.

Find It, powered by Qype, is committed to stopping people who use its listings for financial gain, and aims to stamp out biased or unreliable reviews.

“Find It is the number one source for trusted local reviews and listings, and working with Qype we want to ensure every single listing is independent and impartial,” said Andy Prior, digital product manager at Johnston Press.

Find it, powered by Qype, gives immediate access to over two million independent reviews on everything from quirky cafés and clubs to plumbers and primary schools. Covering 166,000 locations worldwide, including thousands of real reviews on the best places to go in West Sussex, Find it powered by Qype is an indispensable guide for locals, at home or away.

SEB FECHER is jubilant after being selected for Sussex’s under-ten cricket squad.

He started playing cricket at an early age, mainly as a target for his cricket-mad older brother Dom, who himself has been selected this year for the county’s under-13 Western Warriors.

Fecher is a member of Stirlands Cricket club at Birdham and first played for the under-12 team aged just seven. He batted against some of the under-ten county squad’s fast bowlers and survived!

Aged eight he became the leading wicket-taker in the Stirlands under-12 squad and won the much-coveted bowler-of-the-year prize.

Last September he was put forward by his club for selection into the Western Warriors Sussex county area squad. He was one of 20 local players to be selected for development training last autumn.

From these sessions the Sussex selectors invited him to go for the full under-ten county trials along with 25 other boys from across East and West Sussex and he attended three selection afternoons in January at the Sussex CCC HQ in Hove. Dad Nick said: “He was lucky enough to be selected as one of the final 16 to be in the playing squad for 2012. He is delighted to have been chosen.

“Without the dedicated coaching he has received from his coaches at his club Stirlands and at his school, Westbourne House, he couldn’t have got this far.”

Stirlands are keen to recruit new players for their under-12 team for 2012. Anyone interested should call Dan Oliver on 07920 887093.

Fecher is not the only West Sussex prospect called up by Sussex CCC. They have announced their junior squads for all ages and West Sussex is well-represented.

Under-tens’ west players: Seb Fecher, Ben Hawkes, Michael Kirby Bott.

Under-11s: John Norman.

Under-12s: Josh Wood, Nick Smith.

Under-13s: Nick Oxley, Jacob Temple.

Under-14s: Jay Hartard, Ryan Maskell, Jamie Piper.

Under-15s: Beck Hemingway, Dominic Keats, Mason Crane, Harry Isted.

A DYSLEXIC cleaner at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester who left school without any qualifications is flying through her studies 20 years later.

Rosie Mills, who has spent her adult life struggling with basic reading and writing, is now gaining qualifications for her work – and getting a ‘real buzz’ out of learning.

The 49-year-old (pictured on the right with Carol Mainhardt, domestic services manager), who began working as a cleaner at St Richard’s in the mid-1980s, took her NVQ Level I in Cleaning and Support Services in 2003.

“I had never had any qualifications before, but I will be doing more,” said Rosie, who lives in Chichester.”

“It is a real buzz, and when you have got a taste for it you want to carry on. I was nervous about doing qualifications, but my reading and writing are much better now – it wasn’t easy for me at all but it really helps me outside of work.”

This was the first time she had studied for a qualification in her adult life, and she has now gone on to complete a range of Skills for Life courses at Chichester College.

With help from her employer, Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, Rosie has already begun the NVQ Level II in Cleaning and Support Service Skills at the college and is planning more study to boost her reading and writing skills still further.

In December she was nominated for an employee star award by the trust and health bosses have described her as ‘a real inspiration’.

Joanne Hauffe, learning and development nurse, said: “We know some of the courses were not easy for Rosie, but her positive attitude means she has made real progress.”

A CHARITY in Sidlesham is helping vulnerable members of society by donating bedding to an organisation which supports homeless people.

Brent Lodge Bird and Wildlife Trust receives numerous donations of duvets, towels, sheets and sleeping bags, some of which it cannot use for the animals.

To stop them being wasted it has formed a partnership with Hunston charity Stonepillow, and transferred to it any good-quality bedding it is unable to use. In return, Stonepillow will be taking along all its newspapers for use in the animal pens.

The link was the idea of Brent Lodge volunteer Danny Dawes who is now hoping to form links with other charities across the area to see how they can help each other in practical ways, for example by sharing equipment.

Last week Danny presented a pile of blankets, pillows and duvets to Kevin Bristow (pictured), senior project manager at the Old Glassworks in Chichester, run by Stonepillow.

“Everyone will benefit, it’s a win-win situation,” said Mr Bristow.

Mr Dawes said the initiative would help prevent waste, too. “There are so many things I come across which we can’t use that could be useful to other organisations. I want to bring charities together to see if we can work together, it will be for the good of all of us.”

To get involved, email brentlodge@yahoo.co.uk

PUBLIC exhibitions are being held in Sidlesham and Pagham to discuss the risks of flooding and erosion.

The Environment Agency (EA) is holding the exhibitions, in partnership with Arun District Council and Chichester District Council, to display the current risks which face the local coastline and surrounding areas.

The EA recognises local residents are concerned about recent increased rates of erosion in the area as well as the risk of flooding from within the harbour.

The exhibitions will show the community what the plans are for managing these risks into the future.

Officers from the EA, Arun District Council, Chichester District Council and Natural England will be available at the exhibitions so residents can ask any questions about flood and coastal erosion risks.

The exhibitions will be held on Monday and next Wednesday at St Ninians Church in Pagham, and also on Thursday, March 1 at Sidlesham Church Hall. The events will take place from 2pm-7pm each day.

Copies of an information booklet on the plans has been posted to residents who live directly on the beach or within the flood plain of the harbour.

The document can also be downloaded from the EA’s website and will be freely available to pick up at the exhibitions.

James Humphrys, Solent and South Downs area manager for the EA, said: “The changes we have seen around Pagham Harbour over the past ten years have been notable and difficult to predict.

“Following a great deal of study and analysis we now have detailed plans to manage the flood and erosion risks into the future that work with nature rather than against it.

“We appreciate that Pagham Harbour is a dynamic and fast-changing coastal area, so we have to be flexible with our approach.”

For more information visit www.environment-agency.gov.uk/paghamharbour or call 08708 506 506.

FIREFIGHTERS in West Sussex are reminding chip lovers to be vigilant as part of National Chip Week (February 20 to 26).

Almost 60 per cent of all accidental house fires in West Sussex are started in the kitchen, with the majority caused by unattended or careless cooking. Leaving a chip pan unattended for even a short time can have disastrous results as the oil can easily overheat and ignite. A simple switch from the pan to the oven or a temperature controlled deep-fat fryer can help prevent the worst.

Community risk reduction officer, Jackie Boyle, said: “I’m sure chips will be on many people’s menus during National Chip Week. People assume that cooking chips in a pan of hot oil is a thing of the past, but we know from the incidents our crews attend that it’s still popular. Last month a lady in Crawley sustained serious burns attempting to tackle a chip pan fire which shows just how dangerous it can be.

“We’d recommend oven chips as a safer and healthier option, but if people do choose to fry then please ensure you stand by your pan - don’t be tempted to leave it unattended. If you are unlucky enough to have a chip pan fire, please don’t try and tackle it yourself, especially not with water, it could put your life in serious danger.”

Tips on frying safely:

. Most kitchen fires occur when people leave things unattended. Don’t get distracted while cooking, if you are called away from the cooker take pans off the heat

. Never fill a chip pan (or other deep-fat fryer) more than one-third full of oil

. Consider using a thermostatically controlled deep-fat fryer - this will ensure that the fat does not get too hot

. Test it Tuesday – fit a smoke alarm on each level of your home and don’t forget that weekly test!

If a pan catches fire:

. Don’t move it – it is likely to be extremely hot

. Turn off the heat if it’s safe to do so – but never lean over a pan to reach the controls

. Don’t use water on a chip pan fire – the water reacts with the oil creating a potentially lethal fireball

. Don’t use a fire extinguisher on a pan of oil – the force of the extinguisher can spread the fire

. If you have put the fire out, leave the pan to cool completely.

WEST Sussex raider Jon Charlton has finally shaken off his dose of snooker semi-finalitis.

Victory in the Cuestars South of England Championship Tour event at Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon, ended a run of last-four exits in all four of his previous outings.

And Charlton, who made a 205-mile round trip from Bognor, is now top of the rankings after three of the six legs.

The Aldwick Royal British Legion cueman won all three round-robin matches in Group C and accounted for Group B runner-up Dominic Holmes (Sovereign SC, Farnborough) 3-1 in the quarter-finals.

After dispatching Group D winner Kane Grigg, from Landywood Snooker Club in Walsall, 3-1, he overcame Reading ace Martin Wallace by the same score in the final. Charlton, who posted the day’s top break of 63, pocketed £75 prize money.

The fourth leg of the Cuestars Championship Tour events is on Sunday, February 26, at Salisbury Snooker Club.

ARTS editor Phil Hewitt is now counting down to the hours to the Tokyo Marathon...

Possibly my favourite marathon moment came in my second London Marathon, a mile from a finish which seemed never to get any closer.

I was at my lowest ebb, every step was agony, confusion had long since squeezed out whatever common sense I had left.

Maybe I had got the hydration wrong, maybe it just wasn’t my day.

But something was seriously up, and I knew I had to get help from somewhere. Or someone.

And that’s the glory of the London Marathon. There are plenty of people to choose from, hundreds of thousands of them lining the route that takes you to the finish.

My good fortune is that I chose exactly the right person, a little angel of a lad, resplendent in his St John Ambulance uniform, standing on the corner as you turn into Parliament Square.

By now I was in last-resort territory. That resort was to thrust my chest towards randomly-selected bystanders in the hope that they would shout out the name emblazoned across my chest.

And, boy, did I pick the right boy in that ghastly moment.

“Come on, Phil”, he shouted, right in my face, and who knows, that might just have been enough.

But the little sweetheart instantly added: “Phil! Phil! You can still win this!”

OK, a little tear still comes to my eye when I think about it ten years later.

It was the most absurd thing to say. Completely bonkers.

But it was also absolutely the right thing to say. I smiled, I laughed and I floated.

New energy in my aching limbs, I made it through that final mile and was still grinning as I crossed the line.

I was sickly blue in the lips, deathly pale in the face, but grinning from ear to ear.

The actual winner had won an hour and a half earlier, but the little boy had been right. In my own terms, I could still win it and I did.

Whenever (not often!) my love of marathons wobbles, I think back to that glorious moment – one which sums up not just the insanity of marathon running, but also its humanity, not just its horrible lows, but also its off-the-top-of-the-scale highs.

That little boy will never know what he did for me that day, but ten years on, this Sunday morning (February 26) as I stand on the start line at the Tokyo Marathon, I will be thinking of him, cherishing the memory of a moment right up there in the annals of my running history.

Tokyo will be my 26th marathon and will come at the end of an important week for me.

Last Friday, my book {http://www.summersdale.com/book/2/569/keep-on-running|Keep On Running} was sent off to the printers by the superb team at Summersdale publishing in Chichester.

Summersdale picked out exactly the right passage from the book for the blurb on the back: “Marathons make you miserable, but they also give you the most unlikely and the most indescribable pleasures.

“It’s a world that I love – a world unlocked when you dress up in Lycra, put plasters on your nipples and run

26.2 miles in the company of upwards of 30,000 complete strangers.”

And it’s that makes Tokyo on Sunday so mouth-watering a prospect.

It’s a place I fell in love with last October when I joined a group of journalists for a look at the course, courtesy of the Tokyo Marathon Foundation.

Japan is a country which hits you right between the eyes with the most vibrant, the most intoxicating mix of sights and sounds and smells.

Tokyo is a place which grabs you and gets inside you, fast, fascinating and above all friendly - a city built on respect and on the warmest of welcomes.

As guests of the Tokyo Marathon organisation, we were treated with every courtesy by hosts ever eager to please and confident in the knowledge that they have got a rare treasure to reveal: a city which makes you walk taller, lifts the spirits and leaves you drunk on its atmosphere.

Everyone was intent on telling us that Tokyo was safe.

I took them at their word, plunging down dark alleys and side streets camera in hand, exploring the bright glitzy neon streets and enjoying unmolested the beautiful tranquillity of an early-morning run.

A self-confessed marathon bore and a veteran of 25 marathons in ten different countries, I like to think I know a good marathon course when I see one: Tokyo’s is a cracker, kicking off outside the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building before heading off through the dazzling night club district.

Then it reaches the perimeter of the Imperial Palace Gardens before heading for Ginza, Japan’s number-one high-end shopping district.

After that you plunge into the old town before wending your way to the finish at Tokyo Big Sight – a challenging course, but an excellent one, very much created with the sights in mind but also one geared towards the runners themselves, as its impressive 97 per cent finishing rate suggests.

So, I beg of you, dear reader: be my little boy this weekend.

The marathon starts at 9.10am on Sunday, which is ten past midnight UK time.

If any of you happen to be awake at that time, and at any time in the next few hours, shout out (or even mutter into your pillow): “Phil! Phil! You can still win this!”.

I promise you that it will make the world of difference to me half a world away.

The Silver Arrow racers are to race at the 2012 Goodwood Revival for the first time in nearly 75 years.

The iconic Mercedes-Benz W25, W125, W154 and W165, plus examples of the Auto Union Type C and Type D, will be in action at race-speeds, piloted by well-known top-level racing drivers.

Alongside the Silver Arrow racers will be many of the cars that competed against the dominant Mercedes-Benz and Auto Unions in the late 1930s – ERA, Maserati, Riley, Bugatti and MG – on the legendary Goodwood track.

Piloted by world-famous drivers, the Silver Arrows will stage a carefully choreographed ‘race’, alongside examples of the British and Continental ‘cannon fodder’ that raced against them in period – providing all the spectacle of a real race, but without risk to these priceless machines.

Low-speed demonstrations by individual Silver Arrows are an impressive sight, and this will be the first time so many of these mighty machines have been driven together at full racing speed since the Yugoslav Grand Prix, on September 3, 1939 – the day after the second world war broke out.

The cars will be housed in an authentic recreation of a period pit/paddock building.

HERE we are again in the world of ANIME, this time it`s all about gods and mega beings, ASURA`S WRATH (sounds like something you get after a chilli cook off) is a new game from CAPCOM and CYBER CONNECT 2 .

Like I have said before this is a game that is for the ANIME enthusiast, if you’re looking for something conventional then this is not the place for you, instead this title is more of a movie with some gameplay thrown in for good measure.

The story revolves around a character known as ASURA, a rootin` tootin` kick bottom DEMI-GOD ,betrayed by his fellow gods (usual story, these god`s can`t be trusted) and is thrown out of heaven, losing his wife and child into the bargain, and is resurrected centuries later, by the force of his anger, seeing what a mess the world is in ASURA becomes more agitated (this guy certainly has some issues) and embarks on a series of outrageous mega battles with other deities, resulting in some spectacular fight scenes.

This all takes place over a period of 12,000 years and you can imagine after being “stitched up” by his mates, having his wife murdered, and daughter kidnapped, ASURA is not in any mood to relax and move on.

In fact he runs about ranting and raving like a madman beating the living daylights out of any thing that gets in his way.

ASURA WRATH like many of the ANIME type games is story driven, which of course means many drawn out cut scenes, which are beautifully rendered and thought out, intercut with what I would describe as “Boss battles” ,certainly not conventional but very ANIME.

The game itself is 18 episodes long, each one consisting of opening credits and some really nice illustrations which make ASURAS WRATH more of an experience rather than a game, and there is plenty of variety in the game play even though it is mainly 10 minutes of “cut scene” and 5 minutes of “Boss battle”.

If you are looking for a conventional RPG then this isn`t for you and I am sure many gamers will feel a bit cheated by the lack of actual gameplay. In fact the whole thing is only 6 hours long, most of which is “cut scenes“.

This fusion of Science fiction and Asian mythology has been done before and the really over the top battle scenes certainly are very spectacular, it’s just a pity that the game doesn`t have more game play.

Granted the story is interesting, but is this a game or a DVD? For the price I do think there should be more interactivity, and I can imagine that many gamers will be hitting the “skip” button often after a few hours of play.

There will be DLC sometime in the near future but will it be more “cut scenes” or gameplay?

The actual gameplay itself is good and I enjoyed it with plenty of variety and a selection of different moves.

There are a number of QTE`s (quick time events) in which you are prompted to press certain buttons at certain times, but these really have no bearing on the outcome, just on you ratings at the end.

ASURA`S WRATH is a great game, if you are into the whole ANIME, Japanese crazy over blown action genre, otherwise be warned that if you are willing to fork out forty bucks or so, and expect an normal RPG then you will be disappointed.

It is refreshing to see companies that are willing to try something new, and push the boundaries, that is a healthy thing in the industry, this is a great concept but the lack of game play for the price will put many people off, it certainly is a great experience to behold but it should have been released on download with each level as a DLC to keep the cost down.

Summary

ASURAS WRATH is a game like no other, rich in story and beautifully animated, it would work as just a movie in itself, but to non ANIME lovers it would just be a bit long winded and lacking in game play.

If you are thinking of giving it a go just be aware that you will be sitting around watching more than playing, and it is not a very long experience for the money.

I give ASURA`S WRATH 8 out of 10 because it is another ground breaking and original idea but the lack of game play is off putting.

Asura`s Wrath

Developer: Cyber Connect 2

Publisher: Capcom

Xbox 360©

Playstation 3©

Genre: Action

Age Rating: 18

Release Date: 9th march 2012

Review by Dayvid Ryan

]]> 1.3544141 Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:57:29 +0000 http://www.chichester.co.uk/time_to_get_on_your_marks_for_chichester_corporate_challenge_1_3527870

With less than two weeks to go until the opening race of this year’s Chichester Corporate Challenge, entries are pouring in.

The three-night series starts on Wednesday, February 29, with further action on Wednesday, March 14 and Wednesday, March 28.

Having started on February 26, 1992, the event celebrates its 21st running this year with some 25,000 finishers having crossed the line in that time.

The first race was a seniors-only event attracting just over 200 runners, but there have been more than 600 finishers on each evening for the past couple of years.

There are now popular schools races which precede the main A and B senior races, but the format has remained much the same over the two decades.

It was always the aim of the organisers to attract not only faster club runners but novices and first-timers who would enjoy running with friends or work colleagues.

The front end of the A race has proved a competitive affair, with the course record falling first to steeplechase international Tom Buckner as early as 1992 with a 12min 53sec clocking for the 4,500m four-lap city centre circuit.

Since then the mark has fallen even further with Commonwealth Games 1,500m champion Michael East the current holder with a scorching 12min 39sec.

The most prolific winner has been Chichester’s James Baker, who was too young to run in the first few races but is the only athlete to achieve a clean sweep by winning all three races in a year, a feat he accomplished in 2009.

The first individual winners from 1992 are both expected to run this year.

Keith Toop is still representing a permanently-strong Waitrose squad who lifted the team trophy in the first two years.

In the women’s category Jane Harrop ran a speedy 14min 54sec in that first race, which still compares well with today’s winners.

Now a member of the Chichester club and well into the veteran ranks, Harrop will be looking to reproduce her fine cross-country form of late.

Local athletes will not have it all their own way as there’s sure to be a challenge from Portsmouth, Brighton and further afield.

In the women’s race the Midhurst duo of Emily Alden and the recent winner of the Sussex cross country championships, Emma MacReady, will be hard to beat if they line up, as will Worthing’s track international Rachel Ogden.

One of the attractions of the event is that fun runners can join up with club athletes to form teams, some with conventional names, others whose titles border on the eccentric. Last year IBM, Royal Mail and Chichester University Staff were doing battle with Cliffords Angels, Oddbins and the esoterically-titled Crouching Tiger Hidden Van outfit.

There will be fierce competition in the junior races – the girls’ secondary race is wide open with several of the Sussex team due to run. In the boys’ secondary event, Harry Leleu, running for Seaford College, will be all out to claim the Year 10 boys’ record to add to the Year 9 mark he set in 2011.

Getting the evenings off to a frenetic start will be the primary races with some 100 boys and girls charging round the two-lap 1,400m course. Spectators will be welcome to line the streets during the series.

Full details of how to enter and race programme are available at Chichester-corporate-challenge.org.uk or from the Chichester Runners noticeboard at Westgate Leisure, Chichester. Queries can also be made to race organiser Phil Baker at philbaker5@btinternet.com

]]> 1.3527870 Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:15:19 +0000 http://www.chichester.co.uk/architectural_importance_means_windows_plan_is_refused_1_3529230

A CHICHESTER city-centre shop has lost an appeal to replace its front windows because of the impact it would have on the architectural importance of the listed building.

Between the Lines, at 79 North Street, made two applications, both retrospective to replace the windows at the front the shop, but they were refused because it would have ‘a harmful impact on the special architectural and historic interest of the listed building and on the character and appearance of the conservation area’, according to the appeal inspector.

The two applications were refused by Chichester District Council in September because they were to the ‘detriment of the character and appearance of the Grade II Listed Building’.

The appeal inspector, J Armstrong said: “There are other shop windows in the vicinity which are not sub-divided but equally there are many, including some very similar to the appeal premises, which are, and which have thereby succeeded in retaining or reviving a more traditional appearance.

“While it has been argued that the change was necessitated by the use of thicker glass for security reasons, other premises appear to have resolved this matter and indeed I note that the sub-divisions have been retained in the other window of the appeal premises which fronts the adjoining alley.

“My finding is that the unauthorised alteration, while small, has a harmful impact on the special architectural and historic interest of the listed building and on the character and appearance of the Conservation Area.

“I find no public benefit to weigh against this harm which could justify the alteration.

“It is therefore contrary to policies in the Chichester District Local Plan First Review (1999), particularly BE5 which requires alterations to listed buildings to be appropriate in design and BE6 which refers to the need for shop fronts to accord with the character and appearance of the Conservation Area.”

Premier League Wolverhampton Wanderers are eyeing up Brighton’s Gustavo Poyet as a potential replacement for recently sacked Mick McCarthy.

The Black Country outfit had interviewed Alan Curbishley, Neil Warnock and Steve Bruce but were left having to widen their search after all three turned their backs on the job.

Reading’s Brian McDermott is also believed to also be on the Molineux club’s shortlist and is considered a more likely option than Poyet because of his greater experience in the second flight.

Poyet has previously said he would remain loyal to the Albion unless faced with an offer he considered too good to turn down.

However, with a relative inexperience in management and a CV which currently boasts a single promotion from League One, the popular boss is unlikely to be in the running for more high profile vacancies in the near future.

Online bookies SkyBet currently have Poyet as joint second favourite at 5/2 with McDermott at 9/4.

We much enjoyed this 2.5-mile (4kms) walk last week across National Trust heathland with fine views south to the Downs.

Parking is easy, off-road, in NT car park SU949187, one mile west of A285. Cross the road south into Lavington Plantation on Serpent Trail.

As the notice says, this is reclamation from dense pine cover returning the heath to heather, sand lizards, nightjars, Dartford warblers and sundew carnivorous plants, all of which are rare and endangered.

Stay ahead southeast by a water trough at path junction, ignoring the path which goes off west, and again the next one west. At that second junction, if you look west into the bracken you will see one of four or five Bronze Age tumuli sticking up. Amazing these sandy cemeteries are still there after 3,500 years.

This was good farming land for those tribes and they cultivated much of Sussex, including those areas we know today as ancient forest on the dip slope of the downs. We need their cattle back here on this heath today to get rid of the bracken, a tremendous conservation challenge for National Trust.

Arrive at cottages and Lower Barn. Note request on sign asking that dogs be controlled in bird-breeding season. Turn right on fingerpost passing ‘Equine Logistics’.

Note two vintage tractors and a fine holly hedge with ivy too – splendid breeding ground for that beautiful little butterfly the holly blue. Note also several green woodpecker holes in oaks.

Now sharp left between black post-and-rails for 350 yards, when, at rue, sharp right on fingerpost, noting the first of several large clumps of pendulous sedge in the woods ahead. Also rookery active, and marsh tits singing.

High stile, on to road, where turn right to follow this road through the hamlet of Upper Norwood, noting model sailing boat in window of first house.

Road sharp bend right and then down the dip where a fine exposure of the three-million-year-old sandstone bedrock to left. Also a large growth of polypody ferns on a bank on left too.

Take the second of two right turns off the road, yours opposite a new metal gate, and follow this damp woodland path downwards to a boggy area. After 500 yards you will come to a crossways of yellow arrows. Keep straight ahead, following the wire fence for 450 yards until you reach the second of two right turns, walking as you turn right between two Douglas firs.

Again hook right on to the long damp white sandy track southeast across the open heath. The track is also a streamway in which rare dragonflies breed, that is why it is not made up. It is OK for walking on though, and you may see the slot marks of muntjac deer as I did last week.

Eventually turn left back to car, noting as you do an oak sapling that has been tapped by a green woodpecker for the sap tannin which helps make its feathers iridescent. Hope it hasn’t tapped a hole in my wooden car.

* See the February 16 issue of the Observer to view a map of this walk.

A man has been charged with a series of burglaries of shops and industrial properties including a cake shop in Chichester.

Solomon Dixon, 22, of Wadhurst Gardens, Southampton, appeared before Chichester Magistrates Court on February 18 charged with eight burglaries and an attempted burglary and has been remanded to appear at Worthing Magistrates Court on March 13.

Dixon is charged with an attempted burglary at Patisserie Valerie at The Buttermarket, North Street, Chichester, as well as burglaries at Stead and Simpson and the West Cornwall Pasty Company in South Street, Worthing, overnight on September 14 and 15, 2011.

Other burglaries took place at Easy Lay Carpets, Tyre Express, Property Maintenance Services and Caterbake Packaging on a business park in Shripney Road, Bognor Regis and at Eurotek in Steyning Way, Bognor, between February 28 and March 3 last year.

There was also a burglary at Barnham Trading Post, Barnham on March 11, 2011.

]]> 1.3542393 Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:12:46 +0000 http://www.chichester.co.uk/police_candidate_monitoring_bnp_1_3524668

Elections to publicly appoint a police commissioner for the first time could turn into a gritty political battle after it emerged the British National Party (BNP) is planning to stand a candidate in Sussex.

Paul Richards, who is seeking the Labour nomination for the newly-created job, said if the far right party’s candidate was elected, it would be a disaster for community relations.

He warned residents to make sure they voted in the elections on November 15 to stop the BNP succeeding.

Mr Richards, an adviser to the last Labour government on community relations and counter-terrorism, has been monitoring the party’s websites in the county.

It is believed they plan to start campaigning on the streets of Emsworth and distributing leaflets.

“It is now clear the BNP is fundraising and organising to stand a candidate for police commissioner in Sussex,” he said.

“As a Labour Party candidate, I will stand against the BNP and argue for fairness and tolerance. But it will be down to the voters to turn out on election day to stop the BNP being elected.”

Each candidate requires 100 signatures, and a deposit of £5,000 to stand for the new posts, which replace the now-defunct police authorities. The police commissioners will have wide-ranging powers, including setting budgets.