thisissurreytoday - ZigZag Education

8
Mirror, Thursday May 6, 2010
Roofer is
fined for
poor work
A ROOFER who threatened a
family with violence when they
complained about poor work
has been prosecuted by Surrey
County Council Trading Standards.
Leslie Thompson’s firm Professional Roofing was hired to
lay three layers of felt on the
roof of a home in Reigate but the
job was done so badly the roof
leaked when it rained.
When the homeowners refused to pay up, Thompson, 38,
of Links Road, Ashtead, became
aggressive and threatened them
with violence.
Trading standards officers
hired a roofing expert who
found the job was unfinished,
badly done and only one layer of
felt had been laid when there
should have been three.
Thompson appeared at Guildford Crown Court on April 22
after admitting four charges
under the Consumer Protection
from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Thompson was fined
£4,000 with £1,500 costs.
Head of Surrey County Council Trading Standards Peter
Denard said: “Shoddy work
should not be tolerated and the
victims were quite right not to
pay up.
“Thompson’s threats and intimidation were inexcusable.”
After the verdict, the woman
householder, of Doods Road,
said: “As soon as it rained the
water poured in through our
roof. It was a joke.
“Afterwards, it cost us thousands of pounds to get the job
done properly by another contractor. Mr Thompson pushed
my husband and threatened to
beat up my son.”
Bandmates
hope this
really is
their
time
World Cup anthem writers want
fans to take their song to heart
By Owen Evans
owen.evans@essnmedia.co.uk
A FOOTBALL-MAD barbershop
quartet have backed England’s
World Cup bid by launching
their own anthem.
This Is Our Time is the
brainchild of Oxted barbers Rob
Allbeury, James Bicknell, Nick
Costin and Matt Harriman, who
also make up the band The Wot
Nots.
Four years ago, the talented
quartet made it to the semi-finals of The Sun’s World Cup
song competition – for Germany
2006 – with It Is There for the
Taking.
The dream for their latest effort is to have their song sung on
the terraces of Cape Town and
Johannesburg when the World
Cup starts in South Africa this
summer.
“It does exactly what it says on
the tin,” said Mr Allbeury, 42,
who manages Turn Styles, in
Station Road East, Oxted.
“We’ve got a really catchy
chorus but it isn’t too cheesy,
which is obviously important.
“We did really well four years
ago, and so we were really keen
to have another go for this year’s
competition.
Penalty spot
“I guess the dream is that we
hear This Is Our Time sung on
the terraces this summer.”
Inspiration for the song’s
music video – filmed in the pouring rain at Oxted’s Master Park
on Sunday – came from the national team’s success (or lack of
it) from the penalty spot in recent years.
Fancy dress-clad band members and supporters braved the
www.thisissurreytoday.co.uk
RSM-EO3-S2
FOOTBALL MAD: Rod Albeury and James Bicknell
by David Berman RSMdb021109D
Top chants
WORLD CUP DREAMS: Rob
Allbeury
ALL TOGETHER NOW: Fans of
the Wot Nots brave the rain
May rain to take turns scoring
from 12 yards at Oxted and District FC’s home ground.
Mr Allbeury added: “We came
up with the idea of the video after
watching the London Marathon
the other day.
“You could see that even people
in ridiculous fancy dress costumes could complete the race.
“We thought, ‘If you can do a 26mile race in fancy dress, surely
you can score from 12 yards.’
“Everyone knows England get
to the semi-finals before going out
on penalties, so we thought we’d
show them how it’s done.”
The song had its first airing on
BBC Surrey Radio over the weekend, shortly after the band finished filming in the rain.
For more information and to
listen
to
the
song,
visit
www.myspace.com/thewotnots
Rob Allbeury’s all-time
top 5 World Cup anthems.
1. England Squad and New
Order – World in Motion
(1990): with New Order and
Keith Allen.
2. Baddiel and Skinner and
The Lightning Seeds – Three
Lions 98 (1998): Originally
written for the European
championships in 1996.
3. England World Cup Squad
– Back Home (1970): Went
straight to number one in the
UK charts.
4. Fat Les – Vindaloo (1998):
A hooligans’ anthem which
barely mentions football.
5. Nessun Dorma – Luciano
Pavarotti (1990): A touch of
class to prop up the list.
World Cup poems seek to inspire pupils to learn
A RETIRED teacher is hoping to
harness children’s love of football to help them in the
classroom.
Former Brambletye School
teacher Bob Crittenden has created a book of World Cup-inspired poems for pupils and
teachers to use this summer.
Mr Crittenden, 65, has created
a poem for each of the 32 World
Cup nations, and hopes they will
help youngsters in Years 6 to 8
with their studies in history, geography, English and PE.
He said: “Each poem talks
about things to do with that country, its history, geography and
ON THE BALL: Bob Crittenden hopes his poetry book will inspire children
politics, and I hope they will open
like these Brambletye pupils
RSMdb210410C01 by David Berman
up discussions with football as
the means to do so.
“Most children really like football but there are some children
who get disaffected by school. If
you can give them something
that’s a bit different to do, they
really enjoy it and it can help
with their education.”
AFC Wimbledon season ticket
holder Mr Crittenden, who
taught for 43 years before retiring two years ago, created a
similar educational pack for the
last World Cup, which took place
in Germany in 2006.
Once the teams for this year’s
tournament had been finalised,
he got to work on creating his
latest poetry collection, Football
Culture 2010, The Poetry of World
Cup Football, which has been
published by Zig Zag Education.
Mr Crittenden, who now lives
in Berkshire, said: “It took me
around two months. We wanted
to make sure it was out in good
time because when we did it four
years ago we left it a bit late.
“I didn’t do any work until I
knew who the 32 teams were
though.”
As well as being enjoyed by
football-mad pupils, the poems
are intended to be used as a starting point for classroom discussions.
Mr Crittenden said: “Writing
the poems did involve a lot of
research and I hope the children
will read them and then go and
find out about people like Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela,
who appear in the South Africa
poem.”
Keen sportsman Mr Crittenden will be heading out to
South Africa this summer to stay
with another ex-Brambletye
teacher Rod Parvess.
He said: “I’ve never been to
South Africa and I’m looking forward to the whole experience. It’s
quite exciting.
“I hope England will do well
but you can never tell with
them.”
Bob’s ode to South Africa
Part of Bob’s ode to cup host South Africa
Come fans to mankind’s cradle
This Old World so chequered still.
To South Africa’s football feast
Thirty-two teams here to thrill.
Greatest honour, this football cup;
First time held on Africa’s shore
Our Rainbow culture shows the world
And the teams who’re in this draw.
Digging here for gold or diamonds,
Europeans improved our life.
As blacks and whites came together,
Poverty was not so rife.
Tutu and Mandela champion
Freedom and fair play for all.
Cape Town’s waterfront pays tribute;
Robben Island’s proud recall...
...Whistles blow to come together
All united in our play!
Let’s show skill and strive for glory,
Now, South Africa our day.