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Wimbledon Guardian review of the year 2012 (From Wimbledon Guardian)
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Wimbledon Guardian review of the year 2012
5:00am Tuesday 1st January 2013 in News
Little League football in the borough was threatened with closure after Merton Council said they would no longer subsidise free sport for 430 children each week
The past twelve months have been a mixed bag and our review of the year looks back on just some of the things to hit the headlines in 2012.
JANUARY
We said: “It is only a matter of time before AFC Wimbledon and MK Dons are drawn to play each other, whether in league or cup competition.”
Little did we know the confrontation would occur less than a year later, when the two teams faced each other for the first time in December.
Dr Ravi Sondhi withdrew the money from Croydoc, a private company providing out-of-hours GP care to Merton patients. His clinic in Morden was shut 83 times in less than a year when his wife, also a GP, failed to turn up for shifts.
After Dennis Brown’s headstone went missing, his family was told it had been moved to another plot in London Road cemetery, Mitcham, where he had actually been buried in 2004. Merton Council said the stone had been inscribed with an incorrect grave number.
FEBRUARY
The organisers of the five leagues were told they would have to pay £5,000 a year to use council-run parks, having been charged nothing for 40 years before.
The council had cited “extreme budget constraints” but, following an outcry by parents and councillors, dropped the idea.
Barry Hughes left Matthew Jeeves with horrific facial injuries after attacking him in Canterbury Road in the early hours of New Years Day in 2008.
Crucial DNA evidence used to convict Hughes came from his mother’s shoes, which had Jeeves’ blood on them.
Celestina Mba, a children’s care worker from Mitcham, lost a lawsuit she took to an employment tribunal in which she claimed discrimination against her religion.
The 57-year-old worked at Brightwell Children’s Home, Morden, until June 2010.
MARCH
Councillor Agatha Akyigyina made the comments during a council schools committee meeting, which was discussing figures which shows black children were excluded at a rate high than the national average. Coun Akyigyina has never retracted or explained her comments since.
The teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted by Wimbledon Magistrates court for holding an imitation firearm in July 2011 while boarding the 200 bus in Fair Green, Mitcham.
Merton police said the teen was identified by a member of the public who recognised his picture in an appeal featured in this newspaper.
Tony Burcombe and Lara Sparrow were treasure hunting with metal detectors, when they came across the explosive, which had no locking pin.
The area used to be an army training ground during the Second World War.
APRIL
The revelation was made after the Wimbledon Guardian discovered not one of the 20 torchbearers parading through Merton had any connection to the borough - so the Wimbledon Guardian decided to organise its own in Mitcham.
Half a million litres of clean water went straight down the drain during a hosepipe ban.
The leak outside a block of Merton Priory Homes-owned block of flats in Seddon Road, Morden, was reported to Thames Water on January 7 but only fixed after we reported it on April 20.
Councillor Peter Walker was dismissed from his cabinet position for “wholly acceptable conduct” towards campaigners against the redevelopment of Dundonald Primary School.
MAY
Alessia Boschiazzo, a student at Ursuline High School, Wimbledon, died after suffering head injuries and a broken pelvis in February 2011.
Stephen Saunders, 22, Gardeners Close, Mottingham torched his car after fleeing the scene in Addiscombe, Croydon.
NHS bosses revealed plans to axe A&E and maternity services at St Helier Hospital.
The recommendations by the Better Services, Better Value (BSBV) were branded as “disgusting” by Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond and “absolutely outrageous” by Mitcham and Morden MP Siobhain McDonagh.
The plans were due to go to a three-month public consultation, which, to date, has never taken place.
Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the school as part of this year's Diamond Jubilee celebrations and enjoyed a British picnic themed lunch.
The royal couple were joined by some of South London’s ‘achievers’ and all 13 borough mayors including former Mayor of Merton, Councillor Gilli Lewis-Lavender before unveiling a plaque to mark the visit.
JUNE
The Wimbledon-based karate teacher also worked as a lookalike of comic book hero Wolverine.
Debbie King paid £10 to park in Hartfield Road, Wimbledon, and said “bureaucracy seems to have gone mad” after the council refused to acknowledge she had honestly tried to pay a ticket, which had become damp by rain.
Surrey batsman Tom Maynard was struck by the first District Line train at about 5am on June 19 after fleeing on foot in Arthur Road. His death sparked at outpouring of sorrow from the cricket community.
JULY
Sue Barker, Andy Murray, Venus Williams and Capital FM radio presenters Dave Berry and Lisa Snowden were just some of the celebrities to carry the torch through Merton along with dozens of deserving residents selected by the London 2012 organising committee.
The event was organised by charity Street Athletics which was founded by Christie and ex-sprinter Darren Campbell to help children overcome barriers preventing them from reaching their ambitions.
The annual income of the bus lane in Hartfield Road, Wimbledon, had been estimated at £110,000.
AUGUST
Stuart Hazell, 37, has been charged with her murder and is due to enter a plea at the Old Bailey on March 8 with a trial, should he plead guilty, expected in May.
Wimbledon’s Olympic athletes shone as Olympic fever hit the country. Rower Sophie Hosking, a former Wimbledon Guardian paper girl, took home gold in the women’s double lightweight sculls with partner Kat Copeland, earning her the honour of having a Royal Mail post box painted gold outside Elys in Wimbledon town centre.
It featured Merton’s deserving community heroes including a belly dancing grandmother, two former Olympians and a 30 year old woman born with spina bifida who was told she wouldn’t live past childhood.
SEPTEMBER
Tiya Chauhan, 18 months, was taking part in a sensory game exploring touch and feel at the Dickie Birds nursery in Wimbledon when the tragedy happened.
She was rushed to St Georges Hospital but later died.
The investigation is ongoing.
The Queen guitarist was at the Lonesome Primary School in Grove Road to talk to children about humane ways of dealing with an ongoing problem of foxes coming into their school grounds.
The well known animal rights activist founded the Save Me charity that lobbies to end cruelty to animals for sport.
Annette Creegan, 41, from Beechholme Avenue, Mitcham was found in the River Bure in Norfolk on September 2, along with her partner John Didier, 41.
The mother had worked as a nurse at the Trinity Hospice in Clapham.
An inquest into their deaths is due next year.
OCTOBER
The plans, received by Merton Council, featured designs for a 15,000 seat football stadium, 500 homes and leisure facilities.
Matt Edwards helped write, film and produce horror film South of Sanity with a 21-strong crew whilst working as a medical officer at the Rothera Research Base for the British Antarctic Survey Medical Unit in Antarctica.
Gloria Knowles, 71, was attacked after she went into her the garden to feed her daughter's dogs.
She died from shock caused by a blood haemorrhage as a result of the attack.
Five dogs, including two French mastiffs, were seized by police following her death.
NOVEMBER
Alan Ansell, 78, from Crown Lane, Morden, served in the Korean War and the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya in the 1950s and received two medals which were stolen during a break-in a year after receiving them.
More than a half century later Mr Ansell was helped to submit a legally binding document to confirm the theft and was reunited with replacement medals.
Brian Mudziwapasi, 19, admitted firing at the three police officers in Morden Road, Mitcham, on the evening of February 21 after refusing to be stopped and searched.
Seydou Diarrassouba, 18, from Phipps Bridge, Mitcham bled to death outside Foot Locker in London’s Oxford Street after he was stabbed twice in the chest on December 26, 2011.
Jermaine Joseph, 23, who used to live in Mitcham but who moved to Conway Road in Haringey in April 2011, had been charged with the teenager’s murder alongside Thulani Thomas Khumalo, 20, from Etherley Road in Haringey.
Both were cleared of murder and manslaughter following a four week trial at the Old Bailey.
DECEMBER
Five years ago, the gap in average life expectancy was reported by Merton Council as eight years.
A two-year investigation failed to uncover how a skeleton came to be found in Mitcham Common.
A man was discovered near Red House Road in January 2011 by scrap metal hunters.
An inquest at Westminster Coroner’s Court recorded an open verdict.
Thieves broke in to a charity and stolen presents set for children of families in need.
Workers at Home Start in Colliers Wood said they were have been left shattered 71 carefully wrapped presents were stolen.
Barbara Cluer, director, said rubbish bags were emptied on to the floor and used to steal the gifts.
