August 2009 Archives

A FURTHER £80,000 has been allocated as part of the council's ward budget initiative. Spending has been approved for several new projects, although there is still £384,500 available until the end of December. The new projects are shown by ward, which each have £25,000 to spend.

ONE couple turned back the clock by celebrating their silver wedding anniversary with a 70s disco party.

Shaun and Julie Coker, of Grosvenor Avenue, Hayes, were joined by many friends and family last Saturday to celebrate the occasion.

Their 25th anniversary marked the date when they got married at St Peter's and Paul's Church, in St Peter's Way, Harlington, in 1984.

Their guests included best man Neil Coker, bridesmaids Jane Farrell, Tracy Coker and Tina King as well as page boy Tony Martin.

The couple have three children, Donna, 22, Joanne, 20, and Craig, 17, and over 100 guests attended the celebrations.

A MOTORCYCLIST has been killed in a crash in Hayes.

Police are appealing for witnesses following the collision in Yeading Lane just after 4.30pm yesterday (10).

The 48-year-old rider of the motorcycle from north London was pronounced dead at the scene.

The police are waiting for formal identification and confirmation that all next of kin have been informed before they release his name.

The car invovled in the crash - a pale green Peugeot 206 - stopped at the scene and the 35-year-old driver of the car was arrested and taken to a west London police station where she remains in custody.

Officers from the Collision Investigation Unit at Alperton are investigating.

Anyone who witnessed the collision should call police on 020 8998 5319.

Did you see the crash or did you know the motorcyclist? Post your comments and tributes below.

AN MP and councillors are rallying support to stop a fifth betting shop coming to Hayes town centre.

CAGE fighting is undisputedly one of the fastest growing sports on the planet. A club in Cowley is now ready to take on the challenge of training the up and coming fighters with their new cage - the first one in the whole of Middlesex. Charlene Mitchell talks to instructor Ian Morgan ahead of the opening of the club this weekend.

WITH mixed martial artist (MMA ) Michael Bisping leading the way for UK fighters in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) many dream of following in his footsteps.

To help these dreams come true, two well accomplished fighters, Ian Morgan and Andy Jardine, have set up their own club, Ronin MMA, at Panthers Gym, in Packet Boat Lane, Cowley.

As well as teaching MMA, the club is also very keen to train men, women and children in whichever martial art they are interested in - and they even do boxing too.

Mr Morgan, who lives in Phelps Way, Hayes, has a long history of fighting in judo and kickboxing championships all over the world, and he has even tried his hand at jiu-jitsu.

The 38-year-old said: "We don't want people to think it's all about cage fighting and getting your face smashed in. We want them to know they can come here safely and learn a sport and if they want to go into the cage they can do but not until we get them to a level where we feel they are ready for it.

"Including myself we have got seven high level instructors who all have dan grades in various martial arts. We are also affiliated with the World Association of Kickboxing Organisations (WAKO), the British Judo Association and the Amateur Boxing Association. The other guys who do grappling have also got other affiliations.

"We cover all the main sports so people can learn to become the ultimate MMA fighter.

"MMA is only for the men because we don't want to promote women into that sport but if a woman really wanted to do it then we would."

Mr Morgan runs the club with his business partner Andy Jardine, from Hounslow, who has also been running a company called Extreme Brawl for 10 years.

Mr Morgan said: "He has trained a lot of our fighters himself and now all those guys have got somewhere to train.

"We have all come together to run this one club as a team. It's quite an exceptional room now.

"There's nowhere else like this in the area for people to go. We have got a proper training cage. It's 15ft wide and we will hopefully at some point go for the much bigger training cage, but you can't do everything in the first hit when you're doing something of this magnitude. We're just going to see how well it goes first.

"We have got quite a large following already and if it does go well, which we hope it will, we will look to expand it.

"At the moment we're going to be open five days a week and there will be some weekend sessions too."

The club will be open for men and women and children from the age of five to 16.

"We want to get kids into a well grounded sport where they are going to learn something and get enjoyment out of it," explains Mr Morgan.

"A lot of children go to clubs because their parents tell them to and then they get bored, but here they can move on to another sport once they get bored of what they're doing."

The club is holding an open day on Saturday (8) and Sunday (9) from 10am to 3pm and their website www.roninmma.co.uk should be up and running by September.