These days it seems that each of the major charities has a huge nationwide event held at venues up and down the country to raise vital funds.

There’s the Midnight Walk (held for St Catherine’s Hospice), the NSPP Big Bike Ride, Relay for Life for Cancer Research UK, and one of our favourites - The Swimathon for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

In April last year we were at Bluecoats Sports Centre at Christ’s Hospital to see people young and old come together to help raise a grand total of £1.5million last year.

It was a wonderful occasion for all the family, especially the Davis family, who all took part, with five-year-old Jacob completing a couple of lengths.

Zöe Salmon and Duncan Goodhew dived into the pool at The Chelsea Club during the national launch last week - and were the first entries to take the plunge for Swimathon 2010.

And hot on the heels of the national launch came the local launch at Bluecoats, where local swimmers gathered to take advantage of a half price entry offer in january.

Gill Probin of Bluecoats said: “We are delighted to be holding this event again at Bluecoats Sports and Fitness Club. Our fantastic pool and facilities makes it ideal for us to hold this event.  

“We warmly welcome swimmers of all levels to participate. Deciding to swim is a great chance for people to set new personal challenges for 2010 and in doing so they will feel a massive sense of achievement.”

You can swim in a team where 2 – 5 people participate covering 5Km (200 lengths of Bluecoats’ pool). There’s also individual challenges where you can swim 1.5km (60 lengths); 2.5Km (100 lengths) or 5km (200 lengths).

Gill added: “Everyone’s challenge is very much their own – but not only do their efforts benefit themselves but also the charities. 

“Last year we raised £4,848.73 and this year we hope more people will swim and in doing so raise more valuable funds for the Marie Curie Cancer Care Charity.”

At the moment the Swimathon Foundation have an early bird offer of half price entry before 31st January.

Bluecoats will be holding 2 Swimathon sessions at the Bluecoats Health and fitness Club on Saturday 18th April 2010 starting at 9am and 11.00am. As well as one on Sunday 19th April at 5am 

Enter online for the 2010 Swimathon before the 31st January 2010 to take up the special half price offer.  Steyning and Billingshurst Leisure Centre, and The Pavilions in Horsham Park, will also be holding Swimathon events. For more details see www.swimathon.org

Sean Hughes is back with a brand new show, bursting at the seams with his darkly brilliant, self-deprecating barbed wit. 

In 1987, Sean started doing stand-up comedy in London clubs. 

He became the youngest ever winner of the prestigious Perrier Award for Comedy for 'A One Night Stand With Sean Hughes' at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival in 1990. 

Sean launched his successful TV career with the critically acclaimed 7-part sitcom series 'Sean's Show', written by and starring Sean Hughes.  The Last Detective (ITV) and Never Mind The Buzzcocks (BBC) soon followed.

As well as his comic writing, Sean is also a serious writer, and has written two collections of prose and poetry. 

Sean performs at The Capitol on 31st January. Tickets: £16, concessions £14, from The capitol Box Office on 01403 750220.

The Resident does have 3 pairs of tickets to give away.  Just answer this question:                        

In which BBC TV show has Sean Hughes Appeared?

A) Never Mind The Buzzcocks

B) Never Mind The Buzzards

C) Mind Your Own Business

Email answers by 3pm on Tuesday, 26th January, to ben@the-resident.co.uk along with your name, address and phone number. Entrants must be over 18.

If you really want to know what was making the news in the district this week, log on to the Visit Horsham website.

Click on ‘what people are searching for in Horsham’ and top of the list is ‘Lisa Soccer AM’.

Lisa is also, third, fourth, fifth and ninth on the list, with only the rather unspecific entry of ‘Horsham’ breaking her domination in second.

Sadly we report that for every person looking up The Resident, 27 were hunting for Lisa Hebden!

That’s because on Saturday morning, Lisa, from Horsham, became a TV Legend - winning the annual Soccer AM dance-off, which is hotly contested by members of the production crew.

If you’re not a football fan you may well not have heard of it, but it’s one of the most popular shows on Sky television and the dance-off has become one of its most famous events.

Lisa’s final move of a bum wiggle won over the voters - made up almost entirely of football-mad men nursing a hangover - and she was crowned champion, having finished second in 2009.

 Guests on the show included Joe Calzaghe, who felt that Lisa’s final move had helped her win, while pop star Plan B added helpfully “well, she’s nice to look at, innit?”

Speaking to The Resident, Lisa said: “I didn’t really know what to say when I won - I was shocked!

“People think that we all practice all the time and my friends are always saying that I should try this move or that, but when it was my turn, I froze and just went out doing this ridiculous spin!

“I gathered myself together and of course finished with the wiggle so that did it. I think a few of the lads take it quite seriously but for most of us it’s just a laugh.

“I t’s great being the first girl to win it though.”

Lisa had been second favourite (11/4) after 2006 winner Baby Elvis to win the contest, but it’ll be her name that is engraved on the trophy, along with famous names such as four-time winner ‘Rocket’ and ‘’Gadzook’.

But unlike many of the Soccer Am team, Lisa prefers to stay behind the scenes, and has no interest in capitalising on her moment in the spotlight. 

She said: “Even during the job interview, I said ‘I won’t have to do the dance-off will I?’”

In the audience were some of Lisa’s friends from Horsham, although her partner Adam was reportedly watching with a mixture of pride and embarrassment behind pillows on the sofa at home.

Lisa said: “I’d like to thank all of my friends and fans of the show that voted for me.”

This isn’t the first time Lisa has made headlines. Last year, a Facebook page - i think Lisa from Soccer AM is FIT! - was created by a fan of the show in Lisa’s honour.

You can watch the entire dance off now on Youtube. Search Soccer AM dance off 2010

The last of the snow is expected to melt away over the next few days, thanks to a combination of rain and sunny spells.

But its legacy will remain for some time - in the shape of some tyre-deflatingly huge potholes.

West Sussex County Council, which is responsible for maintaining roads, spent £2.5million repairing potholes after last year’s winter damage.

It’s fair to say that this year’s winter has reached a whole new level of severity, and could hit the council hard at a time when chiefs are trying to make financial cutbacks in order to keep Council Tax rises to a minimum (see page 2).

But at this stage the council admits it “cannot estimate how much the cost of this winter will be.”

Across the country it has been estimated that the snow has caused as extra 322,731 potholes. 

Some councils have requested special additional funding from the government to deal with the problem, with Northamptonshire asking for £5million, but as The Resident went to press the county council had not confirmed if they would make a similar plea.

However, The Department for Transport said that it would consider local authority requests for extra funds.

West Sussex County Council does operate special pothole patrols, and they have been working since the start of December.

But due to the sheer number of potholes, the operations team are often having to make temporary repairs. Huge and potentially dangerous potholes at locations such as Buck Barn crossroads and along The Bishopric have been quickly filled in, but are already starting to come apart again.

Potholes are formed by water penetrating the asphalt surface of a road through cracks. When temperatures drop, the water freezes, expands and causes the surface to rupture. 

When the ice melts, it leaves a void below the surface, which caves in under the stress of vehicles and forms a pothole. 

A spokeswoman for West Sussex County Council said: “We would ask people to be patient and drive with increased care because last year potholes were appearing faster than we could fill them. 

“Because of the number of potholes where we cannot undertake a permanent repair straight away we will put in a temporary filling for safety."

"We do rely on the public to supplement our own inspections, and people can report potholes on 01243 642105 or www.westsussex.gov.uk

As we prepare to fight against plans by the government to built thousands of new homes in the Horsham District during the next decade, there are a number of valid objections we can raise.

Not enough schools, poor infrastructure, no hospital, flood plains, medieval deer parks, great-crested newts...

But one that won’t be voiced by campaigners is ‘Where will all these new residents eat?’

Horsham had no shortage of restaurants even before Sanmae (the excellent Oriental on Springfield Road), and Cote (French Brasserie in East Street) opened at the back end of 2009.

Japanese restaurant Wabi is soon to open at the end of East Street soon (see sidebar), but beating them to it is The Quarter Restaurant in Park Place (behind Piries Place, opposite the two hairdressers/barbers).

The Quarter Restaurant is the ‘sister’ of the Comodor off West Street, and had a rather low-key opening over the Christmas period. 

With the snow and the festivities, it’s passed us by pretty much unnoticed, but it’s important that it’s a success for that end of town, which could use the extra footfall a successful restaurant will bring.

So we thought we would give it a try and see if it was up to standard...

For a restaurant that seemed to be in no initial hurry to open, it eventually seems to have done so without being fully prepared, at least in terms of appearance.

Where as Cote spent £900,000 on renovating its East Street sign, Quarter has settled for plain, white tinted walls, small wooden tables and chairs with wicker seats. It’s more like a diner than a restaurant.

There’s a lack of colour inside, and the only decorative items is  a mismatch of framed images, a couple of The Beatles, and one oddly featuring four random pictures of movie star s, in which Van Damme gets to share a frame with John Wayne!

There’s no great care with the menu either - mussels, panini and omelette are all spelt incorrectly.

But maybe this is just what Horsham needs - a no-frills eatery that doesn’t hide behind a glossy menu with a fancy font, that just serves us good food in big portions.

And big portions is precisely what you get, and it’s fantastic value for money.

There’s no messing around with the prices either - the starters and tapas offer fantastic value, all 20 cost £3.50. It certainly helps when it comes to splitting the bill!

We tried the Calamari in batter, Mussels and Chorizo, Chilli Chicken Wings with a green salad and toasted Ciabatta with cheddar cheese, bacon and ham.

If this is tapas, then we must be in Texas, for these four dishes alone left us full up.

And maybe that is the point of The Quarter Restaurant. If you only have an hour for your lunch break, you can sit down, have a beer, order a toastie, a baguette or a panini for just £4.20, and leave well fed and not out of pocket.

The format has certainly been a success for a very similar eatery in Crawley - at Estrelicia’s Cafe.

But the Quarter goes one better than that, serving up a good range of main courses, and the chef, Ali, knows what he is doing.

This is no place for a vegetarian (unless the veggie burger is a complete knock-out!) but for the rest of us there’s a selection of burgers, skewered dishes (grilled on the skewer and served with side salad), steaks (with an option of chips, potatoes or rice), fish (including tuna and salmon steaks)  and a few Quarter specials - Jem Lamb, Beef Stroganoff and Chicken. 

They are not shy with the portions, although don’t load the plate up quite as high as they do at Smith & Western, and the prices are excellent. For instance, the skewered dishes are all £7.90, the burgers £6.50 and even the specials are less than £7.

Order anything on the menu and you’ll get change from a tenner, even the Sirloin. Which is what we ordered, along with a Bulgarian beef Fillet skewer.

Both were cooked to perfection, although we would argue that the skewer’s peppers made it more than “fairly spicy!”

But while there’s surprisingly good, hearty food here, friendly service and excellent value for money, The Quarter isn’t as ‘warm’ as it should be and will need to be to attract more customers.

This isn’t a place where you would go to eat out with a group of friends, and it’s not trying to be, but you can’t help but think that for it to become a favourite amongst lunch time diners it’ll need to try a bit harder to create an atmosphere.

As it stands, you’d go back for the food, but you’d still rather go to the Comodor.

For those of you who missed out on tickets for Candy Box owner John O’ Sullivan’s show at the Capitol next month (which has sold out) there are some trailers for the show at www.newsagentprovocateur.com

Warning - there’s some bad language and bad taste too - so it’s in no way for kids.

 John doesn’t know the meaning of ‘going too far’ so the clips are hit and miss, but at times the trailers are laugh-out-loud funny.

One particular clip in trailer 3, which sees John interacting with an elderly customer - is along the lines of Will Ferrell’s short and hilarious clip ‘The Landlord’ and is well worth a viewing! 

He may be quite vile at times, but we’ll let him off, as he is doing it for charity...

You can say a lot about the youth of today - too much time playing on computers, too much telly, no respect for their elders, and how can they listen to that Lady GaGa?

But you could never accuse them of building rubbish snowmen!

A stroll around Horsham on Wednesday morning indicated that children were happy just to be out in the snow - and that was evident in the rather standard size and shape of the early specimens. It was as though youngsters were worried it would all be gone in an hour so got a ‘banker’ in.

By midday, it simply wasn’t good enough to build a three foot snowman - he needed to be six foot tall. At   1pm that has risen to seven foot, and if you were building your venturing out for the first time at 3pm you couldn’t come in with your head held high unless it was ten foot tall with a bucket for a hat (see page 21).

Then on Thursday, the bar was raised again. In Fallowdeer Close, Horsham, Casey Stone built a Mickey Mouse and a Goofy, which attracted many visitors with cameras.

As we went to press, so was considering adding colouring and was also constructing a Beauty and the Best ice sculpture.

In Southwater, Luke and Christopher Sutton put together the most impressive of several ‘snowman on bench’ attempts that we’ve seen.

 Luke is doing a BTEC in art at Tanbridge House and thought he’d use the snow to see what piece of art he could make with it!

Well at least they waited until we could capture this beautiful image of The Causeway...

But it won’t be long before tree surgeons from West Sussex County Council prune the lime trees in The Causeway, Horsham.

The council has warned that the work at one of the district’s most beautiful spots will seem ‘severe’, but we’re sure that they’re not doing it just for fun!

The work – technically called pollarding – is to ensure the long life of the trees. It will take place between 8.30am-4.30pm, starting on Monday January 18 and is scheduled to be finished by January 25

Marcus Brooke, County Council Arboriculturist, said: “At first glance, the pollarding work will look severe. However, the trees will quickly respond and a flush of new leaves will occur very soon.”

During the course of the works, it will be necessary to use some of the on-street parking spaces.

“This is necessary in order to gain access to the trees. We apologise for any inconvenience and disruption this may cause residents. However, any suspensions will be kept to a minimum,” said Marcus.

Derek Whittington County Council Cabinet Member for Highways, said: “This work has been carried out before and is part of an ongoing pollarding scheme to ensure the future of trees in the area.”

Reaching thirty years of us affects us all in different ways, but it usually triggers a reaction one way or another.

Some decide it’s time to settle down and stop going to Shelley’s (now called the Chameleon), some treat themselves to a big trip abroad, while others just have a big cry and think about buying a Volvo.

But now Gary Marlow.

Gary decided that he would devote his year to his own ‘Do 30’ campaign. Like a bucket list drawn up 40 years too soon, the idea is that he will partake in 30 daring acts for 30 charities in an attempt to raise not £30,000, but £300,000 for charity.

Ambitious? Certainly. Daft? Probably. But Gary, of Manor Fields, Horsham, has already performed his first deed - a five minute dip in the sea on New Years Day.

Brighton’s mayor was among those who ventured out on a freezing cold afternoon to watch Gary taking a dip in the water around the pier (below).

Gary said: “I ran from the pier, down the steps with hands held aloft, hearing the cheers coming from the seafront and from the masses that had gathered on the pier - what a great feeling - and then wham, the cold hits you like a slap in the face from a frozen cod.

“I went straight under and my whole body froze over. The first 20 or 30 seconds was bitterly cold, then the body gets used to it. It was important to keep moving so I started to swim towards the setting sun - this was something I will always remember.”

But it’s only going to get harder for Gary, as his list of scheduled endeavours includes:

• Three peaks challenge
• Boxing with a former World Champion on top of Snowdonia
• A Bungee Jump from a Hot Air Balloon above 15,000 feet
• The Bognor Birdman Contest
• Firewalking
• London to Brighton bike ride
• London marathon
• Bobsleighing

Another of Gary’s more off-the-wall ideas include a world-record attempt for the biggest ever rock, paper scissors event. 

Already, Gary has linked up with a number of charities for the Do30 campaign, including Help for Heroes, Bookaid, NSPCC, Kids First Trust and Kangaroos.

Gary said: “I’ve also been talking to Crisis and it could be that I follow Prince William’s lead and sleep on the streets for a night, so there’s a bit of a mix of everything in there.

“It’s just something that has never been done before - 30 events for 30 charities. I’ve done charity events before but not on this scale. “

For more details visit www.justgiving.com/do30 or read Gary’s blog at http://do30.wordpress.com

The future of the old putting green in Horsham Park is looking rosier with Horsham District Council recently agreeing support for the proposal to create a special new garden at the site.

The landscape project is being led by Horsham in Bloom with the technical support of the Council’s Parks Services team.  As well as creating a unique new area, one of the key aims is to raise awareness of how much people rely on plants in their daily lives. 

Formal approval from the Council was necessary in order for Horsham in Bloom to apply for a £100,000 Big Lottery bid to go towards the cost of the project. The Lottery has already approved Stage 1 of the process.  

Subject to success at Stage 2, the works will commence next summer and the garden is expected to be ready to open to the public during 2011.

Cllr Roger Paterson, Cabinet Member for Local Economy and Leisure at Horsham District Council, said: “I would like to congratulate both Horsham in Bloom and our own team for devising such an innovative project and above all securing the necessary external funding. “

£20,000 has also been contributed locally by Novartis. Support from other local businesses is also being sought.

Attractive plants, all chosen for their value to humans in very different ways including health, beauty, manufacturing, food and healing will be used in the garden.  

Innovative signs and artwork will link the planting areas together giving visitors an experience of learning through exploration, discovery and play. 

Web based media will be available to download additional and up to date information.

The plans also include a small grass ‘amphitheatre’, which will be available for outdoor performances.  Two surfaced paths will circumnavigate this feature creating access to the garden for children’s buggies and wheelchairs.