Leading estate and lettings agent Andrews is holding a free landlord seminar in Streatham on Wednesday 25^th June between 7pm to 8pm with doors open at 6.30pm.

The event, held at the Andrews branch, 266/268 Streatham High Road, Streatham, London, SW16 1HS is aimed at helping landlords to make the most of their buy-to-let investment.

The evening will focus on revealing the secrets of how to maximise your buy-to-let property investment in London. Topics will include: what to look for in an investment property to reap the highest rewards, how to finance your buy-to-let portfolio and the best time of year to buy a rental property. The event is suitable for both seasoned landlords and anyone looking to purchase their first buy-to-let property.

As well as an overview of the local market from the Lettings Manager Karen Jones and  David Bourne from Andrews Mortgage Services, there will be a discussion about suitable properties currently on the market and information on the best buy-to-let mortgage deals. Landlords will also be able to learn more about how to utilise their money in order to make the most of the current buoyant sales market for properties.

Published: 19 June 2014

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Colleagues at Sainsbury’s Nine Elms Temp Store have managed to raise £1200.00 to Trinity Hospice. The funds have been raised through various store activities and donations from the store’s Community Budget over the last four weeks.

Customers and colleagues got behind Sainsbury’s Nine Elms Temp store fundraising activities for TrinityHospice, which began in 5^th May 2014 with bucket collections at the checkouts. The store PR Ambassador Mohammed Abdul and colleagues Emma, Janet have also taken part in collections in the foyer area which was a great success.

On 29^th May 2014, managers from the store Damien Brown (HR Manager), Waqas Butt (Manager), Paul Currie (Manager) and store colleagues Naana Turkson, Michelle Bate, Colin Jeffery, Janet Carroll, Carmel Murphy and Omar Wellington went took part in a five mile walk around the River Thames Embankment which raised over £500.00.

Published: 06 June 2014

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"At my age life tends to get a wee bit boring. So you've got to grab at any chance at excitement!"

That was the verdict of 89-year-old D-Day veteran Jock Hutton after he had jumped from a plane at 5,000 feet on Thursday in his own unique act of commemoration for this week's 70th anniversary.

The Scot landed in the same field outside the Normandy village of Ranville where, as a member of the 13th Battalion of Britain's Parachute Regiment, he was part of the first wave of troops taking part in the Allied invasion of continental Europe.

In a concession to Hutton's advanced age, this year's skydive was undertaken in tandem with a member of the Red Devils, Colour Sergeant Billy Blanchard.

But it was ten times higher than when he landed 70 years ago, aged just 19.

"They (the Red Devils) made me feel very relaxed but I wanted to get out of that door!" Hutton said.

Published: 06 June 2014

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• Sainsbury’s Nine Elms Temp Store are looking for a new Local Charity partner
• Customers can vote for their favourite local charity between 28^th May and 8^th June
• The chosen charity will be announced in July and will receive a year’s worth of support

Sainsbury’s Nine Elms Temp Store are calling on customers to cast their votes and help a registered local charity receive a year’s worth of fundraising and awareness support. From Wednesday 28^th May, customers will be able to vote for their favourite local charity either instore or by visiting www.sainsburys.co.uk/localcharity.

The retailer’s Local Charity scheme is now in its sixth year and gives customers the chance to vote for their favourite local charity to be considered to receive a year’s worth of support from their nearby Sainsbury’s store.

This year’s voting ends on Sunday 8^th June. After voting closes, a shortlist of nominations will be drawn up and the Nine Elms Temp Store colleagues will then invite the three charities that they feel best fit the needs of the community into store to talk about how Sainsbury’s can support them. The chosen charity will be selected based on the reasons given and the store will announce their chosen charity in July.

Published: 22 May 2014

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Britain's Prince Charles stoked controversy during a visit to Canada by comparing the recent actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin's to those of Adolf Hitler, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday.

The British newspaper said several witnesses heard the prince make the comment to Marienne Ferguson, a 78-year-old who fled the Nazis aged 13 and lost family members in the Holocaust.

"I... talked with him about my own family background and how I came to Canada," Ferguson told the Mail.

"The prince then said: 'And now Putin is doing just about the same as Hitler'.

Published: 21 May 2014

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Russian official rhetoric has increasingly compared events in Ukraine to the darkest crimes of Nazi Germany, ahead of next week's anniversary of Soviet victory in World War II.

Since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine, Russian television and officials have made frequent references to the "fascists" Moscow claims are now running Ukraine.

But the latest outbreak of deadly violence has seen the official Moscow propaganda reach new heights, analysts said.

The fire in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa that claimed at least 42 lives on Friday has been swiftly dubbed a new "reprisal raid" and even the "new Khatyn," a reference to the Belarussian village where 149 residents were burned alive by the Nazis in 1943.

The entire village was punished for the death of a Nazi officer and the Nazi battalion behind the massacre consisted of collaborators including nationalists from western Ukraine.

The Khatyn massacre went down in Russian history books as one of the Nazis' most brutal "reprisal raids," a term the Kremlin has now adopted to describe the offensive Kiev authorities have launched against pro-Moscow rebels in the flashpoint town of Slavyansk.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman on Saturday pointedly referred to the Odessa tragedy as a "reprisal raid," saying "extremists" burned people alive.

State television and officials went even further by overtly likening the Odessa blaze to a Nazi-style massacre.

"What has happened, especially in the Trade Unions House, brings to mind the crimes of the Nazis during World War II," pro-Kremlin lawmaker Leonid Slutsky told reporters in Moscow, referring to the Odessa fire. "These are the new Khatyn and Auschwitz." A senior official in the pro-Kremlin government of Crimea, Ukraine's peninsula taken over by Russia in March, chimed in. "The last time people were burned alive in Ukraine was by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War," Rustam Temirgaliyev said on Facebook, referring to the Russian name for World War II. have taken control of a string of towns and cities across Ukraine's southeast as a "reprisal raid" last month and the term has since become a Moscow favourite to depict events in Ukraine, used by everyone from television news anchors to Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin. Russia's losses and sacrifice during World War II remain a hugely sensitive subject in the country and Putin has often reached into this history to cast pro-Western authorities in Kiev as Moscow's enemies.

Published: 04 May 2014

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Anglo American's chief executive has hinted that the mining titan is looking to offload its strike-hit South African platinum mines to concentrate on open-cast extraction.

The London-listed firm's operations in South Africa's platinum belt north of Johannesburg have been idle for close to three months, forcing the firm to dig into reserves and hitting its bottom line.

About 80,000 miners are on strike and have vowed not to return to the shafts until their minimum monthly wage is doubled to 12,500 rand, around $1,200.

Anglo American says that demand, if met, would wreck its platinum subsidiary.

"The Rustenburg resource is no longer what it used to be," Mark Cutifani told newspaper Business Day in an interview published on Monday.

"I don't think that's where our best skills set sits."

"That's why I've been quite vocal saying we should consider taking a back step from Rustenburg."

Published: 14 April 2014

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Sainsbury’s Nine Elms Temp Store went the extra mile in their fundraising for Sport Relief, raising over £5900. It comes after the retailer announced a fundraising total of over £6.5 million, making it the biggest corporate donation on the night and £1 million higher than the retailer’s support in 2012.

Customers and colleagues got behind Sainsbury’s Nine Elms Temp Store fundraising activities for this year’s Sport Relief, which began with Store Manager Andy Robins wearing a Batman onesie and cycling on a bike, which was borrowed, to us for the whole week by the local PureGym on Monday 17^th March 2014. Colleagues also took part in dancing, singing, face painting, bag packing from the local Sea-Cadets, went to local school selling Sports Relief merchandise and colleagues cycling everyday to reach 5 miles in the store the foyer area which took place from Monday 17^th March 2014 to Sunday 23^rd March 2014 through the whole day each day and we did it !!

The store PR Ambassodor Mohammed Abdul Rokeeb and Great Place To Work Leader Michelle Bates were also collecting customer donations at the foyer area stores during a colleague flash-mob performance of Black Lace’s 70’s dance number ‘Superman’. It was part of a nationwide flash mob across all Sainsbury’s stores to help generate further funds for Sport Relief.

Along with dancing, colleagues including Matt, Michelle, Janet, Isabelle and Paul took part in the first ever Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games mile, in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s Chief Executive Justin King, took part in his final Sport Relief Mile challenge before he leaves the company in July. Justin smashed his fundraising target of £70,000 by running 17 regional miles across the UK, raising over £104,000, with money still coming in.

Published: 13 April 2014

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Leading estate agent Andrews is predicting a cracking Easter and a record breaking May for property sales in London.

Year- on- year more people instruct Andrews to market their home in May than at any other time (25% above year average *¹); however, this year the company believe it will be its best for property sales for ten years.

Last year Andrews found that property valuations in May happened at the fastest rate across the year (15% above the year average*¹) viewings were up 10%*¹, more people applied to hear about new properties (6%*¹) and most importantly it was the most profitable time of year to sell as offers were 8%*¹ above the average.

The housing market has continued to improve since last May with house prices now up by 18.2% since 2013 in London according to the Nationwide House Price Index. With the Chancellor confirming in March that the Help to Buy Scheme will be extended until 2020 and with house prices expected to continue to rise in the next 12 months competition to buy properties looks only to increase.

Published: 04 April 2014

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Tom Higgins, age 22, from Pimlico has just completed phase one of the revered Yachting Cadetship by leading maritime training provider and youth charity, UKSA - and his new role as a professional deckhand cruising American waters for the next six months is phase two of his training for a lucrative and exciting career on superyachts.

This structured three-year apprenticeship includes a Foundation Degree in Operational Yacht Science delivered in conjunction with Falmouth Marine School and validated by the University of Plymouth.

Tom began his training last October after being selected for a coveted bursary that covers the first phase of learning at UKSA’s Isle of Wight campus and amounts to a minimum of £17,000 worth of assistance and funding. Plus, students can typically earn €2000 a month tax free (not including tips) as entry level deckhands, while once onboard a vessel almost all their living costs are covered by the yacht too.

Published: 31 March 2014

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