AWARD NIGHTS SHOW OFF SURREY'S TALENT - University of ...

4 NEWS
The Stag | 22nd May 2012 news@thestagsurrey.co.uk
Award winning Guildford
group to host torch party
By Geoffrey Pullen, News Team
Celebrations following the
Olympic Torch Relay passing
through Guildford on the 20th of
July are to be lead by local youth
festival StreetCLASH.
The festival was recently
awarded the Inspire Mark in
recognition of the innovative and
non-commercial promotion of
youth involvement in sports, arts
and music, inspired by the 2012
Olympic Games.
The Inspire Mark is reserved for
community led projects inspired
by the upcoming Olympic Games.
Chair of the London Organising
Committee of the Olympic Games,
Seb Coe’s believes that ‘These
Games are for the whole of the UK,
for sport and culture’.
StreetCLASH, established in
2008, is an annual festival held
within Guildford in which young
people have the opportunity to get
involved in sports, art, dance and
music.
On offer at the event will be
over 30 sports, dance workshops
led by local groups and music
in association with Guildford’s
Academy of Contemporary Music.
Inspiring young people is a key
motive behind StreetCLASH and it
is this that led to recognition by
Inspire and by Seb Coe himself;
‘We want to use the power of
the Games to inspire change...I
congratulate everyone involved
in StreetCLASH for securing the
Inspire mark’.
The celebrations will be a free
ticketed event held at Stoke Park
starting at 2pm and ending at 10pm
on the 20 th July.
Guildford Orchestra
faces final movement
By David Williams, News Team
The future of the Guildford
Philharmonic Orchestra
(GPO) is in doubt following an
inconclusive meeting of Guildford
county councilors which failed to
decide whether the council funded
group should continue.
Since it’s induction in 1945,
the GPO has been performing in
a variety of venues in and around
Guildford, however in recent years
it has seen a decline in popularity.
Currently Guildford Borough
Council pays a subsidy of £290,000 a
year for 10 concerts. However, over
the past 2 years ticket sales have
been down by 36% with income
from sales and sponsorship only
£140,000 for 2011.
Questions have been raised
over both the organisation of
the concerts and the need for a
council funded orchestra. There
are a number of other groups in
Guildford that perform classical
music and additionally a huge
variety of other types of music that
the GPO has to compete with.
Plans to avoid disbanding the
orchestra have been suggested,
such as allowing the concerts
to be held and organised at G
Live, Guildford’s new 1000 seated
capacity live entertainment venue,
while maintaining the GPO brand.
Only 3,858 tickets have been
sold thus far for this season,
another significant decrease in
sales.
A final decision on the GPO’s
future is likely to be made at the
council’s executive committee
meeting in the summer.
Surrey attracts attention during Universities Week
University of Surrey and Surrey
Sports Park made themselves
known during Universities Week
2012 after two of their research
initiatives were discussed in
reports published by Universities
UK.
Universities Week, which
commenced on 30th By Melissa Raske, News Team
April, is a
campaign that aims to raise
awareness of the ways UK
universities contribute to local
communities and society.
The campaign has been
running for 3 years and this year
was themed around the London
Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The first project mentioned
in the report discusses the use of
3D skeletal motion camerawork to
recreate athletic performances.
The University of Surrey’s
Centre for Vision, Speech and
Police are appealing for
information after an armed
robbery occurred between 3:45am
and 4:00am on May 5th By Melissa Raske, News Team
.
The incident, which took place
on Chestnut Road near Stoke
Park, involved three men who
were carrying knives and what is
believed to be a mock firearm.
After breaking into the
property the men threatened the
four occupants with the weapons
before tying them up and stealing
a number of items including an
Xbox, PlayStation 3, an iPhone
and money.
None of the occupants, three
men and a woman, were injured
during the break in which lasted
around 45 minutes.
Police officers arrived at the
scene shortly after the burglary
and specialty units including
police dogs and forensics were
called in. Door to door enquiries
were carried out and the police
urge anyone concerned about the
incident to contact the Guildford
Safer Neighbourhood Team on
101.
Investigating Officer Detective
Sergeant Anna Leahy of Guildford
CID said: “At this stage in the
investigation we do not believe
this was a random attack and that
the offenders had targeted this
property in the belief one of the
occupants was someone known to
them.”
Although the attack took place
in the early hours of the morning
police are confident that there
Signal Processing (CVSSP) teamed
up with BBC Research and
Development to investigate the
use of video footage from a single
broadcast camera to estimate the
skeletal motion of an athlete at key
points throughout a performance.
Previously it hasn’t been
possible to use multiple specialist
cameras to directly recover
3D information at Olympic
and Paralympic Games due to
television constraints, however
the semi automatic alternative
developed by the CVSSP and BBC
has potential.
This technology could be used
to further analyse or comment
on performances, for instance by
comparing high jump attempts for
an individual athlete, or between
different athletes in events such
as the 100m.
The CVSSP and BBC R&D have
been collaborating on various
may have been people still around
at the time and anyone who has
witnessed or heard anything
suspicious, no matter how
insignificant it may seem, should
contact the police.
Two of the men were described
as black men and the other a white
man, all of whom were wearing
black trousers, black hooded tops
and scarves covering their faces.
In addition, a small beige car
was parked on Recreation Road
at the time of the burglary which
may have been linked to the
projects for the past decade and a
number of Surrey’s PhD students
receive funding from the BBC.
The second project mentioned
in the report is a research project
that is looking at the social and
economic regeneration resulting
from London 2012 and how this
could inspire the skills of hard to
employ people. It is also looking
at the benefits that volunteering,
apprenticeships and employment
schemes will have after the
Games.
Universities Week culminated
with the BUCS Outdoor Athletics
Championships held at the
Olympic Stadium in which five
Team Surrey athletes competed.
In addition to the Universities
Week activities, Surrey Sports
Park will act as host to 17 Olympic
and Paralympic nations during
the London 2012 Olympics.
Armed robber on Chestnut Road in Guildford
incident.
Sergeant Leahy spoke about
the incident saying: “This was
an extremely frightening ordeal
for the victims. Surrey Police
simply will not tolerate this kind
of behaviour and we will do all we
can to find those responsible and
bring them to justice.”
Anyone with any information
relating to the incident is urged to
contact the police on 101, quoting
reference GD/12/4041 or ring
Crimestoppers anonymously on
0800 555 111.
©SurreyPolice