Romford Market has turned into a Christmas Village with a licensed bar and on-stage entertainment, throughout the three week trading period, until Christmas Eve.

A Continental Market has joined the Romford Market Christmas Village and General Market, until Christmas Eve.

On Tuesday 22 December, from 11am, head to Rainham Library, Celtic Farm Road, Rainham, RM13 9GP, to join a choir singing carols, visit Father Christmas in his grotto and enjoy a free mince pie.

Full details of Havering Council's Christmas and New Year opening times and other contact information can be found here.

Library opening hours can be seen here.

The day of the week your waste and recycling is collected will change over the Christmas period. Please check on the website here for the correct day to leave out your items for collection.

ALSO on collection days, please make sure you vehicle is parked off-road if possible to allow the refuse trucks to travel down your road.

Christmas and New Year are times when online crime increases so advice has been issued on how to avoid becoming victims of a scam. Find out more details here.

Tickets for London New Year's Eve with Unicef have all gone, but there are still lots of other great celebrations happening across London. Find out details here.  

Havering Health and Sports Development Team have a New Year programme of physical activities for adults including Walking Football, Zumba Gold and Back to Netball.  Programme  details are available here.

​Havering residents will have the chance to lower their gas and electricity bills in the New Year by taking part in the Big London Energy Switch from Tuesday 1 December.

​The scheme works by bringing together a large group of residents to use their collective buying power to get better deals from the companies that supply their gas and electricity.

Residents can sign up online for the scheme until Tuesday 1 February 2016. Get more information about the scheme and how to sign up at the Big London energy switch webpage​. ​

If you have spare sleeping bags or blankets that you no longer need, please take them to The Healthy Chef restaurant, as the restaurant team will then be delivering them to homeless people and charities in Essex and London to help keep them warm at Christmas.

You can leave them at 38 Corbets Tey Road, Upminster, RM14 2AD, by Wednesday 23 December.

Havering Council is currently consulting on proposals to expand some primary schools from September 2016. Full details of the proposals can be found here and you can make your views known here. Closing date for consultation responses is Friday 15 January.

Havering Council and the Friends of Upminster Windmill have secured funding to restore the windmill to working order and provide an education and training centre on site.

During the work the windmill will be closed to visitors. Further details of the project are available here.

Are you part of a charitable organisation or community project in Havering and looking for ways to increase your funding?

Local Green Points – Havering is looking for new charities to get involved in their waste reduction reward scheme and benefit from residents’ donations. More than £3,000 was donated to local charities through the scheme last year. Applications to get involved will open later this month. To register your interest please email Bethany Fruen so you can be sent more details.

As we are all getting ready for the festive break, please take a moment to think of the vulnerable children who will be in need of foster carers this Christmas.  These children will be seeking a secure and stable family who have a spare bedroom and lots of enthusiasm and time to support a child in need.

If you are interested in fostering, Havering Council can support you financially, socially and through continued training and development.  You can earn up to £433 per week fostering a child.

The fostering team will be at Havering Town Hall between 6pm and 7.30pm on  on Thursday 7 January, to answer questions and provide more information. Find out more about fostering here.

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