Charedi charity bags award

A Charedi disabilities charity in Stamford Hill has won an award for its volunteering work.

Bikur Cholim D'Satmar has been awarded the Investing in Volunteers Quality Mark after a report found it "has a very dedicated group of volunteers who feel a sense of commitment to its activities".

The charity was founded in 1979 and provides support, facilities and services that range from hospital visits and respite breaks to transportation and delivering meals. There are 70 female volunteers.

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Confusion over shop Israel boycott

A Stamford Hill greengrocer which displays an agreement with strictly Orthodox rabbis not to sell Israeli goods, has shocked many of its Jewish customers - who believe it is a boycott.

Fresh & Fruity in Stamford Hill, which is not Jewish-owned, displays a signed agreement with the Kedassia, the kashrut division of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations.

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Questions over future of Jewish Tribune

Agudas Israel, the strictly Orthodox movement, is considering the future of the weekly Jewish Tribune.

Rumours began circulating this week that the newspaper, which describes itself as “the voice of Anglo-Jewish Orthodoxy”, would be closing as a weekly after Rosh Hashanah.

But Joe Lobenstein, who has been involved in the Tribune since its inception in 1962, said: “The subject is under consideration. No definite decision has been taken so far.”

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Kidnappers ‘forced man to issue a get’

Strictly orthodox rabbis are fighting claims that a woman's marriage is invalid because her husband was forced to issue a get under duress.

Friends of her ex-husband have started a campaign claiming he gave it after he had been kidnapped.

But the Union of Hebrew Congregations dismissed the claims and insisted he had been paid nearly £16,000 to give it.

"This man abandoned his family and now wants to get revenge and stir up trouble," said a UOHC source.

Neither the man or the woman can be identified but he is an American living in New York and she lives in London.

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Manslaughter charge over pensioner death

A man has been charged with the manslaughter of an 83-year-old strictly Orthodox woman from Stamford Hill.

Police found Evelyn Kelmenson, with her legs bound by duct tape, in the top-floor bedroom of her three-storey house on Leweston Place on January 1 2009, after her niece had raised the alarm.

A year later, police offered a £20,000 reward for information.

Kuba Dlugosz, 32, a Polish national of no fixed address, appeared at Havering Magistrates Court on Wednesday. He was remanded in custody and also charged with burglary.

He will appear again in court in November.

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Manslaughter charge over pensioner death

A man has been charged with the manslaughter of an 83-year-old strictly Orthodox woman from Stamford Hill.

Police found Evelyn Kelmenson, with her legs bound by duct tape, in the top-floor bedroom of her three-storey house on Leweston Place on January 1 2009, after her niece had raised the alarm.

A year later, police offered a £20,000 reward for information.

Kuba Dlugosz, 32, a Polish national of no fixed address, appeared at Havering Magistrates Court on Wednesday. He was remanded in custody and also charged with burglary.

He will appear again in court in November.

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TfL rejects Golders Green-Stamford Hill bus

A bridge-building exercise with the Orthodox community by Transport for London officials has been dismissed as a "sham" after suggestions for enhancements in services were rejected.

During a meeting in February called by TfL to improve relations and discuss transport issues, TfL officers pledged to "get discussion going" on a range of issues.

These included relaxing parking restrictions on Shabbat and High Holy-Days, introducing public buses for Jewish school pupils and extending the 210 Brent Cross-Finsbury Park bus route to Stamford Hill.

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