Village news
East Leake Mike Elliott 0115 937 6506 elliottnews@btconnect.com
ANNUAL CARNIVAL. Saturday this weekend is the day of the biggest social event of the year in East Leake, when the annual village Carnival takes place and when hundreds of people are expected on the streets to cheer on the parade that heralds the start of six hours of non-stop fun and entertainment.
Once again the village is all geared up for its eagerly looked-forward-to village Carnival with the event now in its 13th year since it was revived into what it is now, the major social event of the year for the village, with village residents already preparing to enjoy themselves at what is an event for all age ranges in the village.
The carnival, under the leadership of organiser Mel Roper, will begin with hundreds of people turning out to see the participants, on decorated mobile units and the scores expected to be walking, taking part in the annual parade, where they will be sporting fancy dress and creating excitement for those on the roadside through the village, from the Leisure Centre car park on to Gotham Road, the Main Street and then to the sports recreation ground, where it all happens. The parade will, as usual, form up on the village Leisure Centre overflow car park, at 2-45pm. Judging of the parade entries will start at 3pm, with the theme of the entries this year being East Leake itself which, says organiser Mel, means any individual and any group can get involved by being involved in what is a major event within the overall event.
Mel says that for the parade they try to avoid duplication of the main floats in it and so they are saying they know already some of the ideas already chosen which include British Gypsum, the Greengrocers, Pinfold Vets, East Leake Preschool and Sarson’s Garage, all people who help to make East Leake the great place it is.
Once the judging has taken place the parade will set off from the Leisure Centre at 3-15pm, to make its way to the village sports field where the carnival itself takes place.,
There will be well over 20 stalls, either representing various activity and charity groups from the village as well as commercial ones, creating a wide range of interest for the hundreds of people who usually throng on to the carnival field.
As well as the stalls and on–stage music entertainment, there will again be a dog show and entertainment from children from the Brookside School in the village and from East Leake Players –ELAPs--, all designed to ensure those attending the annual event enjoy their visit to the free activity. Providing the music will be Kynch, Matt Humphreys and Wilf and the Hullabaloo
A recent addition to the day’s programme has been the dog show, and that will again be taking place on Saturday. Registration of entries is from 4-00pm and classes start at 4-30pm. Pinfold Vets in the village are the sponsors. The classes are the most handsome dog, most beautiful bitch, cutest puppy under 12 months old, best veteran, eight years and upwards, best trick, best rescue, dog most like its owner, best in show. Each class entry is £2
The East Leake Coloured Pencil Artists will be holding their 8th Annual Art Exhibition on Carnival Day, from 2pm-5.30pm at Methodist Church, Main Street, in the village.
Each year, among their many individual pieces of artwork, the artists create a large composite picture dedicated to a local organisation or business.
This year for the first time they will be exhibiting two pictures approximately 1.2m x 1m,
one celebrating British Gypsum’s centenary year and the other pays tribute to Wicksy and The Knights of Nottingham.
Funds are being raised for The DNRC at Stamford Hall.
For further information please contact Robin Borrett at robin.borrett@talktalk.net
FOOTBALL TEAM SPONSORS. East Leake Traders has sponsored the village’s under 10s football team strip as part of its commitment to ‘keeping the community vibrant’.
The group, which has seen an increase in the number of members, is backing the under 10s Bantams Football team.
The team was selected by members after manager Mark Cooling presented a pitch to them on behalf of the club.
Mr Cooling, who is also the vice chair for Bantams, is said to elated that his presentation was successful and is happy that his young team have a new kit and logo.
As part of the working alliance, Bantams will be sharing news and information about East Leake Traders amongst their football group committee, managers and parents.
East Leake Traders is a self-funding group with membership going towards promotions of the group and its members and towards village projects.
East Leake Traders chair Hayley Masom said: “Whilst East Leake Traders is not a business networking site, what comes from the regular involvement of its members at meetings and working alongside village projects, is a commitment to working together and promoting each other’s businesses.
“If we can keep the pound we spend local how much better is that for our members and in turn the community of East Leake.”
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Residents in East Leake are being reminded that meetings of its parish council are open to all members of the community and that at the start of each of them there is opportunity to public participation.
Chairman Coun. Conrad Oatey says all council meetings are open to the public, and are advertised on the village noticeboards with minutes being published on the council’s website (http:// www.east-leake.gov.uk/ meetings).
The full Council meets monthly on the fouth Tuesday at 7.30pm at the council office on Main Street and the first fifteen minutes are given over to visitors to take part and raise any matter they wish.
The chairman says this availability is not often not used, but it is an opportunity for residents to make their views known and for them to be recorded. .
Much of the council’s work is done in the three committees that are appointed each year, these being the Management, Amenities and Planning Committees.
The Management Committee meets on the second Tuesday of the month and is responsible for finance, including preparing the annual budget, monitoring income and expenditure, accounting controls, staffing matters and policies while the Amenities committee meeting on the third Tuesday is responsible for all the areas which the Parish Council maintains in the village, including Meadow Park, Oldershaw Trust land, the Glebe, burial ground, playground, car parks and public toilets.
The Planning Committee meets on each of the three Tuesdays allocated to other meetings when they are needed, starting 30 minutes before the other meet- ings. The prime purpose of that committee is to comment on local planning applications submitted to Rushcliffe Borough Council and to provide the Parish Council’s response to them.
This committee does not have the power to make a final decisions to either grant or refuse permission, but is consulted by the Borough Council for its views. It also may discuss other issues related to planning matters, including the Conservation Area in the village.
If anyone has a particular interest in an agenda item on any of the committees they are invited to attend the meeting and let the Chair or Clerk know that you would like to address the meeting on that topic. Arrangements will then be made to close the meeting at the appropriate point to allow a visitor to speak.
The chairman says they would encourage residents to make your views known on topics which the various Committees are considering.
Recently the clerk Mrs Lesley Bancroft retired after seven years in office and was thanked by members for her service. On her final day councillors and anyone involved were invited to the council office for light refreshments and to bid farewell to Lesley.
GYPSUM TURNS 100. By far the biggest job provider in East Leake, British Gypsum, has turned 100 years of age and to help mark the important milestone offered an opportunity local residents to visit them.
The company opened the village site for a day and offered tours to neighbours, friends and family that may have an interest in the site.
The tours, all above ground, lasted approximately 90 minutes and afterwards refreshments were available in the canteen.
Records show that the development of plasterboard – described as a sandwich of gypsum plaster between two sheets of paper) -- dates back to the late nineteenth century in the USA.
The first patent was granted in 1894 but it was not until an American, Frank Culver, persuaded his new employer, Thomas McGhie and Sons, to buy a plasterboard plant from the USA that this new product was introduced to Britain.
A site was acquired in Cheshire and building started in 1916. However, McGhie’s shareholders could not supply sufficient funding and in 1917 the plasterboard assets were sold to a new company, British Plaster Board Limited [BPB].
The British building industry was initially slow to adopt the new product. Helped by a more modern plant, purchased in 1927, sales gradually increased and by 1932 the Company was able to float on the Exchange. The additional capital enabled BPB to build a new factory at Erith in 1934.
The Erith plant had the capacity to manufacture the gypsum plaster (the core of the plasterboard product) and BPB began importing gypsum rock from Canada. This encouraged negotiations with other gypsum companies in Britain and a “breath-taking series of take-overs” followed in the next two years.
In 1944, BPB acquired its large rival, Gyproc Products Limited;
BPB had also acquired the main paper supplier in 1953 – the Aberdeen firm of C. Davidson.
The post-war period saw extensive overseas investment through subsidiaries and associates. South Africa was the first investment (1946) followed by Placoplatre in France (1952), Western Gypsum of Canada (1954) and Sweden (1957).
In 1987, it bought Rigips, a well-known brand in Austria, Germany, Italy and the Netherland and nine years later it bought Borgadts of Germany for £21m. In June 1996, it bought Gypsum Industries of South Africa for £28m. In October 1998, it bought Gyproc of Scandinavia for £95m, already having a joint venture called Scancem. In March 2000, it bought Heidelberger Dammsysteme of Germany, which made polystyrene insulation, for £22m. In June 2000, it acquired the Celotex company of the USA, which made ceiling tiles, for £230m. In January 2001, it bought Rawlplug Ltd. for £27m. In October 2002, it acquired Gyproc Benelux of Belgium for £52m.
In March 2002, it acquired James Hardie Industries, another US business, for £245 million.
Since May 1996, BPB had a joint venture with the French company Saint-Gobain, making glass fibre insulation. In August 2005, BPB received a hostile takeover bid from Saint-Gobain, which set a price of 720 pence per share. BPB initially resisted this strongly, but eventually accepted a revised bid of 775 pence per share, which valued the company at £3.9billion
In 1997 it closed its head office, which was in Northwich. British Gypsum was 100 years old last month on the 26th April
NEW FLORAL DISPLAYS. Plans are going ahead by the parish council at East Leake to increase floral displays in the village.
Coun Mel Roper, chairman of the council Amenities committee, says hanging baskets and flower towers were fabulous again in 2016 and they had received many compliments from the public. “We plan to increase the number around the village this summer,” says Mel.
In addition to brightening u op the village with the flowers, Coun. Roper says that residents may have noticed some of the signposts at the village junctions have been either replaced or repaired, and says this is an ongoing project. “Some of these have been funded by the new Housing Developments!” she quipped.
The Amenities chairman said the council had taken a decision to try and keep the public toilets open on Sundays, adding that they are used a lot and the village can get very busy with people visiting the Recreation Ground and cyclists passing through.
Coun. Roper said she had been joined by Conrad Oatey, John Thurman, Liz Taylor and Kevin Shaw to volunteering to lock and unlocking the toilets on a rota on Sundays.
The committee said they had outstanding support at our annual litter pick this year. “A lot of interest was generated with the children at Brookside School with a poster competition advertising the event, and the temptation of some homemade cakes and winning a family cinema ticket encouraged many more volunteers than in previous years, with the result being a huge pile of rubbish!
“Thank you to anyone who turned out – it was a very worthwhile job and actually a lot of fun!” added Mel.
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT. Warm thanks have been given to people in East Leake who supported this year’s annual Christian Aid efforts and Mrs Lesley Allen, on behalf of what she says is the very small Christian Aid Committee in the village wants like to thank everyone for their generosity during the week and over the rest of the year when they have attended Soup Lunches and bought the Annual Quiz.
“Our diminishing band of approximately 50 door-todoor collectors braved some poor weather conditions and gallantly collected £2,380 Collecting door-to-door is becoming unusual. Some young people do not seem to understand what it is all about.
The work is much more difficult than it used to be, with people having notices on their door saying that they do not want to be disturbed and the amount of ready cash diminishing. However the collecting has gone on. It is a thankless task and we do not know of anyone who loves the work!”
Mrs Allen says many of the collectors just think that if it were our beloved grandchildren who were in need of clean water, food or a safe place to play we would do more than just knocking on doors.
“As our collectors are aging we are not able to cover the streets that we could and so we have begun a collection outside the Co-op and Birds in the village and this has proved very successful.
“We held the Cake and Plant Sale and Coffee Morning on a later day this year but fortunately people still supported us.”
In total over the year Mrs Allen says they have raised the amazing sum of £4,284.
“We did this of course with the help of the villagers of East Leake and surrounding area. Thank you again and if you feel that you have the time to join us we would be very grateful. Just think how many people we could help.”
Mrs Allan can be contacted on 01509 853697.