Village news

East Leake Mike Elliot 0115 937 6506 elliottnews@btconnect.com

EAST LEAKE LIVE. ‘Make sure it wasn’t a one-off event’ was the overwhelming message from scores and scores of residents as they heaped praise on Mel Roper and her team for bringing the ‘East Leake Live’ event of culture to the village over this last weekend.

Tremendous support for the weekend saw several hundreds of people attending the 20 or so events held at seven different venues in the village, from Friday night to Sunday evening, and both visitors and those providing a wide variety of entertainment seemed to be of the same opinion – it was just great.

Main organiser was East Leake parish councillor Mel Roper whose idea the weekend was and who told the Echo that she was thrilled at its success. “There was a real buzz round the village and lots and lots of people have made their views known on what was provided for them with their facebook messages,” she said.,

Mel, who also heads the team that brings to the village the annual Carnival and the Christmas lights switch-on, was joined by Tori Sheard, Simon Ackroyd and Noel Kilbride for was what the latest event aimed at bringing activities to East Leake to entertain all ages in the village.

The programme opened on Friday night with a well attended evening of Karaoke at the Bulls Head and with two acts at the same time at the Round RobInn, Lady Rose and Tori who played before absolutely packed audiences and where at times it was almost impossible to get any more visitors in.

On Saturday there was over six hours of none stop entertainment in the parish church, all coordinated by Simon Ackroyd. There were 12 different performances from 10.15 until 17.00 . Noel Kilbride saw the whole programme run like clockwork as well as dealing with sound systems and the technical side of things.

Scores of people from East Leake -- as well as others from outside – were involved, all showing a variety of their skills to appreciative audiences. The seven different venues, were St Mary’s Parish Church, the village centre outside Mel’s greengrocery shop, the Rest Garden opposite the post office, the Bull’s Head, the Round RobInn, the Nags Head, the Three Horse Shoes, the Methodist Church and Bryers Coffee House on Gotham Lane were in use over the weekend to bring the whole show to everyone.

As well as the parish church on Saturday – where the programme was provided by the Knighton Park Amateur Dramatic Society, Ella Western, East Leake church choir, Laura Taylor and Tom Gibson, East Leake church Music Group, East Leake Amateur Players, Simon Ackroyd, Charnwood Concert Band - who gave two superb 45-minute performances – the Elective Barbershop Quartet, YesterYear quartet, and the Shepshed Gilbert and Sullivan Society who provided a super ending to the Church programme.

East Leake teenager Archie Roper continued his funding efforts for his trip next year with other students from East Leake Academy to Ghana, by selling teas, coffee and home made cakes to the church visitors for what will be a part working and part social visit that will take him to nearly 5,000 miles away from, his village.

Archie and his fellow students are off to Nyagbo Sroe which is located in the hilly region of Ghana, three hours’ drive north of Accra. There they will be working at a thriving primary school and secondary school but which has a very small and badly equipped kindergarten facility. “Currently it has a roof but no solid walls. It is therefore exposed to the full force of the weather which detracts from the education that they are desperate to provide.” says Archie, who admits to being ‘very excited’ about his trip which will see him arrive home having not only physically helped others, but just as importantly more aware of their value to society and the importance of true Global Citizenship.

“After the hard work, we also get to enjoy the fun activities Ghana has to offer, such as visiting a monkey sanctuary and a beautiful waterfall,” he added.

Clog dancing in the village centre on Saturday was another highlight of the activities as was the very late night disco event at the Bulls Head which didn’t start until 11pm and went on for several hours.

The Nags Head had Kate Auburn, Tori and Amanda and Ciderfects top entertain their customers

Other Saturday night entertainment was at the Round RobInn where there was another appearance of YesterYear as well as Wilf and the Hullaballoo, Joni Mitchell Acoustic and Kiera Battersby.

At the Three Horse Shoes three groups, Gold, Kynch and Rawkus Redz, were all highly popular with the customers there.

The Nags Head had an amazing line up of groups and entertainers on Sunday, with non-stop appearances from 2.30pm to 10pm, with no less than 16 different acts appearing. Both the Round RobInn and The Three Horse Shoes also had entertainment on Sunday.

At the latter the five piece band Time Out stepped in to star there in place of the advertised band who had to pull out.

And on Sunday afternoon residents at Derbyshire House in the village were not forgotten, with the elderly residents there being entertained by Simon Ackroyd.

NEW HEAD BOY AND GIRL.

East Leake Academy have elected their new Head Boy and Head Girl. The Sixth Form Hustings event was held in the run-down to the end of the Summer term and took place in the Main Hall.

Five candidates applied for the two positions and each summarised their manifesto and outlined their vision for the leadership roles for the academic year 2017-18.

The support from both staff and students was very well received and they were impressed with the candidates delivery and presentation.

The votes were counted and resulted in Head Boy and Head Girl being Josiah Kinch and Gabriella Hands The other candidates were Paige Lowe and Lily Barker

VILLAGE CARNIVAL DATE. The event may be many months away yet, but East Leake residents are being asked to put into their diaries for next year the date of June 23, because that is the date of the 2018 Village carnival .

Event organiser Mel Roper says they hope to be as successful in 2018 as they were this year, when hundreds of people turned out to enjoy the entertainment provided and watch the traditional village parade.

FOR MADDISON. Fund raising continues for an eight year old East Leake girl who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress so she can fulfil her dream of going to Florida’s Disney land.

Maddison Sherwood was diagnosed with her condition soon after she was born as parents Jamie and Lidia became aware her ability to walk was affected as was her breathing. The youngster’s parents were told that Maddison could not be expected to live to two years of age, but she has surprised everyone to be here six years later.

Both dad and mum gave up their jobs so Maddison can be given the 24 hour care she needs and now they are trying to raise sufficient money to take their youngest child on her dream trip along with brothers Harley (12) Jayden (10) and sister Lacey (15) who help mum and dad in the care Maddison has to have including using a respirator to allow her to breath.

Mr and Mrs Sherwood, of St Mary’s Crescent in East Leake are aware that Maddison’s condition is degenerative and so they can’t be sure what her condition will be like in the future, underlining the need for urgency in raising money for the fund.

The fund stands at around £1000 at present but double that amount of required to be able the family to make the trip.

HISTORY SOCIETY. East Leake and District History Society next meeting will take place on Wednesday next week, September 20, in St Mary’s Hall at 7.30pm

M r Ivor Perry will be the visiting speaker and will give a talk telling of how he researched the local WW1 casualities.

With the aid of a heritage Grant, Ivor obtained a large amount of detail about the casualties. He visited the cemeteries on the continent several times.

Visitors are welcome, there is no charge but a donation is always welcome.

The book stall will be there with all the Group’s publications and refreshments are served after the talk.

HISTORY CLUB. A Year 7 History Club formed at East Leake Academy had a very successful first year after being formed at the start of the last term.

The idea stemmed from the desire of history teacher Mr Horrocks-Taylor to encourage students to develop and enjoy an interest in history and, after experimenting with the idea at a previous school, he decided to introduce it at East Leake.

He said it had been a delight to spend Thursday lunchtimes with a fantastic group of Year 7s, indulging in their love of history and appreciating their regular attendance and enthusiasm. Activities of the group included making their own swords and shields, and using them to re-enact the Battle of Hastings in order to find out why William the Conqueror emerged as the winner, and having a QI style quiz on weird and wonderful history themes.

The final session before the end of the term saw the club members eating a World War II style meal in one of the Food Technology classrooms, with the room and some pupils - courtesy of some hats - sporting a 1940s theme.

Mr Horrocks-Taylor said that event had been staged in order to give pupils an idea of what life was like in wartime Britain and he gave a special thank to the pupils who had attended over the course of the term,

COMMUNITY CHOIR. East Leake’s popular Community Choir would welcome a few m ore members and has put out an invite to anyone to join them.

Conductor Chris Ebbern says: “If you enjoy singing, why not come and join us.

We meet in St Mary’s Church every Tuesday at 7.30pm.

Singing is good for you – body and mind”

For more information ahyone interested is asked to please contact Chris Ebbern 07792 089104 chris_ebbern@ yahoo.co.uk

DOG POOR SPRAY. Consideration is to be given by East Leake parish council to extend the area that their Volunteer Community Dog Warden carries out the blue ‘dog poor’ spray, initially in Meadow Park, but now other grassed areas could be considered.

COMMUNITY CARE ASSOCIATION. East Leake Community Care Association will hold it’s AGM on September 25, at 8pm in St Mary’s Church Hall.

Reports will be received from the various groups run by the Association and an amendment to the constitution received by the Hon Secretary will be put to the meeting. The amendment to Section 5 of the Constitution -Management is as follows.

The Management Committee shall elect its own chairman and vice chairman, who shall be chairman and vice chairman of the committee.

The outgoing chairman may be re-elected up to a maximum of five successive years

Please come along and hear what has been happening in your local community, all are very welcome.

Kegworth Mike Elliot 0115 937 6506 elliottnews@btconnect.com

AIR AMBULANCE BASE. Kegworth’s Air Ambulance Service retail base in Kegworth continues to operate and would welcome any donations if anyone wishes to drop off their unwanted items.

A spokesman for the base say donations are always needed and everything is accepted including items for ebay.

For visitors, parking is right by the drop off and anyone with gfoods is invited to pop by or give them a call on 01509 670989 and find out how you can help or to find out more about what they do. The premises are at 5 Side Ley, Kegworth. DE74 2FJ

The Air Ambulance Service point out it does not receive any government funding. “Our life saving missions are fuelled by your donations,” they say.

MUSEUM GHOST WALK. Kegworth Museum is to stage its annual Ghost Walk, with it taking place on Friday, October 27.

It will be led by Mrs Sheila Sharpe, a leading member of the museum.

Sheila says the walk takes between 1hr and 1.5hrs and is followed afterwards by coffee and biscuits at the museum. Those taking part will be leaving the museum at 6pm.

The charge to take part is £4 and tickets can be obtained beforehand from Sheila on 01509 6736113 or on the night.

The walk will take in High Street, Loughborough Road and Bridgfields in Kegworth.

BROADHILL SCHEME GETS THE GO-AHEAD. Strong objections by the parish council and a number of local residents to plans to turn a house on Broadhill at Kegworth into a HMO dwelling with eight bedrooms have been rejected by North West Leicestershire District Council who have given the go ahead to the scheme.

The parish council objected to the plans for a change of use of the dwelling house at 5 Broadhill to a house in multiple occupation and said they objected as the scale of the development, with eight rooms available for letting, was out of keeping with the existing dwellings in an established residential area.

The council said the proposal would make an existing known traffic hazard substantially worse, with more cars parked on Broadhill, pointing out there was inadequate provision made for parking on site,. They said the type of accommodation proposed was likely to be let to people working at the airport or vet students at the University of Nottingham, with each is likely to own and use a car.

The parish council said: “The development will have a detrimental effect on the amenity of a listed building, as two of the bedrooms on the first floor and the bedroom in the roof space overlook the garden of the adjacent listed building at 59 High Street.”

Local residents on Broadhill said the development was completely out of proportion and expressed strong fears on traffic problems. They said Broadhill Road is always used s a car park at times and this causes a real hazard, saying cars are currently allowed to park along the street including over the brow of the hill due to the double yellow lines ending too close to the road junction. The parking problems will be intensified, say the residents and this will inevitably lead to accidents.

It was claimed by a resident that extensive structural work had started on the property prior to any approval being given. And that the development will have a serious impact on other properties adjacent and will lead to noise and nuisance for other properties on the road.

COMMUNITY LIBRARY. On Friday, September 1, the second Macmillan Coffee Morning with a difference – it’s in the afternoon ! - was held at the library.

We just knew you’d love all those delicious home made cakes and how right we were! Over £640 was raised, although with the produce stall and bric-a-brac stall it wasn’t solely from the sale of cakes. Thank you to everyone in the village who supported this event in aid of such a worthwhile cause.

The children’s Summer Reading Challenge has now finished with over 50 village children taking part and earning their medals and certificates which were presented at their school assembly.

Our singing for fun group EmbarrasSING meets again on Wednesday, September 20, as they warble their way into autumn.

Do come along for an enjoyable and sociable evening, 7pm just £2.

Sileby

HIGHGATE SURGERY. Friends of Highgate Surgery Patient Participation Group (PPG) are to hold their Annual General Meeting on Monday, September 25.

This is to commence at 6.30pm and will be held at the surgery on Storer Close, Sileby.

Everyone is welcome to attend and hear the report on the past 12 months and what to look forward to in the coming year. We hope you are able to join us.

We at Highgate Medical Centre wish to advise eligible patients that we are offering flu injections from Monday, September 18. If you are unsure if you are eligible please contact our staff at the practice to find out.

These injections are available to book by contacting the reception at Highgate Medical Practice or to book using the online booking system. We look forwards to seeing our eligible patients at our flu injection clinics.

SILEBY METHODIST CHURCH. The week began with a meeting of the Ladies Circle on Monday, 4th September after an extended summer break. There was no planned speaker but it was lovely to catch up with everyone and exchange news.

On Thursday, 7th, Cafe@ Chapel opened as usual from 9.30am - 11,30am, thank you again for your continued support. This was followed by a Planning Meeting, chaired by Rev Jonathan Gichaara.

We have made plans for the next Connexional year, this month there will be our Harvest Festival on 24th and Granville Mercy, our Local Pastor will lead that worship.

This year we are trying something different by inviting people to contribute toward ‘Chirp for Joy’ which is an initiative to raise money for desperate folk in the third world. £22 will buy 20 chickens which a family can use to sell eggs and raise their standard of living from desperate to poor but able to feed themselves and, maybe, sell some for educating their children too.

In October, on 14th, we are holding a New and Nearly New Sale so there should be some very good bargains available.

On Monday, 23rd, there will be a Soup & Pud Lunch, hosted by Tony and Gina Doore, more details later.

Saturday, 9th, saw Cafe@ Chapel open as usual but also it was the Leicestershire Historic Churches Annual Bike-ride and the ladies stayed open until 1.30pm. Well done Betty and Ann!!

Sunday, 10th September, was the Circuit Service at Trinity Methodist Church in Loughborough but as there were problems with transport, it was decided to hold a Service of Praise at 10.45am with our Worship Leader, Brenda, officiating.

The congregation were marvellous, singing seven popular hymns with Bible readings and prayers interspersed. Janet was heroic on the piano, thank you so much dear, we couldn’t have managed without you.

Next week Rob Newton is our preacher at the 10.45am service.

Mountsorrel

ST PETER’S PARISH CHURCH. All are warmly invited on the evening of Sunday,. eptember 17 ( The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity) to the Parish Church of St Peter (Market Place) Mountsorrel for a sung service of Choral Evensong at 6pm.

The officiant will be our new assistant curate, the Rev’d Darren Walker and the preacher the Parish Priest.

Coffee and tea will follow the Office in the Antill Vestry.

Oaks in Charnwood

FAMILY SERVICE. All are welcome to St.James’ the Greater Church, LE12 9YD on Sunday, September 17 at 11.15 am with Rev’d Lydia Humphreys.

A Sunday School is available for the first part of the service. Parents can leave their children or stay with if preferred. Contact Sandra Cook Leader on 01530 837059 or 0787 1474792 if you require further information.