Village news TRIP TO GHANA.
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East Leake
Mike Elliott 0115 937 6506 elliottnews@btconnect.com
Over forty students from East Leake Academy sent off from the village last week to go on what has become an annual trip from the Academy to Ghana, where they are helping to build a kindergarten and an orphanage or youngsters.
A number of East Midlands construction companies have supported the event this year and have been digging deep to support the project to complete the build of an orphanage and a new kindergarten facility in Ghana.
The companies have donated both funds and essential equipment which has been taken to Ghana by students from the Academy to complete works on the Eugemot Orphanage in the Upper Volta region of the country.
In total, 44 students from East Leake Academy will travelled to Ghana last week as part of a Venture Force expedition to build the walls of the new kindergarten. This will be the third trip to the country by East Leake Academy students to support the build of a sustainable orphanage complex.
In order to take part in the visit, students had to fundraise themselves to pay for the costs of their travel and accommodation.
Thanks to the kind donations of local construction companies, they will no longer be travelling empty handed and will transport a range of tools for the new build including hawks, shovels, trowels, paint and paint brushes, and even a new orphanage sign.
Howard Platts, Group Training Officer for Action for Construction, said: “The support for the project from our member companies has been overwhelming. It is such a fantastic and worthwhile venture that lots of companies were happy to get involved. We can’t wait to see the finished build and it will be great to see the children settled into their new kindergarten.”
Principal of East Leake Academy, Mrs Kathy Hardy, said: “We are extremely grateful for the donations from local businesses – this will make a real difference to our students as they lay the foundation walls for the new kindergarten. It has been fantastic to work together with local companies on this project and, as we aim to produce responsible citizens of the future, support like this sets a great example for our students.”
The items donated by local construction businesses have been 12 hawks and trowels – Swallow Hill Homes, 12 hawks and trowels – Telling (Finishings) Ltd (hand hawks) and Protrade (plastering trowels), 12 shovels – Drury Joinery and Jewson, 8 packs of paint brushes (1inch, 2inch, 3inch) – Art Decorators, £1000 donation to the Venture Force Foundation charity– CR Civil Engineering, Orphanage sign – Action for Construction and 50 litres of paint – DKN Decorators
DISAPPOINTING NUMBER OF WINTER FINCHES. The mild weather of 2016-17 produced disappointing numbers of winter finches in Meadow Park at East Leake during the first few months of the year, the Friends Group were told in a report on the overall bird position by Matt Coward.
He said winter thrushes were low on numbers with Fieldfares noticeably absent. Spring saw bird numbers increase with Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Whitethroats and Blackcap all breeding in the park and being especially abundant in Hall Field.
Previously scarce residents within the park boundaries that saw an increase in sightings during 2017 included Coal Tit, Greater Spotted Woodpecker and Little Egret. Alongside new residents came an apparent decline for some important birds in the park – reports of river-nesting birds such as Kingfisher, Mallard and Moorhen became worryingly sparse - possibly being disturbed by dog/human activity, or by the quality of the water in the brook.
LOOKING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS. East Leake Friends of Meadow Park group are still looking for more photographs of scenes in the park for the proposed new Notelets.
The groups next Working Activity Day is taking place on April 14, with more to follow on h May 12th June 9th and July 14th . There is no activity day in August.
PLANNING FOR CHRISTMAS. Christmas may be months away but parish councilors at East Leake are already looking ahead to plan for their 2018 festive light displays.
Clark Neil Lambert and Coun. Mrs Marie Males have already met to review the play last year in order to prepare proposals for 2018.
They have requested a quote for investigating possible repairs to the main tree lights and the Clerk is to prepare a draft policy dealing with the erection of small trees on shop fronts etc in the village to clarify responsibilities. Coun. Mrs Males has requested consideration of lights near the Pinfold
LANTERN LANE GREAT WAR STUDIES. With lots of attention being given this year to the First World War which, on November 11, will have ended exactly 100 years before, pupils at East Leake’s Lantern Lane school have themselves been looking back to the time the four year battle with Germany was won.
Headteacher Mrs Jane Butler said they had a super start to their WWII topic and had fun investigating WWII artefacts and guessing their use.
The pupils have also played WWII games, learnt about the Morse code, written WWII fact files and created Blitz collages.
“In English, we are loving reading ‘ The Lion and the Unicorn’ and finding out about what it was like to be an evacuee. As homework we’ve enjoyed making WWII models, writing postcards and evacuation kit lists.
CHRISTIAN AID WEEK. Christian Aid in East Leake will again be marked this year, with the actual week being from May 13 to 19.
Traditionally during the week people come together from all walks of life to step out in support of the world’ poorest communities.
Methodist Church member and one of the volunteers who help organise the events, says for more than 60 years, their amazing volunteer house to house collectors have helped East Leake be a part of this.
“We don’t have collectors to reach every house, but we can advise where in the village you can return your envelope and continue supporting this worthwhile cause. The donations can be put in the special boxes at the village Post Office or Co-op store in the village between May 13th - 27th. or take it to one of the Churches on 20th or 27th May.
Anyone can call 01509 853126 and leave a message to ask for someone to collect it or put your donation in one of the ‘buckets’ of the collectors in the village on the mornings of Saturday 12th and 19th May or. take it to the Methodist Church on Saturday 19th May between 10.00am - 12.00noon where there will be a Cake Stall in aid of Christian Aid. There will not be a Plant stall this year. It is also possible to donate directly to Christian Aid using the information on the special envelope.
OBJECTIONS TO NEW HOUSING. As the concern of residents in East Leake over housing development in their parish continues to be the major talking point for many, some of the reasons for objections to more homes are being highlighted.
One of the points involve the question of education and Primary Schools even with expansion undertaken and planned the primary schools do not have capacity for any homes over and above the 800 properties already approved.
Both schools are currently full or oversubscribed in years 1 and 2, despite the recent expansion of Lantern Lane to two form entry. And only about half the new homes with planning permission are presently occupied.
There is no further room for expansion at Lantern Lane. The Education Authority is planning to expand Brookside school, but not build a new school. There is no funding available to build a new school.
The recent proposals for further development of up to 195 houses off Lantern Lane –Rushcliffe rejected the application -- would not have provided enough children to warrant a third primary school in the village. The Local Education Authority is not intending to build a new school on the site offered by the Rempstone Road landowners, who are currently appealing the decision to refuse planning permission for their site.
The question of the village Health Centre is another moot point, particularly because currently there are no plans to provide a new Health Centre, and no site has been identified. The existing building is too small for the size that East Leake has become and unsuitable for a modern Health Centre.
The Road Network is a concern. The volume of housing development already approved in East Leake, plus the huge Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre development at Stanford Hall -- which will have 682 car park spaces -- is already causing road safety concerns at several roads and junctions around the village, including Gotham Road/Main Street T-junction in the centre of East Leake, Junction onto the A60 at Costock, A60/A6006 crossroads at Rempstone , A6006 Melton Road, the A6006 staggered junction with Loughborough Road and the Loughborough Road / Rempstone Road junction.
As far as it is understood. no traffic assessment has considered the cumulative effect of all the housing developments in East Leake plus Stanford Hall. There is also the impact of the 3000 houses south of Clifton to be considered.
On the question of sewerage provision it is believed to have insufficient capacity. And although there may now be plans to expand the water treatment plant on West Leake road, there are no details of either the plans or the timescales.
As far as is known there are no plans to expand the pumping station in the centre of the village.
GOLDEN STAR APPLICATION. A planning application to Rushcliffe Borough Council by The Golden Star, at 79 Main Street in East Leake for the retention of the area of cement hard surface at their site was objected to by the parish council on the grounds of visual impact in a Conservation Area.
The parish council said they felt the new cement concrete surface did not match the existing surroundings and the raised manhole covers were a hazard. REPLACEMENT SPEAKER. Unfortunately Luke Wigman, the next speaker at the East Leake Local History Society on Wednesday next week, April 18, is unable to give his talk on the Defence and Rehabilitation Centre, Stanford Hall.
Instead the Society have brought forward the talk by Keith Hodgkinson on “The Black Death in Nottinghamshire and East Leake” which was planned for next November.
Our apologies for everybody who was interested in developments at Stanford Hall. The Black Death talk will be at 7.30pm in the Church Hall as usual.
TALK ON VOTES FOR WOMEN. East Leake St Mary’s Women’s Group have a meeting on Monday next week, April 16, when John Sutton will give a talk on ‘Votes for Women’ which comes at the time of the passing of 100 years of the Suffragette movement. The meeting is as usual in St Mary’s Hall and will start at 8pm.
Long Whatton and Diseworth
Mike Elliott 0115 937 6506 elliottnews@btconnect.com BINGO, FISH AND CHIPS. A bingo night and fish and chip supper are being arranged for Diseworth Village Hall on Saturday April 21, in aid of hall funds.
Doors will open on the night 7pm ready for a 7.30pm start and those attending are invited to take their own drinks for a friendly relaxed, fun filled evening.
Tickets at £6.50 include the fish and chip supper. Bingo Game Card for six games cost £1.50 each.
Bookings have to be made in advance top order the supper that will be served to them and can be made on 0300 800 6000 or to a member of the Village Hall Committee or chairman David Bamford 07802 817691 david@drbamford. co.uk
VILLAGE HALL STATEMENT. Diseworth Village Hall chairman has put out a statement to clarify to local residents on the status of the village hall.
The building and grounds belong to the village of Diseworth and are managed in a charitable trust by a management committee that is elected annually at the AGM which is held in May.
The Hall committee receives no outside financial support and therefore has to must raise its own income in order it can meet the demands of paying for the day-to-day running costs as well as those for maintenance and refurbishment.
The field and car park areas adjacent to the hall are not ‘public land’ as seems to be the current misconception, but are part of the village hall facility that is opened for use at the discretion of the committee.
There is a public footpath that runs through the grounds and which is accessed through No. 15/17 Hall Gate and a kissing gate in the north east corner of the site.
The site of the children’s play area is leased to the parish council on a peppercorn rent.
The hall in Diseworth is recognised as a well used traditional village venue and it is available to hire for parties, celebrations or other events
The hall car park is available for hire separately from the hall itself, providing a useful service for anyone holding a private house party or event where guests will be arriving by car.
Wysall
PARISH COUNCIL REPORT. Wysall and Thorpe in the Glebe in the parish council have appointed a data protection officer at a cost of £150 a year.
Mr Adrian Frewell of A2 Squared will also set up the required new e-mail system for the council.
Coun John Cottee, the village representative on Notts County Council, spoke on the work of his authority involving its programme for road repairs.
East Midlands Airport wrote and said while they did not normally make grants to parish councils they would in this instance approve a grant of £200 towards the cost of provision of roof insulation for the village hall. Website figures for January showed 1352 hits generated by 774 visitors, the lowest since last July.
Nottinghamshire CPRE wrote regarding the 2018 Best Kept Village competition. The council agreed to submit an entry. Notts County Council had not found undue litter etc in the area around the Old Woodyard on Keyworth road where new housing development was being carried out. The clerk said he had told Rushcliffe Borough Council the council still claim the area was a mess and they had now agreed to send out an officer to inspect.
Commemoration of the end of WW1. Coun Cottee said he would support a Local Improvement Scheme application to Notts County Council in connection with the project to provide an information board on the fact Wysall is a Thankful village, not having lost anyone who went to either WW1 or WW11. The board would be blessed at a ceremony on November 11.
The Appointment of David Dixon as internal auditor was confirmed.
Figures presented to the council by Mike Stanley of figures for the village hallo showed since January 2017 to September the same year events they had organised resulted in £1937 being raised including £1167 from the food fair. Outgoings in the same period were £867.
The recent quiz night had been a big success and the most recent Sunday Breakfast Club had seen the most meals served since it began, with the figure being 48.
Coun Stephen Reeds had carried out an extensive survey regarding the village website and presented a report on it to members. It was agreed he go back to the site controllers to discuss further with them the future contents of the site and its design.