East Leake
WORKING WITH SCHOOL IN TANZANIA. East Leake Brookside school headteacher Gary Kenny has outlined his thoughts on the wonderful experience he had visiting Mambo village in the Usambara Mountains in Tanzania.
Giving details of his visit in the school newsletter, he says he experienced the privilege of visiting and working within a school in Tanzania during the week ahead of the East Leake half-term break.
“Alongside a group of other Head Teachers from Equals Trust schools, I was involved in a project sponsored by the British Council called ‘Stories of a Lifetime.”
Mr Kenny visited the Mwavi Primary School, and said its children and staff, were remarkable.
“It is a rural school that by the standards we are familiar with exists in extraordinary poverty. The school, for example, has no electricity, no running water, class sizes of 100 or so pupils and more children than books. Many of its children walked with incredible dedication the equivalent of East Leake to Loughborough each day just to go to school. What the school and its community lacked in consumables and material wealth it more than made up for with the warmth of its welcome and its generosity of spirit. The whole experience was humbling and has left with me a deep appreciation of the country of Tanzania and its people.”
The East Leake head says that plans going forward are that Mr Hamis, his host and fellow head teacher, will visit Brookside in June when it will be our opportunity to extend our welcome and friendship. “I am equally keen to develop further learning links between our children and the children of Mwavi - as well as exploring the possibility of making collections and donations of items such as pencils and books to the school.”
Mr Kenny says his first week in Tanzania was dedicated to the time he spent in school, “I was lucky to be able to extend my time in Tanzania for an additional week during the half term break and experience more of what makes Tanzania such an incredible and beautiful country. The warmth and welcome I experienced in Mwavi continued during my further travels.”
INSPIRE LEARNING SERVICE. Notts County Council’s Inspire Learning service are to present a free Family Learning course at East Leake Library.
The three weeks course on a Friday starts on Friday January 31 an d runs again on the following two Fridays, February 7 and 14 and is under the title Dinosaur Explorers. The one-hour long course each week will start at 1-3pm and the course number is ID 37323.
Inspire delivers culture earning and library services on behalf of Notts County Council and contact be contacted on 01623 677 200. Bookings can be made online 24 hours a day at inspireculture.org.uk/learning.
OBJECTIONS TO NEW HOUSING PLAN. Plans for the erection of 22 new dwellings on land East of Cornflower Way Balancing Pond at East Leake have been strongly objected to by the parish council.
The decision was taken after nearly 20 residents attended a meeting of the council to raise their concerns over the application.
The meeting was told that in East Leake there were already planning permissions for 1304 homes on greenfield sites around the village, over three times the “minimum 400” allocated in the Core Strategy of the Rushcliffe Borough Local Plan.
On the question of Infrastructure Deficiencies, the parish are saying that with this level of housing growth there has been little growth in infrastructure to cater for the additional homes and the large rehabilitation centre just outside the village at Stanford Hall. East Leake Neighbourhood Plan policy stipulates that development over and above the minimum 400 homes will only be supported where it is demonstrated that infrastructure will be improved in time to serve the needs of the development.
Other points made by the parish council in their objection said the village Health Centre has been identified as severely under capacity and past the end of its life, and a new building is needed, adding that although it id understood that feasibility studies have started, it is unlikely that anything will be delivered within five years. The primary schools are full and while there are plans to build a third such school planning is at a very early stage and there are no guarantees that the school will materialise. The secondary school needs to be expanded to cater for the housing already approved, and planning for this does not appear to have started.
Severn Trent have realised that the existing sewerage systems do not have the capacity to serve the expanded village plus the rehabilitation centre at Stanford on Soar.
Feasibility studies etc have started to increase capacity but this will take many years. There are capacity issues with many of the junctions around East Leake that connect it to the main highway system, and also at the t-junction in the village centre. Further traffic out through Costock or the village centre will create delays and accidents.
The parish council say the site for the proposed 22 dwellings cannot be considered infill. “It is a green field beyond the edge of the built up area of East Leake, and therefore development here would be contrary to Policy 22 of Local Plan Part 2.” From the entrance to Cornflower Way towards Costock the aspect is rural, with houses on Cornflower Way set well back from the road, behind balancing ponds and a carpark, all screened by vegetation.
On the question of reducing the separation of East Leake and Costock it is stated that after extensive public consultation, the East Leake Neighbourhood Plan which was adopted in November 2015 identified the importance of green field separation between the two villages, saying they are distinct and separate settlements. The open countryside along the road is vital for maintaining the separation and rural aspect of each of the communities, and has been eroded by various developments in the past few years, including residential development of up to 150 dwellings with overspill car park for cricket and rugby club, on land to the east of Meeting House Close, on Costock Road, East Leake, approved in 2014, and now complete and change of use and extension of agricultural buildings for retail and storage use in connection with relocation of existing Love and Piste business, including parking and access works, at Brook Furlong Farm on Costock Road now in use and including café and kitchen/bathroom business.
The objection said the impact on traffic junctions in the surrounding area needs to be considered, particularly the Costock crossroads, the T-junction in the centre of East Leake, and the A6006 junctions (Loughborough
Road, Leake Lane, Travels Hill, and Rempstone).
The Borough council have yet to make a decision on the application.
STUDENTS AT WORLD
SKILLS EVENT. Students from East Leake Academy attended the World Skills UK Live Event at the NEC in Birmingham, where they had opportunities to investigate future careers, apprenticeships and educational opportunities beyond school.
More than 40 students from East Leake attended the event and they were able to meet and speak to representatives from companies ranging from Toyota to BAE Systems, to military services and other companies such as construction and beauty therapy organisations.
School staff who accompanied the students said they were a credit to East Leake Academy and that they behaved and conducted themselves in an exemplary manner throughout the day visit.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH SCHEME APPEAL. East Leake Neighbourhood Watch Scheme would welcome an influx of both new co-ordinators and members.
Neighbourhood Watch works with the Police in the prevention and detection of crime. And it encourages a two way flow of information regarding potential or actual crimes. “As members of Neighbourhood Watch groups we look out for each other’s interests whilst away from home and we look for and report suspicious incidents.”
Members of the group are asked to remember to report anything suspicious they see, no matter how small it may seem, it being stressed to them that every little bit of information helps.
Neighborough Watch is a group of individuals who, by their concern for each other and the area in which they live, voluntarily act in conjunction with the Police in the prevention and detection of crime. Chief co-ordinator for East Leake is Sarah Dickinson and she can be contacted on 01509 852108 / 07510123690
The parts of East Leake that are covered by Neighbourhood Watch each have an area co-ordinator, who covers one or more streets, usually involving 10 to 20 houses or other premises.
Members of a group look out for each other while they are away from home. They look for and report suspicious incidents. They may receive information passed from the co-ordinator about particular risks at any one time and about information that the Police are seeking.
The success of Neighbourhood Watch is largely down to volunteers who give up their time to engage with their neighbourhoods and communities.
Co-ordinators are the first point of contact for local residents and the wider community and ensure a smooth flow of information and communication between the police and scheme members. The scheme is a valuable way of bringing people together to combat community issues and crime. Anyone can look out for suspicious activity around you and your neighbour’s property, especially over holiday periods and share information and reporting it accordingly.
Those who act as a co-ordinator have to welcome new residents to the NW scheme area and invite other neighbours to join, keep a list of names and emails/ numbers, set up a WhatsApp group, and circulate any information from relevant authorities. You can also arrange for NW signs to be put up in your area.
FRIENDS MEMBERSHIP
INCREASED. Membership of the Friends of Meadow Park has increased in the past year, secretary Kevin Gibbons reported at the annual meeting.
Membership increased from 186 to 190 from 186 land Kevin said “this is still a very good level of membership.”
Kevin said the Friends were represented at the “meet your village” event, ‘which helped build our exposure and added 12 new members.’
He said that everyone on the committee ‘had more than done their bit’ by improving, fixing and maintaining the Forest School area,working with the Forest School Children, keeping Hall Field under control, maintaining bird and bat boxes, planting bulbs and wild flowers, hedge laying and building our profile through publicity, new banners and information in the plinths.
They had also been introducing high vis Meadow high vis vests, new fencing along Bateman Road, lots of general conservation work and new paths!
Kevin said he would personally like to thank everyone on the committee for their hard work and continued contributions with regards to moving the park forwards, here’s looking forward to another great year.
The Meadow Park Strollers Thursday afternoon walks in the park have proved very popular again this year. There have been as many as 20 people joining the walks to enjoy some gentle exercise and see the changing seasons in the park. The walk is now a recognised Health Walk as part of the Rushcliffe Move and Mingle programme.
They now have four leaders and are at the park every Thursday at 1.30 pm, meeting at the Millstone for their 30 minute stroll. They follow their walks with a trip to Chefs Café for cups of tea and a chat, and warmly welcome any new walkers.
The repairs to the paths have made their walks all the more enjoyable recently, even during the wet weather.
TWENTY CRIMES IN NOVEMEBR. More than 20 crimes in East Leake were reported to police in November, including thefts from motor vehicles and criminal damage.
On November 1 number plates were stolen from a vehicle parked on St Marys
Crescent and the following day damage was caused to a skylight at business premises on Gotham Road.
A car stolen by means of burglary from Sheepwash Way on November 4 and on the same night a child’s scooter was stolen and a car was broken into.
The following day during the early hours suspects forced entry in to the café on Gotham Road and stole items. Suspects have since been arrested and charged with this offence.
On November 10 there were five occurrences of theft from motor vehicles in the village and damage to a window.
Damage was caused to a window on Kirk ley Road on November 11 and there was theft from a car on Foxglove Close the following day.
Number plates stolen from a car while parked on St Marys Crescent on November 17 and five cars were broken into during the early hours across two areas in the village on November 21.
A motorbike was stolen from St Marys Crescent and dumped near the rear of the school on November 23. The suspect was identified and is to be dealt with.
On the same evening there was an attempted theft from a car on Maple Close and a theft from car on Woodgate Road.
The crimes have been reported by the police to the Parish Council and the local Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator.
MUM IN BEAUTY PAGEANT. An East Leake mother will be competing in the sell-out final of a nationwide beauty pageant on Saturday, this week January 18
Beki Mannering has been awarded the title of Mrs. Nottingham Atlantic and she will be competing in the national final at The Oakwood Centre at Woodley near Reading in Berkshire.
Atlantic Beauty Pageant is a brand new UK system that offers an exciting experience for women of all ages to showcase their hard work as positive role models in today’s society.
The pageant aims to empowerand inspire individuals to make a difference to other people’s lives, allowing them to grow in self-confidence.
The contestants are fundraising for the Pageant’s chosen charity which is MIND, the mental health charity whilst raising awareness for their own causes.
Beki had a baby in 2019 and whilst on maternity leave she was keen to keep active and help other people.
She found information about the Atlantic Pageant on-line and thought that it would be a great way to empower herself and help others.
MIND says that between 10% and 15% of new mothers develop post-natal depression and Beki said the Atlantic Pageant would be a great way to show new mums how to develop their interests and set an example by fund-raising.
Beki ran the Nottingham 5K race last year to raise funds for charity and she hopes to bring the crown of Mrs. Atlantic back to the local area after the final on Saturday.
The grand final is a sell-out and the organisers say there will be no tickets available on the door at Saturday’s final, when junior and senior pageant winners will be chosen.
Anybody who would like to support Beki’s fund-raising is asked to visit https://www. justgiving.com/fundraising/ bekiruns.
EXPLORING LIFE. Life explored is the name of a free, informal and relaxed course at St. Mary’s Parish Church in East Leake which examines contentment and happiness in life.
The course starts tomorrow, January 16 and each evening begins with cheese and wine and there is a mix of video and life input as well as space for discussion.
Organisers say you do not need to know anything about the Bible to take part in the course and you will not be asked to pray or sing. Course members will be able to ask any questions they like or they can just sit and listen
To sign-up for the course or to find out more people interested are asked to text or call the Rev. Tim Parker, of the United Benefice of East Leake or see the church’s website.
HISTORY OF RUSHCLIFFE GOLF CLUB. Golf enthusiasts are welcome at a meeting of East Leake and District Local History Society today January 15 when the subject will be the history of Rushcliffe Golf Club.
Visitors are welcome at the meeting which will take place at St. Mary’s Hall at 2 p.m.
MESSY CHURCH. As part of January’s Messy Church, Christingle was celebrated at St. Mary’s Parish Church at East Leake.
Fun, food and faith was the theme of the afternoon
.The Christingles are oranges holding candles and decorated with red ribbon, dried fruit and sweets and everybody is most welcome to come and help.
Each element of a Christingle has a special meaning and helps to tell the Christian story - the orange represents the world, the red ribbon (or tape) symbolises the love and blood of Christ, the sweets and dried fruit represent all of God’s creations and the lit candle represents Jesus’s light in the world, bringing hope to people living in darkness
TALK ON PEST CONTROL. Pest control will be the subject of a talk to be given at the next meeting of St. Mary’s Women’s Group in East Leake next Monday, January 20.
A representative from Solutions Pest Control will be talking about his work with moles and other animals and insects.
As usual the meeting is open to everyone and it starts at 8 pm in St. Mary’s Hall.
The group’s annual lunch is next Wednesday, January 22 at the Rancliffe Arms in Bunny.
Members are reminded that an annual subscription of £8.50 will be collected this month.