East Leake
HISTORY BOOK. Lots of excitement is being caused in East Leake as a new village History Society book is published, looking back as it does 80 or so years when the village became home for around 200 youngsters from several parts of the country in a war time evacuation programme.
Society member Keith Hodgkinson has been joined by other members of the East Lake Local History Society to produce what is a wonderful account of how the village turned a new home for the youngsters concerned.
Keith told the Echo: “We are pleased to announce the publication of the new book ‘ To a Place of Greater Safety’ which tells the story of the 200 or so children who were evacuated to the village from Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham and London during the Second World War.”
The book includes stunning photographs of the children in transit and some personal accounts of their stay in the village, and also showed that later some of the evacuees stayed in touch with those who hosted them for the rest of their lives.
“The publication finally presents an analysis of the effects of this massive migration on the lives of their hosts, the village and other people concerned both here in East Leake and elsewhere,” says Keith, adding: “the ‘Pied Piper Programme’ was of course a prelude – and almost a rehearsal -- for greater state involvement in the welfare state itself after the war was finally over.”
The book poses the question of was the disruption to the lives of so many and to the village worth all the effort, and the cost? and invites comments from readers on that question.
The book “To a Place of Greater Safety” is now available from East Leake library, the local card shop ‘Something Special’ and from the Society website, eastleake-history.org.uk priced at £8.50
The Society’s latest monthly meeting is tonight, November 17, when Bob Massey gives a zoom talk on The History of the Nottingham’s Goose Fair. It starts at 7.30pm and will run until 9pm.
OPEN EVENING. Prospective students and their parents or carers were invited to the annual sixth form open evening at East Leake Academy.
At the event prospective students were able to meet teaching staff and current sixth form students, find out about the A Level and BTEC qualifications and discover how the EPQ qualification can enhance studies and future options - the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) is an A-level standard standalone qualification designed to extend and develop students’ abilities beyond the A-level syllabus and prepare for university or their future career. Many universities make lower A-level offers to students undertaking an EPQ.
Prospective Sixth form students were also able to explore the Academy’s extra-curricular opportunities, visit the faculties to inform decisions about which courses are suitable, get careers advice about the future after GCSEs and out how to apply for the Sixth Form Centre
The Academy is proud to have a 100% A Level pass rate at East Leake Academy.
GROWTH BOARDS. East Leake remains a part of the Growth Boards established in Rushcliffe alongside West Bridgford, Bingham and Radcliffe-on-Trent,
Details are now available on the Borough Council website, providing up to date information to local stakeholders, residents and business owners alike.
The groups are made up of public sector partners, local representatives of the community and business sectors who are working together to agree, plan and implement a long term vision in these towns and villages.
The facility ensures the areas concerned have the support and infrastructure in place to meet the needs of the existing and future residents as these settlements grow in the coming years.
Anyone can find out more about the items and local issues the Boards have addressed so far and hear of updates following their regular meetings at https:// www.rushcliffe.gov.uk/ business/growthboards/
The Borough is growing significantly over the next decade with 13,150 new homes planned by 2028, and the Growth Boards are an integral part of ensuring they proactively plan to create communities that will be desirable to live, work and play in.
Cllr Andy Edyvean, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth and Business said: “This area of our website is now a central point for all enquiries for the latest in each of our Growth Board areas.
“It is important that we are keeping people informed of the work of the growth boards and how their plans are progressing and developing.
“Updates will be posted on the webpage following each quarterly meeting so we would encourage residents to look out for further updates.”
Activity undertaken across all of the Growth Board areas so far includes a retail health check of each area to understand the challenges and opportunities within Rushcliffe’s high streets and accompanying workshops for local businesses.
Rushcliffe is part of the WDYT ( What do you think?) campaign which measures the Digital Influence of 1,300 UK high streets and help them improve them for their local communities.
Coun. Edyvean says the WDYT social media campaign last year was also used to encourage more small independent retailers to adopt the use of social media and drive up footfall on the high street.
Shop front improvement grants have been introduced to support local retailers and the Great British High Street social media campaign championed Rushcliffe’s local high streets, which has evolved into a High Street Heroes campaign to further highlight their initiatives.
Examples of some of the activity for East Leake in the last year includes work to support and enhance the village centre including a meeting with NCC Highways to explore options for the T junction, sewerage and drainage, and completion of capacity assessment by Severn Trent Water to assess the impact of the housing growth in East Leake.
Coun. Edyvean says the outcomes of this work will be presented back to a Growth Board during this year. He adds that the group also held an action planning workshop which has resulted in the production of an action plan to help guide the groups work..
CROQUET CLUB. Following a successful demonstration by Nottingham Croquet Club in East Leake, it has been suggested that a croquet club may be set up in the village.
East Leake Parish Council has suggested that if people in the village are interested in setting up a club, council officers are happy to collect details and “facilitate a meeting for those interested.”
Anybody who is interested is asked to email parishclerk@east-leake.gov.uk
PRIMARY SCHOOL. Pupils at East Leake Lantern Lane Primary school are progressing well in the new term which takes them up to the Christmas break.
Head teacher Mrs Jane Butler, in the school newsletter, has outlined the theme of the activities of each class for the new term, with Year 1 learning about kings, queens and castles.
“We will be finding out about King Richard III, the Battle of Bosworth, and the discovery of Richard’s skeleton underneath a Leicester car park in 2012. So far, in English, we have explored some familiar and new fairy tales featuring princes and princesses and we have found out all about royal portraits in Art. We’ve been painting our own self-portraits, depicting ourselves wearing our best clothes and holding something that is special to us, just like kings, queens, lords and ladies did 500 years ago. Next term, we’ll be making beautiful cloaks for monarchs in our textile topic”
A Royal Time F1 Dinosaurs & Super Heroes Year 5 Are Busy, Busy Year 2 Go Wild Year 4 On A Mission Year 3 Investigate Yr 6 Are All Greek School Diary Dates Message
from the Office House Report Welcome Back! Welcome back to another year at Lantern Lane. I am really hopeful that this year we will have a much more ‘normal’ year, but as always we can do no more than wait and see! I would like to welcome all the new children who have joined Lantern Lane this year whether that be in Foundation or in other year groups higher up the school. Everyone has settled in brilliantly which is fantastic to see.
Also, a warm welcome goes to Miss Recchia and Miss Stevenson who have joined the teaching team at Lantern Lane this year. Obviously while welcoming new children is always something we love to do, it also means we had to say goodbye to our Year 6 at the end of last year. I am pleased to say that last year’s Year 6 did us proud throughout their time at Lantern Lane, and managed so well to make the most of their last year with us in spite of the challenges we all faced. This term we also unexpectedly said a temporary goodbye to Miss Nisan. Miss Nisan will remain at home now until the birth of her baby.
“I am sure you will join me in wishing Miss Nisan all the very best for the safe arrival of her baby and we look forward to meeting the new addition very soon. Finally, as always I want to thank you all for your continued support this term. It is very much appreciated by us all.”
Jane Butler