Village news
FESTIVE SAVE THE CHILDREN. An evening and morning festive event at Sutton Bonington gave a boost to two worthy causes.
Each year Terry and Sylvia Holt of Gable Lea act as hosts for a Christmas fund-raiser in support of Save The Children.
Christmas cards and stocking fillers were available along with mulled wine and mince pies for the Friday evening event while coffee and biscuits were served for the Saturday morning event. A raffle was also popular.
Around 100 people attended and Mr Holt told the Echo : “As usual we had good support and raised £790 for Save The Children while another £50 was raised by the Fair Trade stall. We are grateful for the support we get ”
The income figure was about 10 per cent up on last year.
SPEEDING CHECKS. Park Lane at Sutton Bonington has a traffic speeding programme and the parish council are appealing for more support for the volunteers who are required to operate the new speed-check equipment that is available through the council and which it is hoped will persuade motorists to adhere to the speed limit in force.
It is understood that over sixty speeder have been caught by the police and that tickets have been issued to the drivers concerned.
The number of drivers caught has highlighted the problem and the parish council hope that one way to tackle it is to increase the use of the speed check equipment, but to do that more volunteers are still required to operate it. Parish clerk Jenny Faulks says the parish council are hopeful of recruiting more volunteers so a more effective campaign can be staged.
Anyone willing to play a part in keeping g the village safer and help with speed monitoring is being asked to please contact Jenny on 01509 560807.
BUSY PRIMARY SCHOOL. As to be expected, Christmas is a busy time for any primary school, and Sutton Bonington is no exception There were Christmas performances for all children. Some of the children staged performances in the run up to the break with both an afternoon and an evening performance while others , from classes 3 to 6, were to take part in the Key Stage 2 Carol Concerts at St Michael’s Church yesterday and again this evening, Wednesday 20th December at 6pm. but with about 110 children participating it was obviously expected the church would be fairly full. A collection taken at the services will have its proceeds split between the Rainbows Hospice and the church (to cover heating/lighting costs).
CHRISTMAS NARRATIVE. Sutton Bonington St Anne’s Church staged a Christmas Narrative in the weekend before Christmas Day and which saw a large number of people attending as there were later the same day when in the evening there was a service of Nine Lessons and Carols by Candlelight service St Michael’s Church.
INCLUDED IN CHURCH DATABASE. Both Sutton Bonington parish churches – St Anne’s and St Michael’s – are among those listed in the Diocese and Nottingham University church history project publication.
The project was launched a few years ago by the two organisations with the aim of establishing a reliable database of historical information about all the churches in the Diocese. The local Nottingham and Southwell Diocese is the only one in the country to tackle such a major project and, so far, there are over 260 churches, including the two in Sutton Bonington included.
NINE CAROLS. The very popular Nine Lessons and Carols by Candlelight service at Sutton Bonington St Michael’s Church as usual drew a large number of people as they got into the feeling of Christmas . Lots of youngsters from the village were among the congregation and were aware that other less fortunate children in hospices over 1800 miles apart would be benefitting from the annual service.
The collection taken during the service is being divided between two very deserving charities, Children in Distress -- the children’s hospice in Caernovoda, Romania - and Rainbows, the children’s hospice just a few miles away in Loughborough
SINGING AT THE ANCHOR. The Anchor Inn at Sutton Bonington once again was the venue for the ‘Sing Christmas’ event taking place as part of BBC Radio Leicester’s festive broadcast. Song sheets were provided for those attending the event. The singing of traditional carols as part of the station’s broadcast provided the super festive atmosphere in the run up to Christmas.
LUNCH CLUB. Festive feelings were well to the fore when the Sutton Bonington Lunch club held their annual Christmas lunch at the village hall,– without their leader Sue James who went down with a disc problem shortly before the big day and couldn’t get out of home.
Sue told the Echo she had obviously been disappointed not to be at the Lunch but reports to her said the event had been another big success and with the elderly, the volunteer helpers and visitors there had been 60 people served with the lunch.
“I had luckily made the arrangements for the event early, and with everything ordered in advance my team of volunteers were able to make sure the party was a success. I’m grateful for what everyone did.”
Sue said that as usual the turkey was cooked in the hall and the helpers cooked the rest of the meal at their homes and took it down to those waiting to enjoy it.
Sue James says if anyone is a new senior and would like to join a friendly lunch club they have good food and company right in the village centre. “Please come and join us,” is her message to the village.
Sue can be contacted on 01509 673460 for more information and if anyone thinks they may be able to help in some way, she would be delighted to hear from them.
SUPERFAST BROADBAND. BT Broadband’s Cabinet 10 has now gone live in Sutton Bonington and residents will now be able to order a service and take advantage of the new superfast speeds available.
The Parish Council have requested a map showing where cabinets are located and which streets each cabinet serves.
THANKS FOR SUPPORT. Sincere thanks have been given to Sutton Bonington St Michael’s church for the way they supported the Friary Centre at West Bridgford through their Harvest Festival earlier this year.
Ann Bremner, the General Manager of the Centre that provides help and assistance for homeless people in the area, in a letter to the church, says: “Thank you very much indeed for your kind donations for our Harvest Appeal 2017………. Your thoughtful gifts will be used to provide nutritious snacks and healthy hot lunchtime meals at our Café or alternatively it will be used in the food parcels given out to service users. Everything is appreciated by those who need I and nothing goes to waste”.
MEDAL FOR JEAN CORLISS. One of the leading lights of the highly respected Soar Valley Bus service which provides a superb community service for Sutton Bonington and area, has been presented with the British Empire Medal in recognition of her wonderful input to the organisation. Jean Corliss is the proud recipient of the award but says it is really for everyone connected with what they do, and not just herself. “I feel it is an accolade to all our volunteers,” she told the Echo.
The service to the local area has been operating for over 35 years and it was way back in 1979 when Kenneth Clarke MP for Rushcliffe was Parliamentary UnderSecretary of State for Transport, at the time the government was trying to deregulate bus services in order to encourage a wider variety of public transport in response to the withdrawal of commercial operator services from outlying villages and rural areas. Their thoughts conceived the idea of allowing smaller buses to operate on a flexible local basis, using unpaid volunteers as management committees and drivers and press home their aim to ensure such a scheme would also act as a social lifeline, keeping local communities alive and thriving.
At the time it was clear that some authorities thought such an experiment would fail and took some persuading that volunteers could be efficient, organised and safe on the roads. But they didn’t reckon on the Soar Valley team of volunteers and now some 37 years later instead of failing, the scheme has gone from strength to strength and the services and areas of operation have expanded with their drivers have been able to benefit from attending advanced training schemes.
Jean told the Echo they cover not only Sutton Bonington but also Normanton on Soar, East Leake, West Leake, Ratcliffe on Soar, Thrumpton, Barton in Fabis and Stanford on Soar. She says the group proudly celebrate the fact that a great many people, by dedicated hard work and commitment, have helped to relieve the disabilities of age and vulnerability and contributed to quality of life of the whole of their community. Somewhere in the region of 11,000 passengers use the bus each year.
Jean has, for the last eighteen years, and on a total voluntary and unpaid basis, held two important posts within the group, Treasurer and Operations Manager which is, to say the least, a complex role which, among includes such as the scheduling of bus routes, recruitment of volunteer drivers and liaison with Nottinghamshire County Council on financial matters such as fares and support grants.
While the Soar Valley Bus name is a household word in such as Sutton Bonington and Normanton on Soar it also means as much in other nearby areas and in all provides a service for eight villages in all.
Currently there are two buses in use, one dating back to 2011 and one to 2013. Soon they will coming to the time when they need to be replaced and funds for that time are always in the minds of the leaders.
Jean says that the current buses were both designed to meet their exact needs in regard to the passengers they regularly carry and they would want to repeat this when looking for new vehicles.
And in making an appeal for more drivers she stresses that everyone is an unpaid volunteer and is required to have a D1 licence to allow the to drive a mini bus.
Jean can be contacted through soar.valleybus@ btconnect.com
CHILDREN IN NEED RESULT. Children in Need Day successes at Sutton Bonington primary school resulted in a big increase in income compared to last year.
School headmaster Mark Brumwell has said: “Thank you once again for your generosity in helping us to raise £537 for Children in Need. Well done to our School Councillors for planning the fundraising activities, such as the mini fun-runs and mascot competition. Our total was nearly £200 higher than last year, so clearly they’re an enterprising collective this year” COUN DICK WILSON RETIRES. Parish councillors at Bunny were told at their monthly meeting that Coun Dick Wilson had resigned from membership.
The clerk was asked to write to him to thank him for his services.
In response to a request from members, Ruddington Parish Council had said the new village name sigthere at Ruddington were paid for by the parish council, £7,300 for five signs, not including design of them or installation, the latter was £760.
Coun. Reg Adair, the Notts County Council member for the village, said he would progress with the clerk the matter of the overgrown hedge and tree root situation at Gotham lane end and at Keyworth Lane.
Aart De Groot , wrote in regard to tree work he had carried out and said there had been a request for four large Hazel bushes to be reduced adjacent to dwellings on Victoria Road near the allotment site. Notts County Council advised of their new Great War Commemoration Fund which could offer grants of £300 to parishes where plans were being made to mark the centenary of the ending of WW1.
Coun Featherstone put forward a suggestion that a bonfire be lit on the village green and the village hall used for a reception afterwards.
The new Local Minerals Plan by Notts County Council, is going out for consultation later in the month for an eight week period.
Robert Jenrick MP for Newark, r wrote re illegal traveller encampments. The government are looking at a new strategy on how police deal with these incidents.
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, wrote in regard to the Data Protection Bill and said the parish council need to appoint a Data Protection Officer by April next year.
The clerk said he would be given details on this when he attends an all day seminar later in the month.
The clerk Mike Elliott said he was still pressing Rushcliffe Borough Council to make a decision in regard to the official name for Wysall Lane. The need for the road sign at the bottom of School Street to be cleaned was to be progressed by the clerk.
The chairman said he would circulate the crime figures report now that Coun. Wilson had left the council. He reported on a break-in at a house on Main Street. He commented on a commercial electric speed sign that had been displayed at the NALC meeting the previous evening.
The chairman commented on the meeting held the previous weekend when the possible housing scheme for the former Brickyard was being put forward in the Rushcliffe Plan Part two. The council took the decision to oppose the proposal and the chairman would finalise the comments to be forwarded to the Borough Council.
New lights were to be fitted in the village hall before the end of the month, reported the chairman. He presented a report from the Village Hall Advisory group. It was felt the village hall should be advertised more prominently on the website. The question of provision of a note box for the hall wall was raised.
The question of dog fouling was again raised with concerns expressed at the problems this causes.
FRED PEARSON’S LEGACY. Kindling is again being offered from a site in Bunny to continue the late Fred Pearson’s legacy.
The site is as it was when Mr Pearson was alive, and is again to be found opposite the Jet garage on Loughborough Road. The serve yourself stall offers Kindling for sale, bags of finely chopped sticks for faster fires at £1 a bag.
This year Pete Pearson – Fred’s son – his wife Dorothy are supporting Nottingham Headway, the local charity for people with brain injuries and Fred’s preferred charity.
Last year thanks to their customers and suppliers of wood they raised £474 for Rainbows, the children and young people hospice.
But the organisers say that sadly an audit of money collected in the honesty jar, against bags bought, showed a shrinkage of 6 percent. In other words the equivalent of 31 bags were stolen. To put it another way some 31 terminally ill children were deprived of an ice cream!
The couple say hey are now looking forward to a bleak winter and plenty of sales for this excellent charity that will benefit.
PRIMARY FESTIVE EVENTS. Youngsters from Bunny C of E Primary School took part in several festive events in the run-up to Christmas.
There was a whole school trip to Pantomime and then last week gave two performances of their Nativity production. And on the last day before the break, Friday December 22,
They enjoyed the school Christmas dinner which signalled the Autumn term ending.
COMMUNITY CHOIR . Bunny Village Community Choir had a busy time in the run up to the Christmas break.
They joined forces with “My Sight” (a choir for the visually impaired) to sing Christmas Carols in the Victoria Centre in Nottingham and also took the leading role in the Bunny festive lights switch on ceremony.
They staged their own Christmas Fuddle at the home of one of their members .Viv’s
They now have a break until they start again on January 11.
Say the group: “We sing because we enjoy it. There are no auditions. You don’t have to be able to read music” For more information ring Kate on 0115 9847090