News November 2001

Nothing to report this time in my haste to get this Newsletter copied and delivered. Merry Christmas to everyone and a very Happy New Year

The critique meeting was held at my house in September, when we discussed how the Gala had gone and, in particular, what changes we should be considering for future years.

There was some concern that we were becoming a little staid in our approach to the situation, and investigation is to be undertaken into whether or not we should pay for professional entertainment, as we have done in the past, for next year’s Gala. You will all recall that the Gala itself was held on a day when we were extremely fortunate to have a Gala at all, the day being cold and windy in the morning, fairly cold in the early afternoon, and only in the latter part of the day did the weather start to smile on us. In those circumstances, I think we did remarkably well.

I have broadly got the same team around me as last year. They did an excellent job this year and I am sure they will do well next year. I thank them all.

A fun social evening is planned for Saturday, 24th November. Following the success of last year’s event it will include a short treasure hunt around the village (warm clothing advised), Amongst other entertainment, Notton’s answer to Ann Robinson will host ‘The Weakest Link’. Supper is included in the bargain price of £4. Please bring your own drinks.

Due to popular request and after two year’s absence, Notton Pantomime is returning. We shall be giving our version of Peter Pan on 22/23 February 2002. We would love to hear from anyone who is interested in joining us either as a major player, chorus, backstage or general dogsbody! This includes any children interested in being ‘lost’.

Notton Players have been asked to produce the Carol Service again this year on MONDAY, 17TH DECEMBER AT 7.30 PM. Any adults or children who would like to be included in either organising or performing should contact me or another Notton Player member. The Management Committee will organise refreshments - sherry and mince pies

Do come and support us either by becoming a Player yourself or enjoying an evening with us. It’s your village and without an audience it’s a little embarrassing.

200 Club - anyone wishing to join contact Pat on 728428. It’s £11 a year with 3 prizes of £50; £15; £15 each month

Fund Raising - The Xmas Ball is on 8th December and tickets are on sale in the Post Office. Anyone wishing to join the Fund Raising Committee should contact Pat on 728428. A concert by the Escape Youth Group of Wakefield will be held in the Village Hall on 16th and 17th November - tickets on sale in Post Office.

The Club has enjoyed a very successful season with our three League Teams all performing well, whilst the Club Tournament this year was well supported and produces many really good matches. Our Winners Boards will show a number of new names and particular mention should be made of the Junior Members of the Club who have made tremendous progress and we are certainly seeing the benefit of the coaching course.

On a more worrying note we have latterly experienced some vandalism and theft by a group of 10 teenagers. The police have been involved and I would warn all residents to be watchful as this group have quite obviously been involved in other incidents.

Finally, it was with great sadness that we learnt of the death in September of one of our long standing members, David Heaton. David had not long retired and was looking forward to spending most of his time abroad. Our thoughts go out to his wife Jane and his 2 children Patrick and Victoria.

There has not been a great deal to report since the last Newsletter. We have continued to meet during the Summer and Autumn, having been visiting local places of interest and having supper together. Christmas is just around the corner. Our Christmas dinner is booked at Millstones at the end of the month and it just remains for us to send Christmas Greetings and wish you all a peaceful New Year.

Sadly Mrs Annie Taylor passed away on Saturday, 10th November. She was, together with her sister-in-law Mrs Wilcock, a member of the Senior Citizens until it became difficult, through ill health, for her to attend our meetings. Mrs Taylor had lived in Notton for 65 years, much longer than most of us. She enjoyed reading the Newsletter and has always been interested in what was happening in the Village. We send our sympathy to all her family.

The village hall management committee still holds a meeting every month in the village hall. We have recently had a few changes in our committee members. Dennis & Lynn Gillibrand have temporarily stepped down as our chairman/committee member due to work commitments overseas. We thank them for all their very hard work and we look forward to having them back "in the fold" sometime. We also have lost Jenny and Colin White who are now settled in Woolley. We thank them both for their very hard work.

Calling all partygoers. You can now have chilled champagne, wine, beer, soft drinks and even ice cream for that special occasion. We now have a fridge in our lovely new kitchen. So come on Notton folks, book your festive parties. The person to contact is June Clark on 722346.

The committee is in discussion with Wakefield MDC regarding waste recycling containers - update later. We now have an Air Quality monitoring system at the Village Hall - questions to Peter Taylor please. It has been arranged for the garden area of the Village Hall to have it’s annual prune and tidy up. A new notice board is to be bought and replaced with the old one. Mr. Hugh McCallum attended a Community Enterprise Conference recently held in York. This will be discussed at our next committee meeting on Wednesday 14th November.

David Heaton died suddenly in September after taking permanent residence in his beloved France.

On moving to the house on Applehaigh Lane he had taken a great interest in village life. He was a member of the Village Hall Management Committee and was a leading member of the group, instrumental in progressing the development of the new Village Hall. It was his enthusiasm and drive that was largely responsible for enlarging the Gala to help provide the funds for the building and upkeep.

He was a member of the Parish Council and for several years it’s Chairman. During this period he helped in the purchase of the land on the Ings, enlarging the Village Hall grounds, for the benefit of all residents.

For many years he was Chairman of the Trustees of the Village Hall, finally resigning this year.

He was great company, a good friend of the village, and will be missed by many of us.

It was another successful show despite a few regular contributors being away. The Cups and Prizes were presented by Doug Lowther who with Jennie, came over the Pennines for the occasion.

For the second year running Alison Bird was the overall winner and was presented with the Rose Bowl. Congratulations Alison.

The Committee would like to extend their gratitude to those who sponsored sections or donated prizes and to the many helpers and supporters. We are grateful to those who took part in the Show for without them there would be no Show. In particular we thank Valerie Hurley and Joan Mitchell who, with their helpers, provided lovely refreshments on the day.

Please don’t forget that in February we need to think about planting sunflower seeds in readiness for the Show next year!

For your information there will be a new committee, but we must thank the retiring committee for initiating the Flower Show and for all their hard work over the last 8 years.

The winter meetings commenced on 3rd October. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, the talk on Herbaceous Perennials did not take place but despite this we had a useful and enjoyable evening.

Therapeutic Gardening on 7th November was a talk about Lindhall Nursery which provides horticultural training for those with learning disabilities. It was a particularly interesting evening.

Our Christmas Party is to be on 5th December and then we meet again on 6th February with a talk on the Eden project.

Please note that we have reduced the number of meetings to once a month - we meet 7.30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month. New members would be warmly welcomed.

Crimes from 9^th May to 7^th November are as follows. There were 29 crimes in the same period last year.

With such a variation of crimes we must be constantly vigilant, especially now with the onset of the dark nights. DO NOT allow anyone into your home without first checking their identification. Keep all doors and windows locked including cars, garages and sheds. Fit outside security lights. Leave outside lights and radios on timers when you are out. Do not leave Xmas shopping on view inside your car. Lock everything away in your boot.

The unsafe handrail on the bridge over the Ingswell footpath stream which we reported to the WMDC was repaired the next day.

The asbestos dumped on the Smawell Lane Car Park has been reported and will be removed using the special equipment necessary.

Highways - The ‘traffic calming’ scheme for Old Royston is now complete and we hope this will now prove effective in reducing the speed of traffic through the hamlet.

Other highway problems, notably the footpath from Grimpet Hill to Notton crossroads, and a programme of work for Applehaigh Lane, remain unresolved.

Children’s play area - Regrettably, after completion of the new safety surface, the see-saw plank was again damaged by vandals. More recently, one of the two seats on the site has been sawn almost through. In view of this latest vandalism, it has been decided to delay any repairs until the Spring.

Refuse Collection and Recycling - As you are probably aware, the District Council is in the process of reviewing its policy in order to achieve waste recycling targets set by the Government. Among items for consideration are the following:-

n Bank Holiday collection service remain the same, i.e. no collection on Bank Holiday Mondays or Tuesdays?

n Collection days remain the same, but on Bank Holiday weeks, a special collection be made on Saturday for those missed on Monday and Tuesday?

n Bulky Household Waste - At present, bulky waste items (furniture, cookers, etc.) are collected free of charge. However, residents may have to wait several weeks before collections are made. Wakefield Council is considering introducing a charge and then using this money to pay for improvements to the service, such as an appointment system and speeding up the time taken to collect items.

n Number and Size of Wheeled Bins - If people can be encouraged to recycle compostable waste, and to separate such items as glass, paper, plastics, etc. then consideration can be given to the provision of smaller bins together with an additional ‘green’ bin. It is appreciated that many people already make use of collection centres (e.g. ASDA) where skips are available for glass, paper, cans, etc. The Council is looking to increase such centres wherever possible.

Send mail toilcolin.bryant@notton.org.uk with questions or comments about this web site. Copyright © 2000-2002 Notton Village Community Last modified: May 26, 2002

Send mail toilcolin.bryant@notton.org.uk with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2000-2002 Notton Village Community
Last modified: May 26, 2002