The Trust’s next ‘Open’ meeting is being held next Tuesday at the Catholic Church Hall on Snows Green Road.
The meeting starts at 7.30pm with coffee/tea & biscuits served from 7.15pm.
The main item on the Agenda is a discussion about ‘dog fouling’, which appears to be getting worse.
Last Friday morning a group of 5 volunteers cleared overhanging branches, debris and mud from the well used tarmac path between Briary Gardens and Peile Park. It is also known as the ‘Chicken Run’, as there used to be a chicken coup in the field beside the path. The stream was also cleared of debris.
The Trust has been given 5000 crocus bulbs by Consett Rotary Club, to plant in the village.
It was decided to plant them along the grass verge opposite Rumi’s, in front of the daffodil bulbs which the Trust planted a few years ago.
Over half were planted yesterday by seven volunteers from the Trust and another working party has been arranged for next Friday to finish the job.
The Rotary’s Purple4Polio initiative in 2016 was a huge success with nearly 7 million purple corms being planted across Great Britain and Ireland resulting in a carpet of purple in communities during spring 2017. This year, Rotary is aiming to go even further and plant 10 million purple crocus corms!
The purple crocus is a symbol of Rotary’s worldwide campaign to eradicate polio, with its colour representing the purple dye used to mark the finger of a child to indicate they have received their life saving oral polio vaccine.
More information can be found on the Rotary website.
The Trust’s next ‘Open’ meeting is being held this Tuesday at the Catholic Church Hall on Snows Green Road. Meeting starts at 7.30pm with tea & biscuits before at 7.15pm.
There will be an illustrated talk about the Listed Buildings in the village. Did you know that there are around 30 buildings of architectural or historic interest that have been listed by English Heritage [now Historic England].
Thank you to the 10 Trust members who helped remove litter, moss & weeds from the pavements and ‘triangle’ in the village centre yesterday morning. Everywhere looks much tidier now, after only a couple of hours work.
Working parties are being held on the first Friday morning of the month. Next month we are bulb planting, daffodils & croci along the main road.
The Trust’s AGM is to be held on Tuesday 20th June at 7pm followed at 7.45 by an Open Meeting for members and residents, with a talk from the charity AgeUK.
Many thanks to the 200 children and adults from the Shotley Bridge Primary School who walked down to light the Christmas Tree and sing carols on a fine night last Saturday.
Unfortunately the batteries in the ‘sound blaster’ did not like the cold temperature, so the singing was ‘A Cappella’.
The event raised £86 for the ‘Blooming Shotley Bridge fund. Thank you to all who donated and the volunteer stewards.
This year the village Christmas tree will be lit up on Saturday 3rd December. Thanks to our local councillors for providing funding again.
Shotley Bridge Primary School choir will be there to sing carols after the lighting of the tree at 4.30pm.
Everyone is welcome to watch or sing along.
We will also be collecting donations for ‘Blooming’ Shotley Bridge at the event.
This year the Village Trust will again be raising funds for ‘Blooming’ Shotley Bridge at The Snods Christmas Fayre on Saturday 19th November.
There will be a ‘Bottle Tombola’ where every winning ticket is a bottle bag with a surprise inside, which could be Whiskey, Wine, Water or a bottle of something else!
We still need a few more bottles and bags if you would like to donate items for the tombola … please give to Sue Shaw at Shotley Villa West, on The Terrace.
There will also be a raffle for a limited edition print by Mildred Sheeran, ‘The Charms of Shotley Bridge’. Tickets are on sale before the event at Harrington Brown Estate Agents, where the framed artwork can be seen until Friday 18th November.
Last Saturday our volunteers planted the winter bedding in the Trust’s tubs and planters.
This year we have planted multi coloured pansies instead of violas, which were not as successful as in previous years. Tete a Tete daffodils, iris and tulip bulbs have been planted too. The County Council will be planting up the barrier baskets to match.
If you would like to help tidy up the village, there is to be a litter pick and sweep up on the morning of Saturday 29th October. We are meeting in the car park next to the Golden Flower at 9.30am. Litter pickers, bags and hi-viz vests will be provided. Bring your own gloves and tools to cut down weeds and sweep paths.
The next meeting of the Shotley Bridge Village Trust is on 4th October.
Fiona Jane Carvell and Joan Murray, local artists who live in the village, will be giving an illustrated talk about how the village and area have influenced their artwork. There will be a selection of limited edition prints if you wish to buy any of their paintings.
Please invite your relatives, friends & neighbours to come along.
Despite not entering Northumbria in Bloom this year, the Trust’s tubs, barrier baskets and sustainable beds are looking colourful.
Thank you to all the volunteers who planted and maintain them. Thanks also to Durham County Council for planting the barrier baskets to match our colour scheme this year.
Thirty two members and local residents attended the AGM & Open Meeting held on 21 June. As the Trust’s Chairman was away on holiday a summary of his report was given by Garth Johnson, acting Chairman. Have a read of the Chairman’s Annual Report to find to what the Trust was involved in during the last year.
As Garth had decided not to stand for re-election as Treasurer, but remain on the Executive Committee, Andrew Thompson was elected to fill the post. The other committee members were also re-elected.
Unfortunately, the guest speaker Grace McCombie was unable to attend. Instead, Jeff Singleton [Secretary] gave an illustrated talk based on “The History of Shotley Bridge”, a 32 page booklet that had been researched and recently published by the Trust’s Heritage Working Group. Copies were available for Trust members to purchase.
The next meeting of the Shotley Bridge Village Trust is on 21 June. All welcome.
Daffodils and tulips planted by the Trust were in full bloom this week in the conservation area, giving a colourful display. The violas are flowering too, which will hopefully give colour until the Trust’s volunteers plant up the tubs with summer bedding at the end of May.
This morning, eight volunteers of the Village Trust spent a couple of hours cutting back vegetation, clearing the stream and removing debris from the path.
Thanks to Carol, Jeff, Keith, John S, John W, Margaret, Richard & Sue for all their hard work. The Cut looks lovely & clean and the new bulbs and plants have made a big improvement.
This year the Shotley Bridge annual spring litter pick, organised by the Trust, is being held on Saturday 19 March …
Volunteers to meet at the Golden Flower car park in the village centre at 9.30am.
Gloves, bags, pickers and hi-viz vests will be provided, if you don’t have them.
Blooming Shotley Bridge will be raising funds again at ‘The Snods’ Christmas Fair next Saturday 21st November, 10am – 4pm.
Our stall will have both ‘New’ and ‘Nearly New’ items, many suitable for Christmas presents, plus a Tombola and children’s ‘Lucky Dip’
All items have been donated by SBVT members and friends and proceeds will be used to buy bedding plants, bulbs and shrubs for Shotley Bridge conservation area.
‘Shotley Bridge’ pin badges will be on sale, at only £2 each.
Shotley Bridge Village Trust 