The AGM of the Trust is to be held on Thursday 14th October at 7.00pm, followed by an Open Meeting at 7.30pm.
As our usual venue is not yet available, we are holding the meetings at St Cuthbert’s Church Hall
Members, guests and residents are all welcome.
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.
Yesterday, two judges from Northumbria in Bloom were escorted around the village by members of the ‘Blooming’ committee.
They seemed impressed with what they were shown during the 2 hour walkabout. But we won’t know until September how well we did.
Thank you to all the businesses, residents, school and volunteers for putting on such a good show.
Volunteers are needed to help Slam Dunk the Junk in Derwent Valley
The Derwent Valley Partnership have organised two morning litter picks in the Shotley Bridge area this Wednesday [Derwent Walk] and the first Monday in June [Shotley Bridge playpark and field]. The community litter picks are being delivered as part of the Derwent Valley Partnership’s ‘Slam Dunk the Junk’ programme which also includes dog micro-chipping and educational assembly activities.
The attached poster provides full details of where and when the community litter picks will be taking place so please spread the word to your friends and neighbours – the more volunteers they have, the more rubbish can be collected. [Click on image to enlarge.]
Once again, this year, the Trust is supporting this community event, organised by the Shotley Bridge Business & Community Partnership.
It is being held in the village on the 25th & 26th November.
On Friday evening the Christmas Tree will be lit with music and carol singing in the ‘square’.
On Saturday morning Santa will arrive by horse and carriage after which there will be carriage rides through the village centre. The Methodist Church will be hosting the afternoon’s entertainment and all the churches and village hall are providing refreshments at their Fayre or open day.
This is a charity event with 75% of all the money raised going to Willow Burn and 25% to the Trust’s ‘Blooming Shotley Bridge’ fund.
The participating businesses are funding all the expenses of the Spectacular and 15,000 leaflets are to be distributed soon, showing the programme of events.
You can click here for a preview of the flyer.
Since this blogsite was launched on November 15th, a month ago, the first milestone of 500 hits has been recorded [which don’t include any of my own visits to update and check the blog]. The busiest day was Tuesday 15th December, when 154 hits were recorded. On that day 65 hits were made on the Photo Galleries/Victorian Christmas Weekend page.
There is plenty of room for the site to expand and eventually, when I get time, I hope to include everything the Trust has been involved with, since its inception. This will include an archive of all the Trust’s publications. Please let me know if you would like me to add anything in particular or have old photographs documenting the Trust’s activities.
For now, though, I intend to post as much information as I can about the Trust’s activities since I was elected secretary at the May 2009 AGM.
Shotley Bridge Village Trust 