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.
A new mobile post office service is now operating from the Crown & Crossed Swords car park, twice a week.
It will be there on Tuesday and Thursday mornings between 9.30 and 11.30am.
Please try to support this service as it needs to be sustainable.
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 Trust’s next Open Meeting is to be held on Tuesday 21st June, after its AGM.
Grace McCombie, Buildings Historian, will be giving a talk on ‘The Buildings of Shotley Bridge’.
She is a researcher, lecturer and writer about sites and buildings and the development of settlements in the North East. She has contributed to many architectural-historical conferences, books and journals, especially the Pevsner series.
The meeting is open to both members and residents.
Following the closure of the hospital restaurant in February 2016 the Group now meet at the Lodge, Consett & Blackhill Park.
MP Pat Glass attended the last meeting on Friday 6th May to find out about the Group’s concerns about the downgrading of facilities at the Community Hospital this year amid rumours about its closure.
The Chief Executive of the Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust that provides services at the hospital [although it is owned by NHS Property Services] is to be invited to the next meeting.
For further information see the report in the Advertiser.
Next week, the Consett & District Heritage Initiative is holding a 3 day exhibition at the Methodist Church Hall in Consett. There will be displays of old photos of the local area, including Shotley Bridge.
If you are in Consett at the end of next week, come and find out about the history of the area. The exhibition is also open on Friday evening, if you cannot attend during the day. There is ample parking nearby in the Sherburn Road car park.
This morning 17 volunteers collected 25 bags of litter in & around Shotley Bridge.
Thank you to all those who helped to make the village cleaner.
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.
The next Open Meeting of the Trust is to be held in three weeks time on Tuesday 15th March.
Andrew Thompson will be giving a short illustrated talk about the Shotley Bridge Swordmakers. All welcome.
Tonight the Christmas tree in Shotley Bridge is shining brightly.
There was a slight delay when a car fell off a towing truck just beside the triangle.
Carols were sung by a small crowd to mark the start of the festive season.
The village Christmas tree has been ‘planted’ and wired up by the County Council in readiness for lighting up on 5th December, this Saturday. Thanks to our local councillors for providing funding again.
Shotley Bridge Primary School choir will be there to sing carols at 4.30pm, followed by the lighting of the tree.
Everyone is welcome to join in.
The next Open Meeting of the Village Trust is to be held on Tuesday evening 20th October. There will be a slide show presentation about the Trust’s entry in Northumbria in Bloom. Everyone is welcome.
Bank Holiday Monday afternoon at The Spa Grounds was a little soggy! It didn’t dampen the Consett Rugby Club’s ‘Strong Man’ competition nor the children’s enthusiasm for the inflatables.
Numbers visiting the event were well down on previous years and consequently the Village Trust only raised £50 for its ‘Blooming Shotley Bridge’ Fund with its Tombola and Children’s Lucky Dip, compared to £180 & £160 on its stall in 2013 & 2014. Thank you to the volunteers at the event and the support from local businesses, members and residents who donated prizes.
For a sixth successive year, the Benfieldside, Blackhill, Bridgehill and Shotley Bridge Community Partnership have a FREE Fun Day on Bank Holiday Monday at the Shotley Bridge Cricket Club.
The Village Trust will have a Tombola and Children’s Lucky Dip – raising funds for Blooming Shotley Bridge next year.
The next Meeting of the Village Trust is to be held at the end of June, on Tuesday evening 30 June.
The AGM will be followed by an Open Meeting, when the ‘Friends of Red Kites’ group will be giving an illustrated talk on Red Kites in the Derwent Valley. Everyone is welcome.
For more information about the Red Kites go to …
http://www.friendsofredkites.org.uk
This year the Trust has arranged its annual litter pick on Saturday 21st March, to coincide with ‘Community Clear Up Day’, a national initiative by the Keep Britain Tidy organisation. We will also be helping to support the Litter Free Durham Initiative.
If you can spare an hour or two, meet at the Golden Flower car park at 9.30am and bring gloves. Bags, pickers and tabards will be provided, if you don’t have them.
The next Open Meeting of the Village Trust is to be held in 3 weeks time, on Tuesday evening 24 March, when Russell Black will be giving a talk about the Memorial Cottages. Everyone is welcome.
Having considered the views of those who responded, the County Council has taken a decision to move to the next stage in the process which is to issue a statutory notice proposing to change the age range of Shotley Bridge Infant School from 4-7 to 4-11 with effect from 1 September 2015 to create a Primary School.
Linked to this is a proposal to close Shotley Bridge Junior School as a separate school with effect from 31 August 2015.
Have a look at the consultation document.
Out of hours and weekend arrangements are not affected by this change.
