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.
Dog owners are being advised of new rules that came into force in County Durham at the beginning of June.
Durham County Council has introduced a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) to encourage responsible ownership and tackle issues such as dog fouling and strays.
The order, which will replace the existing Dog Control Order introduced in 2009, means that it is now an offence to:
Anyone seen flouting the new rules will be issued with a £100 Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN), reduced to £60 if paid within 10 working days. Failing to pay the FPN will result in court action and a possible fine of up to £1,000.
The order will not apply to anyone who is registered blind, is disabled or who uses a trained assistance dog.
Find out more about the new enforcement powers on the County Council’s website.
On Saturday morning 15 members of the Trust, together with our local county councillors, picked up litter from the village centre and along the main roads radiating outwards. Thank you to all those who volunteered. The village looks a lot tidier now.
The next meeting of the Shotley Bridge Village Trust is on 21st March. Please invite your relatives, friends & neighbours to come along.
Kath Marshall-Ivens, Community Engagement Officer, from Groundwork will be giving a presentation about the ‘Land of Oak & Iron’ Landscape Partnership. This 4 year project, hosted by Groundwork NE & Cumbria, is supported by a £2.2 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Working with local communities and partners it aims to conserve, enhance and celebrate the natural, industrial and cultural heritage of the Derwent Valley. There are now 14 projects being delivered until 2020, with many opportunities for local people, groups and organisations to get involved through a range of different activities.
For more information about the Partnership and opportunities to get involved go to their website.
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.
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.
This lunchtime the replica of the Pant that originally stood at the corner of Front Street and Snows Green Road was “officially” unveiled by Durham County Council. Representatives from Storey Homes, Classic Masonry, Beamish Museum, the Stakeholder Group, the BBB&SB Partnership, Durham Police and the Village Trust were invited to the ceremony.
It was the culmination of over four years commitment by the Village Trust, working in partnership with the Shotley Bridge Stakeholder Group, local councillors and officers from Durham County Council to bring to fruition a range of environmental improvement projects in the centre of the Shotley Bridge Conservation Area:
These projects were prioritised by the Stakeholder Group, supported by Local Councillors Stephen Robinson and Peter Oliver and paid for with Section 106 funding from the Storey Homes Housing Development on the hospital site, with a contribution from the Public Transport budget and help from the Benfieldside, Blackhill, Bridgehill & Shotley Bridge Partnership.
See also the press report in the Northern Echo.
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 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.
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.
Over thirty members of the Trust attended the recent Open Meeting, at which a report was given about the Trust’s entry in Northumbria in Bloom this year.
Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in our bid for ‘Gold’, being just 4 marks [out of 200] short of attaining the top award in the competition, but we managed to achieve our highest score ever and another ‘Silver Gilt’, for the third consecutive year.
Disappointed that the extra improvements and volunteer effort this year had only resulted in achieving another ‘Silver Gilt’, it was announced that the ‘Blooming’ committee had decided not to enter the competition in 2016. It was emphasised, though, that the high standard of planting in the tubs, baskets, troughs and sustainable beds throughout the conservation area would be continued by volunteers next year, but without the extra work behind the scenes needed to impress judges. Hopefully the local businesses will continue with their own floral displays too, to keep Sholey Bridge ‘Blooming’.
The slideshow presentation given at the meeting was taken from the photographs in the Portfolio, which had been presented to the judges when they visited in July …
Daffodils, tulips and violas were planted in the tubs on Saturday morning, in readiness for a good show of colour throughout the conservation area next Spring.
Thank you to all the volunteers who have helped to organise the event or planted the tubs.
Just a reminder about the photo competition for our 2017 calendar. The flowers in the village are looking lovely at present and with the good weather forecast for the week ahead it is an opportune time for getting your cameras out and going for a walk.
This morning, judges from Northumbria in Bloom walked around the conservation area with volunteers from Blooming Shotley Bridge.
They seemed impressed with the floral decorations, sustainable planting, heritage initiatives and wildlife areas. The clean streets, lack of litter and dog fouling was also admired. Thanks to all the volunteers, residents, businesses, the Junior School and County Council for their efforts in putting on a good show.
Competition results will not be known until September.
Yesterday a group of visitors from the Chester-le-Street & District Area Action Partnership were given a tour of the village centre. Its Improved Environment Task Group came to find out what the Shotley Bridge Village Trust had achieved for our village and how it had happened.
Sixteen Trust volunteers helped on Saturday morning to make a start on planting 44 tubs with summer bedding and 6 with sustainable perennials. Two new double tiered oak barrel planters have been purchased with a grant from local councillors, which have also been filled with colourful geraniums, surfinia [petunia] and lobelia.
The Council will be planting the Trust’s barrier baskets which volunteers will continue to maintain.
More plants have also been donated and purchased for the sustainable beds, which the Trust plants and maintains, on behalf of the Council.
The Trust has started preparations for the Northumbria in Bloom summer judging in 7 weeks time. The judges will be visiting on the morning of 20 July.
50 tubs have been emptied and topped up with compost ready for planting up with summer bedding, by volunteers on Saturday morning and weeds near them have been sprayed. As an experiment, 6 of the tubs are being planted with sustainable plants that will not need to be removed twice a year. Although £100 has been allocated for this, it should save money in the long term. The Trust spends up to £500 a year on summer bedding and a similar amount on winter bedding and bulbs, as residents tell us that they prefer colourful displays. The bulbs are replanted in open spaces in the autumn.
Keeping the area free of leaves, road grit, dog dirt and litter are important judging criteria. Please help our volunteers by putting dog pooh bags and litter in the bins provided. Cigarette ends are a particular problem in the village centre, particularly outside pubs and restaurants, even though businesses provide outside bins for their customers.
Many smokers do not realise that throwing away a cigarette end is a littering offence. The County Council’s Neighbourhood Wardens are issuing fines to people doing this in a public place, as it is an offence, under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Anyone dropping litter can be issued with a fixed penalty notice of £80. Thirteen people who did not pay their fines for dropping cigarette ends in County Durham were taken to Court yesterday.
More information about your local Neighbourhood Warden Team is available on the County Council website.
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
