The Trust’s AGM is to be held on 21st May 2019.
It will be followed by an Open Meeting at which Sarah Burns, Locality Director for the Clinical Commissioning Group, will be giving a presentation on the future of local NHS Services in the Consett area.
All welcome.
The Trust will again be displaying old photos of Shotley Bridge at this exhibition next week …
The next meeting of the Trust will be on Tuesday 9th April.
Members and residents all welcome.
Half a dozen Trust members spent a couple of hours this morning collecting debris, moss and leaves from the Triangle in the centre of the village. The block paving around the history board has been cleared of moss and weeds. Eighteen bags of compostable materials were removed, for the council to collect.
Thank you to the volunteers and to Isabella’s who provided complimentary coffees on completion.
The council intend cleaning the moss from the tarmac areas and repainting the fencing and furniture. Two new seats are also to be provided with the last of the S106 money from the Storey Homes development on the former hospital site.
The annual Spring litter pick by the Village Trust was carried out this morning. Thank you to the nine members who volunteered their time. The village is looking much tidier. Lets try and keep it that way. Only 10 bags collected this year compared to 20 in April 2018.
The Purple4Polio croci are flowering a month earlier this year, because of the mild weather. These are the 5000 bulbs planted in 2017 by the Village Trust provided by Consett Rotary Club. Another 5000 more bulbs were planted last November but these are only just starting to peep through.
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
At the last open meeting of the Village Trust there was a presentation on the ‘Street Trees project’ being delivered by CEED, in partnership with OASES.
6 schools have now taken part in surveying trees around their areas and CEED are now looking for volunteers to help with local surveys of trees.
CEED will be producing a Survey Pack containing all the necessary information to help volunteers survey their local street/s. There will also be some informal training on tree identification and how to undertake the surveys for those who need it.
Any help from volunteers will be valuable to this project – whether they can survey one small patch or several streets – all data will be very much appreciated.
Surveying is probably best done once there are leaves on the trees, but if volunteers are confident with winter tree I.D then there is no need to wait.
If you are interested please contact susan@ceedcharity.com
The village Christmas tree in ‘The Triangle’ was switched on this evening but without ceremony.
It had not been possible to arrange a carol service for this year but it is hoped that the Shotley Bridge Primary School children will be present to sing carols next year.
Thank you again to our local County Councillors for providing the tree and lights from their Neighbourhood Budget.
Consett Rotary Club has given the Trust another 5000 crocus bulbs, to plant in the village.
They have been planted further along the grass verge in front of Riverside, around the Pant and in the verge at Snows Green.
Ten members of the Trust and members of Consett Rotary, who provided the bulbs, volunteered for a couple of hours.
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 next meeting of the Trust will be on Tuesday 16th October. Susan Nolan from CEED will be explaining about their ‘Street Trees’ project. Members and residents all welcome.
The Consett & District Local Heritage Initiative are holding another exhibition at the beginning of October and the Village Trust will be displaying old photographs of Shotley Bridge.
Again, the Trust is taking part this year in the Heritage Open Days Festival this September. The same walks as last year are being offered, but over 2 weekends. Volunteers from the Heritage Group will be guiding visitors around the heritage of the village.
Thank you to the 8 Trust members who came to the working party on Friday morning to weed the tubs, beds, triangle and paths in the village centre. The place is looking much more cared for now.
This morning the Trust’s volunteers planted the summer bedding in tubs and planters, within the conservation area. Thank you to those that helped and Beveridge’s for supplying and delivering the plants.
We are trying out a more experimental mixture of plants this summer, in the hope of adding more variety. We hope you like the difference.
The next Open Meeting of the Trust on 5th June will be preceded by the Annual General Meeting. Everyone welcome.
On Friday, volunteers from the Village Trust were maintaining the sustainable beds in the village centre that the Trust has adopted. The spring bedding in some of our tubs was in full bloom, too.
Thank you to the 15 Trust members who collected 20 bags of litter this morning, during our annual Spring litter pick in the village.
Last October volunteers from the Trust planted 5000 purple crocus bulbs on the verge opposite Rumi’s. They had been provided by Consett Rotary Club to raise awareness of its ‘Purple for Polio’ national campaign.
A couple of weeks ago just a handful of crocus were visible, but the warmer weather following the ‘Beast from the East’ has led to the start of blooming. A bit more sunshine over the next few days should ensure a wonderful Easter display, provided children and dogs don’t trample the flowers.
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.
