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
Following an invitation from the Trust, volunteers from Moorsholm in Bloom visited Shotley Bridge to give advice on our entry in Northumbria in Bloom.
Last year Moorsholm, a small village on the edge of the North York Moors National Park, again achieved a gold Award in the regional competition and have won the trophy for the best entry in the ‘village’ category for the last three years. They went on to achieve the ‘Best Village Award’ in the RHS National Britain in Bloom competition. Their most successful year and an excellent achievement.
Find out more from the Moorsholm in Bloom website.
The Consett & District Heritage Initiative is holding another exhibition which will include old photos of Shotley Bridge and the Consett area. There is ample parking on the Sherburn Road car park and refreshments are available each day.
The Trust will be displaying some of its own photos and collections from local residents.
Yesterday, three judges from Northumbria in Bloom were shown around the village during their spring visit. Although only 20% of the total marks are awarded at this stage in the year, it gave the Trust an an opportunity to showcase the area and explain the improvements which have been carried out or are planned. Particularly as none of the judges had visited us before.
The damaged coping stones around the ‘Kaydar’ bed have been repaired and new turf laid. Two new parking bays have been added outside Rumi’s and are expected to be marked out by the end of April, including a 2 hour waiting restriction. Durham County Council has also completed the new paving and bollards in front of the shops on Front Street.
The replica Pant is to be commissioned and work on its foundation and the new paving and seating area around it is expected to start at the end of this month and completed in May. The new ‘Victorian style’ lamp posts are on order and hopefully will be installed and working by the end of June.
These improvement schemes have been funded using S106 money from the Storey Homes development on the former hospital site.
Shotley Bridge Village Trust 
