With the harsh winter and late spring, the winter bedding and daffodil displays have flowered late this year. Here is a selection of photos taken between 23rd April and 7th May.
Spring flowers
May 10, 2013Willow Burn update
April 11, 2013At the Open Meeting on Tuesday, Sue Fox was hoping to announce good news for Willow Burn but an embargo until yesterday prevented her from doing so.
She has now let us know that the hospice has been successful in being granted an award of £356,438 from the Department of Health which will enable them to begin building Phase 1 of the new hospice in July of this year.
One of the main reasons they have got this fabulous injection of cash, is because, through the application procedure, they were able to evidence the continued commitment of the local community in helping them to continue to run their excellent services year-on-year, and also to help them to save up a substantial amount of money to go towards the building of a new hospice. Sue also says that …
“Although this is fantastic news, and we can at last demonstrate our integrity and loyalty to ensuring that we deliver the very best of services in a fit for purpose facility to the local populace…we can’t sit on our laurels. Please spread the word that we need more support than ever now, as Phase 2 is twice the cost of Phase 1 and so we have many hard months, maybe even years, ahead, where we will be continuing to fundraise to try to ensure the speedy development of the new hospice. For now, though, it is suffice to say that we are extremely happy that we have been awarded this fabulous sum of money. Again, our sincere thanks to everyone who has supported Willow Burn in the past and brought us to this huge milestone – the initial stages of building a brand new hospice for the people of Derwentside and beyond!”
If you would like to find out more about helping Willow Burn, have a look at the web site for the Derwentside Hospice Care Foundation.
Open Meeting presentations
April 10, 2013At the Trust’s Open Meeting last night a cheque for £1,030 was presented to Sue Fox, representing Willow Burn hospice, on behalf of the Shotley bridge Business & Community Partnership. The money was 75% of the charity collection during the Dickensian Christmas Spectacular plus contributions from the Eve Fashion Show and Imago Raffle. £340 was raised for the Blooming Shotley Bridge fund.
Presentations were also given by Dawn Reed [Durham County Council] on options for improving the village centre, and Sue Shaw [Blooming Shotley Bridge] about the Northumbria in Bloom entry.
[Click on an image to start a slide show]
Spring judging
April 9, 2013Today the judges from Northumbria in Bloom came to assess the Trust’s entry in the ‘village’ category. 25% of the total score is awarded at this visit. They walked around most of the Conservation Area, the area entered in the competition.
The summer judging will take place on the 18th July.
A tidy village
April 7, 2013Thank you to the twenty five volunteers who turned out on a sunny morning yesterday, to pick up litter within the Conservation Area and sweep the paths in the village centre. The photos show some of the volunteers and bags of rubbish that were collected.
The dog fouling is quite bad this year – it may only be a couple of dog owners who are not picking up after their dog but the mess it creates when people walk in it stays around until the next heavy rain. Please report any that you see to the local authority, telephone 03000261000, particularly if you know the date and time it happened so that the Neighbourhood Wardens can try to catch and fine the culprits.
Shotley Bridge Village Trust 