Birdbath gift
A NEW birdbath is a feature of the courtyard at the St
James Age Concern Day Centre at the Village Hall courtesy of
Birstall Guides and Brownies.
The Guides purchased the gift with money they raised at the Birstall
Millennium Festival, held last summer.
Pic: Birstall Guides and Brownies with Day Centre organisers
Becky Cuthbert (l), Muriel Mansfield (r) and Brownie leader Jill
Smith
Arts grants
SMALL SCALE arts projects in the Loughborough area will be
able to benefit from funds made available from Leicestershire
County Council’s Museums, Arts and Records Service in the
coming year.
There is a total of £25,000 to share out and it is aimed
at all types of arts organisations and community groups, both
amateur and professional.
In the past a wide range of activities has been helped. These
include opera and drama, comedy and creative writing, carnival
and dance, choral and orchestral music, festivals and the visual
and media arts.
Anybody wishing to take advantage of this offer can make applications
throughout the year and subject to sufficient resources being
available each case will be considered. Please submit your application
as soon as possible.
Please contact Mick Fattorini, County Arts Officer on 016 2656848
for more information.
The auction experience
SINCE OPENING their new premises in Thurmaston, Gadsby’s
are delighted with the local response. People who have never
before attended an auction are becoming regulars at the Garden
Street sale rooms and many are searching their attics, garden
sheds and spare rooms for lose or hidden treasures.
Although most of the goods coming in to auction is from executors
of deceased estates, solicitors and insolvency practitioners,
the general public are now taking in or arranging for Gadsby’s
to collect furniture and smaller items the owners wish to convert
into cash. In fact, regular collections are made from Nottingham,
South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and London. From antiques to quality
modern goods, all are saleable.
Gadsby’s offer a walk in or a home valuation service and
valuations for probate, insurance and Family Division purposes
are undertaken on a regular basis. The directors of Gadsby’s
have a wealth of experience within the auction world and quite
often they find items of high value hidden away in a home, sometimes
being used without the owner realising its value.
Recent finds have included a Regency secretaire bookcase which
the owners thought was an early 20th century reproduction but
which sold at auction for just over £6000. An autograph
of King Charles II was authenticated and sold for just under
£1000 and a polyphon, found in the back of a garage and
destined for the tip, was recognised and made just under £4000.
Gadsby’s will advise on value for sale at auction or for
insurance. Sales are held every four weeks and there are usually
around 800 lots, an eclectic mix of goods sold at the rate of
approximately 130 lots an hour. There is no need to worry about
scratching your ear only to discover that you have bought an
expensive lot, it just cannot happen, the auctioneers recognise
the serious bidder on any given lot.
At any auction house there is usually a minimum commission payable
to the auctioneers and goods for sale needs to be worth a combined
value (hammer price) of £100 to make it viable for both
the vendor and the auctioneers. At Gadsby’s viewing for
the sale is always the day prior between 1pm and 6pm and on the
day from 8.30 to the start of the auction, and advice is freely
given to those who ask. Whether buying or selling at auction,
or simply observing, beware, the experience can become addictive.
Bowling club
FOLLOWING ITS successful launch last year, Birstall Bowling
Club will again be running the Junior section this season.
Any youngsters, aged 11-18, interested in trying out bowls can
come to the club on School Lane playing fields on Friday nights
at 6.15pm from May 11. All you need are a pair of trainers or
flat shoes. For further information, phone Jan or Rick on 2122578.
Both the Ladies & Men’s sections of the club are also
looking for new members this season. Ladies are welcome on Monday
afternoons at 2pm while men can visit on Tuesday nights from
6.15pm. Again, all you need are a pair of flat shoes or trainers.
Please call Betty on 2216743, Grahame on 2677994 or Andy on 2677100
for more information.
Finally this month congratulations to Birstall’s Betty Crowson
who was part of the Leicester team that won the prestigious Vivienne
Trophy at the end of the indoor season. This is a national competition
for club sides of four rinks, which takes place throughout the
season, culminating in a semi-final and final at the end of March.
Betty’s rink was the only one to win both their semi-final
and final matches.
Easter activities
CHURCHES TOGETHER in Birstall & Wanlip laid on an Easter
Activities Morning of fun and games. Children could choose from
various activities, including decorating biscuits, painting Easter
eggs, making Easter cards etc. Creating an Easter Garden with
Rev Chris Gray are (l-r) Laura Cross, Chloe Wylly, Emma Bloodworth,
Danii Bacon and Aimee Harrison.
Prize draw scam warning
LEICESTERSHIRE COUNTY Council’s Trading Standards Service
is warning consumers to be wary of unsolicited prize draw offers
dropping through their letterboxes. Trading Standards Officers
have received a spate of calls from consumers concerned about
the latest prize draw scheme, currently circulating in Leicestershire.
The ‘prize draw’ letter implies that the recipient
has won a prize or cash award. However, the carefully worded
small print on the prize draw offer, which is incredibly small
and barely legible, states that it is merely a prize draw entry
form and in fact no prize is guaranteed.
A spokesperson for Leicestershire County Council warns: “Prize
draw offers such as this one ask the recipient to send money
in order for them to be entered into the prize draw. This can
be as much as £20.
“The claims made by the organisers of this latest scheme
are very carefully worded in order to avoid any breach of legislation.
“As the majority of companies behind scams like this latest
one are based abroad, it is virtually impossible to take any
formal action. However, the Office of Fair Trading is working
with other agencies abroad in an effort to put a stop to this
growing problem.
The spokesperson added :”If anyone receives a similar letter
they should seriously consider whether they wish to enter into
a prize draw when demands for money are made or it involves making
a premium rate telephone call.”
As junk mail can often be any annoyance for many people, a leaflet
on how to reduce it is freely available from the Trading Standards
Duty Officer at County Hall on 0116 2657979.
Friends needed
COULD YOU be a friend to someone who is feeling depressed?
If so, then Charnwood Mental Health Befriending Scheme would
like to hear from you. The Scheme, based at John Storer House
in Loughborough, recruits volunteers to offer informal support
and friendship by befriending people who have become isolated
because of their mental health difficulties.
Befrienders do not need any specific qualifications. We are looking
for ordinary people who are willing and able to give a time commitment
of a few hours a week, or fortnight, over several months. As
a volunteer you will receive free, high quality training, and
get the chance to develop new skills and gain valuable experience.
There are people in your area now who feel in need of a friend
- why not become a volunteer and make a positive difference to
someone else’s life?
Interested? Then please contact the Scheme on 01509 239221.
Art group audit
CHARNWOOD ARTS, on behalf of Charnwood Borough Council, is
about to start a comprehensive research project into all aspects
of arts, crafts and media activities throughout the borough.
The Arts Audit aims to find out as much as possible about the
arts in Charnwood and will include individual artists, schools,
groups, venues and other arts organisations. It will be looking
at every aspect of the arts, including the work itself, facilities,
premises, marketing and funding.
The aim of all this work is to build up a comprehensive and up
to date picture of the arts in Charnwood to increase understanding,
identify problems and provide opportunities to further promote
the arts through the development of a database and a highly innovative
website.
Kevin Ryan of Charnwood Arts said:
“The arts in Britain today are more important than they
have ever been. This is a multi-billion pound industry which
affects all our lives on so many levels, especially through education.
This audit will help to give us a true picture of just how significant
the arts are in the life and economy of Charnwood”.
Individuals and groups completing a questionnaire will have the
chance to benefit directly from the audit. The information obtained
will form the basis of a web database which can be used by anyone
interested in the arts in whatever capacity. This will give Charnwood
one of the most comprehensive and unified arts resources ever
created for a single area and has the potential of raising the
profile of local artists to a truly international level.
The audit is also an unequalled opportunity for artists and arts
organisation to have their say on what they think needs to happen
with the arts in Charnwood. This is especially valuable as the
results of the audit will go on to inform the next Charnwood
Borough Arts Strategy.
And if that wasn’t encouragement enough, every completed
questionnaire will automatically be entered into a prize draw
with a first prize of £200. Questionnaires must be returned
to Charnwood Arts by Friday May 11 in order to qualify.
Arts Audit questionnaire forms are available now from Charnwood
Arts. To get your copy, please call 01509 822558 or visit the
Charnwood Arts website on www.charnwood-arts.org.uk.
Or just call in to Charnwood Arts, 31 Granby Street, Loughborough.
Images of Charnwood
HOT ON the heels of its official launch this week as a CD-ROM
and on the World Wide Web, the creators of the ground-breaking
‘Clickit! 2000’ project have set the photographers
of Charnwood a new challenge.
They are aiming to collect 10,000 images of the life and people
of the borough and are inviting local photographers to make their
contribution to what will become one of the world’s biggest
photo-archives of any one place.
1500 images from every town and village in Charnwood can already
be seen all over the world on the ‘Clickit!’ website
and CD-ROM but this isn’t nearly enough for Kevin Ryan of
Charnwood Arts, who went on to explain the new project:
“We are not looking for a ‘chocolate box’ representation
of Charnwood but a vibrant, truthful portrayal of living communities.
We want to show the reality of life in the Borough and that has
to include matters of concern as well as the many things we are
proud of”.
“We’ll be updating the website every three months and
our ultimate aim is 10,000 images. As far as we know, nothing
on this scale has ever been attempted before but we know it can
be done. So get clicking. We want new photographs, old photographs,
photographs of buildings, people, work, play - anything and everything
that says Charnwood and what it means to live here. We’ve
already received offers of a number of collections of photographs”.
Potential contributors can see what he means by visiting the
website on www.charnwood-arts.org.uk. Phase two - Clickit! Living
Photography is looking for photographers of all ages who would
like to be part of this exciting new development. This can be
as an individual or by working with Charnwood Arts to develop
a group project of worship focusing on their own community, parish
or neighbourhood.
All you need to do is contact Charnwood Arts by phone on 01509
822558 or by E-mail on infor@charnwood-arts.org.uk.
Garden trail
NO LESS than twelve gardens in the Hermitage Road/Roman Road
area will be open for your enjoyment on the afternoons of Saturday
23 and Sunday 24 June. Like Mary & Trevor Downs (pictured
above) the owners will have put in many hours to make sure their
gardens are looking their very best. Proceeds will be split between
Birstall Methodist Church and the Stroke Unit at Glenfield Hospital.
Your Say
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Bus signs
I received a letter through the mail with no stamp on but
the Royal Mail didn’t charge me. There was no name or address
on the letter so I have asked the Birstall Post to print a reply.
The letter pointed out that I was being selfish but we are all
entitled to our own opinion. As First Leicester cannot, or will
not, promise the small buses back I feel that the only option
is to get the service rerouted along Wanlip Lane.
Last week we were still getting double decker buses after lots
of promises that there would be no more. This to me is a safety
issue. They are large, noisy, fume outputting vehicles designed
for busy wide roads which ours isn’t but appears to be becoming
one.
The letter also mentions about having a car. The main reason
I have a car is for work and if I don’t have one then I
will lose my job. I am a district nurse and work out on the community
covering the whole of the city from Red Hill Circle to Eyres
Monsell up to Thurnby Lodge and down to Braunstone. This cannot
be done in the old fashioned way on a bike at 2am.
I’m sure someone in your family who is in great need would
appreciate me getting there quickly. I also use my car for my
family bit I was told I was not a bus user. How wrong this statement
is.
The best result, I said a long time ago, was for the route to
go along Allington and then the residents there would understand
how invasive this is. It appears already a petition has been
done and many have signed. Only if it is rerouted along Wanlip
Lane will I ever see the benefits. With three small children
and a job I don’t have much time but as I feel strongly
on this issue I have spent a lot of time, and yes, if taking
“silly photos” helps to get my view across and show
the problems then I will. It appears that the photos are a threat
as every picture tells a story.
Mrs Diane Harrison
5 Blenheim Road
Dog signs
Your December 2000 edition noted that the Police had interviewed
me over a matter of criminal damage, following my removal of
a post with two garish signs, effectively inviting people to
take dogs into the cemetery. I noted that the two new notices
replaced two discreet wooden signs reading ‘no dogs allowed’,
probably put up as a result of a council resolution,.
The new red, black and white graphic ‘pick up your dog poo’
sign really is unsympathetic and offensive in such a location.
Much more suitable, if a change is necessary, would be the one
used by local schools, which reads: In the interests of health
and hygiene please do not exercise dogs in these grounds. NO
DOGS PLEASE.
I commented that the reason I had removed the signs was that
it was likely that these new signs, would take a very long time
to be removed or changed, in the normal way the council works.
Following my conviction, my solicitor wrote to me, “You
pleaded guilty and after hearing mitigation the court ordered
you to pay compensation of £138 and a contribution to prosecution
costs of £35. The court made no separate penalty, an obvious
sign of sympathy.”
The court told me I should not have taken the law into my own
hands, advice with which I shall comply.
Shortly after the court case, the offending signs were re-erected.
Following the court’s advice, I wrote to the Clerk to the
Parish Council on 25/3/2001, asking to be informed why the original
two signs reading “no dogs allowed” had been replaced
with these new signs, and who had authorised their replacement,
this with a view to asking those responsible to consider replacing
the new signs with either the old signs or one of the “School”
type signs.
I received no reply to my questions, and when I raised the matter
at the meeting of the Full Council on April 9, 2001, I was told
that it had been agreed at a meeting of the Estates and Recreation
Committee in March, that a letter replying to my request for
information would be sent to me. When I pointed out that I had
not received any such letter, the Council seemed unconcerned,
and I have still received no reply to my questions.
I had always understood that public servants were required to
reply to correspondence addressed to them. That has inevitably
been the case when I write to other Local or National Government
Authorities. How is it then, I wonder, that the Birstall Parish
Council sees itself as excused from this requirement, or do they
intend, this year, next year or sometime to reply, eventually,
to my letter?
More important perhaps, is the question, is this a proper, satisfactory
and acceptable way to run the Council.
C D Clarke
Law abiding
I moved to Birstall eighteen months ago from Thurmaston and
previously Belgrave.
I thought it would be a law-abiding area. I was so wrong. Today
I have had my petrol pipe cut for the second time in ten months.
I didn’t report it last time because I thought it was a
one off, till I saw your report about someone being caught. I
have this time, so beware, he’s back.
Mrs E Smith
Crossings
At one time Birstall, as many of us can remember, was fairly
quiet compared with what it is today with the increase in motor
traffic over recent years and for many people, especially those
who are elderly and find walking difficult without aid crossing
the road in certain parts of the village, can be somewhat risky
and dangerous at times. This applies particularly to the Birstall
roads which can at times be like a race track. And in Sibson
Road which is used by cars and buses, crossing from one side
to the other can also be risky.
So could I suggest that in certain parts of the village controlled
traffic signals with the red and green man be installed. At least
two could be installed along Sibson Road and one near the roundabout
and one at the end of Birstall Road. There is a crossing with
a safety island by Somerfields supermarket, but maybe a controlled
crossing would not come amiss and there could perhaps be one
placed along Wanlip Lane also.
On Loughborough Road, the only crossings seem to be at Red Hill
roundabout. As we know the side of road near the allotments and
up to just before Station Road is within the city boundaries
but maybe crossings could be installed by Station Road and maybe
also Park Road. There is a crossing near Elmfield Avenue but
nothing else between there and where you turn into the village.
These cannot be controlled. Maybe one could be placed along Greengate
Lane, Maybe we could have one at the city end of Birstall Road
between Kilby Avenue and East Road.
I daresay that there are other readers of the Birstall Post who
would like to give their opinions on this subject.
R Barrass
A poem
(with apologies to Robert Browning)
Oh, to be in England,
Now that April’s here
With lambs bleating in the mud,
And nobody to hear
Foot and mouth and CJD
Farmers in despair
Funeral pyres of pigs and cows
And smoke fouling the air
Where are the signs of Spring
We ask
In England now?
With floods and gales and icy blasts,
Remind us winter is not past
Daffodils and blossom bow
Beneath the hail and rain and snow
But hope in human hearts remains
and May will soon be here
Bringing we trust the Spring filled days
We always hold so dear
And may the sun shine kindly on
Those who have been brought low,
And England merrie once again
With gladness show.
Anon
Lost cousin
I am hoping to find my long lost cousin Ann Wilson who was
known to be living in Thurcaston Road in 1958. Her father was
Frank Wilson who sometime after the war married Mrs Hilda Daykin
(I’m not sure of the correct spelling) and they lived in
Thurcaston Road, where Hilda had lived for a number of years
previously.
It was war time, Ann lived in Brentford with her mother, while
her father who I believe was in the Grenadier Guards, was on
active service, and sadly, in July 1944 a bomb dropped on the
house killing Anns’s mother, grandmother, aunt, nephew and
brother.
I was not born until October 1944, (in Hilda’s house in
Thurcaston Road, so am a Birstall lass by birth) but have heard
the story of 5 year old Ann coming from school to the devastation
that had been her home.
In the last 20 years, I’ve felt that I wanted to find her,
to meet her and I’m sure that time is now running out. She
would be about 62 now, my father is still alive and I know he
would so love to see her, and to be honest I can only hope that
you might be kind enough to publish my letter, in your publication,
in hopes that maybe Ann, her father or someone who went to school,
or worked with her, may be able to help me track her down. I’m
sure someone would remember the little girl who lost her family
in the London blitz.
P Jennings, 63 Clayponds Avenue, Brentford, Middlesex TW8 9QE
New committee
ABBEYFIELD Birstall on Church Hill, providing accommodation
for the elderly, has a new Executive Committee.
The new committee consists of Doreen Wilson (Chairperson), Bert
Tegg (Treasurer) and Gillian Ward (Secretary, who will be supported
by Rev Sue Wicks, Geoff Agar, Wendy Giffard, Brenda Todd, Monica
Lucas, Betty Howard and Terry Wicks).
Together they have great ideas for the future and hope that the
village will support all the functions planned. Coffee mornings
are held on the second Tuesday of each month and the residents
and helpers all hope to see new friends as well as old. All will
be made really welcome.
Nature Notes
According to the local news it would seem that a certain disused
quarry in Leicestershire is slowly filling up at the expense
of back gardens from local houses. It seems that nearly every
winter there is another story of houses being washed away because
they were too close to rivers or streams which, on a warm summer’s
day, seemed to be benign decoration to the countryside. Now,
in the wake of last autumn’s floods, even the deputy prime
minister has been prompted to pronounce on river valleys and
planning permission.
Rock, soil and water form very complex relationships which can
be upset by exceptional interference, such as houses being built
on them and unusually heavy rainfall over a long period of time
- not forgetting the effects of prolonged hot dry spells either.
This complexity often lies in the mixed nature and location of
said soils and rock. To take a simple example: in mountainous
regions, one type of soil lying on top of a certain type of rock
on the valley floor may be very stable, but the same combination
on a slope can cause a landslide unless the soil is pinned down
by vegetation of some sort. Of course, this assumes that there
is only one type of rock present, and only one type of soil.
As often as not rocks and soils resemble a badly prepared cake
mix - some mixing, but with a lot of pure ingredients smudged
in between. It is very difficult to generalise on how these would
react with water.
Take another example - a river flowing through a valley where
the soil consists of a loam on top of a layer of pure clay, which
is on top of a layer of sand. Whilst the river is only in contact
with the clay layer all is well. Should it reach the sand layer
it will wash the sand away, the bank will ultimately collapse
and the river will change its course. This could happen over
hundreds of years, or overnight - depending on the local conditions
and whether the river was in spate at the right moment.
Rocks are equally difficult and just as complex in their structure
as soils. Limestone, for example, is porous - water soaks through
it. However, limestone is soluble if the water contains traces
of carbon dioxide, resulting in the large caverns typical of
such areas, plus those most interesting phenomena - stalactites
and stalagmites. Just as an old mine under the road near Barrow
can cause a sudden collapse, so can a cave - if the conditions
are right.
It is wise, therefore, not to buy a house in what used to be
a flood plain of a river, even if that river has been dredged,
unless that plain is made out of granite. Also, avoid cliffs,
especially near Scarborough, and disused gravel pits/quarries.
Oh yes, and watch out for Radon....
By Finch
No developments on allotments
HALLFIELDS LANE allotments in Rothley will not be developed
after Charnwood Borough Council decided the site is no longer
needed to meet the housing requirement for the area.
The site was recommended for development last year by the Charnwood
Local Plan Inspector Harold Stephens, in his report following
the Local Plan Public Inquiry. Persimmon Homes then submitted
a planning application for 50 new homes and the relocation of
the allotments to the western side of the site.
Dave Hankin, head of Plans and Conservation at Charnwood, said:
“This site has come before the council twice before and
both times it was rejected because it was considered to be an
important source of recreational land through its use as an allotment.”
Rothley Parish Council Chairman, Peter Finch said: “The
Parish Council is delighted. This would have been an intrusive
extension to the village, reducing the separation between Rothley
and Birstall.”
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