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Birstall Post July 2004 (252)

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Pic: (courtesy Alan Worth Photographic) back row - Rob Drake (Head Coach), Shane Glover, Tom Corbett, Ashley Newcombe, Cricket Development Officer Andy Corbett. Front row - George Ager, Aaron Page, Neel Thakar, Ben Drake, Yash Thakar

New shirts for club

BIRSTALL VILLAGE Cricket Club is delighted to announce that local company Complete Fascias have sponsored the under 11s junior team.
Cricket Development Officer Andy Corbett says: “The lads love the shirts and they look really smart when playing their games. I must thank Steve Large of Complete Fascias who came to our aid after reading in the Birstall Post that we had lost cricket shirts in the clubhouse burglary in May.”
The team is doing quite well at the moment having played four games winning two and losing two. Head Coach Rob Drake added: “We are a young team with three of our players being 7 years old playing against lads of 11 who have played the game a lot longer but the lads have been coached from an early age and we are starting to see the benefits, but as long as they enjoy playing that’s the main thing, I am very proud of them. They are a credit to the village of Birstall.”
The club is also pleased to announce that Head Coach Rob Drake and Andy Corbett have passed their English Cricket Board (ECB) level 2 coaching awards at Leicestershire County Cricket Club. The pair were tested in video analysis, net management, a written test, technical demonstrations and modelling.
The club is hoping to raise much needed funds on Sunday July 4 on Birstall Gala Day. Chairman Doug Topley says: “We own our pavilion but have to buy our equipment and pay for the use of our pitches so any donations such as cakes and raffle prizes will be greatly appreciated. They can be left at the clubhouse on School Lane Playing Fields on the morning of July 4. Let’s hope for a sunny day because it’s lovely to see the whole of the Birstall community coming together for what is a great day out with something for everyone.”

Parish Council notes

A FULL meeting of Birstall Parish Council was held on June 14.
Around 30 members of the public attended the meeting. During open session, some residents raised their concerns about a planning application at Dhillons supermarket on Rose Tree Avenue, for four first floor residential units and an extension to the front of the supermarket.
The Parish Council agreed to support the objectors on the basis that the proposal was out of character with the area and would cause traffic and parking problems.
School Lane residents raised their concerns at the Parish Council’s plan to erect a 6 foot galvanised steel fence along the School Lane and Loughborough Road boundaries of the School Lane playing field.
One resident commented that the fence was not in keeping with the area and would not be effective in stopping people getting into the park who wished to cause trouble.
Chairman Stuart Jones agreed to meet with residents to discuss the proposal.
A resident commented on the speed of traffic along Greengate Lane and said traffic calming measures were needed.
PC Dave Coles reported that two of the four youths arrested for the burglary of the cricket pavilion had been cautioned, which was the stiffest penalty the police could impose as the two had not been in trouble before. The other two are due to appear in court. Chairman Stuart Jones reported that the Council had received a letter of apology from one of the youths, who had written that he was sincerely sorry for the destruction of the pavilion, he was drunk but knew this was no excuse and was prepared to take his punishment at court.
The Council discussed the Standards Board for England, the body that considers complaints made against councillors. Cllr Peter West commented: “They are a total and utter waste of space” and were inappropriate for Parish Councils who had few powers.
It was agreed to pass the following resolutions: that Birstall Parish Council wishes to record its total lack of confidence in the Standards Board for England, and that Birstall Parish Council urges the Leicester and Rutland Association of Parish and Local Councils to do everything in their power to remove Parish Councils from the jurisdiction of the Standards Board for England.
It was reported that the County Council are not prepared to deepen the layby outside Kingsgate Avenue shops, a move that was requested by residents to make chevron parking safer. The County say that “such a scheme would be very costly as a telephone kiosk would need to be resited and other underground services would need to be moved and therefore the scheme was not considered feasible within local resources.” They say they are prepared to paint white lines in the layby to provide parallel parking spaces. The Parish Council agreed this would drastically reduce the number of spaces available and the County have agreed to leave things as they are.
There will be no meeting in July. The date of the next meeting is August 9.

School lane fence

PLANS TO erect a six foot galvanised steel fence on the boundary of the School Lane playing fields along School Lane and Loughborough Road has angered some residents of School Lane.
At the June meeting of Birstall Parish Council, one resident said he was disappointed that the first he knew about it was a report in the Birstall Post and that the Parish Council had not consulted residents.
School Lane was a pleasant, attractive road and a fence of this type would not be in keeping with the area, he said.
He added that a gate to the car park would be effective but a fence would not prevent people gaining access to the park, either on foot or motorcycle, through the disabled access.
Carl and Jeanette McGuigan live on School Lane. Speaking at the meeting, Carl said: “This fence will upset people and may have the result of stopping residents reporting crimes when they see them.” Jeanette said: “The fence will act as a shield and we won’t be able to see any activity in the park. At the moment if we see something going on, Carl will go and shout at them and they often move on, but the fence will act as a screen.”
She added: “I think a sensible compromise is to start with a gate to the car park and see how that goes.”
Chairman of the Parish Council Stuart Jones said: “As a council, we have an obligation to residents to look after our property and playing fields. So far this year we’ve had £30,000 worth of damage on the park, and we can’t afford this kind of damage.”
He added: “Last year we discussed CCTV with the police but discovered we would need someone to permanently monitor it which we can’t afford. The police suggested a gate and a fence to restrict access points. We have had robberies on the park and my main concern is are we going to have someone seriously hurt. I want this fence, I want peace of mind.”
Cllr Jones said the fence would be painted green and erected behind the hedge on the park side of the boundary.

Greengate Lane closed?

Map shows area of Ashton Green development

GREENGATE LANE could be closed at its junction with Leicester Road when Leicester City Council’s Ashton Green development gets underway.
The proposal to close Greengate Lane to all vehicles except buses is made in a traffic assessment report that accompanied Leicester City’s planning application for phase 1 of the development.
Ashton Green will eventually contain 3-4000 houses on 160 hectares of land (395 acres) and will be constructed in phases by 2018. Phase 1 of the development is a 35 acre plot of land east of Leicester Road and opposite the Greengate Lane junction. It will contain 500-700 dwellings and a village centre, and will take 3-5 years to build.
The planning application for Phase 1 will be considered by the Council in late summer and if approved, will be referred to the Secretary of State for the Environment for approval. This will take two to six months.
The development will have a major impact on traffic movements. A new access road will be created into the development, opposite the Greengate Lane junction. This will be traffic light controlled with Greengate Lane closed to all vehicles except buses. The old Thurcaston Road may be re-opened to divert traffic on to Red Hill Way.
The City Council say the key aim of Ashton Green is the creation of a “quality place”. A village layout is proposed comprising a series of focal points, such as squares, village greens and parks, around which the development will be built. Shops and community facilities will be located around a ‘Market Street’ the main access road into the development from the Greengate Lane/Beaumont Leys Lane junction.
The City Council want Ashton Green to include a range of sustainable development features including higher levels of insulation in houses, energy efficient fittings, and re-use of water collected from roof slopes for toilets and gardens.
Phase 1 of the development will also include the provision of a quality bus service, a community store, a doctor’s surgery and a multi-use building to allow a range of community/sporting uses.
Residents in the Benskins Croft and Glebelands area are objecting to the development. They say it will result in the loss of green open space, traffic congestion and more pollution.
Birstall Parish Council have expressed concern at the impact of the development on traffic along Greengate Lane and have asked for detailed plans of the proposal to close Greengate Lane. Vice Chairman of the Planning Committee Cllr Neville Mayes said: “Although it wouldn’t please everyone, closing Greengate Lane would be an effective way of reducing traffic. If nothing was done, Greengate Lane could not cope with the increase caused by Ashton Green.”

Stonehill are winners

Stonehill teacher Cedric Cush with the prize winning Stonehill students and their water features: Lucy Roberts, Katie Cutler, Holly Baines, Yasmin Jugdev, Roxanne Jelley, Christine Willey, David Kirton, Matthew Yardley, Graeme Cheeseman, Mitchell Tiisler, Andrew Price

TWO TEAMS of students from Stonehill School are celebrating after winning first and second place in a competition that tests design skills.
Eleven pupils, aged 11-14 and all members of the school’s Technology Club, entered Loughborough University’s Design Technology Challenge. The brief was to design and build a moving garden sculpture. Over a nine week period in their lunchtimes and after school, the students working in two teams, created water features.
Sixteen schools from across the country entered the challenge and Stonehill’s two teams were awarded first and second prize. The winning design was made from clear acrylic and as the water fell from top to bottom it would move coloured acrylic paddles of various shapes. The second prize was won by a design that featured leaves made of copper and mounted on thin wire that moved as water flowed across them.
Paul Walker, Stonehill’s teacher in charge of Design and Technology said: “I was proud of the students, they represented the school very well. I was glad to see all their hard work and effort rewarded.
“They produced a presentation to show the judges who then spent around twenty minutes grilling our students with difficult questions which they answered very well.”
The winning Stonehill students were each given a digital camera as a prize, and given a tour of Loughborough University.

Goodbye Chris

IT WAS seven years ago that a relatively young man arrived with his family to take up residence in Birstall and have oversight of the pastoral care of the Methodist churches in Birstall and Rothley.
Rev Chris Gray came with his wife, Viv and three daughters Deborah, Helen and Miriam. All the family were to play a very special role in the life of both the church and village. Their musical talents and the way in which the girls have involved themselves in leading worship as well as joining Girls’ Brigade and Sunday Club etc have been very much appreciated. The family now leave to take up a similar post in Nottingham with that young man now reaching middle age!

Rev Chris Gray with his wife Viv

Previously a teacher, Chris had left that profession to follow his call to the Ministry of the Church. Prior to coming to Birstall he had been at St Andrew’s Methodist Church in Leicester.
His ministry has had both happy and sad times. Whilst he was in Birstall Chris lost both his parents who lived at Ipswich. Mind you he still is an ardent fan of Ipswich Town Football Club!
His eldest daughter Deborah was married whilst he was in Birstall and his wife Viv was accepted also for Ministry in the Methodist Church as a Deacon (Viv had pastoral charge of Anstey and Thurcaston in the last couple of years).
Chris saw the planning, fund raising and execution of the Vision 2000 project to improve the worship area of the church. His work with youngsters was insatiable, running the Sunday evening TGI group, holiday clubs, and every year taking youngsters off to Cliff College for a summer weekend. He started the Sunday Club at worship time, did ‘openings’ at both Girls’ and Boys’ Brigades regularly and often led assemblies at the schools in Birstall and Rothley.
While in Birstall he did have a three month sabbatical and took the opportunity to visit Gambia to see the work of the church there.
Whether conducting a youth serve, a funeral, or a wedding, he was able to make the occasion special, and that applied to all his services of worship.
His work extended well outside the Methodist Church. He visited many Birstall folk when tragedy struck. Chris was a keen supporter of Churches Together in Birstall working with both Anglican and Roman Catholic clergy.
Birstall will be very sorry to lose Chris Gray, but our loss will be Nottingham’s gain.
To lead the varied people that make up the Methodist Church here in Birstall with the tact, diplomacy and sense of humour he had, took some doing, but Chris says “I enjoyed almost every moment”.
Birstall wishes him and his family well for the future.
From Tony Moore

History books

THIS YEAR Birstall Local History Society celebrates its twentieth birthday.
During that time it has unearthed much intriguing information about our village’s long history and published seven different books. Most of these will be on sale from their stall at Birstall Gala on Sunday July 4. A society spokesman said: “All are very reasonably priced and include John Kilby’s best selling village story of Birstall’s last hundred years. Also on sale will be both volumes of the ever popular Bygone Birstall in which people, places and events are recalled in over one hundred old photographs, many taken more than a century ago.”
Popular with family historians is the society’s transcription and analysis of the 1891 census of Victorian Birstall, with its insight into village families, their work and their houses.

Bowls record breakers

A TEAM of six bowlers from a local club have smashed the marathon bowls record by playing non stop for 68 hours.
Steve Rawnsley, Mick Brookes, Alan Pick, Bill Williams, Cyril Berrell and Lol Mounteney from the St Margaret’s Co-operative Bowls Club started their game at 12 noon on Thursday June 17 and didn’t stop until 8am, Sunday June 20.
Their record breaking efforts were carried out under rules provided by the Guinness Book of World Records. The game was monitored by two independent witnesses and two pairs of players had to bowl continuously, in the spirit of the game. Rest breaks for the pair not playing only lasted an hour.
Interviewed on Saturday afternoon, bowler Lol Mounteney said: “I have not slept, maybe closed my eyes for a little. We have a caravan with a shower and a couple of camp beds. I feel very tired, not sleepy just weary.”
The club used the event to raise money for charities: Leicester Royal Infirmary Neo Natal Hearing Unit, Glenfield Hospital’s Cardiology Unit and the Headway charity.