Notton Parish Newsletter March 2009 Editorial Welcome to the first Notton Newsletter of 2009. Highlights include the latest news from our cricket and tennis clubs. Looking ahead two dates for your diary are the evening of Tuesday 28th April when Wakefield Council will be holding a ward meeting in the Village Hall, and Sunday 14th June when the 2009 Notton Gala will take place. The next Notton newsletter will be published in May. Please send articles for that edition to me no later than Saturday 2nd May. Chris Pilkington (01226 700260) www.community.notton.org.uk Wakefield MDC Ward meeting The District Council will hold the Ward Meeting (Ward 5) in the Village Hall on Tuesday 28th April from 6.30 to 9.00. This will be chaired by District Cllr Olivia Rowley with Cllrs Maureen Cummings and Susan Lodge in attendance. All residents in the Parish are welcome. Officers from West Yorks Police, Highways and Cleansing will be there to answer questions. Notton Village Shop and Post Office Notton Village Shop and Post Office serves the villagers of Notton Parish and in return needs the support of everyone in the village. The opening hours are quite extensive, Monday to Saturday 7am to 7.30pm and Sunday 7am to 1pm. We offer a wide range of goods and services including all Post Office services, dry cleaning, lottery, newspapers, magazines, puzzle books, copying, confectionery, fresh bread, milk and dairy produce, groceries, toiletries, wines and spirits, soft drinks, greetings cards and stationery. Please pop in and take a look at what we offer and if you have any suggestions please do not hesitate to let one of the staff know. Some of the hours worked in the shop are covered by volunteers and we are appealing to anyone with a spare hour or two on their hands for help, especially at weekends. If you are interested please come into the shop and speak to me or Alwyne or Andrew. Lastly, thank you to all who helped with the stock take on Sunday 1st March 2009, it went very well. Janet Dransfield Shop Manager 726828 Notton Parish Council The play area at Hudson Avenue is complete and a goalpost has been put up for informal play. Access to the allotments is now from the end of Hudson Avenue, behind the line of posts. Please do not drive over the football field to get to your plot. The Council has paid for a seat which has been placed on the verge of Bleakley Lane, at the end of Bleakley Terrace. The joint application for funding for an extension to the playground at the Village Hall was not successful. However a new application is being made to a different funder in the hope that money can be found. The Parish Council is responsible for the maintenance of the Village Green, the pond and grass area at the bottom of Manor Close, and other small areas of land in the village. We have just renewed our contract with T&D Contractors of Crigglestone who do this work for us. Mud from the "cabbage" fields continues to be a problem on some roads in the village, in spite of the farmer employing a tractor brush in an attempt to clean up. We have had discussions with WMDC Highways who have taken the matter up with Green Field Produce. We have received various complaints about some of the public footpaths in the Parish. We have met and written to the Footpaths Officers at Wakefield to try to sort out these problems, and we have had a positive response from them. To report incidents of motorbike riding on public paths phone 08458 506 506. Bushes overhanging the footpaths from private gardens will continue to be the subject of complaints in the summer. Now is the time to cut them back to allow space for fresh green growth when the spring arrives. We would continue to ask residents to report any traffic accidents, burglaries, thefts and incidents of anti- social behaviour in the parish to the Police and Parish Council. (contact details at the end of this Newsletter) On the evening of Tuesday 28th April from 6.30pm our Wakefield Councillors, representatives from different Wakefield Council services and West Yorkshire Police will be holding a Ward Meeting in the Village Hall to hear the concerns of residents. Please make a note of this in your diary and try to attend. Further details will be circulated in due course. Last but not least you will see a reduction in your Parish Council precept for the coming financial year. Peter Taylor - Chairman (01226 722155) Notton Village Hall Management Committee AGM The 2009 AGM of the Village Hall Management Committee will take place on Wednesday 18th March at 7pm in the Village Hall. The meeting will receive reports from the Chair and Treasurer and see the election of new committee members. All residents of Notton Parish are encouraged to attend and to put themselves forward for election to help run this vital community facility. Peter Taylor (Treasurer) - 01226 722155 Gala 2009 The Gala this year is to be held on Sunday 14 June. The arena entertainment is booked and will include the Wakefield Fleur de Lys Majorettes; an entertaining dog show by Canine Capers; and performances by our own local postman John with his group called Telegram Sam, who are receiving good reviews from Clubland News. Several new stallholders will be in attendance and we have applied for a fly-past by the Red Arrows. Those who come to the Gala will find out if this application has been successful! As usual preparation will begin on Sunday morning on the Green at 8am and although we are usually fortunate in receiving a lot of help from a gallant band of volunteers new faces will be very welcome. So come on down and do your bit to help to raise money in support of your Village and its amenities and several local charities! Michael Tate Gala Chair 01226 709399 Notton Cricket Club 2009 will see Notton C.C enter two teams in the Leeds West Riding Cricket League with the first XI in division 2 and the second XI in division 3, the season will commence on Saturday 25th April. 2009 will unfortunately be the last seasons of the LWRCL, Notton C.C are currently in negotiations to join the Counteract cricket league for 2010. Notton C.C facilities will be improved this year with help from the Village Hall Committee. We anticipate major renovations to the pavilion, new land drainage to the outfield, and a much needed track down to the bonfire site which will limit damage to the outfield when the bonfire is being constructed. Indoor nets are underway and will continue until 5th April 2009 at the Sports Hall at Royston High School 11-12 Sunday Mornings, players of all abilities and ages are welcome. For details please contact the secretary. Outdoor nets will commence from mid April (dependent on the weather) at Notton sports field, again players of all abilities and ages are welcome. Rhys Whitehead (Secretary) - 07875 969262 Notton Tennis Club Annual subscriptions will be due for the 2009-2010 year on the 1 April 2009. Subscriptions have again been held at £50 for senior members, £20 for student and £15 for juniors. The annual club newsletter will be distributed to members early in March with membership payment slips attached. Anyone wishing to join the club for the new year may obtain an application form from me. Last year the club was not able to provide any junior coaching due to the retirement of Chris Annable who had been our coach for a number of years. During the forthcoming season Jane Mayes, who is a qualified tennis coach, will be providing coaching seesions for juniors on Sunday mornings between 09.30 and 11.00 a.m. for 8 weeks commencing on the 26 April. The format for junior coaching will be somewhat different from the previous arrangements. Jane will coach 8 juniors in the age range 4-6 from 09.30 until 10.15 and 10 juniors in the age range 7-10 between 10.15 and 11.00 a.m. Coaching application forms will be attached to the club newsletter and places will be allocated on a first come first served basis. The charges for coaching will be similar to last year. Jane has asked that an adult person be present throughout the coaching sessions to assist in general supervision and to be responsible for opening up and closing the courts at the beginning and end of the sessions. A volunteer member/parent is needed to fill this role. So please can someone take on this responsibility to ensure that the coaching sessions run smoothly. Anyone who is willing to assist should contact the Chairman to confirm their interest. John Pratt (Chair) - 01226 728318 Annual Flower and Vegetable Show The Show will be held on Sunday 6th September in the Village Hall. Entries are invited in all the usual classes: details and entry forms will be circulated in the summer. We would especially like entries from new allotment holders. Now is the time to plan your seed sowing and cultivation. Happy Gardening! Anne Taylor Show Committee 722155 Notton Players Our next event is on Saturday 21st March in the village hall and tickets priced at £7.50 are available from the village shop. The evening will consist of a bar, hot supper, an hour of very humourous sketches, some songs and a disco to finish. Fair to say the entertainment mostly has an adult theme. Remember the film Casablanca? Well Notton Players will be showing their version! And then the children's story of Chicken Licken but never told like this! I hope to see you there. David Sturdy (07702 286774) Carol Singing A big thank you to everyone who sang, collected, provided wassail or made donations for our annual carol singing event on December 22nd. We raised the wonderful sum of £375.13 for Cancer Research UK. We were lucky this year to have a dry, mild evening, resulting in an almost 100% retention rate of singers! Or maybe it was the mince pies and mulled wine (thanks to June Clarke, Lynne and Guy Cattell) hot sausage rolls (thanks to June and Brian Farrar) and an end of sing supper at Chris and Michael Weir's house that kept us going? Santa made his usual appearance, delighting the younger residents of the village. Older residents were no doubt delighted by our musical ability, according to the generosity of donations. An additional £20.55 was raised by donations in lieu of Christmas cards to a community card in the Village Shop. Thanks to Eleanor Turner for arranging that. A cheque rounding the total amount up to £400 has been sent off to Cancer Research and the receipt will be posted in the Village Shop shortly. Once again, thank you to everybody for supporting us in what was our 17th year of fund raising for Cancer Research. Jan Bryant and the Notton Songbirds From the Parish Council Minutes April 15th, 1912 It was agreed that all sheep washed at Notton Sheepwash during the year shall be paid for at the rate of sixpence a score, and for those residing out of the Township, ninepence a score. (The sheepwash was at the end of Applehaigh Lane) Regular Activities in Notton Village Hall Dog Training every Monday 6.45 - 9.00pm Contact Mrs Kolkowski 01924 252107 Kindermusik term-time Tuesday 10.00 - 11.00am Contact Jo Booth 01226 724414 Aerobics Classes term-time Tuesday 7pm -8pm Contact Liz Champion 07730 572035 Self-help Embroidery term-time Wednesday 1.30 - 3.30 Contact June Clark 01226 722346 Whist Drives 1st Wednesday of the month 7.30pm Contact Jean Duncan 01226 722229 Self-help Flower Arranging term-time Thursday 1.30 - 3.30 Contact Hesse Tate 01226 709399 Children's Ballet Class every Thursday 4.30 - 6.00pm Contact Claire Barlow 07976 911296 Yoga every Thursday 7.00 - 8.00pm Contact Julie Winham 01226 728227 Parish Council Meeting 1st Thursday of the month 7.30pm Contact Caroline Smith (Parish Clerk) 01226 382360 (also see the Council noticeboards) Wine Club Last Thursday of the month 7.30pm Contact Bob Stevenson 01226 722385 Self-Help Art Class every Friday 10.00am - 12.00noon Contact David Cliff 01226 726844 Parish Council Contact Details Caroline Smith (Clerk) Cllr Peter Taylor (Chair) 48a, Wakefield Road 1 High Ash Close Staincross Notton Barnsley Wakefield S75 6JY WF4 2PF Tel: 01226 382360 Tel:01226 722155 E-mail: cjs48a@tiscali.co.uk Cllr Chris Pilkington (Lib Dems) - Vice Chair Cllr Maureen Eames 41 The Oval 9 Midland Cottages Notton Navvy Lane Wakefield Old Royston WF4 2NX Barnsley Tel: 01226 700260 S71 4EE E-mail: chris_pilkington@hotmail.co.uk Tel: 01226 722963 Cllr Stephen Selby Cllr Eleanor Turner 3 Hudson Avenue 84 George Lane Notton Notton Wakefield Wakefield WF4 2NY WF4 2ND Tel: 01226 728551 E-mail: stephenselby@hotmail.com District Councillors Contact Details Cllr Maureen Cummings (Lab) Cllr Graham Isherwood (Lab) Tel: 01924 363165 Tel: 01977 602172 E-mail: mcummings@wakefield.gov.uk E-mail: gisherwood@wakefield.gov.uk Cllr Susan Lodge (Con) Tel: 01924 250809 E-mail: susanlodge@wakefield.gov.uk Police Contact Details: Non-emergencies 08456 06 06 06 Insp. Helen Brear Tel: 01924 293256 or email wakefield.rural@westyorkshire.pnn.police.uk Disclaimer Opinions expressed in this Newsletter are those of the writers, and the Parish Council takes no responsibility for them or the accuracy of any statements therein. 1