DRIGHLINGTON QUARTERLY

The Parish Council Newsletter

February 2008

 

GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK, DAVID

 

We are sure you will be surprised to know that David, our youthful litter picker, is sixty five and has retired.   His last working day was Friday, 25thJanuary.    To show our thanks to David for keeping the village tidy, the Parish Council presented him with a £50.00 shopping voucher.  Because David did not want “a fuss”, this was handed to him quietly by  Councillors Christine Day and Arthur Thornton.

 

We are sure you will all join us in wishing David a long and happy retirement, and we look forward to meeting his replacement.

 

 

Contact your Parish Council

Call the Parish Council mobile phone 07944 956929 or speak to any of your Parish Councillors personally

 

DRIGHLINGTON (THURSDAY) PENSIONERS GROUP

 

During the Parish Council’s quest to create an office within the Meeting Hall / Library it was necessary to rearrange the items stored in the various areas to free up much needed space.

 

It was obvious that to relocate the upright piano was going to be extremely difficult, along with the fact that it was proving almost impossible to tune. Therefore the question was asked “could this be replaced with a smaller more compact electronic model?” The Parish Council checked out the various internet sites and offered a selection to the group for consideration. Having chosen a suitable model the Parish Council approached the Ward Councillors to ask if they would kindly make a donation towards the cost. The Ward Councillors chose instead to donate the full cost of the piano.

 

The Parish Council made a short presentation on Thursday 3rd January at the Pensioners Party. As the photographs show this new piano is much more compact and easily moveable.

 

Drighlington Parish Council hope the Pensioners Group will have many happy hours of musical enjoyment and we also offer our grateful thanks to the Ward Councillors for their contribution

 

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EASTER STUFF

 

The actual date of Easter is determined by a complex calculation related to the Spring Equinox using a formula first set by Egyptian astronomers in 235AD.

 

Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after March 21st. This year it will fall on March 23rd just one day after the earliest possible date. The latest possible date for it to fall is April 25th and it will be 2038 before it next falls on that date,

 

Apart from its religious connotations Easter is traditionally the time to celebrate the return of spring and of all the traditions associated with Easter, the egg, the symbol of fertility and new life is the most identifiable and has been part of custom and tradition for centuries.

 

Decorating eggs is a custom that dates back over 2000 years. By the end of the 17th century manufactured eggs were introduced. These were usually made of papier-mache, sumptuously decorated and containing Easter gifts.

 

Easter eggs continued to evolve and in the early 1800’s the first chocolate Easter eggs appeared in Germany and France and soon spread to the rest of Europe and beyond. The first chocolate eggs were solid, but by the turn of the 19th century, modern chocolate making processes saw the hollow chocolate egg become the Easter gift of choice in the UK and Europe and by the 1960’s its popularity was established world wide.

 

The most famous Easter eggs were created by Faberge, a French goldsmith and jeweller, for Czar Alexander of Russia in 1883, as an Easter gift for his wife the Empress. So delighted was the Empress with her gift that Faberge was instructed to deliver an egg every Easter. Nicholas 11, Alexander’s son, continued the custom and a total of 57 eggs were made. In 2002, the most elaborately jewelled egg set with nearly 3000 diamonds, known as the Winter Egg was sold at Christies for 9.5 million dollars to a private collector.

In March 2005 the Belgian chocolate producer Guylian entered the Guinness Book of Records with the world’s biggest chocolate egg made on behalf of the city of St. Niklaas, in Belgium.

The egg measured 8.32 metres high . Twenty-six craftsmen worked altogether 525 hours to build the egg. They used 1950 kg of chocolates

 

Two traditional games are played at Easter – the Easter Egg Hunt and the Easter Egg Roll. Egg Rolling is still very popular in the UK but probably the most famous example is the annual event on the lawn of the White House in Washington, USA.

 

The Easter egg hunt, where eggs are hidden out doors for children to run around and find, is also very popular. The children keep all the eggs they find and then eat them as messily as possible!

 

 

PET TAILS TALES

Christine remembers

 

As long as I can remember, animals have been part of my life.  In 1966 Mum and I started the pet shop.   I worked to keep it going and Mum looked after the shop, and for about 18 months, we put all profits back into the business.   Over 36 years we ran the shop, Mum and I had a ball.   In the next few Newsletters I will try and recall some of the memorable moment, that is until I get fed up or you become bored.

 

As both my parents liked animals, I had a double dose, this was the reason I got into trouble.   We bred the animals we sold, Dad bred the budgies, and therefore as we had reared them from birth, we considered them still ours when we sold them.    We only sold a pet to a child if accompanied by an adult, they were given strict do’s and don’ts, and if they didn’t do what they should and did what they shouldn’t, I would post the money back through the letter box and retrieve the pet back.   We did it for a long time and, on the whole, parents were in agreement as it was finishing up with them looking after the pets, that was until I was reported to the authorities and got into trouble.   Brian, my husband, put his foot down, saying if I couldn’t let go of the animal when sold to give up selling them, so that is what we did.   Pet shop without pets was like a pub with no beer.   As dogs, cats and rabbits were still coming in for grooming, toe-nails etc., this filled the gap.

 

Like humans, animals are all different in character, and like humans, if you treat them right then you reap the reward.  One morning a young girl who had bought a mouse, brought it back, stiff as a board, (it was winter).   I took it out of its cage, wrapped it up in a hanky and put it in my pocket.   At the back of the counter we had an all night storage heater, which kept our bottoms warm, sitting on it while serving and talking to customers.   I still kept my hand round the little fellow, and as I was trying to talk to the child and her mum trying to console them, I felt a movement in my hand, took out the little parcel, opened the hanky and the mouse sat up in my hand.   The child’s face, and her mum’s is something I will always remember.   Obviously the mouse had been suffering from hypothermia and the heat from the heater and me had brought it round.    After a few questions, I found out that it had slept in the porch on the window bottom, and it was too cold.   Off they went very happy.   PROBLEM, it went round the school that the lady at the pet shop could bring dead animals back to life.    That afternoon a lady who worked at the school came home that her goldfish had jumped out of the tank and was lying in a pool of water on the work surface.   She wrapped it in wet tissue and brought it to the shop.   As I was looking at it, I saw it

 

wink, put it in a milk bottle with a drop of water in it, and ran it under a fast flowing cold tap, in a few seconds it was whizzing round the bottle, no worse for wear.

 

For quite some time, children brought every flattened bird, hedgehog etc, anything found on the road knocked down, even a fox found on the railway line.   Oh boy, did I have some explaining to do.   TTFN

 

    Christine

 

ATTENTION

VILLAGE PENSIONERS

 

If you enjoy good company and entertainment why not come along and join Drighlington Pensioners Association who meet every fortnight on a Thursday at 2.00 p.m. to approximately 3.30 p.m. in the Meeting Hall, Moorland Road.   We have various entertainments plus Bingo, with Snowball, Raffle, Book Stall, Bric-a-Brac and others, finishing with tea and biscuits.

 

Members also have two free full day excursions in the summer and a free New Year’s Party on the first Thursday in January.

 

For further information Contact:

B. Sheldon Tel. 2852083

Or

H. Suddick Tel. 2853585

 

DID YOU KNOW?

 

Shrove Tuesday when Christians traditionally confess & cleanse is celebrated by eating pancakes.    The ingredients are significant:

Eggs = creation

Flour = the staff of life

Salt  =  wholesomeness

Milk =   purity

Eating them before 8.00 p.m. would ensure you would not go hungry for the rest of the year.

Pancake racing dates back to 1445.

 

PLANT A TREE WEEK

 

During Plant a Tree Week, on 22nd November, 2007, 22 children from year 6 of Drighlington Primary School planted a series of trees at the junction of Station Road and West Street.    

 

 

 

MAGISTRATES IN THE COMMUNITY

 

This is a Magistrates Association initiative developed to increase the

public awareness of the role of magistrates.

 

Representatives of the “Magistrates in the Community Project” will attend the next Parish Council Meeting – 17th March 2008 – 7.30pm in the Meeting Hall.

 

They will give a short presentation and discuss

· How magistrates are appointed

· The type of cases they deal with

· How innocence or guilt is decided

· How sentence is decided

 

 

DRIGHLINGTON GRAVEYARD

 

The graveyard is looking very well at the moment due to the work of a very small band of volunteers who, weather permitting, meet on Tuesday afternoons during the growing season.   Unfortunately during the high season of May- Aug it is a different story.    It is not possible for them to keep such a large uneven area of grass tidy – more volunteers are needed.   The equipment is first class and anyone who comes along will be made very welcome.

If you would like to know more please contact

David Totham on 2853229.   Thank you

 

POLICING MATTERS

 

We are pleased to report that at our meeting in January with Inspector Pedley at Morley Police Station, it was confirmed that crime figure for the year 2007-2008 look very promising, and are on track to be the lowest since 2002-2003.   We can only hope that there is no frenzied activity by the criminal classes in the remaining 2 months of the year.    Our thanks to the Police in Morley and to our own PCSO, Ken Short, whose efforts have been invaluable in achieving this situation.

 

Ken attended our Public Meeting in January and gave crime prevention advice following a number of burglaries in the area.    The police hope to bring the perpetrator to book before long.     Thank you Ken for taking the trouble to come and talk to us.

 

 

 

Participatory Budgeting

 Could you spend £30,000 in your local area?

 Drighlington to lead on a new exciting and innovative ‘Big Spender’ scheme being launched in South Leeds.

Could you spend £30,000 in improving your local area? That's the question being put to residents of    Drighlington in Morley.   The 'Big Spender' initiative will fund projects in the Drighlington area targeting Youth, Crime and Grime and Health issues and has its origins in a concept called Participatory Budgeting which was developed in the    Brazilian City of Porto Alegre in the 1980’s.  The principle is that local people are engaged in making  decisions about how local budgets are spent.

The initiative involves local residents, community groups and agencies who will be      encouraged to come up with ideas for improving the local area.  Interested groups are invited to contact the Area Management Team to find out further details and explore how their idea could be made a reality.

‘Big Spender’ gives the responsibility of deciding which projects receive funding to the residents. Representatives from community groups or agencies with   project ideas will present their schemes to residents at a venue in Drighlington on ‘Decision Day’. On the day all households in Drighlington represented will be given a voting card. When all the projects have been presented a vote will take place to decide which will get the go ahead.

The Leeds City Council Narrowing the Gap Group have asked Area Management to deliver two  pilot schemes one in South Leeds and one in West Leeds to evaluate the process and determine its impact on the ‘Narrowing the Gap’ agenda.  The £30,000 funding is based on contributions from the Narrowing the Gap Group, The Outer South Area Committee and Aire Valley Homes.

If you would like further information on this scheme, or are a resident of Drighlington with an idea or interested in making your vote count please contact Outer South Area Management on 0113 224 3040.

Sarah Henderson
Area Management, South
Leeds City Council
Dewsbury Road One Stop Centre
190 Dewsbury Road
Leeds
LS11 6PF
Tel: 0113 39 51654
Fax: 0113 247 6032

 

 

OPERATION CHAMPION

A successful ‘Operation Champion’ was completed on the 11th and 12th December 2007 in Morley North. The operation targets Crime and Grime and is a chance for agencies like West Yorkshire Police, Aire Valley Homes, West Yorkshire Fire Service, Youth Service, DVLA and HMRC to work within a neighbourhood and jointly target their services and support. Four areas within the Drighlington Parish received information on free services available to residents including a fire safety checks and discount vouchers for Disklocks from Morley Police station.   Over 9 tonnes of bulky waste was collected; 234 energy saving light bulbs and 104 timer switches were   distributed. The Fire Service received 73 requests for fire safety checks and 105 requests were referred to CASAC for property safety checks.

 

DRIGHLINGTON SCOUT/GUIDE HUT COMMITTEE

 

We are in need of help from people who would like to make sure that the Scout and Guide H.Q. is kept in good condition, making sure we are keeping a roof over the children’s heads.

 

Anyone who would like to be on the committee, either helping raise funds, or work to be done, would be made very welcome, any ex cubs, scouts, guides etc who would like to put back into the group what they received as a member, we would be pleased to have your back, also a treasurer is needed.

Anyone interested please contact Chair, Simon Mortimer on

0113 2854873

Thank you very much

 

 

DRIGHLINGTON SCOUT TROOP

 

Last year we started our Centenary year – 100 years of Scouting.

 

Our aim for the year was to achieve The Yorkshire Challenge Gold Award.   This meant lots of activities and we had to camp at least one night in each month of the year.

 

In January and February we camped locally but in March we camped at a Scout site at Widdop near Hebden Bridge.   The weekend was spent walking across the moors, navigating and map reading, using a compass and learning how to be safe on the hills.   On the last day we walked back to Hebden Bridge to catch the train home – a great weekend.   April’s camp was again local but May was “The Big One”.

 

The camp was held at Bramham for the whole of Central Yorkshire, with climbing, walking, sailing, canoeing and every craft you can imagine.   The “bucking bronco” was popular.   The longest anyone stayed on was a couple of minutes.

 

We had 3 days of fun, friendship and lots and lots of rain.    Never mind, it didn’t dampen anyone’s fun.   Let’s hope the rest of the year is a bit dryer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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NEW NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICING TEAM WEBSITE

 

Please click on the link below to find out Who’s Who and what is happening in the Morley Neighbourhood Policing Team.

www.westyorkshire.police.uk/npt/area.asp?id=44