Ossett News Posted November 28, 2021 Report Share Posted November 28, 2021 Week ending Sunday 28th November 2021 Well winter has certainly arrived. The weather forecasters got this one slightly right and ever so slightly wrong. They said expect strong winds, rain and some sleet, that bit they got right. They did not say, expect 25mm of snow on Friday night in Horbury and South Ossett. There is sad news in some parts of the UK, that the weather has caused the death of at least two people and 100,000’s are without electrical power. It appears that we in our part of the world were spared the worst of the overnight weather. The highlight of the week was the light switch on in Horbury and Friday. This is the 5th time I have organised this event and I give my thanks to Horbury Methodist Church, Wakefield Council’s Community Ambassadors, Horbury & Ossett Phoenix Rotary Club and my 3 Elves – Fiona, Lisa and Graham. Without everyone’s help and assistance this event would never happen. This year’s event was sponsored by Horbury Commons Lands Trust, Unite the Union and me. Over 200 Cadbury’s chocolate selection packs were given out to the children who attended the event with their parents. The weather was dry and crisp, except it was a bit blustery and very cold. The entertainer kept the crowds entertained and Santa did a cracking job talking to each and every child. There was also plenty of time for some great personal photo opportunities for the mums and dads with their offspring. The planning of next year’s event starts now! Horbury’s town centre is in my opinion looking great with its lights and mini-Christmas trees on buildings. These have been provided by Horbury Village Partnership and Horbury Common Land Trust. The big Christmas tree outside Bar Biccari looked wonderful when fully illuminated. If you want to know when Santa will be visiting your community, please visit - phoenixrotary.co.uk for full details of dates and times. The Methodist Church held their Christmas Fair on Friday evening and on Saturday. Friday night was a very well attended event, with parents taking advantage of the drinks and hot food available in the warmth of the church hall. Again, thank you to the Methodist Church for their kind co-operation and use of their car park. Due to the overnight weather the outdoor activities at Ossett Christmas event were somewhat reduced. However, I did call to the indoor market on Saturday lunchtime and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the stalls and the number of people who had braved the cold. Another great local community event with many local good causes there raising funds. Finally on Saturday I popped in to see the Baptist Church in South Ossett, just to say hello, before their Christmas Messy Church session. Tracey the Minister always makes her Church a welcoming space. Earlier in the week I attended our Memorial Gardens and dismantled this year’s poppy display. The re-purposed Celebration tins had a second outing and looked great, just behind the flagpole. Tuesday was an interesting morning. I popped into Memorial gardens to find two very talented ladies from a local crocheting group – The Horbury Hookers, who were installing a yarn Bombing display on a tree. The project was created by Graham of Friends of Horbury’s Park and supported by Wakefield Council. There is a similar installation in Stan Barstow Square with its own solar lighting. Watch out for more Yarn Bombing in 2022! Wednesday afternoon was the meeting of Horbury Churches Together (HCT) trustees. We discussed a range of issues from funding to our activities. HCT also operate the Horbury Breakthru Project, a series of very successful activities designed for the youth of Horbury and surrounding areas. Many of the activities are based in and around Horbury Academy and are supported by the school and funded in part by National Lottery and charitable fund raising. On Wednesday evening we held our meeting to start planning for next year’s Horbury Craft & Street Fayre. Planning is in its early stages, but subject to relaxed COVID 19 conditions, the event will go ahead. At this meeting I was elected as the Chair of the group. Our previous Chair was Bill Ingham who I believe had been the Chair for many, many years. It is a great honour to be Chair and especially when taking over from such a well-known and successful Horbury legend. The dates for next year’s street fayre are confirmed as Saturday and Sunday 18 & 19th June. The opening hours are still to be agreed, stall bookings will be open from early in January, watch this space in the New Year for more details or visit our Facebook page in early 2022. The last Street Fayre was in 2019 and hugely successful, we hope to build on this with an improved range of stalls and a more varied food area. Speaking of a food area, the group have just taken delivery of 20 folding tables and 48 new chairs. This will allow for the creation of a Food Court area with much improved facilities. Thursday evening was the meeting of the Friends of Horbury’s Park group (FoHP). You may recall that I helped establish this amazing group of hardworking volunteers in early 2017. Since then, they have made a great impression in all of the parks across Horbury and have worked with and supported other parks for example Illingworth in South Ossett. We have some great open green spaces across the ward. FoHP work in the following spaces – Carr Lodge Park, Reid Park, Stan Barstow Gardens, Memorial Park, Sowood Play area, Horbury Lagoons and many green spaces and planters across the ward. It's easy to forget the amount of great work that we have achieved. I reckon we have invested over £100,000 in our parks, with more to come. We have obtained funding from The National Lottery, Wakefield Council, personal donations and donations in-kind from Horbury & Ossett Phoenix Rotary Club, plus many other residents who just help when we are in the parks. Have you seen the amazing amount of money raised by our local Royal British Legion for the Poppy Appeal 2021? Well, everyone involved needs a great big pat on the back, and a thank you from each and every one of us. Their hard work is truly amazing, and they have raised – drum roll - £45,251:50 – absolutely amazing! As with most groups this was raised by a very small group of volunteers led by Malcolm Patterson. Malcolm, thank you. I have noticed that Yorkshire Water, who are not my favourite utility company, have a campaign running to help stop blockages within their waste systems. The Yorkshire Water “Only Pee, Paper and Poo should go down the Loo” campaign, YW are giving away a series of products that can help reduce blockages in the pipes – unfortunately all of these free items are currently out of stock on the YW website but keep visiting as I am sure that more will be available soon. The installation of the new crossing outside Horbury Academy on Wakefield Road is reaching its conclusion. The roadworks have now been completed, with the ‘speed-table’ now in place. The installation of the new lighting system is being carried out by contractors and fingers crossed, this should be done within the next 2 weeks. The temporary crossing will stay in place until the new system is installed. Please keep safe and take care in these difficult times and if you need help, give me a shout! Darren View the full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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