Ossett News Posted June 25, 2022 Report Share Posted June 25, 2022 Week ending Saturday 25th June 2022 There will be no blog next week as Darren is on Holiday. Deb will be around and about, so please feel free to drop Deb a message if you need help or support. Deb’s contact details are shown at the top of this newsletter and on our Facebook page. This week’s big news is the result of the Wakefield By-election. But more on that spectacular win for Simon Lightwood later in the blog. Let’s start this week with a report of the Horbury Craft & Street Fayre. This amazing event is organised by a team of around 8 volunteers, of which Deb is a group member and Darren is the Chair. The Street Fayre has been going for nearly 40 years and this year was one of the biggest and possibly the best one ever! We even had a visit from Wakefield’s Mayor & Mayoress and a Ram! The weather was truly on our side as it only rained once on the Saturday, starting just 5 minutes after day one had closed. Sunday’s weather was cooler, but very dry and helped bring out the crowds. A massive thank you to all the volunteers who put the event together, the entertainers who did a brilliant job, the stall holders for their efforts and great array of goods. To the crowds of visitors who made the two-day event truly amazing and to the residents of Queen Street and New Road who put up with the disruption of having their street closed to traffic. The highlight for Darren was the Owl display that was based on Stan Barstow gardens. These magnificent birds were the stars of the whole show and attracted massive crowds. Planning has started for the 2023 Street Fayre which will be held on Saturday and Sunday 17 & 18th June – please put in your diary now! If you are thinking of having a stall next year; watch out for booking information on our Facebook page later this year. Recently, Darren attended the monthly meeting of Horbury Village Partnership (HVP). This is the group of businesses that maintain Horbury’s website – www.HorburyVillage.com and work with local businesses to install the flags and hanging baskets across Queen Street and High Street. This year they were able to install bunting on Queen Street in time for the Platinum Jubilee & Street Fayre. Following the HVP meeting Darren joined our local Royal British Legion (RBL) for their monthly get together. Their plans for the Falklands War Memorial Service on Tuesday 14th June were confirmed and their plans for this year’s Poppy Appeal. Out local RBL are an amazing and inspirational group of people who work tirelessly to raise funds and promote the work of the RBL across Horbury & Ossett. Last year’s Poppy appeal raised over £47,000 – what an amazing amount of money for a relatively compact area. Following on from the Police and Community Together (PACT) meeting held on Thursday the 9th of June, both Deb and Darren having been dealing with many of the issues raised. Wakefield District Housing (WDH) have confirmed that anyone over the age of 21 with a medical issue and then people over the age of 60 will be preferenced for living in bungalows across Horbury and South Ossett. Darren has asked Wakefield Council to ask WDH to relook at this policy as there appear to be issues in how it is being applied. We will keep you posted. On Wednesday 15 June Darren attended the Horbury Churches Together Trustee’s meeting, the first for Darren in his role as Chair. This group run and amazing array of youth and family focused services. The main activity is the Breakthru Youth Programme based in the Methodist Church and in Horbury Academy. This team of professionals hold good old fashioned youth clubs, in Horbury town centre and at The Junction in Horbury Junction. Visit their Facebook page for more information. We know that the whole Ward needs more youth services, especially in South Ossett. We will investigate what is available in Ossett and see what can be done to ensure that all of the Ward is covered. On Saturday morning we called into the coffee morning being held in the Methodist Church in Horbury. This much needed watering hole gives us the opportunity to meet with residents and hear their issues. Often the issues raised here and at other resident sessions include – • Speeding traffic including HGV’s • Parking of vehicles in unsuitable places • Parking on double yellow lines The best way to deal with these issues are to raise them with the Police at the regular PACT (Police & Community Together) meetings. The only way to increase the presence of Police across Horbury & South Ossett is to keep reporting problems to them. The Police and the Council can only enforce parking on public land. For areas that are privately owned or by the Environment Agency, Network Rail or WDH we cannot stop parking or move vehicles on. Those problems need reporting directly to the landowners. Following on from our coffee break we drove into South Ossett and visited a resident in the Sowood Bends area. We did this to discuss the new living Christmas Tree that will be planted in the children’s play area. We are also looking for another location for an additional tree in the South Ossett area – any ideas. We also visited the Fairfield area and noted several issues including white lining that needs repainting and the lack of a Community Noticeboard in this area. Funding was confirmed this week for the refurbishment/replacement of damaged and worn-out play equipment in Carr Lodge Park. Fingers crossed that over the next few months improvements will be made to this play space. We are sure you have seen the roof of the old Chapel building on Tithe Barn Street in the middle of Horbury. This building is privately owned and has been for many years. The owners are now on site and are making the building safe. Users of Tithe Barn Street had a very lucky escape earlier in the week, when many very heavy sandstone blocks fell from the roof. The road will remain closed until the building is completely safe. We do not know what the long-term future for this building is, but we are on it and will keep you updated. Finally this week, a great big thank you on behalf of Simon Lightwood your new Member of Parliament for the Constituency of Wakefield. Simon won the election with a majority of 4,925 votes of the next candidate. Full voting details are shown below. He will be taking up his seat in Westminster as soon as the House start sitting after the current recess. Once Simon has set up his office and we have his contact details we will let you know via our Facebook page and our weekly newsletter. Please keep safe and take care. Darren & Deb Working for our Communities, throughout the whole year! View the full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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