Ossett News Posted October 22, 2023 Report Share Posted October 22, 2023 Week ending Saturday 21st October 2023 We often start off our weekly blog with a reference to weather. It would be wrong not to mention this week’s Storm Babet. This storm has caused havoc across much of the North of England and especially in parts of Scotland. Did you notice that Wakefield had a mention on several national weather forecasts on BBC1? The rainfall since Wednesday was recorded and shown on BBC1’s weather as 144 millimetres. That is over 5½” which is an astonishing amount of water to fall. The River Calder at Horbury Bridge rose from 0.5 metres on Thursday morning to 3.88 metres on Friday evening – that’s less than 20 inches to over 12 feet in a little over 24 hours. The river level is now at 1.3 metres as of Sunday 22nd October. Darren & Deb were out ‘n’ about checking on the river and residents. Luckily there was not the same level of flooding of people’s homes as we saw a few years ago. The drainage system worked well. We understand that there was some flooding in parts of the Ward, and we will work with those residents as required. On Monday morning Darren and Deb met with a resident of Benton Hill to discuss speeding traffic. We discussed a couple of options and agreed to engage more with the Police to ask them to increase patrols and carry out more speed sessions. On Wednesday morning all three of us visited the Senior Citizens Support Group, meeting with members and offering support and advice to the issues raised. If you would like to know more about this amazing group, please visit their website at – www.scsg.co.uk or visit their Facebook page. On Wednesday afternoon we were all at the Council Meeting, which was held in Wakefield Town Hall. The meeting is Chaired by Madam Mayor – Cllr Josie Farrar, she was assisted by Deputy Mayor – Cllr Darren Byford. The meeting can be viewed online at - https://yourdistrict.wakefield.gov.uk/wakefield-council-council-meeting-18-october-2023/ Later on, Wednesday, we visited Horbury Victoria Band’s band room, to see the new brass instruments. These had been bought with a £5,000 grant from Wakefield Council, which we whole-heartedly supported. The grant has enabled 9 new brass instruments to be bought and the first few have now been issued to players. These new instruments will support the young people who will be Horbury Victoria Band’s future award-winning players. Thursday morning was the monthly meeting of the Council’s Planning & Highways Committee. Darren is Chair of this meeting and was therefore unable to take part in the application that affects the Old Health Centre site. Members of the Planning Committee visited the site earlier in the week and then assessed what they had seen against the planning application. The Committee refused the application on the grounds of over development and a scheme that was not in keeping with the surrounding area. The applicant may appeal, and the appeal will be considered by the Planning Inspectorate in Bristol. Hopefully, they will support the decision made locally. We’ll keep you posted of developments. The rising cost of living can be worrying and is affecting everyone. This is a reminder that there are support and advice services available to help you, no matter your circumstances, provided by Wakefield Council. There are nine ‘Help at the Hub’ venues across the district, where you can access impartial help and support on a range of issues from money and debt to housing and jobs. Our nearest Hub is at St George’s Centre. Each venue is open weekdays and has a weekly drop-in session attended by Wakefield Citizens Advice Bureau. You can also telephone Wakefield 307272 or visit their website at – www.wakefield.gov.uk/moneysmart A little advance notice Peel Street car park will be closed to enable complete resurfacing. The closure will start at midnight on Thursday 26th until re-opening on Sunday morning the 29th October 2023. This car park has been patched, patched and repatched for many years, but resurfacing will create a great surface for years to come. On Saturday morning the three of us delivered the first batch of pumpkins to Horbury Library. These are for the 4th Annual Pumpkin Carving Competition. This is a joint venture between your local Labour Councillors, friends of Horbury Library and our amazing Library staff – what a great team we all make. More pumpkins will be delivered this week if required. Please feel free to collect a pumpkin and be creative – carve, paint and cover it with embellishments and then return it to Horbury Library by 10.30am on Saturday morning (28th October) so your work of spooky-art can be entered into the competition. On Saturday morning we visited the Methodist Church Coffee Morning after holding our second monthly Advice Session at Horbury Library. Our next session will be on Saturday 4th November at The Baptist Church in South Ossett, starting at 10:15am. On a busy Saturday we briefly called in at the Autumn Fayre at St John’s Church in Horbury Bridge, which had been extremely successful. When Darren arrived, it had closed early as it had sold out of everything! On Saturday afternoon we were joined in Horbury by Simon Lightwood, MP for Wakefield and Jade Botterill the Labour Party candidate for the new constituency of Ossett & Denby Dale, which will incorporate Horbury & South Ossett from the next General Election. We were very warmly welcomed on the doorstep and many people asked why they could not have a General Election now. The next local elections will be on Thursday 2nd May 2024, when Darren will be up for re-election and the General Election can be no later than the 28th January 2025, by law. Last week in our Blog we got the article about Horbury Town FC wrong, confusing the team with the reserve team and their respective positions in the current league table. To make amends, Darren called at Horbury Town’s match on Saturday afternoon for the closing few minutes. It was an amazing crowd to see Horbury Town FC win 6-2 against Brigg Town. This puts Horbury Town in 9th position in the Northern County English League Division 1. Town’s next match is against Worsborough Bridge Athletic at home on Saturday 28th October, kick off at 3pm. Finally, this week, if you can support our local Foodbank based at Christ Church in South Ossett, they would be very happy to see you. Any tinned food stuffs or basic toiletries would be greatly appreciated. You can make donations at various places across Ossett and at the Co-op and DIY Shop in Horbury and we believe there is also a collection point in the Morrison’s store on Dewsbury Road – as someone once said, ‘Every Little Helps!’ Darren, Deb & Gwen 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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