Ossett News Posted October 29, 2023 Report Share Posted October 29, 2023 Week ending Saturday 28th October 2023 Following on from all this rain, we suppose the only good thing will be that the gardens will not need to be watered for a couple of months! According to some weather forecasts, the UK has a very cold snap & more wet weather on the way. Well let’s keep safe, dry and warm if that is possible. On Thursday afternoon, Darren attended a local community group in the Cluntergate Centre to give a talk on “A day in the life of a Councillor!” We covered all bases from being first selected, to the election campaign, to election day and the count and then all the work we do to support residents, community groups and businesses across Horbury & South Ossett. Whilst in the Cluntergate Centre, Darren was able to see a new and amazing piece of needlework that has been created by artist Ranya Adbulateef. The work is called “Honouring our refuse collectors”. This is a big thank you to those men and women who worked throughout the COVID Pandemic to keep our homes across the whole of the District, rubbish free. If you have the opportunity to visit the centre, the artwork is in The Studio and is well worth a visit. Hopefully you will have seen our earlier post on Facebook about the changes being made at Wakefield Bus Station. Several bus services will have new departure stands from Sunday, 29th October. Full details are shown in the image on our earlier post – if using Wakefield Bus Station, make sure you find the right stand so as not to miss your bus. On Thursday morning, the Methodist Church hosted the first of the earlier PACT (Police & Communities Together) meetings. This month’s start time was 11am, which gave residents who cannot make the usual evening sessions the opportunity to raise issues. The meeting was hosted by the Police and had Wakefield Council’s Antisocial Behaviour Team in attendance. Many issues were raised from antisocial behaviour to damaging trees from drug dealing and using to parking issues. As we approach the festive season, if you can support our local Foodbank based at Christ Church in South Ossett, they would be very happy to see you. Any tinned foodstuffs 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!’ Wednesday morning, which was relatively free from rain, saw a group of around 18 volunteers start this year’s planting of crocuses in Carr Lodge Park and across the Ward. The Friends of Horbury’s Parks purchased 8,000 bulbs and our local Rotary Club donated another couple of thousand. The bulbs have also been provided to groups in Horbury Bridge and to the Friends of Illingworth Park. Another 5,000 bulbs will be purchased over the next few weeks to continue the planting across the Ward. The bulbs in Carr Lodge Park will see the ‘Purple River’ which was started last year, continue to snake down the hill towards the Old Shelter. Next year’s Spring should look spectacular with purple crocuses bursting into bloom. If you would like to help with the next planting session, watch this space for details. This week, we made sure we had plenty of coffee as we supported local businesses & community groups across the Ward. From local pubs to coffee shops to church coffee mornings to community centres, there are dozens of places across Horbury and Ossett where you can enjoy a coffee, Please support our local community groups and businesses. They do need your help. Friday was a busy day, starting with the launch of this year’s annual Poppy Appeal. The Launch took place in Ossett’s Marketplace and was attended by The Mayor of Wakefield, Cllr Josie Pritchard. Madam Mayor was joined by members of the Royal British Legion, Darren and Jade Bottrell. All three of your local Labour Councillors will be supporting the Poppy Appeal by selling poppies in Horbury Co-op. Please call in and say hello as you support this amazing great cause. On the subject of poppies, as you know we have been asking the community to knit or crochet a small red or purple poppy for a display in our Memorial Park. Each year, the communities across Horbury and Ossett come together to support the Poppy Appeal and create simple but stunning pieces of artwork to support the Royal British Legions’ work. So far we have collected around 700 individually created poppies. They are currently being strung together to create 5 metre lengths of bunting. These will be joined together to create a waterfall of poppies, in time for Remembrance Sunday on the 12th November 2023. If you are still creating poppies, can we ask that you place them in the collection basket in Horbury Library, by Wednesday 1st November, thank you. You may recall the one we created in November 2020, using the lids of Celebration’s sweet tins. We cannot promise that this year’s will be as spectacular, but we’ll certainly try our best! Friday evening saw the opening of the latest Art Installation in the Red Box art gallery. The title is “Horbury Boggart” and has been created by Hannah Whitfield. Before you reach for Google, here is their definition of a Boggart – “A boggart is a creature in English folklore, either a household spirit or a malevolent genius loci (that is, a geographically-defined spirit) inhabiting fields, marshes, or other topographical feature” - so now you know. This exhibition will stay on show until Christmas when their festive display takes over. It was our great pleasure on Saturday morning to host a joint venture with the Friends of Horbury Library and judge the entries in our Annual Pumpkin Carving Competition. Around 15 wonderful creations were on show, which had been crafted by some very talented young people, some with a little help, we are sure. The standard of entries was truly amazing, and it made the judges’ role difficult and very demanding. However, we were able to award 3 prizes for the best pumpkins and an extra prize for the overall winner. Thank you to everyone who entered, we hope you enjoyed the experience. Pictures of many of the entries will be on the library’s social media pages over the next few days. This picture shows the top 3 winners. Here are some very important dates for your diaries for events across Horbury and Ossett town centres. Checkout their social media pages for up-to-date information and timings. 12th November – Remembrance Sunday with events being held Horbury and Ossett. The Ossett event starts at the War Memorial in the Precinct at 10:45am approx. Horbury’s event will be held in the Memorial Gardens at 10:45am approx. Other diary dates are - • 24th November - Horbury Light switch on • 25th November – Ossett Light switch on 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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