Ossett News Posted March 3 Report Share Posted March 3 Week ending Saturday 2nd March 2024 At the time of writing this week’s Blog, there seems to be some confusion about the weather. It has turned rather cold and on Friday morning there was a touch of sleet in the air. Let’s hope that we are spared the snow, which some forecasters say we are due. We all love snow, but we prefer it when it is on Christmas cards only. Monday started with a meeting of the Friends of Horbury Library. At the meeting, they discussed a range of events that are being organised by the Library staff and some joint ventures for later this spring and summer. Watch out for more information on these events soon. We also met with Council Officers to discuss our two ongoing Library projects. The first one being The People’s Museum, for which a grant has been submitted to buy the display cases. We should know the outcome of this application in around 4-6 weeks, fingers crossed. Thank you to everyone who has responded to our ‘shout-out’ for items to considered for display. We have had a wonderful response, and we shall be working through the items, with our ‘curation team’ over the spring months. Our second project, which is much bigger and potentially more creative, is to build a meeting room within Horbury Library. The purpose of the room would be to offer local community groups a private space to allow them to meet and conduct their creative business. The room could also be used as a space for children to meet and hold story time or even some private space for noisier event. The room would have double doors, which would allow the space to be part of the Library space when not in use, and then when closed, to be a very usable and much needed space. Darren, Deb and Gwen will submit a funding grant when a quote has been received for the work. We are hoping that the room will be created and in use by late summer 2024. At lunchtime on Tuesday, Darren attended a governing body meeting of Horbury Bridge Academy. Darren has been a governor of this successful school for approaching 3 years. It is always inspirational to see what our young people are doing in schools and to be involved in their future education. Later on, Tuesday evening, Darren and Deb called in to see the Wakefield 44th Girl Guide group at St John’s Church in Horbury Bridge. It was with great pleasure that we were able to present them with a £50 donation to help them with their great work. On Wednesday morning, Darren & Deb were in and around Horbury Town Centre. We met in Caffe Capri on Cluntergate and immediately bumped into 4 local residents. This chance meeting gave rise to a couple of issues which we were able to deal with. Gwen was at a coffee morning with the regulars at Broad Royd House in South Ossett. Gwen is part of the management team that co-ordinates with WDH a whole host of activities for the residents of the area. All three of us ended the morning by calling in at The Methodist Church, joining the regulars at their Coffee Morning. Wednesday afternoon was The Council’s annual budget meeting. This meeting is where the Council raises and introduces to full Council, its budget and financial plans for the forthcoming financial year. The Leader of the Council introduced the budget and proposed that the Council raises Council Tax by 2.99% and the Government Social Care Tax, which is set at 2%. This makes a total increase by Wakefield Council of 4.99%. It is well worth bearing in mind that Wakefield Council’s Council tax is the second lowest in West Yorkshire, and if you add in the fact that we do not charge for Garden waste bins, unlike some other Councils, we are the lowest overall Council Tax. You may be aware that you can watch the Council meetings online, live as it happens and you can also view past meetings in full Technicolour! You can find out more by following this link – www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLilikhJ0zt33wfgyLBMSDsJFCrlENFpbp On Wednesday evening, Darren and Deb attended the monthly meeting of the Horbury Craft & Street Fayre management group. Darren is the Chair of the group and along with around 10 volunteers we are planning to hold the best ever Street Fayre in our 30+ year history. All the stalls are now sold, so that gives us an outdoor market of over 65 stalls, various food outlets and with children’s entertainment and activities plus live music from our two stage areas. This will be a great weekend of family focused fun for all those who attend. Make a note in your diaries – Saturday and Sunday 15 and 16th June 2024. On Thursday morning we each attended a different training session, designed to support us in our roles as local elected Councillors. The sessions on offer this week were safety in Public Office and also Children and young people, education and inclusion. Thursday evening was our regular meet up with our Police colleagues at their Police and Community Together – PACT, meeting. The Thursday meeting was for Horbury & South Ossett residents and the one for Ossett residents was held on Tuesday evening. As always, the meetings were well attended and a range of issues were discussed from parking of vehicles, speeding, anti-social behaviour and garden fires. It was also discussed if any more pairs of abandoned men’s briefs had been found in Stan Barstow gardens. This particular issue raised rather a smile to those who attended the meeting. Here are the dates for the rest of this year’s meetings for Horbury & South Ossett residents – all the dates are a Thursday and will be held in The Methodist Church on Horbury High Street - 11th April @ 11am, 23rd May @ 6pm, 4th July @ 11am, 15th August @ 6pm, 26th September @ 11am, 7th November @ 6pm and finally 19th December @ 11am. At this time, we do not have the confirmed dates for the Ossett PACT meetings. On Saturday morning, we held our 1st advice session of the month at The Baptist Church in South Ossett. It never fails to amaze us the issues that are raised with us and some of the issues residents are having to deal with. We are not a free legal service as we are not lawyers, but we can offer help and support and act as a signposting service, to those who would be able to offer help. Our next session is on Saturday 15th March at Horbury Library. However, if you need help before then, please drop us a line at TalkToUs@mail.co.uk or call 01924 763088. Finally, this week, we attended the International Women’s Day lunch organised by The Ossett Rotary Club. This year’s much anticipated guest speaker is Mrs Pat Langham, ex-head teacher at Wakefield Girls High School. 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...
Recommended Posts