The Village of Wark

Archive for February, 2012

As you may remember children in Wark school took part in the ‘Let’s Get Cooking’ initiative which helped them appreciate food and get to grip with cooking. Unfortunately funding for the initiatve has now come to an end, but the school is anxious to continue to be able to offer the children an opportunity to explore cooking skills. The school is holding an afternoon tea on Thursday 2 March between 2 and 3 pm to celebrate and raise funds for Let’s Get Cooking. The produce will contain Fair-trade ingredients to raise awareness of the forthcoming Fair-trade Fortnight (27^{th February to 9th March). You’d be very welcome to come along and support this well loved and inspiring initiative.}

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, a Zumba class for children is about the start. Shelley, who has been teaching Zumba to adults for a while now, has branched out and is doing sessions for 7 to 13 year olds. Zumba- Atomic starts on Thursday 1 March and sessions run between 6 and 6.40pm. Classes cost £3 per session.

Finally a quick mention of the bingo by the Friends of Wark First School. This annual event will take place in the Town Hall on Tuesday 6 March 2012 and it starts at 7.30pm.

Neighbourhood planning event at the Town Hall on Monday the6th seems to have gone very well. Just over 30 people came through the door and gave their views on a wide range of issues under a variety of heading such as employment, transport and broadband. A lot of concern was raised about the issue of dog fouling and I did recently see a notice on a traffic sign along the Birtley road asking owners to please clear up after their dogs. With regard to the Neighbourhood Plan, there is still an opportunity to share your thoughts by contacting Ian Hedley at Northumberland National Park Authority on 01669 622061. She can send out packs. You can also request a pack by emailing

info@northtyneplan.org.uk. You have to get your views in by 24 February 2012. Next the Steering Group will be looking at the responses, then options will be developed on which you will be consulted again in the summer. From those options and the consultation a draft Neighbourhood Pan will be developed.

I’ve been asked to give you advance warning of further work on the chestnut tree on the Green. The Parish Council is about to commission some more work which will result in about 25% of branches being removed. If I remember rightly the tree was originally planted to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1891. They are supposed to live for about 100 -150 years so at well over 100 years old it is definitely in its old age. Perhaps the Diamond Jubilee Committee should consider planting another tree on the Green this year, which could be its eventual replacement.

As you’d expect Wark Parish Council is closely involved in the Neighbourhood Plan and also has to take the decisions about the chestnut tree. The existing Parish Councillors are very keen to talk to anyone who might be interested in joining as there is a vacancy to fill. Initially this would only be for about a year as we’ll be having Parish Council elections in 2013.

A new line dancing class is starting in Stonehaugh this Sunday. The sessions starts at 1p.m., last for three hours and cost just £3, which is clearly a bargain. As it’s quite a long session there will be refreshments available. For more information you can contact Ann Hutchinson on (01434) 230680.

If you’re reading this on Friday you can still make it to the quiz night at Birtley Village Hall on Friday evening. The £5 entry will buy your supper as well as the quiz itself. The quiz night has a 7.30 for 8pm start.

Ideas for the celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June are beginning to shape up quite nicely. It looks like it’s going to be a busy day with music and a shared picnic on the Green, sports activities, a ‘Wark’s got talent’ type evening and a barbeque. The possibly of a commemorative mug is also being investigated. Various people are working on detail and I’ll let you know more in the course of the coming months.

The School Jumble Sale last Saturday seems to have been quite a lively affair.  It looked very well attended.  I’ll let you know how much was raised when I get the information.

You’ll remember that the next meeting of the Wark Local History Group is this coming Monday, 13 February in the Town Hall. The speaker will be Dr Ian Roberts who will talk about the Hareshaw Ironworks. The talk will start at 7.30pm.

I’ve been asked to let you know that Birtley Village Hall is holding a quiz night on Friday 17 February. The Birtley Quiz Nights are always fun to attend and I’m sure this one will give you a great evening out.  The £5 entry will give you not just the quiz, but also supper.  There will be a raffle- as you’d expect- and some fun prizes.  The quiz night has a 7.30 for 8pm start.

Finally an early warning for some longer term dates for your diary. There will be a murder mystery evening  on 10 March: entitled Murder in Morocco. Then on Saturday 17 March there will be a Christian Aid event called ‘Once for All’ with singer Gareth Davies-Jones. The evening will also give you a chance to see how your donations to Christian Aid are being used.  I also understand that a Zumba class for youngsters between 7 and 13 is starting in early March, again, details to follow.

You may remember that I mentioned a few weeks ago that the Wark First and Pre-School were planning a jumble sale.  Well, it’s happening this Saturday, 4 February in the Town Hall. There will be a plenty of things to buy and as well as the jumble there will be bric-a-brac, toys and books.  The sale opens at 2pm and will run till about 4.  Entry is just 50p.

 The Senior Citizens Meal a week or two ago went very well and people seemed to have had a very enjoyable evening. John Cooper has asked me to let you know just how great it was to have so much help with the planning and preparation and especially with the work on the day. He told me he had an excellent team of young people helping serve the meal.  Financial support for the meal came from the Giles Heron Trsut, Wark Parish Council and both the Angling Club and the Leek Club.  Staff at the Battlesteads helped with the preparation and cooking of most of the meal and thanks go to all of you who helped in one way or other.  It’s great to see this village tradition revived and I’m pleased to be able to report that this year’s organisers intend to meet shortly to start planning the next one for December of this year or for January 2013.

While we’re on the subject of meals, I’ve been asked to let you know that the second sitting for the Wark Charity Lunch on Wednesday May the 9th is already sold out but that tickets are still available for the first one which starts at 11.30.  Tickets are £14 and this year’s proceeds will go to The Northern Brainwave Appeal which raises funds for the Regional Neurosciences Centre’s High Dependency Unit which cares for patients who are severally ill through head injury including following stroke and neurosurgery. The Unit cares for patients from all over the North of England.  You can get tickets by contacting Judith Weir on (01434) 230250.

The next meeting of the Wark Local History Group is on Monday 13 February in the Town Hall and the speaker will be Dr Ian Roberts who will talk about the Iron Works in the North Tyne.  This date is a week later than usual.  The talk will start at 7.30pm.

 Finally a reminder of the event taking place at Wark Town Hall on Monday 6 February between 6 and 9 pm.   to start developing a neighbourhood plan (www.northtyneplan.org.uk) for the area covered by Wark, Bellingham and Tarset with Greystead Parish. The event provides an opportunity for people to come along to say what they think is good about their area and what they think can be improved.  People can just drop in for as long or as little as they want, it’s informal and refreshments will be provided.