The Village of Wark

Archive for the ‘Wark Notes’ Category

The Senior Citizens Meal on the 18^th 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.    

If you live in Wark or Birtley Parish you should be receiving a survey from a group of parents with children in the school asking for your thoughts on the play facilities in Wark. The idea is to initially gauge opinions and if appropriate, develop a project to renovate the existing facilities or develop new ones.? The survey form will go out in the next few days. And vollection points for the surveys will be at the school and post office.?

The Friends of Wark First School will be holding a jumble sale on Saturday 4 ^{February. Jumble can be sent in to school at any time and will be gratefully received. The group will need lots of volunteers to help on the Friday afternoon (3 February)and to man stalls on the Saturday. Please let the school know if you are able to help.}

You might have spotted that this week sees some changes to the opening times of the butcher’s. Starting on Monday 9 January the shop will be open all day on both Thursday and Saturday, but will be closed all day Mondays. Late night opening remains on Wednesday evening when the butcher’s closes at 6.30 p.m.

Finally some advance warning of an event taking place at Wark Town hall on Monday 6 February between 6 and 9 p.m. Wark, Bellingham and Tarset with Greystead Parish Councils have come together to develop a neighbourhood plan www.northtyneplan.org.uk  for the areas and 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. It is the starting point to developing planning policies to help address the issues.  People can just drop in for as long or as little as they want, it’s informal and refreshments will be provided.  In the next few days you should receive a flyer giving you a bit more information about the background to the event. There will also be events in Lanehead and Bellingham around the same time and covering the same issues.

About 100 people filled the Town Hall on New Year’s Eve to see in the New Year en masse.  It’s very easy to get stuck with a poor evening of TV on a night like New Year’s Eve looking at other people having a good time even if it was pre-recorded, so Mike Tickell and Les Telfer deserve credit for having organized this different way of doing things.  There were different tables with their own whipper-in and people provided festive food to share on their table. The band, Hillbillies Deluxe from Glasgow filled the hall with a mix of rocky and country music and the sound man, Red, filled a slot with more traditional country music, even his banjo made an appearance!  Eddie Millican did one of his turns and had the audience in stitches with his traditional series of jokes.  Thanks to the generous support from the [participants there was an enormous raffle and Wark charities will benefit from the proceeds. There was a bit of singing, a bit of story and a bit of dancing and I reckon a good time was had by all. 

The carol singing on Christmas Eve turned out to be a bit of a challenge last year with it blowing a bit of a hooly.  It’s just as well that there are a few people who can belt out a carol or two otherwise people might not have heard anything.  Fortunately Santa arrived a bit early; no snow and ice this year, so the singing was a little shorter than usual.  I have been asked to let you know that the organizers have lost about 20 of the carol sheets and would like to have get them back.  If you have found one of them hiding in your coat pocket, you can hand it in at the Post Office and they’ll find their way home from there.

I’ve also been told that the organizers of the meal on 18th January 2012 have now invited all they believe, in Wark Parish, to be eligible. However should a reader believe they should have been included and not received an invite, they can contact John on 01434 230367.

And so Christmas arrives. With a bit of luck you’ll have the presents wrapped, the turkey will be sitting somewhere cool and you’ll have a box of crackers in the cupboard. For those of you who’re still looking for those last few presents; you’ve got another few hours, so why panic? Fortunately Christmas will come anyway, presents or not, and for me Christmas tide really starts with the carols at 6.30pm on the Green on Christmas Eve. There will be a Midnight Holy Communion at St. Mungo’s in Simonburn on Christmas Eve starting at 11.30pm and a family Communion at St Michael’s in Wark on Christmas Day starting at 10.30am. You’d be very welcome at all of them.

On the last day before the holidays, the children and staff at Wark School said a fond farewell to Mrs. Sandra Lake. Mrs. Lake has been school cook for the past 6 years and she was given a lovely leaving present and a big bunch of flowers just after her final lunch at the school.

I’ve been asked to mention that the Leek Club numbers draw has been rolled over for the past few weeks and it now stands at £200. The Committee has decided that next week, on Christmas Day, they will keep drawing the numbers until someone wins. You can buy extra lines of numbers from the Post Office. It costs just 50p to buy five lines of three numbers, so that might just be worth a try.

This is the final column for 2011, so it rests me to wish a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.

By the time you get to read this Wark School will be locking its doors for the Christmas holidays after a very busy week. There will have been something special on every day this week with all of it culminating in the Carol Service in St Michael’s Church at 2.15 p.m. on Friday afternoon. The children won’t be back in until Wednesday 4 January 2012 as Tuesday the 3rd is ateacher training day.

Mike Tickell’s talk to the Local History Group last Monday was a real gem and there is so much history to the Border ballads that I’m sure he could have filled double the time without any difficulty and without boring anyone. Listeners found out that Border Ballads are place specific and always tell a story. The audience were encouraged to have a go at singing ‘The Twa Corbies’, a tragic tale about an unnamed knight, dead behind a wall. All in all a fascinating evening.

The most recent school newsletter mentioned the establishment of a number of ‘zones’ in the school grounds to as part of a project to develop outdoor learning in school. The first of these zones aims to improve the biodiversity of the school grounds and encourage independent investigation skills. They were meant to create a ‘minibeast habitat’ and a ‘wild meadow’ area last Thursday, on December 9th. I wonder whether they managed to do it on that day with the weather being so wet and horrid.

With this weekend bringing the fourth Advent Sunday there will be Carol Services in both the Methodist United Reformed Church (MURC) and St Michael’s Church. The Service in the MURC church starts at 11 a.m. while the carol service at the other end of the village starts at 6 p.m. You know you’d be very welcome at either or even both churches!

And so the last month of 2011 arrives! As always, it promises to be quite a busy month. Tomorrow, Saturday 3 December, it will be the annual St. Michael’s Christmas Bazaar. It’s a great place to get some lovely Christmas decorations, there will be cakes and gifts, tombola, raffle, and an opportunity to get a great cuppa with home-made biscuits. Admission is 50p and the doors of the Town Hall open at 2 p.m.

The children and staff at the school look like having a busy time for the next couple of weeks. Next week there will be dress rehearsals for their Christmas production with a war time theme, Home for Christmas, and the performance itself on Wednesday 7 December, starting at 6 p.m. In the week after they’re having a Christmas lunch with grandparents on Monday, carols and Christmas activities at Bellingham on Tuesday, a Christmas party on Wednesday and the carol service at St Michael’s at 2.15pm on Friday afternoon. After that, it’s holidays until Wednesday 4^{th of January, for the children at least!}

I noticed that there’s another Christmas Bingo in the offing, this time at Simonburn Village Hall on Tuesday 13 December. The bingo is in aid of the senior Citizens Christmas Dinner and starts at 7.30.

Finally a quick reminder of the Wark History Group talk on Monday 5 December. Mike Tickell will talk about the Border Ballads. The Town Hall is an oddly appropriate venue for a talk about these: the library upstairs is full of books by Sir Walter Scott and books about his work too. I believe Sir Walter instrumental in bringing the Border ballads to a wider audience when he published the ‘Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border’ in 1802. To find out whether my belief is correct, you’ll have to come and hear Mike’s talk. It starts at 7.30, entry is £2 and non-members are very welcome.

We’ve got a busy few weeks coming up with a whole range of activities and events in the offing. The first to mention is the Town Hall Christmas Bingo which will be taking place next Tuesday, 29th of  November. Bingos continue to be very popular and I’m sure this one won’t be any different. There will be a range of great prizes to win and the event starts at 7.30 p.m. There’s also still timer to donate prizes for this event. You can leave any donations with Judith Weir.

Then on the Thursday the 1st of December we’ve got our second Highlights event of the winter programme with the Hut People coming to the Town Hall. The Hut People are a duo playing accordion and percussion, bringing you tunes from around the world. Sam Pirt and Gary Hammond fill the stage with their act. They have played in lots of venues ranging from main stages at folk festivals to train compartments. They most recently appeared in Hexham in September when they did a couple of slots outside and they were very entertaining to watch. Tickets are £7 or £5.50 for concessions and you can get them from Judith Weir on (01434) 230250 or on the door on the night. There will be a bar and the gig starts at 7.30 p.m.

Almost straight after, on Saturday 3 December and again in the Town Hall, you’ll get a chance to visit St. Michael’s Christmas Bazaar. The Hall will be filled with cakes and bric-a-brac, tombola, raffle, and the legendary Christmas decorations. There will also be tea and biscuits. Admission is 50p and the Christmas Bazaar opens at 2 p.m.

Then jumping ahead to Monday 5 December, the Wark History Group will hear Mike Tickell talk about and, importantly, sing a range of Border Ballads. They pop up every now and again in local Northumbrian folk evenings but it’s worth concentrating on them for a change. The Border Ballads are an important part of our rich cultural heritage. Entry is £2 (which includes tea or coffee) and the evening starts at 7.30pm. Non-members are very welcome to attend.

And finally, and looking ahead a bit further, I am very pleased to be able to report that after a short absence the festive meal for the senior citizens of the parish looks like reappearing. It is planned to go ahead for Wednesday 18th January 2012 in Wark Town Hall at 6.30pm.  Invites will be sent to everyone of Wark Parish the organizers think eligible. Funding is currently being organised. 

John Cooper told me that he’d love to hear from anyone who would be involved with setting up and /or serving the meal. There will be no committee or onerous organising tasks! I’m sure there are many young people in the village who could do a great job as waiter or waitress that night.

Anyone willing to help can contact ‘the Coopers’ . You know where they are!

It’s not often that you get TV Royalty visiting Wark, so it’s not surprising that there was a good turn out last Saturday for this particular celebrity. I am fairly sure we’ll see more of this famous character on our TV screens tonight. I’m talking of course of Pudsey, the one eyed bear which is heavily involved in the great fundraising effort for Children in Need this weekend.  Pudsey was a great hit with the youngsters and their will be a fair few photo albums (if they still exist) which will show picture of Pudsey with lots of kids from Wark. Pudsey was here of course to support Matt Baker,  presenter of Countryfile and the One Show, who came through the village on his mammoth rickshaw ride from Edinburgh to London in aid of Children in Need.  Knowing the terrain, you’ll not be that surprised that the ride from Hawick on Friday was rather slower than expected and that Matt peddled off in the near dark after a stop at the Battlesteads.  I’m sure we’ve given him a decent Wark welcome.

Speaking of the Battlesteads, they seem to be on a bit of a roll with awards at the moment.  Last week they won the Responsible Tourism Award for Best accommodation for the environment against competition from places like Kenya and Morocco.  These international awards were founded in 2004 to celebrate and inspire change in the tourism industry. The Awards rest on a simple principle – that all types of tourism, from niche to mainstream, can and should be organised in a way that preserves, respects and benefits destinations, the environment and people.  Congratulations to Dee , Richard and all the staff on this achievement.

About 40 people turned out for our ceremony at the War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday. I’m always moved by the reading out of the names of the people who died in the two World Wars.  Of course there have been plenty of conflicts since then which our armed forces have been involved in. It is equally important to remember those fighting in places like Afghanistan today; it’s hard to imaging what’s going on in those places on a quite Sunday in Northumberland.

Now that the dark nights are well and truly here, it’s become noticeable just how bright the new lights are on other side of the bridge, especially in comparison with the solar-powered ones that we had before.  Fortunately the new ones seem to be well designed and shine their light mainly downwards so it’s still possible to see the stars in the night sky.  I wonder what’s going to happen to the old ones that at currently still there.

Finally couple of reminders for your diaries, which I’ll give more detail on next week. The will be a Christmas Bingo in aid of the Town Hall on 29th and the next Highlights event featuring the Hut People will be on Thursday 1^st December, also in the Hall.

This weekend is Remembrance weekend and the Benefice Service on Sunday will be at St Peter’s Church in Humshaugh starting at 10.45 am.  The short service at the War Memorial in Wark will follow at 12.30pm.  The children of Wark School will have their Remembrance service in the Town Hall on Friday the 11^th starting at 2.30pm. Parents and friends are very welcome there too.  We’re getting close to 100 years since the First World War started and this year our branch of the Royal British Legion celebrated its ninetieth anniversary.  Unfortunately its work today is as important and necessary as it was all those years ago and it is important that we continue to remember those who gave their life for their country.

If you see some very spotty children going to school on Friday 18^th of November, there is no need to be alarmed.  They’ll just be dressing up and raising money for Children in Need on that day.  I’m sure they’ll have fun doing so.

You’ll have noticed the trails of cars loaded with canoes coming through the village last weekend.  The first weekend of November is Tyne Tour weekend and for me it marks the start of the winter: fishing season over, clocks have gone back and the Tyne Tour brings a final bit of colour to the river before the deep dark of November and December.  And what a lovely weekend it was.  Cold, yes, but gloriously sunny.  Let’s hope we’ll have a few of those over the next few months.

The gig by the Budapest Café Orchestra in the Town Hall last weekend didn’t disappoint.   The four musicians play a great blend of folk-based music from Eastern Europe.  Eddie Hession, the accordionist is a former accordion champion of Great Britain and has played with the likes of Pavarotti.  The violinist, Chris Garrick didn’t just play some fantastic stuff, his patter was pretty good too and he kept the audience well entertained.  About 40 people turned up to hear them and at least half of them had come from well outside the village.  It is only thanks to the Highlights programme that we can have such great bands come and play in the village.  The takings on the door tend to go to Highlights with the raffle etc. providing a bit of income for the Hall.  You’ll be interested to know that the next event is only about 4 weeks away, with the Hut People appearing on Thursday 1 December. 

The Wark Leek Club held its AGM at the Grey Bull last Sunday.  The club can look back on another successful year and has a healthy number of members, but there are always a few changes to make.  It was decided that prize money for the leeks will go up for 2012, there will be a few extra classes and the entrants for the baking classes will be asked to leave their entries for the sale which helps support the club.  With the AGM past, the treasurer will be looking to receive subs from the members shortly. 

I understand that Shelly Murray-Hill, who also runs the Zumba class, will be starting a balance class on Monday 6 November.  The class will be a mix of yoga, pilates and tai chi and will run between 10 and 11am.  There’s no need to book and the class with cost £5 per session.

Finally a quick reminder of the Meeting of the Local History Group also on Monday the 6^th.  There will be an illustrated talk about the history of Haytime in the North Pennines. The meeting in the Town Hall starts a 7.30 p.m. and entry is £2.  Non members are of course welcome.