The Village of Wark

If you read your Tynedale Farming and Countryside supplement last week, you will have spotted the article about the history of haytime in the North Pennines.  The Wark Hostroy Group is very pleased to have the writer of the book, Neil Diment, come and give a talk about the subject at their meeting on Monday 7 November 2011.  Neil will present a lively talk illustrated with farm implements and tools and lots of old photographs.  You might have spotted the poster for this event with a picture of our own Village Green been cut with a couple of horses!  The meeting in the Town Hall starts a 7.30 p.m. and entry is £2.  I understand copies of the book ‘No five o’clock on our calendars’ will also be available at £6.99.

The Coffee Morning in aid of Tynedale Hospice at Home at the Westacres Community Room made a fabulous £255.  Yvonne and Susan have asked me to thank all those who contributed to the event. Yvonne told me that the village has contributed more than £850 to this very worthwhile charity this year alone.

Finally a quick reminder of a couple of events coming up in the next few days.  First there’s the Highlights event by the New Budapest Café Orchestra in the Town Hall on Friday 28^th of October and I understand tickets are still available. They are £7 and £5.50 for concessions and the concert starts at 7.30pm. Then on Tuesday 1 November there’s the annual prize bingo in aid of the North Tyne Hunt, also in the Town Hall.  It’s eyes down at 7.30pm.

Shortly after I’d submitted last week’s Wark Notes I received a telephone call from the organizers of the Silent Auction in aid of St. Michael’s Church, to say that they’d forgotten to include the cheques into the grand total.  I said last week that the auction had raised £770 but in fact the total was nearly double. It made a magnificent £1418.50!  Thanks once again to all those who attended the event and who donated to lots for the auction.

Numbers were clearly not my strong point last week, as I also got the cost for the Highlights event for Friday 28 October wrong.  You’ll remember that the New Budapest Café Orchestra is coming to the Town Hall on that day and they play folk-based music from Eastern Europe on violins, guitar, accordion, double bass and a couple of other Eastern European instruments.   Tickets are in fact £7 each with £5.50 for concessions. They are available from Judith Weir on 01434 230250.  You’ll be pleased to hear that the mention of a bar was indeed right! The gig starts at 7.30pm.

Before then, on Saturday 22 October 2011, there will be a coffee morning and jewelry stall in aid of the Tynedale Hospice at Home.  This event takes place at the Westacres Community Room and starts at 10am.  It will cost you just £1 to get in!

If you see children cycling to school on Friday, rather than their usual walk, this will be because the children from Class 2 will be doing their Level 1 Cycling Awareness course. Obviously they need to have access to their bike and cycle helmet into school. Children will also have done an Outdoor Learning Afternoon this Wednesday, the 12^th of October. If every things goes according to plan they will have made a woodpile in the nature garden, which is great habitat for all sorts of creatures

It looks like the opening of the bridge can now not be that far away.  At the time of writing the white lines at the Birtley end are still to do as are the fences on the approach to the bridge, but that looks to be it. I know the closure of the bridge for this length of time has been hugely inconvenient to some of you, but it has been interesting to see the work progress (and sometime not progress very fast!).  I know many of the people who walk along the river towards Blindburn have enjoyed the lack of traffic and it’s been very interesting to see some of the fishermen get on their bikes to get to the other side.  Obviously the work isn’t finished and there remains quite a bit to do, but that’s not going to be for a while yet.

The Silent Auction in aid of St Michael’s last Saturday raised a fabulous £770.  I don’t think I’d really grasped the concept of a silent auction, but now I now that the lots are set out for all to see and that you go round the room to record your bids.  So if you want something really badly, you have to go back to those lots and make sure that you ‘stay on top’.  Because that means that there’s much moving about, it turned out to be a very social occasion.  Some highlights?  Food went very well with an 18 lbs salmon attracting a lot of bids; the two space hoppers went to a most unlikely bidder which caused a bit of a giggle and Ethel Cairns won a drive and a stop for tea, which had been offered by Sybil.  Ethel has chosen to go to Howick Hall Coast near Craster on the Northumberland where she was in service at Howick when she was younger .

Finally a mention of the first Highlights event of this autumn. We’re very lucky to have the New Budapest Café Orchestra coming to the Town Hall on Friday 28 October 2011. They play folk-based music from Eastern Europe.  The band is made up of four fabulous musicians with violins, guitar, accordion, double bass and a couple of other Eastern European instruments.  Someone who knows his accordion music told me that the accordion player in this band is one of the best he’s ever seen.   Tickets are available from Judith Weir on 01434 230250 and cost £6.50 each.  There will also be a bar.

This week I’ve been asked to give a special mention to two clubs that will be starting again this week.  First of all there’s carpet bowls which resumes this Friday, 30 September.  Thye game of bowls has been around for a very long time and a quick search on the internet reveals  that the oldest green which is still being played on is in Southampton. The bowling green there has been in continuous use since 1299!  Carpet bowls is one of three recognized versions of indoor bowls and was especially developed to fit into village halls.  Carpet bowls is a great way of spending a very social evening and new players are always welcome. In fact, the first night, this Friday is free with bowls nights thereafter costing only about £1 per player. Bowls starts at 7 p.m. and takes place weekly in the Town Hall.

Also in the Hall, but on every first Monday of the month, is Wark Local History Group.  The groups has been going now for about 4 or 5 years and has explored a whole range of topics. It’s included work on shops in the village and of course many of you will remember the Victorian Day and the celebrations of VE Day a couple of years ago. Both those days were instigated by the Local History Group. This winter the group with have a range of talks including one by Ian Roberts about the Bellingham and Ridsdale Ironworks, and a talk on the history of haytime by Neil Diment.  History group nights start at 7.30p.m.

The early-bird version of the MacMillan Coffee morning last week went very well indeed.  The various activities raised a magnificent £403.90.  I looked up how much the event raised last year and this year’s total was nearly £60 more.  A great result and thanks go to all people who attended, those who gave raffle prizes and sent donations.

Wark First School is in need of volunteers for a couple of activities.  The first of those is to travel with the children to go swimming.  The school needs volunteers for 6^th October, 20^th October, 3^rd November, 10^th November, 24^th November and 8^th December.  I understand that if they don’t have enough volunteers the children will not be able to go.  More of a ‘one-off’ is the call for people to help with the redecoration of the old boiler room.  If you can help with either, please contact the school.

There is still time to offer up lots for the Silent Auction in aid of St Michael’s.  The auction itself is on Saturday 8 October in the Town Hall, but the organizer would very much appreciate having your ‘promises to auction’ in advance of the day. You can contact Ann Bell, Jani Keep or John Cooper.  They will also happily sell you a ticket for the event. Tickets are £7.50 which includes a glass of wine and refreshments.  The Silent auction starts at 7.30 p.m.

A few people I know had to gather their leeks for the Show last Saturday in the pouring rain on Friday afternoon. As someone said on Saturday, at least it made the washing of them a little bit easier.  However, despite the weather there was an excellent show of leeks.  Last year’s winner, Gavin Potts, managed to do it again with a lovely set of leeks.  He produced the best leek in show too. For the rest of the show I got the distinct impression that the poor summer had not helped the entries.  A few classes had very few entries and just the size of the two pumpkins entered was an indication of the weather we’ve ‘enjoyed’ over the past few months.  Fortunately there were some very lovely flowers and the entries from the children in the show are always cheery.  After a break of a year, Robert Baty was back on the podium for the sale. He’s got the knack of judging the room and did another brilliant job.  When I checked with the Leek Club Treasurer there were still a few bills to be paid, but it looks like entry money, raffle and sale had made over £1000, a healthy start to a new season of leek growing.

Last week I mentioned that Wark is doing its part of the Biggest Coffee Morning in the world a week early, so it will be Friday 23 September, at Wark Town Hall from 10 a.m.  Entry is £1.50.  The Biggest Coffee Moring in the World is in aid of MacMillan Cancer support, of course.

This Sunday, 25 September, St Michael’s Church will be celebrating Harvest Festival, at 6 p.m.  The Harvest Supper will be on Monday in the Community Room at Westacres.  There will be soup, a pudding and a cup of tea of coffee and a biscuit, all for just£3.  The Harvest Supper starts at 7p.m.

There is still time to offer up lots for the Silent Auction in aid of St Michael’s.  The auction itself is on Saturday 8 October in the Town Hall, but the organizer would very much appreciate having your ‘promises to auction’ in advance of the day. You can contact Ann Bell, Jani Keep or John Cooper.  

Fans of Vera, the detective series on ITV, should be able to see some local scenery and locations in the next series.  A crew filming at Chipchase was parked in the sportsclub car park all of last week, turning it into a mini-encampment. I’ll admit to never having seen Vera, but this might just be the incentive to have a peek the next time it’son.

I understand that the replacement of the central heating boiler in the school hasn’t gone quite as quickly as had been hoped, with the result that the school still has contractors on site.  I understand the new boiler will take a few more weeks to deliver and Mrs Lewis, writing in the latest school newsletter, expects that the new heating system will be up and running in 4-6 weeks time. In the meantime the school has radiators on loan to heat the classrooms. 

This is the weekend of the Leek Show, one of those village events with marks the onset of autumn.  All the growing is done and the produce now needs to be brought to the Town Hall to be judged.  I’m fairly sure that the (very few) leek trenches that I have seen over the past few weeks, did not contain the winning leeks and the weather that we’re are still expecting at the time of writing, might play havoc with a few more leeks.  However, all will be revealed on Saturday afternoon.  The show opens to the public at 4.15 and the sale of the produce will start at 5.30 p.m.

Another annual event you’ll be looking out for at this time of the year is the Biggest Coffee Morning in the world in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support. I’ve been asked to let you know that Wark will make its contribution on Friday 23 September, rather than on the 30^th.  You’re all cordially invited to join in: Wark Town Hall, Friday 23 September, from 10 a.m. onwards.

I’ve been asked to make you aware of the Silent Auction in aid of St Michael’s Church which will take place on Saturday 8 October 2011 in the Town Hall.  Of course there’s still a bit of time to book your tickets for that event and I’ll come back to that in this column over the next few weeks, but the organizers are very keen to hear from people willing to offer promises or goods for the auction itself.  You can contact Ann Bell, Jani Keep or John Cooper with your auction promises.

Finally a quick mention of the Birtley Harvest Supper which will be on Friday 7 October 2011 at Birtley Village Hall.  Tickets are £10 and are available from Judith Weir (01434- 230250).  It’s a 7 for 7.30 p.m. start.

Little did I expect a proper answer when I wondered a few weeks ago what made people come all the way from Gateshead to our jumble sale in the Town Hall.  So perhaps you can understand my delight when I read the letter in last week’s Courant from the very people who did.   It’s lovely to know that our events (and others for that matter), attract people on a run out from town and that the teas served in the Hall get a special mention.  Thank you very much for your response!

As many of you will have noticed, the bridge is now gradually being reassembled.  The girders arrived indeed last Friday and I was delighted to see that they are painted a fetching bright green.  The metal plates which form the foundation of the new deck also started arriving last week and the Wark end of the bridge is now complete again.  I was interested to see a gang of men still at work at last light in the middle of last week.  It will be very interesting to see the new sides arriving and I suspect things will start changing quite quickly from now on.  You can find more information on the detail of the repair work in the latest version of the bridge news.

The barbeque last Saturday to celebrate the ninetieth anniversary of the Royal British Legion in our District went very well with about 40 people joining the group for food and a bit crack.  Fortunately it kept dry for the better part of the afternoon and there turned out to be a football match too, so it was right busy at the sportsclub.  I understand the raffle was an excellent affair and that the numbers card in the Post office has been allowed to run on for a bit to allow it to be filled.  Thanks go to all who gave up their time to organize this event.

If everything goes according to plan, and the weather is reasonable, we should see the girders of the bridge arrive again on Friday this week.  Like a few weeks ago, the road between Wark and Barrasford will be closed for the crane to be move the girders from the engineering works where they’ve been done up.  It will be real progress to see those girders back in place. As I said, the whole process does depend on reasonable weather so things might change in the few days between writing the column and you reading it, but that’s just the way it is.

On Saturday the Royal British legion will be celebrating its ninetieth birthday here is the village with a family barbeque at the Sportsclub. You’ll know about the annual poppy appeal in late October and early November, but the fundraising and especially the work of the Legion happens all the year round. The Legion helps serving and ex-Service personnel and their families. Not just those who fought in the two World Wars, but also those involved in the many conflicts since 1945 and those still fighting today. The organization supports a staggering 100,000 people every year.  It’s definitely worth celebrating the achievements of the British legion and you’d be very welcome to join in on Saturday.  The family barbeque runs between 1 and 6 p.m., there is no charge but you’ll be charged for the food. In addition the bar at the club will be open and you can expect a raffle and a tombola.

A bit earlier on Saturday, there will be a coffee morning in the Community Room at Westacres  in aid of Hospice at Home Care. The coffee morning starts at 10 a.m.

Finally, the Broadsheet for September has arrived and if you don’t get your own copy, you can usually get one from the Post Office.  The Broadsheet is the monthly magazine for the parishes of Humshaugh, Simonburn, Chollerton, Birtley, Gunnerton and Thockington.  It gives you an overview of things happening in all those communities. This month John Cooper has written a piece about a Synod meeting he attended, reflecting on the proceedings.  It certainly made me chuckle!

Those of you who regular travel along the road between Chipchase Castle and Nighfold Ridge might be wondering  what’s going on with roads closures.  The County Council has recently put up statutory notices about closure of the C215 saying that the road will be closed for three months starting in August to be able to lay power cables leading to more diversions for those of you living on the Birtley side of the valley.   Well, you might be pleased to know that I have now been informed that this work has been postponed until December 2011 at the very earliest, which will come as a bit of a relief I’m sure.  It will the bridge to be reopened at least.

Talking about the bridge, progress seems to be very slow, but I’ll admit to not being a bridge engineer and for all I know there is good reason for going at this pace.  I did notice that a ‘sheeted area’ has appeared in the work compound at the sawmill, very much like the one in the engineering works at Barrasford.  Perhaps we’ll see some more dramatic action in the not too distant future.

The jumble Sale at the Town Hall last Saturday drew people from wide and far with people turning up from as far away as Carlisle and Gateshead.  Although I can understand that you can find some useful stuff at jumble sales, I find it difficult to understand what draws people from that far afield. Perhaps we’re undercharging and giving people an opportunity to make a bit of profit by selling on the things that they’ve bought.  Whatever the reason, the event raised £359 for Town Hall funds which is not to be sniffed at.  There’s always a bit left over and this time is no different, so if you happen to know someone looking for a set of left handed golf clubs, encourage them to contact a Town Hall Committee member,  no reasonable offer will be refused.  All the clothes that are left will go into the clothing bank at the school, which raises a bit of money for them too.  Of course none of these events can happen without the help of a bunch of committed volunteers.  Thanks go to them all.

News has reached me that the Wark and District branch of the British Legion celebrates its 90^th anniversary this year, as does the legion nationally.  Our Legion will celebrate with a family barbeque at the sports club on Saturday 3 September between 1 and 6 p.m.  There will be no change to get in but you’ll be charged for the food.  The bar at the club will be open, there will be a raffle and a tombola and the organizers hope to get some entertainment too.  You’ll all be welcome to attend.