Village Life April

Notable heralds of spring in Bolsterstone are the swathes of daffodils, clearly boot and hoof resistant, blooming brightly on Stone Moor Road and the blistering winds sweeping across from the moors.  The drive to our community garden is like a wind tunnel so dressed in all my mountaineering gear, hat, scarf, gloves and thermals, I braved the gusts to plant out some primula which I hope are hardier than I am.  At the same time, a hundred yards across the garden, in the shelter of a south facing wall, my companion was stripped off to his t-shirt digging a bean trench in the warm sun.  This at least augurs well for the beans!  We all enjoy our work mornings so, despite our lack of competitive spirit in not entering “In Bloom” this year, the usual gang of volunteers turned out to sweep, weed and litter pick one Saturday morning a week or two ago.  The pump was put back into working order and the village should look spick and span and in full bloom by the time the August Bank Holiday Flower Festival comes around!

Blooms, not to mention vegetables, will be available at our Spring Plant Sale which will be held over the weekends of 9/10 and the 16/17 May.  Our community group joins forces with members of what was the Stocksbridge Gardening Club, to bring an amazing variety of really good quality plants to Bolsterstone Village Hall and sell them, from 10.00 until 1.00, on the mornings of the two weekends.  Vegetable plants as well as compost will also be available.  These sales offer an excellent opportunity to buy all your bedding plants, hanging baskets and healthy seedlings at one go while at the same time helping us, as a community group, to take any profit we may make in plants, that are then used to enhance the village plots and community garden.

A smaller, but equally important, Charity Table Top sale, will be held in the Village Hall on Saturday 2 May, between 10.00 and 1.00.  If you can donate home baking, help in any way or need more information please contact Carol on 2882230.

As a community group we are not only interested in what happens in this village but also in the wider rural area.  With others in North Sheffield we have been involved from the start, initially through the Rural Villages Forum, with the establishment of a Rural Development Programme for Yorkshire and Humberside.  A number of private, public and voluntary organisations throughout our area and across to Penistone and Kirklees have set up local innovation groups with representatives on a board of directors known as EPIP- or the East Peak Innovation Partnership.  Although in its early stages of development this LEADER project -as it is called- is expected to address ways of improving the quality of life for people in the rural areas, especially focusing on enhancing the environment or highlighting the particular culture and heritage of each community.

The project is funded for five years and bids are initiated via the local innovation groups and passed through to the EPIP board who meet monthly at different venues across the district.  Funds may be granted to each project providing certain criteria are met, especially if the benefits can be demonstrated across the whole of the EPIP region.  Any ideas for consideration, which you may have, will be passed on to our local representative through the contact details below.

Free membership of Bolsterstone Community Group is open to anyone who supports our aim.   For further information please contact Group Chairperson, Frances Tivey on 01142 883390 or email bcg@bolsterstonevillage.fsnet.uk