News Letter Spring 2009
Welcome to our Spring Newsletter. Bolsterstone is certainly blooming at the moment. Daffodils shine in yellow drifts along the verges and banks of our roads and lanes. Each year Sheffield City Council provide us with free bulbs and, thanks to the efforts of many local residents working together on work mornings, and individually at other times, many thousands have been planted over the last few years. Thanks too, to the stone wallers, who worked recently to rebuild the collapsed wall by the Cockshot Boundary Stone, not only for practical purposes, but also allowing the daffodils to flower again. Have you noticed the new trees planted along Stone Moor Road? These too were supplied and planted by SCC.
A WELL ATTENDED AGM
Our Annual General Meeting was held back in the autumn and was well attended by over 30 members and visitors. The following were appointed to the Committee and will meet regularly to guide and support the activities of the group.
Committee members: Co-
Frances Tivey Chair Cheryl Rodgers Village Hall Trust
Tony Peers Secretary Stuart Ashton St. Mary’s Church
John Johnson Treasurer Cllr. Dan Lyons Stocksbridge Town Council
Alan Rodgers Wendy Goodhind Bolsterstone Castle Project
and Bolsterstone Archaeology & Heritage Group
Craig Hall Mike Smith Web Site
Ann Hall Kate Cottyn Treasury Team
Chris Prescott
Phillip Verhamme
The only major change made to the constitution this year is to alter the timing of the meeting from November to March. This simply helps spread the administrative workload of the committee and consequently the next AGM will not take place until March 2010.
Since the AGM, Dorothy Kirbyshaw has volunteered her time to the committee, as well
as to our In Bloom Forum. We have also prevailed upon John Williams to become a
co-
These gatherings tend to be more informal meetings than those of the committee and are often held in a resident’s house and well supplied with refreshments! Anyone interested in becoming more involved in the work of the Forum should let me know and may be sure of a warm welcome.
BLOOMING
It was the decision of the In Bloom Forum to drop out of Yorkshire In Bloom this
year and instead, spend the time taken up by all the administrative and organisational
tasks, actually catching up on some of the jobs that got put off or neglected last
year. We all enjoy our work mornings, however, and will carry on meeting up and
working together to make the village as attractive and well maintained as we can.
Our first maintenance morning this year was in March when the initial group of about
nine sweepers, weeders and litter pickers grew to a dozen in an effort to get the
pump back in working order. While we do not have judging day deadlines we do have
a couple of self-
Our Community Garden Open Day
We are determined to go ahead with this properly this year – come hell or high water! Last year we made a last minute decision not to get the barbeque out, bake home grown potatoes, make coleslaw with our own cabbages, carrots and onions or serve freshly picked raspberries, to name but a few of the delights we had in mind, but it rained – and rained – and rained and we called off the lunch party only to have the day turn dry and mild! Those who came to look stayed to chat and before we knew it we were wishing we had, at least, brought the drinks! So this year we have planned to provide barbeque facilities for anyone who would like to bring food for themselves and a starter or pudding to share. The date is Saturday 12 September and be prepared for wet and windy and hope for warm and dry!
CHRISTMAS FAYRE SUCCESS
Our final event held last year was, of course, our very popular Christmas Fayre. We had a fantastically successful day with stalls running out of stock that varied from beer (Bradfield Brewery) to hand puppets. We had an amazing number of raffle prizes thanks to the generosity of Stocksbridge shops and the visiting crafts people, who provided goods ranging from turkeys to toiletries. Forty one raffle prizes were eventually distributed but, as you can imagine, this took some time and, for this reason, we intend holding a Tombola at this year’s fair and thus reduce the raffle prizes to a more manageable number.
We would like to ask all members to try and contribute something that may be given as a Tombola prize. Please let me, or Debs Dransfield on 2888977, know if you have anything to donate, so that we may arrange delivery or pick up. The cake stall cleared £80 and the refreshment stall over £170 thanks to all those who baked and donated mince pies, buns and cakes. The success of our Christmas Fayre is due, in no small measure, to all the help and support we receive from the local schools, parents and children, musicians and singers, from our local art society and everyone who comes and buys from us on the day. This last year we raised more than £1000 for good causes and community projects. Santa too puts in a long day but is well supported by all his little helpers. Donations were made to the Motor Neurone Disease Association in memory of David Sawdon and to Christian Aid for the purchase of rainwater harvesters. A donation was also be made to St. Mary’s Church. Next year’s fayre will be held on Saturday, 21 November and we hope you will all support us by coming, baking and buying again.
BOLSTERSTONE SPRING PLANT SALES
Our next major event will be Bolsterstone Spring Plant Sales. These 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 along with compost will also be on sale. 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. If you are splitting or removing any of your own perennial plants this spring or have seedlings over from your own planting please let us have what you don’t want. We are able to sell on our own perennials/seedlings/cuttings at the sales or find space in the borders of the Community Garden for more plants which, in turn, support sustainable planting in the village plots. Refreshments will be available on both Saturday mornings.
MOREHALL LANE AND OTHER PLANNING ISSUES
The recently initiated repair of Morehall Lane, where a land slip sent the road sliding into the valley more than a year ago, was inevitably delayed by the bad weather in February. The latest deadline for finishing is the end of May (this year!). Concerns were expressed at a recent Northern Area Panel meeting that improvements to the road, when they are eventually completed, are likely to encourage speeding and dangerous driving. A request has been made by local representatives that a speed limit and a weight restriction are both placed upon the road. We also requested that the 30 mph speed limit leading into the village along Stone Moor Road is extended to at least coincide with the Conservation Area Boundary Stone or beyond towards the head of Coal Pit Lane. All these recommendations featured in our action plan when it was first published in 2004 and, as far as we know, has been in the hands of the council, who helped finance it, ever since. An updated copy of our Action Plan is available to members on request.
Land at New Mill Bank
You will remember the general distress caused by the sale of Storth House Farm and our concern that land sold in small lots was likely to have the covenants attached to it broken. Nowhere has this been more evident than the land on New Mill Bank. Planning enforcement moves incredibly slowly but the latest news from Cllr Dan Lyons is that he has been in contact with Lee Brook of Planning Enforcement and they expect to see the caravan and steel structures removed “sooner rather than later”, but he was also promised a “full explanation” for which we still eagerly await! We have also provided photographs of evidence of broken covenants to the City Council solicitor, who is dealing with the matter.
Ewden Valley
Yorkshire Water is extracting wood from beside the private road that runs from Ewden Village to Yew Trees Lane. In doing so they have made deep ruts in the verge and dropped debris all over the right of way. After making some enquiries we have been informed that the old road and verges will be restored once work is finished. It was just about twelve months ago that a small band of Ewden volunteers and members from the Steel Valley project planted 350 hawthorn “whips” provided by Sheffield City Council, filling in the gaps along the hedgerow that borders the bridleway, alongside Broomhead Reservoir. A recent walk, between snow showers, revealed these little twigs showing green buds and every sign that they have survived thus far. This walk also revealed lots of rubbish strewn around the valley, part of a vehicle dumped over the wall on Yew Trees Lane and drainage work needed on the bridle path. The latter will be dealt with by Rights of Way – the rest is down to ignorance and a lack of proper management.
Maples Garden Centre
The owners have been given notice to clear this site and should they fail to do this
properly then the Council has the right to complete the job and send them the bill.
We were disappointed to see that CPRE is willing to support the latest plans for
eco houses on this site. Our view remains the same – that the land should be restored
as befits its green belt status. This is the last of the “buffer zone” between Deepcar/Stocksbridge
and Bolsterstone and only by remaining green space may we retain our own integrity
as a village. Apart from all this the area is not short of brown field sites with
a number of housing applications in the pipeline. No date has yet been given for
the Council to discuss the eco-
NEW GROUP GROWS OUT OF BOLSTERSTONE CASTLE PROJECT
The Bolsterstone Castle Project is drawing to the close of its second phase. Over
the last two years, thanks to the Lottery Heritage Fund, the search has continued
in both the archives and the ground for further information about the heritage of
the community of Bolsterstone. The dig in September 2007, raised more questions
than answers regarding the area designated the “Manor House” site and so, in May/June
2008, a third dig was organised with a lot of local volunteers working with students
from the Archaeology Department of the University of Sheffield. A series of rooms
with three different floor levels, probably indicating different building phases,
were uncovered, as well as some very solid walls, particularly those backing a round
bread oven. We still await the professional reports but the archival group continue
their research. Thanks to the enthusiasm and hard work of the project’s co-
RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME FOR YORKSHIRE & HUMBERSIDE
Our community group has been taking an active interest, along with others from North
Sheffield, in the establishment of this Development Programme. A number of private,
public and voluntary organizations 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-
BOLSTERSTONE COMMUNITY GROUP
FUTURE EVENTS DIARY
Saturday and Sunday
9/10 & 16/17 May – 10.00 – 1.00
(help needed on each preceding Friday afternoons) May Plant Sales
Saturday 20 June Pig & Jig – tickets available soon
Saturday 4 July St Mary’s Village Fayre-
29/30/31 August Bank Holiday St Mary’s Flower Festival
Saturday 12 September Bolsterstone Community Garden Open Day
Saturday 21 November – 10.00 until 4.00 Christmas Fayre
Most events will be advertised in Look Local’s Diary and in Village Life. Please let me know if you would like to be kept informed of our regular work mornings or of the Forum meetings.
Please let us know if you change your address or would like to be taken off our mailing list and cease to be a member. If you have an email address please let us have it – this saves us both time and money.
If you are able to help with any of the above events or would like more information please contact Frances Tivey on 01142 883390 or email bcg@bolsterstonevillage.fsnet.co.uk