Bridger 142

BRIDGER  142

JANUARY   2013

The chairman opened the meeting by welcoming  everyone and asking for apologies.

In Bloom.

A discussion was held about the  many trophies that had been won and awarded to the village during 2012 with regard to the display / storage of the trophies, the chairman informed the meeting  that  he had contacted Leigh Library to see if they could be put on public display, unfortunately the library does not have the facilities for displays of this kind. No one at the meeting could suggest anywhere that the trophies could be displayed publically but safely.

The trophies have been taken to the School, Church, Scouts & Guides etc  to show all the people who have contributed to our success  the results of all the hard work that has been done by everybody.

This also gave us the opportunity to thank all the various groups / organisations for  their contributions to our success.

Following this success, we have been contacted by the North West in Bloom judging team to ask us to leave the category for  “ Best Large Village “ and enter into the  “ Urban Neighbourhood “ category instead, the reason for this is,  by winning the GOLD award and the OVERALL WINNERS award, we have gone as far as we can in the village category,   the Urban Neighbourhood award is the next step up, plus,  if gold is won in this category it leads to an automatic entry into the National Awards.

Following a short discussion it was agreed that we accept the judges advice and move up into the Urban awards category.

We have just received the North West in Bloom Marking Sheet  and for the 15 different categories within the judging criteria we received 175.5 points, this is way above the average needed to qualify for a GOLD award.

We received MAXIMUM points for our contribution to Local Heritage   { management and development of local heritage  / and or identity, inclusive of natural heritage } we also received MAXIMUM points for  Community Participation. 

{  community involvement is representative of the community`s size and diversity }

This is the first time that anyone has received MAXIMUM points in any category, a fantastic achievement.

Our biggest loss of points was in the category for,  Business Areas and Premises  {  Retail and Shopping Areas, Leisure Sites, Transport Terminals, Car Parks, Farms, Rural Businesses, Pubs, Post Office, Tourist Areas / Attractions, Offices, Estate Agents etc }

I must admit that I am confused how they can mark us for facilities we haven`t  got or have no control over.

Another area was, we should have had more floral areas, we can improve on that.    

Guest Fold.

There have been no further developments with this, we are waiting for the date of the next meeting / contact from Kath Godfrey who is the organising / liaison officer for the project.

Food Bank.

The response from the residents of Howe Bridge has been very good with several donations of food already received, it was my intention to publically thank  everyone who has donated, but there has been so many it is impossible to name them all, what I will say is THANKYOU to everyone who HAS donated, although we are only a small cog in a very big wheel, we can and will make a difference.

If anyone else would like to donate either tins or packets of food to this excellent cause then please contact Terry Daly  on 01942 603175 or 07412 521040 and arrangements can be made for the food to be picked up.

Distribution of the food hampers to the recipients who are in temporary crisis will only start on March 1^st but, before distribution there needs to be a large bank of food to supply these hampers so, PLEASE if you can help DO SO.

St Michaels Church.

The service of Nine Lessons & Carols was not only an excellent evening but was also very  successful regarding attendance and enjoyment, the selected carols and Lessons were both joyous and appropriate and this contributed to the atmosphere in the church.

Many thanks to the Reverend Kathryn Carmyllie,  Choir, Leslie the Organist and most of all to everyone who attended and joined in, the sound of so many voices belting out the carols  was quite exhilarating.  

After the service, mince pies, cakes biscuits and Wines was served in  the vestry which help to finish the evening off very well.

The bridgers donated the wine and the church provided the food, Thankyou.

January 13^th 2013

This is EDUCATION SUNDAY and an All Age Service is being held at        9-30am, the Service will also be a Parade Service and there will be input from St Michaels School as well.

Preacher for the Service will be the Bishop of Middleton, the Rt  Reverend Mark Davies.

 New Footpath.

Work is progressing very well on the new footpath that runs from Leigh Road to the by-pass and should be a good shortcut for the people who would use it, hopefully it will be completed very early in the new year.

Newsletter Funding.

Unfortunately we have been informed that we will NOT receive any more  funding  from Wigan & Leigh Homes  to print the Bridger Newsletter, the reason we have been given is that the Wigan & Leigh Homes estate only covers about 10% of the houses in Howe Bridge so all the money they raise has to be used for the benefit of this 10%.

Over the years the Bridgers have supported, promoted and helped Wigan & Leigh Homes continually in many projects that have affected their estate only, but, unfortunately they cannot take this into consideration.

The very sad reality now is that at present we have no funds to prints the Bridger and unless we can come up with other funders who could help us, the future of the newsletter could be in danger.

The cost of the printing for the newsletter is about £900.00 per year, so, if anyone has any ideas how this money can be raised then please contact Terry Daly on 07412 521040 ASAP.

St Michaels School.

The Bingo evening that was held in the School on November 30^th was a resounding success, 104 people attended and the doors had to be closed to other s for security and safety reasons.

The amount raised  for the School was a fantastic  £551.00.

Congratulations to everyone who helped in the organisation of the event and on the night in the various jobs that had to be done, also  a massive THANKYOU to everyone who supported the evening  by attending. 

Trees.

Natalie Haynes informed the meeting that there was an opportunity to have some trees of various types donated to the village, if we can find somewhere to put them, several ideas were put forward so, Natalie offered to bring the catalogue of what is on offer to our next meeting, we have time to make our minds up about the trees and locations for the trees, the order will not be placed until the end of March.

Pretoria Pit Disaster.

A Memorial Garden has been created to commemorate the loss of 344 men and boys in the 1910 disaster, the garden is near to the end of Broadway, Newbrook Road, Atherton and has been built very close to the site of the disaster.

The garden was officially opened on the anniversary of the disaster,  December 21^st  and a service of Dedication and Remembrance was held on the site, within the service was a very moving poem describing the story of the day of the disaster, this was written and read by Andrea Finney.  The service was attended by the Mayors of Wigan & Bolton and also by the two Members of Parliament for the two Bolton constituencies that bordered the site, several elected Councillors also attended, music was provided by the Parsonage Colliery Band and representatives of the National Union of Mineworkers were represented.

The garden was the idea of Tony Hogan and he has done almost all the work and raised all funding on his own, a fantastic achievement that should be recognised throughout the whole of the Wigan & Bolton areas.

The Bridgers were contacted by Tony to ask if we could help, we did this by donating, in conjunction with Moss Bank Nurseries, two  half barrels that we planted up, these were placed in the garden.

Home Safety.

This is the time of year when Burglars enjoy rich pickings, they know that there will be many expensive presents left lying about just waiting to be stolen. Make sure that Valuable items are secure and safely locked away, DON`T leave doors or Windows open, DON`T leave children’s toys in the garden or on the street, they are easy targets.  

We Wish Everyone a Happy, Safe, prosperous  & Peaceful  2013