Todwick Parish Plan Newsletter
No. 3, 1 September 2012
As you may recall, earlier in 2011 the Todwick Parish Council distributed a questionnaire to every household seeking views/opinions on issues relating to the village. Since that time a huge amount of work has been undertaken in collating all the feedback and preparing a Parish Plan Report and Action Plan. As you know the Parish Plan Report which includes the Action Plan was published in the December 2011 and a copy was put onto the village website www.todwick.org.uk/minutes/plan/todwick_parish_plan_2011.pdf
At the same time as working on the actual Report, Councillors also started to action some of the items on the Action Plan and published the first Todwick Parish Plan Newsletter No. 1 on 14 October 2011 see www.todwick.org.uk/minutes/plan/201110.html and also No. 2, 22 February 2012 www.todwick.org.uk/minutes/plan/201202.html
Below is a list of Bulletins on the various items to give you progress. Any Bulletin Point with a suffix “a” (e.g. 6a) directly relates to the corresponding point listed in previous Newsletters.
The Todwick Parish Plan Action is now a standing item on the Parish Council monthly agenda and minuted accordingly – minutes can be viewed by logging onto the village website www.todwick.org.uk/minutes
In addition, as actions are progressed, Todwick Parish Plan Newsletters are issued and posted through your letterbox so that you are kept up-to-date on the work being undertaken. This No. 3 Newsletter gives you the latest progress on a number of items of concern raised in The Todwick Parish Plan Action.
If you wish to volunteer to become involved with any of the projects being undertaken, please get in touch with any Todwick Parish Councillor – details on the Todwick website www.todwick.org.uk/minutes/members.html – we would be pleased to hear from you.
TPC Parish Plan Items
BULLETIN 6a – Environment Group
Anyone interested in forming/joining a group to take actions about the village environment is requested to contact David Gregory Tel: 771307 or Email dg54@sky.com A number of email addresses initially provided have failed to connect.
BULLETIN 10 – Explore possibility / feasibility of providing / enhancing Holiday Child Care and Play Scheme services
Summer Camp on the Recreation Ground held 23 – 27 July 2012
For the first time in Todwick, RMBC Youth Workers came to the recreation ground to set up their Summer Camp for the youngsters of Todwick. We were blessed with wonderful weather and the children attending enjoyed outdoor activities every day, culminating on Friday afternoon with a very serious water fight! There’s no doubt that all those attending enjoyed a week’s outdoor fun and TPC are hoping to repeat the camp next year for at least one week. These camps are designed for children from 5 years to 14 years and full details will be announced next year in plenty of time to book your child in.
Friday Evenings Playsafe Activities
Sadly the bad weather experienced during June and early July meant that some of the Friday evening Playsafe activities on the Recreation Ground were a wash out, but those that did go ahead were well attended and enjoyed by the kids taking part. Because of the earlier bad weather the scheme will be extended and the Friday evening meetings will now continue to the end of the Summer. This youth activity is aimed at kids aged 11 years to 16 years and starts at approx. 7.15 p.m. till 8.30 p.m.
RMBC Outreach Youth Bus
The Youth Buses which have been off the road for a while for refurbishment are again operating in the area, and one comes into Todwick every other Thursday from about 6.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. The buses are manned by fully qualified staff and are aimed at getting youngsters together for chat and recreation. For the time being the bus will be parked at the entrance to the Recreation Ground.
BULLETIN 11 – Recreation Ground
The Parish Council will, early next year, begin the process of exploring the provision of grant assistance to replace the current changing rooms. An initial plan of the proposal is shown below:
This is by no means the final plan, it is however designed to stimulate discussions, which will lead to the ideal solution.
Part of the planning is to provide a meeting room with kitchen facilities, which would be located at the right hand side of the toilets and changing rooms shown in the diagram above, thus ensuring that we have a community building, not simply a sports one. This will permit a much wider use. Possibly for a youth club or any other pastime. It will also enable use in inclement weather. If we develop the Summer Camp initiative, which was so successful this summer, this will ensure that the weather cannot spoil our plans.
The reason for this particular advice is to try to establish a level of interest from parishioners. You may, for example, wish to start a club of some sort, and need a suitable venue. Perhaps a cycle club, a gardening club, all ideas are welcome. The plan of the building will allow us to separate the sporting needs from the general community needs, however, at this stage we need to be sure that there is a community need. Establishing this will allow us to widen the scope of grant application, the direct impact of this will be that we can achieve our objective much sooner.
We would also invite any ideas as to the plans, we do not know the depth of expertise out there, if you have skills or experience which would benefit the project we would love to hear from you. The principal contact is David Gregory; Email: dg54@sky.com
BULLETIN 12 – Heartstart Scheme
The Parish Council is considering setting up a ‘Heartstart Scheme’ in the village. The Heartstart initiative teaches people what to do in a life-threatening emergency – simple skills that save lives. Further information will be published in the next issue of The Informer & on the Todwick Website.