Todwick Parish Plan Newsletter
No. 2, 22 February 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
The first Newsletter listed a number of Bulletins on the various items to give you progress.
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/index.html
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. 2 Newsletter gives you the latest progress on the many 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.
BULLETIN 2a – The “Hairdressers” Shop
In the last Bulletin you will recall we reported that a series of letters had been sent to the landlord, the latest of which included photographic evidence of the poor condition of the shop and its forecourt and asking that the landlord take urgent remedial action. Regrettably, no reply whatsoever has been received.
As a result the Parish Council Clerk was instructed to seek guidance/support from RMBC’s Environment & Development Services Department who, in turn, has now written to the landlord giving notice of the Council’s concern in relation to the condition of the property and giving a list of requirements to be undertaken by the landlord to bring the property back to an acceptable standard. If no action is taken by the landlord within a given period of time as stipulated by RMBC this then gives RMBC the option to take formal action to enforce this.
We will keep you informed of developments.
BULLETIN 3a – Energy Saving products and schemes
As indicated in the last Newsletter, two presentations took place on the 27 October and on the 4 November 2011 although these were not well attended.
No further talks are planned.
BULLETIN 4a – Telephone Box Book Swop
Thank you to those people who have donated books to the telephone box book swop. The books have been put into sections to make it easier for people to find the type of book they are wanting, and it would be helpful if when depositing books at the telephone box they could be put in the correct section. It is also easier if novels are kept in alphabetical order by author.
The Telephone Box is open 24 hours a day seven days a week and is lit at night. A regular check is kept on the box to make sure that stocks are kept fresh and interesting. A Notice Board is in the box for useful local information. Please use this if you have an event or anything you wish to publicise.
TPC hope that Todwick residents will consider the Telephone Box a useful village facility and will use it regularly but request that users be mindful that the box is situated directly outside the homes of some residents and to respect their peace and privacy.
I am keeping my eye on the telephone box to make sure that there is a regular turnover of books and any books taken out will be donated to a charity shop. Thank you for using the book swop – Happy Reading.
Councillor Eileen Northall Tel: 01909 770050
BULLETIN 5a – Mobile Library
As many of you will be aware, Rotherham MBC have to make considerable savings to meet the Government’s reduced financial budgets over the coming years. As such, there are services currently provided which may be in jeopardy of being reduced/rescinded if not used.
With that in mind we want to take the opportunity to remind you of a service which Todwick currently has – the Mobile Library Service – which may become vulnerable in the future if it is not fully utilised.
Below are details of the dates, village locations and times that the Mobile Library is available to Todwickians on every alternate Wednesday afternoon – for convenience the future dates (up to the next Informer – due end of May 2012 ) are:
- 29 February 2012
- 14 March 2012
- 28 March 2012
- 11 April 2012
- 25 April 2012
- 9 May 2012
- 23 May 2012
Locations:
- The Meadows (between Mill Hills and Mill Fields): 3.45 pm - 4.05 pm
- Rayls Road: 4.10 pm - 4.30 pm
- The Pastures Shopping Centre: 4.35 pm - 4.55 pm
- Hardwick Farm: 5.00 pm - 5.30 pm
Please help us retain this valuable service by making use of it every time it comes into the village.
NEW items:
BULLETIN 6 – Environment Group
In the questionnaire completed last year, interest was expressed in the formation of a group to look into aspects impacting upon the immediate environs in which we all reside. Anyone who would like to take part, or simply find out more is asked to contact David Gregory on 771307, or by Email on DG54@sky.com
It is hoped to arrange a brief meeting early in March 2012.
BULLETIN 7 – RMBC snow clearance procedure
New procedures have been put in place to improve on the poor service provided by RMBC in the winter of 2010/2011.
If a “White out” situation is forecasted, 4 duty managers will meet together and formulate a plan. There are now dedicated relief teams made available to them, made up from people who would not be able to work during a “White Out” situation, e.g. street cleaners, litter pickers etc. Also our local farmer B & J Farms is on board with the new procedures and will be available to go to areas where requested, e.g. doctors’ surgeries or other urgent requests that have been made. Such urgent requests can be made via the Streetpride phone number 01709 336003 or by going on the RMBC web site www.rotherham.gov.uk/info/200089/street_care_and_cleaning, where there will be information on who to contact.
BULLETIN 8 – Lack of Shopping Facilities
As part of the Parish Plan consultation questionnaire, many villagers complained about the lack of facilities to purchase goods, particularly bakery and fresh produce items. As such the Parish Council has sent letters to five major retailers asking them to consider Todwick as a location for providing additional shopping facilities in the village, specifically a supermarket “Express type” store.
To date, four out of the five retailers have acknowledged receipt of the correspondence with responses as follows:
- Sainsburys said that as Todwick is “below their minimum 3,500 population within 1 km figure” they are unable to proceed with our request
- Co-op has passed the detail to their Property Acquisition Manager to consider
- Tesco has asked that we re-send our original letter to another address within their company for consideration (which we have done)
- Morrisons said that they are only currently trialling Express stores but they will keep our letter for further consideration depending on the evaluation of that trial.
We will keep you informed of developments as any further communication is received.
BULLETIN 9 – The Village Signs
Most people who live in Todwick know that the village is very old and is listed in the Doomsday Book of 1086. A few weeks ago, the identity of our village was given another mark in history when the magnificent new signs were erected at the 3 entrances to the village.
The design for the coats of arms collage can be credited to Richard Rattenbury and his colleagues in our Historical Society who extensively researched the emblems of Todwick’s eminent families of days gone by – some of whom are remembered in the names of our roads (de Furnival, Osborne, de Wastneys etc).
The village signs are a tribute to a village proud of its history and will help to retain its distinctive identity for many years to come.
Many Thanks to all involved in getting the new signs erected in Todwick.
The picture below shows Richard and his Historical Society colleagues at the Kiveton Road sign.
Left to right: Philip Robins (Society Chairman), Tony Rusling, Richard Rattenbury and David Warburton
Todwick Shield Explanation
When asked to look into the design of a shield or emblem for the village I looked at what might be a common theme for the village, nothing at first sprang to mind, then I thought of things like the Trysting tree, the church or even the Red Lion Hotel. Then I thought the tree had been missing for some years (the original that is), the church but then everywhere has a church and the Red Lion is not what it used to be. I then thought to myself there is a lot of history within the village, it is mentioned in the Doomsday Book it has had quite a number of historic landowners so I decided to research their heraldry to see if a unique emblem could be made from theirs.
Below you can see the finished product, the top left hand quadrant depicts the red stripe and Marlet (a type of heraldic Bird) from the De Furnival family who held the manoral rights to the village in the mid 1200s. The top right quadrant has been made using the yellow cross with blue quadrants of the Osborne family and the black ermines of the Osborne and De Mortain family, Sir Edward Wasteneys, sold Todwick to Thomas Osborne, the first Duke of Leeds, in 1677 and the Count of Mortain, half brother of William the Conqueror was given the village in 1086. The lower left quadrant has been made of the De Wasteneys family, the Rampant Lion of the Wasteneys family was predominantly a burnt orange colour but I have coloured it red to include the Red Lion Hotel. By 1303 Sir Edmund Wasteneys was holding Todwick from Thomas Furnival. The Wasteneys family continued to live in the village into the 20th century. The lower right quadrant I placed the shield of St Peter & St Paul to honour the village church. In 1379 the village society was headed by William de Saint Paul who took his name from that of the church. The Coat of Arms has been produced by:
Richard Rattenbury
Todwick Historical Society
July 2009
See also www.todwick.org.uk/history.html and for further information also contact Liz Wainwright, Secretary of Todwick Historical Society. Tel: 01909 772972.