Registered Charity No:
1121646
NEWSLETTER – 19 OCTOBER 2019
Hi everyone
Autumn is now upon us and summer has passed us by; the year
has passed so quickly and who knows what the winter will bring us. The canal has already been over the top and
everywhere seems very wet at present so we can only hope it won’t get any
worse.
I hope everyone has had a good summer and enjoyable
holidays. We haven’t been anywhere since
March so are ready for a Christmas and New Year break, which we are sharing
with our daughter and her family.
DON GORGE CALENDAR
2020
Just to confirm that the calendar is
now available for collection from me and that there are only a very few copies
left if anyone want one. I would be
grateful if collection could be made asap or, alternatively, let me know if you
can’t collect so that I can arrange delivery.
Many thanks.
COMMITTEE
More committee members would be very
welcome as we are still operating without the necessary officers, ie chair and
treasurer, so please give it some thought
The committee has met three times since July and a review
shows that we have been involved in the following activities.
CO-OP STAFF DAY
We hosted a good number of managers from the Co-op in July who
did a great job bashing Balsam in the fish pass field, but we need to keep up
our efforts if we are to win this battle.
NOTICEBOARD
You may have noticed that this was missing for a while, but
I can now report that it is back in place near the landing stage, having been
restored magnificently by Ken Green with a little help from one or two other of
our volunteer team.
SCARECROW FESTIVAL
We created a scarecrow for the village festival at the
beginning of September, which received lots of favourable comments, and
provided a bit of fun.
STEPS & FOOTPATH
TO VILLAGE FROM NURSERY LANE
We are still pursuing the registration of this with
Doncaster Ramblers and are looking for witness statements from anyone who has
used it in the past or still does. The
further back we can go the better of course.
I have certainly been aware of the steps for most of my life and walked
it years ago, though I must admit it hasn’t been a regular occurrence. Apparently an application was started by
someone on 19 November 2009, but not followed through.
If you have ever used this footpath,
all you need to do is write a statement saying how long you have known it was
there and that you have used it. This statement should include your name,
address and signature. It should then be
sent to me.
CONSERVATION
VOLUNTEERS
This group continues to meet on alternate Tuesdays and
Thursdays throughout the year. Numbers
have varied throughout the summer due to holidays and family commitments, but
we hope they will return to normal now that autumn is upon us.
Doncaster in Bloom:
The presentation evening for this competition was held on 16 October and we
were thrilled to hear that we had received Silver Gilt
Standard for the historic wall which is being renovated by our
volunteers near the fish pass. You will
remember we received a grant from Tesco Bags of Help towards this. It is now almost complete and we are thinking
about landscaping and how to finish it off with a picnic table, etc. Free trees are being offered by the Woodland
Trust and we are hoping we might be successful in obtaining some to use as part
of this project.
Another brushcutter has been donated to our group by a
Friend, for which we are very grateful.
Litter-pick
Following the recent heavy rains,
lots of rubbish has again come down the river.
Anyone able to take part in clearing some of this would be welcome to
join the volunteers on the following scheduled workdays:
Tuesday 22 and Thursday 31
October. Meet at either the lock house
or the fish pass from 10 am onwards.
PROPOSED CAR PARK,
NURSERY LANE
Further to my last report about this, we have found a
possible way to reduce legal fees and are continuing to investigate.
I have had no response following my
last Newsletter, but it would be interesting to know if Friends are for or
against it, so I’d be grateful if you could let me know.
CO-OP COMMUNITY
FUND
Following information reported to
you in my last Newsletter, I have just heard this week that we have been chosen
as one of the beneficiaries of this fund, which is excellent news. 1% of purchases
by members are returned to the community and so far £72,835 has been received
by causes in our area. Purchases can cover food, insurance, funeral costs
and legal services. If you would like to consider becoming a member, it
costs just £1 and is very easy to do online.
Stores
within a 5 mile radius of Doncaster can be found at Mexborough, Becket Road,
Doncaster, Woodlands, Bessacarr and Goodison Boulevard. I realise the shops are not on our doorsteps,
but online facilities are available. I
will report further when I have received more information
I hope you
will support this project in any way you can, eg by becoming a member of the
Co-op and telling friends and neighbours about it, as it could
provide much-needed funds for us.
SPROTBROUGH ORAL
HISTORY GROUP (SOH)
We continue to have enjoyable and fruitful meetings of this
group on the last Friday of each month at either Sprotbrough St Mary’s Church
Hall or The Stables on Main Street.
Please do come and join us if you have any information from
the period 1925-1965 that you think might be useful
HEALTHWATCH
You may remember that one of the grants we received for the
SOH group was from Healthwatch and I was invited to go to a meeting this week
regarding the utilisation and implementation of technology in patient
care. The gist of the information
received was that a patient’s record was accessible by all medical staff
involved in their care so that the best treatment could be provided. Mobile
phones are being used by all staff to do this and therefore will be apparent on
the wards by patients and family members visiting them. So, if you visit and think staff are wasting
time checking their emails or playing games, they are probably just checking a
patient’s programme of care!! They were
keen to get this message out to the community, hence my including it here.
Liz Reeve, Secretary
Tel: 01302 313030
Sprotbrough
Oral History
Project
Manager
Email: soh.lizreeve@gmail.com
