Our main concern in 2009/10 is to develop effective working relationships with the new County Durham unitary authority. The change from a two tier system (Durham City and Durham County) to a single authority should in theory make our work easier. There will be no grounds for arguing over who does what, but changes in personnel, together with the reorganisation and relocation of services may cause difficulties. However, we hope that with perseverance and good will, we shall resolve these.
The rest of this section provides information about improvements and projects in the parish.
Parks United
PROGRESS REPORT
Jim Milburn was successful in acquiring the funding we needed for our 'Phase Two' plan. Once more, he managed to obtain a grant from the Award for All Fund amounting to more than £6650 which has been spent on new equipment for the village play park. We now have a superb 'Garden Seesaw' and an exciting item called a 'Rock-it'. Last year, most of our expenditure went on new equipment for the High Shincliffe play park so, it was only fair that this time we concentrated on improving the one in the village.
We did manage to spend a small amount at High Shincliffe to improve the area around the 'Surfer' by laying grass matting which was paid for by the Community Association. The 'Surfer' has been dogged by a few problems and we have had to have it inspected again by the County Council.
Our funds are exhausted yet again! We have decided to wait until we can get some feedback from the community about all the equipment in both parks before we make any more plans. If you would like to let us have your opinion by leaving your comments/suggestions on our Website at: 'www.shincliffe.org.uk' we will be very grateful. Please tells us what you like about the recent additions, what you think is past its 'sell-by' date and perhaps some ideas for new equipment.
Ken Hampton March 2010
If you’ve been in High Shincliffe recreation ground recently you will have noticed that another three pieces of equipment have been installed. The final piece in our current programme will be the replacement of the football posts and the re-alignment of the pitch. The new posts will have proper nets and we will have a set of corner flags etc. for Saturday morning football sessions. With spring around the corner, hopefully everyone will soon be able to take advantage of the new facilities.
The village recreation ground has also seen a couple of improvements: an extra picnic table and a proper basketball area. We hope to be able to do more in our next phase of development to enhance the village recreation ground but, for now, that’s all we can afford to do. It may not seem a lot but those two cost nearly £1300 just to install! Fortunately, the equipment was donated so there was no additional expenditure involved.
In total, we will have invested just over £11,000 on both recreation grounds after the football outlay is complete. That will leave nothing in the bank so our next challenge will be to find new sponsors eager to give us their support. Naturally, under current economic circumstances, that is likely to be a tough job. So far, we have received financial help from many sources. Firstly, there was £2800 transferred from SPARKS specifically earmarked for the recreation grounds. Then there was £2000 donated by the Parish Council and £1000 given by the Community Association. Our City Councillor, John Lightley, allocated a big chunk of his City Council allowances amounting to £2300 and we received nearly £1400 from the former Shincliffe Playgroup. Another £1500 was won by the young football players from the Youth Opportunities Fund to be spent on football facilities.
Parks United are extremely grateful to all our sponsors and for the support we received from the Parish Council, the City Council and Shincliffe Community Association.
Ken Hampton February 2009
Old Mine Site
ECO GROUP
Shincliffe
C.E. Primary School’s Eco group and Year 4 class were invited to the official
opening of the Old Mine Nature Site in High Shincliffe on Tuesday 24th March
2009.This is a small wildlife habitat
which is on our doorstep and is available for the local community, including
our school, to use.
At
the opening, information panels about the nature site were unveiled.Year 4 have been helping to design an
information leaflet for site visitors to use, which includes information about
the plants and animals you may see when you visit the site and how to look
after the area.
In August 2008 the Parish was awarded £3500 from the Big Lottery Fund for projects within the Old Mine site in High Shincliffe. I am pleased to announce that the first stage was completed in March 2009, with the installation of two information panels, one at each end of the site. These panels, depicting the variety of trees, plants and birds were primarily designed by John and Becky Coulson who live in St. Mary's Close, Shincliffe Village. From their initial design, David Carter Interpretation and Design was given the task then to produce the finished panels which measure approximately 800mm x 600mm. Mr Carter was chosen because of the amount of similar work he has carried out in the locality, namely Coxhoe, Kelloe and Quarrington Hill.
Content of the Old Mine Site boards can be viewed in the two files below.
The final part of the funding is now ongoing with Mrs Lowes, head teacher of the primary school, and possible school projects.
Once again the Parish council is arranging the above events.
The Spring competition will be judged in April/May and presentation of vouchers at the June Parish Council Meeting.
The Summer competition judging will take place during August/September and presentation at the November meeting.
On Friday 3rd April Northumbria in Bloom judges will tour Shincliffe village and then onto Sherburn House, and they will be in High Shincliffe on Thursday 16th April. They will be looking, not only at the flower beds and tubs managed by our Parish gardener Marc Platts, but all the parish greens and residents gardens. We are hoping that this year will be as the last two years in respect of trophies.
The other major competition this year is Durham in Bloom, which takes place around August.
Last year in this competition a resident of St.Mary's Close, Malcolm Fodden, surprised everyone when he scooped both the Front and Back garden awards. His winning shields can be seen, along with Parish trophies, in the Poplar Garden Centre.
