Newsletter April 2015

Irthington Parish Council
Clerk: Ms Allison Riddell, Unit 2, The Old Brewery, Craw Hall, Brampton CA8 1TR
Tel: 016977 3382 email - irthingtonpc@gmail.com
Parish Web-site: http://irthington-online.org.uk
Chairman: Mrs Margaret Ogden, Glendue, Newtown, Irthington, Carlisle, CA6 4PF
016977 3350
Vice Chairman: Mr Ian Gibson, Merbeck, Irthington, Carlisle, CA6 4NJ
016977 3919
Parish Councillors:
Dr Christopher Adams, 1 Woodhouses, Hethersgill, Carlisle, CA6 6HA
01228 675282
Mr George Beck, Orchard House, Newtown, Irthington, Carlisle, CA6 4NX
016977 42637
Mr Trevor Field, 6 Irthing Court, Irthington, Carlisle, CA6 4NR
07793 420413
Mr Keith Meller, 7 Irthing Court, Irthington, Carlisle, CA6 4NR
016974 51983
Mr Rod Peart, Woodside, Newby East, Carlisle, CA4 8RA
07902742658
Mr Dale Ransley, Oakfield House, Irthington, Carlisle, CA6 4NJ
016977 2696
Mr Mike Ridley, Ashlea, Newby East, Carlisle, CA4 8QX
01228 573391
Mrs Ashley Vass, Red House, Laversdale, Carlisle, CA6 4PJ
01228 573149
City Councillors
Councillor Mrs Marilyn Bowman, Ferndale, Corby Hill, Carlisle
01228 561185
Councillor Mr James R Bainbridge, 3 Granville Road, Carlisle
01228 402980
County Councillor
Councillor Mr John Mallinson, 2 Wordsworth Court, Carlisle CA3 9DA
01228 533746
Neighbourhood Policing Team - Non-emergencies
101
Web-site: www.cumbria.police.uk
Any opinions expressed in the Newsletter below are those of the author and are not necessarily shared by
individual members of the Parish Council.
Chairman’s Newsletter April 2015
This month’s parish council meeting was preceded by the annual parish meeting. This as usual was a fairly
brief affair, the main item of business was the Chairman’s annual report for the year 2014-15, which is
reproduced overleaf, including an unaudited brief summary of our accounts a full version is available from
Allison our clerk.
BBC music event.
Elections?
Our next meeting will be our annual Parish Council meeting at which we are required to elect a chairman
and vice chairman for the coming year; this will be on Wednesday May 2015 at 7:30pm in Newtown Village
Hall.
will be available together with one of our city councillors Marilyn Bowman or James Bainbridge from
7:00pm to receive any representations from the public on a “surgery” basis. Otherwise, the usual 15 minute
slot in the agenda will be made available to receive representations to the council as a whole. We look
forward to seeing you then.
Chairman’s Report 2014-2015
The new council year started in May with the re-election of me as Chairman and Ian Gibson as vice chairman at the
Annual Meeting of the Parish Council, we would like to thank our fellow Parish Councillors for their continued faith in our
abilities to serve the Parish. Christine Davidson resigned as a councillor and we thank her for her efforts during her time
as a councillor, as a replacement we co-opted Ashley Vass.
After several years of planning and fund raising efforts the long awaited play area on Newtown Green was completed.
The project all started with Heidi Wright’s dream about 3 years ago, and with support of the Parish Council she finally
made it a reality through a tremendous amount of dedication and hard work. There are numerous other people who
have also made this possible who deserve our grateful thanks. Fund raising was probably the biggest challenge but this
was finally achieved thanks to grants and donations from various organisations, businesses and our city and county
councillors. The final push on fund raising was achieved in November with the race for the playground event which was
a great success. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the whole project in some way it just goes to
show what a tremendous community spirit we have. It has been a long process but worth the effort and at last we have
a play area that children and families from the Parish can enjoy for many years to come.
Once again the residents of Newtown are to be congratulated for their efforts in this year’s Cumbria in Bloom
competition. They were winners of the best hamlet category and received a Silver Gilt award. Also in the summer we
were treated to a wonderful display of very imaginative scarecrows, and the second countryside games event proved to
be entertaining whilst also raising funds for charity.
Throughout the year Ian Gibson and the staff at Irthington School have taken part in various events to mark the 100
year anniversary of the start of World War One, a trip to Belgium and France being the highlight. They walked in the
preserved trenches and tunnels, visited two of the memorials where two of the Irthington nine are commemorated and
visited the grave of another in Artillery Wood cemetery. They then laid a wreath at the Menin gate Ypres in front of
several thousand people. They were invited to take part in a project organised by a charity in Ypres to make 600,000
small figures to represent those killed in Belgium during World War One, as they were the first school to participate it
was quite an honour. Also during the year Ian organised the restoration of the war memorial in the churchyard and
helped the children make ceramic poppies. Ian should be thanked for sharing his passion for history with the children
something that will leave lasting memories of this historic world event.
We were informed that we were to lose our commercial bus service so Keith Meller set about working with other local
parishes to set up a replacement bus service for our Parish and the surrounding areas. The ongoing plan is to provide a
twice weekly service to either Brampton or Carlisle the scheme will be run purely by volunteers. Passengers will be able
to use their existing bus passes, and Cumbria County Council will reimburse the fares. A lot of effort has been put into
getting the scheme up and running and Keith should be thanked for his efforts so far.
Anyone passing through Irthington may have noticed the newly installed bench, this was generously donated by The
Hetherington family in memory of Jack and May Hetherington who lived in the village and where involved with the Parish
as a whole for many years. Laversdale also had a new bus shelter constructed thanks to funding from our County and
City Councillors.
Since the demise of the Hadrian’s Wall Trust we have been working with other Parishes during the year trying to resolve
the common issues regarding the Hadrian’s Wall Trail. Concerns have been raised about some of the gates and stiles,
excessive wear on the path and the lack of toilet facilities. We are also working to get more information regarding our
area on the website; hopefully by working together we will have a stronger voice.
This would not be an annual summary without mentioning Carlisle Airport, permission was finally granted to develop the
site after many years of planning and legal wrangles, something that has divided opinion in the Parish and will continue
to do so. It is time now for the Parish Council to build and maintain a good working relationship with the Stobart Group
in the interests of the Parish for years to come.
Finally I would like to say that once again the past year has continued to be both a privilege and a challenge I have now
served as chairman for 3 years and due to additional working commitments it is time for a new chairman to take the
Parish Council forwards. I would like to pay tribute to the help and advice I have received from our clerk, Allison Riddell
without her support and guidance, much of it behind the scenes, the role of Chairman would have been much more
difficult. Also I would like thank Ian Gibson for his support as vice chairman, our County Councillor John Mallinson and
City Councillors Marilyn Bowman and James Bainbridge, and I commend the hard work of all my fellow councillors on
behalf of the parishioners.