Gedling Eye continues its look back at the highs and many lows of 2020 across the borough, with April through to June covered below…
You can read January to March HERE
APRIL
Heartfelt tributes were been paid to a long-serving former Gedling councillor who died in April. Gordon Tunnicliffe served as the Mayor of Gedling between 2003-04 and is so far the only Liberal Democrat to serve in office. Mr Tunnicliffe was made Honorary Alderman on Gedling Borough Council in 2014 in recognition for his distinguished service to the people of the borough. Gedling Borough Council leaders John Clarke and Michael Payne were quick to pay tribute to Mr Tunnicliffe. In a statement they said: “Gordon’s trademark grace and generosity, along with his glowing smile and impeccable courtesy will be greatly missed by all those who had the pleasure to know him, work with him and call him a friend.”
Gedling Borough Council suspended all car parking charges as part of its ongoing strategy to maintain critical services and reduce the risk of Coronavirus spreading. The council announced that car parks near play areas and parks would now be closed except to Blue Badge holders.
A kind-hearted farmer from Papplewick donated 20 bags of potatoes to help feed those in need during the coronavirus crisis. Alex Marshall, who operates a farm in the Papplewick area, put together the 12.5kg bags, which were picked up by the Nottinghamshire Police’s Gedling Neighbourhood Support Unit for distribution. The bags were delivered to a care home in Gedling and also a number of foodbanks.
The generous people of Gedling borough dug deep to support a fundraiser set up to help feed people across the area during the coronavirus crisis. A target of £20,000 was set for the Giving for Gedling appeal – and this was reached in just 48 hours. All donations were given directly to registered food banks or to used by Gedling Borough Council to purchase food and essential items for distribution to those food banks or directly to residents in need.
Police in Gedling stepped up patrols at a number of locations across the borough following reports of people defying social distancing rules. Reports flooded in about hotspots where the rules were being flouted. Local police teams said they were committed to targeting these areas and encouraged local people to continue reporting those that are breaking the rules.
MAY
A community rallied round to fund a replacement for a memorial statue stolen from a pensioner’s garden in Burton Joyce. The statue of a stag, which was bolted into a cement platform, was stolen from the garden of resident Dorothy Pinkett and was part of a memorial to her late husband. Local resident Tony Bryan decided to set up a crowdfunding page and fund a replacement and villagers quickly chipped in, raising over £900 for a replacement statue in just eight hours. They also fitted CCTV at the pensioner’s home to help prevent further thefts in the future.
Gedling Borough Council restarted their glass and large bulky waste collections. Around 250 customers were contacted by the council to advise them when their collection will take place. On the first two days of restarted glass collections, over 56 tonnes of glass, double the normal amount, were collected by the council’s waste crews. The council had to double up its glass collection crews to ensure all of the extra amounts were collected.
Friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man today swung in to lift children’s spirits during lockdown in Gedling. The popular Marvel was spotted around the streets of the village, much to the delight of youngsters in the area.The webslinger’s visit was organised by TB Sport, which carries out sports coaching and activity camps in the area. The firm’s founder Tom Bingley told Gedling Eye: “It’s great to see the reactions from the children and adults. Most children who are still coming to school are in Avengers and Spiderman clothing so I feel it reaches out to a lot of people and has been great fun for all.”
The leader of Nottinghamshire County Council said ‘the time was right’ to revisit ‘plans for a Super Council that would look at scrapping Gedling Borough Council. “With councils under significant financial pressure exacerbated by the coronavirus response, it was right to look now at how to run services more efficiently in the future,” Conservative council leader Kay Cutts said. But critics argued the timing of the announcement was ‘massively insensitive’ and that local government reorganisation should ‘absolutely not be a priority’ during the current pandemic.
Police stepped up patrols after reports of anti-social behaviour at Newstead Abbey. Staff at the tourist hotspot reported receiving verbal abuse and encountering aggressive behaviour from members of the public who refused to pay to enter the grounds since lockdown restrictions were relaxed. Beer bottles and litter were left all over the grounds by those paying a visit to the park to soak up the sun.
Two Gedling photographers captured unique images of life in lockdown across the borough. Saul Morgan and Sue Simons, who run Trent House Studios in Gedling village, were inspired to let their work tell stories during lockdown by taking pictures of people on their doorsteps. They journeyed around Gedling, Carlton, Arnold and Mapperley to get the pictures, obeying social distancing rules at all times.
JUNE
A satirical cut-out mocking Dominic Cummings for breaching lockdown rules appeared in Redhill. The cutout appeared at traffic lights on Mansfield Road at the junction with Redhill Road. It featured a sign reading ‘Back to School’ in reference to pupils being asked to return to schools across the borough by the government.
Funding was secured for a new park and ride facility which will help tackle congestion through Arnold and Redhill. The new scheme is one of 50 to receive funding and will introduce a new park and ride at the Redhill Roundabout – where the A60 meets the A614. New bus lanes will also be created along the route into the city to help improve journey times and tackle congestion. The cash for the £6m scheme came from the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund, which aims to improve productivity and spread prosperity by investing in public and sustainable transport in some of the largest English cities.
A water mains was damaged by a HGV in Gedling and left 7,000 homes without water. They were cut off when a lorry struck a pipe close to the Gedling Access Road site near Burton Joyce. Engineers for Severn Trent Water worked around the clock to restore water to homes.
Gedling Borough Council carried out a review of all street names in the borough to ascertain whether there were any links to the slave trade. The council said they would ‘absolutely not’ be throwing away any of the street name signs, but would consider putting up education boards to inform people, or moving them into museums. They said names of streets would not be changed unless people who lived there wanted them to be. The decision was taken after the statue of 18th slave trader and Tory MP Edward Colston was dragged into Bristol harbour.
A plucky pensioner walked around a village square for 72 hours non-stop to raise money for the NHS. Ian West, 65, who lives in Bestwood Village, only rested during five-minute breaks he took every four hours. During the walk, residents in Bestwood Village lined the streets to cheer him on. They also brought him drinks and shared words of encouragement to spur him on. Ian said he was very grateful for all their support. He said: “The community spirit has been unbelievable. It’s been a wonderful experience. People have been out bringing me drinks, like coffee, and that’s wonderful. “It’s unbelievable what people do and to come together as a village like this is wonderful” He was videoed by resident Des Gibbons a few hours after starting the challenge and said he ‘was in good spirits’.
In your review April – July I was amused by the blaming of an HGV for damaging an underground water main in Burton Road I didn’t know they operated subterranean but it’s a great idea for getting them off the roads. I turned up at the site just after it happened, on a run. I noticed the fenced path through the site was under water, there was a large digger very near a gash In the water main with its bucket facing the hole. I asked a workman what had happened and he told me the main wasn’t where it should have been ( on the plans I believe). The area was in a fenced off site area and the trench was far too wide for a HGV to drive over (unless of course it had emerged from underground). You don’t name your source of information which is journalism’s right but is there no one on Gedling Eye with the nous to question the source as to accuracy of the information you have been given? I suspect you have been used as a vehicle to deflect blame to a phantom third party. Happy reporting in 2021 but try to retain some credibility In so doing.