A leading children’s charity has issued advice to parents in the borough with children worried about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Fresh advice on how to talk to children about the conflict has been issued by Childline.
Shirin Khan, is NSPCC’s service head for Nottingham Childline.
She said: “In recent weeks, children and young people have been bombarded with constant coverage about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine be it online, on social media, TV, radio and in newspapers. All of which have brought the subject of war to the forefront of many children’s minds for the first time in their lives.
“We’ve spoken to a number of young people recently who have told us they’re worried that the Russian invasion of Ukraine could escalate into “World War Three”, who were concerned about attacks on British countries, and the use of “nuclear weapons”.
“Childline is always here to support young people, but here are a few ideas to help your child if they’re worried about the conflict.”
Reassure them it’s normal to feel scared, confused, or stressed that there is no control over international events.
It’s good to get the facts from trusted sources – Newsround and First News are great outlets for children, and far more objective and trustworthy than ‘doomscrolling’ through social media.
Remind them to take a break from the news or social media and do something relaxing or positive to get away from breaking news and notifications.
Most importantly, let them know they can always speak to you or a trusted adult about their concerns. If they’re not ready or comfortable doing that, they can share their feelings safely and anonymously with their peers on the moderated Childline message boards.
Counsellors are also available to offer help and support around the clock on 0800 1111, and online at www.childline.org.uk
Gedling police teams have announced that two additional police constables and two more community support officers will be on patrol in the Arnold area later this month.
They say this is to provide ‘an increased visible presence’.
The additional officers will bolster the neighbourhood policing team’s ranks and its ongoing proactive work with partners to reduce crime in the area.
The new officers were announced by new neighbourhood policing inspector for the Gedling borough, Chris Jury, who has quickly set his sights on continuing to crack down on drug supply, antisocial behaviour and shop theft as current policing priorities.
Inspector Jury said: “I’m excited by the challenges ahead on the area.
“I have served on and supervised some excellent teams and worked with some fantastic people both inside and outside Nottinghamshire Police over the past 22 years and look forward to continuing that in my new role.
“It’s a demanding role but I’m not afraid of hard work and I am looking forward to working closely with councillors and local residents to make Gedling an even better place to live, work and spend time.
“I’d like to reassure residents that the police and our partners are all working collectively and pushing in the same direction to reduce crime and address issues reported to us.
“It’s one big team effort and we are constantly looking at what we can do to prevent crime and protect the public. There’s a lot of proactive work going on in the background as part of a long-term strategy to take positive action to tackle issues causing a real blight on our communities.
He added: “To help us reduce crime we need people to report issues to us so we can then investigate, build a clear picture of what’s happening and where and then determine where we need to target our resources to help people and prevent further incidents from occurring.
”Anyone who sees any suspicious activity in their area is advised to report it immediately by calling Nottinghamshire Police on 101 or contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
“If an incident is in progress call 999.Young people can also pass on information about crime completely anonymously, using a secure online form, through the youth service Fearless – which is a part of Crimestoppers.
“The Fearless website offers young people non-judgemental advice so they can make informed decisions about reporting crime. The service also engages with and educates young people about the consequences of their choices around crime.
Supermarkets Morrison’s and Co-op have announced they will be pulling Russian-made vodkas from their shelves in Gedling borough as an act of solidarity with the people of Ukraine, following the country’s invasion.
This means that both Morrison’s and Co-op have delisted Russian Standard vodka and will no longer be selling the brand for the foreseeable future.
Other vodkas not made in Russia, such as Swedish Absolut, Latvian Stoli (formerly made in the Soviet Union but no longer tied to Russia), and British-owned Smirnoff, are not affected by the decision.
PICTURED: Morrisons in Netherfield (PHOTO: Neil Slack Photography)
Wetherspoons also joined in this week, making the announcement that it would no longer sell Russian beer ‘in light of the current situation’.
Wetherspoons has since removed Russian lager Baltika from all 870 of its UK pubs, sending any stock they had previously ordered back to the distributor.
The Willowbrook pub in Gedling also announced this week that Russian vodka would no longer be for sale at the venue.
A spokesperson for the Co-op said: “In response to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces and as a sign of solidarity with the people of Ukraine we’ve taken the decision to remove from sale Russian-made vodka.”
They added that the decision was taken due to the fact that the brand was “overtly marketed as being Russian” and is produced in the country.
A spokesperson for Morrison’s said: “We have taken action on our vodka lines including de-listing Russian Standard. The product is longer available on our website and no further stock will be bought.”
Scouts across Gedling have quickly responded to an urgent call to help support Ukrainian citizens displaced by the Russian invasion.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees were forced to flee Ukraine following the invasion by Russian, which began last week.
Many have now made their way into neighbouring Poland, which has opened its doors to them.
As a result, a Polish International Scout Group based on the border of Gedling, put out an appeal to their fellow Scouts to provide emergency relief supplies which they would distribute to the refugees where they are needed.
Beavers, Cubs and Scouts from across the Central Notts District, which comprises a majority of Gedling and part of Newark / Sherwood, have delivered several car loads of supplies in response to this call for assistance.
The aid – which includes medicine, dried food, bedding, nappies, hygiene products and clean underwear – was delivered to the HQ of the 45th Nottingham Scout Group on Edwards Lane, Bestwood. There, dozens of volunteers from the Polish Scouting community sorted and packed it all into boxes to be loaded for the journey and rapid distribution at the other end.
There was a second collection point in Nottingham City at Sneinton Library.
Both locations were piled high with donations, demonstrating the incredible sense of feeling around the current refugee crisis. All have now departing Nottingham for Poland, with a second run due to take place next week.
Tom Andrews, group Scout leader of the 1st Daybrook and Woodthorpe Scout Group said: “When we heard of the appeal by the Polish International Group and shared it with our young people and parents, the response was overwhelming.
“Scouting is a worldwide movement taking place in 216 countries worldwide. This is epitomised at the World Scout Jamborees where young people from across the world gather in one country every four years.
“The 2027 event is even due to take place in Poland. We as a group have provided two full cars’ worth of supplies, with the assistance of parents and pupils at the Good Shepherd School; and other groups from across the district have provided similar.
“This just shows the worldwide power of Scouting, and the sympathy to the plight of the millions of Ukrainians suffering as a result of the war.
“The effort put in by the organisers and volunteers of this shipment is absolutely phenomenal and on behalf of the Scout group I’d like to express my sincerest thanks to all those who are working to facilitate this”.
Bird flu is an infectious type of influenza which spreads among birds and can affect humans in very rare cases.
Visitors to the Abbey are now being urged not to interact with wild birds after a confirmed case of avian flu at the site.
A council spokesman said: “Newstead Abbey currently has positive cases of bird flu on site in wild birds.
“Residents and visitors are advised not to feed wild birds and not to touch or pick up any dead or sick birds that they find.
“Dog owners are also advised to keep their pets on a lead and take reasonable precautions to reduce exposure to wild waterfowl to minimise the risk of transferring the virus into bird keeping areas.
If anyone finds dead swans, geese or other dead wild birds, such as gulls or birds of prey, they should report them to the Defra helpline on 03459 33 55 77.”
The deputy leader of Gedling Borough Council was drawn into a heated debate on Council Tax after he was accused of delivering a plan that put ‘a burden’ on taxpayers.
Cllr Michael Payne (Lab) called on councillors on Thursday, March 3, to accept a 2.89 per cent Council Tax increase, which equates to £5 extra for a Band D property – around 42p a month.
He said unprecedented government cuts – which make the authority one of the worst funded in the country – meant Gedling borough was under “incredible pressure”.
But he said an “ambitious programme” was on the table for borough residents as part of its budget, including new CCTV cameras and a brand-new Arnold Market.
Cllr Michael Adams, leader of the opposition Conservative Group, criticised the budget plans put forward by the Labour-run authority.
He said: “We are increasing this council tax by the highest percentage before a referendum is required, in a council which has the 26th highest Council Tax Band D rate out of 303 councils.
“If we are increasing Council Tax again what benefit are the residents of Gedling getting from that? Are they getting anything new or services upgraded?”
He said he found some of the proposals on the table “a little unambitious in its target”.
He added: “The concern I have with this Gedling plan is the money has disappeared and you don’t have the ability to fulfil some of the plan.”
Cllr Payne responded with a series of points and called on Cllr Adams to give up his post as opposition leader.
He said: “How utterly disingenuous and in the gutter almost it is of you to parade around and saying that Gedling Borough Council has the highest Council Tax rate out of all authorities in England and we are 26th.
“What you don’t go on to explain to the hard-working taxpayers that pay their Council Tax through us as a billing authority is only eight per cent of Council Tax comes to Gedling Borough Council and a whopping 75 per cent goes to Nottinghamshire County Council that you are in charge of.”
He said the rest goes to the fire service and police.
He added: “What are residents in this borough getting from the small increase – a brand-new Arnold Market, they are getting investment in Gedling Country Park, additional CCTV cameras and additional investment in street cleaning and leisure centres and a council tax reduction scheme that protects 4,700 families in the borough.
“Just on Arnold Market – how dare you sit there tonight and say that there is a burden on taxpayers – the taxpayers in Gedling would not have to the foot the bill if your government got off its backside and started giving us some money from the Levelling Up funding.”
The budget for 2022/23 was passed by councillors at the meeting. An amendment made by the Liberal Democrats to provide a free bulky waste service for people under 65 with disabilities was denied.
Currently, there is a free bulky waste collection for residents over 65.
Cllr Payne said the local authority would look into the proposal but could not accept it at present as it had not been properly costed.
Some of the proposals for the year 2022/23 include:
-Three CCTV cameras (£65,000) with final locations to be determined as part of ongoing work to reduce crime and disorder.
-Colwick Rectory Play Area Refurbishment (£100,000) – a refurbishment of the play area funded by an external grant.
-St Mary’s Play Area Refurbishment (£100,000) – a scheme to refurbish a play area subject to securing suitable external funding.
-Car park resurfacing (£65,000) – A combination of resurfacing and fencing works to improve the condition of the Hallams Lane car park in Arnold and the Haywood Road South car park in Mapperley.
-Holocaust Memorial and Cherry Tree Memorial and Reflection Circle (£35,000) – a space in Gedling Country Park to allow residents to reflect upon the impact of the Holocaust and provide a Memorial and Reflection Circle to allow residents to remember residents who have lost their lives.
-Flood alleviation works (£60,000) – schemes to address flooding issues in the Bentwell Avenue lagoon and to refurbish Colwick Meadow pumps.
Some of the savings and cuts for the next three years include:
– Plans to review the price and structure of its gym and swimming pool memberships for leisure centres in Arnold, Calverton, Redhill, and Carlton.
– A price review of Bonington Theatre, Arnold, as well as reviewing operations at the Richard Herrod Centre in Carlton. The authority also wants to increase swim school sessions.
– There are also plans for a garden waste service fee increase to generate an extra £24,000 and a review of fees at cemeteries to generate an extra £1,000.
– There are also plans for a vacancy freeze for one year.
In total, the savings will come from income generation and cuts and efficiencies totalling £545,000.
Police have launched an appeal after a 77-year-old man from Burton Joyce sadly died following a road traffic collision.
Police were called to a stretch of the A614, Farnsfield, following a report that two cars had crashed near the junction with Baulker Lane and Longland Lane.
Emergency services were quickly at scene following the incident, just before 3.55pm on Saturday (February 26), and a man and a woman were taken to hospital.
Bill Taylor, 77, passed away in hospital on Monday (February 28) and his wife, Rosemary, continues to receive treatment for her injuries, which are significant but not life threatening.
Sergeant Craig Luckett, from Nottinghamshire Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “It is tragic to the hear the news that Bill lost his life following this incident.
“His family have been informed and they are being supported by specially trained officers at this extremely difficult time. They have also asked for privacy as they come to terms with this terrible loss.
“Our investigation into the circumstances of the collision are continuing and we would ask anyone who witnessed the incident or has dash-cam footage or further information to get in touch on 101,quoting incident 530 of 26 February 2022.”
Midlands Connect (MC) recently launched a consultation on how to improve and accelerate services between Nottingham, Newark and Lincoln in advance of line speed enhancements which are expected to take until 2026 to complete. Track and signalling improvements will cut the end-to-end journey time from 55 to 45 minutes.
Longer term the Government’s Integrated Rail Plan is looking to increase capacity on the route by replacing the flat crossing with the East Coast Main Line at Newark with a flyover. However MC says a doubling of the service from the present one train per hour is more urgently needed.
As it stands, the present slow and in frequent rail services between Nottingham and Lincoln mean that only a small proportion of journeys along this corridor are made by train.
Timetable update
Although many services have just been re-instated, it appears that we do not have a full timetable at Carlton, with six trains on Monday to Saturday still missing.
Services to London St. Pancras have all been put back, and a long running dispute which caused some Sunday trains to be cancelled, has been resolved. That means the 09.36am Sundays from Netherfield to Nottingham is running again.
Also on Sundays (not sure about weekdays) there are direct trains from Nottingham to Matlock.
Now covid restrictions have been lifted in England, passenger numbers should start to increase, and there are other factors which should help, such as the increasing price of fuel for vehicles.
It has been noticed that throughout the country, before Omicron struck, commuting was at 50%, business travel at 30% and leisure travel at 90¾ of pre pandemic levels.
As we have never had a decent peak time service at Carlton or Netherfield, these stations should recover quicker, once we get all our trains back, than many others who rely more on commuters.
Hopefully the May timetable change will see a full service as it was pre-covid.
As from March 1, many fares have increased by up to 3.8%. However an enquiry last week showed the Carlton to Nottingham any time return was £4.80. Off peak return 3.30 and single £3.20.
The routes passengers take
On Nov 15. Mark Hill, another station adopter, and I were waiting at Carlton to meet two passengers off the 09.03 train from Newark which was reported 23 minutes late. About 11 were waiting at the platform, with passengers for Leicester and London, who had booked to change at Long Eaton. Instead they would have to now have to change at Nottingham.
Another person was travelling to Whatstandwell, another to Boston, and as he was visiting the area did not know of the 08.53 from Netherfield. He said he would bear that in mind in future, although that train was suspended in December!
As for the other passengers on the platform, some were more local, including the person who ran up as the train arrived!
One regular passenger said to me that they had gone to Manchester via Stoke-on-Trent with just the one change at Stoke. Could be a bit more expensive, but its an alternative if there are any problems on the Liverpool service from Nottingham.
One lady had just got off a train, having travelled from Bangor, North Wales, with just one change at Crewe.
How it used to be…
After leaving the railway through redundancy in 1993, I spent my time buying and selling railway literature. I still continue this in a small way through the Dawn Book Supply shop on Station Road in Carlton.
Many items now come through a quarterly auction, and I was recently successful in obtaining 50 railway handbills from the 1950s and 60s from the South West and South Wales area.
I was pleasantly surprised to find one headed •NEW DIESEL SERVICE LINCOLN-NOTTINGHAM-DERBY’ commencing April 14th 1958.
On the back of the handbill was a full timetable, which in those days included the branch from Rolleston Junction to Southwell. All trains therefore called at Rolleston, including the Birmingham to Cleethorpes express which only called at Carlton, Rolleston, Newark and Collingham between Nottingham and Lincoln.
An hourly Mon-Sat service was provided with additional steam trains at peak times.
Departures from Carlton to Derby were basically 2 mins past the hour and 1 min. past in the Lincoln direction, so much the same as today, when the full service is restored.
19 trains called at Carlton in the Nottingham direction and 22 in the direction of Lincoln, and all except one of the diesel trains called at all stations. However last trains from Carlton on weekdays were 22.01 to Lincoln and 22.02 to Derby.
On Sundays there were only four trains in each direction, although most other stations only had three.
In 1957 Carlton had 12 trains to Nottingham and 14 to Lincoln so it was an improvement. There were also 9 direct trains from Netherfield to Derby Friargate via Nottingham Victoria.
Train announcements
The Department for Transport is seeking to eliminate repetitive and unnecessary public address system announcements on trains, such as “have your ticket ready when leaving the station”, with other necessary announcements being heard less frequently. Too many announcements and you tend to ignore what is being said, even if one might be of importance to you.
This review will take place during the year, with some announcements being removed in months.
Checking information is important as I found to my cost a few years ago when I travelled to Nottingham on the 08.23 to obtain some timetables and to return on the 08.45 Skegness train to Netherfield. I boarded this train about a couple of minutes before it was due to depart, checking on the screen that it was the correct train.
We set off and the guard came round checking tickets. I showed her my free pass and she asked “Where are you going?” “Netherfield,” I said. “Oh, we’re not doing to Netherfield today, there is a broken rail there and we are diverted via Lincoln with the first stop Sleaford. I came through the train to check”.
It must have happened just before I got on. If I had looked at the details on the screen on the platform it would have shown details of which station the train was calling, and I would have known it was diverted. Familiarity breeds contempt comes to mind.
I eventually got back into Nottingham at 11.30am!
News in brief
FREEBIES: To encourage and support commuters back to rail travel, a new scheme has been launched to offer commuters freebies and offers, including a free Greggs! National Rail host the scheme. Details www.nationalrail.co.uk/commuter —–
NEW CAFE: Talking about food, the Waiting Room restaurant/cafe just across from Carlton station has re opened as Connect@Netherfield
FOOTBRIDGE: Kidsgrove station served by our hourly service from Carlton, now has a new footbridge and lifts so fully accessibl
EASTER SERVICE: There is usually a normal weekday train service on Good Friday and Easter Monday (15th & 18th April this year)
ADOPTERS: The Poacher Line (Nottingham to Skegness) now has around 100 station adopters and many improvements have been carried out at a number of their stations and more are planned.
STATION OPENING: Brent Cross West station on the Midland Main Line is due to open this year. It will be served by Thameslink trains.
Contractor Clegg Construction has now won the contract to create the extension
Phase one of the project, which gets underway this month, will see a new, two-storey building being created on the campus called the South Block. Once completed, this will pave the way for phase two – an internal refurbishment of some of the school’s existing facilities.
Work will then begin on creating 29 new classrooms, a new main assembly hall, kitchen canteen and dining areas, and a catering pod that will be used to serve other areas of the school.
Sam Parker, contracts manager for Nottingham-based Clegg Construction, said the project would help more local children get access to a first-rate education.
A computer generated image of the school expansionA computer generated image of the new dining hall
He said: “We are always excited to work in our home county and we’re particularly pleased to have been appointed to deliver this fantastic and worthwhile project.
“Carlton le Willows Academy is a thriving, successful school providing first class education services to young people in the Gedling area.
“This project will not only extend the learning facilities to the existing student body, it will also enable hundreds more students to benefit from everything the school has to offer.
“Being involved in this project is therefore a real source of pride for us.”
Carlton le Willows Academy headteacher, Craig Weaver, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be able to realise our long-held vision for Carlton le Willows.
“This new building will integrate our split site, providing brand new fit-for-purpose facilities.
“A major part of this project is also to repurpose part of the existing West building to improve the learning environment for students for years to come.”
A derelict property in Arnold has undergone an amazing transformation and is now back on the market.
Members of Gedling Borough Council’s Empty Homes team have worked tirelessly to get the derelict property back into use.
Gedling borough has seen a massive 36% reduction in empty homes in 2021 thanks to the work the council has been doing on properties like this one on Sherwood Road in the town.
BEFORE: The bathroom at the derelict property in Arnold – and resident pigeon (PHOTO: GBC)AFTER: And look it now!! (GBC)BEFORE: Not sure we’d be keen on using these stairsAFTER: Wow. What a differenceBEFORE: You wouldn’t be welcoming many guests into this houseAFTER: Totally transformed!!!BEFORE: Not very pleasant to look at (GBC)AFTER: I can’t believe it’s the same property!!
