Pub chain Greene King is offering cash prizes to Gedling borough customers to reward designated drivers this Christmas.
The chain have teamed up with Coca-Cola for their annual Hero the Driver campaign.
The partnership, now in its 12th year, began on Monday (8).
The Starting Gate in Colwick, Ferry Boat Inn in Stoke Bardolph and Plainsman and Tree Tops in Mapperley are taking part in this year’s campaign.
The campaign was originally based on a buy-one-get-one-free offer but has continued to expand year on year.
Designated drivers could now get their hands on exclusive prizes of up to £500 of shopping vouchers, alongside a guaranteed prize of a free bottle of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke or Coca-Cola Zero Sugar.
Other prizes on offer include £100 Red Letter Days vouchers and £25 Greene King gift cards.
Ashleigh Egan, trade marketing controller at Greene King, told Gedling Eye: “Celebrating Christmas at the pub with friends and family is sadly something that many of us did not have the chance to do in 2020, and reuniting at the pub for Christmas this year is going to be incredibly special.
“That’s why we’re investing more than ever in Coca-Cola’s Hero the Driver campaign to champion the designated drivers from each Christmas party and family group who are choosing not to drink alcohol so they can safely drive people home at the end of the night.”
How does the offer work?
A customer will need to buy a bottle, can or glass of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke or Coca-Cola Zero Sugar from a participating Greene King pub
Participating pubs will be decorated with Coca-Cola Hero the Driver POS, which will include a QR code.
Customer scans the QR code and enters their details to enter the competition and then scans the Coca-Cola logo on the bottle, can or glass
Customer receives voucher for their free drink via email and also finds out if they have won a prize
Customer shows the voucher code to the bar team who will serve the free drink
Winners receive their prizes direct from Coca-Cola.
Children at a school in Carlton have joined the efforts of a former pupil to raise money for Children in Need by supporting the ‘The Million Hits’ challenge.
Dan Piper, founder of DCP Drums is a former pupil at Haddon Primary & Nursery School who came up with the idea of ‘The Million Hits’ for Children in Need.
Using the drumming lessons he gives to school children, Dan decided to see if children could raise money through sponsorship, aiming to hit a million drumbeats leading up to Children in Need day on the November 19
Haddon school children managed a whopping 70,479 beats throughout their challenge to add to the week’s total.
Nina Capek is head teacher at Haddon Primary & Nursery School and she said, “Dan is a real inspiration to our Haddoners. He is a former pupil of our school, who encompasses what it means to dream big and aim high, values our pupils share today.
“Having set up DCP drums who provide inspiring, high-energy music and fitness sessions for children, he is now also wanting to make a difference to the wider community and support children in need. Of course, we all jumped at the chance to help him as part of our commitment to raising money to support the annual Children in Need appeal.”
PICTURED: Dan Piper of DCP Drums prepares pupils for their Million Hits Challenge
Eight-year-old Emily Langdown said, “I have enjoyed our drumming session and it is good that we are raising money for Children in Need at the same time. Our class got around 11,000 drumbeats; it was tiring but good fun!” Harlow Rennicks age 8 said, “It is good that we have been having fun and helping others at the same time.”
Dan Piper is the founder of DCP Drums and said, “We took our inspiration from weatherman, Owain Wyn Evans, who spent 24 hours drumming for Children in Need. Since we were already taking drumming lessons into schools, we decided to use our hit-counting pads across all schools we visited across the week to see if we could hit a million drumbeats for charity. We are currently at around 300,000 and are hopeful we will hit our target of a million by Friday.
“Schools are using various ways to raise money, but donations of any amount are very gratefully received, it is such a worthy cause.”
Dan’s colleague Joel Webb said schools had risen to the challenge. “The schools are really on board with the challenge, and we are planning to do this again in future years, bringing more schools on board and perhaps raising the challenge total, but essentially aiming to raise as much as we can for Children in Need.”
A by-election could be soon be called in Carlton, after a Labour councillor announced his decision to resign earlier this week.
Councillor Gary Gregory was an elected member for the Cavendish ward within Gedling Borough before stepping down.
Cavendish covers the area around Cavendish and Coningswath Road and up to Carlton Hill.
Councillor Gregory was elected back in 2019 along with fellow Cavendish councillor Liz Clunie.
Gregory secured 704 votes with Clunie achieving 695, seeing off Conservative candidate George Millar who attracted 314 votes.
A notice announcing the vacancy was posted on Tuesday (November 16).
It reads: In order for the above vacancy to be filled prior to the next scheduled election (May 2023), it will be necessary to convene a by-election.
For this to happen, two local government electors within the Gedling Borough area (not just from the ward) must give written notice requesting a by-election
“If two requests for a by-election are received, the by-election must take place within 35 working days of the date of receipt of the requests.”
Morrisons has opened its first Market Kitchen in Nottingham – serving takeaway breakfast, lunch and dinner from its Netherfield store
The arrival of Market Kitchen means customers can have their breakfast, lunch or evening meal freshly made-to-order by one of the store’s many chefs.
Netherfield is the first Morrisons in Nottinghamshire to introduce the new in-store concept.
The Market Kitchen is made up of eight different food counters: Brew, Char & Smoked, Bird & Baste, Pizza, Milkshake and Waffles, Chef-made meals, Pie and Mighty, Pasta, and Loaded Toasted.
PICTURED: The new Market Kitchen at Morrisons’ store in NetherfieldPICTURED: Leo, centre, who opened the new Market Kitchen today with Community Champion Claire Gatford, left, and store manager Brett Rowland, right
As well as being available in store, many of the items on sale in Market Kitchen can also be ordered via Deliveroo.
The Market Kitchen is open until 9pm six days a week and during Sunday trading hours.
It was officially opened today by six-year-old Leo, who was invited to cut the ribbon while visiting with his family.
Clare Gatford is the Community Champion for Netherfield store.
She said: “The store has had a big revamp and we have had a Market kitchen put into store.
“It is a completely new concept to Morrisons and the only Market Kitchen in the area. It will be a great thing for the community.”
Hannah Munns, Morrisons Head of Market Kitchen said: “The chefs use our fresh Market Street ingredients to create delicious seasonal meals for customers that are made to order. It means that customers can pop in and pick up their next meal while also buying the groceries they need for future meals.
“And, thanks to our partnership with Deliveroo, customers across Nottingham will be able to enjoy their favourite dishes from our menu without leaving their kitchen.”
Gedling Borough Council has today confirmed its plans for Christmas lights switch-on events across the borough and plans for a festive market in Arnold.
Arnold will be hosting a Christmas weekend market from Sunday, November 28 until December 19. The market will be open every Sunday from 10am-2pm and will have festive food, crafts, games and musical entertainment every week during the run up to Christmas. The market is being supported by Gedling Borough Council and organised by Rural Retailer and will take place on Eagle Square.
Arnold Methodist Church will be hosting a craft fair on Friday, December 3 and Saturday, December 4.
There will also be a craft fair and Santa’s grotto at Arnold Library on Saturday, December 4 from 10am – 2pm.
There will also be a Christmas Fayre in Killisick on Saturday, December 4 at the Killisick Children’s Centre from 10am – 2pm.
Christmas light switch-ons have also been confirmed for a number of areas in the borough. The Mayor of Gedling will be attending several events in his role as First Citizen of the borough.
This year, the Arnold Christmas light switch on has moved from Eagle Square to outside the Arnold Methodist Church next to the new Arnold Market Place development.
In Netherfield, children from local primary schools will be performing carols and the Burton Joyce Training Band will be performing a medley of carols in the town centre before Santa arrives on his sleigh.
The following switch ons are confirmed:
Carlton Hill, Sensory Garden – Wednesday, November 24 at 6pm
Netherfield Town Centre – Friday, November 26 at 4.30pm
Calverton, St Wilfred’s Square – Saturday, November 27 between 3pm-4pm
Arnold Town Centre (outside Arnold Methodist Church) – Friday, December 3 from 5.30pm.
As part of plans to get more people to shop locally, the council will be promoting its #Rediscover campaign as part of the Christmas events. Businesses can sign up to promote their business and festive offers by filling out a form that will be included on a new dedicated website to promote businesses.
The Leader of Gedling Borough Council, Councillor John Clarke said: “We’re very pleased to be announcing these series of Christmas events across the borough after having to cancel events last year due to the pandemic.
“We want to get people back onto their local high streets and to enjoy the Christmas festivities.
“The Arnold Christmas Market will be a great opportunity for people to purchase unique gifts for loved ones.
“The Christmas light switch ons are always very special, especially for young children, so we are really delighted that we can bring those back this year.
“Our businesses have taken a real hit over the last 20 months so anything we can do to get people to rediscover their town centres and shop locally will be welcome, I am sure.”
For all the details about the Christmas events and how businesses can sign up to get support visit www.gedling.gov.uk/rediscover
Gedling borough residents are being warned over scam calls being made offering inspections of housing insulation
Nottinghamshire County Council Trading Standards said they have received several reports of residents receiving the unsolicited telephone calls.
The callers are advising that certain types of insulation can cause condensation or damp and are offering to do free inspections at the resident’s property.
The calls have been made using a variety of telephone numbers with an 01202 area code.
A spokesman for Nottinghamshire County Council Trading Standards said: “Our advice is not to answer any personal questions during cold calls and to not contract with anyone that cold calls you.
“Please let your service provider know if you are receiving unwanted telephone calls as they may be able to assist you in reducing them, or report to the Citizen’s Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133.”
Labour and Conservative councillors on Gedling Borough Council clashed last night over a motion which calls on local MPs and the Government to secure urgent funding for infrastructure improvements.
The motion calls for Conservative MPs Tom Randall and Mark Spencer to ensure ‘Gedling borough urgently receives its fair share of capital investment for local infrastructure improvements and regeneration.’ after being overlooked for theTowns Fund, Future High Streets Fund and Levelling Up Fund.
Gedling Borough Council earlier this year submitted a bid for around £20m of investment from the ‘Levelling Up Fund’ to help kickstart high street regeneration, improve Arnold town centre and encourage healthy travel in Netherfield.
But it was revealed during the recent 2021 Spending Review announcement that the authority missed out on selection for funding.
Councillor Michael Payne, who raised the motion, was first to address the council last night.
PICTURED: Councillor Murray addresses the Fll Council at last night’s meeting
He said: “What I care about is our residents and our towns just getting a fair crack of the whip.
“I am not asking to be front of the queue [for funding] but I am saying stop putting our residents and taxpayers at the back of the queue because they can see they are having the wool pulled over their eyes and they don’t like it.”
Councillor John Clarke (Labour) seconded the motion and said: “I was very disappointed as we didn’t get a penny out of it.
“The North of England, including major cities like Leeds and Newcastle, have received less than Devon, which is one of the less populated counties in the country and that can’t be right. Something’s got to even up somewhere with this
“I’m very, very disappointed in our MPs. They need to get off their backsides and start really getting in there as other people are getting in there and walking away with our slice of the cake.”
Councillor Simon Murray, Conservative, defended the Government and listed local schemes which had already received funding from Whitehall, including the Arnold Market redevelopment and works at Carlton Square – with the promise of ‘more to come’.
He said the Conservative group on the council were ‘disappointed’ by the lack of funding
“We must now turn to the meat of this motion: what is the reason this bid failed?” He said.
“We must face the fact there cannot be prizes for all and Gedling Borough Council’s bid for phase one Levelling Up funding was a failure. What is the reason for this?”
He announced that a second round for bids would begin in Spring 2022.
“It’s imperative that this council now takes steps to learn lessons from this recent experience so as to avoid further failure,” he said.
“Some points are immediately obvious: there seems to have been a failure to take stock of the previous failed bids for the Town Fund, the Future High Streets Fund and to consider the reasons for those recent failures
“The simply reality is that the recent Levelling Up fund bid was not good enough; it did not cut the mustard. This council did have a fair crack of the whip. We need to understand why that is, so these errors are not repeated.
“The deputy leader would have you believe that this [failure] was because Gedling Borough Council is not Conservative controlled and this is simply not the case. This was a fair bidding process in which there were winners and losers of all political hues. Strong bids met with success.
“We need to find out the reasons for this failure and in time make preparations for the second round
“The Conservative group and MPs stand ready to help with that bid.”
Councillor Murray said the Conservative group would be abstaining from voting on the motion which he said was ‘intentionally political’ and ‘asks for the unachievable’ from MPs in securing urgent funding to show they were ‘backing the borough’.
“The two MPs can achieve no such thing,” said Councillor Murray.
“Mr Spencer and Mr Randall have no need to demonstrate their desire to back the borough’s communities accordingly – and for that reason the Conservatives will be abstaining.”
Councillor Payne was angered by Councillor Murray’s response.
“It’s a shame you are finding the nearest fence to sit on tonight,” he said.
“When it came to the crux of standing up for the residents in Gedling borough and arguing to make sure they got a fair crack of the whip and a pound and penny of the money they’ve paid in to the exchequer, you went and found the nearest fence and sat on it – shame on you.”
East Midlands Railway bosses have said that dates for proposed strike action from train managers and senior conductors over safety fears has been “specifically selected” to disrupt Lincoln Christmas Market.
Extra services normally run from Carlton and Burton Joyce stations to Lincoln during the weekend of the market to cater for large numbers of passengers from the borough attending the popular event.
But East Midlands Railway say some staff are now planning to strike during the event due to separate disputes about safety, pay and conditions, a union has said.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said negotiations with East Midlands Railway (EMR) failed to resolve ongoing issues.
Staff last went on strike in the spring and summer but further action was halted during talks.
RMT said the rail company had imposed new working arrangements for train managers on the new Class 360 trains, which run between Corby, Northamptonshire and London St Pancras.
The union believes the new arrangements are “unsafe”.
Senior conductors are also in a dispute with the company over pay, conditions and contract issues.
Strike action is set to take place on Friday, December 3 and Saturday, December 4.
In a letter to stakeholders, EMR said it was ‘disappointed and surprised’ by the strike threat and was preparing its fourth offer to RMT to resolve the dispute.
The letter states: “Threats of such action are particularly unhelpful at a time when talks were reaching a critical stage. They are designed to cause disruption to customers returning to rail travel and will undoubtedly impact businesses who are still struggling with the effects of the pandemic.
EMR claimed the proposed strike dates were “specifically selected” to disrupt to Lincoln Christmas market, adding staff are working on contingency plans to protect services that weekend.
RMT General Secretary, Mick Lynch, said the Union has been left with no choice but to again propose strike action for train managers and senior conductors.
He said: “It is astonishing that after weeks of negotiations, during which in good faith we suspended industrial action and believed progress was being made, the company has failed to make offers in writing to bring these disputes to a close.
“The strike action will send management a clear message that their utter contempt for the negotiations and their hard-working staff is totally unacceptable.
“The union remains available for talks in both disputes.”
Lincoln Christmas Market is taking place from December 2-5.
The traditional Christmas Market, which sits in the heart of Lincoln, has grown from just 11 stalls to now over 150.
There is concern over the low usage of buses in Nottinghamshire following the pandemic.
Passenger levels are rising but are only at 65-70 per cent of pre-pandemic numbers, reports show.
Concessionary use is recovering “more slowly” at 55 to 60 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
Councillors voiced concerns over the numbers during a Transport and Environment Committee at Nottinghamshire County Council on November 17.
It comes as the authority is set to bid for Government funding to improve bus services in the area.
It is estimated that £98m is needed from the Government for the plans, with the authority matching it with £42m in funding.
Councillor John Willmott (Ind) said: “It is concerning that only 65-70 per cent of the passengers are at pre-pandemic levels. Concession levels down to 55 to 60 per cent is pretty low for the pensioners.
“It is very concerning to us all. Many are saying they won’t use the buses because of the mask situation. It is a serious situation that needs to be addressed.
“Every day the amount of people still catching the Covid virus is unbelievable.
“I welcome this bid which includes proposals to improve bus services, simplify fares and tickets, install more real-time displays and improve accessibility at bus stops.”
The council is set to put its Bus Service Improvement Plan to Government for funding towards services in Nottinghamshire.
A total of 3,500 people responded to a survey about the bus service and passenger priorities were to see more frequent services, easier to understand information, better bus stops, lower fares multi-operator tickets and better journey times.
Improvements include more reliable services, ticketing options for young people and those seeking work and making buses more accessible.
There are also proposals for more bus lanes, improved bus shelters, CCTV cameras at bus stops, and marketing campaigns to encourage more bus use.
The changes are subject to approval of Government funding.
Councillor Penny Gowland (Lab) added: “People who need these buses most are either going into transport poverty or being priced out of buses which is not good.
“Hopefully this investment might help to reverse some of that.
“It would be really helpful if the council could consider a windows and masks campaign because it is true, not many people are wearing masks on buses.
“It is great to see investment in this area and I encourage everybody to use the bus.”
Chair of the meeting Councillor Neil Clarke (Con) said: “This is an incredibly comprehensive plan. It is not helped by the last couple of years with Covid, bus services have been thrown into some element of disarray.
“Let’s hope things can get back to some normality so we can use the buses in a more comprehensive way to help save the environment.
“It is important we can promote public transport and reduce the usage of cars as much as we can.”
He added: “Some people are still fearful of getting on the bus because of those health reasons.
“It is still a very difficult situation.”
The committee unanimously approved plans to submit National Bus Strategy documents to the Government.
Police are looking to speak to two men in connection with suspected arson attacks in Bestwood Village.
Officers received reports of the fires in the early hours of Tuesday morning (November 16).
The first fire in School Walk was spotted by the drone team and was able to be extinguished quickly.
A further fire in Bestwood Village was also discovered that involved construction machinery.
Police say they are now looking to track down two men who they believe may have information that will help them with their investigations around the fires – which they believe were started deliberately .
Both men are believed to be aged between 20 and 30, with one man described as wearing a dark jacket, jogging bottoms and walking with a distinctive limp.
The second man was wearing a hooded gillet and grey jogging bottoms.
Detective Sergeant Matt Scott, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “We are trying to track down two men who we believe may be able to help us with our investigations into these suspected arson attacks.
“Thankfully no one was injured during these fires and with the quick work by officers and working alongside Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service the fires were extinguished without hurting anyone.
“We don’t believe that residents are under any threat but would like to reassure people that there will be an increased police presence as our enquires continue.
“But we would like to urge anyone who may have witnessed anything or has any information to come forward to help us with our investigations.”
Watch manager Tim Marston of Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Fire Investigation Team said: “A considerable amount of Police and Fire resources have been deployed as part of our joint investigations, including the use of our regional hydrocarbon detection dog and handler.
“The fire investigations have now been completed and have concluded that these fires were started deliberately. Our findings have been shared with our police colleagues to assist with the ongoing investigations.
“Deliberate fires can have a significant impact on businesses, homes, communities and the environment, even endangering life.
“Businesses and residents can help protect themselves from deliberate fires by making sure that combustible items and rubbish are not stored against buildings. We urge them to check their security precautions, such as the effectiveness and condition of perimeter fencing, gates, locks, CCTV and lighting, and to park vehicles in a secure location.
“We would urge anyone who knows anything about these incidents to contact Nottinghamshire Police.”
Anyone with any information is urged to contact Nottinghamshire Police on 101, quoting incident 22 of 16 November 2021.
