The main tower was the only area of the play park which sustained heavy damage.
£124,000 was invested in the play park as part of its refurbishment in June 2018, following a successful bid for funding from the WREN community action fund by Gedling Borough Council and the Friends of Arnot Hill Park group.
A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police today said: “Officers have worked with Gedling Borough Council this week and reviewed CCTV footage of the incident.”
An annual charity booksale held in Gedling has this year collected £3,619 for good causes in the region – smashing last year’s total.
For the past 13 years Bob and Chris Cann have hosted the Masked Charity Booksale at their home in Vernon Avenue.
Over two weekends in April and May their property was again crammed full of 15,000 second-hand books from as little as 10p, which the fees collected being donated to a number of charities.
The organisers – masked, of course – recently met with Zephrys, a charity based at Nottingham City Hospital which offers support to families who have lost a child, and handed over a cheque for £904 – a share of teh total raised.
A similar amount was also handed over to Morton Hall Detainees Visitors Group
Other causes set to benefit include a local refugee charity and food bank in Netherfield.
In total the annual sales have raised £20,000 for local good charities over the past 13 years..
Young choristers from Burntstump Seely C of E Primary Academy were in fine voice as they won the ‘Key Stage 2 Own Choice’ class at the annual Mansfield Music and Drama Festival which took place at the Palace Theatre Mansfield.
Following their success, the Arnold school choir were invited to return with winners from other categories to perform at a winner’s concert the following week, and scooped the Pamela Cook Award for the best school choir!
Pupil Connie Newman (age 11) from Hucknall, is a member of the school choir and said she was a little bit nervous before performing on stage. “On the day we sang ‘The Rose’, ‘Let’s go fly a kite’, and ‘Let there be peace on Earth’.
She said: “It helps knowing all of your friends are singing with you, and it actually went well because we came first! I really like being in the choir and singing with my friends at school.”
Joni Clare (age 10) from Sherwood said she had a special task at the festival. “I had to introduce the first song and I got scared that I would forget what I had to say. That was nerve-wracking!”
Fellow pupil Sienna Wilson (age 11) from Mapperley said she had loved taking part. “The best bit was when we found out we had won. Everyone started to get really excited and jumping up and down. We went with Mrs Gabb and she was really excited too!”
Sophie
Goodridge (age 10) and Florence Whittington (age 10) both live in Papplewick
and said they enjoyed the experience. Sophie said, “At the end my family said
they were proud of me. I was shocked that we came first because all of the
choirs were so good.” Florence said, “I was pleased when we finished first. I
was nervous before each performance, but I am so glad we did it!”
Head teacher at Burntstump Seely Church of England Primary Academy, Heather Gabb, said the children were a credit to her school.
She said: “The choir are really strong this year and we were fairly confident, but we know it’s a challenging competition and you never know how it is going to go on the day. The choirs we were up against were stunning and I was possibly more nervous than the children were!
“We performed one song in
the morning, which we didn’t do so well at. Then we had to perform two more
songs in the afternoon. By then we were
raring to go and had listened carefully to what the adjudicator had said to us
in the morning in the feedback. That time we did much better and won the class.”
Heather says that despite their careful preparations, the win still came as a surprise.
She added: “We couldn’t believe it when we won because the competition standards were so high. When they announced the winners, they did it in reverse order, so it was all very exciting. I am very, very proud of them all!”
Residents in Daybrook and Redhill will soon have the chance
to access free environmentally-friendly travel advice, information and
incentives right on their doorstep as part of a new green scheme.
Travel Choice is a Nottinghamshire County Council scheme
being funded by the Department for Transport which will see travel advisors
visiting approximately 5,000 Daybrook households that have opted in to find out
more about their travel options, between Friday, May 10 and Saturday, June 1,
2019.
The scheme’s Personalised travel planning advisor, Ross
Paradise, said: “Talking to residents on their doorstep is a really great way
to engage people who have opted in to find out more about their local travel
options.
“We’re giving out information about greener travel as well
as discussing the benefits to their general wellbeing.
“We’re finding that people are really engaging in these
conversations as looking after the environment is a really key subject in the
public eye at the moment, so discussing how residents can reduce their own
carbon footprint is being really well received.”
The travel advisors are offering personalised travel plans
based on conversations they have with each Daybrook resident, offering a travel
pack full of tailored information including local bus and cycle maps, car
sharing information, and other environmentally friendly travel tips which
enable people to do their bit to improve the air quality in the Daybrook area.
Cllr John Cottee, committee chairman for Communities and
Place said: “While many residents are already doing their bit for the
environment, this free advice and information could help make a positive impact
on residents’ health through active travel like walking and cycling. “
Ahead of the door-to-door visits by travel advisors,
residents will have received a postcard with a brief overview of what to
expect, with an option to opt-out or to request a specific piece of travel
information.
The days of overpaying a broadband,
pay-tv or mobile provider when out of contract will soon be over, thanks to new
rules being introduced by watchdog Ofcom.
From next year, providers will have
to send out alerts to customers and also make them aware of alternative deals
under the new rules to help prevent them continuing to pay beyond their
contract lock-in date.
Relevant companies have nine months
to update their systems and must begin sending out the notifications from
February 15, 2020.
Service providers will need to text, email or send a letter to their consumers between 10 to 40 days before their contracts come to an end.
These alerts must include:
The contract end date.
The price customers are currently
paying and the price they will pay after their contract ends, as well as
any changes to the service after this date.
Information about notice
periods if the customer wants to end their contract.
The best deals offered by the
provider, including prices available to new customers.
A spokesman for Ofcom said: “Our
proposals will benefit consumers by protecting them against unexpected and
unwelcome changes, such as higher prices, and ensuring that they get the right
information at the right time, enabling them to make informed decisions and
exercise choice.
“Our plans will also benefit
consumers by increasing competition in the market, and reducing the time and
effort required for consumers to monitor and seek out information
But Citizens Advice Burau think the new rules don’t not go far enough.
During the consultation, Citizens Advice had told Ofcom that it believed providers should be made to send out more than one notification to each customer.
“Almost nine in 10 people think
that charging loyal customers more is unfair, and we agree,” said Gillian
Guy, Citizens Advice’s chief executive.
“We look forward to hearing
about the concrete actions Ofcom will take to end this systematic scam.”
Last year, water quality remained high across England with 97.9% of bathing waters meeting the tough standards. 92.4% of these locations achieved the top rating of Excellent or Good, meaning visitors to the seaside have 388 top-rated coastal and inland bathing waters to choose from.
The Environment Agency tests water quality at every official bathing water to ensure it is maintained and improved.
Beach-goers and outdoor swimmers can check the water quality at their nearest bathing water spot by visiting the Environment Agency’s Bathing Water Data Explorer website.
The Environment Agency say they are continuing to work with water companies, councils and local communities to keep our beaches and lakes clean, reduce pollution and protect our environment.
Helen Wakeham, head of Water Quality at the Environment Agency, said: “Water quality has improved at English beaches over the last two decades giving locals and tourists a better experience as well as benefiting the environment.
“Improving water quality at our beaches and lakes is a fantastic achievement and is a testament to the work of Environment Agency staff, water companies, local authorities, farmers, volunteers and NGOs.
“It shows what energy and commitment can achieve for the environment and people.”
“Water quality test data is published on the Environment Agency’s website and notifications of water quality issues for over 350 locations in the UK are available via the Safer Seas Service app, so we urge people to check as part of planning your trip to the beach or lake.”
Over the last twenty years water quality
has improved. In the early 1990’s, just 28 per cent of bathing waters would
have met the highest standards and last year 92.4% achieved Excellent or Good.
All members of the public can help keep water clean by taking all rubbish with them after visits to the lake and beach, not leaving dog mess on the beach and never flushing wet wipes or pouring fats down drains.
Pollution
from sewage and pollution from agriculture are generally recognised as the two
most significant sources but there are some local variations.
At some beaches pollution from farm
run-off has an impact on water quality. Surveys have shown that around a third
of bathing water pollution is caused by agriculture. In 2018 new farming rules for water were brought in.
The weather often has the greatest short-term influence on water quality. Heavy rain washes pollution off urban areas and rural land into rivers and the sea which causes a temporary dip in water quality.
The Bathing Water Data Explorer website may advise against swimming and the water quality app from Surfers Against Sewage includes EA pollution alerts in addition to data from water companies providing the public with up to date information before deciding where to swim.
In addition to information being made available
online, signs are displayed at beaches with the bathing water classifications.
This is the tiny little tree frog who travelled more than 5,000 miles before being found on a bunch of bananas in Lidl supermarket in Netherfield
He was discovered in the store on Great Northern Way by supermarket workers as they unpacked fruit.
Unsure of what to do with the amphibian discovery, they called the RSPCA.
Animal Collection Officer (ACO) Hayley Day was sent to the scene on Sunday (12).
Lidl supermarket on Great Northern Way in Netherfield
She said: “The little tree frog was sat on top of some of bananas which staff had started to unload and put on the shelves.
“I managed to get him inside a box with wet tissue paper inside to keep him moist.
“Staff seemed quite taken with him and called him Lloyd – he must have also had quite the shock when he emerged in a Nottinghamshire supermarket considering he’s used to more tropical climates usually!”
ACO Day took the tree frog to a specialist keeper who will now look after him and he confirmed Lloyd originates from Costa Rica – more than 5,000 miles away from Netherfield.
There are many personality adaptations which are what makes
us all have different personalities and traits. , These are what makes us
different to each other. These adaptations are as a result of our genetics and
early life experiences.
We need to be aware that these are adaptations and not
disorders. A disorder is mostly a
negative life-changing presentation of an adaptation and these are rare.
The most talked about adaptation is the Narcissist, and we all know one. This is someone who is totally self-absorbed, usually quite successful, acts like they are perfect, and shows no vulnerabilities. They can have many presentations, and they may look, by appearance, intimidating and scary or play the “nice guy/person” who is liked by everyone.
At work they can be diplomatic, professional, and appear to care but in reality, they don’t.
Other narcissists can be the ones who are the comedian, the life and soul of the party and has everyone in stitches by making them laugh constantly. We all want to include them because they are a lot of fun.
If you ask them how they are, they will very skilfully
change the subject and we don’t even notice. Narcissists ensure they do not
give away any personal information they don’t want to and if we insist on
asking too many personal questions we will be slowly dropped from their life as
we become a threat to their sense of grandiosity.
PICTURED: Elaine Bond
There is the ‘using narcissist’ who will be very friendly
and a great mate until they get from us what they needed, and then we are
dropped from a great height. Watch out for these at work as they know exactly
how to flatter us in order to get us to complete the project or piece of work
etc. and then they are gone, often taking some of the credit too.
How do we become a narcissist? As a young child, we all go
through a period of healthy narcissism, where we feel like we are the centre of
the universe. We cry and someone comforts us, we laugh, and everyone thinks
it’s the best thing ever. We need to experience this period of time as it helps
us develop a sense of self-esteem. It’s a period of time just before we reach
two years old when we start to find out about our needs and getting them met.
“When we are in a relationship with a narcissist, we need to look at why we chose this kind of relationship and what does it bring us. “
Normally we would lose this sense of grandiosity over time
as we suffer from what is known as “narcissistic wounds” or we find out, much
to our childlike disgust, that we are not the centre of the universe. We learn
we must think about other people’s wants and needs as well as our own, we have
to cooperate with others, and then we will get what we need. It’s all part of
the terrible twos, when on hearing “NO” so frequently, children work out they
aren’t the king or queen they thought they were.
For some children they never get to go through the
narcissistic wounds, as they are pampered and indulged in a way that teaches them
that their every wish should be catered for. Parents may be projecting their own
narcissism on their child, which gives them the ambitions and sense of
entitlement that they have. These children are overpraised when they are
successful, given praised based on one area in life e.g. appearance, or valued
by a parent for how they make them look.
For others, to be self-absorbed is a defence against being
abandoned or insignificant in their parents’ eyes. They may feel that the parent
does not love them for who they, but more for what they can do for them and
their own ego. Severe emotional abuse in early childhood, unpredictable care from
parents and manipulation all lead to a level of narcissism.
So, as well as the obvious, what else contributes as a sin
that we should we be aware of?
Attention – they will always be looking for
attention, asking you to find things, or constantly saying something to grab
your attention. Validation for a narcissist counts only if it comes from
others. No matter how much love or attention we give them it will never be
enough.
Perfectionism – they need everything to be
perfect but not just themselves, we should be, and every aspect of their life
has to be perfect. This is, of course, impossible, so we will be given
unrealistic expectations and the narcissist will never be happy.
Control – as nothing is perfect the narcissist
will try to control everything and everybody.
Lack of responsibility – the narcissist cannot
accept blame for anything as they have a grandiose belief in themselves of
being perfect. If it goes wrong, we will be to blame, or in the case of some
narcissists it will be all of a certain type of people are to blame e.g. all
MPs are, all police are…
Boundaries – they cannot accept we have
boundaries; “no” is not an option. They will behave like the two-year-old who
should have learnt that life doesn’t revolve around them.
Empathy – narcissists have little ability to
empathize with us as they can be selfish and are unable to understand what we
are feeling. They rarely think about other people’s feelings; however, they are
highly aware of any slight or implied criticism against themselves.
Shame –they don’t feel guilty as they are never wrong,
but their main feeling is of shame. All the feelings that we have, which are
ones that they have rejected are being fought daily by the narcissist, and they
are constantly on guard against rejection or insecurity, which makes them feel
ashamed deep down of who they are.
When we are in a relationship with a narcissist, we need to
look at why we chose this kind of relationship and what does it bring us. It is
truly difficult to be in a relationship with someone whose personality has
adapted to become narcissistic and we will be badly impacted by them. We need
to stop being a victim, develop our self-esteem and have firm boundaries, and this
often challenges the narcissist to look at themselves, but it can also make
them becomes even more narcissistic.
If we feel like we are a narcissist, we need to take a close
look at the negative traits of our parents or early caretakers that we are
acting out in our life. These traits might include our superior attitudes or
condescending behaviours. We need to
stop using the adaptations that we made to the ways our parents neglected us.
These adaptations were our survival mechanisms, but now they sabotage our
relationships. We need to look at being self-centred or withholding. We need to
stop comparing ourselves and drop the need to be perfect.
None of this is easy, as both narcissists and the people
close to them need help to change this lifelong issue. Counselling is often the
best option.
But remember we all need a healthy narcissism to keep our
self-esteem up, to get through interviews and have a level of ambition.
For more details about Elaine Bond’s counselling service call 07769 152 951
War is again being declared on Himalayan Balsam by a Gedling nature group and volunteer troops are needed to help ensure wildlife continues to flourish at Ouse Dyke in Netherfield.
The battle is slowly being won after a big effort last year
by Gedling Conservation Trust and an army of volunteers, who tackled the
invasive plant at the source in Mapperley.
Two sessions have now been arranged to again tackle the
invasive plant.
On Saturday, May 18, people are being invited to turn up at
Teal Close at 2.30pm to begin removing plants from Ouse Dyke. If you need waders,
please contact the organisers to arrange shoe size.
On Friday, May 24 people can pop along to Mapperley Golf
Course on Plains Road and should meet at the car park. Volunteers will be asked
to help pull up the plants at the main source of the seed.
Introduced to the UK in 1839, Himalayan balsam is now found on
riverbanks and waterways where it has become a problem weed.
The plant tolerates low light levels and also shades out
other vegetation, so kills off other plants. Each plant can produce up to 800
seeds. These are spread widely as the ripe seedpods shoot their seeds up to 7m (22ft)
away.
Mark Glover is organising the Balsam bash and said great
progress is being made.
He said: “Right now, the plants are
small and easily pulled up. There is noticeably less evidence of them on the
stretch of the dyke we spent most time on last year and this work paid huge
dividends with the more natural inhabitants given a chance to thrive.
As per last year we intend to address the problem at the source (Mapperley Golf
Course) and on the same stretch as last year – working up and down stream from
there as time and number of volunteers permit.
He added: Together, we are really making
a difference at the dyke and the wildlife is getting a chance to flourish.
For further details
about the event contact Mark Glover on 07850 768337.
Vandals have set fire to new play equipment in Arnot Hill Park causing £30,000 of damage .
Serious fire damage has been caused to the main tower in the play area, which will now have to be removed and the play area will remain closed.
PICTURED: Damage to the climbing tower in Arnot Hill Park play area (IMAGE: Friends of Arnot Hill Park)
A spokesman for Gedling Borough Council said: “We’re very sorry to report that the play area has been closed to due a fire. “
“The fire, which is believed to have been caused deliberately, has damaged the main tower slide in the children’s park and could cost £32,000 to repair.
“The park is expected to be closed for some time whilst the equipment is removed and the surface replaced.
“If anyone saw anything please contact the police. We’re very sorry for the inconvenience and we will update you as soon as we have more information.”
The incident has been reported to Nottinghamshire Police and CCTV in the park is being looked at by the council’s Public Protection team.
The park was refurbished in June 2018 after it received £124,000 external funding thanks to a joint bid to WREN from the council and the Friends of Arnot Hill Park group.
In a post on their Facebook group they said: We’re devastated
this morning to see the damage that’s been done to the climbing tower on the
play area.
“We simply can’t understand the mindset and selfishness of people who would do this and destroy a piece of play equipment that we worked so hard to get funding for and the youngsters of Arnold and the surrounding area have been getting so much enjoyment from.”
Gedling MP Vernon Coaker slammed the ‘mindless’ vandals responsible.
In a tweet he wrote: “It’s a beautiful day in Gedling and local children are not able to go on the play equipment in Arnot Hill Park because of this mindless vandalism.
“I urge anyone that knows anything about who did this to report it to the police. Such behaviour will not be tolerated.”
It's a beautiful day in Gedling & local children are not able to go on the play equipment in Arnot Hill Park because of this mindless vandalism. I urge anyone that knows anything about who did this to report it to the police. Such behaviour will not be tolerated. #Gedlinghttps://t.co/WTSpMOh4dG
Deputy Chief Executive of Gedling Borough Council, Mike Hill said; “This is an appalling act of vandalism on a children’s play area.
“We are working with the police to catch whoever did this damage and are studying the park’s CCTV for any evidence. If anybody saw anything, please contact the Police.”
Nottinghamshire Police say an official investigation has now begun.
A police spokesman said: “We received a call at around 10.35am on Tuesday (May 14, 2019) reporting that a slide had been burned.”
Inspector Chris Pearson, the neighbourhood policing inspector for Gedling Borough, said: “The main tower of the slide has been damaged beyond repair.
“We’re working with Gedling Borough Council to make enquiries, including reviewing any CCTV footage.
“We believe this happened some time through the night, and we encourage anyone who has any information to call 101, quoting incident 270 of 14 May 2019.”
Due to the damage, the park remains closed until further notice.
