Nature lovers are being given the chance to create new homes for birds at a number of creative sessions being planned across the borough.
The events are taking place during half-term at a number of parks across the borough.
For just £5, families are being invited to join with park rangers from Gedling Borough Council and have a go at making a bird box they can take home.
The events are taking place at Arnot Hill Park on February 18 (meet in the bowls pavilion), Burton Road Jubilee Park on February 20 (meet in the pavilion) and Gedling Country Park on February 22 (meet at the play area).
Primary school pupils from Carlton are involved in a pioneering project enabling them to learn about hospice care.
Children from Porchester Junior School paired up with patients at Nottinghamshire Hospice in Mapperley and were tasked to work together on creative activities and sharing stories for the project.
The pupils, aged eight and nine, visited the hospice for three consecutive weeks, each child being partnered with a specific patient.
Together they worked through structured activities designed by Nottinghamshire Hospice Occupational Therapist Kerry Lovell.
On their final visit, children and patients worked together to write poems which the children read out to an audience of patients, staff and parents.
Nine-year-old Abbey, who paired up with patient Barbara, said: “It’s been really nice seeing Barbara and finding out about her. I’ve liked seeing how things work here.”
The children also spent time with other teams at the hospice, including fundraising and finance, where they learnt how to use a money counting machine. They also climbed up to the building’s historic tower which has views all over the city.
PICTURED: Pupil Abbey and hospice patient Barbara
Daniel, 8, said: “We did paper dolls and poems and we went to see around the hospice. I liked meeting the patients and going up the tower.”
Liz Morgan, clinical nurse specialist at Nottinghamshire Hospice said: “We have had schools visit the hospice before for events and picnics but this is the first time we’ve organised a structured series of visits like this, where children pair up with a specific patient.
“Our patients have loved having the children come here. It’s been a big success and we plan to repeat it next year with a different group of children.”
Kerry Lovell, occupational therapist at Nottinghamshire Hospice, who led the programme, said: “The visits have been beneficial to both patients and children. They’ve enjoyed spending time together, learning about each other and doing activities together.”
“The scheme was designed to fit with the school curriculum because it helps the children learn about loss.
Helen Foster, Deputy Head at Porchester Junior said: “As Porchester Junior is an accredited value based education school, it has been a wonderful opportunity for the children to engage with our values and practise using them in real life. The children represented the school brilliantly throughout the project and we have a long list of children hoping to get their chance next time. We welcome the chance to strengthen our links with Nottinghamshire Hospice.”
Nottinghamshire Hospice provides palliative care and support for people with a terminal illness throughout Nottinghamshire in the last year of their lives and support for their families and carers.
The hospice needs to raise £2.7 million a year to deliver its services. To find out how you can help, visit: https://www.nottshospice.org/
New exhibitions by a local photographer will give a different perspective on the landscape around Newstead Abbey.
The exhibitions, running from February 9 to 7 July 2019, will kick off an exciting new season at Lord Byron’s ancestral home with striking contemporary photographs of young people people from Newstead Village, and poignant scenes of former colliery towns within Nottinghamshire.
Many visitors to Newstead Abbey are unaware that beyond the perimeter wall lies a retired colliery, and a community that comprises rows of former terraced houses where miners lived.
In a new exhibition in the King Charles II Rooms, Nottingham-based photographer David Severn presents a lesser-known view of Newstead and Nottinghamshire.
Through his earnest and sensitively observed photographs and portraits, David shows his interest in two parallel worlds which are situated beside each other, where an ancient priory wall acts as a dividing line between two contrasting but equally significant tales of Nottinghamshire’s history.
Since Newstead Colliery closed in 1987, the land has been replaced a sprawling country park. The loss of the pit left a lasting legacy upon the residents. Despite this, the younger generation show a deep affection towards Newstead Village, seemingly unaffected by the experiences of the families who have remained.
Guided by the young people themselves, Newstead Youth Centre Portraits leads us through the local streets and play areas. This is their Newstead, their turf, and they are proud of it.
Further afield across Nottinghamshire, other pit closures left many open wounds for the former the coal miners and their families. In Thanks, Maggie, David Severn explores these abandoned coalfields to observe the communities left behind, and how some traditions still remain in the social clubs that his own pit-working father and grandfather may have frequented. Vivid echoes of the collieries remain, as does the bitter lament of the Miner’s Strike of 1984-85 that run through the stories, music and veins of contemporary life.
Cllr Dave Trimble, portfolio holder for Leisure and Localities said: “This exhibition is particularly close to my heart as a former miner at Cotgrave Colliery.
“It is a really interesting way of exploring the area’s mining past and a really engaging way to introduce young people to a key period in local history that has touched the lives of so many people in the area.”
Admission charges apply. For opening times, visitor information and details of our talks programme, please visit www.newsteadabbey.org.uk.
East Midlands Trains is to have its franchise extended into the summer.
East Midlands Trains will now manager the services for at least another five months, following a new agreement with the Department for Transport (DfT). The current franchise is due to end on March 2, 2019.
The operator currently runs services to and from Carlton, Burton Joyce and Netherfield stations.
To bridge the gap and ensure a smooth transition to the new franchise, which is currently expected to start in August 2019, the DfT say a new short term franchise agreement is required.
The new contract will commence on March 3, 2019 and run until at least August 18.
Stagecoach has operated the East Midlands Trains franchise for over 11 years.
The commercial terms of the new contract are similar to other recently let Direct Award contracts and include profit share arrangements with the DfT.
Martin Griffiths, Chief Executive of Stagecoach Group, which owns East Midlands Trains, said: “We are pleased to have been given the opportunity by the DfT to extend our successful tenure of the East Midlands Trains franchise until at least August.
“We are very proud of the improvements we have delivered for our customers and our people over the past 11 years, and we look forward to continuing this successful track record.”
A team of Special Constables have been praised for their ongoing efforts to help make Gedling borough a safer place to live – and they’re out there working again next weekend.
Special Sergeant Ashley Wagstaffe and his team have been working across the borough every weekend so far throughout 2019, creating local engagement initiatives and supporting the Local Policing Team during periods of high demand.
For several weeks throughout January, the team could be found in the Arnold Town Centre area, where they engaged with members of the public, gathered local intelligence and addressed members of the community’s concerns.
In recent weeks, the team have been directly responsible for making numerous arrests for Public Order-related incidents, Anti-social behaviour and those driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs.
On Friday, February 1, the team of 11 made three arrests for various offences, conducted numerous interviews and successfully located a high risk missing vulnerable person in the Shearing Hill area of Gedling – collectively racking up more than 100 hours.
Special Sergeant Ashley Wagstaffe, who has been working closely with the Neighbourhood Policing Team for Gedling, said: “We’re very keen to help support our full-time colleagues in any way possible.
“The vast majority of people in Gedling take great pride in their local area and so too do we; our ongoing engagement initiatives have proven to be a huge success and the Special Constabulary is committed to help drive forward crime-prevention events, whilst robustly dealing with people who think that it’s acceptable to commit offences across the Borough.”
In 2018, the team saw a number of successful prosecutions for drink-driving offences and in November, they recovered a number of offensive weapons and Class A and B drugs after stopping a 39-year-old Arnold man, who was later convicted and sentenced to six months in prison.
Special Sergeant Wagstaffe added: “We’re very much out and about to engage with law abiding members of the public to ultimately keep them safe, but when we come across criminal activity, or receive intelligence to suggest such, we will work with our full-time colleagues to ensure that positive action is taken.
“I’m very proud to lead a team who are committed to helping make our area safer for everyone.”
The team have also been praised by the force’s file preparation team on numerous occasions for ensuring that their prosecution files fall in line with national standards.
The team will be on duty until the early hours of tomorrow morning, working hard to keep you safe.
A man is set to appear in court charged in connection with a car key burglary in Mapperley.
Jake Shaw, 19, of Rose Close, Nottingham, is charged with one count of burglary and two counts of fraud by false representation.
He is due to appear at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court tomorrow (Monday, February 11, 2019).
The charges follow a burglary at a home in Marshall Road during the early hours of Tuesday (February 5).
A spokesman for Notinghamshire Police said: “Car keys were taken from the house before two cars were stolen from the driveway. The cars were later recovered.
“Bank cards stolen during the burglary were subsequently used and a quantity of cash was also stolen during the incident.
A group of teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of burglary after their car was stopped in Colwick on Saturday
Five people were arrested after officers stopped the vehicle during the early hours of Saturday (9) morning.
A spokeman for Nottinghamhire Police said: “We received reports of a car stolen during a burglary at a property in Smithy Crescent, Arnold, on Wednesday (6).
“This car was spotted and officers used a stinger to bring it to a stop, on the A612, at 1.19am.
They added: “The five boys in the car, aged 18, 18, 17, 17 and 16, were detained. They remain in police custody.”
Colwick Theatre Club will be taking to the stage later this month for their latest production Beauty and her Beast
The popular tale has been adapted by club member Neil Beeching, and is a mixture of comedy, songs and audience participation.
The group’s secretary, Meredith Lawrence said “We’ve been rehearsing hard since last November, and are looking forward to entertaining audiences. You might recognise some of the characters in our production – but it’s not Disney!
PICTURED: Children rehearse for Colwick Theatre Club’s new production Beauty and her Beast
There will be four performances of Beauty and her Beast at Colwick Community Centre, Vale Road: at 7:30pm on Thursday 21 & Friday 22, and 2:30pm & 7:30pm Saturday 23 February 2019.
Tickets, £5.00 (Adults) and £4.00 (Children, concessions) are available by calling the Ticket Hotline, 0750 729 9526.
New £1.75m equipment is being drafted in to wage war on potholes appearing across Gedling borough.
Nottinghamshire County Council, who are making the investment, say the new equipment will speed up and increase the range of options to repair roads in the area.
The green light was given to bring in the equipment at a meeting of the council’s Communities and Place Committee today (Thursday, February 7).
Via East Midlands manages Nottinghamshire’s highways network on behalf of the county council.
Committee chairman Councillor John Cottee said: “Last winter’s bad weather and the cold spring resulted in a rapid deterioration of many of our roads due to the cold weather and effects of freezing and thawing on road surfaces.
“As a result, we repaired more than 115,000 potholes last year – double the amount compared with the same period the previous year. So, understandably the volume of repairs led to concerns about the future sustainability of this approach. However, potholes are the number one concern for residents and we’ve listened to this.
PICTURED: A pothole repaired by the council’s new machinery (IMAGE: NCC)
“Road repairs and resurfacing is one of our top priorities and this £1.75m is a long-term investment to save more money further down the line whilst improving the quality of road repairs, increasing productivity and extending the life expectancy of our roads and is another example of our continuing investment in the network.
“These methods provide us with two new tools in our armory when it comes to tackling potholes in the county, further ensuring that we can make the right repair at the right time.”
The first of the two techniques, this £1.75 million investment will fund is a spray injection chip patching system. This treats surface defects effectively, sealing the target area, filling cracking and removing small potholes whilst smoothing the surface.
Cllr Cottee explained: “This will significantly improve productivity so that our highways teams can cover more than double their daily target repairs. It also allows relatively large areas of carriageway to be treated quickly meaning that teams can also pull in more lower priority repairs in the process and thereby slowing down the rate at which our roads deteriorate and reducing the need for future re-visits to the same locations.”
The spray injection chip patching system also produces a better finish and it reduces the likelihood of road repairs failing prematurely.
The second vehicle will be used in conjunction with existing equipment to allow the council to make patching of larger areas of road, where the road surface has suffered significant deterioration, economically viable and also carry out deeper structural repairs. This will improve the quality of ride for road users as well as the way the road looks.
“The fact that the process is mechanised means the filling material can be transported using hotbox storage and laid in optimum condition and compacted,” said Coun Cottee. “These controlled conditions mean that the serviceable life of repairs can be extended.”
Use of this equipment across Nottinghamshire will be prioritised and depend on factors such as the type of road and nature of the repair needed, with existing methods of repair continuing across the network.
Coun Cottee added: “The vehicles should be out and about on our roads during the coming autumn. And the other advantage is that workers will be freed up to do other essential work on our roads.”
Gedling Eye now has a Whatsapp group so you can keep up to date with the latest news from across the borough. We will send you one message a day with our main headlines, as well as the big breaking news alerts. To sign up text NEWS to 07958532672. Make sure you add the number to your contacts as ‘Gedling Eye’. We won’t share your phone number or use it anywhere else.
