Residents are being invited to get ‘up with the larks’ on Saturday 28 April to listen to birdsong on Hob Moor.
Friends of Hob Moor have organised the ‘Bird Walk’ which will be led by Barry Bishop. It begins at 6am and starts from the yellow railings on Little Hob Moor at the entrance to the railway underpass.
The playgrounds at Woodthorpe Green and Nelsons Lane have re-opened after improvement works were completed.
£30,000 has been spent at Woodthorpe Green to install new swings, adventure equipment and a zip wire. £17,000 came from City of York Council central budgets, with £11,000 from the Ward Committee and the remainder from development funds. In addition, the Woodthorpe York Community Group secured a Yorventure grant of £12,000 for the installation of an accessible roundabout.
At Nelsons Lane £32,000 has been spent, which includes a donation from local children’s nursery Little Green Rascals.
Ann, Ashley and Stephen at Nelsons Lane…
…and at Woodthorpe Green
Local Lib Dem councillors Ann Reid, Ashley Mason and Stephen Fenton worked with the Woodthorpe York Community Group and Chase Residents Association to engage with residents to determine the priorities for the revamps, and then young and old alike were asked to vote for their favourite designs.
Lib Dem councillor Stephen Fenton said “There has been a bit of a wait whilst snagging issues were resolved, but it’s wonderful to see the enjoyment that children and their families are getting from the revamped playgrounds.”
“Local residents’ involvement was key to realising these improvements, and it’s another example of where Ward Committee funding is making a real difference to our communities.”
Skatepark and inflatable ‘arena’ sessions have been organised for youngsters in Foxwood, Dringhouses and Woodthorpe over the Easter holidays.
The sessions, at Foxwood Community Centre, Foxwood Park and Moor Lane Youth Centre, are being run by the York City Knights Foundation and are being funded by the Westfield and Dringhouses & Woodthorpe Ward Committees.
Further activity sessions are booked in for the May/June half term and the summer holidays, including arena sessions at Woodthorpe Green.
The installation of a new accessible roundabout at the Woodthorpe Green play area is underway. The roundabout is designed in such a way as to easily accommodate wheelchairs, and has been funded by a £12,000 grant secured by the Woodthorpe York Community Group.
Accessible roundabout
The wider playground revamp at Woodthorpe should be finally completed when snagging issues have been resolved. These are:
Meanwhile at the revamped Nelsons Lane playground, outstanding issues are:
When all of these tasks have been completed and signed off as safe, the playgrounds will re-open.
Date : 27 March 2018:
Join Pamela Hartshorne as she talks about her latest novel The Cursed Wife, a page-turning, psychological thriller set in Elizabethan London
Join Pamela Hartshorne as she talks about her latest novel The Cursed Wife, a page-turning, psychological thriller set in Elizabethan London.
Pamela is a York-based novelist, writer and historian. The Cursed Wife is her fifth novel, and she has also written a number of non-fiction works and has been the project editor on several high-quality illustrated books.
Pamela Hartshorne has had a fascinating life and career including stints as cook on an outback cattle station, TEFL teacher in Jakarta and French-speaking interpreter on expedition in Cameroon before ending up back in London as foreign newsdesk secretary at ‘The Observer’. She then wrote 60 books for Mills & Boon as Jessica Hart as a method of funding her Ph.D. in Medieval Studies at the University of York. Pamela still lives in York and in addition to researching and writing historical novels she occasionally teaches writing courses and is a freelance project editor for illustrated books.
She has written 4 historical novels set in and around York, Time’s Echo, Memory of Midnight, The Edge of Dark and House of Shadows. Her fifth novel The Cursed Wife is a page-turning, psychological thriller set in Elizabethan London.
Residents are being invited to have their say on plans to build eight new sports pitches on fields near Askham Bar.
The drop-in consultation event, which will take place between 4pm and 7pm at Askham Bar Park & Ride on Wednesday 24 January, will offer the chance for people to feedback on plans to build three 11-a-side pitches, two 9-a-side pitches and three 7-a-side pitches with relevant on-site facilities.
The event comes after the council’s executive in November agreed that officers should continue to work on plans for sports facilities on the land near the Ashfield estate.
Sensibly the Council has now stopped trying to link the new provision with the loss of football pitches at Lowfields
This will help to provide much needed community sports facilities to the south and west area of York.
The council’s public heath team are also working with Bishopthorpe White Rose FC to prepare a club development plan that will help them thrive in the future and access grant funding.
The cost of these works will be funded from the Football Foundation, Bishopthorpe White Rose football club, local sponsorship and small grants, with the remainder from the capital programme agreed by City of York Council.
Cllr Ann Reid, interim executive member for leisure, culture and tourism said: “The playing fields at the Ashfield estate will allow residents to have access to great facilities to improve their health and wellbeing and we are really happy to be supporting Bishopthorpe White Rose Football Club who are growing significantly.
“As a council we want our residents to be active across the city and to help them improve their wellbeing, which is why facilities such as these are so important. We want to hear the views of the local community and all are invited to attend.”
Josh Wong, Club Secretary, Bishopthorpe White Rose JFC said: “The club has grown significantly and we struggle to accommodate training and matches for the 400 boys and girls who enjoy football with us. We need to use five separate fields, some of which do not have basic facilities such as toilets and changing rooms. The new development will provide a home for our club, an indoor space for the community and enable all our players and other clubs in York and beyond to enjoy football on good quality pitches.”
Those unable to attend the event can email their views to AskhamBarEngagement@york.gov.uk or pop in to an exhibit at Bishopthorpe Explore library learning centre from 17 to 24 January.