Bishop’s Castle

TOP COACH FOR FREE TENNIS AT CLUB - Bishop’s Castle Lawn Tennis Club will be offering free tennis activities and coaching this summer thanks to an Awards for All grant from the National Lottery.

A wide cross-section of the community will have the opportunity to take part and Trevor Chalkley, Bishop’s Castle Tennis Club chairman said: “We are particularly pleased that people with learning difficulties from local care homes, and students from local primary schools and the Bishop’s Castle Community College will all benefit from free sessions.”

Tennis activities are also being offered to women of all ages, people over 65 and families, where the aim is to get parents and carers playing tennis with their children. Research shows that playing tennis regularly benefits physical and mental health, reduces stresses and boosts selfesteem. Furthermore, tennis is a game for all age groups, so free sessions are on offer to local people aged from six years to over 65 years.

All sessions are free thanks to this lottery grant and Lucy Taylor, a highly qualified Lawn Tennis Association coach, is on hand to help. Lucy has much experience of working with different age groups complete beginners to serious high level tennis players. Trevor Chalkley said: “Lucy was Shropshire Tennis Coach of the Year 2015 and we are delighted to have her involved. You don’t have to be an Andy Murray or Serena Williams to enjoy a fun and sociable activity on Bishop’s Castle courts,” he added.

To know more and take advantage of this opportunity visit the website bcltc.btik.com or call Trevor Chalkley 01588 630678 to book a place.

SPARC CAMPAIGNERS TO ADDRESS TOWN MEETING - Organisers of the campaign to keep the SpArC sports and arts centre open in Bishop’s Castle have been answering questions about their campaign and the SpArC crowd funding project, launched earlier this month. Jean Shirley and Richard Whately both attended the annual town meeting at Bishop’s Castle Town Council on April 4 in the town hall where they laid out their plans for the future of SpArC and appealed for more people to help them in the running of the campaign. “It is not something Richard and I can do on our own,” said Jean Shirley. In an e-mail to those already on their mailing list the two explain that as well as using the website podiumpartners.

org, anyone who wants to give money can go directly to Enterprise House in Bishop’s Castle, (HQ of Enterprise South West Shropshire) or send a cheque by post to their address in Station Street. The money will be ring fenced in an account for safe keeping with cheques made payable to Enterprise House (SpArC fund.) There is also a facility to use Gift Aid. The crowd funding project aims to raise £50,000 for the swimming pool area to help with the cost of improving insulation in order to reduce running costs. Upgrading of changing facilities is also a priority and any money raised will be used as match funding to attract other sources of income. In answer to queries about why SpArC can’t run itself profitably Jean and Richard say that all rural sports and leisure centres with pools receive some form of subsidy and the population around Bishop’s Castle is not high enough for SpArC users to cover all the costs locally. They add that latest figures show the number of people using SpArC is holding up well in comparison with centres in other areas. The campaigners are also looking to raise a further £200,000 to help reduce running costs for the building. This will include upgraded insulation and roofing, an enclosed entrance, independent local heating controls and LED lighting, in order to make SpArC both financially and environmentally sustainable. They stress that if the pool closes the cash raised will be rolled over to the rest of the centre where it will be easier to reduce its running costs as they are lower than those of the pool. Jean Shirley adds: “Shropshire Council has made it clear that funding will drop to zero in March 2017. If that situation does not change, Bishop’s Castle pool will close, but there is a good chance that we could still save the dry side facilities. We must all get together and say ‘Don’t Let the SpArC Go Out’.” For details e-mail jeanshirley@btinternet.com or richard.whately@btinternet.com

NEW SCRAPPIES COLLECTION BOX - If you are having a spring clear out at home, remember that Enterprise House in Bishop’s Castle is a now a collection point for Scrappies, the popular crafts and recycling and training centre based in Church Stretton. They specialise in collecting and then redistributing art and craft materials to groups, schools and individuals for use by the community. Now they have set up a collecting box in Enterprise House, with a long list of things they are looking for. These include clean paper of all kinds, small boxes, cardboard tubes, corks, cotton reels, yoghurt pots, drawing materials, fabric offcuts, fake fur, vinyl, beads, haberdashery of all kinds, CDs and cases, calendars, fake flowers and greetings cards, string and much more. Please do not bring clothes, shoes, newspapers, cans and bottles to the box but recycle them across the road in the Auction Yard recycling skips. New Scrappies box is inside the IT office, and any donations should fit inside and not overflow. Information about Scrappies call 01694 328508.

ROYAL YACHT BRITANNIA - Andy Jones from Oswestry was the guest speaker at the March meeting of Bishop’s Castle WI. He talked about his time serving as a steward aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia and explained the precise way in which everything was conducted. Andy said he had joined the Royal Navy in 1984. By the time Britannia was decommissioned in 1997 he worked out that he had been around the world four and a half times. The only qualification he had when he left school was in metalwork and now he has many other certificates to his name. The next WI meeting is on April 19 at 7.30pm when Dorothy Nicolle will be sharing some Shropshire oddities.

BISHOP’S CASTLE DIARY April 7-13

TODAY

  • Market, Bishop's Castle Town Hall, weekly 10am 630023.
  • Footpath Walking Group. Hope Valley. Meet Harley Jenkins St car park. 9.30am. 01743 792443.
  • Art exhibition – Brian Fletcher. Bishop's Castle Town Hall. Until April 16. 01588 630023.

TOMORROW

  • Market. Bishop's Castle Town Hall. Weekly. 10am. 01588 630023.
  • Bouzatina. Celtic tunes and songs. Lydbury North Village Hall. £7/£5. 7.30pm. 01588 680511.
  • Teen Book club. Bishop's Castle Library, free, 5.30pm 01588 638215.
  • Pony Club. Walcot Stables, Lydbury North. £40, members £35. 10am-4pm. 01588 680514.

SATURDAY

  • Circle dance. Live band Bellamonda. Church Barn. 7.30pm. 01588 630648.

MONDAY

  • Walking for Health short walks. Meet Enterprise House, Bishop's Castle. Weekly. 10.30am.

TUESDAY

  • Footpath Walking Group. Llanfair Waterdine. 10 miles. Meet Harley Jenkins St car park. 9.30am. 01588 630446.
  • E-bike ride. New Street Cycles. Free. Weekly. 6pm (weather permitting). 01588 638060.
  • Felted journal workshop – Leah Williams. Sheepish shop, Bishop's Castle. Two sessions, £45. 10am. 01588 630421.
  • Mainstone WI, History of the ShoeJan Heaney, Mainstone Village Hall 7.30pm.

WEDNESDAY

  • Bishop's Castle Film Society. The Homesman (15). Three Tuns. 8pm 01588 630778.
  • In aid of Grange Road luncheon club Kings Head, bingo over 16 8pm.
  • Bishop's Castle Twinning Association AGM and social Bishop's Castle Town Hall. 7.30pm 638375.
  • Walking pilgrimage. Bishop's Castle-Hereford Cathedral. Five days. 01588 638363.

CORRESPONDENT - Julia Parker 01588 680445 e-mail jparker228@ btinternet.com

Bitterley

WI - The open meeting in March of Bitterley WI was a great success, with many visitors coming to listen to the Rev Kelvin Price. He spoke about his early life in Birmingham, his army life, where he was known as “Pricey”, his deployment to Northern Ireland and other conflicts around the world.

We heard about the support and love of his wife, how they first met when they were nine years old, met again years later, the path of true love not an easy one. They now have six children. He also spoke about his faith, it was an entertaining and thought provoking evening. Kelvin will be sadly missed by this parish and surrounding ones, when he leaves later this year - we wish him well.

Refreshments and social time with our guests proved to be equally enjoyable. Competition - 1st Freda Pugh, 2nd Ruth Bootman, 3rd Dot Griffiths. Flower of the month - 1st Dot Griffiths, 2nd Sue Marsh, 3rd Ruth Bootman. Our next meeting is the AGM on April 21 at 7.30pm, in the village hall. Our outing to Chatsworh House is on April 26, there are still a few seats available on the coach if anyone would like to join us.

Clun

LAMBING COURSE - At Brynmawr Farm. Experience being a farmer for a day. During April and May there will be lambing workshops on the Farm every Saturday. On this full-day course you will get practical, hands-on experience handling sheep and lambs – the best way to learn. The cost is £70 (discounts available for couples) which includes hot soup or stew for lunch made from farm produce, and homemade bread. 10am-4pm.

For more details and to book, see the website, clunvalleyorganics.co.uk or call 07799 681134.

CLUN VALLEY FILLING STATION - Tomorrow at 7.30pm, Newcastle Community Centre. This month we are privileged to welcome Canadian Guy Chevreau as our speaker. Guy hails from Toronto, although he currently lives in the West Midlands. An internationally known speaker, he has preached in over 280 different churches. He has a doctorate in historical theology and served as a church pastor for 13 years. Guy has also written nine books, the most recent of which is It’s Not Fair - Grace that both offends and befriends.

All are welcome. For information, contact Brian Angell on 01588 640029.

FILM - Flicks in the Sticks presents: The Lady in the Van (12A), running time 104 minutes. Chapel Lawn Village Hall SY7 0BW, Saturday, at 7.30pm.

Adults £4.50, children £2. Refreshments available. Enquiries: 01547 530530.

BETTWS Y CRWYN WI MEETING - Bettws Hall, Wednesday at 7.30pm.

Guest speaker Adrian Williams will be ‘reading for laughs – nowt so queer as folk’. All are welcome.

CLUNBURY CAFÉ - Next Thursday, April 14, 10am-11.30am at Clunbury Village Hall. Do come along to enjoy home-made refreshments at this informal café.

NEWCASTLE GARDEN SOCIETY MEETING - Next Thursday, April 14, 7.30pm, Newcastle Community Centre. A talk by Alun and Jill Whitehead Irises: some history, some people, some plants.

Alun and Jill Whitehead run a threeacre garden at Aulden Farm near Leominster, which holds the national collection of Iris sibirica. They also act as the collection co-ordinators for Plant Heritage in Herefordshire and have been Hardy Plant Society members for over 20 years. They are passionate about plants, particularly irises, and they grow and sell a large range of varieties, some of which they will bring along for sale. Please come and join us for an interesting evening. For information please contact Stan Wild 01588 640241.

LOCAL JOINT COMMITTEE MEETING - Next Thursday, April 14, 7.30pm at the SPARC theatre in Bishop’s Castle.

Cllr Nigel Hartin draws our attention to an important date for your diary, when our new leader of Shropshire Council, Cllr Malcolm Pate, and Shropshire’s chief executive, Clive Wright, will be attending to talk and answer questions about the council’s funding crisis and how Shropshire is intending to cope over the next few years of slashed budgets.

Contact Cllr Hartin on 01547 530400, 07583 962292, or Nigel.hartin@shropshire.gov.uk.

SENIOR CITIZENS MEETING - Clun Senior Citizens meeting, Haslehurst Community Centre, Clun, next Thursday, April 14, at 3pm. Regular senior citizens get together, all welcome. Enquiries to Margaret Jones on 01588 640595.

TIM’S TRAVELS - The Orchestra of the Swan, Birmingham Town Hall. A last call for booking tickets to an Orchestra of the Swan concert in Birmingham Town Hall on Wednesday. Tamsin Waley-Cohen will play Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concert and the rest of the programme consists of Mozart’s Symphony No 25 in G Minor and the Hamlet Suite by Shostakovich . The cost of a good circle seat and the coach is still £30, as in previous years.

Departure times: 9.15am Newcastle, 9.30am Clun and any stops requested on the way to Craven Arms and Ludlow. Contact Tim at The Old Surgery Gallery, Clun. tim@sunnyclimes.wanadoo.co.uk.

Ludlow

BENEFITS OF REIKI - Talk and demonstration on the benefits of Reiki. Organised by the Ludlow Cancer Support Group, the talk takes place from 11.30am-12.30pm tomorrow at St Peter’s Church, Henley Road, Ludlow. Everyone welcome.

Tenbury

SATURDAY SINGALONG - At Tenbury Methodist Church on Saturday, at 3pm, featuring The A49ers and Tenbury Ukulele Band. Tickets £5 on the door to include refreshments. Please come along and join in the fun.

HISTORY SOCIETY - Tenbury Wells History Society welcomes members and none members (£2) to their April talk entitled: James Brindley, the first canal engineer. Roy Murphy will tell the story of the life and works of this remarkable man. Tonight, at 7.30pm in the Pump Rooms, Tenbury. For more information call Mike on 01584 711425.

GUILD MEETING - Tenbury Ladies Evening Guild meeting on March 7, had speaker Mr Roy Routledge, who gave us a very amusing and interesting account of his early working life at the GPO, called “up poles and down holes”. He was one of the team who connected up our telephones, literally “up poles and down holes”.

He was followed by the group’s AGM, when the following year’s speakers were announced.

The meeting on April 4 was at The Penlu Lounge in Penlu Road, Burford, Tenbury Wells. New members and visitors are always welcome. Please ring secretary, Mrs Shirley Edwards, on 01584 811354 for further information.

ROYAL BRITISH LEGION - The next main meeting of the Tenbury Wells Branch of the RBL will be held at the Fountain Inn, Oldwood road, Tenbury Wells at 7.30pm on April 20.

GIN TASTING - Proudly hosted by St Michaels Village Hall, presented by Paddy of Hop Pocket Wine Co, April 16, 7pm welcome for 7.30pm start. Cost £17.50. Tickets available in advance from Clair Wright 01584 811017.

Inspired by the Days of the Raj, we encourage you to join us for the evening and propose the following programme: welcome cocktail and nibbles. Gin tasting part one - Kedgeree, with a glass of wine, vegetarian option available with advance notice. Gin tasting part two - Something to sweeten the palate. Coffee.

Proceeds from the evening are for the provision of portable staging for community use and we look forward to the pleasure of your company.

TEA PARTY - Knighton is having a tea party to celebrate the 90th birthday of our Queen. Come and join us at Knighton-onTeme Parish Rooms on April 21 at 3.30pm. For tea and cakes and talk and laughter. Tickets £1, to book ring: Sheila Hardiman 01584 781442, Gill Morgan 01584 781412, email: pd.morgan@homecall.co.uk, Gill Booth email: wannop1@btinternet.com or just turn up.

TEME VALLEY WILDLIFE GROUP - The next meeting of the Wildlife Group is next Thursday, April 14, when we welcome Ric Morris whose talk is intriguingly called “confessions of a teenaged skull collector”.

The meeting is at Rochford Village Hall at 7.30pm. It is just £2 on the door where everybody is most welcome. Further info: Danny Arnold 01584 781500 or email:danny.arnold@ waterwide.com.

The Strettons

PARENTS AND TODDLERS - The Parents and Toddlers Group meets at the Parish Centre on Thursdays during school terms from 10am-noon and welcomes bumps and babes to the meetings.

FAIRTRADE - A stall selling Fairtrade goods is held at Mayfair Community Centre on Thursday mornings.

BRIDGE CLUB - The Thursday bridge club takes place at All Stretton Village Hall from 1.30pm5pm and welcomes new players. Lifts from Church Stretton can be arranged if required and tuition and refresher courses are also available. To find out more ring Dom on 01694 723128.

FRIDAY MARKET - A market selling home-made cakes, produce and craft items, together with garden items, is open for business at Mayfair Community Centre from 8.30amnoon each Friday.

WIVES AND FRIENDS - The Wives and Friends group will be meeting at the Methodist Hall to hear a talk about the work of the Tuesday Day Centre on Tuesday starting at 7.30pm. On May 21 the Wives and Friends hold a spring fair and on this occasion all proceeds will go to the Tuesday Day Centre.

CAMERA CLUB - The Longmynd Camera Club members will visit Welshpool for an inter-club competition on Tuesday. The subject of the competition is ‘motion’ and the judge will be Judy Mainwaring. On the following day, Wednesday, the club will hold its annual general meeting. An open competition is planned for April 27, with Ian Thompson ARPS as judge. Meetings take place at the URC Hall on Wednesdays at 7.30pm when visitors are also welcome.

GISELLE - The ballet G iselle will be streamed live to Church Stretton School from the Royal Opera House on Wednesday, starting at 7pm. Pretheatre dining is available on this occasion but must be booked in advance by ringing the school on 01694 722209 for details of the menu.

CLIMATE CARE - Stretton Climate Care can access a small amount of National Lottery Funding to help towards development costs of the new website if enough carbon reduction pledges are received.

These can be completed on the website strettonclimatecare.org.uk. Print out and fill in then return by post or to Mayfair Community Centre. Hard copies are also available by contacting Jon Cooke on 01694 723205. A film Ice and the Sky will be shown at Church Stretton School on April 18, at 7.30pm.

SMALLHOLDERS - The Shropshire Smallholders group will be meeting at Leebotwood Village Hall next Thursday, April 14, for a talk by Richard Small on Meadow Management. This will include haymaking ecology and traditional management techniques for restoring meadows together with what Marches Meadow Group hopes to achieve. Smallholder sales tables will be open for business. Guests and visitors are always welcome and entrance is £1 or £3 respectively. Meetings start at 7.30pm.

SCHOOL NEWS - A new library has been set up at St Lawrence’s, and to help fill the shelves the school invites donations of recently published books in good condition on a variety of topics, together with fiction books suitable for the five-10 year olds. The tag rugby A team has emerged as winners and was closely followed by the B team. Pupils will soon be enjoying a green fingers day. The school has a few surplus small brown chairs which will be offered free to a good home. 

The Friends of the School are busy planning the spring fair which will take place on April 23.

The event will have a Royal theme to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday, and this will take the form of a family cake bake competition to provide one fit for the Queen’s birthday.

EMPATHY - Scrappies and the Happy Shopper Supermarket, each has a box for the collection of Shropshire Star Cash for Community coupons for Empathy, a small charity which provides activities for youngsters with autism and aspbergers.

INDOOR MARKET - The next indoor market is next Thursday, April 14, at the Scout HQ where local people can hire a table to sell their craft items from 9am-2pm.

DRAMA - The Stretton Players, formerly known as Dorrington Players, will be presenting a mystery play at the Silvester Horne Institute next Thursday, April 14-16.

TALKS - A talk by Gulwali Passarlay, author of The Lightless Sky , will take place at the URC on April 20, 7pm for 7.30pm, and features his journey to safety as a child refugee. Admission is £8 including refreshment.

On April 21, a talk under the heading Argentina to Alaska by motorcycle, is a story of a middle aged couple and their quest to ride the PanAm Highway. This will be held at Mayfair Community Centre, 7pm for 7.30pm, with £4 admission.

MUSIC FESTIVAL - The music festival planned for May 7, offers a full day of music and activities and will include a visit from the Shrewsbury Handbell ringers in St Laurence’s Church at 2.30pm and also the inaugural performance of the Church Stretton Town Brass Band.

There will be lots of have-a-go workshops.

WALKING FESTIVAL - The Mynd Drover is a 26m or 13m walk, or run, as part of the 2016 walking festival and is organised by Church Stretton School PTA. The £20 entry fee includes a post walk meal at the school, which is also the starting point for the event.

Enquire at the school for places and sponsor/entry forms on 01694 722209 or by post enclosing an SAE if no email address.

CYCLING EVENT - On June 26, Clun will be the venue for a cycling event in aid of Arts Alive. There are three route options for this one, a short one of 28 miles, an in-between one of 45 miles and a long one of 68 miles.

Full details are available at tourdartsalive.co.uk.