Many bulbs, shrubs, bushes and trees have been planted
at the first batch of Entrance sites including 84 bushes & trees at Kingswood Rd/A41 junction, hundreds of snowdrops in Albrighton village
green and daffodils/snowdrops at the Cross Rd/Patshull Rd pond area.
The bulbs should show this spring but the full effect of the shrubs
and trees will only be seen a couple of years hence, once they have
taken hold and grown. We are still keen to have help with further planting
sessions – please contact John Bulmer (T: 01902 372291) for further
information or to volunteer. The sessions are usually only a couple
of hours but you may offer whatever time you can.
Civic Award Scheme for Schools.
All the local schools – Albrighton Primary, Birchfield
School, Idsall School & St Mary’s Primary have accepted the challenge. Prizes will be awarded for the
best projects on local, historical, environmental or conservation topics
relating to our district. A project can be a drawing, a picture or
painting, a piece of writing, a story or poem or essay. The project
can be produced by an individual, a number of pupils working together
or a whole class. It can consist of one item prepared by the whole
class jointly or a collection of items prepared individually by all
the members of a class. The aim: to encourage civic pride & care for our locality in our young people.
Eyesores.
We held meetings with Brian Bennett and Glen McGrandle
of Shropshire Council who are charged with the responsibility of repairs
to roads/pavements and the “appearance of the street scene” (i.e. weeding,
cleaning and maintaining street furniture). They have promised action
to deal with the many eyesores we presented to them. We thank Mike
Ward, Clerk to Alb PC, who also managed to get SC do what they call
a “deep clean” to the key streets in November. This was a good start
but more needs to be done. Thanks also to Civic Society Committee Member
Mike Pitchford who has cleared the weeds from around the central reservation
at the Station Rd/A41 junction which made this entrance to the village
look very scruffy. While we can expect SC and the four Parish Councils
to look after some areas we feel that we residents should also play
our part with this - which could include litter picking and some simple weeding tasks – after all, it is us who live here and just complaining is
not enough. We are looking for volunteers to do something similar at
any location near where they live – please contact us.
Albrighton Rail Station
Bridges & Platforms.
Cllr Illes is leading the discussions with Network Rail
(NR) & London Midland Trains (LMT) for the refurbishment of the road bridge, footbridge
and platforms and he expects to set up the next meeting with them soon.
The Society is providing full support to Albrighton Parish Council’s
initiative here and will join this meeting to help them press for the
implementation of NR’s promised refurbishment work – see www.AlbrightonAndDistrictCivicSociety.co.uk
for details.
The Old Station Building (on the “to Shrewsbury”
platform)
This was sold by NR and is now owned by a private individual
having been used as different restaurants, all of which failed. The
building is now showing signs of neglect with a leaking roof and will
deteriorate further if left empty. Such dilapidation will mar the NR
refurbishment scheme. The Chairman of the Society has managed to get
a dialogue going with the owner (who lives in Birmingham) and who may
be willing to sell or lease the building. Various uses have been suggested
and the one which seems most likely is a combined Arts & Crafts Exhibition/Craft Studio/Local Museum/Tourist Information Centre. The
size of the building will also determine if these can be fitted in.
As an initial step, & to test out the system, the Society approached the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)
and our preliminary application for funds, to buy and repair the building
and including a sum to hold in trust to generate moneys to maintain
it, has been accepted in principle as a workable scheme. HLF now requires
us to submit a full business plan and a formal application which we
are now starting to work on and this will be done with help from Albrighton
Parish Council and other organisations. NR and Shropshire Council have
also indicated that they may be able to provide some funding and the
Rail Heritage Trust may also help. We will of course consult the community
as soon as, and if, we appear to have a viable scheme which has funding
support and which is likely to attract local support.
Copyright (c) 2013 ALBRIGHTON
and DISTRICT CIVIC SOCIETY