Newsletter

(Albrighton, Boningale, Donington-with-Boscobel and Tong)

 

 

Firstly many thanks......

........to all who came to our public meeting and AGM on 14th October – again another fantastic turn out and especially on a wet and rainy evening. Thanks to Mandy and team at the Red House who ran the bar for us.

Sarah Baker brought everyone up to date with the new Albrighton Arts and Heritage Forum which will run Arts/Crafts Fayres in Albrighton and will be a key player in the running of the Station Heritage Centre if we manage to get funds from the Heritage Lottery fund to rescue the dilapidating old Station Masters House. The presentation by Robert Hodges on the continuing excellent restoration work at Elms Farmhouse (Elm Rd) was well received and he and his wife, Narinder Dhami, were presented with a Civic Society certificate in appreciation of their efforts.

Albrighton Station. Campaign to retain the pedestrian access ramp to platform 1

At the October Meeting, Rod Smith gave an update on the campaign. We would like to thank all those many people who worked hard collecting signatures door to door for the petition – total was 1697 on 4th November and is still rising. Thanks to our webmaster, Shaun Meredith-Jones, who has expertly put the petition on our website and so you may also sign the petition there and please encourage your friends and family to do so.

We are still in discussion with the holding company of Orange Telecommunications on whose land the ramp was built (without their knowledge!) by Network Rail and with London Midland Trains who lease the station from Network Rail and operate the station. We are pressing for a meeting with their decision makers and are hopeful that they will agree to this shortly.

There needs to be a new footpath at the bottom of the ramp so that people do not walk out into the roadway of Station Road and there would need to be a length pedestrian handrail along this new footpath to ensure pedestrians do not cross over too soon and to prevent cars stopping on Station Rd too near to the foot of the ramp to disembark passengers wanting to go up the ramp.

We are very grateful to Cllr Malcolm Pate who has got Shropshire Council on side & which has said “Shropshire Council support the Civic Society’s project to retain the access ramp to the railway station........and that if the ramp is retained we would consider appropriate funding to address the significant road safety improvements that will be necessary to ensure pedestrian safety on Station Road, whilst accessing this facility”. Meanwhile the ramp is sealed-off top & bottom & preserved while the discussions continue. Our Campaign Continues.

Planters in the High Street

You may have seen that we have set up three Planters - our acting treasurer Mike Pitchford arranged these and provided an overview at the October Meeting. These Planters were financed 2/3 by the Civic Society and 1/3 by Albrighton Parish Council with whom we have worked in a very successful joint venture on this scheme. We are very grateful to Mike who has now managed to obtain a forth Planter at no cost and which has been set up on the ‘footpath projection’ opposite the Old Bush Pub – there are now 2 Planters in this part of the High Street.

Civic Society Awards for Schools 2014

This year the topic, as discussed with all three schools to suit their slightly different curriculums, is “The Poppy in War and Peace” and we look forward to see what our youngsters come up with next year. This looks to be a good contest! Watch this space.

Our Website keeps on growing

For local information and news of forthcoming events by many clubs and societies in our district, please see our website. Our webmaster, Shaun Meredith-Jones, is waiting for you to send him any announcements of your clubs activities which will be put on our NEW notice board. There is also a separate notice board for notices, which need to be left for longer periods, such as details of regular events which take place every week or month.

www.AlbrightonAndDistrictCivicSociety.co.uk

You will also find the contact details for all local clubs and volunteer groups together with contacts for all community organisations such as the Medical Practice, Traders Association, Dental Practice, Library, all four local Parish Councils, Red House etc

for more information please see www AlbrightonAndDistrictCivicSociety.co.uk or contact:

Peter Woodman –Chairman (T: 372225) 31/32 High St or Rod Smith -Secretary (T: 372765)

 

Copyright (c) 2013 ALBRIGHTON and DISTRICT CIVIC SOCIETY