WHAT'S ON: Thurcroft

KIVETON PARK INDEPENDENT ADVICE CENTRE: A drop-in session, with no appointment necessary, will be held on Thursday 2-4pm at the Welfare Hall in Thurcroft. To contact (office hours) 01909 773966.

BIG LOCAL: Minutes from the Big Local Partnership Meeting on November 2 at the Cricket Pavilion. Chair Alan Bucknall went through the minutes of the last meeting when it was advised that the project on Who is Your Neighbour is no longer happening. Looking to organise Training on Commissioning on January 18, taking place in Thurcroft. Networking event took place on November 14 at Creswell Crags. Pavilion Project – confirmation that it is the charity part of the club which is happy to be the LTO for the Pavilion Project, and were advised of some match funding. Power to Change, which is available and can be applied for if the Business Plan is complete by January. Katie Powell attended the meeting to present Types of Collective Control. 1) Does the S1 Partnership feel like somewhere where collective community decisions are made? 2) To what extent does the S1 community have a sense that they can achieve things? 3) Is the S1 community developing new relationships? The partnership worked in three groups to answer these questions. Year 1 Expediture and Year 2 Budget – in Year 1 £46,628.27 was spent. There was an underspend of £13,862.73 which has been returned to the Local Trust. This money will go back into Thurcroft’s pot of money. £176,000 has been allocated for Year 2 and the first £80,000 is already in the bank. The pavilion costs are not included in this. There is £3,539.04 in the unrestricted funds account. Updates – Proposed Play Equipment: following a meeting with RMBC and the parish council, £75,000 is available from the Section 106 monies and the cost of a new playground is approximately £60,000. The partnership has previously agreed to support this project and has set aside some money. A discussion took place regarding the security of the new playground and all agreed it would be a good idea to install security cameras to protect this. It was also agreed that a high fence would be really beneficial as this can be locked on an evening. The partnership agreed they would be happy to be part of a rota system for opening up and locking up the playground. Quotes to be required for the camera and fencing. Pavilion Project – four people have put forward a proposal to do the business plan for the pavilion. A meeting was held which included Sam Keighley (social investment rep for Big Local) to discuss the proposals and select someone to write the business plan. Events – Manchester Christmas Markets: a second coach was booked for this trip, due to it being so popular. They left Thurcroft at 10.30am and returned from Manchester at 6pm on November 19. Christmas Event – was held on December 4 when the parish council turned the Christmas lights on. The fairground rides were in the Gordon Bennett car park, followed by a show in the Bottom Club with Barney Baloney’s magic show with games. Halloween Event – was really successful with over 80 children attending, who enjoyed pumpkin carving, crafts, face painting, games, and a hot dog with a drink. Benefits Advice – Colin Salt held a meeting with Mandy Wilson in the Big Local shop, for anyone to attend. The next meeting was held on December 7 at the church when the Small Grants were given out. AOB – Crime and Litter: residents had attended the meeting as they were concerned about the amount of crime/litter in the village. There is a Crime and Safety group who meet on a regular basis to discuss the issues in Thurcroft. The police also attend this meeting. It is important that all incidents, however small, are reported to the police so they can be logged. The monthly litter picks done by Big Local do help to keep the village cleaner. Facebook – there have been a few issues with people putting unsuitable/negative things on the Facebook page. There is now a second moderator for Facebook, who will be sent the log in details. Social Media Event – was to be held on November 23 in Manchester.

CRAFT GROUP: Two were knitting, three sewing, two embroidering, 12 worked on beaded bracelets, three quilling, three die cutting, eight worked on decoupage and seven were putting general cards together.

LITTLE SAINTS: Moira, Irene and Marie assisted the little ones as they played with Happyland hospital, rocket and fairy toadstool, or coloured in pictures of wild animals. 

FRIDAY CLUB: Moira, Irene, Liam and mums assisted the children with the Jungle theme, colouring in jungle scene paintings, tigers and snakes.

ALZHEIMER’S AND DEMENTIA MEMORY CAFÉ: Meet Tuesday at Gordon Bennett Memorial Hall, Green Arbour Road 1.30-3.30pm.

ROTHER VALE COMMUNITY BAND: This is a brass band set up to provide an opportunity for anyone who wishes to play or learn a brass instrument. New members needed. The band practises every Saturday at Thurcroft Parish Church 9.30-11am. The band will provide a brass instrument and expert tuition for a weekly subscription of £2. The brass band will play at events. Contact Pam 07759 496810, www.rothervalecommunityband.com, Facebook Rother Vale Community Band. 

THURCROFT FRIDAY CIRCLE: Next meeting February 12 in Gordon Bennett Memorial Hall, Green Arbour Road 1.30-3.30pm.

THURCROFT LIBRARY: Chatterbooks – Monday 3.30-4.30pm, School Road.

THURCROFT COLLIERY AND VILLAGE WEBSITE: Robert Keeting, who was born in Thurcroft but now lives in Canada, has sent some photos including two group photos of Thurcroft young men and two photos of children in the infant school in the 1960s. One of the surface area of Thurcroft pit, St Simon and St Jude’s Church, and one of the derelict remains of the Windmill which stood at the top of Bib Lane at Carr. These can be seen on Thurcroft Village Photos, page 11 and School Photos on page 2. If you recognise anyone, contact Fred Gething. Photographs and newspaper cuttings are wanted. Contact Fred Gething 01709 542461, [email protected], thurcroftcolliery.weebly.com. All material will be returned to the sender.

THURCROFT WALK AND TALK: The latest walk was on January 27. It was an approximately 2.5 miles walk. 

ST SIMON AND ST JUDE’S PARISH CHURCH: The Lent Group starts on February 17 11am and will run for six weeks. Coffee morning will start of February 26 in church 10am. The car boot/table top sales start again in March.

THURCROFT WELFARE BAND: The band was at Butlin’s Mineworkers Open National Brass Band Festival from January 15-18 and will be attending the Yorkshire Brass Band Championships in Bradford on March 5-6. The band practices each Tuesday and Thursday 7.15pm.