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Remembrance Sunday
13th November 2005
High Streets everywhere will blossom with red
poppies this month: everyone from toddlers in prams to grannies will
be wearing one.
By Remembrance Day more than 33 million are
expected to be sold around the county by an army of many thousands of
volunteers. The money raised will help our ex-Service people and their
dependants. To achieve all that takes more than flower power.
We have recently completed the bloodiest century
that the world has ever known. More people died in wars last century
than ever before in the history of mankind. Many millions of those
died fighting fascism or communism. How many will die this coming year
in our war with international terrorism?
BRAMHAM PARISH COUNCIL
At its October meeting, the Council conducted a
de-brief of the 2005 Leeds Festival at Bramham Park with Mr Melvin
Benn, the Managing Director of Mean Fiddler. He said that overall, the
event had been a success and that Bramham Park was now the venue of
choice for the Festival. He said that there had been some incidents
inside the grounds but felt that these had received greater adverse
publicity than they deserved.
The Council asked him to address the three main
areas that are considered vital to the village: The noise; the access
into the village and Law & Order. Mr Benn said that there had been
only two complaints about noise and that neither the Mean Fiddler
monitoring team nor those of Leeds City Council’s Environmental Health
Department had recorded any noise over the permitted limit or outside
the permitted hours. He said the traffic plan had worked much better
than in previous years, and very few visitors had made it in to the
village. He was concerned about Bramham residents walking back along
Thorner Road in the dark, and the Council is to look at providing a
shuttle bus service next year after each evening’s performance. The
number of arrests was about the same as last year, and most of these
were for relatively minor incidents inside the site. This was also
confirmed by the police. There were two incidents which caused him
concern, one when someone threw a gas canister on an illegally lit
bonfire and the other when a group broke into a lorry containing
stocks of beer. The distribution of residents’ tickets had been an
unnecessarily long process due to the large number of invalid
applications that were not subsequently taken up. Should there be an
allocation of tickets in 2006, it is hoped that this will not be
repeated. Also, to avoid disappointment, ticket-holders with special
needs will be identified to Mean Fiddler when tickets allocated.
Following the distribution of residents’ tickets,
the Bramham Community Fund is now inviting interested parties to apply
for grants for projects for the benefit of the village. Full details
on how to apply, which must be before the closing date of 15 November,
are published on the Parish Council Notice Board in The Square and on
the Council’s web-site (www.bramhamparishcouncil.org.uk). It should be
remembered that in previous years, applications have run at more than
three times the funds available, and not all requests can be
satisfied.
Further to the comments made last month about the
Council’s response to the A1 upgrade, in their reply the Highways
Agency has dismissed all of the Council’s suggestions. It is therefore
highly likely that the Council will now formally object to the
proposals at the Public Inquiry which will probably be held in the
early months of 2006.
Motorists are reminded that the road to Clifford
between the Primary School and St Luke’s has now been given a new
40mph restriction.
Colin Pool
BRAMHAM VILLAGE HALL
SATURDAY 19th November 2005
7.30 - 11.30 pm
Licensed bar and great music to the incredible
Boston Spa School
Soul and Blues Band
Tickets £8 from John Boulton Tel: 01937 541095
BRAMHAM NSPCC
invite you to a
Christmas Quiz
on
Saturday 12th November 2005
7.30 pm
Bramham Village Hall
Two Course Meal
(including glass of wine)
Raffle & Bar
£15
For tickets contact Margaret Morgan
844688
BRAMHAM MUMS & TOTS
“Little Tykes”
Little Tykes runs every Monday morning between
10.00 am and 12.00 noon in the Methodist Church on Low Way for parents
or carers and their pre-school children and babies.
We have a wide selection of toys. Every other week
we try to provide a craft activity suitable for the toddlers with a
little help. Half way through the session we have a tea and coffee
break with drinks and biscuits for the little ones too. New mums, dads
and grandparents are always welcome to come along and join us.
For further information please contact:
Alison StJohn on
01937 541744.
BRAMHAM VILLAGE HALL NEWS
After the doom and gloom of last month’s Village
Hall News we can report that the new heating system is fully
functional and the new lighting and electrics are well on their way to
being completed.
The Committee apologises to the regular users who
were inconvenienced during the work, but hope that they can agree that
the new heating and lighting is a significant improvement. Thank are
due to Kath and Ken, the caretakers, who continuously cleaned up after
the workmen to try to keep the hall fit for the users.
Despite what several people seem to think, the
Village Hall is not bankrupt. It just had a bout of financial hiccups!
Fortunately, in 2003 and 2004 the Bramham Community Fund had agreed to
hold onto the Village Hall’s share of the fund until there was
certainty about the expenditure that was needed. It was able to
release the funds to pay for a significant proportion of the work.
That doesn’t mean that the Committee can be
complacent. Far from it. We are already looking for sources of funding
for the next two phases of work - refurbishing the kitchen areas and
extending and refurbishing the toilets. Without prior funding neither
of these projects will go ahead. The next major fund raising event of
the year will be the last in 2005, the New Years Eve Do. Watch out for
announcements about tickets.
Again, the Committee asks that if anyone in the
Village knows of any sources of funding that the Hall might be
entitled to apply for, please contact a Committee member.
Thanks are due to several people in the village who
have come forward with offers of help on the Committee. With more
offers and more volunteers the work will be spread more evenly, so
don’t be shy. You don’t have to have lived in the village for any
length of time, in fact new residents can bring new ideas and a new
perspective on how we operate. The next meeting is on Nov 1st
and provisionally Dec 13th.
Finally, because of the recent problems caused by
some users of the Village Hall on Friday and Saturday evenings, it has
been decided to ask for a refundable deposit of £50 at the time of
booking (preferably as a post dated cheque). If there is damage, or
additional cleaning of the hall or the environs is required, the
deposit will be used for this. If there is no further damage or
cleaning, the cheque will be returned.
Monthly draw results for September were:
148 (£25), and 53, 55, 59, 100, 129, 134, 141, 157,
176, 177 (all £5).
Monthly draw results for October were:
141(£25), and 21, 32, 36, 63, 90, 94, 120, 122,
132, 136 (all £5).
The Committee can be contacted via Stewart Gibson
on 845084 or Christine Suddaby on 849455, or by post via Cosy Cottage,
Low Way, Bramham, LS23 6QT.
BOOK OF WALKS ROUND BRAMHAM
We hoped to have published this before Christmas
but we underestimated the amount of work required to get the Floral
Side of the Village Plan underway.
The walks have been done, the photos taken, and the
narrative drafted but it still needs to be put into Book Form and read
over.
We may just have been able to do this before
Christmas but it would have been a rush, not the best way to finish a
new project.
It will be on sale, without fail, in April.
The Environment Group
BRAMHAM IN BLOOM
All the exciting things seemed to have happened in
October.
We had a very enthusiastic meeting with all the
gardeners on the 11th. We really are lucky to have so many
people prepared to give up their spare time for the benefit of The
Village.
Unfortunately this article goes to press before the
actual planting on the 22nd October and the bulb planting
on the 29th so by the time you read this, hopefully the
plants and bulbs will be in the ground.
We can never have too many volunteers so if you
would like to be involved phone Gill or Ernest.
In the summer Grass Cutting and Strimming
the Verges is necessary on a regular basis if the Flower Beds and the
plantings round the Entrance Stones are displayed to their best
advantage. We do not need as many volunteers for this as we do to look
after the beds but it would be nice to have a pool of people willing
to take on the job from time to time. We do have a power mower and
strimmer.
Anybody interested give Ernest a ring on 841195.
The Environmental Group
SUNFLOWERS SUNDAY SCHOOL
CH _ _ RH WHAT'S
MISSING? U R
!
F _ N WHAT'S
MISSING? U !!
Come along and bring your children to the Village
Hall at 9.30 am on the first
Sunday of every month or call Karen Smailes on
842844.
The dates for the next two Sunflowers Sunday School
are 6th November and our Christmas Party Date will be 4th December.
We look forward to welcoming some new faces.
NEWS FROM THE METHODISTS
Minister Rev’d Gary Ridley - Tel: 01937 842156
Sunday 6th November Morning worship led by Mrs Val Marshall at
10.00 am
Sunday 13th November Morning worship led by Mr Arthur Faulkner at
10.00 am
Sunday 20th November Morning worship led by Mr Gerald Payling at
10.00 am
Sunday 27th November Service of Holy Communion led by Rev'd Gary
Ridley
at All Saints' at 10.00 am
Dear Friends
I'm one of those people who on the whole is very
grateful for symbols. I'm often interested in their meaning and it is
not even unusual for me, for example, to enquire as to the
significance of someone's lapel badge, if it bears and unknown symbol
to me or is in any way unusual. Of course, many symbols link the past
to the present. One such symbol, which is fixed in our corporate
memory, is the poppy, with its unique loin to Remembrance Day.
However, the questions that sometimes get asked, especially by those
who, perhaps because of their age, have no effective memory of the two
World Wars are "Just what are we remembering today?" or "Would we not
build the new and better world more effectively if we left behind the
memories of the old?"
If the act of Remembrance was simply about
recalling the wrongs of the past to keep alive enmity, the result of
which would be to make peace more difficult, then it would be better
to leave behind the memories of the past. Thankfully, we can affirm
that the act of Remembrance is not about that in any way. My view is
that we should never allow the lessons of history to die on us. We
should never forget that our freedom and indeed our very lives have
been preserved at great cost. The prayers expressed on Remembrance
Sunday in our churches and at war memorials, our poppies and our
wreaths, our silence and our resolve, are all part of that tribute. We
extend it by ensuring that those who are still with us, but whose
lives or limbs or homes were broken are cared for.
But our gratitude can be wider. The great acts of
faith and self-sacrifice, which are particularly remembered at times
as this, are part of a whole series of such acts down the ages. In
every generation there have been men and women who lived and worked
and died for the well-being of others. Our Christian heritage has been
gained and preserved for us by people of faith and action, people who
gave themselves for the freedom of religious thought and expression we
enjoy. Remembrance Sunday is the occasion when we remember with
gratitude, reverence and solemnity, the fallen of two world wars and
other conflicts since. We do so in the best possible way by living
giving and not selfish lives, for it is only then that the will of God
on earth can be done.
Blessing and peace to you all.
Gary
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