Maggie

Oswestry Equality Group’s successful summer

The Equality Group has a new tag-line – Equal people, equal voice. With this in mind, we have been involved in a variety of projects this summer. These have included talks on the role of local press by Colin Channon, the new editor of the Tizer, the role of trade unions by a regional Unite co-ordinator and also the Special Olympics by Brian Johnson, Chair of Special Olympics North Shropshire. The group felt very strongly that those with learning disabilities involved with the Special Olympics are not treated in the same way as all of the Olympians who have been to Rio. They have also worked in conjunction with Oswestry Library to put on a very successful Celebrating Age Day.

Next term’s programme is very much focused on youth.
 
On September 22ndSarah Smith, who is a Senior Support Worker at New Century Court (NCC) in Oswestry will be speaking about homelessness among young people. Sarah is an experienced worker who has worked at NCC for 2 years, where they support young people (aged 16 – 25) who are homeless or at risk of becoming so, to develop their life skills so that they can go on and live independently.

She will be talking about the impact of homelessness on a young person’s life and the kind of situation that these young people experience before they get to NCC. She will be accompanied by at least one of their customers who is happy to talk about their experiences.

These young people have had a difficult time and we should give them every opportunity to tell us what they have experienced and how they feel about their situation and the support that they are receiving.


 
On October 20th Bill and Lynn Morris from the Kenyan Schools Project will speak about young people in Kenya. It should be interesting to find out what similarities and differences there are between their young people and ours.


 
This will all be followed by a discussion of young people’s mental health on November 17th

Kay Brophy, who is a Counsellor and Psychologist, set up Acorn Families four years ago to provide counselling services to schools for children, young people and their families. She will talk about the mental health problems that school age people face. She will be accompanied by John Slowley who will talk about mental health issues in pre-school children.


 
All of these meetings are held at 7.30pm in the Upper Room at Cabin Lane Church. A donation of £1 is requested to pay for the room hire. Light refreshments are included.


 
Anybody who would like to find out more about these meetings or the group can contact Penny Rice on 01691 680382 or e-mail oswestryequalitygroup@gmail.com.

GREAT NEWS!
The appeal for the Solar Farm has been refused:- 
Appeal Decision Site visit made on 14 April 2016 by Louise Crosby MA MRTPI an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Decision date: 06 June 2016 Appeal Ref: APP/L3245/W/16/3142392 Rhosygadfa, Gobowen, SY10 7BP 

Thank you to everybody at St Martins this afternoon for making us so welcome. We hope to be able to work together much more in the future.
 

My Twitter response to Shropshire Council’s wonderful rooftop solar panels:-
Fine on rooftops but not fine on good quality and beautiful scenic farmlands.
 

Weston Rhyn has been disregarded by Shropshire Council for far too long and things are coming to a head.  All we ever get are broken promises whilst we see other parishes obtain their necessary infrastructure improvements.  The roundabout at the top of the village, and the bends leading in to it are very dangerous and now the markings have faded so much that when the road is wet you would not even know it was a roundabout. Shropshire Star are covering our concerns   http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2016/04/14/shropshire-council-treating-village-like-a-poor-relation/
Why not come along to the Parish Councils annual meeting on 25th at 7 pm in the institute and let the parish council know what you think, and what you would have on your wish list for the village.
 

Most definitely it should continue. Advertising will certainly help. Anyone wishing to know more, and uncertain about accessing the site on a computer, I'm sure can get all the help they need by dropping in to the Pavilion (Gobowen Playing Fields) on a Thursday mornings (10 til 12). Everyone is very helpful, enthusiastic, and very willing to assist -
 (AND IT'S FREE!!!)

Just popped back to make the following comment Lee:-  I have found on several occasions that friends, to whom I have mentioned Community Online, have been unaware of it.   Obviously advertising would be expensive and I am wondering if it would be useful for a leaflet to be produced for handing out door to door in our local areas; I certainly would be happy to have a go in the Gobowen area.
Rob

When I was a child of primary school age (Approx 45 years ago) we used to spend hour upon hour playing football on the green (This was before the days of the playing fields). The tree used to be one goalpost and a jumper or cricket stump the other. There were no complaints from the locals or the neighbouring residents whatsoever, in fact we were encouraged to play there. Due to its shape it was like Wembley to us kids...
How things have changed...
Now the children would be told to move on and its the adults that are making the green look a mess and causing problems. Shame on them...
 

Would it be a good idea to showcase some local talent in the area.  There are loads of hidden 'stars' who excel in industry, sports, music etc. that people probably either never realised what they did or that they live in the area.

Just in case you missed it on Facebook and Twitter......
SANTA'S BACK!

Agreed, but surely Parish Councils can make suggestions? S C C (Shropshire County Council) can make justifiable design demands without any difficulties!
Read an article yesterday - worth considering :
Imagine if you were thinking of buying a new house, and found it didn't have a shower and wash basins in the bathroom. And they hadn't bothered to put electricity plugs and light sockets in the spare bedrooms. If you wanted these items you would have to fit them yourself. When you asked the salesman about this skimping on essentials, he said it saved you £3000, so you should be grateful. This wasn't so far from the state of things as recently as the 1960s. Many homes did not have central heating. It had to be messily added on a few years later, and at considerable cost.

Today we expect new homes to be finished with those details throughout. So why are most new homebuyers deprived of an additional, and very useful, feature, a source of free energy that will continue to deliver, with little or no maintenance for many years to come?

I think making volume builders fit solar panels to all new homes is such a blindingly obvious, and simple, green initiative by the government that I struggle to fathom why they don't do it. It's even more puzzling when you consider those panels could help the UK meet legally-binding Co2 reduction targets. In the village where I live, I've noted the outbreak of shiny panels on roofs, from old to newish, over the past four years. They are on former council houses, 19th century cottages, and all sorts of postwar properties and some shops and industrial buildings.

The only place you don't see panels is on historic, often listed properties (understandable), and on the roofs of those several hundred brand-new homes built over the past four years or so. Quite baffling.

The builder, I'm sure, will have done whatever building regulations dictate to achieve energy efficiency. There will be double glazing, hot tank lagging, attic insulation and draught proofing. But not a single solar panel, unless the buyers fitted them themselves afterwards. And retrofitting is actually less likely because the last thing new owners want to do is shell out on an add-on to a new house, particularly one they could have had in the first place, after they have arranged the mortgage and started the repayments.

Can always sort you out with a go on one..... ;)
 
 

I have had the following letters printed in The Advertizer in recent weeks:
 
1. It is excellent to read that the new B & M store on Salop Road has created 80 'new' jobs.
BUT:
How many are full time?
How many are part-time?
How many jobs (full and part-time) were lost when Homebase closed?
It is difficult to celebrate these 80 new jobs without knowing the full facts about the previous redundancies.
Published 20 / 10 / 15
 
2. It is some time ago that you briefly reported that Cllr Keith Barrow, Leader of Shropshire Council, was 'under investigation'.
Since then, we have been told nothing. This has resulted in wild accusations and many unsubstantiated rumours.
Cllr Barrow has written in the Advertizer about 'openness and transparency'. Surely now is the time to put this into practice and for him to tell us all exactly what is going on.
Remember that he is Oswestry South's Shropshire Councillor.
Published 27 / 10 / 15
 
3. Oswestry Equality Group is a non party political group which believes that everybody has the right to free speech. The following is NOT a party political question.
At our meeting reported in last week’s Advertizer, one question remained unanswered.
Why don’t the politics of the majority of Oswestry Town Council and our local Shropshire Councillors reflect the economic situation of this area, where we have low incomes and relatively high unemployment?
Published 03/11/15
These are not rhetorical questions, and I would really value some feedback.
So- what do you think about them?
 
 
 

We've recently awarded Community Chest grants to Fusion Arts Oswestry and The New Saints Community Foundation for summer holiday activities for young people in each of the villages of Gobowen, St Martins and Weston Rhyn.  Starting from Saturday 18th July and running until the end of August. 
Full details on our website  http://www.big-local.org/youthactivitiessummer2015-327
 

Fusion Arts and New Saints Community Foundation have worked with Three Parishes Big Local to plan a program of taster activities in all 3 villages over the summer.
Each village will receive about 8 hours of activities a week over the school break, with sessions on Mon, Wed, Fri and Sat afternoons.

So the first of our Everyday First Aid in the Home has happened, thanks to St Martins CFR's and the extremely keen and attentive students.
There will be two more courses in the autumn, one in Weston Rhyn and one in Gobowen.

That's what we're hoping Maggie, however if anyone is struggling and would like to get to this one, get them to give me a shout. it would be a shame to miss out for the sake of coordinating a lift.

I may have some wonderful news for you, Rob:
 
My spies have been out and they tell me that a meeting was held to discuss the old station and the possibility of turning it into a "community hub". I've been informed that representatives from Cambrian Railways, SCURA, Chirk Railway Station, Selattyn & Gobowen Parish Council and Shropshire Town & Rural Housing were in attendance.
 
Apparently they discussed the possibility of relocating Gobowen library there, developing a café and waiting room, perhaps a ticket office...maybe even having a bridge to cross the line from one platform to the other.
 
Those present think they can obtain the building without payment.

The real issue here is that this industrial project is being applied for on good and valuable farmland which is in one of the most attractive areas in our part of Shropshire.   Whilst I feel for daily farmers at this time, vegetable crops and wheat are also very important for our economy too.
 
This land is prime agricultural land and should be preserved for such use and no other.   I have read that there is another application for such a development along the Montgomery canal and, if we are not very careful, every farmer in the county will be seeking to maximise income at the expense of our natural heritage; such ruination of our beautiful countryside would also be of serious detriment to the tourist industry as well.
 
Industrial developments should only be considered on brown field sites.   Solar panels are a great idea in the right places and on rooftops but most definitely not on prime and beautiful agricultural land.

I am all for using solar power as this is the way forward for our planet.   http://inhabitat.com/report-solar-could-be-dominant-power-source-by-2050/
However, I do not believe such an unplanned and poorly thought out system as here, being forced by grant schemes,and using good agricultural land far from urban and industrial centres has much 'sustainability' (read 'common sense') because of the infrastructure, power lines and substations that would be necessary for distribution.  Now, if the government were to insist on solar tiles or panels on all new build, and grant support solar 'farms' on city rooftops as part of new developments I would be cheering them on.  Germany can do it.  http://inhabitat.com/german-village-produces-321-more-energy-than-it-needs/  
It makes no sense to use good fields for this when there are so many alternatives, especially as we are going to run out of agricultural land to development rather sooner than we want and should be putting a priority on the protection of green field sites.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28003435  What we need from central government is joined up thinking. Planning,Housing,  Defra, Energy etc. all need to get their collective act together, instead of gains for one department being paid for by another.

So who else who reads Community Online posts will be at the Big Local event?  I'm taking a display about 'Aqueducks' and the Canal World Heritage Site concentrating on the Chirk Bank part, with old photos etc, and information about how you can get involved; and also some stuff about the Incredible Edible project for which I need some volunteers.  We are also looking for some interest from people in developing a group to get involved with the canal outside the World Heritage centre, which crosses the Big Local area much of it being the boundary between Gobowen and St Martins.  It would be really nice to see some of the same things happening there as have done in Chirk Bank, with community involved in improving the area and welcoming new visitors.  

Hi again, I have nearly got all of the way through the previous messages but before I finished reading I feel I need to post this message while I am still catching my breath!! Bethan has been very forthcoming with some very valuable information, I was astounded when I read how much money the farmer was looking to receive!! Hence the lack of breath!! I think he was referred to earlier as Mr Evans at Ebnal Lodge Farm (I think?). I am not a mathematician, but my quick calculations without taking into consideration VAT or Tax, for each year works out at £78,000. Over the 25 years of the projects proposed life span Mr Evans would receive 1.95 Million pound!!

Elgin Energy is offering 60k each to the councils as a sweetener, and the residents are receiving nothing but an eyesore in their back gardens.

Please tell me that Bethan has got the facts wrong, I can't see that as being morally or ethically correct.

I had a strange email this week sent to Community Online that revealed a quite spooky connection, hopefully I can explain the story without mentioning the names.  The mail actually went into junk and I only spotted by chance.
 
I was contacted by someone who had bought a picture in West Sussex because they liked the frame.  When they removed the picture to put another picture in the frame they noticed there was a name and address on the backing paper.  The address was in Gobowen, they then found this website and got in contact.
 
The surname of the person was the same as a friend of mines partner, I thought it was a long shot but I got in contact.  They said, that their Dad grew up at that address and they would ask if he knew the name.  It turns out that the picture in the frame is actually their Great Grand Mother.
 
It also appears the the persons friend bought a similar game that had a picture of a man and assumes it is the women husband. They are going to hopefully get both pictures and send them to me and I will put pass them on to their Great Grand Daughter.
 
Thought it was a interesting story and worth sharing......

I noticed something this week; that on the 12th October the Community Online forum was 3 years old and if you are wondering what the number in the Topic Title is then take a look at the figures below.
 
In the 3 years the forum has been live:
 
242 members have joined
433 people followed the Twitter page
113 people 'liked' the Facebook page
711 Topics have been posted
10 local businesses advertised in the business section
3,286 posts have been made
 
and a whopping 311,432 views have been made to posts on the forum.
 
I hope that you'll agree thats pretty impressive for a local website. I also have a very exciting project in the pipeline, as things progress I will keep you updated.
 
So thanks for the past 3 years, I'll keep moderating the forums, posting stuff and keeping all the workings up to date and running smoothly. All you need to do is keep posting topics, adding events to the calendar and adding pictures to the gallery, because community forums aren't about me posting things its about the members of our community sharing information with each other, collaborating and hopefully making the place in which we live better for everyone.
 
See you in the forums,
 
Lee

The project is actually a material that has PV fibres in weft and battery fibres in warp.  It generates and stores its own power.
 
In answer to your question you could have PV windows and greenhouses.