Steam Train Coming Through

On Monday 30th July southbound through Oxenholme at 17-ll either 44932 Black 5 or 45305 Alderman A.E. Draper.

Pat Williams

Fly Posting or Advertising

It was reported to Natland News last Sunday that two hideous posters had been placed all over one side of the telephone kiosk at the entrance to Hawes Lane.  Concerns have been raised that it could spread to other parts of the village.  Unconfirmed reports suggest the posters were advertising KFC.  Natland Parish Council are aware and Councillors visited the kiosk as soon as Natland News alerted them on Sunday afternoon however the posters had already been removed.
 
When the issue of 'fly posting' (attaching posters to property without the owner's permission) was raised at a Parish Council meeting under the  'public participation' item the Council advised that members of the public should feel free to remove fly posters if they so wish.  Although if the poster is substantial and possibly of some value the remover has a duty to look after it in case the advertiser wishes to recover his property.

Natland News has now been informed that KFC posters that appeared on a phone box in Crook last week were paid-for adverts.  Perhaps whoever removed them should stay anonymous and lie low.

Superfast Broadband and Speed Tests Update

Readers may have heard that Fujitsu have pulled out of the tendering process for superfast broadband in Cumbria, leaving BT as the only bidder. Hopeless as this sounds, BT and CCC are still negotiating and apparently BT are improving their proposal. It is hoped that the Council may be in a position to accept a contract by mid-September.

Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to measure broadband for us in Natland. I am trying to find reassurance that there is some benefit in us doing this work, in the sense that someone will take the information into account when prioritising areas. There has been some (wild!) talk that the upgrading of Kendal - which is already on the cards - may be extended as far as Natland in any case but everything is horribly unclear.

I hope to be in touch shortly with requests for the information that we need and more volunteers welcome!"

Thank you

Lois Sparling - Broadband Champion & Parish Councillor

Door To Door Sales - Beware

It has been reported to us today that a group of males have been going door to door selling cleaning materials and household sundries in our area. They claimed to be offenders on a rehabilitation programme, a number of questions were raised regarding there identification papers and legitimacy of the organisation they worked for. Please remember do not deal with door step callers. Before answering your door ensure that your rear door is locked and use a chain on your front door this allows you to check there Identification with out compromising the security of your home. If you feel that there actions are suspicious do not hesitate to report it to the Police on 101.
Tom Howarth (Police, PCSO, Upper Kent (S))

NATLAND PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

There will be a meeting of the Council in the Village Hall at 7.30pm on Monday 30^th July 2012.  Please follow link to AGENDA

Annual Parish Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held in Natland Village Hall On Thursday 17^th May.  To view please follow link to MINUTES 

Microsoft Scam Continues

Residents across Cumbria are continuing to receive telephone calls from scammers claiming to be from Microsoft Security or other legitimate companies. Trading Standards are reminding residents to remain on their guard and to protect their personal details at all times.  This scam works by criminals calling people at home and informing them that a serious computer virus has been detected on their computer.  Once the scammers have tricked the victims into believing their computer has a problem they will use a variety of deception techniques to scam you.  The caller may try to access your PC remotely or obtain passwords. They may also pretend to fix the problem and ask for payment. 

If you receive a call like this you should ignore them. Never under any circumstances allow these callers to access your computers or obtain passwords.

 

If you think that you have been a victim of this type of fraud you report the matter to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or on line at www.actionfraud.police.uk.  For general consumer advice please contact Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 08454 04 05 06 or at www.adviceguide.org.uk                     Barry Evans, Natland Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator   

Women's Institute Report

     At the July meeting of Natland and Oxenholme W.I. President Marion Thornton welcomed members and a visitor.

     Several members who had visited the Queen of Diamonds Flower Festival in the Parish Church, Kendal, reported that those involved were to be congratulated for their hard work and talents in producing a magnificent display.

    Beyond Tea and Sympathy was the title of  the evenings speaker, Cathy Collins. She is a Volunteer Support worker with South Lakeland Carers, giving valuable respite days to local carers of all ages.

    Members read their favourite poem to the meeting which they had entered in the monthly competition, the winner was Dorothy Goddard.

    There will be no meeting in August, but a visit to Leighton Hall is planned for Wednesday, 8th August, to include a tour of the House and Gardens, a Falconry display, and Afternoon tea .....

Hope it's a beautiful  Summer day.... Any  members wishing to go who haven't already booked,

please contact Joan Ratcliffe before 1st. August.

     Preliminary Notice!

   The W.I. Are holding  a Jumble Sale to raise funds on Saturday 15th September 2pm. to 4pm. in the Village Hall.   Any contributions would be gratefully received.

    Next meeting will be held on 19th September at 7.30:  New  Zealand Travels with Pat and Martin Tetlow.

    Visitors always welcome to join our meetings. Margaret Lancaster.

Thanks to All Open Gardeners

Collin Mansfield would like to thank all who supported the Open Garden Day and Songs of Praise and made them such a great success.

Special thanks to those who opened their gardens and to their neighbours, family and friends who manned the various stalls and guided people around.

So far £1400 has been raised for church funds.

The Village Hall Committee would also like to add their thanks to all those who had tea in the café in the Village Hall or who baked cakes for sale. Over £300 was raised for the Village Hall funds.

New Look Punch Bowl Opens



New Look Puch Bowl - Photo by Don Shore

The Punchbowl at Barrows Green reopened on Friday 13th July after its biggest makeover and investment programme in years.  David Hall from Oxenholme took over as Landlord two years ago and has re-established the local as a favourite dinning and drinking hostelry of many Natlanders.   A brand new addition are the En-suite bedrooms.  It's a real family affair, his team behind the bar include his Brother and Sister.

David Hall pulling a pint for Natland News Editor
Photo by Don Shore



Product Safety Recall

Cumbria Trading Standards wish to draw your attention to the following product recall.

• Kleeneze Universal Plug Adaptor - recall*
• Warning: Product recall
• Potential Electrical Shock Hazard

A safety problem with the Travel Universal adaptor, Kleeneze item number: 096610-76 (shown as UNI PLUG ADAPT 56966105 on the packaging), has been discovered, which can potentially cause a risk of electrical shock. The product itself also has the reference "NO:931L" stamped on the casing.

• Product sold between 29/02/2012 and 29/6/2012     

We are recalling these products and are asking you to stop using them immediately and to remove them from the reach of children.
Please return the item to your Kleeneze distributor for a full refund.

If you are not able to contact your distributor, please call Kleeneze Customer Services on 0844 848 5000 for further advice.

For general consumer advice, please contact Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 08454 04 05 06 or visit www.adviceguide.org.uk

Three (more) Sopranos Benefit Concert

Music for a Summer's Evening

Roseanna Skikun, Lucy Crispin and Jane Maycock will be preforming a miscellany of vocal music from Purcell duets and operatic arias to folk songs and Simon and Garfunkel arrangements.

Accompanist: Clive Walkley.

Sunday July 22nd

7.30pm

St.Mark's Church, Natland.

Tickets: £7.

This is a fundraising concert: all proceeds will go towards enabling Roseanna to take up her place on the Artist Masters Programme in Performance at the Guildhall School of Music, London, in September.

Open Gardens and Songs of Praise pictures

Steam trains coming through

On Saturday 21st of July a loco yet to be named will be southbound through Oxenholme at 17-11.

On Monday either  44932 Black five or 46115 Scots Guardsman will be southbound through Oxenholme at 17-11.

Next train Saturday 28th July, no times yet.                                       Pat Williams

Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting

Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Monday 25^th June 2012. Please follow link MINUTES

Superfast Broadband – volunteer speed testers needed

Just after the first meeting of the new parish council in May, I took over as the village Broadband Champion. I will be keeping readers of this blog up-to-date with the campaign for superfast broadband in our area as it progresses. Sadly Cumbria County Council was unable to award a contract to either of the preferred bidders for the Connecting Cumbria programme as intended in June. Neither BT nor Fujitsu submitted satisfactory tenders and the negotiations continue so it is unlikely that rollout will begin in September as planned.

In the meantime local reps have been continuing to gauge support for superfast broadband in local communities including Hincaster, Crosthwaite & Lyth, Holme and Milnthorpe. I would like to gather information about the broadband speeds in Natland as part of this process, by asking a handful of folk across the parish to run speed tests at different times of day. If you think you could help, please email me on lois.sparling@gmail.com

Thank you, Lois Sparling

Natland Gardens Open this Sunday

Preparations are nearly complete for our Garden Open Day on Sunday 15th July starting at 11.30am

We are hoping for lots of visitors so would apologise in advance for any traffic congestion.

You will find attached a list of the gardens open. Admission is by programme at £4.00 per person on the day. These will be on sale at the Church. Children under 16 are free and programmes are still available in advance at £3.00 from Natland and Oxenholme post offices.

If you are from the village I suggest you start at one of the gardens near the A65 Burton Road i.e. High Wells, 3 Fell Close, Broad Lea, Greengarth or Grassgarth. All of these gardens will have admission programmes on sale at the garden. Parking is available for the less mobile at High Wells and Grassgarth whilst visiting those gardens.

Refreshments will be available from 1.00pm at the Village Hall. The afternoon will be rounded off with the Carnforth Salvation Army Band playing for Songs of Praise on the village green at 4.30pm

By kind permission of the owners the following gardens are open:

1.          2 Church View (Raffle tickets on sale)

2.          4 Church View

3.          Little Cracalt

4.          Town End Cottage, The Green

5.          Green View, The Green

6.          Sunbreak, Helm Lane

7.          The Anchorage, Helm Lane (Front garden only)

8.          2 Abbey Gardens (Ice cream on sale)

9.          11 Robby Lea Drive

10.        10 Robby Lea Drive

11.         Abbeystead, Abbey Drive

12.        30 Long Meadow Lane

13.        Grassgarth, Oxenholme Lane

14.        Greengarth, Oxenholme Lane

15.        Brooklyn, 3 Fell Close, Oxenholme  (Plant stall)

16.        Broad Lea, Burton Road, Oxenholme

17.        High Wells, Burton Road, Oxenholme

    Plants also on sale in the village hall.

Collin Mansfield.

Village Hall news

At the committee meeting on Monday the preschool group organiser described how the Village Hall was flooded last Thursday. Water came in through the back door because the drains were unable to cope. The rooms at the back and the small hall were flooded for a while but they have nearly dried out now. The committee decided that it would be difficult to install another soakaway drain and so it was decided to keep sandbags and a board in the cleaning cupboard for use should there be similar downfall again.

The smaller hall will have a new decor in the autumn as it is going to be painted in apricot and cream. A new flat roof is going to be put on the kitchen.

The winners of the 200 Club draw were no. 23, David Peters, first prize, no. 55, Martin Jayne, second prize and 81, M. Burns, third prize.

Weather statistics for June

                                                                                    2012                         2011

Temperature at 8am                                                      12.2c                        12.6c

Minimum temperature                                                   10.0c                         9.5c

Maximum temperature                                                   16.7c                       18.3c

                                                                               mm          in          mm          in

Rainfall                                                                  200          8.0          56          2.23

In common with the rest of the country, it was very wet in Natland! We had 2 ins of rain on 22/23 June and nearly 2 ins on the afternoon of 28 June when there was a thunderstorm. Although the nights were mild, daytime temperatures were lower than the average for May.                                                          John Dobson