Parish Council presses the case for the Natland Road cycle/footway

County Councillor Brenda Gray attended the first Parish Council meeting of the year and councillors took the opportunity to follow-up recent approaches to the Highways Department by the Traffic & Highways Working Group, and a letter from the Council to Brenda at the end of last year, on the topic of a cycle/footway along the Natland Road. Councillors stressed the widespread support shown by the Parish Plan consultation in 2013 and the road safety and sustainable transport issues for children and families travelling to and from school in Natland and Kendal, as well as the fact that Natland is on a National Cycle Route. Among other things in a long agenda, the Council also set its budget for the coming year and decided that the Parish Council element of the council tax should stay at existing levels for another year. The full minutes of the meeting are available on the parish noticeboard and can be downloaded here.

Natland Young at Heart Social Group

This Group for older residents runs at Natland Village Hall. The group will next
meet on Monday 9th February from 1.45- 3.45pm. At this meeting we will be
finding out about how Age UK can help support you to make an Advance
Decision, Advance Statement and a lasting Power of Attorney for Health and
Welfare. We feel that is important that you understand your choices and how
you can plan ahead for your future treatment and care. Everybody welcome.

LUNCH CLUB You are invited to come along to St Mark’s Primary School on
Tuesday 10th February at 1.30pm for lunch. Be waited on by the children and
enjoy a delicious meal for only £2.50 .Places are limited, so to book a place
please ring Ruth Taylor on 01539 728180 by 2nd February. This event is in
partnership with St Mark’s Church and St Mark’s School

To find out about the services which Age UK South Lakeland can offer older
people call our helpline on 01539 728180 and we will put you in touch with your
local Village Agent, Ruth Taylor or visit her at St Marks Church in the vestry on
Thursday 5th February from 10.30am- 11am.

Have a chat with Ruth and find out whether you might be entitled to apply for
any other benefits such as Attendance Allowance or Pension Credit. If you are
applying for a Blue Badge, she can help you with the application and she can
tell you about all the services which Age UK offer in the local area such as nail
cutting, lunch clubs, exercise and social groups. She would be happy also to
visit you at home. Just get in touch.

Do you have a copy of ‘Natland: In living memory’?

One of the topics under discussion at a very busy Parish Council meeting last night was Cllr John Bateson’s recent chats about local history with various residents, with a view to setting up a group to looking at finding a way to display something of the history of our parish in some permanent and public way (in addition to the war memorial and Daphne Lester’s wonderful illustrated map which some of you may have copies of).

Daphne’s map was drawn as part of a project called ‘In Living Memory’ run by the WI in the South Lakes almost 40 years ago, to create scrapbooks of the history of as many local villages as possible. It seems that the one made for Natland has sadly been lost (it is not in the County archive) and only the map remains. If you have any idea how John might track it down, or would like to help John with the local history project, please get in touch.

At last fibre optic broadband may have come to Natland

Barry Shippen writes: Are you aware that fibre broadband is now available at least on Longmeadow? I found out half by accident. BT have not been responsive as far as sending out emails to those who registered interest were concerned. Fitting and setup is very quick and straightforward.

Lois Sparling, Broadband Champion, replies: Thanks, Barry, for spurring me into action. I’ve been asking for information about where the roll-out is up to (and where it’s not going to reach) for a long time with no clear result. But I’ve just been in and used the linechecker on every postcode in the parish and can say that the following postcodes should all be able to get fibre broadband by now: LA8 0JN and LA9: 7ER, 7FJ, 7LH, 7PP, 7PZ, 7QA, 7QB, 7QD, 7QE, 7QH, 7QJ, 7QL, 7QN, 7QP, 7QQ, 7QR, 7QT, 7QU, 7QW, 7QY, 7QZ, 7SP, 7XX. The following postcodes cannot get it at the moment and it is unclear whether they will: LA8 0AA, LA9 7PS and LA9 7PT. For the rest of the parish, no data was available either way when I looked tonight – but it would be worth checking your own postcode as the website had a habit of crashing while I was using it!

January WI meeting hears talk on the Pendle Witches

Natland and Oxenholme WI held their first meeting of 2015 recently. It was well attended, and one new member was introduced and welcomed.

Jean Clement was congratulated on 30 years of WI membership. President Kirsten Cannon presented a certificate in recognition of her long-standing membership.

The guest speaker for the evening was Terry Bond who gave us an informative talk on ‘The Pendle Witches’. Part of his talk concentrated on unravelling the truth behind the facts, the persecution, superstition and events that led up to trial and punishment.

The vote of thanks was given by Doris Aldworth on our behalf.

The monthly competition was won by Joan Airey with second Kirsten Cannon.

Next meeting will be Wednesday 18 February (at 7.30pm) at the Village Hall. ‘A Ranger’s Story’ is the subject of guest speaker Peter Farrand.

Visitors and new members welcome.

On Saturday 24 January a double header 45407 The Lancashire Fusilier and 45690 Leander will be northbound through Oxenholme 9.49.

This is a PROVISIONAL TIME and has not yet been confirmed

Pat Williams

First parish council meeting of the new year

The next meeting of Natland Parish Council will take place at 7.30pm on Monday 26 January in the Village Hall. You are very welcome to attend and the agenda is now available to read or download here.

We still have room for one more councillor to bring a fresh perspective to our discussions and would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in helping us continue to implement the parish plan, represent residents’ interests in many different consultations about local services and look for new ways to enhance our community life. Please email Lois (the current Chair of the Council) if you would like to find out more about what being a councillor involves.

Free Community Energy Conference in Penrith

CREA (Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency) has just announced the programme for its day-long Community Energy Conference at its offices in Penrith on Saturday 31 January. This is made up of talks by a range of speakers from local projects and government bodies in the morning, followed by practical workshops on renewable energy, switching energy suppliers, planning permission and energy efficient community buildings in the afternoon.

To find out more, and book a free place, click here.

And if you come back inspired to start a Natland Community Energy group – one of the actions in the current Parish Plan – the parish council would love to hear from you!

Sign a petition to support rural communities

The Government is currently considering the removal of funding for the ACRE network.

ACRE is a nationwide network of rural community councils which funds, leads or enables thousands of projects to help people tackle the challenges they face – from lack of affordable homes, broadband or public transport to supporting the young, the elderly and the most vulnerable in our society.

Funding from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to the network helps to lever in a significant amount of additional funding – providing value-for-money for the communities it serves. ACRE is also a principal source of funding for ACT (Action for Communities in Cumbria) which helped the Parish Plan Steering Group hugely in developing Natland’s new Parish Plan last year.

Click here to sign an e-petition to the government to continue supporting ACRE and community action in England: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/73418

Grants available for community groups

Cumbria County Council makes grants available in our area through the South Westmorland Neighbourhood Forum to support projects organised and run by local community groups which benefit the local area. (Ideally groups should be already doing some of their own fundraising.)

Grants have been awarded to playgroups, sports groups, youth clubs, environmental groups and community halls in the past, mainly to support buying equipment or do some refurbishment. If you have a project in mind and would like to find out more contact Kelly Alty on 01539 713447 or email kelly.alty@cumbria.gov.uk.

The deadline for completed applications for the next Neighbourhood Forum meeting is Friday 30 January.

Art Exhibition in Natland & Oxenholme Village Hall: Calling all artists

The Village Hall Management Committee invite you to enter paintings in the Art Exhibition to be held in the Village Hall on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th March 2015. This annual event is held to showcase local talent and also raise money for hall funds. 

The closing date for receipt of entry forms is Monday 23rd February, and individual artists may enter up to 4 paintings for sale in the exhibition. 

Full details of how to enter can be found here.  Entry forms are available either as a PDF or as a MS Word document which can be edited and returned by email.

The exhibition will be open to the public on the Saturday from 10am to 4pm and on Sunday from 11.30am to 4pm. Refreshments will be on sale in the small hall.

Sarah Roberts (Exhibition co-ordinator)

Fun Quiz Night

Natland and Oxenholme Village Hall

The 2015 Annual Fun Quiz 

(with hot pot supper)

will be held in the Village Hall on the

7th February 2015

at 7.30 pm 

Teams of four (but we can help to make up a team if you are short) 

Entry forms available from the Management Committee or from:-

Ray Richardson, 4 Killington Drive, Kendal LA9 7NY 

(tel:  01539 740845)  E: raymond.richardson@tiscali.co.uk   to be returned by 1 February 2015 or by clicking on this link.

Entry fee £8.00 per head which includes the supper and Home made sweet.    Please bring own glasses and drink.

Please note cancellations received after the closing date will still be charged

Village Hall Committee Meeting.

At the meeting on the 5th January the Committee discussed repairs and maintenance and agreed to hold a working party to remove the leaves and undergrowth around the sheds on the 24th January at 10am. 

Members were asked to prepare ideas for the decoration of the main hall so that a plan of work could be set up and estimates requested. 

The winners of the 200 Club draw are 1st: 55 - Martin Jayne; 2nd - Myra Melville; 3rd - Barbara Bowley.

Coffee Morning in Church

Heart Start Course available

Highs and lows in December

	2014		2013
Average temperatures
Temperature at 8am	3.2C		5.0C
Min temperature	1.9C		3.3C
Max temperature	5.7C		7.1C
Total rainfall	mm	in	mm	in
	124	5	120	4.8

Although on average December was colder than last year, there were swings of low and high temperatures during the month. We avoided the snow which hit the Midlands and rainfall was average. The total for 2014 was 49.7 ins which is below average (54.6ins over 10 years).

John Dobson