Church Magazine for May

Click here for details of the many events organised by St. Mark's Church this month. There are Church services and social events for all ages, as well as the sad story of James Francis Inman, buried in out churchyard (p.7), suggestions of why statistically a church is a safe place to be (p.18) and an offer of a tent (p.14), together with many other village activities.

Why not come to the Village Hall AGM this bank holiday?

It's a chance to see how elections really should take place. Under the admirably concise chairmanship of Ray Richardson this AGM will be over in half an hour. Come and meet the people who keep the Village Hall up and running.

The AGM for the Village Hall will be held in the Village Hall 

 7.00pm on Monday, May 4th 2015 

All interested members of the public welcome

AGENDA

1.  Apologies
2.  Minutes of previous meeting
3.  Matters arising
4.  Treasurer’s report and accounts
5.  Chairman’s report
6.  Election of Committee
7.  Any other business

Parish Council Meeting

The agenda and papers for the April meeting of Natland Parish Council have now been published and are available to read or download here.

Along with other issues we will be discussing is that of how to make sure that developers looking to build in the Parish are made fully aware of local concerns and needs well before they put in their planning applications. More information will be available on this website in due course.

WI gets the 'inside' story

The guest speaker at April’s meeting of Natland and Oxenholme WI was Maria Radice, who gave us a very interesting talk on prisons. Maria spoke of how she became involved with the prison service, the effect her visits had and her own views on various aspects of prison reform. For the full report of the meeting, click here.

The next meeting will be on Wednesday 20th May (7.30pm) in the Village Hall. The 2015 ‘Resolutions’ will be discussed. Rosemary Webster the local fundraising co-ordinator for the area, will be attending in connection with the Centenary Year Shoebox appeal.

Garage Wanted

I am a Natland resident, recently having retired and indulged my desire to own a small classic car. I am looking to rent some garage space to keep the car protected, as our cottage does not have one.

Does anyone have any undercover space to spare?

Many thanks,
Paula Bradley (Lane Cottage, Helm Lane 015395 61069)

May Parish Meeting – save the date!

This year’s Annual Parish Meeting takes place at 7.30pm on Thursday 21 May at the village hall and everyone in the parish is invited to come along and contribute. More information will be posted here soon (and in the Parish News and through your letterbox) but please ‘save the date’ if you can. This year, in addition to the usual business, Peter Barfoot and members of St Mark’s School school council will be talking about what’s going on at our village school and there’ll be a chance to stay and chat over a (free!) glass of wine at the end of the evening.

Time to Spring into action

Spring is here! It’s time to get out in the fresh air and help give Natland a fresh and cared-for look.

As a Natland Volunteer, you can help by taking on ‘stewardship’ of a particular footpath within the parish. This would involve clearing any obstructive woody growth, brambles and nettles, particularly at stiles and gates, and then re-visiting every few weeks until the autumn to deal with re-growth. This should then encourage walkers to make greater use of these paths and their footfall will keep the softer growth in check.

Or you could suggest other aspects of parish maintenance that you feel need attention, from individuals or small teams of volunteers, or a more substantial project that could be tackled by a working group.

To volunteer, find out more about what is involved, or send in your suggestions, just email Sarah (sarahroberts00@yahoo.co.uk). Thank you for offering your time to look after the parish.

Sarah and Lois (your parish councillors) 

Village Hall Matters

At the Committee Meeting last Monday, plans were made to re-paint the large hall in August.  A grant of £1000 has been received from the County Council Local Committee for South Lakeland towards the installation of acoustic panels, which will be done after the painting.

The next meeting is the AGM to be held at 7pm on Monday the 4th May. This is a short open meeting for anyone who is interested in the ins and outs of the way our valuable village facility is kept going.

1818 Auctioneers and Afternoon Tea in the Church

Bring along your antiques, collectables, curios or the stash from your attic for a valuation by 1818 Auctioneers and Valuers in a relaxed environment. Valuations without obligation. Enjoy home made tea and cakes in one of the finest early 20th century churches in Cumbria. 

Take part in an antique related quiz and antique valuation challenge to test your skills against the experts with a chance of winning a prize for the nearest valuations. Drop in at any time between 1.30 and 4.00 to suit you for a warm welcome and stay as long or short a time as you wish. Or, just come along for the tea and cakes and some good company in our beautiful village.

It's on Wednesday 22nd April, 1.30-4pm.

Steam trains cancelled

Steam trains have been cancelled on the west coast main line until further notice, as a driver recently went through a red light. 15 May has been mentioned depending on the inquiry.

Pat Williams

Parish Council still looking for one more recruit

At the March parish council meeting we all agreed how important it was to fill the final empty seat on the council. As we don’t have elections this year, it’s just a matter of someone coming forward who is interested and being co-opted. If you’re thinking about it and would like a chance to meet as us all together, the Annual Parish Meeting on Thursday 21 May would be a great opportunity. This year, after the usual reports from the council and village groups, Peter Barfoot, Headteacher of St Mark’s School, will be making a short presentation and there will be an opportunity to stay for a glass of wine or fruit juice afterwards and have a chat.

The full minutes of the parish council meeting are available to read or download here.

Natland Guides need YOU!

Natland Guides needs new volunteer leaders to run our small and lovely Guide unit in Natland!   Karen and Hannah are stepping down as volunteers at the end of the Summer term due to personal reasons. Without adults to run the unit the future of the Guides at Natland is uncertain, but be assured that Girlguiding Kendal Division are doing all they can to find someone to take their place come September!

Being a volunteer in Girlguiding is rewarding: not only do you get to learn and develop new skills, you get to watch and see the Guides grow in confidence and ability during the time that they are at Guides. The Guides themselves decide, plan and run quite a lot of their weekly activities and no week is the same.

So if you think you can help then please do get in contact with Karen at natlandguiding@gmail.com or have a look at http://girlguiding.org.uk/get_involved/volunteer/why_volunteer.aspx or www.girlguidingkendal.co.uk. You won’t regret it!

Church Magazine available

Find out details about all the other activities that are happening at St Mark’s Church and in the wider community this April, by clicking on this link to the Parish Magazine.

In like a lion...

	Mar 2015		Mar 2014
Average temperatures
Temperature at 8am	4.2C		4.8C
Min temperature	2.5C		3.7C
Max temperature	7.3C		9.0C
Total rainfall	mm	in	mm	in
	148	5.9	84	3.4

March was colder than last year and wetter than usual. We had a week of dry weather in the middle of the month, otherwise it rained nearly every day. There were gales at the start and end of the month, so March came in like a lion and went out ditto!

John Dobson