News and information for Natland residents and visitors
The Parish Council has arranged to have the
The car park will be closed from 8:00am on the 23rd for the day.
The contractor intends to maintain vehicle access to properties although this may have to be arranged with the work force on the day and some delay may be possible. Pedestrian access will be available to the Village Hall and properties at all times.
The brass band will be there, and after we have all sung heartily there’ll be hot (non alcoholic) punch, mince pies and biscuits. Traditionally we sing in church because it’s usually raining, but this year the forecast is for a dry evening…… ed.We’re going to sing together in the warm dry church again.
The Coffee Morning has been postponed until Saturday the 14th, because of the weather.
Christmas is coming with carols and Christmas services, fundraising, music and social events at St.Mark’s Church. Click here for all the details. However if you wanted to come to the 4pm Carol Service on the 15th December, it’s not at Natland but at Old Hutton, where you would be very welcome. The Carol Service in St.Mark’s Natland is on the 22nd December at 4pm.
Trees, a possible footpath, potholes, a possible new housing development - all these were discussed at the last Parish Council meeting. And no, the 552 won’t be running while Sedgwick Road is closed from the 2nd December for a fortnight.
Here are the Notes from Our On the Spot Reporter and here are the Minutes
The C5071 between Natland and Sedgwick will be closed from 2nd December for around two weeks for patching work to take place. Natland Parish Council is trying to find out what will happen to the 552 bus over this period.
Financial matters are going to be top of the Agenda at the next Parish Council meeting. Here is the Budget Statement, the Cash Statement and details of a Pay Settlement.
On Saturday 16th November 45407 Black Five will be northbound Oxenholme 11:45. Pat Williams.
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| Peter and Kathryn Smith selling raffle tickets |
Kind regards
Sarah.
Our local Councillor Doug Rathbone of Westmorland and Furness Council, the Chairman of Natland Parish, Councillor Peter Smith, and John Miller of St. Mark’s Church laid poppy wreaths at the War Memorial this morning. The Service of Remembrance was led by The Reverend Lucy Foster.
The Age UK Natland Lunch Club meets every third Tuesday at The Punch Bowl, Barrows Green to enjoy a two course meal with tea or coffee included. There are three choices for each course and the cost is £15. To join or for further information contact Kathryn Smith on 015395 60531.
The National Trust have repaired the bridge at Sizergh after it was damaged by a storm last January. It was re opened this week.
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Click here to find out from our On the Spot Reporter all about the progress the Parish Council is making on various issues from pot holes to tree pruning. Here are the Minutes.
Click here for the form you need to fill in if you would like to fill this vacancy.
Click here to find links to how W&F Council can help us through the cold winter months.
Click here for all the activities happening at St. Mark’s Church and in the wider community this month.
This will be held at Natland Village Hall, on Monday 28th October 2024 at 7pm . Click here for the Agenda and here for details of proposed tree renovation work.
On Saturday 19th October 45212 Black 5 will be northbound Oxenholme 11:42.
Pat Williams.
Chris Bannister has performed many times in Natland and describes St Mark’s Church as one of his favourite venues because of the excellent acoustics and the warm welcome he always receives from audiences in the Kendal area. Performing in public became difficult after Covid with audiences reluctant to visit public venues. Over the last two years Chris took to the road performing to audiences across the world, from Australia, the USA, Japan and across Europe bringing his love of the songs of John Denver to a much wider audience.
Chris is 'Back Home Again' from travelling the world and will be able to tell tales of his travels when he returns to perform in Natland on Saturday 26th October, once again back in his favourite venue and performing predominantly the songs of John Denver with a few of his own recent compositions written whilst performing in Nova Scotia.
Any one wishing to hear Chris perform can call book online at www.trybooking.com/uk/DWUQ
Westmorland and Furness Council are continuing the Handyperson Scheme for the elderly or vulnerable. Click here for all the details.
Our On the Spot reporter has produced a racey account of the issues that were aired at the last Parish Council meeting. Click here for her Notes. Click here for the official Minutes.
There are still plenty of things happening at Church in October, despite the departure of the Rev. Angela and family at the start of the month. Click here for all the details.
Click here to see what will be discussed at the NPC meeting on the 30th September.
Westmorland and Furness District Council are asking for our opinions about proposed new speed limits in the village.
This map gives some more details of where the new speed limits will be. The purple roads would be 20mph, and Natland Road 40mph.
On Saturday 31st August, either 46100 Royal Scot or 34046 Braunton will be northbound Oxenholme 11am.
Also 34067 Tangmere will be northbound Oxenholme 11:39.
Pat Williams
Click here for news from St. Mark’s Church, including advance notice of the Harvest Festival on the 6th October, which will be followed by the final farewells event as the Rev. Angela leaves this parish for new parishes in Carlisle.
Click here for the minutes of the meeting held on the 29th July.
Click here for the report from our On the Spot reporter. Councillor Brook had attended the meeting and he answered questions about traffic and road closures, and about the draft local plan.
Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner David Allen has recently launched his Police, Fire and Crime Plan Consultation and is seeking the views of the public on the future priorities of Cumbria Constabulary and Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service.
The consultation results will assist with the development of the Police, Fire and Crime Plan for the next four years. The Plan sets out the aims that the Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Service will prioritise based on what the public would like to see from their services and will be used by the Commissioner to hold the Chief Constable and Chief Fire Officer to account.
As well as focussing on the priorities of the Services, the consultation is also asking residents how safe they currently feel in the county and their views on the current service they receive from Police and Fire and Rescue.
The survey can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PoliceFireandCrimePlanConsultation
It was announced in church this morning that Angela is to move to a new post in Carlisle (most probably in the Autumn). She is to be Priest in Charge of St Cuthbert with St Mary (the church near M&S and the Cathedral) and Priest in Charge of St Aidan with Christ Church (the church not far from the football ground).
Everyone at St. Mark’s will be very sad to see her and all her family go, but like her we trust in God that she is doing the right thing, just as she has always worked so hard to do the right thing by us.
Click here for the Agenda for the next Parish Council meeting. The new Local Plan, parking and finance are among the things which will be discussed. Public participation is invited for the start of the meeting, which is at 7pm.
There’s a Spud in a Bucket event in St. Mark’s Church and Vestry this Saturday the 6th July, 2-4pm, and it doesn’t matter if you didn’t get round to planting one, because there are stalls, coffee, tea and cake, a raffle, a bottle bola and challenges and other things to amuse the children as well. Plus it will be a nice place to come out of the cold and wet.
In the middle of the month there’s the Fellas Concert, Bring and Share Picnic and a Quiz at Castlesteads, and Cameo on the 21st. August is a bit quieter, though there are walks on the 6th and 24th and a Vestry Coffee Morning on the 22nd. Church Services will continue as usual over the holiday period, and they are always followed by coffee/tea and biscuits.
Not strictly Natland, but since we’re downstream of all things Kendal, we could be affected by what is happening. Newsletter 1.
FROM YOUR ON THE SPOT PARISH COUNCIL REPORTER
Not much to to report from the June parish council meeting. There were only three councillors present, no Westmorland & Furness (W&F) cllrs and quite a short agenda. The update on the 20mph speed limit didn't reveal much new. Consultation on the issue is now delayed due to the General Election and when it does get off the ground the format will be decided by W&F. The parish council is already thinking about how to ensure that all households not only get the information but can have their say.
Having seen what an improvement to the village green and church environs removal of the bus shelter has made, there are now no plans to resite the notice boards in that area. The council are still looking at other options to make the notice boards more noticeable! Renovation of the pavement has been asked for and there was also some discussion and a suggestion about how to stop parking on it afterward.
The annual audit for 2023/24 of the financial position has been completed satisfactorily and the associated annual paper work completed and signed. No current cash or budget statements were presented to the meeting, 'the books being with the auditor still'.
More interesting snippets of information came up during the Correspondence section. The work which was due to start in June and would close Oxenholme Lane has now been delayed until July and after St Mark's school has closed. It took one of the cllrs to intervene to get this decision but you really would have hoped that Open Reach themselves could have come up with this obviously better solution. There was also some talk that at some point fibre would have to be laid to get across the village green. As neither digging up the green nor poles across the green are acceptable lets hope a bit of lateral thinking can be applied to that challenge.
No reply has been received from W&F about the meaning and legality of the white lines at the bottom of Oxenholme Lane so an enterprising cllr went to the police for a decision. There too there seemed to be a bit of confusion about the purpose of those specific lines was but in general white lines delineate the edge of the road (in this case the wall seems to do that job quite effectively) and any other intention would not be enforceable.
The next meeting is on Monday 29th July at 7pm.
Cadent Gas like Oxenholme Lane so much that they are coming back again to dig it up (in bits) from Natland Road along the Green and up to the school, so the road will be closed from 24th June to 27th June, or thereabouts.
After intervention by a parish councillor, this has now been postponed until after school breaks up.
If your child has free school meals you can find and book free childrens' activities and events in the school holidays.
This is the link: https://www.westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk/schools-and-education/holiday-activities-and-food-haf-programme
A young and rather unkempt young man has been spotted on Oxenholme Lane appearing to ‘case the joint’. It might be a good time to make sure your doors are kept locked when you’re not around.
FROM YOUR ON THE SPOT PARISH COUNCIL REPORTER
As the May parish council meeting was also the annual council meeting the first item was to elect the officers of the council. Cllr P Smith was re-elected as chairman and cllr P Ball elected as vice chairman. Other positions were filled as follows: Highways, cllr M Clark; Footpaths, cllr J Kelly; Village Hall and Cumbria Association of Local Councils(CALC) rep cllr, P Smith and Common Land, cllr I Ellison. No dissension and nobody barred from standing!
Neither of the W&F cllrs were in attendance as it was a Bank Holiday.
The Zoom meeting between W&F Highways, cllr D Rathbone and cllrs Smith and Clark had agreed the roads to be considered for a 20mph zone and some where speed limits might change. The 20 mph inclusions would be the current village limits, Fell Close and Rochester Gardens (that's the small development on the east side of the A65). Consideration would also be given to extending the 40mph limit on the A65 southwards to cover the junction with Helm Lane. Some reduction on Natland Rd would also be necessary to give a lead in to the 20mph zone.
W&F initially planned to go out to consultation with these proposals this summer, but the council has since learnt that this will probably be delayed due to the General Election. The necessary regulations would then have to be made and implementation was originally planned for Spring 2025 but presumably this will now be delayed. The parish council spent some time in discussing how widest coverage for consultation and comment could be achieved.
Discussion of improvement to the area in front of the church took some time. The redundant bus shelter is to be removed and it has been confirmed that no planning approval is needed for this. The regulations surrounding siting 'Information Boards' are more complex (a 20 page booklet with 14 clauses) and advice is being sought from CALC before going ahead with re-siting the parish council board.
Some of you will have noticed and commented on the new road markings by the St Mark's school and at the bottom of Oxenholme Lane. I'm trying to be diplomatic and non partisan - but the parish council had no say in this new signage. The Highway Code and Mr Google were consulted for a definition of what the single solid line means. The area giving rise to concern is that the white line on the south side of Oxenholme Lane (where residents have traditionally parked) extends further towards the village green than does the line on the side of the Vicarage. Clarification is being sought from W&F Highways with the possibility that a change might be asked for if the white line does mean No Parking.
Other items noted for possible action were grass cutting on the village green and cleaning of the bus shelter at the top of Oxenholme Lane.
The next meeting will be on Monday 24th June at 7pm
Here is a link to the Parish Council Minutes of the meeting of the 27th May, with details of the speed restrictions which will be introduced after the election.
On Saturday 15th June 34067 Tangmere will be northbound Oxenholme 11:39. Pat Williams.
There’s been a report from a neighbour in Natland who answered the phone this morning to an 015395 number, only to be told by someone with a very sophisticated accent that her bank account had had £600 taken out of it. This neighbour realised straightaway that it was a scam, but would like to alert everyone that you can’t even trust that the local code is genuine, and that there is this scam going round at the moment.
Help is available to enable you to keep your energy bills down. Click here for all the details.
Click here for all the information about what is happening at St. Mark’s Church in June.
The Parish Council are meeting on Bank Holiday Monday to discuss items on the Agenda. Here are the Minutes from the April Meeting.
Aline Nibogora from Burundi is an example of someone who has benefitted from your donations. Christian Aid reckons £100 can provide ten people with the training that supports their family to set up a small business, such as selling home-grown vegetables. Aline benefitted from a project like this. So, worldwide, our Coffee Morning could help 90 families out of poverty. Thank you for all those filled envelopes, for your help, support, and generosity. They are truly life-changing.
The band has a rhythm section with two on the front line and they will be playing classic New Orleans style jazz, as well as music from the swing era, and other styles along the way, all benefitting from the Church’s acoustic. It should be a very lively evening.
Refreshments, a raffle and a retiring collection.
The familiar red Christian Aid envelope will soon be dropping through your door, and this year the focus is on one individual, Aline Nibogora from Burundi. She managed to raise herself up from homelessness and social exclusion with a little help from Christian Aid and her own determination.
This is a pattern which Christian Aid replicates in many of the poorest countries of the world, and which your donations support.
So do bring your donation to the Coffee Morning, and enjoy a free cup of coffee. Elspeth Jayne, Voluntary Christian Aid rep.
Click here to find out what happened at the Parish Council Meeting held after the Annual Parish Council Meeting last Monday, the 29th April, after the public left.
Here is a diary for the many activities organised by St. Mark’s Church in May.
Here is the Agenda for the meeting of Parish Councillors to be held immediately after the Annual Parish Meeting.
The Women’s Institute members, our own and those from surrounding groups, had a good time last Wednesday. We had a meal, and then Judy Beeston gave a convincing impersonation of Edith Rigby, the Preston suffragette.
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| Joan Ratcliffe, Chair of Natland and Oxenholme W.I., and Judy Beeston. |
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| Kirsten Cannon being presented with a 30 years service certificate. |
There are plenty of opportunities to celebrate together at St Mark’s Church this April. Click here for all the details.
March 2024. March Average
C. C.
Temperature at 8am. 5.4. 4.5
Average Minimum temperature 4.6 3.0
Average Maximum temperature. 9.1 8.6
Rainfall. 157mm. 107mm.
6.7 ins 4.3 ins.
March was another month with above average rainfall, but not as wet as last year. It was mild with no below zero temperatures.
