All Annual Parish Meetings reports now up

All the reports given at this year’s APM are now available to read or download here (except for the presentation by the school which could hardly be captured without the contributions of all the schoolchildren in any case!). They make you proud to be a Natlander!

Church Magazine for June available now.

Click here for the Church magazine for June, with details of Church services and all the many other activities that are happening. One of the church boilers has completely broken down and the other one is only limping along. They both need replacing and this is going to cost £14,700. On top of the £10,000 the church had to pay out last year to repair its drains, this means that the reserve fund is running rather low. If you would like to contribute to the boiler fund go to pages 13 and 14 of the Parish Magazine or click on the mydonate web site and search for Natland or St. Mark's Church.

A History of St. Mark's Church now available

Laura Oldham, lay reader at the church, researched and wrote this history. She found records from Sizergh of the deeds of the of the first church which state that it was built in 1246, and a tithe barn built at the same time, probably where the Tithe Barn is now. Click on The Church on Natland Green for more.

Weather Last Month

                                                                  2015                                            2014
Temperature at 8 am                                  8.5c                                             9.6c
Average minimum temp.                            6.8c                                             8.2c
Average maximum temp.                          12.5c                                           13.3c
                                                             mm    in                                        mm    in
Rainfall                                               164.5   6.6                                      83     3.3

A rainy day in May

By far the wettest May we have had in the eleven years I have kept records! The average is 92.5mm, 3.7 ins. It was also cooler than usual with very strong winds, more like Autumn than Spring.

It all seems to be due to the Jet Stream being over us rather than to the North of the British Isles. It is expected to move later this week so let's hope June is a better month.  
John Dobson.

Progress on two long-standing issues at the May PC meeting

At the May Parish Council meeting two issues which will be very familiar to anyone who has followed our work over the past year(s) took a step forward. The Parish Council has been highlighting the regular flooding over the railway bridge for a long time and has, at last, had a constructive reply (and an apology) from Network Rail suggesting that action may be taken at some point in the (distant) future. And also Cllr Brenda Gray was able to report that she has persuaded the Highways department to conduct a study of the potential feasibility of the footway/cycleway on Natland Road. Again action will surely be a long way off, but the first step must be to know how much the work will cost before we can work out who could fund it and how. Well done, all! The full minutes can now be read and downloaded here. 

Annual Parish Meeting – your feedback welcome

At Tuesday night’s Parish Council meeting, the Chair and Clerk were forcefully criticised for changing the format of the Annual Parish Meeting from that followed by the previous Chair, making it more of a ‘social event’ rather than an opportunity for residents to raise their concerns. The Annual Parish Meeting belongs to the residents of Natland, however, and is, legally, nothing at all to do with the parish council (or what they have been doing over the past year, except inasmuch as the council is one of the groups in the parish, like the WI or the Brownies). Fortunately there is a lot more to Natland than the activities of the Parish Council!

However, it seems likely that I will, as Chair, be calling the meeting next year and I would very much like to hear how residents (at least those who read this website and the Parish News) would like their meeting to be conducted next time. If you feel full democratic participation in the meeting was stifled by not having a copy of the parish council’s annual report and accounts before the meeting, or not having an agenda published on the parish noticeboard, or by any other aspect of the event – or if, on the other hand, you would prefer next year’s meeting to be run along this year’s lines – I would like to hear from you (lois.sparling@gmail.com).

As ever, I’m keen to hear any suggestions as to how to build up our local community and draw in anyone who feels that they are on the fringes (geographically or technologically).

Thank you,
Lois Sparling, Chair, Natland Parish Council

The steam trains are back!

On Saturday 30 May 45699 Galatea will be northbound through Oxenholme at 11.44am. 70000 Britannia will follow northbound at 11.54am. or thereabouts.

Pat Williams

WI discuss resolution on long-term care needs

The May meeting of the Natland & Oxenholme WI discussed a motion for the national WI AGM in June on ‘Failing to care: Assessment of need in long-term care’ – an urgent and challenging issue of which most of us have some personal experience. They also heard reports on the visit of our very own ‘Calendar Girls’ to the WI centenary celebrations in Old Hutton and the Boxes of Hope appeal for shoeboxes for Romania this Christmas. Next month’s speaker will be talking about the work of Manna House in Kendal. You can read or download the full report here.

Standing room only at the APM!

A big thank you to everyone who gave up a summer (?) evening to come to the Annual Parish Meeting last night. We enjoyed finding out more about all the amazing things that are done in our parish – from St Mark’s School (whose school council helped their Headteacher tell us about all the things they do with tangible enthusiasm) and the unique local family business that is Appletree School, through the Natland Guides (who are in danger of closing if they don’t find new leaders over the summer), to our ‘Calendar Girls’ WI group and the trophy-winning table tennis club. And we hope some good new friendships and connections were made over a drink and a biscuit afterwards.

We are currently gathering digital copies of the reports that were given so that no one needs to miss out on what was said. You can read the first 10 or so of them here now.

Grants available for local young musicians

The Paul Pfeuti Young Musician Trust, administered from Queen Elizabeth School in Kirkby Lonsdale, supports school age young people from North Lancashire, North Yorkshire, the Isle of Man and the South Lakes with help towards the purchase of a new instrument, help towards the cost of travel expenses to auditions, exams fees and courses. Grants can be up to £100 and are made three times a year in May, September and January.

If you know any young person who would like some financial help click here to download the guidelines and the application form that needs to be completed.