Plans for a new Banking Hub for Bakewell progress as meeting is held with local MP
Derbyshire Dales District Council held a meeting of Bakewell Banking Hub stakeholders on Friday 12 July.
The meeting was attended by John Whitby MP and stakeholders agreed to collaborate in the preparation of a ‘business case’ to enable Mr Whitby to progress discussions with the government minister. It was proposed that Bakewell Town Council co-ordinate activity.
Paul Wilson, Derbyshire Dales District Council Chief Executive said “The meeting on Friday was very positive with a wide range of stakeholders contributing their views on the need for a Banking Hub in Bakewell. We are delighted that progress is being made.”
The District Council expressed a wish to secure a banking hub in Bakewell, following the closure of the Natwest Bank branch in the town in February of this year.
The meeting of stakeholders was attended by Town, District and County Councillors, MP John Whitby, the Peak District National Park Authority, Derbyshire Age UK, Citizens Advice Bureau, East Midlands Chamber, Rural Action Derbyshire, Bagshaws Auctioneers and the National Farmers’ Union.
Bradwell Gala Week Methodist Teas
We have made some changes to our opening times during the week this year, 3rd August to Saturday 10th August. We will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday, 6th and 7th of August.
Our opening times on other days will be 12.00-4.00, with the exception of Saturday 10th when we will be open from 10.30- 5.00.
Everyone very welcome, we look forward to seeing you.
This Sporting Life – u3a Bakewell goes backstage
Tuesday 30th July
The summer months are crammed with sporting events – Wimbledon and a bevy of other tennis tournaments, Euro 2024 (oh dear, so near, so far), the T20 World Cup and the West Indies Test Series for cricket fans, the Tour de France, now the Olympic Games in Paris. So it seemed the right time for u3a Bakewell to find out a bit more about what goes into covering these events on television. Enter Peter Slater, a former BBC sports reporter and producer who now lives in the Peak District, who is coming to the Medway Centre on Tuesday afternoon, 30th July, to talk about his experiences and some of the many sports stars he met during his working life.
Peter had a long career with the Beeb and this brought him into contact with the likes of superstars such as Mohammed Ali, Geoffrey Boycott, Brian Clough – so expect some amusing anecdotes about these and other larger-than-life characters.
The event has been organised by u3a Bakewell as the latest of their Meg Laird Talks - Meg was behind the founding of u3a Bakewell more than 25 years ago and these meetings are a lively reminder of her infectious enthusiasm. The talks are for everyone, admission is £3 payable at the door and includes tea or coffee (and u3a Bakewell's famous cakes). Make a note of the date, Tuesday 30th July at the Medway Centre, doors open at 2pm for a 2.15pm start.
Cromford WI
Our amazing Lifeboatmen and women
The Cromford ladies sat mesmerised in morbid fascination as we watched a fast moving shocking video of a year in the life of the RNLI around Britain's coast.
In 2022 from New Year's day to New Year's Eve 5000 brave lifeboat crew turned out at 238 stations, for over 9000 launches in 330 lifeboats, spending 60,000 hours at sea. 389 lives were saved plus a further 86 by lifeguards on beaches. Each day, 25 launches assisting 45 people took place.
Richard and William held us spellbound in admiration as they explained the origin, formation and development and of the charity which we rely on to keep us safe at the coast. Founded in 1824 and used mainly for rescues and recovery in the fishing and cargo industries around the tretcherous East coast, it has evolved, developed and moved with the times using technology to improve safety of both crew and public.
Sadly, often the greatest leaps forward have been following loss of life and tragedies, when mistakes have been recognised or lucky inventions have been discovered ;
All except one of the Whitby lifeboat crew were drowned in vicious stormy seas in the late 1800s.... the only one wearing a cork lifejacket...now crew are issued with buoyancy protective gear tailored specifically for the type of seas they sail (as are the different styles of boats)....and we all remember the dreadful scenes in Zeebrugge harbour in 1987 as the ferry 'Herald of Free Enterprise' sank, trapping 193 holidaymakers and crew in a watery grave just outside the harbour walls, within sight of the shore. All ferries now have stringent bow door rules.
The BBC programme 'Saving lives at sea' has been a wonderful aid to the RNLI as many more people and children are aware of the dangers and fearsome strength of our seas, learning actions such as ‘don't panic float like a starfish’ and sales of waterproof mobile phone covers have certainly saved lives.
The fundraising and education of folk in the Derbyshire surrounds have equipped and supported the training, equipping and delivery of one of the most crucial public services we are extremely fortunate to have access to in every bay, beach and seas around our coast. In fact one of our own WI ladies helped fundraise for the lifeboat 'Spirit of Derbyshire' 15 years ago and it is still efficient!
No government funding or involvement in organisation operates and the RNLI will continue to run the charity in their expert, experienced way. However the RNLI costs £160-£170 million a year to run! No fee is charged for rescues – no blame or criticism is given, even though sometimes behaviour has been staggeringly careless!
Please remember them in your charity giving in both wills and collection boxes at the seaside! It may be you or your family that needs rescuing!
We were told; If you only take three facts home... Encourage the wonderful men and women volunteers; Respect the sea...Float to Live...
New Venue for Cromford WI
On September 2nd we will be meeting at 7.15pm in The Greyhound Hotel, Cromford Market Place.
We have many fun events arranged – come and join us... we would love to see you!
St Helen’s Ladies Group Talk
St. Helen’s Ladies Group met on Wednesday 13th June at 2pm at Darley Dale Methodist Church Hall when the members enjoyed an illustrated and informative talk by Brian Naylor on the restoration of Heage Windmill.
Refreshments were served by Christine Kirkham, Sandra Vardy and Ida Greatorex.
The next meeting will be on 11th September 2pm at Darley Dale Methodist Church Hall when Rashelle Maltx Jones will be giving a talk and shop on Rashelle Pearls. New members will be warmly welcomed and can contact the Chairman for further information about the group.
Mrs B. Scargill Chairman of St Helen’s Ladies Group 01629 734339.
MORE ENHANCEMENTS TO BUS SERVICES ACROSS DERBYSHIRE THIS SUMMER
More bus service enhancements and changes are coming across Derbyshire this summer. The changes are made up of improvements to existing services and the introduction of new services too. These enhancements and additions are funded by the extra £4.5m Derbyshire County Council has received on top of the Council’s £47 million Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) programme.
Peak Sightseer Blue
The Peak Sightseer open-top bus is back and better than ever this summer with the brand new, additional Blue route. The Blue route runs from Chatsworth via Baslow and Grindleford and then along the Hope Valley to Castleton before finishing at the Blue John Caverns. The Red route is similar to the service operated last summer, with a circular route running from Chatsworth to Bakewell, Ashford-in- the-Water, Hassop before returning to Chatsworth. Peak Sightseer is running 7 days a week until the start of October 2024 and then weekends only until the end of the autumn half term holiday.
62 Peak Pathfinder
The 62 Peak Pathfinder is a new service to provide a direct link from Buxton to Castleton for the first time. This allows residents from the Hope Valley to access the health, shopping and leisure facilities in Buxton and Chapel en le Frith and allow improved access to this section of the national park for tourism. The route also restores a regular bus service to Edale and is scheduled to link with rail services from there to Manchester. The service operates all week from approximately 8.30am to 7pm.
Service 61 Glossop to Buxton
The 61 service runs between Glossop and Buxton. From 14th July, the 61 will see an increased frequency to every 30 minutes for most of the day Monday to Friday, with a later evening arrival in Buxton and Glossop after 7:30pm
Derbyshire Connect Shopping Bus service in the Hope Valley
The Derbyshire Connect Shopping Bus services provides a weekly door to door service from peoples home to a local town This improved service, already commenced, will give communities in the Hope Valley a second journey a week allowing them to access an alternative destination.
BUXTON MUSEUM UNVEILS SUMMER PROGRAMME OF FREE EVENTS
A summer programme of free events in different venues has been announced by Derbyshire County Council’s Buxton Museum and Art Gallery team.
The events will be held in Buxton during July and August and will not only provide entertainment and educational opportunities for families over the school holidays but will also be an opportunity for the museum and art gallery to continue its work and maintain a presence in the town while the museum is closed.
The museum and art gallery in Peak Buildings on Terrace Road has been closed to the public since June 2023 after structural investigation work revealed dry rot in structural timbers and floor joists, making parts of the building potentially unsafe.
Although initially a temporary closure, a decision to permanently relocate the museum from Peak Buildings was announced in May.
Making the announcement about the permanent relocation, Council Leader Councillor Barry Lewis said the authority had been left with no choice following on-going buildings assessments which had revealed the potential costs and length of time which could be needed for the authority to bring the building back into use as a modern-day museum.
Work is continuing to look for a suitable alternative new home for the museum and art gallery, with the council engaging with partners, including positive discussions with High Peak Borough Council, on a range of options.
The council is also encouraging engagement with local interest and heritage groups, urging them to work with the authority to suggest and discuss alternatives and explore options.
Museum staff are currently putting together an interim service to ensure residents and visitors can still access some of the artefacts and displays, and these events are the first to be announced.
The museum team will be working with local artist and storyteller Creeping Toad, to run the events which celebrate the people, wildlife and histories of Buxton and the Peak District.
As well as being free, no tickets or booking are needed, with people encouraged to drop by and join in. The activities take around 30-45 minutes each and all materials will be provided.
Community choir High Peak Singers raised £375 at charity concert on 6th July
High Peak Singers, a community choir formed in 2022 raised £375 for charity at their summer concert, on Saturday, July 6th. Performing a beautiful selection of choral music, from the Hebrew Boi Kalah, to James Taylor and Karl Jenkins, performed under the direction of conductor Hannah Brine, the concert was given in aid of he Friends of White Hall Centre, a charity that supports the White Hall outdoor education centre.
Their speaker, Andrew Collier, said, “I attended the concert at St. Mary's church and was overwhelmed by the generosity of the choir members and the audience. They donated £375 in cash and card payments. Far more than I could have imagined. Not only that, I very much enjoyed the concert and was made to feel very welcome. Thanks again on behalf of all the trustees of 'Friends', and all the staff of White Hall Centre.”
Hannah says; "The choir is going from strength to strength as we celebrate our two years of singing together. They make a really fabulous sound and its so wonderful to have this community of friendship and a love of music. We welcome anyone interested in joining us to come along to the start of our Autum term and see if the choir can add a bit of joy to your Monday evenings.”
Childhood memories of the war
Coming home from Sunday School, on the morning of 3rd September 1939, my sister and I saw my mother waiting at the garden gate, which was unusual, as she would normally be in the kitchen seeing to the roast Sunday dinner.
“War has been declared”, she announced, but it didn’t mean much to us, being just 9 years old and my sister 6 years old. My mother looked serious as we followed her indoors.
Gas masks appeared and were hated as they were made of rubber, which fitted over the face, and had a metal filter at the end. It was contained in a box, with a string attached, to put over your shoulder. We carried them with us outside everywhere, and to school, but I don’t think they lasted very long as gas wasn’t used.
Next came the blackout material which had to be put up at every window and glass door so that no tiny light showed. Some men were recruited and on their sleeve they wore an armband with ARP on (Air Raid Precautions). They wandered up and down the streets to see if anyone was showing any chink of light and, if so, they would receive a warning and perhaps a fine or even a prison sentence.
All street lamps were off and the few cars and buses around then had to have shields on their headlights. So there was utter darkness in the Winter months. I remember an old auntie coming to visit one afternoon and the darkness had fallen as she was leaving so my mother had the idea of lighting a candle in a jam jar and tying string around the top of the jar and so with this she set off – but arrived back soon after to say the candle had gone out!
Sirens had been installed on the top of Town Halls in every town and the wail of them alerted us to German planes coming over and we were to take cover.
Some people had dug into their gardens and had Anderson shelters put in. In cities, others took cover in underground stations.
We just stayed indoors and carried on.
Lots of instructions on big hoardings appeared.
“Keep Calm and Carry on”
“Be like Dad and keep Mum”
“Dig for Victory”
The last one was taken up by a lot of people who were not eligible for the fighting forces. Lawns were dug up and allotments started growing vegetables and fruit to help out with rations.
Everyone had been issued with a Ration Book and registration numbers. We had to register with a local grocery shop and a butcher and also for milk.
Rations per week for each person: Butter, 2 oz. Margarine, 4 oz. Bacon, 4 oz. Cheese, 2 oz. Lard, 2 oz. Sugar, 8 oz. Tea, 2 oz. Eggs, 1 *. Meat, 1 shilling and 2d (approx. 6p) worth, 2 chops. Soap was rationed in 1942. Sweets – 12 oz every 4 weeks. *Powdered eggs were available from 1942, from the USA and in a carton which was equal to 12 eggs, every 4 weeks.
My Dad went to work in a factory in Coventry, making munitions, so his ration book went with him. He was billeted in Coventry with an elderly single lady for all of the war years and she became a family friend, who also sent Christmas presents to my sister and me.
We visited her after a bad bombing of the city and we went to see the ruins of Coventry Cathedral.
After food rationing came clothes rationing and we had coupons for anything we needed to buy to wear.
So another instruction was made public – “Make do and mend”. Most women didn’t need telling as they had always done so, and knitting and sewing were a normal, everyday part of their lives.
As the bombing by the German Luftwaffe planes intensified in ports (sinking ships) and in the towns and cities, the evacuation of children took place. Thousands of children left their families and were herded onto trains to a destination in the country. People were asked to take one or two of them but some siblings were separated. Some settled in, but others had unhappy lives.
My mother had two elderly people from London to stay with us. Our sitting room contained a 3 piece suite and a piano, so the piano was transferred to our living room and replaced by a single bed. It was now a bed-sit for one elderly lady, named Miss Fielder, who was independent and looked after herself, using our kitchen to make her own meals. The second lady was totally blind, and had been a nurse, so she stayed in our third bedroom and had her meals with us.
My father came home for a short weekend every third weekend, arriving on the train at 5pm on Saturday and returning on Sunday or, if he was on a night shift the following week, travelling back on a Monday morning.
There were no televisions or telephones then, except for some businesses and doctors, so we listened to the radio at 6pm to hear the news. I think we were only told good news, like how our RAF had brought down German planes in a fight over the Channel or flown over Germany and bombed their cities.
We knew about our casualties when the Telegraph boy took a telegram to a house, telling the parents that their son was killed or missing. A neighbour received one; and my friend’s mother received one after her son went down with his ship when it was hit by a torpedo. He had been in the Merchant Navy and his ship was a merchant ship which had been bringing in much-needed food.
So many names on the War Memorial.
As Winston Churchill said “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”.
Although rationing of some foods remained until the 1950s, we were healthy on the 3 meals per day, which was a normal routine, along with all the exercise from walking. Living in a small town, like Matlock, which is surrounded by countryside, we had the added bonus of being able to roam the footpaths and fields, picking bilberries, blackberries and mushrooms for free.
A few foods were not rationed and occasionally, as they came available, queues formed outside shops as word spread. It was very disappointing, after queueing to get near the shop, to hear that a notice had gone up saying “Sold Out”!
Saccarins had been introduced to eke out the sugar allowance but were in short supply. One Saturday, my mother borrowed a bicycle for herself and as I already had one, we cycled together to Bakewell where I was told to join a queue at a shop for saccharins and she joined a queue at a butchers for off-ration sausages. We got both and, I recall, some strawberries in season and we cycled home very pleased with ourselves and thinking the 16 mile cycle ride was well worth it. As a 12 or 13 year old, I suspect my legs ached!
Oranges and bananas, which had been part of our diet, disappeared and a song about bananas was sung called: “Yes, we have no Bananas, We have no Bananas today”, which was amusing to us.
Lots of things were done to keep up our spirits. Cinemas stayed open to show films and shows were put on at the Town Hall, as were whist drives. Dance Halls still opened and people carried on dancing. My mother was very fond of dancing and would sometimes take my sister and me, together with a friend, to the local village dance on a Saturday evening. The walk back home began down a lane where soldiers were stationed in an old mill, and where a soldier stood on guard. As we got near, he would command “Halt, who goes there, friend or foe?” My mother would answer “Friend” and then the reply from the guard would be “Step forward friend and be recognised”, so she stepped towards him. And then we were allowed to continue our journey. I wonder what would have happened if she had said “Foe”!
What joy and jubilation was felt when, at last, war ended in September 1945 and we had won although at the cost of so many lives and the ruin of so many towns and cities.
I was 15 years old and had been working in the offices of a company which had come from London and taken over the building of Patons and Baldwins to make munitions at the start of the war. They were now returning to London and we were all given the opportunity to go with them. I thought perhaps I would – but my mother put paid to that idea!
Vera Wragg (nee Hunter)
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