The Village Shop will be closing at midday on Saturday 30th November. It is not expected to re-open for at least a month. When there is firm news, it will be posted on the notice boards and put on the village website, ridingmill.org. Alternative arrangements for the medical basket are being explored. It would be helpful if you indicated to the Surgery if this is an important service for you.
Announcements
Changes to the Northumberland County Council Website
FOR INFORMATION:
The Northumberland County Council website has undergone some recent changes. It has been redesigned based on customer feedback to make it much easier to complete the tasks that people want to do online.
The new style webpages allow the public to complete transactions much more easily and enable them to pay, apply for or book services online. All these pages have been redesigned so they work with existing systems and have been completely rewritten.
The site also uses the latest design technology so pages automatically work for every device including tablets, smartphones and PCs. They all feature the new ‘Save time, do it online’ branding and rewritten content.
Several sections of the website are now complete including:
A brand new A-Z of council services (with new design and ‘predictive text’ function)
- Parking
- Pest control
- Bins, recycling and waste disposal
- Report a pothole
- Report a missed bin
- Report a street light
- Grass cutting
- Report fly tipping
- Bin collections (and new online bin collection date checker)
- School term and holiday dates
- Adult learning
- New website for schools music service
- ‘What to do in Northumberland’
- Bereavement guide
- New Morpeth Bypass website
- ‘Your councillors, your council’ – local democracy page
- About the council (budget, structure etc)
Welcome to Catherine Harrison as New Clerk
WELCOME TO THE NEW CLERK
The Parish Council is delighted to welcome Catherine Harrison as the new Parish Council Clerk. Catherine will be starting work on Monday 16th September.
From that date all formal communication with the PC should go through the Clerk. Catherine can be contacted on ridingmillclerk@gmail.com or at 10 Church Close, Riding Mill, Northumberland, NE44 6DP. Where possible please give the new Clerk some time and space to organise materials and settle into the post.
The lead Councillors dealing with particular areas are as set out in the minutes of the May 2013 meeting posted above (with the exception of former Cllr Howe). Parish Councillors may be consulted individually on an informal basis.
Malcolm Reid, Chairman 14th September 2013
Local Transport Plan – Views sought by Friday 27th September
The Parish Council will put forward three proposals for the Local Transport Plan to be developed by Northumberland County Council. Comments are welcome on the following together with new suggestions by Friday 27th September..
1 “Gated” entrance to the village
2 A 20 mph speed limit through the village
3 Pedestrian Crossing near to the Wellington
4 Footpath, including safe cycle route, along the road to the west of the village to join up with the one at Farnley & on to Corbridge
5 Changes to road layout on A68 at junction with roads to Broomley & Healey i.e. at the top of the hill
6 Safe Cycle route to Stocksfield
7 Resurfacing the footpath at the west end of village between the row of cottages containing the Old Post Office and Riding Grange
8 Repair of the footpath from the Slaley Road grid ref. 005615 to the “Blue Bridge” and ford on the March Burn
Jumble Sale – saturday 5th
This event will take place on Saturday 5th October and will be held in the Parish Hall. Any donations can be handed in at the Parish hall any Monday or Friday( while the Coffee Shop is open between 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.) or on Friday 4th ) October between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. or on the morning of the sale itself from 9 a.m.
The sale itself starts at 1:30 p.m.
Riding Mill Village Show
The Riding Mill Village Show shall be held on the 7th September and is open to all whether you are taking part in the competitions or not.
The show shall follow the usual format with Craft, Industrial, Horticultural and Photographic competitions for adult and various different classes for kids.
Schedules are available to collect from the Parish Hall or from Bobby’s shop. it would be best if you brought your entries between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. The judging will then take place between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
The main show shall open to all at 1 p.m. and admission is just £1 per person while accompanying under 16’s are free. There is will also be a car boot sale on at the same time as this which will cost £10 to rent your space.
The Prize winners for the competitions above will be announced at 4 p.m.
Note: help will be needed erecting the tents the night before and dismantling everything afterwards so the more people who turn up to help out the better.
Riding Mill Garden walkabout Info+preview photos
For an open passport, which is required to see the Garden, you can buy your passport at £3 a head with kids free at any of the gardens, in the Parish hall or at Bobby’s shop(on the main road through the village). All gardens are open from 11 to 4:30. Feel free to park around the village when visiting the Gardens but be considerate of other Road users.
Enjoy the Gardens and also refreshments shall be available at the Parish hall throughout the day. For those not familiar with the village, the Parish hall is located on Millfield Road, opposite the Wellington pub. Here are some previews of the Gardens.
More to follow…
Riding Mill Garden walkabout
On the 30th June There will be a local Garden walkabout show where you can go and visit certain open gardens which have been prepared just for this. This should be a good day for you to get out and have a walk through the village.
By the end of the week I should have some preview shots of the gardens themselves for you to look at and decide which ones you would like to see.
Thinking of becoming a councillor?
Are you thinking of becoming a Parish Councillor? Do you want to serve the community in Riding Mill? Did you attend the
Nominations will be accepted by Northumberland County County from 25th March 2013 until 5th April 2013 and forms will be available from the Clerk after the 13th March 2013.
Please contact the clerk as soon as possible if you are interested or would like further information.
The Ross Seat – and the bees (Updated).
From John Ross, Cumnor, Oxford
The Ross seat on the Broomley Road, near the A68.
My brother and I set up this seat as a small token around 20 years ago shortly after our parents, Ronald and Peggy Ross of Staward, Long Rigg, died. Since then we have made fairly regular visits to do some maintenance and clearing of undergrowth and we have appreciated the thanks of those who have made use of the seat.
During my visits from Oxford in the past few years in we have had some (unwelcome !) attention as there are now half a dozen beehives just to the north of the seat and I have been stung on a couple of occasions. Maybe other residents have also been bothered by the bees and I suggest there are two options.
- Option A is to move the seat about 100 yards along the road towards Broomley, to face in much the same direction. It would be a little more exposed here as there are no protecting trees from the westerly wind.
- Option B is to move the seat about 50 yards to the west, as far as the road goes, before the cutting to the A68. While the seat would be just as welcome, there is not much view from here.
I would be very glad to have comments from any Riding Mill residents as whether option A or B is preferred, or if there are any other ideas we might take up. We are planning to do any work in the summer of 2013.
Please use the ‘Contact Us‘ page to pass your comments on to the Parish Council.
Have you ever thought about becoming a Parish Councillor?
Have you ever thought about becoming a Parish Councillor?
Would you like to find out more about the role?
Workshops will take place in the New Year in Hexham to provide information and advice.
At each session county council and Northumberland Association of Local Councils officers and Parish/Town councillors will be attending to give presentations and advice.
Sessions will cover the following:
· What are Parish and Town councils?
· What powers and freedoms do they have?
· How do they relate to the County Council?
· How can you apply or stand to become a Parish Councillor?
The session will take place on Thursday 24 January 2013 at Prospect House, Hexham.
Light refreshments will be provided at 6pm before the workshop begins at 6.30pm. The session will be chaired by the area chairman for Hexham: Councillor Colin Horncastle. There will be opportunities to ask questions throughout each session.
Paddy Gascoigne, service manager for democratic services at Northumberland County Council said: “Councils depend on the energy, enthusiasm and the commitment of local people. It can be immensely rewarding joining your local council and you can really improve local life. If you would like to know more about becoming a town or parish councillor, I would urge you to get in touch.”
If you are interested in attending, please telephone Mike Bird in democratic services on 01670 622616 or email demserv.ar@northumberland.gov.uk so that numbers for each event can be confirmed.