BILBOROUGH Community News

Issue 1 December 2013

Ping pong gives Peggy, 96, a new lease of life: Page 3

Do you like knitting or want to learn?

The Knit and Natter Club meets every Monday at Bilborough Library from 10am to noon. Everyone is welcome.

Mark and Barbara, who run the club, say it’s a great place to be creative while having a chat.

The knitters also support charities and are always grateful for donations of wool and knitting equipment.

To find out more about the club, please email thunder592@gmail.com

By Ruby Porter

Welcome to Bilborough Community News!

Our aim is to help strengthen the sense of community in Bilborough by keeping people informed about what is going on in the area.

This new­look issue was written and put together by students at Bilborough College.

We hope you’ll discover just some of what’s going on around Bilborough while enjoying

stories and insights into the lives of local people.

We also hope readers will contribute to the newsletter and feel it belongs to them.

We’d love to hear your stories and anything you’d like to share: from coffee mornings to poems and photos, or perhaps tales from bygone Bilborough. Or maybe there’s a community champion you’d like write about.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Meet the team: Bilborough College students Ruby Porter, Pragati Bhandari, Tamsin Parnell, Joe Oakden, Esther Samson, Jake Hevness, James Radford, Holly Banks, Saskia Roberts, Chloe Fisher, Charlotte Bell and Holly Smith. Gabriela Heaton, not pictured, is also a member of the team

We want to hear from YOU

Get in touch: email maggie.burrows@bilborough.ac.uk or phone 0115 8515000

Come along for a knit and a natter

Natter: Barbara Herrod meets reporter Pragati Bhandari

FREE

See page 5

Advertise in BILBOROUGH Community News

See page 2 for details

The best place in town...

£20 WIN!

Thanks to our friends We would like to offer sincere thanks to all those who have supported Bilborough Community News, especially:

Students of Bilborough College Angela Hayes and Carolyn Caldwell from SupportNet St John's Social Centre Local primary schools Members of SupportNet Carmel Bradley Berry Tasty Bilborough Library Marlow Photographic Rob Ounsworth (The University of Nottingham) Nottingham University Samworth Academy (NUSA) The University of Nottingham for its support under the Teacher Fellowship scheme, which helps teachers to develop and lead a community­focused project.

Above all, we would like to thank the people of Bilborough, who have provided inspirational stories and demonstrated what an amazing community we all live and work in.

Get in touch! In order for the newsletter to continue we need your support!

If you’d like to contribute a news item or publicise an event please email maggie.burrows@bilborough.ac.uk or phone 0115 8515000.

You can hand in contributions for the newsletter at Bilborough Library or give them to Angela or Carolyn at SupportNet on Tuesday mornings at the Community Centre.

Advertise here We have limited funds to keep the newsletter going so would welcome advertising or sponsorship from businesses. Please use the above contact details if you would like to help keep the newsletter a part of our community. Advertising space can be bought for as little as £10.

2 Bilborough Community News

By Charlotte Bell

While many people in the late 1930s were still rebuilding their lives following the First World War, 14­year­old Beatrice Compton was nurturing her passion for embroidery at Sunday school.

The standard of her work was so exquisite that it later came to the notice of the Queen’s Dressmaker, Norman Hartnell.

Hartnell decided that he must have this young lady on his team and offered her an interview. Naturally Beatrice couldn’t reject this great opportunity so she attended. However, tragedy struck while she awaited news of whether she had landed the job.

Her house was bombed. The Second World War had begun and she had to be evacuated to her aunt's house in Wisbech,

far from home in London. Due to these difficult times, it was virtually impossible to deliver a message to somewhere this far away from London. Unfortunately she never did hear back from Norman Hartnell.

Reflecting on the whole experience Beatrice says: “Although naturally I was disappointed at the time I have no regrets about this experience now.”

After being evacuated to her aunt's home, Beatrice recalls spending most of her time working on the land. Her great passion, embroidery, was neglected but in later years Beatrice again took up crafts.

Beatrice, 88, is now sewing quilts for the local church in order to raise money for charity. And in doing so she has raised a massive £500—all for a good cause!

Highly skilled: Beatrice Compton was interviewed by the Queen’s dressmaker

A gift worthy of a queen

St John’s, a brief history How much do you know about Bilborough’s history?

Take St John’s Church, for instance. Did you know that the church’s Victorian architecture once made it much­loved landmark?

It was also renowned for its choir.

However, during the night of 8 May 1941, much of the church was destroyed by a German bomb.

Ten years after the war, St John’s was replaced with huts. Three years later it was rebuilt, and consecrated on 21 March 1959.

Crochet Club Crochet Club meets on Mondays between 10am and noon at Bilborough Library. All are welcome.

By Joe Oakden

A heart attack and stroke would resign many to the house for the rest of their lives. Not 96­year­old Peggy Smith.

Peggy, from Bilborough, lost all feeling in her arms and had only limited use of her hand after the stroke and struggled to do many everyday tasks.

But picking up a table tennis bat gave her an unexpected new lease of life.

SupportNet, a community group co­ordinated by Angela Hayes and Carolyn Caldwell, set up a table tennis club for the elderly on Friday afternoons.

Peggy decided to give it a try. The two

inspirational women running the group showed a video of a table tennis world championships for the elderly, inspiring the whole group to get involved on a weekly basis.

Peggy didn’t let the limited use of her hand put her off, and joined in, going every week.

She gradually regained the use of her hand and is again able to complete everyday tasks.

Peggy really looks forward to her Friday afternoon table tennis sessions. She said: “I’ve made many new friends at the club.”

The table tennis club meets at Bilborough Community Centre on Fridays at 2pm. All are welcome.

Still smiling: Table tennis for the elderly at the SupportNet Group has given Peggy Smith, 96, a new lease of life

Bilborough Community News 3

A homework club meets every Thursday at Bilborough Library, between 4pm and 6pm.

Homework Help allows use of the library computers. You can also print off your work for free.

The library also lays on craft activities if you finish your homework and still have some spare time.

It’s a chilled­out atmosphere. Just turn up and Ruby, Jess and Sonia will be there to help you if you get stuck!

Where to get help with your homework

Peggy, 96, is table tennis star

Peggy, 96, is table tennis star

4 Bilborough Community News

Portland School By Sinead Wright and Megan Pearce Portland School joined people across the UK in fundraising for Children in Need.

Children were asked to donate 50p to come to school dressed as their hero. Not famous superheroes, but the everyday people that we admire and who do things to help us. Children came dressed as teachers, nurses, police officers, scientists, historical figures and even their parents!

In each class, teachers were asked to pick a winner. Children were asked why the person they were dressed as was special to them. The class winners then had to repeat their speeches in a special assembly. The overall winner was Jenna Marshall in Year 6 who dressed up as her younger sister. Her reasons were that her sister is always happy

and cheerful and makes her laugh.

Altogether, Portland School raised £197 for Children in Need. “Everyone looked fantastic and it was great to see so many people dressed up,” said one teacher.

Firbeck Primary School By Logan Walton and Nicole Page Hello, our names are Logan and Nicole and we are in Year 6 at Firbeck Academy.

Our school is quite special because we have a lot of deaf children so we all get to learn British Sign Language (BSL).

We start learning sign language in Reception or Year 1. It is a very good skill. It helps us to communicate with lots of different people, and we use signing outside of school as well as in school.

Our Christmas performance is at school on Tuesday 17

December at 2pm and 7pm. It is based on a story called Cinderella by Roald Dahl so it will be quite funny.

It will be performed by the Juniors. Everything we say in the performance is signed and every song we sing is also signed, so it takes quite a lot of practice!

Visitors always tell us how beautiful it looks when we all sing and sign together, it’s just what we always do!

Melbury Primary School By Holly Henson, Megan Milnthorpe, Millie Moss and Mya Mercer On Friday, 15 November, we had a marvellous time because we wore our pyjamas to school to support Children in Need.

Everyone brought a £1 donation and some people brought wristbands and biscuits.

We played games for 20p each and some parents came in and played Pudsey puzzles. It was loads of fun!

We had a fabulous day and raised nearly £500.

We love Pudsey!

Schools page

All dressed up: Enjoying Children in Need in Bilborough

Brocklewood Primary School By Chelsea Musgrove and Jenna­Clare Johnson

Year 6 have been busy making and selling our own chocolate bars. Whilst making the chocolate, we have covered maths, literacy, D.T and your 5­a­day. We got to let our chocolate­making imagination run wild! Jordan said: “I thought it was great fun, a nice treat and something that we

should do again!” This is proof that making chocolate is and can be great fun! We also had to make the wrapper, which was fun, too. We sold the chocolate bars on at play time.

For Children in Need nearly the whole school wore their PJs and brought in £1 to raise money.

Jenkin said: “It was great fun because we got to bring in our teddies and wore PJs and we got to help the children.”

Sophia said: “It was the best day ever during school hours!”

We love Pudsey!

Festive fun for families

Bilborough Community News 5

Do you know your onions? And your apples? In fact, all things fruit and vegetable! Here we have a wonderful quiz created by Peggy from SupportNet, designed to test your knowledge!

Even better, if you complete the quiz and hand it into either the Library or Berry Tasty on Bracebridge Drive, before 10 January, you could win £20!

Make sure you add your name and contact details. Here goes!

The cat’s delight

The vehicle rusts

The thin sprinter

Tread on this and whine

Two at a meeting

Not a pretty sight

Small in a pod

Lady Helen

Spud Murphy

Rhythm underground

Ice and slice

Is an old prune

Bring tears to your eyes

A male leaving

Sit on a wrestler

Green but big hearted

Boxer’s ears

Beatles record

Your tap might have one

He’s from Scandinavia

...to win

£20!

This year, Bilborough is celebrating Christmas with a festival.

The Heart of Bilborough Christmas Festival includes switching on the Christmas lights, a vehicle parade, carol singing, face painting and a festive fair to make it fun for all of the family.

Activities begin on Bracebridge Drive at 4pm on December 13 and are expected to last until 8pm.

Christmas in the Community Fun Day Nottingham University Samworth Academy, on Bramhall Road, will be holding a free fun day for everyone in the local community to attend on Saturday 15 December 2013.

Bilborough Kid’s Group Nativity Play This December, members of Bilborough Kid’s Group will be putting on a Christmas production at St John the Baptist Church.

Christmas services

St Martin of Tours: Christingle, evening of 18 December, time to be confirmed. Christmas Holy Communion, Christmas Day, 10.30am. Holy Communion, Boxing Day, 10.30am

Christmas table decorations

Bilborough Library, Thursday 12 December 10.30am–noon. Only £3.50!

Know your onions...

6 Bilborough Community News

Medieval: St Martin’s Church. They hope to start the project in spring 2014.

Bid to share St Martin’s riches By Holly Smith

Hilary Wheat, Church Warden for St Martin’s Church, is heading a project called Hidden Treasures which hopes to restore the medieval church to its former glory.

An extension built on the church in the 1970s meant that two 20th century wall paintings by Evelyn Gibbs were covered and assumed lost until 2009, when they were rediscovered above the pine ceiling in the chancel. Painted in 1946, they are believed to be the last surviving examples of monumental work by the war artist, which resulted in a recommendation from English Heritage to have the paintings restored.

The project hopes to not only restore the paintings but also improve parts of the church both internally and externally, such as installing under floor heating and putting back a clear glass East window. The project will run alongside three years of heritage activities. These will start in 2014 with activities such as

hard­hat tours of the restoration and a virtual tour made available on the St Martin’s website. In 2015 and 2016, there will be pilgrimages between the churches of Bilborough, Wollaton and Strelley, and intergenerational handicraft workshops.

St Martin’s secured a grant to take forward the plans in June 2012; the application is now in the second round and still pending approval. The outcome will be released by the end of this year.

Other members of this project include Revd Mandy Cartwright, architect Bruce Bradley, Evelyn Gibbs biographer Pauline Lucas, and Simon Gledhill. They said: “The Hidden Treasures of the project title doesn’t just refer to the hidden heritage but also the hidden skills and talents within each one of us.’

“We are eager to make the church as open and accessible as possible and we hope you want to come on board and be part of taking this project forward.”

Gem in the heart of the city If you are looking for something different to do, check out the Nottingham Contemporary.

Location: Weekday Cross (near the Lace Market tram stop)

Open: Tues – Sun from 10am

Current Exhibitions: Geoffrey Farmer, Let’s Make the Water Turn Black and Asco, No Movies. Open until 5 January 2014

There are many free activities and events to get involved in at Nottingham Contemporary this winter.

Free family activities

Every Saturday and Sunday 11am­3pm our friendly Play and Learn Team offer fun, creative activities for all ages in the Studio!

Family film screening ­ The Muppets

Sunday 15 December 11am – 3pm.

Escape the cold weather and join us for a morning of creative family activities followed by a screening of The Muppets on our giant cinema screen. Morning activities are free. Afternoon film screening £3 per person. Bring your own picnic.

Free live music

Every Saturday evening from 8pm in our Café bar. Featuring jazz, blues, soul, reggae, rock, country, world and more!

For more information, contact us on 0115 948 9750 or visit: www.nottinghamcontemporary.org

Bilborough Community News 7

It’s all in a day’s work for CPO Maria By Holly Banks and Chloe Fisher

Community Protection Officers often don’t get the credit they deserve. “I get the impression that they really care about the community” said local neighbourhood development officer, Julianne Christou.

We spoke to Maria Summers, a woman who has been a Community Protection Officer (CPO) in Bilborough for nearly a year. She told us about the role and about the variety of people she meets.

Maria told of a recent case involving an elderly woman, scared that her house was being burgled. She dialled 999 but hung up as she was too frightened. Maria visited. She discovered that the house wasn’t being burgled, but the woman was struggling to live alone and was scared.

Maria found the woman a care home where she now happily lives, and still receives regular updates on about her. Maria said she found this experience very rewarding.

However, Maria’s job in Bilborough varies from situations like this to helping many different groups of people in the area, such as resolving neighbourhood disputes and environmental issues. It’s all in a day’s work.

By Gabriela Heaton

The police within Bilborough and surrounding areas play a huge role in the community, whether they are monitoring speeding or controlling anti‐social behaviour.

Having been patrolling the area for several years the police have built relationships with the community making them very approachable. A speed watch was put in place after the community raised the issue of drivers exceeding speed limit in Bilborough. Police and members of the community went and monitored the area which raised awareness of the issue and improved the relationship between the police and the community even more

In addition to keeping the local area a safe and pleasant place to live, the police also organise

events for the public and aim to anonymously take people’s views on any issues within the community in order to decide, prioritise and look to solve the problems which are having the biggest effect on the neighbourhood.

The Bilborough Ward Roadshow in November allowed everyone in the area to have their say and put forward any concerns they had. These events will become more regular in the future allowing residents to put their views forward and hopefully will make the community a better place.

The police also have strong links with many services in the area, such as schools, doctors, fire and ambulance services, as well as Nottingham City Council, which allows them to promote themselves and raise awareness of their role in the community.

On the beat in Bilborough

Bilborough Community News 8

By Esther Samson

Bilborough Gems Awards is a chance to celebrate the young people in Bilborough who go the extra mile within their local community and friends and family to make a difference.

The awards are all about recognising those who make a positive impact on the people around them.

The Gems Awards are run by Bilborough Youth Network, an organisation which brings schools, churches and services together to help young people access services.

Fifty people under the age of 19 were nominated this year, the second year of the awards scheme.

The awards took place on 28 November at Hadden Park High School, and there was a fantastic turnout; visitors included the Lord Mayor of Nottingham Merlita Bryan.

Hadden Park head teacher Gareth Owen kicked off the ceremony, reminding the audience that the Gems are for those who do “fantastic things, day in, day out”.

Councillor Wendy Smith then welcomed everyone and said how proud she was of the nominees, some of whom were nominated more than once! The Lord Mayor then took to the microphone, and said it was nice to see young people doing their part.

Young people can be nominated for a number of reasons, as long as they’ve made Bilborough better in some way.

Five took home Outstanding Contribution Awards. Chosen by West 8 staff for their contribution to the community, were Shania Kirkham, Amber Elliot, Kaytlyn Wragg­Hopkins, Joshua Sims and Rebecca Godber.

Their awards were well deserved, with Joshua Sims being involved with many aspects of the local Scout group and helping at Messy Church at St John’s, and Shania improving the community with gardening, and the other winners also doing amazing things in various local projects.

A new award, the Derek Cresswell Outstanding Contribution Award, went to Joel Oduro, of Hadden Park High School, who is heavily involved in community work, including a youth group which does charity work.

The award is in memory of the late former Sheriff of Nottingham and

serving ward councillor, who was loved throughout Bilborough.

It was introduced by Jill Wilkinson, a family friend, who described Derek as a “true gentleman.”

The award stands for consistently contributing to the community and making a difference in whatever you do. The winner was chosen by the Cresswell family, and Derek’s widow, Maureen, presented the award to Joshua.

The night was a big success, with lots of well­deserving young people being recognised for the great work they do in the community.

Kaytlyn, an Outstanding Contribution Award winner, said: “It’s an awesome event, and it’s an honour to have won an award!”

Let’s hear it for our young Gems

Well done: Outstanding Contribution award winner Joel Oduro with Lord Mayor Merlita Bryan