Have your say on Burton Stone Community Centre’s future

Burton Stone community centre future unclear

The council is inviting local residents and interested parties to have their say on plans for Burton Stone Community Centre and proposals for new community facilities.

The discussions come two years after the, then Labour controlled, Council announced that the centre was to be leased off.

At an open meeting on Tuesday 29 March, City of York Council will set out how other areas of the city have seen communities benefit from redevelopment of out of date buildings. The first stage of consultation will focus on residents’ local needs for community venues and suggestions for future development of the site.

Cllr Andrew Waller, Executive Member for the Environment said: “The council has given a clear commitment to the residents of the Clifton area that there will continue to be a community base in their neighbourhood. Last July, the council restored £70,000 to support council run community centres to show our commitment. We are now launching a consultation with existing user groups and local residents to discuss a long-term plan so that they have facilities fit for the 21st century.

“Community facilities have an important role to play in local neighbourhoods and in this first stage of consultation we want to understand local residents’ needs for community space. This is a vital step in developing fit for purpose options for the area, which can be sustained in the long term.

“We would therefore encourage any interested residents to come along and give us their views and suggestions for use of or development of this site.”

Users and representatives from current user groups, including societies, charities and sport, fitness and wellbeing groups have been invited to a separate consultation meeting.

Whilst Burton Stone Community Centre will continue to be operated by the council for the next 12 to 18 months, its condition is deteriorating and maintenance will drain resources. The council is therefore keen to work with the local community to find a long-term solution which will make best use of available funds.

Further information is available online at www.york.gov.uk/burtonstonecc . The open consultation meeting takes place from 6.30-7.30pm at Burton Stone Community Centre, Evelyn Crescent on Tuesday 29 March. Residents who wish to comment can also email their views to Andrew.laslett@york.gov.uk or send them to Andy Laslett, City of York Council, at West Offices by Tuesday 31 May.

Community Choir appeals for new singers

Tenants at one of City of York Council’s Sheltered Housing schemes, Honeysuckle House, are appealing for local residents to join them in song.

Honeysuckle House in Dringhouses

The tenants set up their own choir earlier this year, thanks to a grant from the Two Ridings Community Foundation Arts for Change Programme, and the Musical Connections Project. But they’re keen to encourage local residents to join them in their weekly choir sessions.

The sessions take place at Honeysuckle House, Herdsman Road, Dringhouses, each Wednesday morning between 9.45-11am.

Tenants really enjoy the sessions, with comments including: “The sessions wake me up in the morning.”, “Music brings us together and it is an opportunity for me to make friends.”, “I feel excited each week to come to the session”.

Anyone wanting to find out more about the choir can contact Emma on 07778 560632, visit the Musical Connections website –www.musicalconnections.org.uk – and email the team or search for Musical Connections on Facebook.

Thanks again. And fingers crossed it helps us get some more singers!

Choir members are asked to give a weekly donation of up to £3, to cover the full cost of running the choir.

What’s on in York: Viking fun in the holidays

Viking Boy

Date: Mon 15 Feb
Time: 10.00am – 10.45am
Venue: York Explore Library
Cost: Free

Come and join us for a special Viking story & play session for Under 5s and their carers.

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Date: Tues 16 Feb
Time: 4.30pm – 5.30pm
Venue: York Explore Library
Cost: Free

Come to our [uber] cool reading group. Discover a range of Viking stories with people who enjoy reading.

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Date: Tues 16 Feb
Time: 2.00pm – 5.00pm
Venue: Haxby Explore Library
Cost: Free

Come and learn how to craft like a Viking

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Date: Mon 22 Feb
Time: 2.30pm – 3.30pm
Venue: Clifton Explore Library
Cost: £1.50

Aged between 5 & 12 years old? Love history? Enjoy listening to stories? Being creative? Then this is the event for you.

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What’s on in York: New activities for the over 50’s

Date: Mon 15 Feb
Time: 9.30am – 4.30pm
Venue: Energise.
Cost: £3 for half day and £5 for whole day

Eng-Age 50+ Activity Day 2016, helping you stay fitter for longer. This year you can bring a grandchild with you to share the taster sessions on offer.

Engage Paul 6 York’s popular Eng-AGE 50+ Activity Day is returning this year for it’s fifth year for older residents who want to try different fitness activities and find out what activities are available in York. This year you can bring along your Grandkids to take part in a range activities together.

The event takes a friendly and fun approach to exercise and is organised by City of York Council as part of the Eng-AGE programme of activities for those over 50. It is a convenient and low cost opportunity for residents to try a number of different sports and activities all in one day under one roof. Now in its fifth year, the event offers 20 different sessions where individuals can participate in all activities without the need for a friend or partner to come along too, making it a great way to make new friends.

Some of the exciting sessions on offer include 50+ fitness, Nordic Walking, Climbing, Swimming, Gym, Tai Chi, Pilates, Aquafit, Hula Hooping, Futsal and many more.

This year the Eng-AGE 50+ Activity Day is dementia friendly and welcomes residents with dementia. Energise itself has dementia friendly status, with the swimming pool working towards becoming a dementia friendly pool. Eng-AGE fitness instructors and Sport and Active Leisure staff are also dementia trained.

The event costs £5 for the full day or £3 for a half day including a tea or coffee for adults. Grandchildren cost £2.50 for a full day and £1.75 for a half day.

Anyone interested can simply turn up on the day although advanced phone booking is strongly recommended for Pilates, tai chi, climbing, aquafit, gym inductions and swimming lessons, where places are limited.

For more information or to book contact the Sport and Active Leisure team on 01904 553377, visit www.york.gov.uk/eng-age or email megan.hale@york.gov.uk

What’s on in York: The real story behind Viking Voices

Date: Mon 8 Feb
Time: 6.30pm – 7.30pm
Venue: York Explore Library
Cost: Free

Vincent Atherton describes the history behind his novel Viking Voices, which looks at the relationship between a warrior and his wife and his king in the Viking era.

Vincent Atherton Ruth 2 It is the 10th century. Amleth is a warrior serving the Hiberno-Norse king Ragnald. He and his wife Aud are violently thrown out of Dublin, along with the rest of their group The Irish tribes they are enslaving revolt against them.
The king swears to return and regain their city, after wandering the Irish Sea and encountering enemies in Anglesey, the Isle of Man and Scotland.
Amidst their adventures they fight battles and gather treasure, forming alliances and even making friends along the way.
Amleth becomes indispensible to the aggressive and brutal Ragnald, his cunning and his blacksmith skills enabling him to produce his own glittering sword.

Eventually they all get rich and live happily ever after, except for those that die…..

Viking Voices is a historic novel that explains how the Cuerdale Hoard, the largest treasure ever found in Western Europe, came to be buried in the bank of the Ribble.

Vincent Atherton also looks at the relationship between a warrior and his wife against the turbulent background of friction between England and Ireland in the 10th century. With fictional characters who experience true historical events, this is an insightful and enjoyable read for any fans of historical fiction, particularly the Viking era.

This event is aimed at those aged 16+

Tickets can be booked In person at any library, or phone 01904 552828 or visit www.eventbrite.co.uk.

York Community Stadium

It is more than slightly ironic that Labour Councillors are now calling for reassurances about the opening date for the Community Stadium

During their tenure of office – which ended in May 2015 – they were repeatedly told that a £37 million design/build/operate project which incorporated most of the Councils other (building based) leisure activities – and which introduced yet more retail floor space into the Monks Cross area – was over ambitious.

The glossy brochures produced to sell the plan convinced some. Many residents remained sceptical.

Labour had inherited in 2011 a project that was “ready to go”. Planning permission for the John Lewis development was needed to provide the essential £15 million capital but the deal for a new stadium had been struck a year earlier. A 6000 seater stadium on the “Chesterfield model” was ready and waiting to be built. An opening date of 2013 was achievable.

The (right) decision of the new incoming administration in 2015 to reprieve the Yearsley Swimming Pool (which enjoys steady but unprofitable use levels) meant that a decision had to be taken to remove the additional pool from the stadium contract.

This didn’t happen as, ostensibly, it would have meant re-tendering the work – and another 2 years on the EU procurement merry go round.

Now it seems that the promised final “go ahead” for the contract – due in March – may be further delayed.

We warned that an opening date of July 2017 was optimistic.

It now looks to be impossible.

Poppleton trampoline centre set to get planning go ahead

Mega jump trampoline

A warehouse on the York’s Business Park at Nether Poppleton is set to become a trampoline centre with a café.

The site is located on Rose Way. It is was last occupied by US tech company Nanometrics which abandoned the site over a year ago.

The maximum number of trampoline users at one time would be 75, most sessions would be 1 to 1.5 hours in length and sessions would start every 15 mins. The proposed development would create 20 – 25 full time positions and 35 – 55 part time positions. There would also be a re-organisation of the car park to create 75 spaces.

The development is understood to be backed by David Lloyd who already runs a successful fitness centre in the City.

Trampoline parks have proved to be a massive success story in the US, which had about 40 such attractions in 2011. The number there has since ballooned to an estimated 300 either in operation or under construction.

The planning application is recommended for approval at a meeting taking place next Thursday

Local tennis club proposes extending lease on York council courts

To ensure that tennis continues as a quality sport in the city and that facilities for York residents are well-maintained at Rowntree Park, City of York Council will consider granting Rowntree Park Tennis Club a lease to manage and run the courts for the next three years. The Decision Session will be on 29 January at 3:30pm.

Rowntree Park is one of three locations with council-owned tennis courts Hull Road Park and Glen Gardens have two courts each and Rowntree Park has six. The courts’ management has been under review for the last few years following changes to park management during which time Glen Gardens tennis courts have been leased to Heworth Tennis Club for 25 years. Rowntree Park Tennis Club has been running since the 1950’s and is open to anyone to join.

In May 2015 an agreement was reached with the club to manage the courts on a trial basis for one year. Since then, club membership has doubled and the Lawn Tennis Association’s on-line booking system is being brought into play to enable occasional tennis players to pay and play rather than join the club.As a result, the club would now like to extend this arrangement.

This would put the asset into community control and support the principle of volunteers assisting with the care of the city’s sports spaces and facilities. It would bring the courts into line with other council sports assets that are managed by the community including fishing ponds, football, rugby and cricket pitches and bowling greens.

Councillor Nigel Ayre, Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism, said: “I’m delighted that another of the city’s sports clubs is interested in managing more of the council’s tennis courts which could help develop further interest and levels of skill in the sport.”

The Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism’s Decision Session will take place on Friday 29 January at West Offices from 3:30pm and is open to members of the public or is available to watch later online from: www.york.gov.uk/webcasts

To find out more about the report, or to attend, visit: http://modgov.york.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=9110&x=1

2016 “Big City Read” announced by York libraries

York libraries have announced that the Big City Read for 2016 will be “Regeneration” by Pat Barker. The book was first published in 1991 and is set in the First World War.

It was subsequently turned into a film.

Pat Barker was born not far from York in Thornaby-on-Tees.

The Big City Read highlights one exceptional book and encourages hundreds of people across York to read it.

“Regeneration” plot summary

Regeneration begins with Siegfried Sassoon’s open letter, dated July 1917, protesting the conduct and insincerities of the First World War. The letter has been published in the London Times and has received much attention in England, as many people are upset over the length and toll of the war thus far. The army is not sure what to do with Sassoon, as his letter clearly threatens to undermine the strength of the war effort at home.

With the string-pulling and guidance of Robert Graves, a fellow poet and friend of Sassoon, the Board agrees to send Sassoon to Craiglockhart War Hospital—a mental facility in Scotland—rather than court-marshaling him. Sassoon is at first hesitant to agree to this, since he (rightly) fears that being committed to a mental hospital will undermine his cause; however, convinced by Graves that there is no other option, Sassoon agrees.

At Craiglockhart, Sassoon meets with Dr. W.H.R. Rivers, a former anthropologist turned psychiatrist who encourages his patients to express their war memories so that they can heal their “nerves.” Though Rivers can sympathize with the strong dislike of the horrors of war, he believes it is his duty to encourage Sassoon to return to France to fight.
(more…)

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