HOWE BRIDGE COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER 204 AUGUST 2018
GROUP SUMMARY / NEWSLETTER
Because the whole structure of the Bridgers Community Group has changed during the past couple of years this will be the last monthly newsletter that I will write, what I will do in the future is to write and publish a newsletter as and when our group feel it is required.
The Bridgers have been in existence since the Autumn of 1998 and during the past twenty years we have been very fortunate in being in a position to help literally hundreds of people, not only in Howe Bridge but across the Borough as well, we have also been very lucky to have had many members who both as individuals and members of our group have made a tremendously positive difference to our village and the people who live here, but, the number of volunteers and support for the group has dwindled quite dramatically over the Past couple of years, one of the major effects of this dwindling support resulted this year in our North West In Bloom entry being reduced from the village category in the main competition to a single site entry in the “ Its Your Neighbourhood “ category.
And although we have achieved such a remarkable amount during our existence our numbers are now so few that we have no option but to cut back on what we do.
We will still help to maintain Colliers Corner, Leisure Centre Gardens and a couple of the other smaller sites in the village, and, we will also be holding our plants sales so that even though we will be unable to do the actual work on some of the sites belonging to other groups / organisations in the village, we can support them by helping with the purchase of plants, equipment etc.
All the judging has now taken place and with regards to the North West In Bloom competition we will get the result in October, the comments from the judges on judging day were very positive and apart from a comment about the lack of bird boxes everything seemed to go well, but, we did have some bird boxes but they couldn’t be seen because of the heavy foliage on the trees, but even with this adverse comment we are still expecting a good result.
Once again we were awarded a GREEN FLAG for Colliers Corner, this is an achievement for everyone involved with the maintenance / improvements of Colliers Corner because the judging for this takes place throughout the year, there are “ mystery visits “ without warning by people we don’t know, they assess what we are doing on the site on a monthly basis and then when all the information from all the visits have been collated they decide if Colliers Corner passes all the required criteria to be awarded a GREEN FLAG.
As well as the drop in volunteer numbers a couple of our members including myself, are having major health problems which affects what we can do, severe restrictions are put on what and how much we can do and unfortunately this is affecting the amount of community work we can do.
GARDENERS BOWLING CLUB.
Because of the bowling league handicapping system, the Gardeners “ A “ team are not doing quite as well as last year and it looks like the league position at the end of the season will be not as good as in previous seasons, but, this means that the handicapping will be much kinder next year, this should make it easier to win matches again.
All of the bowling club competitions have now been complete apart from the end of season club pairs competition and the round robin individual league competition.
John Urmston has had an excellent season, winning the first three individual competitions, the fourth and last individual competition was the Tom Roberts Memorial Cup and this was won by Andrew Godfrey.
The Bill Moody Memorial Pairs competition was won by Andrew Godfrey & Stuart Hasledene, a fantastic result for both of them, for Stuart because it was his first major trophy success and for Andrew because, this is the fourth consecutive time that he has won this trophy, the first three times he won it with Keith Wright.
When you win the trophy you are paired with the same partner the following year to defend your title but after three wins the partnership is split up, Keith reached the final again this year but it proved a game too far for his partner and they lost.
At present it looks like the John Urmston & Andrew Godfrey show, they are monopolising the competitions, and, they are loving it !!
On a more serious note, a new Charge Pac & Pads has been ordered for the , Defibrillator at the bowling club, this will now be fully functioning again in case it is needed again, hopefully this will never happen.
BOWLING CLUB PAVILION.
Despite all the objections, lack of support and continual criticism of the pavilion it has now been built, not sure what the members of the bowling club think of it, no one has made any comments to me, apart from, it needs this or that has not been done, usually during the building of the pavilion and before it was finished, there are still a couple of minor adjustments / snagging to be done and these should be completed within the next couple of weeks
I WANT TO GIVE A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO,
The BRIDGERS COMMUNITY GROUP who were responsible for ALL the Planning, Design, Fundraising and Management of the project.
OUR LOCALLY ELECTED MEMBERS of Wigan Council, who gave us funding through the Brighter Borough Funding Scheme
THE WIGAN DEAL FOR COMMUNITIES for the Funding it gave us
THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER for the Funding they gave us.
WIGAN`S CROWDFUNDING SCHEME and EVERYONE who donated to this.
IAN ALDRED JOINERY, HINDSFORD—Fantastic job done at the right price !!
M & L ELECTRICALS -Darren Pollard did an excellent job also at the right price.
THE PAVILION LOOKS FANTASTIC AND IT IS BECAUSE OF ALL OF YOU THAT THIS HAPPENED !!
EVENTS
ZUMBA with EMMA GOLPYS
VENUE, Scout Headquarters, Leigh Road, Atherton.
DAY, TUESDAY: 9-30 am & 6.30 pm
FIRST CLASS WILL BE FREE THEN IT WILL BE £4.00 PER PERSON PER SESSION.
If you are a NEW MEMBER joining For the morning sessions, and you quote “BRIDGER“ you can get one month attendance at HALF PRICE.
RING Emma on 07834 815797 for further information.
CHARITY FUN DAY
IN AID OF CANCER RESEARCH & KAREN`S CHILDREN
AT THE GARDENERS BOWLING CLUB & PUB
SUNDAY AUGUST 26TH
STARTING AT 11-00AM
PAIRS BOWLING COMPETITION WITH BOWLERS PAIRED WITH NON-BOWLERS
COST IS £3.00 PER PLAYER
BOWLERS & N0N-BOWLERS ARE NEEDED
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PLAY PLEASE CONTACT TONY GILL
ON 07779 303581 OR 01942 877760.
THERE WILL ALSO BE: BBQ, RAFFLES, SPORTS MEMORABILIA AUCTION, BOUNCY CASTLE & DISCO IN EVENING.
DEMENTIA BUDDY GUARDIAN ANGELS
DEMENTIA FRIENDLY COFFEE MORNING in Atherton Library, 10-00 to 12-00
AUGUST 17TH, SEPTEMBER 21ST, OCTOBER 19TH , NOVEMBER 16TH
THIS IS A FREE EVENT AND EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO ATTEND.
DEMENTIA FRIENDLY LUNCHEON CLUB
Atherton Central Methodist Church, High Street, Atherton.
SEPTEMBER 3RD, OCTOBER 1ST, NOVEMBER 5TH
There is a cost of £3.50 per person and this includes 2 course lunch, games, entertainment, THIS MUST BE BOOKED IN ADVANCE BY RINGING 01942 888990 OR 01942 603175.
SEPTEMBER 1ST is the date of our “ HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT BAKING COMPETITION “ This is held in Atherton Central Methodist Church from 11 am to 3 pm
COST OF ENTRY IS £2.00 PER CAKE. There will be both Adult & Junior sections, please ring 01942 888990 or 01942 603175 to register and for further information.
The next two meetings of the BRIDGERS COMMUNITY GROUP will be on September 6th & October 4th.
These are being held in the GARDENERS PUB starting at 8 pm
EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO ATTEND
