Our next meeting takes place on Tuesday 19th April at 7.30 pm at the Lyon Hall, Hodnet when Jessica Pannett will present an illustrated talk entitled Glorious Gardens of Britain and Europe.
Refreshments will be served after the meeting, and all are welcome to attend what promises to be an enjoyable and interesting presentation. Meetings are free of charge during 2016, so do come along and take advantage of our varied programme of events this year.
“Staying Connected” was the title of a meeting held on Friday 11 March 2016 at the Lyon Hall, to inform local people about two projects aimed at helping those in danger of becoming socially isolated to maintain links and stay connected within their own communities.
Although a community bus service and and a local befriending scheme may not appear to have much in common, it became apparent that the benefits of both are similar. If your driving licence is suddenly revoked on health grounds or you are no longer able to get out and about due to reduced bus services, you may begin to lose touch with people and the community you were once part of. Likewise, if you become frail or housebound due to long-term illness, you may feel very cut off and lonely.
As Paul Cronin of the Severn Hospice pointed out in his introduction to Compassionate Communities, a scheme which the Hospice have already helped 14 Shropshire communities to implement, the two most frequent answers to the question, “What would make the most difference to your quality of life?” were surprisingly straightforward. “It would be nice if someone called in to see me,” and “ There is no public transport, so I can’t get out to see people any longer.”
Mr Cronin showed how chronic social isolation can lead to crushing loneliness and then to crisis, noted in virtually every medical practice in the county. How encouraging then to hear of a reduction in several measures (see below) of health service uptake once trained Co-Co volunteers became involved in a person’s life, visiting or phoning them regularly, sharing their interests and generally helping them to re-connect with their community. For further information see here.
John Harrison of North Salop Wheelers explained how their group had begun to provide regular market day services for a few villages in the Wem area back in 2003. Wheelers have expanded steadily to cope with demand and now run services on 4 days of the week for Ellesmere, Market Drayton, Wem and Whitchurch. With further cuts to bus services, they find themselves fully stretched and in great need of help with administration, fund-raising and driving. [At present they do not have any requests for transport from people living in the Hodnet area, but would seek to respond positively should they be approached in the future.] For more information, phone 01948 880037 or see here.
The meeting concluded with an opportunity for people to sign up for further involvement in both schemes.
If you were not at the meeting but would like to offer your time and involvement in either project after reading this report, it’s not too late. Please email and someone will be in touch with you.
Due to a technical problem Paul Cronin was unable to show a PowerPoint presentation. Since then he has kindly supplied us with a copy of it and you can view the slides below. Of particular note are the five slides showing how demands on the Health Service were reduced after the initial Co-Co scheme was put in place. These are:
From 10.00am – 4.00 pm, Thursday 12 May, at The Bear, Hodnet.
Free valuations of collectables, jewellery, ceramics and other antiques.
Hansons and The Bear both support the Midlands Air Ambulance Service and donations can be made on the day.
Items can be accepted into forthcoming Hansons Auctions.
For more information please telephone 01630-685214 or email
The Shropshire Star website has today (5/3/16) published a report of car overturned on Station Road, Hodnet. It states that an adult and two children were in the vehicle at the time but none of them suffered any injuries – though they were examined at the scene by paramedics. Police said they had seatbelts and air-bags to thank.
Fire and ambulance crews were called to the scene just after 11am and found the silver Vauxhall on its side in the middle of the road. Shropshire Fire & Rescue Service report they received a call at 11:15am and the Hodnet fire appliance attended the incident and the crew made the vehicle safe.
Police at Market Drayton tweeted these pictures of the car along with the comment that “Seatbelts & Airbags saved the day.”
From the photographs it appears that the accident occurred on the section of Station Road to the south of the A53 (Hodnet bypass), about 250 yards before the bridge over the River Tern.
Tomorrow, Sat. 5th March 2016, there is an opportunity to see classic cars from the 1960s & 70s as they pass through Peplow between manoeuvrability tests in the area.
The Tour of Cheshire is a championship event organised by the Knutsford & District Motor Club. Entries include Triumph TR4s, Dolomites and 2000s, Mini Coopers, Morris Minor, MG Midget and MGBs, early Ford Escorts, Lotus Elite, Sunbeam Tiger, Renault Alpine, Alfa Romeos, Volvo PV544, Volvo Amazon, an Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTV, early Porsches and many other vehicles including 2, Austin A40 Farinas.
Details of the route were made public today(4 March) at 3:00pm but are unspecific about the route through our area. (See below for identified near-by locations.) Residents on the route have however had courtesy letters delivered to advise them in advance of extra traffic past their homes tomorrow. In Peplow the route takes the cars past the Hall gates travelling from the A442 towards Little Bolas. The cars are estimated to be passing through Peplow between 11:15am and 1:15pm.
The Tour of Cheshire is not a Special Stage Rally, where competitors have to drive at speed to achieve the quickest times in the private land sections. Instead drivers are scored on their driving skills in a series of manoeuvrability tests set at the different private land venues.
For those who like taking pictures of historic cars this will be an ideal opportunity as on public roads the competitors have to drive safely, keeping to all the normal rules of the road and are expected to keep to an average of 30mph throughout the day. If you do get some good photographs why not send us a selection by emailing them to us? You can find information how to that on this page.
Nearby named spectator points (extracted from the official Spectator Guide)
Times below are approximate. Note in the event of bad weather or other problems the route and times may have to be altered at the last minute.
- Whitchurch. Past the Shell Petrol Station on B5395 (Newport Road), from north to south on a transport section. First car due 8.55am.
- Tern Hill roundabout. A41 and A53 intersection. Cars use the roundabout from east to west and some may take on fuel at the Shell filling station. On a transport section. First car due 9.50 am.
- Market Drayton livestock market. Off A53 roundabout to north of Market Drayton. Tests and coffee stop. First car due 10am. Spectator parking on the public road, please park carefully.
- The Four Alls, Woodseaves. Lunch halt. No Pub parking available, all of the limited space required and reserved for competitors /officials / pub customers. First car due to arrive at 11.45am and depart 12.45am. The cars will also pass the road junction at the pub again at 2.40pm, approaching the pub from the south on the A529 and turning right to Tyrley Locks.
Please remember that all motorsport is potentially dangerous. If you attend a motorsport event, such as this one, you are responsible for your own safety and those of any others in your party. Please ensure you are in a safe position, ensure you take notice of any requests of officials concerning your location – those requests will be for your safety!
The practice is closed on three afternoons a year so that doctors, nursing and admin staff can attend essential training as part of their Continued Professional Development.
The surgery will therefore be closed on the afternoon of 13th April 2016 for such training, and will be open as usual the following day.
If you require urgent medical attention whilst the surgery is closed on this occasion, please call Shropdoc on 0333 222 66 55
Shropshire Council has announced a further planned closure on the Hodnet to Weston/Wem Road from Monday March 7th, 2016 for 2 weeks. This follows closures of the same stretch of road in August and October last year.
As on the previous occasions the closure is to allow Severn Trent Water to work on the water mains. According to the documentation there will be no access through the closure for pedestrians, cyclists or horse riders. Unlike the previous instances the map provided shows the signposted diversion route to be through Prees Green & Weston – quite a detour!
Previously, the alternative route was much shorter, taking drivers through Marchamley, as in the map below.
A new post has been added to our Local History section – Station Road Post Office 1960 – 2016
Three new “nostalgic” photographs have also been recently uploaded to the Old Photographs: Wollerton
