What’s happening in the parish of Arley? Arley has a Community Association! Arley Commmunity Association was formed in August 04, born out of strong opposition to North Warwickshire Borough Council’s Local Plan which proposes high-density, affordable housing on two sites in Arley. The strength of feeling is such that residents have taken the initiative and pulled together a diverse group of people to "be a united voice on behalf of the residents of Arley" and to improve the quality of life for everyone in the parish. Strong working relationships between agencies and residents have been developed through the work of the Arley miners’ Welfare Steering Committee and this will mean that the Community Association can be provided with immediate access to professional support. It is our intention that the Community Association will expand upon the work of the Steering Committee. With the Association in place, the future of the site and the desire to re-establish a Community Building will be resident led. We also hope that the association will begin to tackle some of the issues and problems identified by the survey earlier this year. We need your help: Our nexo pen meeting will be on 21 October 7.00 pm at St Michael’s Church in New Arley. If you care about where you live and want to help us to improve things, please come along. Residents from Old Arley, Hill Top and Spinney For further information please contact: Helen Reading: 07977 723397 Paul Reader: 01676 541323 Paul Stephen: 07708 479796 Action for New Arley Group AFNA is a group of mainly paid workers from a variety of different organisations working in New Arley plus a number of Parish Councillors. Members of the group have been responsible for producing Arley News, trying to get a village website set up, supporting NAPA in getting funding for the playground, advising other groups on funding, putting on courses for adults and helping the Miners Welfare Steering Group with the Open Day. We welcome the setting up of the community Association and look forward to working with them to improve the quality of life in Arley. The next meeting will be in December; date to be confirmed. For further information, contact Jean Sunter, Chair on 02476 531 282/0 Residents of Arley have been taking the opportunity to let the committee know how they feel about living in Arley and what changes they would like to see. Every household in New and Old Arley will have received a questionnaire in the last couple of weeks; just over 300 have been returned so far. Although the final report will not be ready until the end of March, some themes are already emerging. What would people like to see in Arley? What could be improved in Arley? Contact Paul Reader - 01676 541323, Helen Reading (WRCC) 07977 723397 or Davina Key (NWCVS) 01827 718080 for access. We will publish the main findings in the next newsletter and on the website and try to raise funding for a community event to publicise the information. We will then be deciding an action plan to get things done. People who agreed to take part in focus groups may be contacted for further discussion A big thank you to those who took time to fill in the forms. If you didn’t get one, or have lost it there is still time to let us know your views. Contact Helen as above. New Arley Playground Play equipment has been ordered by the Parish Council. The NAPA (New Arley Playground Association) team led by Emma Ball and supported by Paul Reader of the PC recently did an excellent job in putting the case for the playground to David from the national Living Spaces fund who we hope will fund the surrounding fencing, benches, bins etc. With luck, the playground should be open in spring/ early summer. Watch this space! Fun Learning for Adults and Family Groups The Community Education Service is offering lots of different learning opportunities completely free of charge to adults and family groups. Topics such as Computers, Digital Photography, Hand Crafts, Emergency First Aid, Fire Safety & Prevention, Drugs Awareness, Help with English, Help with Numbers are on offer. There are also events such as Family Five-a-side Football, Story Sacks for young children & parents and Keeping up with the Children programmes. All tutors are specially trained to work with adults who may not have done any learning for some time, so there are no exams, no pressure and no long-term commitment. For further information or if you’d like to have a go at something not listed, contact John or Teresa at Community Ed. in Atherstone on 01827 718007. Community Education - working with and for the people of Arley Lifelong Learning (2) Two members of the Atherstone College Computer group in New Arley who obviously like a challenge have decided to have a go at GCSE Maths. We wish them luck! Activities for the Kids Half-term 16 - 20th February Arley Sports Centre every day 10.00 a.m. - 12 noon Includes Bouncy Castle, Wacky Wheels, Arts & Crafts, Outdoor Activities and lots more. Cost: £2.00 for Playcard holders £2.50 for non- Playcard holders. All activities supervised by friendly, qualified staff. Contact 01676 541867 or email arleysportscentre@northwarks.gov.uk for further information. Easter Holiday Nature Detectives: Mon 5 - Wednesday 7 April 2.00 - 4.00 pm, Sycamore Road Green New Arley. Cost: £2.00 per child. Turn up and pay on the day. Tel. 01827 719207 for further details. For the diary: Family Wildlife Day 6 June at Shustoke Nature Reserve. More details in next newsletter. Broadband in Arley Luke Evans is still looking for support to get Broadband connection for Arley. So if you are a business user or just want faster internet connection for your home computer use, contact Luke at platypuss2@btopenworld.com. The more interest the better the chances. CHURCH NEWS St Patrick’s Social Night, Ansley Social Club, Friday 19 March 7.30 pm Music, Irish dancing, games, Guinness .. Entry £3.00 at the door. In aid of St Joseph’s Catholic Church and St Anne’ Catholic Church. St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Spring Hill, New Arley Mass 11.00am Sunday Fr. Stephen Day, Parish Priest St Michael’s, Gun Hill, New Arley We welcome you to join us every Sunday at 10.15 am (except 7 March when we join St Wilfrid’s for worship at 9.00 followed by our joint AGM) and on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month when we hold a short (20 minute) service at 10.00 am. I shall be spending Tuesday 6 March visiting in New Arley. If you can offer tea or coffee or would simply like me to drop in, either phone me on 024 7639 9070 or mention it after the Memorial Service. Also please note, now the parishes of Arley & Ansley have merged, I am living at Ansley Vicarage, 60 Birmingham Road (opposite the Village Church Hall). If you would like your child baptised please do get in touch (even if you don’t go to church). If you are seeking to be married in church, I’d be delighted to hear from you. If this would be a second marriage, do at least get in touch; the answer may well be yes. You don’t know until you try! The Annual Arley Memorial Service will take place on Sunday 22 February at St Michael’s at 6pm. All are welcome to attend. This is a special service to remember loved ones departed, to thank God for their lives and be strengthened in our knowledge that within the love of Christ we can never be parted. Donald Parr who has taken many funerals in Arley will be taking the service and I shall preach. There will be prayers, hymns, readings and a short talk. You will be invited, if you wish, to light a candle in memory of your loved one. Should you also wish them mentioned in our prayers, please write their names in our new Book of Remembrance as you arrive. I do hope you will join us and that you will find comfort, help and strength. Peter Allan , Rector PLAYGROUP Do we need a playgroup in New Arley? Although there are Parent & Toddler Groups in New and Old Arley and the Nursery at Gun Hill Infants School, some people feel there is a "gap" in provision for young children. Peter has offered to host a playgroup at St Michael’s if there is enough interest. Let us know what you think. Website Aidan Thumpston, our webmaster, will soon be developing the Arley Website probably with the support of Warwickshire County Council Warwickshire Communities facility. If you want to know more about it or would like to help, you can email him on aidt@hotmail.com. Thanks to Aidan for taking this on. Arley News - the future Editorial Team: So far, we have had no offers from the community to help produce the newsletter. Ideally we would have a small team (around 4 people) with at least one having the skills to put it together. If you are interested, don’t have the skills at the moment but would be willing to learn, let us know. We can arrange funding to send you on a course free of charge or arrange tuition at home. We can also arrange computer access if you don’t have a computer yourself. Contributions: Do you have an interesting hobby, a story to tell or can you write poetry or tell jokes (clean ones please). Have you lived in Arley a long time and can tell us something of its history? Did you work down the pit? What was it like? We welcome contributions from all residents. We’d particularly like to feature local residents who are making a particular contribution to the community life of Arley. Deliverers: Thanks to members of Neighbourhood Watch, NAPA and the Action for New Arley Group who currently deliver the newsletter. If you would be able to deliver, even just your own street, please let us know. NOTICEBOARD Action for New Arley Group Meets every 2 months to co-ordinate activities in New Arley. Mainly workers from various organisations and some parish councillors. If you would like to join, contact Jean Sunter (Chair) on 02476 531 282. ©2004 Arley News. Editor Jean Sunter.
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