Arley News Online

Welcome to the Spring ‘07 edition of Arley News.

Spring’s edition updates you about the Parish plan, planned ‘Tea and memories’ event and some interesting historical articles about Arley!

As an editorial team, we welcome Mike Williams as treasurer for Arley News, he takes over the reigns from Clare Brady who remains as our sub-editor.

We have been asked by Pat Cotterill to convey thanks to all of you who gave your time, effort, support and time without remuneration to create the parish plan.

Arley News welcomes any submissions regarding items of local interest. If you are doing something for the community or involved in something locally which you think the community would be interested about, please submit an article via the usual routes ( see below), or contact Arley News and we will get someone to visit you, to write an article on your behalf. Arley News can only be as good as the articles submitted – so get thinking and contact us!

Please send any items to either:  arleynews@hotmail.com or leave details in one of the boxes situated at the Post Office in New Arley or at Rowley’s Butchers in Old Arley.

Have a lovely Easter,

Warm regards

Emily & the editorial team

In October 2006, the members of Arley Community Association held a Reminiscence event at Rowlands Court.  The idea behind it was to invite the residents of the Arley villages to come along and share their stories of village life in the past with others.  People were invited to bring with them any photos that could be scanned and a couple of volunteers were on hand to scribble a record of some of the stories. 

Members from ACA also provided homemade cakes and tea, so it was also a good chance for us to get together for afternoon tea and a chat before the dark winter months chased us indoors!

The feedback from October was quite positive and everyone involved enjoyed themselves.  “Thank you” to all of you that came along and made our first event of this kind such a success.

Well, spring is almost here, so ACA thought we would hold similar event again, this time called “Tea and Memories”.   There will be homemade cakes and tea provided again by ACA.  There will be the opportunity to see some of the material from the October event and to chat to everyone, telling us the gossip of days gone by in Arley.

Saturday 14th April 2007 2pm to 6pm   Rowlands Court

If anyone needs a lift to or from the venue on the day this can also be arranged.

Tel: 01676 542972 and 01676 541026.

We look forward to seeing you all there.

Vanessa-Jayne Eady

ACA Treasurer / Event Organiser

Little Teds Playgroup has bid a fond farewell to Emma Ball and Jo Morrison who have been running the playgroup for many years. Emma, who has two children herself, has now taken over ‘Little Glendalers’ nursery and pre-school on the site of Glendale School, Stockingford. Everyone wishes Emma and Jo well with their future plans, they will be sorely missed at ‘Little Teds’.

Despite Emma and Jo’s departure, Little Teds playgroup goes from strength to strength and continues to provide a weekly playgroup session for local babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers. The group have recently secured a £600 grant from NWBC Community Fund, which will go towards purchasing new equipment to add to the varied and quality equipment already in place. The group gets together during term time, every Wednesday from 1.00pm – 2.30pm at the Wesley Methodist Church Hall in Old Arley (opposite the Wagon Load of Lime). It caters for all pre-school children from 0 – 5 years and provides a safe place for play and organised activities such as gluing and sticking, painting, potato printing and making decorations as well as song and dance. It is also an invaluable source of support for parents and carers, who, for the price of £1.70 per family (which includes juice and a biscuit) get the opportunity to meet other parents and make new friends.

Little Teds welcomes any parent or carer with their pre-school children and looks forward to meeting new members.

For any more information contact Mandy Reddington on Tel: 01676 540959.

North Warwickshire Citizens Advice Bureau is looking for enthusiastic volunteers

You do not need any previous qualifications, skills or experience but you will need to be open minded, non-judgmental, be able to listen, learn and work as a team.

You will receive comprehensive, fully supported free training in a friendly office environment with the opportunity to gain an accredited qualification equivalent to NVQ Levels 2 & 3.

If you are interested and want to find out more contact Cherryl or Amy at

North Warwickshire Citizens Advice Bureau

The Parish Rooms

Welcome Street

Atherstone

CV9 1DU

01827 713122

Email: nwcab.training@cabnet.org.uk

The Parish Plan Questionnaire is to be delivered to your homes in the next few weeks.

With it will be a form to enter a FREE DRAW all you need to do is fill in the form & the Questionnaire then

Return using the Freepost Envelope supplied by the date shown at the top right of the Entry Form

Remember no Questionnaire no free draw & the chance of winning one of the three prizes valued at

£50, £30 and £20

Location: Coleshill Leisure Centre Time: 10:00 - 12:00

Coleshill Leisure Centre will be running PRIME TIME 50+ session on Mondays and Wednesdays, every week, 10 am – 12pm until 3rd Sept, 07. Activities on offer are:

• Badminton

• Table Tennis

• Use of their fitness suite

For any further information on this new service and any other service that Coleshill Leisure Centre provides, please feel free to contact the centre on Telephone: 01675 466022

Cost: £ 2.00 per session

Warwickshire County Council has launched Sustained Employment through Learning (known as SEtL).  The project offers training towards qualifications in a range of areas including Business Administration, IT, care, childcare, retail, call centre, reading and writing and customer service; in many cases this will include some real life work experience. There are also short courses on CV writing and confidence building.

The service is totally free and open to anyone living in Warwickshire, aged 19 or over, who is out of work or under threat of redundancy.

In addition to training each individual will be provided with an experienced Employment and Training Advisor to assist in choosing the right training. The advisors operate across the county and can offer advice sessions from a range of locations near to people’s homes.

Cllr Chris Saint, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Economic Development, said: “A little thing like self confidence and belief can make all the difference when going for employment, especially if people are returning to work from a break, or haven’t been through the interview process in some time.  We can also offer additional support to those who need that little bit of extra help such as help finding childcare, auxiliary aids, interpreter services.”

And the help doesn’t stop there, because even when the training is finished, the advisors will remain on hand to help with hunting out work.

To find out more about SEtL call on 02476 321972.

Church news

Good News!

In my last article in Arley News, I spoke of Arley and St. Michael's Community Project and the possibility of a new centre for the people of Arley. I asked you to hope. Thanks for hoping, thanks for working because now I have good news to report.

It's official!  Arley and  St. Michael's Community Project to build community premises to the rear of St. Michael's Church New Arley has fought off fierce competition form across the country and has passed the first stage of the application for £390,000 from the Big Lottery Community Buildings Fund.

We have been awarded a development grant to do all the necessary planning and preparation work prior to the building going up. We are not quite there yet - a second application will need to be made when all the research is done, but they have given us the money because they want us to succeed! We have come a long way to the building of the community facilities that New Arley both deserves and so desperately needs.

The new building will have a large hall, coffee lounge, new, greatly enlarged  and improved kitchen, up-to-date toilets (at last!), storage, an office for the youth worker and a welcoming entrance hall. You will be able to enter either from the church or directly from outside. The new centre can operate entirely separately from the church or both church and centre can be used together - it will depend entirely on what's going on and what users prefer.

But as this is the Church letter I need to explain why as your Rector I believe in this project. I believe the Church is here to bring hope and encouragement to everyone in every sphere of life. Loving ones neighbour is absolutely at the heart of the Christian faith. In playing our part in the creation of this new centre we are trying to do our bit to help everyone enjoy each other's company and to grow in their commitment to each other and in their hope for the future,

For all you have done,

For all you will do,

THANK YOU,

PETER ALLAN

Join us every Sunday...

9 a.m.    St. Wilfrid's   Holy Communion

10.15 a.m. St. Michael's 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays Holy Communion

  2nd and 4th Sundays All-Age Worship

.... and through the week

Monday Fellowship Group

Tuesday and Friday Minimikes (Parents and Toddlers) ( St. Michael's)

Tuesday Night Youth Club (St. Michael's)

Thursday St. Michael's Over 60's Group and New Way Credit Union (both at St. Michael's)

Thursday Fellowship Group

If you would like prayers to be said for you, please pass a note to any church member or drop in a request to the letter box at both churches. We should be delighted to include your name in our prayers on Sunday.

We welcome you to share Good Friday and Easter with us at St. Wilfrid's, Old Arley and St. Michael's Gun Hill

Maundy Thursday 6 April 7pm Supper (please ask for a free ticket) and Communion - St Wilfrid's Vestry

Good Friday  7 April 2-3 pm   Quiet Hour at the Cross - St Wilfrid's

Easter Eve  8 April 8pm. Service of First Light and First Communion of Easter - St. Michael's

For further details, to book a baptism or wedding or if you would like me to visit please telephone the Rector Peter Allan 02476-399070

Easter Sunday   9 April           9am      Holy Communion - St. Wilfrid's 10.15am Holy Communion - St. Michael's 

Family Service                       2nd Sunday of each month at 10.30am

Other Sundays                       Sunday Club                  10.30am

                                                Evening Worship            6.00pm

Most Wednesday evenings Prayer Meeting at 7.30pm

To book a baptism, wedding or funeral, or if you would like a pastoral visit,

contact Minister Sue Fry on 02476 312367

Join us for Holy Week and Easter

Ash Wednesday (21st February)            

a united service for all at St Lawrence’s Ansley at 7.30pm

Palm Sunday (1st April)                     

   

a united churches procession and Passion reading.  Gather at

St Wilfrid’s, Old Arley at 10.00am and processing to the

Wesley Hall Methodist Church.

Wednesday 4th April                             

7.45pm - A Passover celebration with simple meal.  Names

and numbers to Sister Sue (02476 312367) by Palm Sunday.

Easter Sunday (8th April)                       

10.30am Family Service

Did you know that around 200 people come through the doors of Arley Methodist Church and Community Centre each week?  Why don’t you join them?

There are activities for all ages every day of the week and on Sunday at worship.  You will be welcomed very warmly.  For details of worship, or if you would like a visit from a minister, please contact Sue on 02476 312367.

Did you know that we have a weekly prayer group which prays for individuals, groups and activities in and around Arley and throughout the world?  If you would value prayer support from the group again contact Sue Fry.

Sue’s Sabbatical

Between the 16th April and 16th July, I will be on sabbatical exploring rural ministry and building up an exhibition on mining and Methodism.  If you have any photographs or artefacts about mining which you could loan or donate please get in touch.

Oberammergau 2010

It’s not too early to register to attend the Passion Play and to holiday on the Bernese Oberland in 2010.  I am planning to lead a group and will need to know soon who is interested.  Contact Sue for details.

“With reference to the article in the last copy of Arley News regarding addresses, I have signed then petition, but I would also like to ask if it is possible for the Royal Mail to spell St Wilfrid's correctly - with an 'i' and NOT an 'e'. The name is spelt out in letters about 6" high on a plaque on the middle terrace of cottages and is the same spelling as the Church, which is where the cottages take their name from.

In further support to the change of postal address, I would add that all maps - including Ordnance Survey; finger posts and village signs say 'Old Arley' or 'New Arley'. This is extremely confusing when delivery companies (who do not all have Satellite Navigation) put in the post code and come up with an address of 'Arley'. When I first moved in here I had at least 3 people phone me up when delivering various items because they 'couldn't find Arley' and I had to direct them. It also confused people who thought I was moving to Arley in Worcestershire.”

Submitted to Arley News by a local resident

Response from Arley News:

Thank you for your e-mail and support of the petition, the points you make are important and we have passed these on to the relevant bodies for their information.

1. Who was the last king of Austria?

2. In which American state was Peyton Place set?

3. Who sang with Rod Stewart on the 1990 hit ‘it takes two’?

4. What is a Devils Coach Horse?

5. Which English city had the Roman name Aquae Sulis?

6. What is the name of the daily paper in the Flintstones?

7. Who’s real name is William Franklin Beedle Jnr?

8. What TV series featured Siegfried Farnon?

9. Which superstar group started out as the engaged couples?

10. What is a Pangram?

11. Who owned Bagpuss?

12. What does Spam stand for?

13. Which British city has a cathedral with three spires?

14. Which song contains these lyrics “if you ever leave baby you would take away everything good in my life"?

15. Who is the only person to have won world titles on two and four wheels?

16. Which American state is known as the Gopher state?

17. Who is the patron saint of dance?

18. Why were parts of Britain plunged into darkness on August 11 1999?

19 .Why don’t Polar Bears hunt Penguins?

20. What was Ken Wilberforce finest invention?

1 Doc Martens

2 Norway

3 Abc

4 Traffic Wardens

5 xliv

6 Germany

7 Home and Away

8 Grease is the word

9 Bill Maynard

10 Lion King

11 Afghanistan Azerbaijan

12 Blockbusters

13 Tooting

14 Beechy Head

15 Morpheus

16 1972

17 The Locomotion

18 Duke of Wellington

19 The Equalizer

20 Browns as its stains as it thickens

Quiz answers and Questions are

Kindly supplied by the

Merry Miner

Check your answers to Quiz 7

in: Arley News, Summer, 2007

As an editorial team, we know what we think you’d like to see within the content of your local newsletter, however we want you to make sure it IS what you want.

So, what items would you find interesting, useful or informative to see within this newsletter?

It’s really easy to let us know:

Telephone: 07973 371710 OR 01676 541026

E-mail: arleynews@hotmail.com

Drop off boxes: boxes situated at the Post Office in New Arley or at Rowley’s Butchers in Old Arley

If you would like to be a volunteer reporter on behalf of Arley News – we’d really welcome your support – young or old anyone is welcome – let us know.

Thank you

ARLEY ‑ I believe the name means 'clearing in the Forest of Arden'

Long have gone the days when the man appointed to be in charge of the accounts of the village was requested to pay fourpence per score for Small Birds, one penny each for Crows, Magpies and lays. One Pound a year to the man catching Moles ‑ this was increased in 1851 to One Pound Ten shillings a year upon condition that he attends his duty by catching them properly. In 1854 it was agreed that 4 cottages should have their rent increased; one to Two Pounds Ten Shillings, one to One Pound Fifteen Shillings, and 2 to One Pound Five Shillings per annum.

Getting to the time of my lifetime in the village ‑ I was born at 7 Rectory Cottages in 1926, the year of the General Strike, and cart now well imagine the real hard times my parents and of course the rest of the community of the village had. At this time of course it was a Mining Village with the pit being sunk in the early 1900s.It is my guess our era has seen the biggest advancement of life of all times ‑from houses with tile floors and table tops to be scrubbed every day and pegged rags to be shook clean if this was possible. Of course there were no water toilets, there being buckets in a shack up the garden to wall to wall carpeting and of course that amazing feat of man landing on the Moon ‑ it was only the cow, that jumped over the Moon in the old days.

Getting back to the past days everything revolved round the Colliery ‑employment when required of course and housing ‑ most of these belonging to the Colliery and therefore one had to go to work at the pit to be considered for one.

Part 2 in Arley News – summer edition

The records show that the medieval village of Arley was a small community in the giant Forest of Arden. It was called in the early 10th Century “Eaghlege” and then in the late 10th century the name had evolved to “Earledge”.  The name Arley in the anglo saxon times literally meant “a clearing in the wood of the eagle” and as you can see from the 10th century spellings how this would come about. 

The village was probably located between what we now call Woodside east to the area near to where the church now stands and north to Ballards Green and west to Slowley. It would have then been in close proximity to two water mills on the Bourne Brook.

One could have been at what is now called Ansley Mill and the other perhaps at Daw mill. These would have only been accessible by small tracks through the forest and the villagers would have to take the corn via these little tracks to one or the other mill for grinding into flour etc.

The main track close to the village would have led to between the Mercian capital Tamworth and large town of Coventry which was the seat of an Earl of Mercia named Leofric and his wife, one Lady Godiva.

Mercia was by this time losing it’s title of the most powerful kingdom of England. The Danish invasion in the east of the county had almost reached into the centre of mercies. Which by this time was partly under Mercian, and partly under Danish rule. In the early 10th century, it accepted the rule of Athelstan of Wessex and became part of a united England. Athelstan (rules 925 – 939) was the grandson of Alfred the Great and was acknowledged by the other rulers as overall King, or as he liked to style himself in his charters and on his coinage “King of all Britain”.                  

A belated Happy New Year to you all!  During the last week of the autumn term we celebrated Christmas with our carol services at St Wilfrid’s, our scrumptious Christmas dinner and the Christmas disco.  The costumes were brilliant with all children receiving a prize with £240 raised towards our school funds.  At the beginning of this term children raised £321 for Dr Barnardo’s, a staggering amount.

Some timetable changes took place from the beginning of term to which children have responded well.  The introduction of milk at morning break for those children whose parents have chosen this, has proved to be very successful.

In response to the issues raised by Ofsted, the school has been working in close partnership with the Local Authority to move the school forward.    Unfortunately, due to personal reasons, our Year 6 class teacher left us at half term but I am pleased to report that we have appointed a new teacher who has a good deal of Junior School experience and I am sure will continue to build on progress already made in the lead up to the SATs.

Events planned to take place during this half of the spring term are as follows:

21st February   Warwickshire Road Safety Competition preliminary round

2nd March            Tempest photographers will be in school to take individual and family photographs

12th March           Parents’ Evening

Linda N Weyman

Head Teacher

We had a very busy start to the spring term with a visit from the Recycling Robot who gave us lots of things to think about and several very important messages to spread throughout the community about "Reducing, Re-using and Recycling". We have put in a request for a paper recycling point at our school and we are waiting to hear if we are successful.

A two day visit from the Life Education Caravan gave all our children the opportunity to spend a session in the caravan thinking about keeping healthy and staying safe. This event is always enjoyed tremendously by the children and a lot of learning takes place in a fun way. Work has been taking place on refurbishing our playground toilet unit and the development of an ICT suite both of which will provide better facilities for our children in very different ways! Over the half term break, work is commencing on replacing our very ancient boiler. We are moving from oil to gas with the hope that it will be more efficient and more economical.

We are proud of a large group of our Year Two children who give up their lunchtime sessions on a regular basis to take part in a Chatterbooks Club which provides them with extra opportunities to develop their reading skills and widen their access to a range of reading materials. This scheme is run by Gwyneth Wicks from the Rural Outreach Library Service. Gywneth is helped at these sessions by Audrey Brown. We would like to thank them both for the amount of time they give to our children to make this possible.

After half term, we are looking forward to a "Florence Nightingale Day" where the children will have the opportunity to dress up and re-enact the story of Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War! We will be having a special Mothers Day assembly on 16th March at 2pm and an Easter Celebration assembly on 30th March at 9.30am. We would love you to join us if you would like to.

Area Forum	August 06 02/08/06-29/08/06	Sept 06 30/08/06-25/09/06	October 06 26/09/06-23/10/06	Nov 06 24/10/06-28/11/06	Dec 06 29/11/06-05/12/06
East (Hartshill, Arley, Ansley Common Atherstone + Mancetter)	44	50	95	83	82

Arley has been the area of highest nuisance youth activity for several months and has been the primary reason for the early introduction of 2 new officers, namely Gary Bermowski and PCSO Simeon Hodgeson. Their introduction has led to reductions in levels of antisocial behaviour.

3 individuals responsible for a series of anti-social behaviour visited and ABC contracts agreed and adhered too. 1 further youth breached ABC and ASBO collection plan commenced.

• All Crime detection rate at 27.80% YTD

• Last months highest detection rate for violent crime at 53.19%

• Criminal Damage reports down by nearly 40% last month

• Business Crime reductions highest at 5.6%

Monday 5.00pm – 7.00pm Exercise and relaxation based on Tai-Chi

Tuesday 10.00am – 12 noon Art Class

              5.30pm – 6.30pm Sparkle Club for 4 to 7 year olds

              7.00pm – 9.00pm Youth Club for 12 years plus

Wednesday 1.00pm – 2.30pm   Parent and Toddlers

                    5.45pm – 6.45pm  Beginners Line Dancing

                    6.45pm – 7.45pm Line Dancing

Thursday  5.30pm – 6.30pm Jaffa Club for 7 to 12 year olds

Friday  3.00pm – 4.30pm Sequence Dancing

3.00pm, the first Thursday of every month Pop-In for tea, cakes and a chat.To hire the Community Room please contact Joyce Lea on 02476 392376

Stroke Club, meets every Monday 10 – 3pm, All Welcome Tel. Gladys Jones 02476 386670

Arley WI Meets on the first Tuesday of each month. 7.30pm at St. Wilfred’s Church Vestry, Old Arley, All welcome Tel. Pat 02476 395447

Womens netball practice fitness and fun Every Monday 8.15 – 9.15pm at Arley Sports Centre all ages 11 – 60 welcome, and all abilities. £2.50 per session. Tel.Karen 01676 549035

Emily Young (Editor) –   arleynews@hotmail.com

                                    Tel: 07973 371710

Clare Brady (Sub-Editor) – Tel. 07971 247348

Ron Brown (Chairman) - Tel: 01676 541026

Audrey Brown (Secretary) -Tel. 01676 541026