Public Presentations
In the upstairs Meeting Room
at Beeston Public
Library, Foster Avenue,
Access by lift and a sound re-inforcement system are available,
= = 2009-10 Season
= =
Friday
8th October 2010
Chairman
of
Broxtowe Planning & Development Control Committee
preceded by
Annual General Meeting
Friday
12th November 2010
Maureen Casey Nottinghamshire
Assistant Deputy Coroner
Friday
10th December 2010
John Hindle Project
Manager Environment Agency
Nottingham
Left Bank Flood Alleviation Scheme
followed
by mince pies and festive drinks
Friday
14th January 2011
Bill
Wheatley MBE
Chairman of Beeston
Wildlife Group
‘Attenborough
Nature Centre & Reserve’
Friday
11th February 2011
Tom Woodcock Heritage
Adviser British Waterways
‘Willliam
Jessop & The Trent’
Friday
11th March 2011
An
update from a member of NET Phase 2 Project
Team
If you have suggestions for future activities, our Meetings Secretary will be pleased to hear them. You will find the telephone number on our contacts page.
Reports from the 2008-9 Season
Friday 12th December 2008
Simon
Thompson, Head of the
John
Clifford
Primary School
(
Nether Street
)
Community
Cohesion
Inspirational’
sums up Simon Thompson’s approach to his work as head teacher of
Beeston’s John Clifford School.
Just over a year on, Simon is making a big impact.
A
Yorkshireman, Simon arrived dressed for action in his John Clifford fleece
with bee pendant.
Head teachers just don’t look the way they used to.
Their job is changing as schools are changing, but one habit
survives.
We came away with a fistful of handouts explaining context,
curriculum, aims and values.
Community cohesion, he believes, is putting the school at the centre
of the community.
As
a teacher Simon wants to make a difference to the lives of children.
The reality of the John Clifford catchment area is that many of his
children come from less than ideal backgrounds: families who have moved from
one part of the county to another, to others made up of disparate units of
step-mums and ‘uncles ‘; and sometimes living in a strained atmosphere
at home.
These factors are not always obvious on the surface.
About half of his school roll are born and brought up in Beeston,
with local parents and grandparents.
Around a third speak English as a second language and a fifth are
from different ethnic groups.
A significant minority have special educational needs, with physical
and behavioural difficulties.
Some have been excluded from other schools.
Parents
or carers?
You cannot be sure these days, and working with parents is often a
challenge.
Most of us have had happy school backgrounds, but many of his parents
do not share these positive experiences.
Staff, described as both his greatest challenge and his greatest
resource, need to reach out to them as part of a healing process.
Simon
told us something of his own background as a teacher and how these
experiences have formed his attitudes towards school and the community.
Qualifying in 1983 in Sheffield, his first jobs were in the
Nottingham area before moving to a head teacher’s post in a Trondheim
international school where he married.
Schools in Norway are very much a part of the community.
Topically, he also discovered that there is no such thing as bad
weather, just inappropriate clothing.
It is important that children can play in snow and ice.
From
Norway he moved to the sun: to Portugal where children are placed at the
heart of the community.
They adore children, quite different from our more ‘seen and not
heard’ attitude here.
Education in both Norway and Portugal is about making better people.
On
return Simon became the deputy head of Roundhill School.
Over three years he became engaged in music and drama — for Simon a
successful period.
It was a shock to become head of John Clifford School.
There had been two head teachers in two years, and the school roll
was falling.
Many people simply did not know where John Clifford was, or if they
did then they recognised it as the school behind the Cow pub.
It was not looking its best.
Staff turnover was high.
The challenge was ‘What could be done to make a difference?’
At
this point Simon handed out a list of principles and values that would mark
out John Clifford as different — something to give the school a distinct
sense of identity.
These principles and values are important in bringing people
together.
Teachers need some common values and the school needed a vision,
which was agreed quickly as ‘working with the community’.
Creating a distinct school identity and working with the community
are important elements in his approach.
Simon
set about getting to understand the people who work in and use the school.
The children are entitled to the best — every child matters — so
every decision has to be in the interests of the child.
As
head teacher Simon had also to earn the respect of the staff by actually
teaching.
A teacher’s job must be based on an understanding of what teaching
is about.
Michael Grade once observed that when you are in charge the spotlight
follows you around.
Anything you do will be ‘seen, touched and demonstrated’.
Teaching must be about ethical behaviour if we are to turn school
behaviour round, so a teacher is there to set standards.
Never give up! Simon
has taken abuse from parents and children, but in doing so he tries to
understand the context.
He must listen: spend time with parents to ask them what the school
does well and what it could do better.
Listening has to be pro-active.
You cannot change who you are.
Priorities
he described as consistency, community, communication and leadership.
Teachers must be consistent.
They give children challenge and feedback, focusing on a relevant
curriculum and on individual needs.
Daily briefings and the website are important communication tools.
The school is making real efforts to involve parents and businesses
at many levels. They
have held fashion events with mums, a successful bonfire night, a car boot
sale, a family carol event; using the school as a venue and as a marker for
adult education.
There is a partnership with Castle College with a focus on numeracy
and literacy.
Events and facilities for parents and grandparents all help a sense
of community.
A learning centre with £20,000 for lap-tops, supported by Ericssons,
is an important new resource, and Sainsburys has contributed £10,000 for a
pioneering breakfast club. In
all there are 15 activities involving 37 adults, all helping to bring
communities together.
Out
of 300 pupils, 120 take free school meals.
Hardly surprisingly, these are the children who make the least
progress in learning.
The Breakfast Club is about a calm start to the day.
The
school motto is to look for the best in people: Be your best — celebrate
success.
This is where the bee emblem with the six John Clifford promises come
in. They
are positive promises that are celebrated every Friday — a day dedicated
to catching the imagination and making learning exciting.
The emphasis is on doing your best, promises that help to make John
Clifford different.
Inevitably
there were many questions.
Simon ended with an invitation to us to walk round the school and to
use the community room for Society meetings on Friday evenings.
Look at the website: http://www.johncliffordschool.com/
.
Feel the energy.
Feel the buzz!
report
by Peter Robinson
Friday 9th January 2009
Linda Button, on
Beeston
Volunteer Bureau
Volunteer
Centre Broxtowe
Alison
Linton kindly stepped in at the last moment to give us an insight into a
vital, but hidden service.
Thanks to the Volunteer Centre Broxtowe, literally hundreds of people
are quietly serving the community under our very noses, largely unseen and
unheard.
Almost
anyone can volunteer.
Your background, interests, abilities, even your time are no
obstacles as there are so many different needs to meet in the Beeston area,
ranging from driving to gardening through dog walking to fixing shelves.
The skill is in matching volunteers to needs.
That
is where Alison and the small team in Cavendish Lodge come in.
They offer the brokerage service that puts the right person in the
right place at the right time.
They make it work.
Volunteering
it seems is for anyone from any background who just wants to help.
All ages are involved from youngsters to the retired, with a peak in
the 35 to 45 age group and people of all abilities can make a contribution
– an often chastening experience.
The amount of time given is entirely up to the volunteer.
Cavendish Lodge will find an opportunity for you whatever time you
want to give.
In
responding to questions, Alison pointed out that there are as many benefits
to volunteers as to recipients.
Volunteers can enrich their own lives by gaining new skills and
confidence through helping others.
Everyone gains by making Beeston a better place to live.
For
more information contact the Volunteer Centre Broxtowe, Cavendish Lodge,
Devonshire Avenue, Beeston, Nottingham, NG 1BS.
Telephone 0115 917 8080 and e-mail manager@vcb.org.uk.
Cavendish Lodge is open Monday to Friday 9.00am-12.45pm and
1.30pm-5.00pm.
report
by Peter Robinson
Friday 13th February 2009
Barbara Brooke, of
Stapleford & District Local History Society
Barbara,
who is well known to many of us, treated us to a mini-history of
Stapleford.
Originally from Gedling, Barbara has lived in Stapleford, which she
describes as a ‘warm, nice place to live’, for many years and she is
currently Chairman of Stapleford and District Local History Society.
In
the Doomsday Book, Stapleford is noted as having four inhabitants.
Apparently the Romans came on the way from Barton-in-Fabis to
Broxtowe Fort, and from then on Stapleford steadily grew in size.
William the Conqueror gave land to William Peveril, who gave
Stapleford to Robert de Heriz, whose descendants farmed the land for many
years.
The
Saxon Cross, dating from around 1,000 AD, originally a prayer cross and
now set in St.
Helen’s churchyard, was sited in the middle of the street and is
the oldest Christian memorial in Nottinghamshire.
It was discovered lying broken in the churchyard in 1760, and in 1820
it was re-erected with a ball instead of the original cross on top.
The ball was damaged in a storm in 1916 and replaced as a millennium
project by Broxtowe Borough Council, following a campaign by May Davis, a
local head teacher.
In
the 13th century, Alys de Heriz, married to John le Palmer, a wealthy wool
merchant of Nottingham, paid for the wooden Trent Bridge to be rebuilt in
stone.
She also provided funding for a priest in perpetuity to officiate at
St. Helen’s
church, recently built by her family.
Arthur Warren of Toton bought Stapleford Hall and the estate
in the 17th century and, through judicious marriages, the family became
wealthy.
The hall was rebuilt in the 1790s, but was demolished in the 1930s
after standing empty from 1905.
In
the 19th century the nearby river Erewash was straightened for boating.
Admiral
Sir John Borlase Warren is undoubtedly Stapleford’s most famous son
and Barbara is obviously one of his admirers.
Born in September 1753, died in February 1822, he achieved a great
deal in his lifetime.
Educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he was one time MP for
Marlowe and Nottingham, but his most famous exploits were as a naval man.
He rose through the ranks and when war with France resumed in the
1790s he was created Commodore, and harried the French fleet to great effect
detaining destroying or capturing no less than 220 ships, many of which were
handed over to the Admiralty (always welcome as a cheaper alternative to
building new) and ‘acquitted himself well’.
He was created Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and was
given the freedom of the cities of London and Londonderry.
He eventually rose to become Admiral of the White squadron of the
British fleet.
He was appointed
British Ambassador to the Court of St Petersburg (then the Russian
capital).
Another of his claims to fame is that there are various public houses
in the area named after him — always a sign that one has ‘made it’!
Although
agriculture continued to be important in the area, during the 19th century
various industries grew in Stapleford including lace making, and Joseph
Fearfield built a lace factory, which burnt down and was replaced by the
‘factory in a garden’, a well known and much loved local feature,
eventually taken over by Chambers Pencils and itself destroyed by fire.
First the canal and later the railway, constructed to transport coal,
attracted businesses such as brickworks, and iron ore was transported to
Stanton Ironworks via the Nutbrook Canal.
Joseph Fearfield gave land for a cemetery for Stapleford people of
all denominations.
During
this period another famous son of Stapleford, Arthur Mee, was born in
1875. Inspired
by his love of the English language, at the age of twenty he was the news
editor of the Nottingham Evening News, before moving to London.
He wrote over forty books in addition to his well known
encyclopedias.
The
Roach at Stapleford is known to most local folk and it got its name from
French prisoners during the Napoleonic War, who spent their time hewing and
breaking rock, or in French ‘roche’.
Stapleford continued to grow and by the year 1900 there were eighty
shops on the main road.
Lady Caroline Warren endowed a church school in memory of her late
husband, insisting it be called St John’s after him, and not St.
Helen’s after the parish church as are most church schools.
This school is now the oldest operational school building in
Nottinghamshire.
In 1880 the first board school, now part of Castle College, was built
on Church Street for £4,800 and later an infant department was added for £600.
The
Hemlock Stone is the area’s best known landmark and has fulfilled many
roles throughout history: at the Golden Jubilee of King George III an ox was
roasted on it, and more recently a beacon was lit on top to celebrate the
Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002. (Apparently this was done by the Fire
Brigade.)
I
was surprised to learn of the antagonism between Beeston and Stapleford
after the merging of the councils to become Beeston & Stapleford Urban
District Council in 1936.
Because Stapleford had few representatives on the council, they got
very little of the benefit, which usually went to Beeston, and there was a
lot of resentment which has lingered on and still persists among some of the
older population.
With the building of the M1 the area achieved another distinction,
when junction 25 became the first three level interchange in Britain!
After
listening to Barbara, I feel that I have a much better understanding of the
people and history of Stapleford and I can appreciate the area.
As Barbara pointed out, one only has to walk a few yards from the
town centre to be in lovely walking country.
If you want to find out more about Stapleford, you are very welcome
to join her guided
walk
on Tuesday 7th July.
Meet near the HSBC bank at The Roach crossroads at 7.15 pm.
report
by Joyce Brown
Friday 13th March 2009
Sharon May, Education Officer for
Trading Standards, Nottinghamshire County Council
Spot
the difference’ was the name of the game when Sharon May, Education Officer
for Nottinghamshire Trading Standards, explained consumer protection to
us. Few
of her audience could identify the real England football strip when asked to say
which was genuine and which was the fake.
There
are other surprises too.
An authentic-looking bar of soap might contain something that is
potentially harmful, or even dangerous.
Then there is the detergent that will not stop bubbling.
For Sharon and her colleagues based in Mansfield, the challenge is never
ending. Car
boot sales and street traders are the biggest culprits.
Trading
standards is for team players.
The one-time Weights & Measures Department covers the many sides of
consumer protection on a specified team basis and there is much more to it than
you might think:
The
Safety Team checks that goods are labelled properly so that quality and safety
are clear to the buyer;
The
Purchase team is particularly interested in the sale of age-related goods such
as tobacco, alcohol and fireworks.
They log any miss-sales with a view to potential prosecution.
Interestingly they can take along a young person when testing sales by
suspect vendors;
The
Advice team concern themselves with consumer problems referred to them,
resolving many of these difficulties through mediation.
Cars and internet shopping are particular problems;
The
Food team works with the Environmental Health Department, checking use-by dates
and other food quality issues; and
The
Special Project team covering counterfeit goods, doorstep crime and rogue
trading. They
work closely with the police.
Just
whom can you trust?
Sharon ended by drawing attention to the Department’s helpful ‘Buy
with confidence’ scheme.
This brings together a list of trades people and businesses from all over
the City and the County which have been checked individually for trustworthiness
and compliance with consumer protection laws.
Check out the website at http://www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk/
or
call Consumer Direct at 0845 04 05 06 and look out for the
logo.
Report
by Jean Cameron and Peter Robinson
