News .. October and November
Clough Hall Residents Association
The colder weather heralds the start of scraping ice off the car windscreen first thing in the morning and the prospect of slippery roads and pavements on our way to work or to the local shops. Last winter was the coldest we have experienced for 30 years and seemed to last for ever, stretching the local authorities gritting resources to their limit. This highlighted an inadequate number of grit bins in the Clough Hall area and the fact that they were not being refilled often enough. This issue was raised at one of our meetings and prompted us to investigate the possibility of a few more grit bins being located at strategic points throughout the estate.
Staffordshire County Council has 30,000 tonnes of salt stock available this year and 12 new gritters to service the 3,500 miles of road and 5,000 miles of pavement which are treated. In addition there are now 1,200 grit bins to help local communities to salt roads and pavements which are not on the priority routes. We have been asked to remind you that it is an offence to take salt for your own drives.
Dare I say it ... all we need now is the snow!
Our residents association will be making a few changes in 2011 (come along to our AGM to hear about what is happening) and the guest speaker at our first meeting in January will be Philip Leese, who will be talking about the canals in the Kidsgrove area.
This nicely leads me into my next report about the work recently carried out by Clough Hall School, in conjunction with British Waterways and Network Rail. Thirty bags of litter and rubbish have been removed from the canal banks, graffiti on the rail bridges is to be painted over and lighting is to be repaired.
I have no doubt that these sorts of issues didn't exist when the canal system was first built and in full use ... the majority of the canal workers wouldn't have been able to read or write, there certainly weren't any ‘take-aways' to provide the never ending source of litter and lighting would have been non existent ... I am sure we will learn more about the way canals were in the past from Philip.
Our thanks to the councillors for helping to progress the above issues on our behalf .. it is much appreciated.
Our Residents Group continues to network with other similar groups e.g. Fifty Plus Forum, Butt Lane LAP, Adult Care Panel, Talke & Butt Lane Community Forum and many others. Our Chairman continues to attend meetings with these organisations and strongly believes that working together gives us a much stronger voice.
Finally, we wish you a happy Christmas and New Year and if you live in the Clough Hall area, and haven't yet been to one of our meetings, we would love to see you in 2011.
Carol Singing .. Monday 13th. December. Starting at 7.00pm.
Carol singing led by the Salvation Army Band will take place on ‘The Green' in front of The Clough Hall Hotel. You are all very welcome to join us and carol sheets will be provided.
Meetings are held at Hollinwood Sheltered Housing, Hollinwood Road starting at 7.15pm.
Dates for the next two meetings are ..
Tuesday 7th. December (Open Meeting) .. Annual General Meeting (AGM)
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Guest speaker :- Police Authority - Chaired by Mr. Peter Vigurs. An opportunity for residents to meet their local Neighbourhood Policing Unit Commander and Neighbourhood Police Officers.
This will be our Christmas meeting and free refreshments will be available. NOTE: STARTS AT 7.00PM
Tuesday 19th. January 2010
Guest speaker :- Philip Leese -‘ Kidsgrove and the Local Canal System'