Save our Libraries

We've had a very busy fortnight with one thing and another, and there are lots of events coming up too.

TWIGS (Tottington Wildlife Watch Group) received word that we had been successful in our The Rock Bursary Scheme application. We had put in a bid for £1000 so that amongst other things we could buy wildlife cameras to keep an eye on what is going on while our Twiglets (and us) are tucked up in bed. We are also hoping to buy other equipment and protective clothing, and perhaps get ourselves an 'identity' logo. Laurie Sage from Laurie Pink designs has even drawn a prototype logo badge, so I'm hoping that will take off. On Friday Alan Turner (another TWIGs leader) and I went to the presentation at Barista along with the other successfulapplicants where we received our certificate. The money is now safely in the bank, and we need to plan the finer details. Our children will benefit greatly, and we are very grateful to The Rock for supporting us. Well over 100 groups applied for a bursary and there was only £20,000 given out so we have been very lucky.The Rock will be repeating the scheme next year and they will be kept informed on how the funding has benefited the organisations.

I did a walk around on Thursday with one of the Police Community Support Officers. We had 2 other 'pairs' out as well in the pouring rain so we could see as many people as we could. We went door knocking to see how the people in our little bit of Tottington were and if they had anything they needed to discuss under the umbrella of 'Home Watch'. Hardly anyone had any issues which was great to hear. We were also sounding people out about the forming of 'The Friends of Rhine Close' to develop more community spirit. Most people were interested in being involved in some way so we need to get on with it. The Local Area Partnership has grants available to local groups and we are hoping to apply before the deadline of the beginning of March so that we can do a tidy up at one end of our close. We have enough volunteers to dig up the brambles etc, but some funding will enable us to buy some plants or trees to really brighten up this forgotten patch.

Tottington library







Our pile of books

Today is the Save Our Libraries national campaign. I'm very proud of my dad who went along to take part in the protest rally outside Bolton library. He has reached 70 without getting into any bother so he was hoping today wasn't be the day he ended up getting arrested. I've seen the photo in the BEN and couldn't pick him out but I'm sure he'll have been there. We didn't play quite as big a part in the campaign, but we did go along to our local Tottington library and we all took out the maximum number of books that we could. The idea was that if everyone did the same the shelves would be bare. I was surprised how busy Tottington library was on a cold wet Saturday morning. We spent an hour there reading the papers and filling in questionnaires in the hope of stopping some of the cuts. It is missing a coffee machine really. We then struggled home with our 32 books, that we'll be able to take back next week. Seriously though, it will have done us good. I have 'Twitter for Dummies' so I'm hoping to 'get it' a bit more and be able to pass handy hints onto @HaleGC!

Incredible Edibles Tottington has also been incepted this week. This is a Guerrilla Gardening community gardening group that will look at utilising small patches of unused land to grow food that the community can then help itself to. TWIGs will be starting the project with a couple of pieces of land that the council have said we can use. Allotments are in such high demand and lots of people would like to involved in small scale growing so this, if it takes off, will be ideal. There is a group in Ramsbottom that has been very successful, and they have even taken over an orchard. Diggle Lane Allotment Association (who were also successful in their Rock Bursary Scheme application) have been kind enough to let us use one of their greenhouses to start off plants before planting them outside, and they have said we can use their meeting room too if needed. Our hope is that if we can get a lot of support and get the children and schools involved the things we grow will be left alone and used appropriately, not dug up by young people who don't have enough to do in the evenings. All we can do is try, and I'm really looking forward to eating some produce grown in the village.

Lastly, it hasn't been ALL work. We had lunch at The Chocolate Cafe in Ramsbottom. This was absolutely gorgeous. If you don't already, follow them on Twitter @welovechocolate and you will get the Buy One Get One Free vouchers. It isn't cheap, but I think the offer is on throughout February so it is lovely for a treat.

Cloud 23 cocktails

We should have been going to Scotland this weekend, but decided against it due to the severe weather warning, floods, gale force winds etc. Instead, we managed a last minute sneaky night out in Manchester last night to celebrate us being married for 10 years. First stop was The Hilton Cloud 23 for cocktails, then The Marble Arch on Rochdale Road for some unusual real ales. Both are well worth a visit. The Hilton has to be for treats only, but The Marble Arch is great for a cheap night out and it does good food too.

 

Beer at The Marble Arch