Welcome to the community web page for Hedleyhope Parish Council and Hedleyhope Community Association in East Hedleyhope.

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1 The Hedleyhope Pages Welcome to the community web page for Hedleyhope Parish Council and Hedleyhope Community Association in East Hedleyhope. Hedleyhope is a small rural Parish one mile west of Waterhouses and eight miles from Durham City. It includes the small village of East Hedleyhope and a number of outlying farms about 80 houses in all. Contact - The Village Hall, East Hedleyhope, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, DL13 4PS Click here for the April 2011 edition of the Hedleyhope newsletter News End of Free School Buses? Have your say! To save money Durham Council wants to end free school travel for the following groups of children; Children over 8 who live less then 3 miles from school eg children in East Hedleyhope travelling to Esh Winning. Catholic children travelling to Catholic schools eg children from East Hedleyhope travelling to St Leonards. Children over 16 in full time education Children who have special travel arrangements Children who are not entitled to free travel but do so on a bus where there is a free space. Children with mobility disabilities and those whose parents are on benefits may not be effected. The changes will come into effect in September 2012 for new entrants only. The changes may Increase the over stretched budgets of families in East Hedleyhope; Reduce the education and life choices of our young people - especially for the over 16 s now that the Education Maintenance Allowance has been abolished. Make East Hedleyhope a less attractive place to live for families with children - possibly reducing house prices. Cause air pollution and increased C02 emissions as more people drive children to school; Cause traffic chaos in Durham etc at rush hours. Spend more money then would be saved in fighting costly legal challenges to the plan. Mean that existing buses are running half empty while new entrants are barred.

2 If you are likely to use school transport in the future, of if your children have benefited from this in the past please Object to the plan before the 10 th May and send a copy to your councillor!!!! Use the Council s Consultation Form to respond. Paper copies are available from the School Transport Team on Electronic copies of the Consultation Form are on Look under Council and Democracy, Consultations, Schools. Forms are also available on a link from the St Leonards School web page at Don t miss Royal Wedding Parties! New groups in East Hedley hope Wine Tasting and Local History. April What s On? 1 Friday Wine Tasting 7.30pm. Costs 5 to include wine and nibbles. 2 Saturday Private Booking This group meets once a month to review selected wines. 6 Wednesday Little Green Hut Art Group 10.00am further information from Chris Ruskin on Monday Ladies Group 7.30pm twice a month social evening for ladies to meet 12 Tuesday History Society 7.30pm monthly meeting to share information and research the history of the area. Costs 2 and includes refreshments. 13 Wednesday Little Green Hut Art Group 10.00am 20 Wednesday Little Green Hut Art Group 10.00am 25 Monday Ladies Group 7.30pm 26 Tuesday Parish Council meeting 7.30pm 27 Wednesday Little Green Hut Art Group 10.00am 29 Friday Royal Wedding Party a free event for the children of the ` Parish. Starting at 2.30pm. Fun and games and food included. Further information from Ann Stobart on

3 29 Friday Royal Wedding Party for the grown ups starting at 7.30pm. Bring your own drink. Shared supper. Forthcoming events: 25 th May 7.30pm Community Association A.G.M. - an opportunity to find out about the work of the association and to join the committee if you wish to become involved. 25 th June 6.00pm Annual Barbeque The Village Hall is available for bookings. It can be used for meetings and social events including private parties. The facilities have recently been refurbished and now include new kitchen and toilet facilities. Further details on how to book the hall and to find out more about the above events can be obtained from the Parish Clerk on Little Green Hut Art Group Meets Wed at 10.00am in the Village Hall LITTLE GREEN HUT ART GROUP SUMMER PROGRAMME th May 11th May 18th May 25th May 1st June 8th June 15th June 22nd June 29th June 6th July 13th July Committee meeting 9.45am followed by Sue s demonstration of acrylic printing. Bring watercolour paper, acrylics and a small piece of glass or Perspex. More printing Guest artist Ben Haslam (Hexham) Torn & cut stencil technique. Bring watercolours and watercolour paper. Continuation of last week Debbie Bell Acrylic Seascapes We will hold a committee meeting after the session to finalise the art exhibition Continuation of last week Figure drawing with Tom Rowan More figure drawing Animals, birds, flowers Any medium (guest artist Janet Orme?) More animals etc Photography with Phil

4 20th July 27th July Pastel workshop guest artist to be confirmed More pastels Nature Reserve Hedley hope Community Association manages a 13ha nature reserve on land leased from Durham County Council. The Nature Reserve, called Hedleyhill Colliery Wood and Meadow, includes woodland, meadow and riverside and incorporates two Local Wildlife Sites. The Association seeks the designation of the Reserve as a Local Nature Reserve to secure its long-term legal protection. Volunteers from the Community Association regularly carry out a range of conservation tasks on the Nature Reserve such as tree Planting and in 2010 the Association was nominated as the Green Heroes Community Group of the Year (Northern Region). A video of the Association made by the Big Lottery can be seen at A children s Nature Club/Young Rangers which ran from 2006 is suspended at the moment until more kids move into the village! For more information on events, conservation tasks, walks, talks and meetings related to the Nature Reserve watch the What s On at this page or see For more information on paths and what to look out for on the Nature Reserve see Nature Reserve Leaflet. News from the Nature Reserve Scouts Scouts from 5 th Durham Brandon travelled to East Hedley hope on 6 occasions to take part in activities for their Naturalist Badge. The Scouts also took part in some conservation activities like building bat boxes, planting acorns in trays and primroses near the Village. The Scouts particularly enjoyed sitting on the new seat in the Meadow at night in March, looking at the stars and the large Super Moon. Birds We have finally replaced the bird boxes put up in 2007 which suffered from Great Spotted Woodpecker attacks. These boxes have been replaced by woodcrete concrete boxes which are now the most recommended bird boxes for insulation and safety from predators. Some bat boxes were also erected. The Northumbria Bird ringing Group will be returning to the Wood to carry out bird ringing. A report of how they got on last year will be posted on the new nature reserve blog which should be up and running and give a lot more information about the Nature Reserve at

5 Woodland Management We have completed thinning works this year. I hope you agree that the works carried out have been fairly gentle. We will be monitoring the effects of the thinning in the future and Alan, who carried out the works, will be returning in summer to paint the Wood - on canvas not on the trees! We are currently applying for funding to complete the works to the path in the Wood carried out in There were some complaints when this work was carried out but since then a new pond appears on the path in winter and the path would benefit from having the remaining muddy areas surfaced so that the path is of the same standard through the wood. Primroses Don t miss the fantastic display of Primroses in the area of woodland in the Village between the road and the path to the sewage works. These were planted by the Nature Club in 2007 and thrive in the poor, thin soils. Litter Bugs! We carried out a successful litter pick in March. The latest menace to hit the Nature Reserve along with Red Bull tins, tissues, bags of dog poo and Lambert and Butler cigarette packets is CLEAR PLASTIC SWEET WRAPPERS. There are literally 100 s of clear sweet wrappers blowing around the Nature Reserve which have been dropped by probably just one person who regularly uses the site. So if you know a caffine-headed, chain-smoking, runny-nosed, dog-walking, Foxes Glacier Mint addict who regularly uses the Nature Reserve Please, Please ask them to take their rubbish home!!!!! The Nature Reserve is looked after by a tiny handful of volunteers and there are only so many bits of rubbish our poor backs can strain over!!!. Hedley hope Parish Council and Hedley hope Community Association thank Water houses Community Association for kindly hosting The Hedley hope Pages.

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