Broomhill Community Library will be celebrating National Library Day on Saturday 7 February 2015 with a series of events based around ‘The Story of our Local Community between 1850 and 1950’.
Come along between 10.30am and 4pm to join in celebrations. At 11am local resident Adela Pankhurst (yes, that family!) will give an illustrated talk and at 2pm there’s a virtual tour of Broomhill in the past.
The Victorian Visitors will be around dressed in costume – so children are invited to come along dressed in their favourite book characters (there will be prizes!) For children too, local author and illustrator Lydia Monks will be reading and drawing at 2pm and there will be brass coin rubbing, plate doilie making and possibly a treasure hunt.
You can also expect to see displays of life from Victorian times to the 1950s with items to handle and buy – coins, donated books and baked items – from Victorian to Elizabethan recipes. All proceeds will help keep Broomhill Community Library open.
Update 29 January, 11.30am: Tonight’s Open Meeting has been cancelled due to concerns over snow, ice and the safety of people attending. The date for the rearranged meeting is Thursday 12 February at St Columba’s church, 7pm start.
Open Meeting at St Columba’s – click for provisional agenda (PDF, 703KB)
Crosspool Forum’s next Open Meeting will take place on Thursday 29 January at St Columba’s church. It starts at 7pm.
Come along and give your concerns on local issues to local councillors, the police and officials.
Guest speakers this time include:
Nick Hetherington, network manager for AMEY Streets Ahead road resurfacing programme
First Group’s commercial and business manager Andy Metcalfe
Kathrine Harboard: Broomhill Library (National library day is 7 February)
This year’s Stephen Hill Youth pantomime is Snow White. It runs from Wednesday 18 to Saturday 21 February. Tickets are available online or from Bob Hodges on 0114 230 3207. More information is below.
Snow White, the 2015 Stephen Hill panto
It was back in 1968 when members of Stephen Hill Youth Club in Crosspool decided to stage a pantomime. A small group of young people met together over a period of months to write Puss in Boots which was staged the following year. It proved to be a great success and a new show has been performed every February Half term ever since. All the shows have been written and produced in-house.
This year the group of 40 or so 8 to 18yr olds is offering Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The show was written by Ian Delaney together with brother and sister Lucy and Paul Nelson. The producer is Helen Gill. All these young adults commenced their involvement some years ago as members of the chorus and have graduated through starring roles into a fine production team.
Producer Helen [30] has been involved with the show since 1996 and feels that the standard of the shows on offer has increased year on year. ‘ We have been lucky enough to hold on to a significant number of young people who return each year to help with all the backstage tasks and we have a smashing team of wardrobe ladies who make the show look dazzling,’ she enthuses.
This year the Part of the Dame is played by Ian Delaney, coming back to the stage after several years on the production side. The part of Snow White is played by Rachel Lister who says that she was thrilled to be offered the title role and is enjoying the opportunities which it presents.
Katie Craig is on her fourth year, starting as a chorus member and having had main parts in following years. She is finding her part this year very interesting. ‘Working out how to project my personality onto the part of the magic mirror is quite a challenge’, she reflects.
The show is a spectacle of colour, humour, music, dance and drama with an appeal to people of all ages. Tickets are available online this year for the first time but can be purchased directly from Bob Hodges, who was at that first meeting back in 1968. ‘I have been busy selling tickets since Christmas, ‘ says Bob. ‘Lots of folk bring their children but it is wonderful that some people who are in their nineties are still amongst the first to request tickets each year, having seen every show.’
The show runs in half term week from Wednesday February 18th to Saturday 21st. There is a matinee on Saturday afternoon which always sells out very quickly.
Andrew Fisher and his crew of volunteers worked tirelessly for an hour and half shredding Christmas trees this afternoon to raise funds for the Crosspool Forum.
Over 120 trees were left by residents outside Direct Travel, with quite a number being over 8ft tall.
Money raised will help provide hanging baskets and floral displays in the Crosspool precinct.
On behalf of all who have and will benefit from their kindness, a big big thank you to Andrew (Complete Tree Solutions) and to Paul at (Direct Travel) for the use of the car park.
Please reciprocate their kindness by supporting these local services.
Do you have any unwanted prizes, gifts or bric-a-brac that might be suitable for the Crosspool Forum Summer Fayre bric-a-brac stall? For example glasses, small toys, jewellery, vases etc.
If so, please get in touch on g.m.drinkwater@btinternet.com. We can collect if necessary, or they can be dropped off locally.
The annual Summer Fayre will take place on Saturday 4 July. It’s part of the Crosspool Festival, which this year runs Friday 26 June to Sunday 5 July.
You can bring your Christmas tree along to the area outside Direct Travel on Sunday 11 January between 10am and 12 noon for recycling/disposal by Andrew Fisher from Complete Tree Solutions.
Crosspool Forum will be collecting contributions to support the work of the forum in our community and also reimburse Andrew for any expenses. If you would like to give then the suggested donation is £2.
Please don’t leave your tree there after 12pm. Firewood logs will also be on sale.