The winner of the 'In the News Quiz' that appeared in the November edition of Cropwell News, was drawn out of the hat of correct entries at last night's Cropwell Bishop Council Meeting.

Congratulations to the winner, Mrs P Chambers, who will receive a £20 voucher donated by Gary Jowett's Butchers.

Tony Jarrow

Please take part in my anonymous online questionnaire study for my undergraduate dissertation project (BSc Psychology) to explore how much sleep quality is predicted by anxiety symptoms, anxiety specifically about COVID-19 and the impact that COVID-19 has on productivity in the workplace.

It should take no longer than 10-15 minutes to complete.

This study has been approved by the Psychology Research Ethics Committee at Oxford Brookes University.

Anyone aged between 18-65 who has worked in paid employment for at least six months before the pandemic (i.e. before March 2020) and at least six months since the pandemic started (i.e. since March 2020) is invited to take part.

To take part, or simply to find out more about this study, please click the link below:

Impact of Covid on Sleep Quality

It would be greatly appreciated, but please do not feel obliged to participate if you do not want to.

Please feel free to share this link with family and friends who you may think might be interested in taking part – I need as many responses as possible!

Thank you

Jess Price

19009277@brookes.ac.uk

What is this?

A bike ride of some kind?

For all kinds of riders maybe?

In the Vale of Belvoir possibly?

Find out more by clicking on the Events tab.

Tony Jarrow

Do you have a wood-burning stove, or maybe a solid-fuel fire that requires kindling (small sticks) to get it started?

If so, you may feel relieved at not having to use high-cost gas or electricity. Unless, that is, you have run out of logs to burn!

Fear not, there is a waiting supply of bone-dry, untreated wood, cut up into 7inch blocks. Also bags of kindling.

You may remember the recent story about Max Jordan who endeavours to raise funds for St Giles Church by recycling used wood. The building contractors at the Bloor Homes site in the village, deliver timber offcuts to him and he saws them up.

So, if you require firewood for fuel, please contact him.

As Treasurer of St Giles Church, he is able to accept any donations that people may wish to make when collecting the wood. They will help to fund the church.

His contact details are:

Max Jordan
1A Thurlby Close
Tel: 0115 989 9299

Tony Jarrow

Tony Jarrow

NHS Nottingham and Notts, has published a "Special Vaccination Bulletin".

It contains full details of the various vaccines available (1st, 2nd & booster) and advice for people in different age groups (including children) and with different conditions (including pregnancy).

To view the bulletin, click:

NHS Nottm COVID-19: Special Bulletin

Tony Jarrow

Hello to everyone in Cropwell Bishop.

You may be aware that members of the Memorial Hall Committee have been working hard to carry out a general survey of the village to gain reaction to the proposal of either:

A: repair to the old Hall or
B: build a new facility.

The reason this survey has been carried out is that a previous hand poll taken at the AGM held in September (attended by only 33 people) was not so well received by a number of the residents attending the meeting.

It was felt that due to the notification of the meeting being predominantly electronic, this may have precluded some villagers, and therefore not a true representation of the potential attendees.

The elected Committee then decided in a formal meeting held immediately after the AGM that in order to address this shortfall it would be more realistic to take a door-to-door approach. With this in mind, the Committee produced a document that was distributed to every household along with the Cropwell News to give the whole village the opportunity to take part.

A full door-to-door collection took place on Sat 18th & Sun 19th Dec and the returning envelopes opened and counted. There was an opportunity for anyone we missed to place their envelope in the Red post box at the Old School up to the evening of Tues 21st Dec. Hopefully we have collected all the returns from the villagers who feel that they would like to have some involvement in responding to this important issue.

So here we are, the survey is complete and the 'options letters' collected, counted and kindly verified by Tony Jarrow.

Just before I give you the result, I want to say a few words about the historical significance of this decision.

In the mid-1920s, residents of this little village made a decision to find a huge sum of money, nearly £1,300. Back then this could have built a row of houses but it was put into building the Memorial Hall. We have a list of the contributors, we have the name of the contractor who was given the job of building the Hall and it shows that the unemployed were used for doing the laboring.

I have learned a lot about the history of the Hall and who did what, where, when, and how. What comes across is the passion for this project and why it was necessary.

The key features of remembrance in the village were to be in two parts, first was a window in the church and second a community space for people to meet. It was out of this decision the Hall came into being and a drawing from 1925 shows the first attempt at a design.

The first Committee is listed made up of many families who are still represented within the village today. There are two important aspects to this place and they are its purpose and its history.

The original purpose was as a Memorial to the tragic loss of men from the village during WW1, 1914 - 1918. The other important feature of the building is the community that has used it. It represents so many memories of happy events that whatever decision has been made will mean partial or complete loss of the link to these happy events.

This has always been uppermost in the minds of the committee during the past couple of years and in particular the last few months. It is not a decision taken lightly, there has been and is a lot of heartache over this by all concerned.

This brings me to the announcement of the figures for the survey.

We delivered to every household a copy of the letter with the option of Repair or Rebuild. This was sent out inside the Parish Newsletter which is distributed to every household and was verified by the delivery team.

As many of you are aware the collection was carried out by members of the committee and some wonderful volunteers along with Santa on the 18th and 19th of December. Also, by request via the Bulletin Board on Facebook, the postbox at the Old School was made available as a drop-off point.

Out of the Letters sent out to 830 households, we had a return of 274 letters (33%).

Out of these, some were incorrectly filled out and some returned without either option selected, these will be termed as “other” for counting purposes only. There were also some added notes which will be saved and brought forward at later meetings when appropriate.

What was made very clear from many written comments is that material from the old building could possibly be incorporated into some feature or part of the new building that is subsequently decided upon.

We would like to point out that this return is within the usual parameters of this style of polling and in no way is a disappointing number.

The returns were as follows:

Option 1 to repair/refurbish 30 (11.8%)

Option 2 to demolish/rebuild 225 (88.2%)

The “other” returns 19 (6.9%)

I hope those that have very clear links to the old Hall, will see in a new design some physical elements that will be visible or can be touched so a clear connection can be drawn from the original building.

We have a clear path now to achieve something that a previous generation achieved nearly 100 years ago. Also, it is an opportunity to attempt a centenary memorial gathering that can be held inside a new facility by 2029 if the community gets fully behind this project.

My thanks go out to all the committee who have worked to ensure this survey took place, the team of deliverers who deliver the Parish Newsletter, the cooperation of the Parish Clerk, volunteers who stepped forward to help, and then of course you the residents of Cropwell Bishop.

We only set out to collect the 'option letter' on the 18th and 19th but in addition to this, your generosity produced a wonderful total of £367.18 which is a great way to kick things off for 2022!

A Merry Christmas to everyone and here's to an exciting 2022.

David Whisson

Chairman: Memorial Hall Committee

The last performance of Cropwell Bishop Singers was in December 2019 when they gave a Christmas Concert at the Old School Cropwell Bishop.

Since then the world has been turned on its head by a pandemic which has caused singing groups all over the world and those who enjoy listening to them to take stock and decide what the future might look like for them and their supporters.

Cropwell Bishop Singers have now done that. With that in mind a group of singers led by its Committee have met to try and get a feel for what the future for a community choir in this part of The Vale might look like.

With hope (certainly not borne out of expectation) they have resolved to put their thoughts out there to see if we can rise to meet the challenge of providing a worthwhile hobby and interest for some and an entertainment for others which might serve to lift the gloom and help us get back to what folk in this area are good at - putting smiles on faces and giving huge enjoyment to singers and audiences alike.

Within its extensive library of sheet music, all owned and paid for by the group, with its state of the art keyboard and a core of enthusiastic members, the group has, it believes, the building blocks in place ready to start re-forming the Cropwell Bishop Singers after such a lengthy lay off.

Before this happens though there are challenges to be met. What it needs for lift-off however is new members, a new musical director and an accompanist.

Derek Tabron, our wonderful choir leader who took up his baton in 2009 to help out for a short time, has decided that after a ‘temporary’ stint of 12 years, that the time is right to finally put it down and to give someone else the opportunity to move the group forward.

Our long serving accompanist Dorothy had retired in 2019 making way for Tony Hall, who many of you know. Tony, who made it clear that he would take the role on for just a couple of years has now said that he would like to make way for someone new to take that on.

We therefore need to reach out hoping that from within our communities, or even from slightly further afield we can encourage anyone interested to come forward and talk through with the committee a basis for taking on these two vital roles. Any such conversations would be on a no obligation/no expectation basis. We are very open to how we might fill them.

If you see yourself as someone who has the sort of talent to help bring singing and concerts back in to our communities please get in touch. Any enquiries will, of course, be treated in the strictest confidence.

Equally, if you are someone who feels inspired to sing along with a group of other like minded people and you’re not sure what it would involve or what musical skills you might need, again please get in touch.

We would add that whilst previous experience of group singing or a smattering of musical knowledge helps it is certainly not essential; indeed, some of our finest voices arrived at our door having never before having read a note of music in their lives!

Thanks for taking the time to read about our hopes and plans - you will be made very welcome.

(This article was written by a member of the Singers, who says that, for more details, you can contact Linda on: 07483 861100.)

The Parish Council have left some wooden baubles and pens in a box at the base of the Christmas tree on the pinfold.

If anyone would like to go along and do a memory bauble or decorate one and put on the tree, then please do so.

Jan Towndrow
Parish Clerk

Well, not Dudley Moore himself, sadly, but his music is going to be played by a live band at The Old School in February.

Click on the Events tab to find out more.

Tony Jarrow

Dear Cropwell Bishop,

This coming weekend will see a special guest visiting the streets around the village.

Santa will be coming to see if you have been naughty or nice and say hello to you all. He is asking all Mums and Dads to have the 'options letter' ready for his helpers to collect.

There will be some sweets available for children so please ask Santa or his helpers if you would like some.

Santa will be setting off on Saturday the 18th at 4 pm from:

• The Maltings, then to:
• Church Street,
• Squires Close,
• Springfield Close,
• Thurlby Close,
• Cropwell Butler Road,
• Hardy's Close,
• Etheldene,
• Shelton Gardens,
• Barlows Close,
• Hoe View Road,
• Parkin Close,
• Cooper Close,
• Brownhill Close,
• Marshall Road,
• Mercia Ave,
• Clarke Close,
• Hoe Nook.

Then again on Sunday the 19th also at 4 pm, until his reindeer get tired and hungry, from:

• The Maltings, then to:
• Church Street,
• St Giles Way,
• Smiths Close,
• Kendal Road,
• Newberry Close,
• Hall Drive,
• Salvin Close,
• Stackyard Close,
• Kerrs Walk,
• Stockwell Lane,
• Dobbin Close,
• Fern Road,
• Nottingham Road,
• Barratt Close,
• Richards Close,
• Field Lane,
• Old Lenton Close,
• Kinoulton Road,
• Colston Road.

Don't worry if you miss him and still want to send the option letter in, the Red Letterbox at the Old School is still receiving these on a daily basis. Please use this method if you miss Santa.

Ho Ho Ho from the whole Memorial Hall Committee who wish you all a Very Merry Christmas!

David Whisson
(Chairman of the Memorial Hall Committee)

The Cropwell Bishop Heritage Group have items for sale and this is the time of year when you might want to treat someone – or even yourself.

You can buy them from Anne Terzza.

Contact her on: 0115 9893147.

Tony Jarrow

This it the final update of the Cropwell Bishop, St.Giles Church Collection, for Refugees.

We have reached our targets.

Thank you so much for your food commodities for the refugees arriving in Nottingham. We have donated some 116.7kg covering 275 items to Nottingham Refugee Forum during the 7 weeks of our appeal.

Our targets of 100kg and 250 items have been surpassed. We shall, for the time being, cease our collections. That said, many people have benefitted from your generosity and will continue to be in need.

So, donations via the link below, would be hugely valued.

Bring any donations to reception at NNRF or email Gemma at:

gemma.pillay@nottsrefugeeforum.org.uk

Thank you again Cropwell Bishop.

Peter Hills

If you have already received a copy of the latest edition of Cropwell Bishop News, you will have seen a picture of the fireworks on its front cover.

A reader has asked for a copy of this photo – one that is suitable for printing. You can always print photos from the website but they will not be of high quality because I only publish small-file-size versions to enable fast downloads.

Nevertheless, I have now made it possible for you to download a full-size copy of the 'CB News cover photo' (and two other similar ones).

Just click on any of these three photos and you will be taken to the full-size version, which you can save onto your computer.

Please note that you will only benefit from the larger file size if you are viewing the photo on a large screen or printing it.

Tony Jarrow

It has been a bit of a wait, but the building that used to be Cropwell Bishop's Co-op has now opened as a new 'convenience store'.

It opened yesterday although a few things need to be done on the outside – its name will appear on the front of the building later this week.

As you will see from the photos, it is selling a wide range of goods.

It will be open from 7am to 8am every day except Sunday, when it will be open from 8am to 8pm.

I can't remember us having so many shelves of goods on sale in the village. Go and see our new shop for yourself.

Tony Jarrow