The organisation, British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS), promotes events and races for students all over Britain.

This coming Sunday (27th April) BUCS Cycling will hold their 10 mile time-trial championship on a course that starts and finishes in Cropwell Bishop. Over 150 riders will be taking part.

This is the 4th consecutive year that the event has taken place in Cropwell Bishop and the Race Headquarters (and parking) will be on the Memorial Hall Playing Field.

If you are out and about on Sunday, please keep a lookout for cyclists on village roads. No racing will take place within the village but competitors will be riding from the Memorial Hall to the start on Colston Road (near the Small People Nursery).

The finish will be just beyond the top of Fern Road, near the Cropwell Bishop village sign, this side of the Allotments.

Riders will not pause at the finish, they will just pedal slowly to the Memorial Hall Field.

The first rider will start at 10am and the last one will finish at about 1.15pm.

If you are driving along any of the roads on the 10 mile route (see map below) please keep a lookout for these young cyclists.

Keep in mind the new rules applying to the overtaking of cyclists which were introduced in The Highway Code in 2022. Also, be aware that these cyclists will be travelling as fast as any you have seen on roads – up to 35 mph.

And, please avoid travelling in front of them at a similar speed: this would be seen as pacing and could lead to their disqualification.

The weather forecast for Sunday is for a dry day. That's a relief, because on the day of the race last year, it had rained so heavily overnight, that the roads were flooded and the race had to be postponed until the summer!

Once again, the Memorial Hall Committee and Village volunteers will be working hard to leave our visitors with a good impression of Cropwell Bishop – their supply of bacon/sausage/veggie cobs, tea, coffee & cakes should do the trick!

Tony Jarrow

Here are some riders in last year's event.

This badge found while dog walking in the village.
Does anyone recognises it?
Of so, please phone: 07778 890139

The Parish Council have been trying to get the footpaths that run through the central green open spaces resurfaced since 2022.

At a meeting in July of 2022 with VIA East Midland the conditions of the surfaces were discussed and it was noted: The VIA criteria of 25mm differential for re-surface will never be met when the top coating only appears to be 15mm. It was shown that the main substrate was in better condition that the topping itself, and the VIA engineer was suggesting that the top coating would possibly be better skimmed away and resurfaced onto said substrate.

The Parish Council were told in July of 2022 by VIA that it could not be scheduled into that year’s financial budget but the scheme would be put forward for full consideration in the following year.

The scheme to resurface the area was not included in the 2023/24 budget and the Parish Council therefore asked if it could be included in schemes going forward. The Parish Council received the following response which sadly means no resurfacing works will be taking place in the near or distant future:

“Whilst we would not deny the desirability of acceding to all of the requests for resurfacing that we receive, rather than extending the life of surfaces with discrete repairs, economic considerations make it inevitable that this simply isn't possible. A programme for significant expenditure (e.g.: resurfacing / reconstruction) is established each financial year, with the results of the process being subject to approval by Council Cabinet.

Our scheme selection system involves a ‘candidate list’ of potential sites in all categories, ranging from those requiring full reconstruction to those which can be saved from further damage with preventative maintenance schemes. It is possible that some sites may have had patchwork / pothole repairs over several years in order to maintain safety and whilst they may not be aesthetically pleasing, they are at least fit for purpose from a safety perspective until larger scale resurfacing can be programmed. The candidate list is fluid and ever changing as new schemes are regularly added that may have a higher priority than existing schemes on the list.

I am sorry to advise that the footpaths through the Green in Cropwell Bishop are not in any current programme and the Capital Programme for the next 2 financial years has now been decided. It will however remain on the candidate list and we will continue to closely monitor surface conditions.

I am sorry that I can’t reply more positively at this time”.

The Parish Council will keep pushing for the works to be added to future programmes. We are sorry we cannot bring more positive news.

Janice Towndrow
Parish Clerk

On Friday night another successful quiz night was held at the Old School.

The theme of the quiz was ‘Winter’ (and all things cold!) It was very well attended by around 50 people divided into teams of 5 or 6.

Some quite challenging questions were included but the scores were pretty high with not that many points between the top and bottom teams.

Bespoke trophies were awarded to all members of the top 3 teams in the form of highly prized ‘Cropwell Bishops’ kindly designed and made by Alan and Sharon from the Entertainments committee.

The highly coveted ‘wooden spoon’ was given to the team with the lowest score.

The results were as follows:

1st place and Quiz Champions – ‘The January Clues’

2nd place – ‘Abel Seafish’

3rd place – ‘The 6 Pies’

Wooden Spoon to the aptly named ‘No Hopers’

And finally a quote from a team member who doesn’t live in the village but came along with a friend.

“I love coming to the village for events like these. It’s so nice to see the community coming together enjoying a great evening. Positive, friendly, wholesome and lovely!”

Thanks to everyone who attended and also supported the raffle.

Sue Mellor