CHEVIOT VIEWS

The newsletter for Hedgeley Parish ISSUE 9 WINTER 2011-2012

CCOOMMMMUUNNIITTYY FFIIRRSSTT RREESSPPOONNDDEERRSS

After suffering a Heart Attack 11 years ago, it was suggested by Health Professionals that we should consider setting up a First Responder Scheme in Glanton; due to the response time for an ambulance to arrive, especially in a life threatening situation, these volunteers are an invaluable resource to any community, especially one as rural as ours.

Community First Responders (CFR), at that time, had to purchase all their own equipment. My wife Joan and I took to the task of raising funds. The funding for the equipment required came from various Trusts and Organisations. Enough funds were raised to set up schemes in the

three villages of Glanton, Powbum and Whittingham.

CFR schemes are now provided with all of the equipment from the North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NEAS) to enable them to carry out their role.

Some time ago we made the difficult decision to retire from the CFR scheme. This left us with the dilemma of what to do with the remaining funds raised. After much consultation with the scheme members the decision was made to use the remaining monies to fund Public Access De-fibrillation (PAD) sites in the following locations;

The Queens Head - Glanton

The Plough - Powbum

The Memorial Hall - Whittingham

The defibrillators are stored inside purpose made re-enforced boxes, which have been placed on the outside of buildings. The defibrillators are accessible via a key code, and will be maintained by NEAS. This means that in each village there will be a defibrillator available, should the need arise, at all times. I hasten to add these PAD sites do

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not replace the CFR's, there will still be CFR's in the area.

Any remaining funds will be shared equally between the three Parish Councils and will be used for community purposes.

There will be a familiarisation session taking place later in the new year. We would encourage as many of you as

possible to take the opportunity to attend this informal but informative session.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all CFR's past, present and future, for their continued support of the schemes. We would also like to extend our appreciation to the NEAS, Paramedics and support personnel.

… Joan & Mike Mason

Veterinary Expertise for all animals

equine, farm and pets

New Equine Premises at Morpeth opened September 2011

www.alnorthumbriavets.co.uk Alnwick (farm and equine) Alnwick Morpeth (pets) Morpeth (New Equine Clinic) Ponteland Rothbury Wooler Amble Seahouses

Wagonway RoadBelvedere Terrace Fairmoor Fairmoor Abacus House, Front Street 29 Ryecroft Road 1-3 Bede Street 65 Main Street

01665 510999 01665 602516 01670 505321 01670 897597 01661 871570 01669 620638 01668 281323 01665 713111 01665 721800

24 hour emergency cover for all species

Thank you for reading our Parish magazine. We urgently need contributors, if you can help with an article, news story or local interest

photo please contact us by email.

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/PPLLAAYY PPAARRKK EEMMBBAANNKKMMEENNTT TTIIDDYY--UUPP

PPOOWWBBUURRNN Take five young lads wanting to do some kind of residential work in a community for their last stage of their gold award of their Duke of Edinburgh’s award, give them a community garden in need of some tlc and you get results.

They came armed with their tools, hi-viz jackets and lots of enthusiasm. The climb up the hill to their B & B at Crawley Farmhouse did not deter them and pushing a wheelbarrow full of garden tools was an organised rota system.

Three days of digging out nuisance brambles and weeds – even in the rain one

day – resulted in a very tidy area along side the pavement and on the embankment. They replenished the planters by the seats with some polyanthus plants and gave some help to Russell to put up the new fence around

the park. A sterling job was done by all.

The Boy’s Brigade, 15th South Shields Company should be very proud of these well mannered, pleasant young lads. Well done lads! Good luck in gaining your gold award.

… Noreen Birnie

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VVIILLLLAAGGEE HHAALLLL RREEFFUURRBBIISSHHMMEENNTT

BBOOLLTTOONN On Saturday 22nd October 2011 County Councillor John Taylor officially opened the recently refurbished facilities at Bolton Village Hall.

The old kitchen has been completely revamped, the gents toilets renewed and the entrance and fire doors replaced with state of the art easy access double glazed units which have dramatically improved the outside appearance of the building.

The kitchen and toilet areas had been a constant problem with dampness and lack of insulation but the new works including a new and insulated roof and walls will ensure the problems were a thing of the past. The kitchen now boasts new cupboards, worktops sinks, cooker and fridge and offers top class facilities for food preparation. The gents toilets have been insulated and tiled with new WC, urinals and wash hand basin.

The total cost of the works was just over £19k with £10k coming from the

Northumberland County Council Members Local Improvement Schemes and thanks go to John Taylor for his support in gaining this grant. A further £8800 was received from the Big Lottery Fund Awards for All. The remaining balance was met out of the village hall funds.

The opening was well attended by local people who were very impressed with the improvements they saw and the Committee were praised for their efforts. Particular thanks were given to Richard Gee (Chairman)

and John Herriman (Treasurer) without whose expertise the work would not have taken place.

The Village Hall now has the facilities to handle bigger and better events and is available to hire for weddings, dances, parties etc. For additional details please see the updated advertisement elsewhere in this newsletter.

… Richard Gee

Cllr John Taylor, Chairman Richard Gee and the Hall Committee

Richard ‘grandstanding’ at the opening!

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RREECCIIPPEESS FFOORR SSUUCCCCEESSSS MMIINNCCEEMMEEAATT CCOOOOKKEEDD IINN CC IIDDEERR This mincemeat keeps extremely well. 400ml/3/4pt medium cider 450g/1lb soft brown sugar 1.8kg/4lb cooking apples 450g/1lb currants 450g/1lb raisins 125g/4oz glace cherries, chopped

125g/4oz blanched almonds, chopped Rind and juice of one lemon 5ml/1tsp ground mixed spice 5ml/1tsp ground cinnamon 2.5ml/2tsp ground cloves 30ml/2tbsp rum

1. Place the cider and sugar in a large pan and heat gently, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved.

2. Peel, core and roughly chop the apples. Add to the pan, stir in all the remaining ingredients except the rum.

3. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring all the time. 4. Reduce the heat, half cover with a lid and

simmer gently for about thirty minutes or until the mixture has become a soft pulp.

5. Test for sweetness, adding more sugar if necessary. When completely cold, stir in the rum then pack into sterilised jars, cover and store.

SSWWEE EE TT PP AASSTT RR YY 475/12 oz plain flour 125g/4oz caster sugar

225g/8oz butter 1 egg

1. Place the flour and butter in a bowl and rub together to a crumb consistency. 2. Add the sugar and the egg, and mix together gently. 3. Wrap in cling film and chill. 4. Roll out the pastry, cut out bases to fit your muffin tray, put the mince meat

mixture into each. Brush the edges with a little beaten egg. 5. Reroll your pastry and using a smaller cutter cut then place on the top, pressing to

seal. 6. Bake in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool before

removing from the tins, dust with icing sugar and serve. … May Wilson, Powburn

To advertise in subsequent issues contact May Wilson: - : wilson4hj@btinternet.com; : 01665 578576; : 7 Crawley View, Powburn, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 4HJ.

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CCHHRRIISSTTMMAASS LLIIGGHHTTSS PPOOWWBBUURRNN About a year ago I started to plan to get some Christmas lights for Powburn. My idea was that we should try to make use of the existing large conifer in the Community Garden.

Sid Smailes’ property is adjacent to the garden and he agreed to a connection being fitted to his domestic system to supply the lights with electricity. In case his house changes ownership in the future it was agreed to fit a subtraction meter so the exact usage by the lights could be clearly measured. John Carr-Ellison agreed that a trench could be dug to lay an armoured cable from Sid Smailes’ property to the tree. This would cross the side road by the old joiner’s shed.

The Electric Company sent a plan of their main electic cables that run under this road down to the sewage station (so we didn’t run the risk of digging them up by mistake!) and they were informed when the work would happen. John Stanners agreed to do this work. His business has public liability insurance and he was able to include this project on the policy without any charge to us. He used his mini-digger in the garden, then took the

surface off the road, which Carl Brown then dug manually for safety. Rob of RJL Electrical supplied and fitted the cable and fitted a weatherproof double socket to the tree.

I obtained a quote from Christmas Lights Direct who also advise & supply the Alnwick lights committee. Taking their advice the tree would need 24 x 10m 24 volt lighting strings. These are a commercial graded Low voltage 2 for safety & are LED energy efficent giving a benifit of extremely low power use. The quote also included two transformers and five ‘Easyfit’ Connectors.

Eventually on Saturday 26th November we were able to have a small but well-attended switching-on ceremony, followed by a pooled supper at The Plough. I would like to thank everyone who has made it possible for my vision of having Christmas lights on the tree in the Community Garden become a reality.

John Stanners and Carl Brown dug the trench for the electric cable; Sid Smails agreed to use his electricty supply to connect the lights; Paul Wood with his cherry-picker, with the help of Sid, John, Paul and Peter organised the placing of the lights in the tree; Paula and Stuart

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of Pumphrey’s Coffee very kindly supplied tea and coffee for the coffee morning. Many others helped on the day and gave contributions to the stalls and still others made donations to the Christmas Lights fund.

I’ve tried to list on the next page everyone who helped or contributed, and also to give a clear account of the funds raised and the money spent. As you can see we have ended with a tiny shortfall of only £16.37.

… May Wilson

Thanks to: Paul Wood Loan of his Cherry Picker Sid Smailes Use of electricity supply. Tidying up the tree John Stanners Carl Brown

Digging the trench, laying the cable and helping put the lights up

Sid Smailes, John Stanners, Paul Drummond and Peter McDougal

Helped to put the lights up

All other donors shown in the lists below Cash donated Coffee Morning 22nd October 2011 Helen Clark Gave 10doz eggs for baking Paula, Stuart Lee, Pumphrey’s Donated Tea & Coffee Margaret Easton, Marjorie Greshon, Andy Smith, Wendy Black, Noreen Birnie, Anthea Jackson & Prudence Marks

Donation to the produce for the cake stall

Mandy Cadman, Jean Bell, Anne & Jack, George & Mary Brown Tankerville Arms, Eglingham Louise @ Complexions, Alnwick Peter & Jackie, The Plough, Powburn

Raffle prizes

Mary Wealleans, Beryl Horabin, Joyce & Sam Frater Tombola prizes Kenny from the caravan site Kerry & staff, Hedgeley Services

Donated the money jar Organised ‘How much in the jar’ & a Raffle

ELECTRIC tree lights were invented by Edward Johnson in the US in 1882.

THEY may date back to pagan traditions, but the earliest known reference to a Christmas tree is in a German pamphlet from 1570.

THE first Christmas celebrated in Britain is thought to have been in York in 521AD.

THE tradition of putting tangerines in stockings comes from 12th-century French nuns who left socks full of fruit, nuts and tangerines at the houses of the poor.

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Accounts:

DONOR RECEIPT CREDITOR PAYMENT Hedgeley Parish Council £100.00 Breamish Hall: 3 hours

@£7.00/hr £21.00

Hedgeley Parish Plan Steering Committee

£200.00 Cash & Carry: Milk, Biscuits, Raffle Tickets & Sundries for Coffee Morning

£50.00

Powburn Show Committee £100.00 Christmas Lights Direct £1258.85 Carol singing 2010 £40.00 Electrical installation £200.00 Hedgeley Women’s Institute £50.00 Cheviot Vets £30.00 Dean & Kay Wilkinson, Cheviot View B & B

£40.00

Andy Scott (Wooperton Wood Yard) £50.00 Chris McCann £60.00 Jack & Anne Brough £10.00 Nicky Morton £10.00 Marjorie Greshon £20.00 Mike Smith £40.00 Kerry & Staff Hedgeley Services (Jar of money)

£53.00 £52.63

Sam Frater (sold cakes at Rugby club) £43.50 Cllr. John Taylor £50.00 Colin Henry £5.00 Coffee Morning 22nd Oct 2011 Raffle & Door £257.30 Cake Stall £225.47 Tombola £48.45 Bric-a-Brac £8.13 Donation (Robbie Burns) £10.00 Donation (David, Vicky & Millie Barnett)

£10.00

TOTAL RECEIPTS £1513.48 TOTAL PAYMENTS £1529.85

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Children enjoying the first lights on the tree

Would you like to receive your copy via email and help us to keep costs down? Email the editor today to receive all your copies direct to your computer.

?How many houses must Santa visit on Christmas?

842,000,000

?How fast must he travel to visit all those homes?

4,796,250 Mph

Burns Night Supper Breamish Hall

Powburn Saturday 28th January 7-0pm

Tickets £11.00 Don’t be dissappointed get your tickets before they

go for this popular event Ring 01665578576 or 01665578499

Registered Charity Number 244772

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some would eat that want it;

But we hae meat, and we can eat,

Sae let the Lord be thank it.

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PPLLAANNTTAASSTTIICC

WWIINNTTEERRGGRREE EENN

I think wintergreen is a lovely word. In the world of ferns it is used to distinguish species that stay green all winter (like Hard Fern) from those that die off (like Bracken).

There is a family of flowering plants called Wintergreens. It would be good if I could tell readers where to find these attractive plants in our area, but I’ve never found any here. However the New Flora of the Alnwick District

(1980) lists Common and Intermediate Wintergreen as both present at East Bolton. The photos show both (Common on the left and Intermediate on the right) so if anyone finds them at East Bolton or anywhere else you will know what you are looking at and can (please!) let me know where they are (tel. 578346). Then there is that wonderful little Chickweed

Wintergreen which is neither a chickweed and nor is it wintergreen because its leaves die away after flowering. How it got its name is a mystery. It is not related to the other

Wintergreens and is actually in the Primrose

family even though it doesn’t look much like a primrose. The plant is quite frequent on our moors and conifer woodland and is well worth looking out for during its flowering period in May and June. And then, at last, I come to the real reason that I’ve chosen to write about Wintergreens in our Christmas issue. There are two non-native shrubs that grow in profusion at Cragside called Shallon and Prickly Heath. They are both species of Gaultheria which in their natural home in North America are known as Wintergreen and an oil (or ‘essence’) is extracted from their leaves. In a wonderful book called McGee on Food and Cooking, which is like an encyclopedia on everything to do with food, there is a fascinating recipe: In the book it goes on to explain the chemistry that is occurring to give rise to the fluorescent discharges, but I won’t bore you with that. Wouldn’t it be fantastic at Christmas if you turned the lights off and gave the kids some Flashy Candy to chew. The only problem is finding Oil of Wintergreen. You could try Grannies in Narrowgate in Alnwick or perhaps a branch of a health food shop like Holland & Barrett – or on the internet.

… Richard Poppleton

Flashy Candy or Lightning­in­the­Mouth 

Mix together table sugar with essence of wintergreen and you get a candy that gives 

off blue flashes in the mouth when you chew the sugar crystals. 

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AVAILABLE TO HIRE FOR PARTIES AND MEETINGS. ALL ENQUIRIES MARY WEALLANS

01665 578499

Powburn Carpet Bowls September through to April

for home matches & practice (Monday or

Wednesday) If anyone is interested in joining or

further information ring Pat 01665603552

Parish Council &Parish

Planning Group John Taylor

for Council Surgeries

Northumbrian Spinners First and third Monday every month,

10.00am-3.00pm. Further details ring 01669620207

Cheviot Canine group - first three Thursday's of every

month, 7.00pm-8.30pm.

Contact Avril Knox 01670854123 for further details or pop into the

class.

Women’s Institute - second Tuesday evening of every month except August

from 7.00pm. New members are always welcome for further details ring Jean 01665578254

Fitness to Music

Get fit - Get active - Improve mobility - Life style - Social Gathering & Interaction - All ages welcome Every Monday - 10.30am - 11.30am - £5 per person

Line Dancing - every Friday evening from 7.00 pm

OUT AND ABOUT BREAMISH HALL -

POWBURN

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OOFF TTHHIISS PPAARRIISSHH …… George Trotter - Huntsman for the West Percy Hunt at Beanley Kennels George was born in Cornhill, but his family soon moved to Fenton and he went to school at Milfield. Before he left school he got a weekend job with Major Buckle at Berrington (near Lowick) When he left school, aged 15, he went to the North Northumberland Hunt kennels at their base near Etal as groom and a couple of years later when Ronnie McKay moved on he was promoted to be whipper-in for the hunt (in the organization of a hunt kennels the Huntsman is in charge and the whipper-in is his assistant).

The next few years saw George alternating between farm work jobs and employment with hunts at Buccleugh and North Northumberland. Eventually from 1982 to 1995 he was first kennelsman at Beanley where Willie Poole was Huntsman and then he moved up to Huntsman himself when Willie retired. Later he returned to that role for the West Percy Hunt in 2007. Pictured with one of the hounds, is Yvonne Anderson who is a part time groom. George’s main whipper-in is Kirsty Hargreaves from Learchild.

George’s daily routine tends to start at 7.00am with cleaning out the hound kennels. On a hunting day (Tuesdays and Saturdays in the season) he will then load up the hounds ready to take them to the start point for the day’s activities. On other days and out of the hunting season the hounds will be exercised,

usually with George and Yvonne on bikes. Quite often on these exercise outings young hounds that are still being trained will be coupled up to older more experienced hounds so that they will copy and learn correct behaviour.

The kennels house 50 hounds, although in our local hunts these are always referred to as couples – so 25 couple. There is usually a rough balance of dogs and bitches and all the animals are of pedigree hound stock, so their ancestry can be traced back for generations.

Because the kennels breed their replacement puppies mostly from their own pack it is essential that ancestry is known to ensure that hounds are not mated with others which are too closely related. Sometimes dogs are borrowed from other packs for breeding so that new blood lines can be introduced.

The kennels at Beanley also have stables. At the moment there are three splendid horses belonging to the hunt. They are used by George and Kirsty and two of the mares are shown in the photo.

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On the day that George spoke to your Cheviot Views reporter he was very concerned because a hound bitch (Alice) had gone missing after the hunt the previous Tuesday. His great concern was that she might have got caught up in wire, but no amount of searching had shown any sign of her. A sighting in Glanton on the Sunday turned out

to be an old retired hound that had ‘gone walk-about’ from its home at Mountain near Glanton, so George was still left worrying about his own hound. Finally, a week after she had gone missing, Alice was found by the farmer at Low Trewhitt on the far side of Thropton and George was able to collect her safe and well.

… George Trotter in conversation with Richard Poppleton

For those who do not live in the Parish.

A postal edition of the newsletter is available. Send a stamped self addressed envelope for your next issue to:

The Editor, Cheviot Views Newsletter, 6 High Powburn, Powburn, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 4HP

Or join our free email family and have your copy sent direct at no cost, email the editor today to receive all future copies free to your computer. Help us get your newsletter out to the whole parish. Do you know a neighbour who did not receive a copy? If not contact:- : cheviotviews@hotmail.com; : 01665 578866; : 6 High Powburn, Powburn, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 4HP.

PENNY PETROLEUM MINI‐MART & POST OFFICE 

 

Open 7 days from 6am till late 

also at  

and at 

Hedgeley Services Powburn 

Lindisfarne Services, A1 at Beal Berwick upon Tweed, TD1 52PD 

Grandstand Services, Fairmoor, Morpeth, NE61 3JN

01665 578214 

01289 381232  

01670 500335

Convenience shopping * Fresh Bread and Milk * Off Licence * Tobacco Hot Snacks * Confectionary * Ice Cream * News and Magazines * OS Maps 

Fuel * HGV Diesel * Logs, coal and kindling * Cash Machine  Penny Floaters * Fishing Nets * Sledges (in season) 

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Regular activities at Bolton Village Hall Pilates Wednesdays 6.00 - 7.00 pm Keep fit Wednesdays 10.00 - 11.00 am Dancing Class Thursdays 10.00 - 12.00 am Also Women's Institute Meetings and Art Group Meetings. Social Activities including: Harvest Festival Supper; Northumbrian Evening; Quiz Night and Wine Tasting. Please see local notice boards for further details. The cost of booking the hall is £6.00 per hour for regular bookings and £8.00 for occasional bookings. Anyone wishing to book the hall for activities or birthday parties meetings etc should ring the treasurer Ken Robson on 01665 574043

OUT AND ABOUT Bol ton v i l l age Hal l

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If you are reading this

so could your

customers. Ring May to

advertise NOW!

FFRREESSHH FFIISSHH A couple of weeks ago as we drove through Bolton village we came across a fresh fish van. Perhaps we are just unaware, but we hadn’t known that D.R.Collin of Eyemouth did a fish van round in our area.

According to Tommy Dougal who was selling from the van he already does a round in Glanton and Whittingham, but

is trying to expand into the Bolton patch. I forgot to ask him if he calls at Powburn – he does on a Thursday.

Anyway, it seemed to us that this is a good addition to the available van rounds in our rural area and it would be good if everyone knew about it. If you are interested in finding out about his schedule, we’d recommend that you ring Tommy Dougal on 07763 198 596 (note that this is not the same number as on the business card that is shown above and this is not an advert).

…Richard & Jane Poppleton

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CAROLS began as an old English custom called wassailing, toasting neighbours to a long life – Merry Christmas

Carol singing through Powburn village 17th December 6pm starting

at the tree in the community garden, mince pies and mulled wine

in the Plough afterward

STOP PRESS!! STOP PRESS!! STOP PRESS!! STOP PRESS!!

NEW BEWICK TURBINE APPLICATION REFUSED

On 6th December the application for the single large wind turbine at New Bewick was considered by the County Council Central Planning Committee at County Hall. There was a large turn-out of objectors in the Council Chamber. The Planning Officers had recommended approval of the application, claiming that the benefits outweighed the potential damage to the environment and visual amenity. When it came to the debate by the members of the Planning Committee, our local Councillor, John Taylor, gave a very strong speech against the proposal and when it came to the vote the Committee was almost unanimous (only one abstention) that they would vote against the recommendation of their planning officers and turn down the application.