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Welcome to the Village Park Residents Association. Thornaby on Tees
Your residents group for the Village Area.
Membership is free to every household in the Village Area.
(Supported by Stockton Residents & Community Groups Association)
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If you see any Anti Social Behaviour no matter how small call Neighbourhood policing on 302930
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The VPRA News Blog (click here for past months)
Your VPRA at work reports for May 2010
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Click here for CFYA Bin and Recycle Collection Days
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31/05/2010 VPRA Meeting
Dont forget to go to Tuesdays VPRA meeting. Robert Atkinson Centre,7pm.
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28/05/2010 Bus Users Forum
VPRA reps will be attending the Bus Users Forum at the Arc,Stockton on June 5th. 10am till 12 noon. All are welcome to attend. Agenda items include Boroughbus,Concessionary Travel,Tees Valley Metro,Station Improvements,Shoppa Hoppa Service and followed by Public Questions.
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27/05/2010 VPRA Meeting
The next VPRA meeting is June 1st, 7pm start at the Robert Atkinson Centre.
Agenda includes reports from:-
Beechwood and Chestnut Grove Action Group.
Care For Your Area :- Christine James.
Police:- Michelle and Dave will be in attendance.
Tristar Homes:- Update on Stock Transfer by Patch and Neighbourhood Managers.
Eastern Area Traffic Strategy Meeting:- report by Stewart.
Summer Time Blues:- What we can do to counteract ASB this Summer.
Grabbing Green Space:- Residents request to use green space at the rear of Thornaby Baths.
Green Flag:- Report by Stewart on this years event.
Green Thumbs:- Launch of this years event.
In Bloom:- Details of this years planting and help needed. _
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24/05/2010 Hanging Basket Thieves
Warning for anyone with hanging baskets at the front of houses, there have been a couple of thefts reported from Thorntree Road and Thornaby Road.
Add to this a new shed stolen from the new allotments on Andrews and the Neighbourhood Watch warnings for garden and shed thefts and its time to keep your eyes open for any suspicious happenings and report them
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23/05/2010 Black Bobbies Nature Reserve
If you are looking for somewhere to go for a cost free walk during the hot sunny days then look no further than the Black Bobbies Nature Reserve. situated at the back of the Village Green along the river bank with the entrance from the Lower Village Green.
There are no facilities there at present for disabled people in wheelchairs and only one bench to sit on but it is a wildlife haven with ducks and swans coming into the Fish Haven Pond.
There are two trods around the whole area and during term time it is a very tranquil place, it is used a lot by dog walkers. There are two large reed beds and this time of year there are a lot of Yellow Flag Iris in flower.
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23/05/2010 Park Consultations
VPRA reps have been spending a lot of time in the Village Park over this hot sunny weekend engaginng with children and parents to see what they would like next in the park.This is the begining of this years consultations which will also see us putting our display tent up on weekends to show people what is on offer and what is possible.
Suggestions this weekend have been:-
Some sort of permanent BMX jumps area (this is already in discussion with SBC)
A shop or cafe for drinks and ice creams in the bowls pavillion area.
Bowls open to general public when the club is not being used for matches.
A nature area.(already in the plans for Parkview End and may begin creation this Autumn.)
Stricter controls on dog owners and walkers. Parents concerned by some of the larger dogs being let off the leash to run in the park. (This is something SBC are looking into as part of their overall borough plans.)
Picnic tables, a dedicated picnic area near to the Muga and Play Park for use by parents with younger children, also needs to be disabled friendly.
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23/05/2010 Fly Tipping
Once again someone has decided to leave their rubbish in the Village Park and just outside the gates at the Park Road entrance. CFYA ,Enforcement and Police have ben informed.The VPRA will not stand for anyone dumping household and garden rubbish in the park or anywhere else around the town and will support CFYA and Enforcement in any prosecutions they can take.
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22/05/2010 Missing Bird
Poster have been put up around the area bu the owner of a cockatiel that has got out on the 21/05/2010. Last seen heading towards the Village Park. If you see it please let the owner know on the numbers below.
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22/03/2010 Litter
One of the main drawbacks of this weekends hot sun is the amount of litter left by people especially on the Lower Village Green. There have been a lot of beer cans and food cartons left around that area which have been collected by VPRA litter pickers. People in the Village Park seem to have been a lot more considerate and used the litter bins provided.
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21/05/2010 Green Flag Judging Visit
Keep Britain Tidy judges Cheryl Tolliday from South Tyneside and Mike Bent from Bury visited the Village Park and Bowling Club this morning.After a tour of the bowls club and a look at the park plans it was off around the park in the bright hot sunshine.VPRA reps were joined by Tony Raine, Barry Hunter,Dave Askey and Dave Murdy from SBC and also by Stuart Hibbert the SBC arborist who gave a good account of tree planting in the area. 2 of our local Neighbourhood Police Officers also popped in for a chat.
We explained the ideas put into place so far around the park with the play trail,equipment, Muga and childrens play area and how we managed to obtain funding for them. We also discussed ideas for further improvements and after an hour and a half set of for Ropner Park for refreshments and a tour of the facility. We picked up a few good tips and ideas from Ropner as well as passing on a few ideas from the Village.
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21/05/2010 Cricket in the park.
Thanks to CFYA Horticultural Dept for cutting the new cricket square on the Village Park main field.
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20/05/2010 Dog Fouling
New signage is appearing around the town on our paths and pavements.Hope our dog owners take note.
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20/05/2010 Village Park
Thanks to CFYA teams working in the park this afternoon to make ready for Friday`s Green Flag visit.A team of litter pickers, another team of gardeners and 3 grass cutting machines were all hard at work for a couple of hours.
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19/05/2010 Green Flag Awards
The Village park will be tidied and preened on Thursday and Friday morning ready for the visit of the judges from Keep Britain Tidy ,Green Flag Award Judges on Friday morning. So if you are in the park on Friday and see people walking around with cameras and clip boards then say hello and tell them how good the park is.
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19/05/2010 Village Park Cricket
Confirmation today from Nigel Clark the CFYA Horticultural Manager that he has arranged to have a cricket square cut again in the park for the summer.It will be done this week and cut every Friday through the season.
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18/05/2010 Eastern Area Transport Strategy
VPRA rep attended tonights first meeting of the year for the Eastern Area Transport Strategy meeting. We have been attending all of the meetings for the past 4 years and hope we play a part in helping get some projects moving in the area.Meetings are attended by officers from SBC,members of the Eastern Area Partnership Board, Ward Councillors from Thornaby and Ingleby Barwick,Thornaby Town Council, IB Town Council, Maltby and Hilton Parish Councils and representatives from Residents Associations.
This year there are a number of schemes that affect Thornaby. The Mandale Gyratory Bus Scheme,Thornaby Station upgrade and new bridge. Traffic Calming on Middleton Avenue, Traffic Calming re model on the whole length of Thorntree Road.Car parking and disabled parking on Thornaby Town Centre, new Puffin Crossing at the Spitfire Pub,new traffic lights at the junction of Cunningham Drive and Thornaby Road and the possibilty of bollards on the pavements opposite the Jolly Farmers to stop illegal parking.
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15/05/2010 Village Park Update
VPRA reps met yesterday with SBC Parks and Countryside officers to look at ways to improve the Village Park even more over the coming year. Any work would need to be funded through grants as SBC have no money in the pot for any park projects.
Main project to source funding for is the new gates and fences to go right round the inside of the park.
We are looking at ways of having some sort of small static BMX type jumps in an area of the main field. We also hope to have a permanent “safe” Kerby court next to one of the main paths.If you can think of anything that you want in the park then let us know.
It is quite possible that there will be no more league football matches in the park,partly due to complaints about teams in the past couple of years and also the lack of upto date changing facilities. SBC will hold a consultation with all stakeholders before any decision on change of use for the changing facilities is taken.
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14/05/2010 Stockton Fiz
Stockton Families Information Zone, a really usefull site that is worth taking a look at.
Stockton Fiz is part of Stockton Council.
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13/05/2010 Tees Valley Eritrean Community
The Tees Valley Eritrean Community are having an open evening to celebrate the Eritrean Independence Day. If you are interested in attending then please let VPRA know asap by the email link on this site.
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12/05/2010 Thornaby Town Meeting
Tonights 2 meetings were held in the Methodist Church Hall and were extremely well run. The TTC AGM was over in 20 mins and the Town Meeting took about 30 minutes.
The evening started with outgoing Mayor Cllr.Geoff Green presenting cheques totaling over £3000 to his 3 preffered charities.
This coming years Mayor is to be Cllr. Ian Dalgarno with Cllr.Mick Eddy as his Deputy.
Thanks wer given from everone at the meeting and Thornaby Town Council for the exceptional work done by outgoing Mayor and Mayoress Geoff and Celia Green. Below Geoff hands over to Ian.
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11/05/2010 Thornaby Town Council
Dont forget the Thornaby Town Council AGM and Town Meeting on Wednesday. 6..30 pm at the Methodist Church Hall ,Stanstead Way,Thornaby, preceeded by a presentation by Mayor Geoff Green to the charities he has supported this year.
VPRA reps will be there to support our council and to offer thanks to Geoff and Celia Green for all of their hard work in the last Mayoral year. They have worked very hard and will be a hard act to follow.
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10/05/2010 Old Thornaby Guild
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09/05/2010 VPRA Green Thumbs Competition
As in previous years the categories for this years competition are as follows:-
Best Large Front Garden
Best Small Front Garden
Best Pensioners Garden
Best Colorfull Garden
Best Modern Garden
Best Innovative Use of Garden Space
Best Hanging Basket
Best Hedge
Overall Best Garden
Once again the format is for gardens within the current VPRA boundaries to be nominated by their owners ,friends, relatives or Tristar/SBC. Pictures of all nominated gardens will be taken in July and August(depending on how the summer season goes) then will be submitted to our online judging panel made up of gardeners around the world. All nominated gardens will get a Certificate of Merit, section winners will also receive a small trophy. The overall winner will also receive a trophy and a prize to be announced later. Presentations will be at our September or October meeting.
There may be an additional class for best garden outside of the VPRA area, currently awaiting approval from Thornaby Councillors. It would be for gardens nominated by a councillor.
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08/05/2010 BMX Mud Jumps
The recent practice by youngsters of making their own “Mud Jumps” in the Village Park is becoming both tedious and dangerous. After SBC have been in the park and removed shrubs and some of the soil the kids have been back with spades and made another set of jumps.What they do not realise is if they injure themselves they are not insured by either VPRA or SBC. If they run into anyone they themselves are liable to prosecution for any injuries they cause. If your children use their bikes in the park please try and disuade them from using this area.
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07/05/2010 General Election
Congratulations to James Wharton on wining the Stockton South seat. Commiserations and thanks to Dari Taylor for the help over the past couple of years in some of the VPRA causes. Now its time for James to step up to the plate.
Result
James Wharton Conservative 19,577
Dari Taylor Labour 19,245
Jacquie Bell Liberal Democrat 7,600
Neil Sinclair British National Party 1,553
Peter Braney UK Independence Party 1,471
Yvonne Hossack Independent 536
Ted Strike Christian Party 302
Majority 332
Turnout 50,284 67.4%
Now the election is over we wil be re instating the links to both James and Dari`s websites.
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06/05/2010 Northumbria In Bloom
Entry forms arrived today for RHS Neighbourhood Awards for this year.
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05/05/2010 Green Thumbs
This years VPRA Green Thumbs competition will be judged as usual between July and August.Full details will be posted on here and our IN Bloom website later this month.
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03/05/2010 Freegle
Do you Freegle, do you know what it is? VPRA have joined the local Stockton Freegle group to try and help pass on information to residents.
Throwing something away? STOP!! Join Stockton Freegle to give your reusable items to people in your area. Keep it out of landfill by recycling it. Local non-profit groups are warmly encouraged to join!
Everything posted must be freegle (free and legal).
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03/05/2010 Leisure Walks
VPRA have been asked by some Thornaby Residents for details of any easy walks they can do on their own around Thornaby. If you are looking for easy walks then click here and get the information.
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02/05/2010 Guided Walks
Monday 17th May,10 am Meet at the Spitfire Pub Car Park. Booking is essential.Contact Thornaby Library on 01642 528117. Event is organised by Library Services.
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02/05/2010 Self Employment
VPRA contacted by Enterprise Made Simple to pass on information about self employment.If you are interested there is help out there for you. Click here Enterprise Gateways for info.
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01/05/2010 Allotments
Reports of thefts from allotments over the past week, if you see anyone in the new allotments especially at night when the gates are locked then phone Neighbourhood Policing on 302930
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01/05/2010 Copper Thieves
Please be vigilant as there have been reports of thefts of copper fittings and pipes from homes in Victoria area of Thornaby.
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1/05/2010 Thornaby Town Council
This years A.G.M.and Town Meeting is on 12th May at the Methodist Church Hall ,Stanstead Way,Thornaby. 6.30pm
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