Two Great New Website 'Hits' (28th April 2010)

As you probably know, I have a sophisticated hit tracking system on the website. Well today I had two hits that were also hits in another sense of the word. I jest not when I tell you that I had hits from San Jose and Tulsa. You can show your age by completing the song titles if you wish, perhaps I should offer a prize for the first person to email be with the correct answers - okay - a pint in the Falcon. Now I just need a hit from Amarillo and a few other places and we could have our own top 10 hits! Okay another pint for someone who can tell me 10 places in the USA that are included in the titles of songs, on top of the 3 I've mentioned so far.
     
Another Photo Portrait Session (24th April 2010)
    
The family portrait seesion held by Mary King was a great success, you can see some of example on display in Blondies. Mary has offered to do another session sometime in November, a great idea for Christmas presents. If you are interested just call in to Blondies, have a look at the photos from the last session and give your name to Julia, once Mary has an idea of numbers, she will organise a session and, of course, let you all know.
     
Summer Activities for Youngsters (24th April 2010)
     
It has been suggested that we organise events for youngsters in the Summer holidays. Probably on Sundays, Mondays or Tuesdays and to held on the playing fields. Ideas so far include picnics, games and old fashioned races such as egg & spoon, 3 -legged and sack races, but we would be open to any suggestions. Also we need adult volunteers to help run the events; they would only be required for a couple of hours and they would be dependant on the weather; if the weather is not good John as offered us the chance to use the Falcon, which is also great. Parents of the youngsters attending the event would be expected to help. This is a great suggestion, so if you have any ideas or wish to volunteer, see Julia in Blondies or let me know.

Cowboy Tradesmen (14th April 2010)

I have been contacted by the BBC (the fame of the website is spreading far and wide) and they want to know if anyone in the village has had a recent and ongoing experience of cowboy tradesmen that has left them in a mess. The program exposes the cowboys and gets the job done properly. We do have a lot of good tradesmen in the village, which we should all use - no cowboys live here! But if you have had the misfortune to have been a recent victim of cowboys you should contact the BBC asap.

Phone: 020 7258 6724 (answerphone)
Standard geographic charges apply and calls may be included in your telecoms provider's call package. Calls from mobiles may be higher.

Email: builders@mentorn.tv

Write
Cowboy Trap
Mentorn Scotland
40 Pacific Quay
Zone 3.27
Glasgow
G51 1DA

Closing date: 9 July 2010 

Click here to go to the Cowboy Trap website.         

             Old Photos - Faces Need Names (10th April 2010)

I have recently been sent a lot of 'new' old photographs by Stewart Would (I'm sure some of you remember him). Many of the photos have, as yet, anonymous faces peering back at us; if this sorry situation remains, the photos are dead. The faces desparately need your help to bring them back to life. The photos date from the 1950's, 1960's and even the 1970's, so there is some work for all of you to do. The past need not be dead, so please help. Email me with even one name.
All the photos are on the Photo Gallery but clicking on the links below will take you directly to that photo.

Children's Parties
Withernwick School c1970
Wellie Wanging 1977
Childern's Party Jan 1966
School Play "The Princess and the Enchanter"
School Play "A Christmas Cure"
The cast of an (adult) play 1960's
          
New Fit4life Courses in the Area (8th April 2010)

The NHS Fit4life courses are growing from strength to strength and if anyone missed out on the last lot of courses then you’re in luck. But hurry, places are going fast and they start next week

Starting in April there are NEW courses starting near YOU!

* Anyone interested. Please call and book on 0800 917 7752 or 07525 873499
** Bridlington Resource Centre is nearly fully booked, but still some places left. 
Thanks to all who have promoted the service so far and please continue to do so

Phil Wray
Coastal Health Improvement Leader
Coastal Health Improvement Programme
NHS East Riding of Yorkshire
Bridlington Resource Centre
4-6 Victoria Road
Bridlington
YO15 2BW

Tel:   07525 873499
          01262 400177

Here is a link to the East Riding NHS website explaining more about Fit4Life - Click here   

Photograph Competition Judging  (4th April 2010)

The competition will finally close on the 15th April 2010, no more entries will be accepted after that date (although I do always love to receive photos for the website, so now you've got the bug - keep it up). I will randomly number the entries and reduce them all to 800 pixels wide or high.
I will then as the art department at my school to judge the photos. I have no real idea what the judging criteria should be, but I think the subject matter and the overall effect should be most important; I will try and ensure that technical ability is a minimal factor. As explained below there will be a first prize of £50 (I have nearly reached my target of 25 entries) and 3 runners up prizes of £10. The judges decision will be final, and even I will have no say in the matter. I will publish all the entries and the winners as soon as possible. The prizes will equally be distributed as soon as possible after that. Most of all, thank you to all of you that have submitted a photograph, it has been truly heartening to recieve such great photos (and I do have my favourites, but couldn't pick a winner!); but keep on snapping and send me any photos, I will always find a home for any photo connected with Withernwick on the website.
     
Esclala at Sewerby Hall (26th March 2010)

Free NHS Fit4Life courses in our area (23rd March 2010)

The NHS Coastal Health Improvement Programme is running courses along the coastal strip. These are free, friendly five week courses, one session per week based around Healthy Lifestyles (exercise, nutrition, healthy eating, stress, depression, anxiety. The courses are open to anyone over the age of 18 years. 

They already run a course in Aldbrough, which has places left. There are also currently have courses running in Hornsea, Hedon, Bridlington, and there are courses in Skipsea, Mappleton, Paull, Rolston and bridlington just about to commence.
If you are interested please contact

Phil Wray 

Coastal Health Improvement Leader

Coastal Health Improvement Programme

NHS East Riding of Yorkshire

Bridlington Resource Centre

4-6 Victoria RoadBridlington 
YO15 2BW         Tel: 07525 873499 or 01262 400177

Here is a link to the East Riding NHS website explaining more about Fit4Life - Click here
       

Withernwick on the BBC (15th March 2010) 

I have been told (thank you to Peter Barker) that Withernwick appeared on the BBC programme "To Buy or Not to Buy" at 11pm on 15th March. This is a programme where house buyers get a chance to "test drive" a house before they think of buying it; this edition features an East Riding couple (I guess from Withernwick). So if you didn't catch it first time around you can watch it on BBC iPlayer at the BBC website (Click here to take you directly to the correct page). 
       
Website Hits (14th March 2010)

I have added a hit tracking system to the website which is very detailed and has already thrown up some curiosities. I have had hits from Cincinnati in the USA, Italy and Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada; I do wonder why people in these places would be visiting our website. Of course everyone is welcome but I just wish they would get in touch and explain why. Remember it is pretty difficult to accidently come across "Withernwick". Another curiosity is that 45% of the visitors to the site are from London, but I suspect this is due to BT (for example) processing all of their traffic through London. I have had no contact with anyone from London and so I cannot believe that there are loads of people from there visiting the site (unless maybe MI5 are monitoring us!).
If anyone wants to look at this information, let me know and I'll give you the details.
     
East Riding Adult Education Courses (12th March 2010)

I have recently been contacted by Jayne Wilcock of East Riding's Adult Education Services. Obviously East Riding is keen to for people to take up the courses they offer. Click here to see a full list of courses offered in the local area (Hornsea, South Holderness school and other local venues). In particular they are offering free enrollment to the ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence). You must have a New Clait Level 1 certificate (within the last 2 years) or be able to show equivalent capability. If you wish to take advantage of this there are a few places left and hence you must apply as soon as possible - click here for details.
         

Race Night at the Gardener's Arms - 10th April (26th Feb 2010)

There will be a fundraising Race Night at 7:30 pm on Saturday 10^th April at the Gardeners Arms (North of Coniston). Tickets are £8 each for the event including buffet or £10 for the event and buffet including return travel from the Falcon Inn. The evening will consist of 8 races the final 2 being auctioned off. John Mann would like the other 6 to be sponsored at a rate of £25 per race. Furthermore sponsors are also invited for the individual horses for which the sponsor may name their horse and rider at a race of £5. In addition to the races there will be Irish Bingo and Heads and Tails!
    
Easter Egg Hunt - Easter Monday - 5th April (26th Feb 2010)

Mike and Dawn are to organise a walking Easter Egg Treasure Hunt to be held at 1pm on Easter Monday 5^th April. It will start at the Falcon Inn. It will be a family event (i.e. all children must be accompanied) that will involve following the clues around the village to complete a quiz sheet. On completion of the quiz sheet each chid will receive a prize. To help fund this event there will be an entrance fee of £1 per child. Apparently you will be best advised to wear your walking boots. Click here for further details.
          
The Return of Carol's Quiz (22nd Feb 2010)

Carol has offered to start her World famous quizzes again. This time the quiz is set up as an online form, so you just have to click on submit when you've finsihed. As always there are 40 questions so it will involve a bit of typing on your part but I will all have a go.
To join in with the spirit of things the winner will get a choice of prizes, wine, chocolates or biscuits. Obviously the person with the most correct answers will win, but in the case of a tie I will put the names into a hat draw out the winner's name. Neither Carol nor I will enter.
We will give you a bit of time for the first one just to see how it goes, so this one will be for March; therefore entries must be to me by 31st March.

Click here for the quiz.

War Memorial Railings Damaged (30th Jan 2010)
    

The railings around the village War Memorial garden were badly damaged last night (29th Jan) when a car obviously slid on the ice/snow and collided with the railings. As you can see from the photographs, the damage is very severe, but will hopefully be soon repaired. Fortunately no one was hurt. 
      
Village Hall - Latest Questionaire Results (29th Jan 2010)

The latest results of the questionaires distributed to gauge opinion about the new village hall, show that the vast majority of people are in favour of there being a new village hall built and that it should be rebuilt on the existing site. Obviously the new village hall is still only an idea and has yet to go through the design and planning stages; so if you still have any objections or any other thoughts please let the Village Community Association or the Parish Council know.

Village Fete 2010 (27th Jan 2010)

The date for the 2010 village fete is Sunday 6th June. It may take place on the playing fields altough there is a possibility of using the cleared village hall site (we will have to see what it is like when cleared).
There will be all the usual events and maybe a few new ones; but obviously if you have any brilliant ideas then let the Community Association know. Also let them know if you wish to volunteer your assistance.
There will be lots more notices letting you know more details, so keep an eye on the website. 
This year the fete will raise funds for the WCA, Hornsea Inshore Rescue and SCOPE. The profits from the fete will be split as follows; 50% returned to the WCA, 25% to the Hornsea Inshore Rescue and 25% to SCOPE. 
Attractions confimed so far: This year the fete will raise funds for the WCA, Hornsea Inshore Rescue and SCOPE. The profits from the fete will be split as follows; 50% returned to the WCA, 25% to the Hornsea Inshore Rescue and 25% to SCOPE. 
Attractions confimed so far: This year the fete will raise funds for the WCA, Hornsea Inshore Rescue and SCOPE. The profits from the fete will be split as follows; 50% returned to the WCA, 25% to the Hornsea Inshore Rescue and 25% to SCOPE. 
Attractions confimed so far:

• Plant Stall

• Tea / Coffee

• Cake stall

• BBQ

• Tombola

• Stocks

• Coconut shy

• Hoop-La

• Face painting

• Dog show

• Dog agility display

• Dance troop

• Cookery demonstration from East Riding College

• Mr Moo's ice-cream

• Hornsea In-shore rescue

• Book stall

• Raffle

• Vintage Motor bike display

• Pheonix Cards

2010 Calendars (27th Jan 2010)

To date 279 of the 2010 calendars have been sold and the money taken is £1395. There are some calendars left but these are available at a discounted price of £1 - see Julia at Blondies. The money taken will be updated again when known. Yet another good and successful event, don't you think, for a village of only 450 people, we're working wonders - let's keep it up!

The Old Village Hall (26th Jan 2010)

The old Village Hall will soon be demolished. It was originally built in the 1930's and I am sure many of you will have many fond memories of events held there; even I remember things there just a few years ago. If anyone has any particular memories, I would like to know, as I don't think we ought to let it disappear without as much as a whimper. Also if anyone can take some photos of it has it is now and while it is being demolished, I would be very grateful if you could send them to me. For the time being, the site will be tidied up and grassed over; which means we will at least have a village green; indeed it will be grassed over, the hedges will be clipped, it will be gated with pedestrian / pram access only. I wonder if maybe we'll like it this way and find another home for the new village hall (if it happens).

Photograph Competition (25th Jan 2010)

To celebrate getting a new contract for next year and a healthy pay rise I am organising a photograph competition - okay I also have an alterior motive that I want more photos for the website. I am offering a £50 prize for the best photograph; what the criteria for the best are I'm not sure, I leave that open. There will also be three £10 prizes for runners up. It is totally free to enter and I will not judge, I will get some of my more artistic colleagues to help, so that I will not be tempted by any kind of favouritism.
There have to be some conditions:
1 - It has to either be taken in Withernwick or something to do with Withernwick and no tenuous connections. If it is for example a
     photograph of a bird, I will believe you if you say it was taken in Witherwick (unless it's a photo of an albatross etc).
2 - I must get entries off at least 25 different people and I guess I must limit it to one photo per person.
3 - Closing date - 31st March 2010 to give you the possibility of better weather.
4 - Entries must be in colour with no fuzzy effects.
5 - You do not have to be a resident of Withernwick.
6 - If you enter a photograph, you can replace it with a 'better' one at any time up to the closing date.
7 - The photo does not have to be recently taken, so long as it fulfils the other conditions and so long that it has not been
     used on the website previously.
8 - I will not publish any entries until after the closing date, only I will see the entries up to then; the judges will only see the
     photographs identified with arbitrary numbers.
Email your entries to me, any size but at least 800 x 600 pixels. Indeed I will reduce all photographs to the same size.

The New Village Hall (15th Jan 2010)

The biggest news in the village for a very long time is the news that we may get a new village hall. As reported below the latest suggestion is that the existing hall is demolished due to its poor state of repair and the site then landscaped (EON have offered to do this). Any new hall would not necessarily have to be built on the existing site although it could be. What we need to know from you and you will be recieving a questionaire soon or you can reply to me, is what do you think. Answer such questions as do we need a new hall at all? and if you think we do, where should it be? plus any other thoughts. We do need your opinion, if there is no opinion at all then nothing will happen - so get thinking and get writing.
If you email your thoughts to me could you please include your name and address. I will then pass them onto the Village Association (I have no part to play in the decision).

1000 Hits in a Month (14th Jan 2010)

I have been monitoring the number of hits for a while as an experiment, and for the first time we have had 1000 hits in one month (the period 14th Dec to 14th Jan). For a village website, this brilliant and very few are me because I have avoided hitting the homepage. We need to keep this up but this is only possible if you help me.  I really need new stuff to keep the website buzzing and keep people visiting and I'm simply not getting enough at the moment. There are lots of simple, quick and easy ways you can provide stuff:
1) Photos of anything interesting to do with Withernwick, the snow was ideal, anything a bit different.
2) Tales of Withernwick past, but these can be of the recent past, how about the Falcon 30 years ago, Ellis' shop, the Post
    Office, events in the village hall, childhood in Withernwick school etc what were these like? write it down and let me know.
3) Things to sell, now completely free, just send me a photo, contact details and a realistic price and it really works.
4) Pets photos, I'm sure there are many more pets in the village than are on pet's corner at present.
5) Anything else you can think of to do with Withernwick - let your imagination run riot. I particularly love it when someone
    sends me something completely new that doesn't fit anywhere - I'll make it fit.
    
Calendar Boys 2010 (13th Jan 2010)

You may well have noticed that I've removed the link from the homepage to the page selling the 2010 Calendar Boys calendar. This is because they have now nearly all sold, which is yet another wonderful success for the village. As soon as I can I will let you know how much money has been made. Then all we have to do is think of a suitable theme for next year's calendar, any suggestions? Do let me know. (For now at least, here's a link to the advert - click here).

Ways to Improve Withernwick (Update) (10th Jan 2010)

No doubt Withernwick as improved over the last year or so but there are no doubt still issues that concern some or all of us. I  highlighted some of these problems in a article of April last year. I would like to update you with progress and future plans.

1) Traffic calming measures - we are all concerned about the rate at which a few irresponsible people drive through the village and this problem will be made worse when the road from Whitedale to the village is improved. Money from EON or Energykontor will pay for road narrowing at the village entrance from the crossroads.
2) Signage - The village does need new and more attractive entrance signs, these will also be improved in conjunction with the above improvement.
3) Weight / Length limit - As you know this is a particular interest to me, it is sometimes extremely scary in my coattge when a 40 ton articulated truck is millimetres from my front window sill. So hopefully the improved signs above will include weight / length limit signs.
4) The Village Hall - At present a sad eyesore that is most likely beyond hope. The site is owned by the Poor Law Cahrity but there have been talks with one of the trustees and so the latest idea is to demolish the hall and landscape the site - this may or may not include building a new hall at some time in the future.
5) The School - Another sad symbol of better days. Ownership here is a real problem, but the parish council is trying to resolve the matter so that something can be done with it. 
6) A cycle path to Whitedale - EON will get this done when they improve the road to Whitedale. It does just seem to be taking a long time for them to start.
7) Litter etc - This matter does seem to have got better over the last year or so. The bus shelter has been repainted and is kept clean and we all need to do our bit to keep the rest clean and tidy.

All of these things are proposed solutions, it will be reassuring when we see something actually happening. But to make sure they do happen, we must keep up a bit of pressure to say we want a better village.

If anyone has any more concerns or ways in which they think Withernwick could be improved, then do let me know and I (and you) can inform the Parish Council or Village Association.

The Bauk (6th Jan 2010) 

I guess many of you have walked up the footpath from the end of High Street to Aldbrough Road, that's if its not thigh deep in nettles. Also I guess very few have ever wondered if it had a name. Well thanks to Avice Brown (nee Graham) who knew Withenwick in the 1920's and 1930's pointed out in her atticle in Tales the footpath was known as The Boke, but has now corrected it to The Bauk (dues to dialect misunderstandings); indeed I think it should be written bauk but pronounced boke. Well John Witty and Terry ireland have both confirmed this; so I have no doubt that this is what it is and should be called. So from now on, if you need to mention the footpath at the end of High Street to Aldbrough Road it will be much quicker to say "the Boke" and hopefully everyone will know what you mean. Indeed let's make sure it stays clear and how about a sign with the name on? I'm sure we have some handy person who could make one (but let me know before you do). Might I also recommend a walk down The Bauk at Dusk in the Summer, there are loads of bats live there. No idea what it means or where it comes from, but what a great name - so lets use it again! Apparently, so Avice now tells me a Bauk is an unploughed ridge or according to Wilepedia - the unploughed edge of a field (same thing I guess) it does make sense that the footpath was up until recently at the edge of a field - so there you go!
Click here to see some recent photographs of the Bauk.

The New Decade (4th Jan 2010)

The new decade was welcomed with the worst snow we've had at this time of the year since anyone can remember (Click here). Apart from that, 2009 certainly was an eventful year for Withernwick: Garden Fete, Christmas Fair, The Falcon has been refurbished etc . We now have a Village Association to complement the Parish Council (Click here). Oh and the website has been going for a year. I really hope this is the start of a new era for the village and that the new decade will see it flourish even more. I guess we can all help that happen and a lot of you have been brilliant so far. So let us keep it up and so in another 10 years who knows what we can achieve.