Land at Birchenwood/Kidsgrove Bank, the Rookery, and Gloucester Road, has been put forward at a recent Cabinet meeting as potential sites for development. The Call for Sites is an early stage in an information gathering exercise from landowners, developers, agents and members of the public, for sites for all types of land uses, not just housing and employment sites that will help inform planning policy to satisfy demand for housing, employment and other needs in the new Local Plan. [Read more…]

The feasability report on the future of Kidsgrove Sports Centre has been completed and will be presented to Cabinet on the 10th December 2014. The report will inform the Cabinet with a future detailed business case for the replacement or refurbishemnt of Kidsgrove Sports Centre. [Read more…]

Kidsgrove shoppers and their families are invited to take part in the second ‘Kidsgrove Christmas Shopping Challenge’ taking place in the run up to Christmas. [Read more…]

The Turner family, as well as friends, are celebrating after raising nearly £5000 for the Alzheimers Society in memory of Maureen ‘Mo’ Turner who died in January after a long battle with the illness. [Read more…]

Library users and residents across Staffordshire will be invited to help shape the future direction of their local library in a major consultation.

As the way people use libraries continues to change, the county council has announced proposals to meet that shifting demand and safeguard the service for the future.

They would mean more services are available online while in some areas the county council is looking for communities to get more involved, and even take on and run their local library. The county council will also explore if partners such as police or health services want to share buildings with libraries, to provide more services in one place to local people.

Mike Lawrence, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for Children, Localism and Communities, asked for a 12 week consultation on the future of the county library service. He said: “While communities love their libraries the way people use them is changing. We want to act now so that they remain relevant and popular for years to come. [Read more…]

North Staffordshire Community Rail Partnership has recognised the fantastic support and help provided by TESCO Community Champion Richard Evans to Kidsgrove station with a special award.

Richard, who is based at Kidsgrove TESCO, has supported his local station in so many ways in recent years: providing funding for gardening equipment for the station volunteers, and donations of plants for the station gardens; arranging with TESCO to provide lunch refreshments for station community days, and also rolling up his sleeves (and recruiting others) to help out at all station events.

The boost he gives to the station volunteer team through his unstinting support is immeasurable, as Faye Lambert, Community Rail Officer, says: “Richard is an absolute star for Kidsgrove. The help he provides to the station volunteers goes above and beyond his role for the store. [Read more…]

Members of the Mow Cop Residents’ Association have been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award given to volunteer groups across the UK.

The award was made to the residents association for “Providing an increasing range of amenities, facilities and services for everyone in the local community for the last ten years.”

Mow Cop Residents Association (MCRA) put in a lot of time and effort into renovating the church hall at St Thomas’ which was in a state of disrepair and the church, who own the building, didn’t have the manpower and funds to keep up with the maintenance. The church hall has now been renamed the ‘Mow Cop Community Hall’ and hosts numerous clubs, including an art group, bowling club, line dancing and Zumba.

MCRA also organise the annual ‘Killer Mile’, a run up to the top of Mow Cop via the steep Station Bank ,which has become a favorite fixture on the calendar for runners for runners from all over the country seeking a serious challenge.

Two of the association’s 15 active members will go to the Queen’s garden party later this year to receive the award.

Clough Hall Technology School is getting a brand new school. This will be built on the current site and the old school buildings are scheduled for demolition. 

This is an exciting development for the residents of Kidsgrove.

Clough Hall Technology School has been at the centre of the local community for many, many years. The old buildings may be ready for retirement but they hold generations of memories.

With your help we would like to preserve those memories so that they can be enjoyed by the whole community. We are hoping to build an on-line ‘Clough Hall School Photo Archive’ that anyone with an internet connection will be able to access. Did you or any of your family and friends attend Clough Hall Technology School as a child? Do you have any photos that you would like to share?

If you have photos in a digital format, you can email them directly to the email address listed below. If your photos are not in a digital format please contact us and we can arrange to have them scanned into a computer for you. If you have any other images of Clough Hall Technology School in different media formats, we may still be able to do something with them. We can convert 8mm cine-film, Super 8 cine-film and Hi8 video to digital!

Send all photos & any questions you might have to: oldschool@cloughhall.staffs.sch.uk

Residents are being asked to nominate their favourite landmarks in the borough as part of an annual review of a local register.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council is updating a register of important buildings and structures which is used to help protect the character of the sites when planning applications propose to change their external appearance.

It currently features 84 entries including a post box in Audley, a former mill in Madeley, a restored warehouse in Market Lane, Newcastle, and the town’s George and Dragon pub.

New suggestions will be inspected and assessed against criteria such as authenticity, architectural value, historic associations, visual importance and community value.

The initiative is designed to raise awareness of landmarks which fall short of the criteria for statutory listing. [Read more…]

On the 26^th July 2014, the Turner family as well family friends took part in a 11 mile sponsored walk to raise money for the Alzheimers Society and in memory of Maureen Turner, who sadly passed away with this illness in January. 

The walk will took place around the Kidsgrove area,covering places memorable to Maureen and the family, before going to Bradwell Crematrorium where she is now at rest.

Nicola Jones and Daniel Vernall, the main organisers of the walk, and Maureen’s grandchilden would like to thank everyone involved in the event, and everybody who has sponsored them so far.

Anybody who wishes to donate to this great cause and sponsor the Turner family, is invited to do so either through their just giving website www.justgiving.com/turners-walk or by contacting Daniel either through phone, 07881381143, or email – danieljamesvernall@gmail. com.

Every £1 helps and every sponsorship is much appreciated.