It was originally thought that the normal Christmas celebrations of Santa’s arrival and his tour of the town, allowing children to talk to him and tell him what presents t hey would like, would have to be completely cancelled. But with help from the police and local officials, a substitute has been salvaged, and it has been agreed that Santa and his sleigh will be touring Biddulph and District this Christmas, and children will be able to see Santa.

On Weekday evenings, Santa in his sleigh will tour the town, but unfortunately won’t be able to stop so that Santa can talk to the children but he will slowly drive past on his traditional routes around the town during the next two weeks.

For information about the dates and see o0n-line for the routes on the web at: https://www.facebook.com/BiddulphRotaryClub/posts/995443330964573

More grants for Moorlands businesses affected by the restrictions in force to control the spread of Covid have now opened for applications.

The Government has provided funding to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council for both mandatory and discretionary grants to support businesses affected by the second national lockdown from 5 November to 2 December and the tier systems in place on either side of that period.

Picking up Christmas gifts and goodies will be top of many of our ‘to do’ lists as shops and businesses across the Moorlands re-open – and the Council is offering free parking on Saturdays this month to help make that a little easier.

Staffordshire Moorlands District Council offers five days free parking a year in its off-street car parks and the Town Councils in Biddulph, Cheadle and Leek decide when they want to use them to support events and key activities in the towns.

Cheadle and Leek Town Councils have decided, once again, to use some of these days in the build-up to Christmas and parking will be free on Saturdays 5, 12 and 19 December this year. Drivers won’t need to display a ticket on these dates.

Biddulph Town Council hasn’t yet confirmed when it plans to use the free days.

Cheshire East Council is urging residents to shop in their local town in the lead up to Christmas, whilst of course wearing a face mask and maintaining social distancing.

Supporting local trade is vital now more than ever and there are many benefits of shopping local, helping businesses to survive Covid-19 too. Small businesses know their customers and can offer a more personal service for Christmas – they would really appreciate your support during an unprecedented year.  

Exciting development plans for Kidsgrove that could significantly improve the quality of life for its communities for decades to come have moved forward for approval.  

This comes after the government invited 100 places to develop proposals for a Town Deal as a part of a £3.6 billion Towns Fund, and both Newcastle and Kidsgrove were included in the list.

2020 will be remembered for many reasons. One of the more positive ones should be – the year that as a community we have finally seen work begin on refurbishing Kidsgrove Sports Centre.

If all is going to plan at this time of reading, contractors Willmott Dixon (appointed by NBC, under the SCAPE framework), will be busy inside the sports centre stripping out the building. The plan is very much to have a completely refurbished building which will be more modern and efficient to operate, whilst retaining much of the original character of the building.