Spoil Sports

Thursday morning around 8.30am, and I found myself walking around Hale Park taking photographs of the current landscape and fixtures of how it looks now, before the work commences on the rebuild and renovation near the end of the year which should revamp and change the park for good.

I bumped into several familiar villagers who where also out walking by the top football pitch near Hale Hall Gardens,, our conversation turned to the pile of discarded empty water bottles that could be seen on the side of the pitch, from the bund near the fork in the track.  It appears that these bottles are the left-overs from the previous evenings Hale football training,, on closer inspection there must have been around 10-15 bottles (without counting) on the touch line?

It would have nice,, if these bottles were picked up and put in the near by waste bin just by the side of the track, probably about 50/75 meters away?

Also peppering the area and on the football pitch, is dog muck’, this can be seen on both pitches. 

Several thoughts crossed my mind,, that do these people who leave such waste lying on the ground, appreciate the £800.000 that is going to be spent on the parkland, lets hope they do-and clear it up in future?  Also,, with wildlife and children in the parkland,, if such waste was harmlessly picked up/touched/played with, stood on or chewed,, some harm to the inquisitive one could be inflicted.

Another danger,, is that when the grass is mown and the driver of the tractor pulling the mowers goes over the plastic bottles by mistake,, the bottles are cut up by the mower blades into a thousand and one pieces and left on the grass surface .  Professional mower operators walk an area to be mown,, but should they waste their time by picking up such large piles of bottles in their way, when those who have left them could have easily picked them up themselves, put them in a plastic bag and then into a near by bin before leaving ?

A380 Airbus Over Hale Village

The afternoon of Saturday July 12th,  around 1.20pm, saw a brand new Airbus A380 double-decker aeroplane over the skies of Hale Village.
The Airbus A380 was scheduled to make several appearances around the North West as a test/speed flight.  First stop was an overshoot approach at Manchester Airport at 1.20pm followed by an overshoot approach at Liverpool John Lennon Airport at 1.25pm and also a brief appearance at the Wirral show at 1.30pm.
The aircraft also carried out several air maneuvers over the Mersey and by the Seaforth docks in recognition of the current Liverpool City of Culture 2008 status.
Below are 3 photographs taken of the aircraft on approach and overshooting the runway at Liverpool Airport.
Photographs by Mr B Thompson.

Picnic At The Vicarage

Saturday 12th July saw Janice throw open the doors, well, the garden gate of the vicarage, for a vicarage picnic in the garden.
The day started off at 2pm in the afternoon as locals started to arrive with their picnic hampers full of who knows what!?  By 2.30pm the afternoon picnic was in full swing, with a Jazz band playing as people tucked into their wine, sandwiches and chatted.  Janice played the perfect host greeting people as they arrived, it was nice to see familiar faces during the afternoon, from Keith Banks, Ruth Hilton, the two Carols and Mauirine and Richard…
During the afternoon the jazz band and “The Straws” headed by  St Mary’s very own Jeoff entertained with numerous country and Irish songs.

Thankfully the weather stayed fine with sunshine and the odd dull moment as the clouds hid the sun.  Nevertherless,, the afternoon was a huge success and by 5.30pm everyone was pleased with the afternoons picnic and entertainement
Well done Janice!

 

Hale Park Wins Lottery Bid

The Friends Of Hale Park met on Wednesday 9th July at 7pm upstairs in the meetings room of the Childe of Hale Public House.
It was announced by Mike Wharton, the Chairman of the Friends Group,, that Hale Park had been successful in it’s stage 2 bid for National Lottery funding to enhance and restore historical features in the park, as well as improve the park as a whole for the public of the village.
Following a round of applause from those present, Mike thanked everyone for thier own part played, within the Friends group and thanked Nick Martin for his expert skill in preparing and constructing the bid, that was submitted in March.

After a short question and answer session, it was estimated that the work will commence near the end of 2008 to renovate and improve the parkland and that the work would take around 8 months or there-abouts for it to be completed.

The five hectare Hale Park in the heart of the historic village of Hale, Cheshire, was once a small part of a much bigger parkland estate belonging to the residents of Hale Hall, who lived there over several centuries. Many of its features such as stone gate piers, the lodge building, prominent carriageways and boundary planting hint at this fascinating past.

The grant of £643,000 will be used to provide a community park that can be enjoyed by local people and visitors to the village, whilst still retaining its historic value. Plans include restoring original views and planting schemes. New paths to enable year round access and improved play facilities will meet the needs of modern-day users, and an exciting range of events and activities to encourage more community involvement are also planned.

If you are interested in horticulture, nature or the wellbeing of Hale Park and would like to combine your interests into one active role as a volunteer with the group, then please do get intouch with Mike or Karen, as new volunteers are now being sort.

For further information visit the village website:

www.halevillageonline.co.uk

Cheshire Police-Roadside Unit

Tuesday afternoon saw Cheshire Police in the village, next to the War Memorial.

The roadside unit, which included a police car, mobile camera unit and a Police officer on a motorbike,  were positioned in the center of the village opposite the war memorial, monitoring traffic for tax and insurance irregularities, plus the movement of local criminals in the area.

Many thanks to the Police Officer on the motorbike, who allowed me to take the above pictures, for the village website.