Flaxby Matters: social newsletter September 2009

Your views  Well, you’ve told us what you like about Flaxby and what could make it better and engendering a stronger community spirit appears to be a priority.

Following the highly successful garden party hosted by Buck and Kath White at Herons’ Keep, some villagers began discussing how we might organise more events, swap ideas on recommended trades people and make sure we all know about essential services.

Since then, we’ve issued our questionnaire asking what we can do to boost our village identity and whether or not we should create a loose community network or a formal association.

And we promised to keep you updated on progress.

Responses
A big thank you to everyone who filled in our questionnaire. We received 18 responses which represents a 45 per cent return of those households able to comment.

If you missed our closing date for the survey but still want your views to be known, please speak to Buck White (contact details appear at the end of this newsletter). We would love to hear from you.

What you want
The majority of villagers responding would like to see a loose community network with the aim of creating
more opportunities for social contact. They particularly want mutual support and to hear news about trades people, group oil purchasing, discussions on exchanging gardening tips as well as events such as coffee mornings and carol singing get-togethers and neighbour emergency help.

We also received suggestions to set up working groups to ensure the village looks its best at all times.

What you like about Flaxby
The most enjoyable aspects of living in Flaxby include peace and quiet and good neighbours. We enjoy being close enough to town but far enough away from it, too. We like our semi-rural location though there are some aspects that could be improved.

And what you say could be better
The majority of issues relate to traffic. Several villagers say the A59 junction is hazardous as is the speed of cars, lorries and farm vehicles travelling through the village. You want to see improved footpaths, better road repairs and a much improved bus service – three buses a day hardly constitutes an integrated public transport system. These concerns have been passed to your parish council representatives who will look into matters.

Other suggestions include drawing a village plan to help lost delivery drivers, making full use of the notice board, and putting contacts on a website. We’ll certainly explore these ideas.

Organising group
A group has been set up to look at taking forward the views of the villagers comprising Buck and Kath White, Jacqui Coverdale and Karl Hebden, Caroline and Darren Greenhalgh and Mervin and Jacqui Straughan.

Working parties
Three key areas have been identified where we need helping hands:

1) Looking after the area around the village signs;
2) Looking after the green (recent vehicle damage to the village green has been reported to the county council and police and will be repaired by the working party);
3) Litter picking.

Please get in touch with an organising group member if you can spare some time to help improve our surroundings. See contact details.

Trades people
Buck White is creating a list of recommended trades people. If you have recommendations, please let Buck know. In the meantime, it’s worth reminding villagers about the Flaxby welcome pack.

Welcome pack
Residents who have moved into the village in the past four years have benefited from a welcome pack.
This is an excellent source of information and provides contact numbers and details of a variety of services including frozen fish, milk, mobile library and newspaper delivery. It also contains other information about services and community organisations serving both Flaxby and Goldsborough such as St Mary’s Church, the local Women’s Institute and the primary school.

Residents wanting copies can contact parish councillor Mike Munden (see parish council contact details). You might even have ideas of what to include.

Thanks
Villagers will have noticed our new, lockable notice board kindly provided by Karl Hebden. The parish council has expressed its thanks. A key to the board is available from clerk to the parish council Sheelagh Fowler (see parish council contact details).


Village historyHave you ever wondered about the history of the village? There’s certainly more to it than listed in the internet encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, which simply states that:

Flaxby is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is in close proximity to the A1 road and two miles east of Knaresborough.

We hope to plan a series of events delving into the story behind the village. This is likely to include speaking to some of our longest-residing villagers. We believe that sixty years is the longest anyone has lived in the village. If you know differently, please let us know.

We would like to create a central point for photos of the village in times gone by and would love to take copies of any old photos you might have. Personal memories and photos of the old school room, the farms and the village pond would be most appreciated.

It is hoped that this historical information can be used for future social events.


Events
Please let us know if there’s anything you would like the organising group to consider. At the moment, we are planning our Christmas carol singing throughout the village for Sunday 13 December. Please make a note of this on your calendar. We hope you will available to join in the fun.

And we’re planning a social – possibly a quiz at the Tiger Inn – and gardening discussion groups, coffee mornings, a history talk and another summer garden party. We’ll let you know details soon.

Thanks for reading this update. If you have comments, please contact the organising group. Similarly, if you would like to become a member, let us know. The more, the merrier.