Father Christmas visiting Whaley Bridge last year.

Christmas

is approaching very fast.  On Tuesday 29 November. Furness Vale’s Christmas tree will be switched on by Councillor Jon Goldfinch, chair of Whaley Bridge Town Council. And on Friday 2 December, Whaley Bridge’s Christmas tree will be switched on, also by Councillor Jon.

The Furness Vale tree is at the Soldier Dick pub.  The switch-on is at 7.30pm.  The Rev Margaret Own, vicar of Disley and Furness Vale, will introduce  the performers. Including Goyt Valley Brass, who will accompany carol singing, and the children’s choir from Furness Vale primary school.

Furness Vales Santa’s grotto will be on the Soldier Dick car park. It is organised by the school PTA, with profits going to school funds.  After the switch-on, mince pies and coffee will be served to the public in the Community Hall.  There is a charge of 50p, with proceeds going to High Peak Hospice Care.

The Whaley Bridge tree is in the Jodrell car park, near the station.  The switch-on is at 7pm.  Events will follow the traditional pattern, with Whaley Bridge brass band  accompanying carols and Powderkegs performing their morris dancing around the streets.  Santa’s grotto will again be in Footsteps. 

To help with your Christmas shopping, local shops will stay open late.  There will be a Christmas market in the Mechanics’ Institute, with a range of stalls selling gifts.

There was disappointment for Whaley Bridge when the routes for the Olympic torch relay throughout the UK next year were announced.  The torch will not be carried through our streets as some people had been hoping, nor through Chapel, New Mills, or Disley.  But you will be able to see the torch carried through

>Stockport on Sunday 24 June

>Macclesfield on Thursday 31 May, and

>Buxton nearly a month later on Friday 29 June. 

An estimated 95 per cent of the UK population will be within ten miles of the torch route.

In the autumn, rising sports stars and community leaders joined forces to celebrate Buxton’s good news. High Peak Mayor David Lomax, who is also a Whaley Bridge town councillor,  along with  borough council leader Caitlin Bisknell and Anthony McKeown, executive councillor for community services, helped nine hotly tipped youngsters from across the area share the excitement.

All nine young people had previously received ‘talented athlete’ grants from a partnership of organisations including the borough council, Derbyshire county council and Derbyshire Sport. 

Mayor David was even persuaded to join the athletes for a short run at a photocall in front of the Crescent buildings in Buxton. He said:  “It’s wonderful that High Peak people will get to see the Olympic flame first hand.”

Mayor David Lomax joins young athletes in celebration run at Buxton Crescent

Times for next year’s torch run though nearby towns have not been announced yet.

Stockport on Sunday  24 June 2012  will welcome the torch after its journey from Salford, Moss Side and  Levenshulme and wish the runners well in their onward journey to Ashton and Oldham.

Macclesfield on Thursday 31 May  will see the torch relay after it has been to Crewe and Congleton.  It then goes on to Knutsford, ending the day at Bolton for an evening celebration. 

Buxton on Friday 29 June  will cheer the torch carriers who set off from Nottingham, travelling though Bakewell and the Derbyshire Dales. The torch journey continues through Ashbourne to Derby, for another evening celebration.

The people and organisations of Whaley Bridge remembered the dead of two world wars, and other conflicts since,in a series of services on Remembrance Sunday. The skies were grey, as they probably were on the first Armistice Day in 1918 which has led to the emotional national and local remembrances of today.

The Rev Michael Peat, chaplain to the local Royal British Legion, had a busy day on Sunday.  He took the service in St John’s church, Furness Vale, which followed a procession  led by Whaley Band from  the Furness  Vale war memorial.  During this service, the new standard for the  Whaley branch  of the Legion was dedicated.

John Baker (left), and Rev Michael Peat.

The  Rev Michael then led the short service at the Cenotaph in Memorial Park, Whaley Bridge.  Formal wreaths from sections of the British Legion and one from the people of Whaley Bridge, laid  by town council chair Jon Goldfinch,  plus many other organisations, joined more personal memories from the families of men whose names are carved on the memorial.

Whaley Bridge Town Council Chairman Jon Goldfinch lays wreath.

Among the medals, commemorating the two world wars, was a row of five on the chest of a  former RAF serviceman bringing Remembrance right up to date:  In the picture below, from the left, the medals acknowledge service in former Yugoslavia (Bosnia); Sierra Leone;  and Afghanistan – the other two are for the Queen’s Jubilee and long service and good conduct.

The Rev Michael also took a Remembrance service at Kettleshulme church and on the previous day an informal service at the Memorial Cross in the Jodrell car park.

John Baker, chairman of Whaley British Legion, thanked  the Rev Michael and the many people for their attendance at the events.

The Last Post is played at Whaley Bridge War Memorial

Many people in Whaley Bridge will be unaware that there are war graves at St James’s, Taxal , all recorded by the War Graves Commission.  Most of them are of the standard Portland stone, as used by the million in the massive military cemeteries  of northern Europe.  This is a corner of  a nearby  churchyard, where, on a  grey, wet autumn day, the war graves stand like little beacons among the darker  – and usually much bigger – gravestones of  generations of  Taxal parishioners.

There are 14 military gravestones in the lower slopes at Taxal graveyard.  They  are well scattered.  Some contain the remains of servicemen who died of their  wounds after World War I, and who, like all the other war dead are ‘remembered with honour’ in the citations of the War Graves Commission.

Carved into the familiar Portland headstones is a litany of local names, many still familiar today:  Pearson, Jackson, Bradbury, Hill, Thomasson,  Fox. 

One grave, different from the rest, is (more…)

Remembrance Sunday 2011 in Whaley Bridge and Furness Vale will follow the traditional pattern.  The British Legion parade this year is from the Soldier Dick in Furness Vale,  starting at 10.10 am on Sunday 13 December, and going to St John’s parish church on the A6. 

The full list of services and a concert by Whaley Band, is below.

Friday 11 November, 7.30pm, Uniting Church, Whaley Bridge.  Concert by Whaley Brass Band,  admission £5 including refreshments.

Saturday 12 November, 10.45am, Jodrell Inn car park.  Informal serviice conducted by Rev Michael Peat at the Memorial Cross.

Sunday 13 November, 10.45am. St John’s, Furness Vale.  Service conducted by Michael Peat,  including dedication of new standard for Whaley Bridge branch of the Royal British legion.

Sunday 13 November, 12.15 midday. Cenotaph, Memorial Park, Whaley Bridge, memorial service including the Last Post.

Sunday 13 November, 3pm.  Memorial service at Kett;leshulme church, conducted by Michael Peat.

British Legion contact:  John Baker, 01663 719 446.

WORK has just started on the new chapel at Whaley Hall, which will have a floor made of black slate.  Father Jamie MacLeod from the Community of the King of Love is asking supporters to donate £20 towards the cost of the spectacular floor,  which will improve the acoustics, as a charity gift or a memorial to someone.  A  dedication service will be held later.  Any funds left over from the floor appeal will go towards new windows. Father Jamie can be contacted on 01663 732 495.

Whaley Bridge was mentioned in the major press coverage,  following  the death of  Betty Driver at 91.  The Coronation Street star for 42 years ran the Cock pub on Buxton Road for a few years, with her sister Freda who lived locally.

The Cock pub, Whaley Bridge

Customers, who remember Betty behind the bar in the late 60s and early 70s, recall another occasional drinker at the Cock – Street producer Harry Kershaw. He persuaded Betty (more…)

Whaley Bridge’s mission family, Jason and Tracy Day and their two little daughters Ruby and  Libby are spending a happy, six month break here after more than three years in Nepal. They work for the Church Mission Society (CMS) and have been seconded to work for United Mission to Nepal.

Happy family: Tracy and Jason Day, with daughters Ruby, 6 and Libby, 4

Members of Churches Together in Whaley Bridge, who pray for and financially support Jason and Tracy, heard a fascinating talk about (more…)

WHALEY Bridge Band premiered a new work by brass band composer Lucy Pankhurst at a charity concert for Blythe House Hospice.  Lucy’s march was  dedicated to the band sponsors Bill and Lynne Wilson of Cedar Finance.  

The concert at the New Mills Art Theatre. was funded by Cedar allowing the band to give the £773 proceeds to the hospice. 

Mr Wilson said: “A wonderful music filled evening was had by all. What an honour to have a piece dedicated to you!”.

The wedding of Matthew  Goldsbrough and Penny (formerly  Marsden-Booth) started with a proposal in Frydays, the chip shop at Horwich End.   The couple had dropped in for lunch, as Penny gazed at a film about the Romans on  the TV, Matthew said “Do you think you’ll ever get married again?”  Then …  ”Do you think you could marry me?”

Happy couple, Matthew and Penny - sharing chips and champagne

Shortly afterwards, the couple married quietly at Bakewell registry office. Penny’s son James was the best man.  And a few weeks after that, there was (more…)