AUSTWICK PARISH NEWSLETTER Austwick, Eldroth, Feizor, Lawkland & Wharfe SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2020 Amazing Austwick and the story of the Lockdown Teas The cover page fo this Newsletter features images of an amazing event that took place in Austwick during the Covid-19 lockdown. Hard to believe maybe for anyone picking up this Newsletter in years to come, but an Afternoon Tea was served to all households in their home. This huge achievement was made possible by Iain and Michelle at Cross Leigh Stores, and the army of vol- unteers that they assembled overnight to donate cakes and sandwiches and deliver around the village. Truly an achievement to be proud of! CROSSLEIGH STORES AND POST OFFICE ! Post Office Postal Services Banking & Cash withdrawals Euros on demand One4all Gift Cards Phone Top-ups Drop and Go mail service ! Newsagents Newspapers & magazines Home delivery service ! Coffee Rijo Freshly ground ! General Stores Fresh bread & pastries and Off Licence Cheese & meats Fruit & vegetables Selection of wines Glass hire service National Lottery Outlet Ian & Michelle Williams, Main Street, Austwick 01524 251415. https://www.facebook.com/crossleighstores Austwick Parish Newsletter September - December 2020 2 Austwick Parish Newsletter On a more positive note, blurry slides will soon be a thing of the past - at least for those of us who have been able to Your Newsletter is funded by our advertisers with support get near an optician recently - as the society will shortly be from Austwick Parochial Church Council and Austwick acquiring a new laptop and projector. Once again thanks go Parish Council. The Newsletter is distributed free to the to Graham Cleverly who made a successful bid to the YDMT communities of Austwick, Eldroth, Feizor, Lawkland and for a Roger Stott Community Grant for the funds to purchase Wharfe. Articles should be around 300 words and, if possible, them. The equipment will be available to other societies, as accompanied by a high-resolution photo. We reserve the right previously, for a nominal fee designed to cover insurance, to edit copy as we are limited by the number of pages that we repairs and replacements. can print. Advertising rates start from £10. Enjoy the rest of the summer, I look forward to seeing Printed copies are provided in black and white – the lock- you soon. down edition in May was printed in colour with support from translation company Alexika Ltd (www.alexika.com). If Peter Russell anyone has knowledge of obtaining grants for this purpose in Chairman AFLHS future and would like to apply for us, do please get in touch. Many thanks to all contributors and to Alastair for the layout. Please send contributions to Austwick Bowling Club Like many other clubs not only in the country but here in Austwick, the Bowling Club has had an almost non-existent season! It has really been quite unfortunate - so many of us have missed not only the bowling but the social side and generally the keeping in contact with each other which is so important to us all. Mark We sadly lost four of our members before the Coronavirus [email protected] / Harden Coach House, Aus- took hold namely Ernest Booth, Bob Burns and Richard and twick LA2 8BQ / 01524 251008 Annie Butterfield. Ernest had the onerous task of Greenkeep- er which he carried out enthusiastically for many years, Bob was a long serving member of the Club rising to the rank of You can also spread your news on Twitter: President which he did with much enthusiasm. www.twitter.com/AustwickNews We have at last been able to get a few members together and have had two friendly competitions which were much appre- ciated by us all. Hopefully we will be able to have some more happy get togethers before the end of the season: we will carry Austwick Field and Local History Society on playing as long as we can - weather permitting. The green has been kept in excellent condition - a big thank you to Peter Our committee will meet to take stock on the 30th of Sep- our Greenkeeper. tember. To guide our decision making process we will by then Unfortunately two of our members have not enjoyed the best have the results ofAustwick a questionnaire Parish seeking Newsletter members attitudes September - December 2020 to essentially a choice between meetings in Austwick village of health lately namely Kath Morphet and Barbara Denne, Hall, Zoom meetings or, as has been proposed, no meetings Kath has been able to join us bowling and hopefully Barbara until a review of the situation in January. I should say that the will soon feel well enough to come and watch. We wish them Village Hall have worked extremely hard to put in place pol- all the best. icies and procedures based upon the latest guidance. Whilst I It would be good to see new members, they would be made am sure the risks will have been minimised in every conceiv- very welcome. Should any one wish to join or have a roll- able way possible, individuals will still want to decide what up please do contact Edward Hird our Captain on 015242 constitutes an acceptable risk to them. 51296 or Di Rees our Secretary on 01729 824077. It is very difficult to plan for the future in such a fluid situa- Di Rees tion. Whichever way things turn out, when meetings do even- tually restart, we can look forward to a sparkling programme due to the hard work of our events coordinator Graham Cleverly. Only time will tell when and what we ultimately feel able to do. We would like to apologise to our members for this uncertainty, but we feel they will understand that we must have safety as our first priority. 3 SEPTEMBER 2020 in ‘Minutes of conducted business’ and these are published on the Council’s website. ince the last Parish Council report was written in May, Swhen Covid-19 was a relatively new phenomenon, much With the easing of restrictions, a number of parish councils has changed and we have all been adjusting to what is euphe- are now holding meetings again. Austwick is fortunate to mistically referred to as ‘the new normal’. The need to wear have a large parish hall making social distancing possible, and face masks and maintain a social distance from family, friends the Parish Council met there on 17th August and agreed, and others has almost become second nature to us, although subject to ‘virus setbacks’, to revert to its regular meetings on the relaxing of some measures has at least given us the oppor- the following dates: tunity to see people that we may not have seen since January. October 19th You will be aware, however, that the coronavirus threat is far from over and recent, local increases in infection rates mean December 7th that we must continue to be vigilant. The government restric- The minutes and agendas of all Parish Council meetings, tions placed on foreign travel mean that many people are tak- together with links to relevant planning and local govern- ing their holidays in the UK and Austwick, like many villages ment web sites can be found on the Parish Council web site at in the Dales, has seen a dramatic increase in the numbers www.austwickparishcouncil.org.uk or copies can be obtained of visitors to the area. This is all good news for local pubs, from the Clerk. shops, camp sites, hotels and b&b’s, but it also brings its own problems in the form of litter, increased traffic, inconsiderate All meetings are held in the Parish Hall and start at the new parking and additional pressure on our emergency and rescue time of 7.30pm. services. Time is given at the start of every meeting for electors to ask In the midst of all this, our Parish Lengthsman, Ben Shanks, questions or make statements that relate to the work of the has continued to work and keep the greens, play area and Council. verges within the 30 mph limit tidy, in addition to dealing The contact details for your Parish Councillors are as follows: with any maintenance issues as they arise. Any maintenance matters that come within the remit of the National Park are more problematic, however, due to current staff shortages Peter Goold Chairman 015242 51039 and budget restrictions, but the Parish Council is in regular Barbara Tibbatts Vice-Chairman 01729 860240 contact with Rob Ashford, the Area Ranger, to discuss any urgent issues. Ian Smith 015242 51318 As part of North Yorkshire Highway’s road maintenance David Dewhirst 015242 51190 programme, Austwick and the surrounding area has benefit- Sarah Wiltshire 01729 860048 ted from having all the roads in the village re-surfaced and the white lines renewed, which will hopefully remove the need to Marijke Hill Parish Clerk 01729 823723 report andAustwick repair pot holes Parish for the Newsletter foreseeable future. September - December 2020 When lockdown started in March, Austwick Parish Council cancelled its programme of future meetings including the An- nual Parish Meeting in April (the Chairman’s report intended for that Annual Meeting was published in full in the last Parish Newsletter). Following advice from the National As- sociation of Local Councils, and to enable the Council’s work L.PRESTON AND SONS ( Ian Preston) to continue, the councillors resolved to delegate their pow- M.O.T. testing , repairs and tyres . ers for the time being to the Parish Clerk, Mrs Marijke Hill, to be exercised after consultation with the Chairman, Peter Town Head Garage ,Austwick (51391). Goold. All councillors have been kept informed by email of decisions and actions to be taken and their views invited and considered.