St Patrick’s Weekend Beer Festival

Bishopthorpe Sports and Social Club will be holding their fourth annual beer festival on the weekend of Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd March.

Beer_Festival_2014

Welcoming the connoisseurs at last year’s festival.

There will be 2 ciders and 12 real ales on offer all at £3 a pint or try 1/3rd pint for just a pound.

The festival starts at 6pm on the Friday with the York blues band “Up In Smoke” featuring Michael Johnson from Bishopthorpe playing later in the evening.

Saturday kicks off at 12 noon until midnight with all the days sporting action on the TVs and big screen.

Bishopthorpe Club has won the York CAMRA Club of the year award for 2015, and a specially brewed beer called Hatrick will be available to celebrate the third year in a row that the Club has won this award, which will be presented on Saturday afternoon by representatives from York CAMRA.

Come down and enjoy the craic and sample a few different beers at the same time.

 

FREE ENTRY ALL WEEKEND – ALL WELCOME.

 

Chairman’s Notes Jan 2015

Best Wishes – 2015 Predictions

On behalf of the Parish Council I would like to wish everyone a Happy, Healthy  and Prosperous New Year!  2015 is a year when we will be asked to vote in  National, Local and potentially Parish Council Elections. I do not usually try  to predict the outcome of any of these elections but I think neither the  National nor Local elections will produce an overall majority for any party.   The Parish Council is not organised along political allegiances and with 10  positions available we have to obtain at least a majority consensus to  achieve a successful outcome.

I believe that National Government will also have to work along a consensus  route after the 2015 elections although it is difficult to predict who will be  working with whom – will it be a Con/LibDem pact once again? Or perhaps  a Lab/LibDem pact? What impact will UKIP and the SNP have on the overall  party position? – All very interesting.

And what about the Local Government elections – Well I don’t think there  will be an overall majority for any party in York and I believe there will be  an increase in Independent Councillors – hopefully able to work together  (with Parish Councils) to the benefit of the City of York and outlying districts.   I said at the beginning of this article that potentially there will be an election  for the Parish Council because we have 10 positions to fill so will need more  than 10 candidates to hold an election. I hope we do get a few new faces  interested in joining the Parish Council to force an election and enable those  successful in being elected to at least feel they have a mandate to function  with the support of the village.

City of York and Parish Councils working together

City of York are currently exploring with Parish Councils ways in which we  can work together more effectively.  Parish Councils may be required to take  over some of the work currently undertaken by City of York due to a fall in  the income received by the City via the Council Tax.  We already undertake  some of the work the City do in other parishes e.g. maintain the Play Area,  the Village Hall and the Sports Pavilion and Field etc.  However, there may  be other areas we will have to review e.g. maintenance of grass verges,  emptying of dog, litter and grit bins etc. possibly by working with other  Parish Councils.

Post Office

As I have mentioned before, the Parish Council worked hard along with our  local MP Julian Sturdy to ensure Bishopthorpe retained a Post Office and it  has now been confirmed that the move into Maynews on Sim Balk Lane will  be effective from 19 February 2015.

Parish Council Meeting

The first Parish Council meeting of 2015 will be held on 27 January in the  Village Hall and all villagers are welcome between 7:00 and 7:15 to put any  questions or queries to the council.

Stewart Harrison