Bishopthorpe News and Views

The South Bank Community Cinema is a grassroots film society set up by film lovers seeking a more relaxed, intimate and social venue than that offered by commercial cinema. Presenting a selection of popular, classic, art house and foreign language films, screened in the beautifully restored Clement's Hall on Nunthorpe Road, it aims to provide screenings with 'cabaret' style seating around tables with a fully licenced bar.

SBCC screen films on alternate Fridays at Clements Hall. For all evening showings the bar is open at 7.30pm with the film starting at 8pm, and there's informal seating at tables and a fully licensed bar in the superbly-refurbished hall.

Tickets are £4, or just £3 for members (membership is £5 for the year).

New for this year the Cinema is introducing "Silver Screen" matinee showings on Friday afternoons, open to all as a great alternative to the evening trip to town, or further afield. Tickets for the matinee showings are just £2. Tea and coffee is available from 1:30pm, with the film at 2:00pm.

Matinee performances coming up include:

10th February South Pacific
9th March Passport to Pimlico

You can buy all tickets on the door, or up to two weeks in advance from Cycle Heaven on Bishopthorpe Road or from the Hall itself. For further details about the film programme and SBCC, visit www.sbcommunitycinema.co.uk.

Villagers and family turned out recently to celebrate over 50 years of service given to the community by Mrs May Massie, as she has decided to step down from her Village Hall duties.  During that time she has served as caretaker and latterly as booking secretary for the Village Hall.  In an event organised by the Parish Council and Village Hall Management Committee, Stewart Harrison presented Mrs Massey with a cut glass vase and paid tribute to her sterling service outlining how she has seen numerous changes of Parish Council as well as presiding over a recent surge in bookings at the Village Hall following the successful 2009 refurbishment.  Mrs Massey has undoubtedly shown what must be unparalleled service to our community over more than half a century and everyone wishes her all the best for the future.

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An appeal from Bishdotnet reader, Ken Haywood:

Some considerable time ago, I made an appeal in Link for any information regarding the men whose names are inscribed on the Bishopthorpe War Memorial.  There are fourteen men from the First World War and ten men from the Second World War.

My intention was to carry out research into the lives of these men who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country; this with a view to producing a publication as a tribute to them.  That is still my intention, but my timescales have considerably expanded.  This has been principally due to other more recent personal commitments which I could not have foreseen when initiating the War Memorial project.

As an example of one of the stories of these local men, one airman from the Second World War died when his aircraft was shot down.  He was sitting alongside his pilot, who was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for this action.  They both now lie side by side in the same Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. 

2 Photograph from "The Press"

The Bishopthorpe Youth Award is presented each year by the Parish Council to recognise the efforts of young people between the ages of 11 and 19 living in the village.  The awards this year were selected by independent judge Lisa Thornton and presented to Hannah Elliott and Alastair Dunn by Parish Council Chairman Stewart Harrison.

 

The Award has been presented each year since 2002 and previous winners have been recognised for working with both young and elderly people, working within the church, school or organisations and working both in the village and the wider world.

 

Hannah has been successful in achieving the award for her work through planning events and helping to run the Bishopthorpe Rainbows Group and working with groups at St Andrews Church by committing her time to both the regular Sunday School and the Holiday Club which ran during the summer of 2011.  She is considered to be "an enthusiastic and reliable sixteen year old able to help young people to become responsible and happy members of our community"

 

Alastair is a young leader in the Scouts and has also helped to organise and run Danger Zone for younger teenagers, Summit Youth Group for older teenagers and the Cafe Church associated with St Andrews Church.  During the last 12 months he has also raised over £1,000 by undertaking sponsored cycle rides to raise funds for both the scouts and the church.

Alastair has also been a member of the Ebor Players for nearly 10 years and "has matured into an enthusiastic and reliable member of the group"

p.s.  I've just been asked by Carole to add a request for unwanted wool (any colour or type) to be brought to the Village Hall on the 14th for re-cycling into hats!  

 

Article from 'The Press' today

Click here to read article

The article states that,

"Bishopthorpe residents are being invited to attend a public drop-in event on January 5 at the Village Hall on Main Street, where Yorkshire Water and contract partners Mott MacDonald Bentley staff will answer questions about the work."

This event takes place between 4.00pm- 7.00pm.

You can see what is happening at St Andrew's Church Bishopthorpe here:-

The Pew Sheet

The Services throughout Christmas are always special and really bring home the Christmas message.

Also, have you ever seen the website Norad Santa?

Track Santa Here

You can track Santa's every move throughout the world. It is brilliant and the children love it!

I hope that you all have a restful Christmas and New Year.

As you are no doubt aware, Yorkshire Water and their contractors have been working to repair the faults to the sewerage pipes on Maple Avenue, Beech Avenue and Keble Park North.  They have been exploring all possibilities to repair or reline the current pipework but have now decided that it may be expedient to replace the pipework completely.

To ensure the minimum disruption to residential properties it has been decided to lay pipework on a new route along Appleton Road, through the Parish Council Allotments and via the Sustrans cycle path to rejoin with existing pipework going underneath the river to the Naburn sewerage works.

Unfortunately, this will mean that potentially one third of the allotments on the Appleton Road site will be unusable for approximately 3 months.  I have no doubt this will be disappointing for the allotment holders but we have been assured that this is the best route to minimise any disruption to residents.  The allotments will be carefully excavated to ensure that the top soil is preserved and not mixed with sub soil before infilling the site following the laying of new pipework. 

 

It is now envisaged this work will commence early in January 2012 but some site surveying and test drilling may be undertaken in the next few days.  It will also be necessary to maintain a small workforce in Bishopthorpe over the holiday period to ensure any further issues are resolved with minimum disruption.

 

If I hear any further news this website will be updated but Yorkshire Water has also set up a page for further details at www.yorkshirewater.com/bishopthorpe

 

Stewart Harrison

Chairman - Bishopthorpe Parish Council

The audience was full, both young and old sat waiting to be entertained. Again the hall was full of technology; lights, mixing decks with a whole host of people working them. My greeting had been warm and the atmosphere was of both enjoyment and anticipation.

As I sat waiting for the start, I could not help thinking just how important everybody's role was to make this year's production. Without each individual, offer of help or donation it simply would not run each year.

The panto started in darkness and the arrival of the first character. It was all very loud and scary, so much so I could feel the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Within minutes the audience were encouraged to participate which I thought was great. This was all happening even before the curtain was raised!

When the curtains did open it was almost magical. There was the first song before the arrival of the Dame. Crucially, the jokes suited all age groups and there was no shortage of them.

Audience participation continued with the Cardinal, Dame and Musketeers' making the audience eat out of the palms of their hands.

What struck me was that as the performance progressed, there was always something new and surprising happening. There were no long scenes and the whole show was running with both speed and accuracy.

Each song was strong enough to be of 'X Factor' quality. Each person acting or in the chorus could be in a West End Show. The scenery was amazing and the fighting scenes were realistic. So much so, I realised why the Bishopthorpe First Responders were at the back of the hall!!

In the second half, both the quality and momentum kept going. There were lots more surprises in store such as the custard pies and clever use of Buttercup the horse to create that something extra special.

Sat in the audience I felt part of what was going on from the very first moment. As the final scenes came I could see that the audience had also been mesmerised for over two and a half hours. The sad part for everybody would be having to go home.

Every actor and every person working behind the scenes had done a fabulous job.

I cannot wait for next year's production and as always will look forward to 'Ebor Players' announcement. In my opinion the productions are always amazing and once again all those involved should be very proud.