Month: October 2017

E-MILL NEWSLETTER 12th October 2017

Hello Subscribers!
All replies to this eMill will be going to Harriet, not Peter Aston. If you need to contact Peter directly his details are at the bottom of this email. Many Thanks!

Firstly a huge thank you is in order, to all the lovely people who attended our Macmillan Coffee Morning and helped us raise £142.05 for the fantastic cause! We had lots of fun playing Cake Bingo; Peter did a brilliant job as our bingo caller, I think he’s in the wrong job! Thank you also to everyone who made something delicious for us, I’m happy to say there were only crumbs left by the end of the day!

I’d like to please draw your attention to just some of our upcoming events:

Halloween Party – Tuesday 31st October
All ages are welcome, there will be plenty of games for everyone to enjoy, and delicious food included in the price of the ticket. There will be apple bobbing (of course), pumpkin painting, sweetie hunt, and much more!

Christmas Craft Fair – Saturday 11th November
We will be holding this event upstairs, anyone wishing to have a stall please reply to this email with details of what you’d like to sell and how much space you need. We are asking £10 per table, and anyone is welcome to come and sell anything they’ve made.

To see what other exciting things are happening in the coming weeks please look at the Events Section of this newsletter!

Until the end of October we have a slot in the Bags for Help scheme at Tesco. Please next time you’re in either of the Tesco stores in Congleton, ask for a blue token at the checkout and put it in our box. Winning will give us £4000 which will go into making our hub even better at supporting our community.

There are a few items we still need to ask you for, including book shelves, a cabinet suitable for storing children’s toys and books, and shelving units or cupboards. If you aren’t sure if you have something suitable then just pop in with a photo of you item, or send a photo of it to our Facebook page or email address so we can tell you if we can make use of it! We would also like to ask for old photos of Congleton that we can display around The Old Saw Mill.

We desperately want more volunteers to help in our cafe so if you can spare even just a couple of hours one day a week to do some washing up or waiting on, we’d be very grateful. The pay will be free membership, excellent company, and delicious free food! It’s hard to say no really! 

CHRISTMAS
It never hurts to be too organised! We are now taking booking for Christmas lunches, please contact Harriet for a menu; you can directly reply to this email or pop into our cafe and ask for her.  We will be offering lunches from December 11th, and will be open until 7pm for bookings. We promise we’ll hold off on the Christmas music for a while yet……

 

 

Thank you to all those people who have been bringing apples to the Old Saw Mill and Astbury Mere, please keep up the hard work! We are also able to collect donations of apples from you if you are unable to bring them yourself for any reason. Pick up days will be on Tuesdays unless arranged otherwise.

We are bottling the cider from last year’s apples and also apple juice from this year’s harvest, as you have hopefully seen from the videos and pictures on our social media pages! This is for sale in the café at £2.50 per bottle.

We’re beginning to find businesses in the town who are willing to sell the juice or cider on our behalf. So if you have a business in town and would also like to sell our product please contact any of the numbers at the bottom of the newsletter.

Given that we are increasing our production as the apple harvest is more plentiful this year, we are anticipating having some storage issues. If anyone can offer us a place to store our bottled cider and apple juice, for example a storage unit or garage, we would be very happy to hear from you. Please contact Dewi Jones on 07554 990403 if you think you can help us!

 

 

Members offer this month is our freshly bottled apple juice or cider for just £1! As well as the usual 10% member discount on food & room hire.

Have you joined yet? If not follow the link to download or call into The old Saw Mill for an application form.

 

 

 

DISCOVER PILATES
Every Monday, 4:30 – 5:30, 5:45 – 6:45, or 7:00 – 8:00.
This is run as a 6 week course, and costs £30 per person. For more information contact Alison: 07798 555458 or on the website.

CRAFTING
Every Thursday 7 – 9pm.
We can provide supplies for making all kinds of things, so whether you’re a pro card maker or fancy coming along to develop a new skill, we will have anything you need! Alternatively please bring along any projects you have already!

MUM’S BUMPS AND BABIES
Every Friday, call in anytime:
Come for a chat, tea and cakes.
Mum’s, Toddlers and a story – if there’s enough little ones we’ll read a story and entertain them for a bit while mum’s can enjoy a snack!

DARSHAN WITH DHYAN
Saturday 21st October and then every other Saturday:
10.30am – 12.00pm. Donations £5 + (nobody turned away!) There will be Meditation, Silence, Sharing, Satsang, and Darshan. For more details call Dhyan on 07807 044908 or on her Facebook page.
KNIT AND KNATTER GROUP
Every Tuesday 2pm – 4pm
Come and join the group, bring any wool and knitting needles you have and enjoy a good natter! We also have wool and needles here for anyone who doesn’t have their own! We are currently encouraging people to knit Robins if they want an easy project that can be displayed in our cafe.

COOKING FROM SCRATCH
Starts Friday 27th October.
This is a course of three sessions, completely free, suitable for complete beginners and those with more experience. All are welcome from age 19+.
More info can be found here.

Life Modelling Art Sessions
Saturday 14th Oct & then every other Saturday 11am – 1pm.
Professional and amateur artists are welcome, there will be male and female models available. For more details or to book a space please contact Angie: 07789687428 or congleton.life.art@gmail.com

WOMEN’S CIRCLE WITH DHYAN
Once a month. The first being Friday 20th Oct 10:30 – 13:00.
More information can be found here. Sessions are £8.

 

 

HALLOWEEN / TUESDAY 31ST OCTOBER 16:30 – 20:00
£4 in advance or £5 on the door. 
Food will be provided, please let us know if you have a dietary requirement. All ages welcome. There will be Pumpkin Painting a sweetie hunt, Apple Bobbing and much more fun activities! there will be a 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize for the best fancy dress, so many sure you have a fantastic costume!

CARIBBEAN NIGHT/  FRIDAY 3RD NOVEMBER 18:30 – 21:00
£8 Per Person
The first of many monthly themed nights! We would like to invite you to enjoy authentic Caribbean food, music and rum punch! Please respond to this email, contact the facebook page or let a member of staff know if you’d like to book a table.

MONTHLY GIFT
Every Wednesday between 10am and 11am:
Congleton Woman’s Forum invite women to receive their monthly gift, contact Sue Munro on 07534 510841.

 

 

Kind Regards,
Harriet and the Team
Contacting us:
We hope this newsletter is reaching everyone but if you would like to contact us here are a few methods:-
Facebook:- www.facebook.com/OldSawMill 
General E-mail:- co-op@theoldsawmill.org
Direct E-mail and phone for Bookings, Events & Newsletter: – harriet@theoldsawmill.org and 01260 277658
Direct E-mail for Volunteers, Buildings, Development and Maintenance: -peterjranson@btinternet.com and 07717003847
Direct E-mail for Marketing: jonesdewi@hotmail.co.uk and 07554990403

Congleton Sustainability Meeting Minutes 02.10.17

Congleton Sustainability group meeting took place recently, download the full meeting minutes HERE.

 

Highlights include:

Geothermal Energy in the Cheshire Basin – D.Griffiths.

Dan took us through a presentation on the science and possible benefits of geothermal energy. The Cheshire Basin has a huge resource, the same amount of energy of around 3 billion barrels of oil. Whilst Crewe sits in prime position to benefit the most there are also opportunities for Congleton and Macclesfield with heat network development stages indicated within the presentation. Temperature predictions within the base of the basin indicate a possible heat of 100C.

There is still a lot of work to be done, not least funding and partners, but if successful could result in extra jobs within Cheshire, cheaper fuel and a significant reduction in CO2. A copy of the presentation has been circulated to CSG members. Dan happy to come back to future meetings to keep us informed on progress of the project.

Item for the next agenda (Mon 6th November) Domestic Heating in the Country.

 

The Old Saw Mill.
Apple Juice / Cider / Cider Vinegar
A sheet indicating stock levels of the above was circulated at the meeting. Storage is becoming an issue and any help would be gratefully received.
DJ is visiting various businesses to try and build some regular business with them. Pricelist order form circulated at the meeting, MS raised the possibility of interest from McColls in Buglawton, DJ to follow up.

Apple waste is now being collected and used by an outlet in Somerford.
All products carry batch numbers, production and best before date information
DJ still to put together an options report on ownership etc.

 

Neighbourhood Plan.
Moved to Reg 14 today, sent out to around 700 consultees.
Copy of Jackie email for information:-
Just to let you know that we have just put the Congleton Draft Local Plan out on its Regulation 14 consultation. This lasts for 6 weeks (until the 13th November). It has been sent to 701 people who were either on the Cheshire East Council list of consultees or local Congleton groups which have expressed an interest in the plan.
A copy of the draft plan has been loaded onto the front of the Town Council Website and the My Congleton website.
Paper copies for reading at the premises have been given to the TIC and the library.
An article should be the main back page piece in the Chronicle tomorrow.
Once the comments are in the draft plan will be reviewed, changes made, then a second round of Regulation 15 consultation will take place where people can have their say.
Ultimately it there will be a referendum on whether or not to accept the plan – this is likely to take place in Spring 2018.

Next Meeting:-
Mon 6th November 2017 , The Old Saw Mill ,10.00am

Projects and Finance Committee Meeting Minutes 05.09.17

Congleton’s Projects and Finance Committee met recently, download the full meeting minutes HERE.

 

Highlights include:

Project Update – Cenotaph.
Community, Environment & Services Committee briefed on the project 6th July.
New design and costing estimate (£375k) issued.
Planning application 17/3982C now with CEBC (8.8.17) and supported by CTC Planning Committee (Aug 2017)
Next steps are Public Consultation / Briefing and sourcing Funding.
DMcG gong to HLF along with I Doughty (Museum) to gauge HLF views on the project and to try and get them to come to Congleton to see for themselves.
Funding. Will need to see what comes out of the HLF visit.
Public briefing will be included in the Great War Exhibition Event, Town Hall, Saturday 21st October 1030am to 4.00pm. Posters and flyers will be out first week in October.
Public Realm Strategy.
Work ongoing, Mill St should be open as planned. JMac concerned about traffic turning left off Mill St into the pedestrian area, GW has taken this up with CEBC.
J.Mac to approach CEBC re Xmas Tree support for this year as a gesture to the traders for what has been a difficult summer/autumn.
J.Mac to approach CEBC for a pictorial design to display around the town ans on the CTC website to give the public a better idea of what is planned.
Town Centre Regeneration (Fairground Site etc)
Possible need to re-establish the Town Centre Working Group, using the NH Plan – Town Centre. Delivery Plan as a guide.

Dementia Friendly Town.
Awareness Meeting held 26th July, 40+ attended.
Steering Group formed and met 30th Aug at OSM. 20 attendees, Sara Rathbone nominated as Chair.
Next Steering Group meeting 4th October, when we will discuss pledges/drop ins and activities.
CTC voted to support the initiative at CE & Services meeting Sept 2017.

 

 

Date and Time of the next meeting.
Monday 13th November The Spencer Suite, 9.30am.