News & Events

Latest News from Old Saw Mill

Congleton Old Saw Mill

 

A very big thank you to Peter Jackson, Retrograde, for getting everyone, or almost everyone, up to dance after their Christmas Lunch, with his songs’ extravaganza set from the 50/60/70/80s. A huge welcome and thank you too, to his brother, Alan, for his magical tricks, banter and bonhomie. What a team! We had a grand time.

Of course, none of this could have happened without the vibrant spirit of our volunteers.

So many people from our town gave up precious hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to help make this happen, so, in no particular order, our thanks go to, Kirsty and Tel; Dee and Chris; Mandy, Seb and Mark; Angie and Carol; Ethel and Anna R; Linda; Anna K; Audrey and Gordon; Sara, Brenda and Diane.

Thank you so much!

 

We have been overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of sponsors for this event, some of whom have asked that should sponsorship money be left over from the Christmas lunch that we put it towards our next community dinner. There is, and yes, we shall, and since we have already been asked by a number of guests and volunteers about the next one: how about Easter?

Please let us have your ideas and thoughts.christmas-lunch

The team at Old Saw Mill are busy planning for four, or maybe five Community Get- Together dinners and events for 2017, so please come on board with your ideas.

In the meantime: we think the picture

says it all…

 

 

 

Keep healthy and happy by signing up for your favourite

Classes and Events for January, 2017

 

New! Life drawing                           Saturday 7th and 14th 12.30-2.30pm; Thursday 19th 2-4pm

Contact Anna: 07738877114

Discover Pilates                               every Monday 1.15-2.15pm; and 7-8pm

Contact Alison: 07775938532

Tai Chi                                                  every Tuesday 10-11am

Contact Jennifer: 07972287757

Maddison’s Yoga                             every Tuesday 12-1pm

                                                Contact Maddy: 07476053453

New! Children’s Yoga                    every Tuesday 1.30-2.15pm

Contact Karen: 07540388751

Zoe’s Zumba                                      every Wednesday 7-8pm

Contact Zoe: 07983505647

 

OSM Art Exhibition

“Get Together”, open evening: 4.30-7pm 20th Jan

Open Invitation to our new exhibition work by local artists and designers

There is still time to submit your work: contact Anna 07738877114 or email for an application form: annamorrison0@g.mail.com

 

“Meditate for Peace”

Saturday 21st January, 10-2.30pm

With Dhyan Prasada

 

Join Dhyan’s meditation workshop and her guest speakers for, “Meditate for Peace”

Sessions include, “Sound Healing”, facilitated by Sas Bullock

and “Kirtan/Sanskrit Mantro, facilitated by John Crosbie

 

to book a place or to find out more please contact Dhan on 07807044908

Book now to take advantage of the advanced ticket price of £15 per place, when you book before the 11th of January. After that tickets are £20 or £25 on the day.

 

New Appointments

We have been busy building the Old Saw Mill team since Stewart left and we are very pleased to announce that Peter Ranson has joined us as a Director. Pete, as he prefers to be called, has a wealth of experience at hand and has ear-marked the installation of the commercial kitchen as one of his priorities. We are all keen to see this up and running and Pete will be overseeing this aspect of Old Saw Mill’s development straightaway. So, watch this space!

We are so pleased to announce that Yvonne Phillips, chef extraordinaire, has joined us and plans are already afoot to develop our cafe area. You will see such a difference when you next visit as Yvonne’s new ideas for the menu are on show now. Yvonne has planned sumptuous lunches and tasty treats, including flat breads, cakes and biscuits available fresh from the oven. See Yvonne’s feature boards when you next visit for lunch or a cuppa.

Patti Pinto, our secret gardener, has set up our new face book page. It’s up and running so please visit us on face book: The Old Saw Mill

Last but by no means least – as you would not be reading this without him! Dewi Jones has taken on board the new set-up and running of our new E-Mill newsletter. Please contact Dewi if you would like to add a friend or have enquiries at: jonesdewi@hotmail.co.uk

The last of the apples have been juiced, vatted and stored in the press room where they will stay for the next 6 – 12 months. Again, thank you to all of you who have contributed with fruit. A very big thank you to you, Charla, our Congleton High School work-place student, who has the weighty, wet and apple-whiffy process down to a fine art.  Well Done, Charla!

 

Thank you to all for giving your time.

Having said all of that, here is our new contact list – January 2017

Peter Ashton: 07971805372 email: peterjaston@gmail.com

Anna Morrison: 07738877114 email: annamorrison0@gmail.com

Pete Ranson: 07717003847 email: peterjranson@btinternet.com

For E-Mill enquiries: please contact Dewi: jonesdewi@hotmail.co.uk

Old Saw Mill happens because of people of Congleton give time and donations. Please get in touch with us as we are always looking to expand our team. In the next few weeks you will hear from us about more of our new projects.

Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Our very best wishes from the team at OSM,

Anna, Peter, Pete, Yvonne, Patti and Dewi,

Old Saw Mill, Back River Street, River Street, Congleton, CW12 1HJ

 

Bringing people together: at the heart of the Community

Senior Forum Meeting Minutes 13.12.16

The Senior Forum met recently, download the full meeting minutes HERE.

Hightlights included:

The Old Saw Mill Project – Stewart Halliday.

 

Stewart took us through a very interesting and exciting presentation on the development of the OSM.

 

A full copy of his presentation will be sent out to all Senior Forum members. MS to action.

 

The OSM is developing into an excellent community hub and located in the town centre compliments the current “hubs” at New Life Church, Bromley Farm and the nearly refurbished St John’s Community Centre.

 

The OSM is quickly building a wide range of activities, events and regular café customers. They have plans for further development in Health & Wellbeing, Social Isolation and Seniors support.

 

They are building a bank of volunteers with a wide range of skills.

 

Next meeting to be held at OSM (Tuesday 14.2.17) MS to make sure that the other hubs are invited ( NLC/BF and StJ)

 

All About You – Sue Barnes

 

Sue outlined a couple of initiatives she is developing based at St John’s Community Centre and out in the field.

 

Monday Club – Based in St John’s Community Ctr.

Open to adults for a friendly, enjoyable social day care experience.

10.00 to 15.30pm with lunch and refreshments.

Activities to include Quizzes, Art & Craft, Personal Stories, Cooking, Local Interest and a whole lot more.

 

Looking at providing transport if required

 

Target cost £25 to £30.

 

All about you…wellbeing support in Congleton.

 

Sue currently has 6 clients that she delivers personal services to including:- Meal preparation, bed changing and laundry, shopping, admin support, cleaning , sitting service etc.

 

Next Meeting:-

Tuesday 14th February 2017 at The Old Saw Mill (2.30 to 5.00pm) Includes a tour of the facility.

Projects and Finance Committee meeting 14.11.2016

Congleton Partnership’s Project’s and Finance Committee meeting took place recently, download the full meeting minutes HERE.

Highlights included:

Project Update.

Cenotaph.
Awaiting information from Cheshire East Highways (Ian McLauchlan) as to how they will tackle both the trees growing through the wall and the rebuilding of the lower section and repairing the top section.

Public Realm Strategy.
Not likely to happen until late 2017 due to delay in gas work improvements which could start around May 2017.

Town Centre Regeneration (NEW)
After the last Partnership Executive meeting and comments arising from the exhibition night that Scarborough held in the town hall, it was felt that we should form a sub group to raise issues and make suggestions to K.Howe (Scarborough). This was actioned and a letter sent to K.Howe, we are now waiting for her /their response. A point was raised that the full Executive Committee did not get a view of the letter, and that some may have different views. MS to send out the letter to The Executive and collate any feedback which can then be raised with Scarborough at a later date.

Funding Requests.

J.Mac – Event Lighting. Jackie requested support of £252 to purchase 12 x 10w portable floodlights for using at events (Xmas lights etc). The committee agreed in principal to support this request providing that the light proved fit for purpose. J.Mac to check them out.

PP – 2nd Community Orchard (In Principal Request). It was felt that we needed more proof that there was a local demand for this and a group prepared to maintain once delivered. This is not currently an In Bloom Team project.
MMW memorial.

Celebration Art Piece. Grand unveiling planned for 18th November. Family have been invited and confirmed attendance.

Margaret’s Place ( Antrobus St) Signage is now up on one entrance in time for family visit 18.11.16

Community Book. The subgroup is being chaired by P.Aston. Paragraphs / Sections for the book has been agreed and various responsibilities to deliver these sections have been allocated. Book is turning out to be larger than first planned, launch date now more likely to be spring 2017.

Trust Fund. The fund has currently received donations valued at close to £72K. The fund has now gone live with a view to first applications and awards taking place in spring 2017. We should have around £3.5 / £4 to allocate at that time.

A.O.B

Old Saw Mill Grand Opening ,5.30pm Friday 18th November. Invitations have been sent out.

Date and Time of the next meeting.

Monday 9th January 2017, Town Hall, Spencer Suite, 9.30am

Congleton Partnership AGM

The Congleton Partnership’s annual meeting took place recently, please download the full meeting minutes HERE.

Overview 2015/16.

 

Steve gave a brief overview of projects that had taken place / were still active across all of the subgroups. This was not an exhaustive list but a sample/range of the activities The Partnership is involved in.

 

Neighbourhood Plan

Get Involved Directory

Back to Back Gardens

Art Workshops

Apple Juice / Cider

Established Senior Forum/ Senior Health Fayrer

Eco Schools (13 green flags)

Hydro Scheme (Havannah)

SLIC courses

Cenotaph Restoration

St Johns’ Community Ctr

Cycleway Signage/Play Area Signage

Congleton Learning Centre

Commenting Team / Planning / Developers

MMW Memorial Projects

Heritage Trail Scoping Exercise

Moody St Green Area

Town Centre Destination Signage

 

He highlighted 4 major projects:-

Antrobus St Gardens. (Soon to be Margaret’s Place) A joint partnership project between The Partnership, Cheshire East, Readesmoor Practice and Congleton Town Council. This has undergone a major transformation with improved public access, pieces of artwork and fitness equipment and both hard and soft landscaping. The Gardens were officially open Oct 2016 and drew high praise form the In Bloom judges this summer. They are in the process of being renamed as Margaret’s Place as a tribute to our past Chair and founder Margaret Williamson.

 

Mountbatten Way – Greening (phase 1). As part of our In Bloom effort and improving the approach to the town along Mountbatten Way , 5 Trees(Rowan Gold) /Tubs were sited as a pilot project, with a view to something similar being carried out on the stretch from the traffic lights through to Park Lane (phase 2)

 

River Dane Walkway. This is the final piece of the jigsaw that then completes the whole length of the River Dane from Dane St through to Eaton Bank Industrial Estate. The section from the Town Bridge has had tree work, refurbished / repainted railings and a handrail sited down the steps. Completed late 2105.

 

 

Community Orchard – Astbury Mere/ Mereside Ave. Working with CEBC Rangers Service / In Bloom Team the Orchard has be refurbished with a new Apple Core Carving, new steps, extra planting and new directional signage. Again drew great praise from the In Bloom judges.

 

 

Closed the AGM by reminding everyone that bringing in new volunteers remains a key challenge.

He talked about the new Partnership dedicated website and the need for all subgroups to play their part in updating information on a regular basis to help improve public awareness of The Partnership.

 

Succession planning was highlighted, in particularly in Steve’s case as he felt that whilst he would still be involved with The Partnership in some form another, he had served his time as Chair (5 years) and would be working on recruiting a new Chair for 2017/18.

 

Steve remarked on the importance of continuing to deliver projects and support of community activities that benefit Congleton

Contact the Partnership is you are interested in becoming involved!

Excess apples?

Don’t worry, Congleton Sustainability Group are going to turn them into Congleton’s very own apple juice with the help of Dunham Massey.

All you have to do is collect your excess apples – desert or cooking – and we’ll turn them into 750ml bottles of Congleton Apple Juice.
Collecting apples

 

Just bag up your apples
– with your name &
contact details (phone
no. or email) & leave
them at:

 

 

 

Astbury Mere Visitor Centre

(open daily from 9am to 5pm)
OR
Old Saw Mill, Back River St
(open Monday-Friday, 9am – 5pm)

 

Bottles of Congleton Apple Juice will be available from October and we’ll give a free bottle to everyone who
contributes apples. apples congleton

Congleton Partnership Executive meeting minutes 7.06.16

Congleton Partnership Executive meeting took place recently, download full meeting minutes HERE.

Hightlights include:

The Old Saw Mill Project – P.Aston

Peter outlined the current situation regarding the development of the Old Saw Mill Project at Back River St.

Change of use planning application has gone in, various pieces of work are being carried out in terms of decorating, electrics, flooring, gardening etc.

Discussions have been held with a range of organisations, clubs, service providers for future usage of the facility. This could make a very effective community hub in the centre of Congleton.

Congleton Community Cooperative now has an accredited Logo (thanks to Phil Worthington, Congleton High school)

S.Halliday sends out a weekly All Points Bulletin (MS will circulate to the Executive) updating development, plans and equipment/material requirements.

G.Baxendale, G.Williams and L.Alcock to make Cheshire East Community Service aware of this development and for support both financially and service wise. This is a great opportunity for Cheshire East to be able to deliver their Community Hub objective.

At the end of the session The Partnership agreed to support more electrical work on site to the value of £1200.

Proposed by G.Williams and seconded by M.Gartside, this was then voted through by The executive.

 

The Public Realm £1 million funding The main bulk of the consultation has finished – although the group will be at the Food and Drink Festival on Sunday for further feedback. The Project Manager has not yet been given the electronic feedback – but the 140 + paper copies were largely positive about the scheme. This will be discussed with the CEC Portfolio holder and then the project board group and then hopefully the build will start early next year.

 

Britain in Bloom / North West in Bloom:  North West in Bloom judging is on Monday 25th July and Britain in Bloom judging on Monday 8th August. The Group has been strengthened by the additional support of the Sustainability Group. Biggest improvements for this year have been the Community Orchard, the Antrobus Street Garden  (hopefully to be renamed Margaret’s Place, the Greening of Mountbatten Way project, The Bath House and Physic Garden and the Visyon Garden, all the additional signage. Even more business took up the offer of baskets and the streetscape staff are working hard on the formal beds, roundabouts and keeping the town as weed and litter free as possible – a huge task for 11 people in a town of Congleton’s size. Volunteer help is required – weeding, litter picking, improving areas can take place at any time – but there will be a couple of organised mass community events on the two Sunday evenings before judging.

 

Tour of Britain – START TOWN FOR DAY 3! –We’re getting geared up for the race which will be starting in Congleton at 11am. We expect people to start arriving about 2 ½ hours before the race – hopefully the streets will be lined with thousands of people. Our job in Congleton is to make sure that the town looks great, people visiting the race have a good time and leave with a positive opinion of the town, townspeople have a good trading day. Cheshire East Council is working on the logistics with sweetspot – re Health and Safety, first aid, toilets, marshals.

 

Next Meeting is :- Tuesday 13th September, Bridestone Suite, 5.30pm. AGM/Executive Meeting.

CONGLETON SUSTAINABILITY GROUP gets a home of its own in Back River Street

Congleton Apple Juice and Ciders has been looking for a home for its projects, ideally in Congleton Town Centre. Happily, we have found just the right place – the Old Saw Mill in Back River Street, off Antrobus Street.

There is lots and lots of work to do but we plan by late Spring to have facilities emerging for much needed workshops, cafe, shop, and community space – all very exciting.

river street congleton

 

Workshops to make and store our internationally acclaimed Congleton Apple Juice and Ciders. A Shop to sell it from, along with other local produce and crafts. A Cafe to sample it all AND Community Space because there are so many groups struggling to find space in the town and surrounds – all for a nominal fee.
We envisage the Community Space providing a meeting place for groups and charities struggling to find the right space and facilities. Our vision is for it to be a space that can celebrate all that’s best in Congleton & surrounds. A venue where local talent can come and exhibit its skills and a place where everyone feels part of the “goings-on” –
youth and senior youth alike – something for everyone!

Congleton Sustainability Group are forming Congleton Community Co-Op to manage the Old Saw Mill and, soon, everyone will be able to join this new – very local – cooperative for an annual subscription and become a member receiving a “divi” of 3%. We shall be publishing further information on this exciting opportunity in due course.

We are holding an ‘Old Saw Mill’ Open Days over the weekend of 16 and 17 Apr. 2016, 10:00am to 3:00pm to show you what we are planning to do. We shall be providing free teas and coffees to anyone who signs up to be a Congleton Community Co-Op member over the weekend.
This is a very exciting Community initiative where everyone can get involved and benefit from it and we welcome your input in whatever way you can. For further information, contact, either, Stewart Halliday on 07710 946 053 or
Peter Aston on 07971 805 372. We look forward to meeting you all!