May 2019 : Volume 41 Issue 2 : This edition compiled by Chris Pennington
Whitley 10k 14th April 2019 Report
A huge thanks to everyone who helped make this years Whitley 10k such a success.
Pete Clayton the Race Director was over the moon, he reflected that much of this
was due to the huge number of volunteers who continually give up their time for
this annual event and to those that adjust their plans to enable us to safely close the
roads into and out of Whitley.
Peter is also keen to acknowledge the great work by our Borough Councilors and
Cheshire West & Cheshire CC in helping sort the road closures and many of the pot-
holes that scattered the course which had been dealt with over recent weeks. We
can give them a hard time but to be fair a huge amount has been done to make the
route safer for runners, cyclists and of course cars.
The support from our local sponsors has been immense, as was the late flurry of
entries stimulated by local media and running clubs that resulted in 353 finishing
this fantastic course and almost 90 taking part in the shorter fun run.
Pete said ‘we were concerned that numbers would be down this year but were de-
lighted when the numbers started to climb in the last couple of weeks. Obviously
the weather was on our side with excellent running conditions helping make the
day’.
Julie Clayton co-ordinated much of the back room team and all the volunteers and
is now looking forward to a well deserved break. Thank goodness we only do this
once a year!
A big thank you to everyone in the village for your
support and patience. No one pretends this is easy
and for local business a potential inconvenience.
It was really good to see so many of the local
‘kids’ (now heading into their 20’s) helping out with
the various heavy lifting and setting / clearing up
activities with John Sugden still showing many of us
how it is done with his scaffolding expertise. Little do
they all realise this is now a job for life.
The feedback we have had from the runners has
been amazing with everyone commending the lovely
welcome and support so a big thank you again it
does reflect well on our village!
Previous winner Daniel Cliffe of Liverpool Harriers won the main
race in 31.30 with Alannah Birtwistle of Macclesfield Harriers as the
first female coming in at 39.31. All the results and many photos are
available on the Whitley Village Hall website
http://www.whitleyvillage.info/whitley-10k
The diversity of runners taking part is what makes this such a family
friendly event with all age groups taking part in the 5k and the 10k
limited to 15 and over due to UK Athletics rules. Thanks to everyone
who promoted the race to friends and family.
A final big thanks to all who helped out and particularly to our main
sponsors Lakeland Trucks Ltd and Schmitz CARGOBULL who con-
tributed so generously.
As with all events, the money raised goes into supporting the up-
keep of the village hall and supporting local groups and activities.
Whitley Rose Queen Day – Saturday 8th June 2019
Whitley Village Rose Queen Day will take place on Saturday 8th June 2019 when our Queen elect, Laura Buckley, will be crowned.
The procession will leave Whitley School at 1.30pm, walk around the village, before finally arriving at the Village Hall field where there
will be a variety of displays for your entertainment, together with games, stalls, challenges and refreshments.
Admission remains £2 for adults whilst children 16 and under are free.
As ever, the Rose Queen Committee depends heavily on support from people who give their time to help us put on this event. If you
can help at all (putting up tents, car parking, manning a stall, washing up etc), please contact Bob Houghton, 730790 or Suzanne Faulk-
ner 730797.
We look forward to seeing you all on Saturday 8th and fingers are crossed for the sun to shine!
A Thank You for Your Sponsorship
I would just like to say a very big ‘Thank You’ to all the generous people who kindly sponsored my 10k run for the Prevent Breast Cancer
& Headway charities. My initial target was £550 but, with your help to date, we have raised the fantastic sum of £946. I completed the
course and must admit it was very hard going for me, but worth the effort. To read the final instalment of my running journey, please
visit the website: www.virginmoneygiving.com/HelenRu
Many thanks once again, your support & sponsorship is very much appreciated. From Helen x
What’s On at Whitley Whitley Rose Queen - Will It Continue?
Village Hall May 2019
Whitley Rose Queen Committee organise three events each year; the Rose Queen Selection
Thursday 2nd evening in March at which the Rose queen for the year is selected by open ballot, Rose
Queen Day in June which is a major community event for everyone and the Rose Queen Par-
Mobile Library 10:10—10:40am ty in December for the older members of the village.
Tuesday 7th Last year the following
groups received dona-
Rose Queen Meeting 19:30 tions from the Rose
Queen Fund - Friends of
Wednesday 8th Whitley School, Whitley
Community Pre-school,
Mothers Union 14:00 Whitley W.I. and Stretton
Annual Parish Assembly 20:00 Young Farmers.
Thursday 9th All these groups help to
make Rose Queen a suc-
Mobile Library 10:10—10:40 am- cess but without the Rose
Friendly Club 2-4 pm Queen Committee these
events would simply not
Thursday 16th happen.
Friendly Club—SaferTogether, Lymm Many of the current committee have given their time and energy willingly / happily over
many decades to continue the tradition of these events and would really welcome some
Monday 20th new faces to join them.
Coffee Morning 10:30—12:30 The 70th Anniversary of Rose Queen was celebrated in 2017, and to keep this precious vil-
lage event alive it is vital that new people come forward to help out and take the events for-
Thursday 23rd ward in to the future.
Friendly Club Llandudno Trip If you would like to take part and join the committee or just want more information please
Mobile Library 10:10—10:40 am ask Sue Roberts 730593, Bob Houghton 730790, Suzanne Faulkner 730797, Phil Barber
730784, you will be most welcome!
Thursday 30th
Our next meeting is Tuesday May 7th 7.30pm at Whitley Village Hall. Please volunteer to
Mobile Library 10:10—10:40 am help out.
Friendly Club 2-4 pm
Mobile Library
The Mobile Library will visit Whitley Village Hall THURSDAY 9th & 30th May 10.10 - 10.40 am. Please use this facility to keep it coming
to the Village.
Friendly Club
Whitley Friendly Club meets at the Village Hall 2nd and 30th May. 2-4pm. On the 30th May we are having Musical Entertainment. All
welcome. On the 16th May meet at Village Hall 2pm. to travel in own cars to SaferTogether at Lymm.
Thursday 23rd May Day out to Llandudno leave Village Hall 9.30am.
Whitley Parish Council
The Annual Parish Assembly will take place at 8pm on Wednesday 8th May 2019 at Whitley Vil-
lage Hall.
This is an opportunity for residents to raise any matters pertinent to the Parish.
Please come along and join us for a cup of tea, coffee, glass of wine OR just a chat.
Oooops…... This happened over a weekend in April in front of the new pond railings and in front of
Willow Bank Farm.
Over the weekend of 13th April someone had a slight mishap at Town Pit Pond leaving the litter/
dog poo bin the worse for wear!
The Parish Council are requesting a replacement from Cheshire West and Cheshire Council.
Cheshire West have also being replacing the broken road signs at Limes Lane and Brookhouse
lane.
Young Enterprise
My name is Ernie and I live in Whitley with my parents, brother and threes sisters. I am currently in Year 9 at Weaverham High School.
I would like to start to earn some pocket money. If you need any small jobs doing, or cats/hens feeding and plants watering whilst you
are away. Please contact me via my Mum Sophie on 07753932026. Many thanks.
Rose Queen Selection Evening 2019
On Friday 29th March the Rose Queen Selection Disco at the village hall was well attended by the
junior members of our community, watched over by parents and the Rose Queen Committee.
The children danced the evening away and participated in dancing competitions led by DJ Steve Fry.
They kept their energy up with the food provided by Julie and the ‘Moore’s Sweetie Stall’ and kept
coming back to try and win prizes in the tombola until the main event of the evening – the selection
of the 2019 Rose Queen and Retinue.
The nominees for each category were placed into the bowl and the names picked by the current
Rose Queen, Kristie Underdown.
Our 2019 Rose Queen elect & retinue:-
Rose Queen: Laura Buckley
Chief Attendant: Amelia
Owens
Small Attendants: Tori Mor-
rell and Eva Antrobus
Crown Bearer: Charley Cald-
well-Vaughan
Train Bearers: Harvey
Townend and William
Greenall
Congratulations to everyone selected.
Don’t forget Rose Queen Day, Saturday 8th June 2019, Whitley
Village Hall. We will have our fingers crossed for the sun to shine
when Laura will be crowned our new Rose Queen.
We look forward to seeing you all there.
Community Coffee Morning
The inaugural coffee and chat took place on Monday 15th April with over 20 people enjoying meeting up with old friends and meeting
new people.
The intention is not to raise money for a specific cause but to provide an op-
portunity for all members of
the community, young and
the more mature to meet
over a drink and home made
cake and to chat in a relaxed
atmosphere.
Last month Hetty met up with
her friend Bobby for the first
time in many years and had a
good old catch up!
Our next date is Monday 20th
May from 10.30-12.30 at the
village hall. Do come along!
You will be most welcome!
Whitley Womens’ Institute Press Report April 2019
Chris Jones, our president, welcomed 52 members, which included two new members and one visitor to our April meeting.
Our speaker for the evening was Melanie Latham from Holly Cottage Preserves, who gave us a hilarious talk titled ‘Chutney and Cheer’.
She told us amusing stories about her life making and selling preserves and gave us handy hints such how to best chop an onion without
crying, at the same time as she was making us Beetroot, Pear
and Ginger Chutney on a portable hot plate. Definitely a woman
who can multitask.
Next year will be the Cheshire Federation of WI’s 100th birthday.
There are many events planned ranging from a holiday to Cana-
da to see where it all started, a celebration meeting next No-
vember, a concert at Chester Cathedral and competitions such
as designing a souvenir canvas bag.
We also hope to plant a tree in the village to commemorate the
centenary.
Congratulations were given to our Whitley WI darts team who
won the North Cheshire WI darts league this winter.
In line with our this year’s theme of friendship we have our first
Community Coffee Shop on the morning of April 15th at Whitley
Village Hall.
Deciding nationally what the WI decide to campaign for has always
been a very democratic decision within the WI. This year both
Cheshire WI and the National Federation have voted for ‘Save Our
Rural Buses’ and ‘Don’t Fear the Smear’ as topics going forward for
discussion at the National Federations Annual Meeting in June.
We were pleased to be told that our campaign on ending micro-
plastic fibre pollution has resulted in us being quoted by Rebecca
Powe MP during Prime Ministers Questions on 6th March 2019.
Our meetings are held at 7.30pm on the first Thursday of each
month at Whitley Village Hall.
Next month we have Andrea Drewitt give us a talk on The Mersey
Gateway Trust.
Guests and new members welcome.
www.whitleywi.org.uk for further information
Update on the Village News
The Village News is produced, ten times a year, by volunteers and is provided to every household in Whitley who are on the Electoral
Register. A total of 225 copies are delivered through letter boxes. Its purpose is to inform of local events, news and incidents and to
promote a sense of community. Whitley Village News would like to thank the Parish Council for financially supporting the cost of
printing the Village News for so many years. Funding has now been secured for the next three years with donations from Village Organi-
sation. The Parish Council, Village Hall and Rose Queen have all donated as they appreciate the usefulness and importance of a paper
copy being provided to every household. The long term survival of the Village News will rely on its relevance in the digital world and its
move to self-sufficiency through local advertising.
Lottery Winners—April 2019 St Luke’s Mothers Union
1st Prize £125 Ian Merrill The Mothers Union met at Whitley Village Hall on the 10th April to enjoy a talk with
2nd Prize £50 Mike Ruane slides given by Gordon Speakman entitles “The History of the River Mersey” from its
3rd Prize £30 Jen Dutton source to the sea. The talk was a delightful mixture of the history, commerce and natu-
4th Prize £20 John Mitchell ral beauty of the river.
Our next meeting is on Wednesday May 8th at 2pm when Philip Littlemore will be tak-
ing about “Aston “ followed by tea and cakes. New members are always welcome.
All of your contributions for the WVN are considered by midday on the 20th of each month. e-Mail the editors at [email protected]
All WVN notices are published in good faith. The committee is not responsible for errors and or alterations made. WVN is printed at the Business Copy
Centre in Stockton Heath by Amanda. Telephone 01925 602020