Village Voice No 217 December 2010
Melbourne & District
SPORTING CHANCE FOR DREAM TEAM by DAVID BELLIS NEXT year is going to be one when crucial decisions will be made that will turn dreams into reality for Melbourne. Given time the ambitious plans for a Melbourne Sporting Club will come to fruition – providing up-to-date facilities that the town has desperately needed. The ideas now in active planning will include facilities and space for cricket, football, rugby, flat green bowls and tennis – all provided under the umbrella of a single sports club with first rate changing and social facilities. A total of £175,000 is already committed and is being spent on the levelling of a sports pitch – "a major improvement to the existing facility". By March, "a design brief for a social facility and pitch configuration" will be completed. A constitution for the new club is well in hand – a great achievement for the various clubs to come together and a mutual recognition that there is only strength in acting together, to provide sustainable projects that will benefit the Melbourne community for years to come. Outline design work for a pavilion has been completed and a project manager has been appointed. As Sporting Partnership secretary Douglas Keith said: "It's all systems go." The Leisure Centre project group, first mooted two years ago, has proved a more intractable project, with negotiation of the transfer of the lease by South Derbyshire District Council for the Bill Shone Leisure Centre, from Melbourne Parish Council to the new Melbourne Community Centre group, still not completed. A business plan has been completed, but the whole project requires a survey of the condition of the current Leisure Centre building, given that the district council officially considers the building as "not fit for purpose". When all the plans are in place and a full project proposal is completed, it will be put to the district council and to the parish council for approval. As the district council, in a briefing document has confirmed, "an enthusiastic group of clubs, organisations and individuals are working hard to formulate sustainable projects to provide sports, cultural and community facilities for all the community". Finance has been kicked off with a £90,000 district council allocation. But that authority expects both projects will be suitable for Lottery, sporting and arts funds.
THIS group of youngsters got up early to enjoy the first fall of snow of the winter and didn’t need asking twice to provide an action shot of them engaged in a snowball fight. The Village Voice photographer didn’t anticipate being the target but he should have known better. He didn’t stop to ask for names – but he did manage to capture this festive shot of a snow-covered Market Place.
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Thanks to all – and have a great Christmas IT has been a difficult and worrying time for many in the year now coming to an end, but it is Christmas again – a time for family and friends, for happiness and thanksgiving. We wish all our readers a happy Christmas, and a contented and healthy New Year. To all our many contributors, who help to raise the interest and the local appeal of Village Voice, we wish a peaceful Christmas. We know how much our circulation depends on the many residents who brave the weather to deliver the paper every month. We thank them most sincerely for their commitment and hard work. A happy Christmas to all! We are dependent on the continuing goodwill of our many and loyal advertisers. We thank them for their support, which sustains our monthly Village Voice. Thank you – have a great Christmas, and we wish your businesses continuing success. And, finally, just a word of thanks to all those good people throughout the year who give their time and effort to help others. Their often unsung service is truly the bedrock of our good society. A heartfelt 'thank you', and best wishes to all.
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