Offa Community Council
offa Community News
Margot Wicksted Spend a penny spend a pound? History: The Bridewell – Tenters Square Insight into a teenager's life in Offa Garry Steele: Bellevue Park says goodbye
summer 2013
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NEWS Offa Citizen of the Year Award Do you know someone living locally who has gone that extra mile to help the local community? Every year the Community Council presents its Citizen of the Year Award to a person living in the Offa Community who has made a special contribution to the lives of local residents through volunteering with local community groups. If you would like to nominate someone living in the Offa Community for the Offa Citizen of the Year Award 2013 please put your nomination in writing to the Clerk of the Council, Parciau Community Centre, Bellevue Road, Wrexham LL13 7NH. In addition for 2013 the Community Council is awarding an Offa Young Person of the Year Award. This is to be awarded to a young person living within the Offa Community deserving of special recognition. Nominations can be made in writing to the above address.
Residents groups Offa Community Council have several active residents groups in the area discussing issues raised by residents and keeping you informed of upcoming developments. If you would like an opportunity to meet your local council representatives and local police and have the chance to feed back any concerns please come along to your local meeting listed on our website. If you have any further questions or are uncertain which is your local group visit our website at www.offacommunitycouncil.gov.uk or contact Karen Benfield Clerk to Offa Community Council on 291562 for further information. Cover photo of Bellevue Park courtesy of Stewart Edwards. (www.stewartedwards.com). Offa Community Council, Upper Floor, Parciau Community Centre, Bellevue Road, Wrexham LL13 7NH. 01978 291562
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NEWS Offa Carnival 2013 Come along to the annual Offa Carnival at Bellevue Park on Saturday 6th July. We have something for all the family from Open Summer Soccer School (run by the Brickfield Rangers Football Club) to the PDSA dog show. Other attractions on the day include Stokes Amusements rides and stalls, Morris dancing troupes, Abbey Rd Gym Club display, Whitchurch Dog Display, Birds of Prey, Inflatable Jousting, Hoola Nation and the Llay Brass Band. There will be lots of community and craft stalls. We will also have refreshments in the Community Centre. This is a great community event getting bigger every year. With free admission why not bring your family along. The carnival runs from 11am till 4pm. For further information or to book your place for a community stall please contact Karen Benfield, Clerk to Offa Community Council, on 01978 291562.
A helping hand from your Community Council This year due to the tough economic climate Offa Community Council has agreed not to raise its precept level from £166,000 and to keep it the same as the previous year. Due to the additional new housing in the area there has been an increase of 74 points in the tax base based on the previous year and this has enabled a 2% reduction in the community council charge for this year for all householders. Luke O Connor House Resource Centre The main room can be hired Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm or evenings. At weekends it can be hired between 9am and 5pm and is suitable for children’s parties etc. To book please contact Councillor John Williams on 312236 or Mrs Karen Benfield, Clerk to the Council on 291562. An art group meets in in Luke O’Connor House every Monday from 4pm—6pm
Email your news and stories for inclusion in our magazine or for our website to webmaster@offacommunitycouncil.gov.uk. www.offacommunitycouncil.gov.uk
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news The Huntroyde Residents and Tenants Association meet at 18.30hrs Wednesday evenings on a bi-monthly basis at the Salisbury Park United Reform Church on Percy Road. It extends a welcome to ALL residents and tenants living in Salisbury Road, Beech Gardens, Bennions Road, Jarman Avenue, Huntroyde Avenue, Mason Avenue, Percy Road, Talbot Road, Trevor Street, Belgrave Road, Hillbury Road and Tudor Road. It was formed to enable everyone living in the area the chance to voice their opinions in how to improve their locality and also offer help to anyone who needed assistance with any concerns that they may have. Whenever possible, meetings are attended by the local PCSO Amanda Jones or another member of the North Wales Police team. Everyone is welcome to attend free of charge and there are no joining fees to pay. If you are interested in joining our friendly group, or require any additional information, then please contact either of the following:Chairperson / Secretary John Howell on 01978 358204 email John472309@yahoo.co.uk or Mrs Karen Benfield, Clerk to Offa Community Council on 01978 291562 or e-mail - clerk@offacommunitycouncil.gov.uk.
appeal for stock to sell in Claire House shop Donate your quality unwanted items and help raise much needed funds for the Hospice. Any items you would like to donate can be collected—clothes, shoes, handbags or even small pieces of furniture. All the funds will go to looking after children in the hospice and their families. Contact Carole on 01978 366717 anytime.
How to contact Communities First We now have two offices, please call in to see us at either office: Caia Park : You can find us in the Blue Building in Caia Park Partnership, Prince Charles Road. Hightown . We are still in Luke O’ Connor House, Barter Court on the Barracksfield Estate. Or you can telephone us on 01978 357583.
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news The New Hightown Residential Development and Community Resource Centre. The first handover of new properties is expected to take place around mid-May with the expected completion date for the new Hightown Community Resource Centre in September. The new centre will replace the existing Hightown Community Centre as part of the Wales and West Housing and WCBCs ÂŁ17 million development programme. If you would like to have your say on what you would like to see in the new centre then please visit www.hightownflats.com and leave your comments in a comment box, Wales and West would love to hear from you. The development will also provide a new Medical Resource Centre.
Mayor Grylls enters the Wolf's Den On Tuesday 19th March the new thrilling natural play area at Erddig was opened by Wrexham's Mayor, and school children from Eyton County Primary School. The area was named after Hugh d'Avranches, known as the 'Wolf', who built the nearby Motte and Bailey castle in Big Wood on Erddig's estate. The Mayor and children joined elite rangers from Erddig for the natural play area's launch. It forms part of the National Trust's 50 things to do before 11 and 3/4 campaign. Photograph courtesy of Wrexham Film & Photography Collective. With Thanks.
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life It’s only my opinion! Checking my phone for the last time before heading off on a week’s holiday recently, up popped a message from Jane Redfern Jones: Would I like to contribute to the Offa Community News? Having not been given much time to think, it was a matter of ‘thought to laptop’ while I juggled a few ideas in my head. However, a visit to Wrexham town centre in early May did away with any previous ideas. I found myself in the middle of a Victor Meldrew ‘I don’t believe it’ moment brought on by my visit to BHS for a wander and pop to the loo. No big deal and nothing to write home about! Wrong! I wasn’t going to get away with popping to the loo this time. Isn’t it always the little things that take the smile off your face? Unaware as I was, BHS in their wisdom had come up with the ‘no purchase no facility’ use idea. My annoyance turned to pity for the embarrassed sales assistant on toilet duty having to explain this brainwave. It does make you wonder though, the logic of it all! With High Streets struggling for business, getting people through their doors is becoming a feat in itself. Don’t marketing managers realise that those of us who initially just plan ‘to run in and run out’ are all potential customers. Possibly, in the future the ‘free wee’ plastic card on purchases over a certain amount may yet become a reality. Even more enticing, for £1 you could have the opportunity to buy a ‘Home’ scratch card. Reveal three toilet seats and with no further purchase necessary, you and your family (restrictions may apply) can enjoy 12 free sittings or standings as the case may be, on a BHS toilet anywhere in the UK. You read it here first! Finally, what about the customer who likes to do ‘the business’ before they shop? A niggly bladder reduces the urge to spend a pound till we have ‘spent a penny’. This store has forgotten the ‘full bladder, no spend’ rule vital to the impulsive shopper, especially in a cash drought. So BHS, when I next find myself in the same situation I may well pop to M&S or Tesco. I am sure there might be something that I forgot I needed after ‘I had gone’. By the time of writing, BHS may have had a change of heart and found a dose of common sense! Margot Wicksted
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by Margot wicksted Hi! My name is Bex, I live in Wrexham with my Mum, Dad and little brother who is 10. I am nearly 13 and go to Ysgol Clywedog. I love reading and listening to music and hanging about with my mates. I am in year 8 at school and don`t like doing homework - I think you should keep school work at school! I listen to new music, my favourite artist is Emeli Sande - I love her music! I love just talking with my mates, most of them are from my school. I see them at school and keep in contact by text the rest of the time. In school I like drama because it doesn`t feel like work. Most of my friends like shopping and spend lots of time shopping for the newest trend. I am really not into style that much, I just wear t-shirts and jeans. When I go out with my friends we go to town and meet up. We might go to the cinema or hangout at the bowling alley. Most days I walk to school with my friends. In school we spend a lot break and lunch time on the field, where most of the boys play football and most of the girls just sit around talking in groups. After school I walk home with a lot of my friends and most of us get sweets and crisps from the shop every day after school, and then we eat them on the way home. Lots of my friends spend most of their time on social messaging sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I spend lots of my time in my room reading, I like reading Horror or sci-fi books the most! When I am with my brother, we often go down to the brickie on our bikes to play on the swings. Sometimes Dad takes us to Llandegla to go on the bike tracks but only when the weather is sunny. 'Many thanks to Bex for giving readers an insight to a teenager's life in Offa. Margot Wicksted.
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News Dog Fouling More than 250,000 tonnes of dog faeces is deposited in the UK each year. Dog mess left in public places is unpleasant and offensive. Fortunately most dog owners are responsible and clean up after their dogs, depositing the faeces in waste bins. Sadly some irresponsible owners do not do this. Dog faeces may carry a disease called toxocariasis which can occasionally cause severe problems to children’s health. The Dogs (Fouling on Land) Act 1996 makes it an offence for a dog owner or walker not to remove their dog’s faeces from land to which the public have access. Please think of your neighbours and clean it up.
Renal Unit Garden Opening A few months back Offa Community Council offered their support to a project volunteers were working on at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital. Staff Nurse Llinos Evans started a project that would improve the gardens at the centre making it a more attractive place for patients and visitors. With the generosity of the local garden centres who donated a variety of plants and shrubs, Llinos and her colleagues started working on the garden at the back of the unit, in their own time, and the project progressed beautifully. Offa Community Council lent a hand and Laurel from Erddig drew up some plans and work commenced. World Kidney Day saw the opening of the Renal Unit Garden and T.V. presenter Tim Vincent was on hand to officially open the gardens. Photograph by Wrexham Film and Photography Collective.
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news Wrexham Film & Photography Collective The Collective started out by chance, more than by deliberate design. In May 2012, I actively began to look for work experience as a photographer, forging links within the local community, and covering a number of art and performance based events, in the area. Gradually the size of the events grew, and I started getting requests to document with film, as well as images. Fellow students began to join in, and eventually we have reached the stage where we are a recognised society within the university, with some 35 plus members, and we have become regular faces at a huge number of events that take place in the Wrexham area - and beyond. The main purpose of the group is to provide 'real life' work experience for students studying film and Photography at NWSAD, Glyndwr University. We have great lecturers , who pass on theoretical and practical skills - but in this day and age, we all recognise that in a competitive job market, a C.V. full of actual experience is a huge advantage. Completing a module in photographing an event, for example, is one thing - doing it for real, when you find yourself working in the pouring rain, perhaps, or dealing with the odd incidence of equipment failure or any number of other 'real life' obstacles, is a whole different matter. And producing work for a real life 'client' gives a taster of the pressures involved there too, and helps develop skills in audience awareness and communication. What we do has developed into a group that promotes the university in a really positive light in our local community, too - and the more engagement there is, the more that local events are promoted and responded to, and the more the community, as well as the students and university, benefit. Sue McGrane
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History
The Bridewell – Tenters Square
The Ministry of Justice has announced its intention of building a new 'super prison' and that North Wales is a possible location. Within North Wales a favoured site is on the old Firestone Factory. As yet no decision has been made. Over the years Wrexham has had a number of lock ups and bridewells (prisons). When Richard Gwyn was arrested in 1583 he was imprisoned in the lock up below the old Town Hall in High Street known as Y Siambr Ddu, (the Black Chamber). From here he was taken to be hanged, drawn and quartered on the Beast Market. The raised pavement on the right hand side of Town Hill was called Black Chamber Street. Later in the seventeenth century and possibly earlier Wrexham had a bridewell, located at the corner of Salop Road and Rivulet Road on the bank of the Gwenfro. Conditions here would have been grim. During the early years of the nineteenth century there was a great deal of industrial discontent and the miners of the Hawarden and Wrexham areas came out on strike to demand higher wages and better conditions and tried to form unions. In December 1830 the colliers of Rhos were on strike and were being sworn in as members of a
Coal Miners Union. The Wrexham Yeomanry under the command of the Lord Lieutenant, Sir Watkin Williams Wynn was called. One of the leaders David Jones (Dafydd y Dŵr) was arrested and was being marched to the House of Correction in Wrexham – the Bridewell, when Sir Watkin decided that discretion was the better part of valour and released him. The colliers were becoming aggressively restless. The Bridewell can be clearly seen on the 1833 Plan of Wrexham by John Wood, It is next to the Poor House. By 1849-50 a new Bridewell had been built at Tenters Field which was next to Tenters Square. The Bridewell was an impressive stone built building designed by Michael Gummow, architect and builder and the first Borough Surveyor of Wrexham. The building was substantial built of sandstone with a slate roof and would have housed very many prisoners. This would seem to be essential in mid nineteenth century Wrexham. Giving evidence to the inquiry into sanitary conditions in Wrexham the Superintendent of police said, 'Thefts are very numerous; and altogether I consider the town, as regards crime and immorality, among the worst in North Wales'. The towns people often would have seen the prisoners as they
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by Gareth Vaughan Williams were marched to the Town Hall to be tried. The Bridewell also was home to the police station until 1879 when it moved to the County Building in Regent Street which also had two court rooms.(The museum today). Prisoners were now sent to the County Gaol at
Ruthin. The Bridewell became the headquarters of Denbigh County Surveyor's Department. Some remains of the building can still be seen in the wall from Tenters Square to St Mary's School.
Photo of the Bridewell, Tenters Square, c1975. Reproduced with kind permission of W. Alister Williams, Author of The Encyclopaedia of Wrexham.
RAFFLES LUNCH CLUB Come along and join us for a two course lunch at The RAFA Club, Ruthin Rd Open to all over 50's. Hot lunch and pudding with tea & coffee to finish. ÂŁ3.50 per person
The lunch club meets monthly on the last Tuesday of the month at 12.30pm. Places must be booked beforehand by contacting either: Anne Marie at the Rafa Club on 261221 or Karen Benfield Clerk to Offa Community Council on 291562
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GEIRIAU
(WORDS)
CERDD POEM Mae fy Mywyd oll yn Bost- it All my Life is a Post - it How often does one feel that life is one big rush and that it is almost impossible to remember and fit in all our daily tasks. Whoever invented the yellow little post-its deserve a medal. Without these convenient little stickers it would be a very different story. This short poem by Aled Lewis Evans is praising the usefulness of these handy stickers. Indeed I would not be able to get going with this paragraph had I not put a post- it in the correct page in Amheus o Angylion Aled's most recent volume of Welsh poetry.
Mae fy Mywyd oll yn Bost-it. Aled Lewis Evans Post-it ar y grisiau Post-it yn y gegin ar fy nghyfrifiadur, tu mewn i'm car i'm hatgoffa. Post-it ar fy nyddiadur i gofio ffonio; Post-it ar y wal wrth y ffĂ´n Post-it i gofio ffotogopio. Post-it o restr o bethau i'w gwneud yfory, Post-it ar y llawr wrth y drws ffrynt, Post-it afradlon wrth erchwyn y gwely. Y peth cynta a'r ola bob dydd, Post-it. Mae fy mywyd oll y Bost-it
Continued next page‌
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by Liz Williams This humorous poem lists the places that Aled sticks a post it as a reminder of jobs to be done. He leaves them on the stairs, in the kitchen, on his laptop, in his diary, in the car and various other places. He even finds the occasional stray one at the side of his bed! The final verse is an admission that, 'All his life is a post-it.' *
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I chwi'r Cymry Cymraeg sy wedi mwynhau'r gerdd hon mae'n werth prynu neu fenthyg copi o gyfrol Aled Amheus o Angylion. Cyhoeddwyd gan Barddas a'r pris ydy £7.95. Fel y dywed Aled yn ei froliant ar y clawr; 'Fy mhrif ysbrydoliaeth yw sefyllfaoedd bywyd bob dydd . . . cewch gyfle i chwerthin a chrio'. Yn wir dyma ydy'r llyfr cyfle i chwerthin a chrio. Liz Williams
The start of Bodhyfryd’s School Radio! Bodhyfryd pupils are on the brink of an exciting time. The school has secured an internal radio system. We have installed speakers in each classroom, and the radio station has been established in the Junior Library. The intention is to provide opportunities for the pupils to prepare programmes which can be broadcast on the radio, to pupils of different age groups.
Maybe Year six children can read stories for the Reception classes,
or Year five pupils can prepare a sports programme for the pupils of Year two.
Members of the
school Council visited Calon FM
earlier this
year, to research the project, and ask some searching
questions.
Hopefully we’ll have the opportunity
to
invite
them back soon, to see our station in We’re
action!
developing
to-
morrow’s broadcasters!
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Bellevue Park Summer events at Bellevue Park Friday 21 June Live Music on the Bandstand with Billy Thompson Gypsy Style. 7pm – 9pm. All ages. Free. Friday 5 July Live Music on the Bandstand with Wall Street Krash 7pm – 9pm. All ages. Free. Friday 19 July Live Music on the Bandstand with Mudslide 7pm – 9pm All ages. Free. Thursday 25 July Free Crown Green Bowling Taster Meet at the bowling pavilion. 1.30pm – 3.30pm. All Ages. Friday 26 July Live Music on the Bandstand with The Blackjacks 7pm – 9pm. All ages. Free. Thursday 1 August Make Colourful Crowns. Meet outside the Rangers office by the tennis courts 1.30pm – 3.30pm. All Ages. £2 Friday 2 August Live Music on the Bandstand with Tobacco Road 7pm – 9pm. All ages. Free Thursday 15 August Free Qualified Tennis Coaching. At the courts 1pm – 3pm. Ages 6-14. Thursday 22 August Make Colourful Butterfly Masks Meet outside the Rangers office by the tennis courts 1pm – 3pm. All Ages £2 .
Dogs at Bellevue Visitors are welcome to bring their dogs for a walk in the park, however dogs must be kept under control as the park is used amongst others by young children and other dog owners. If you need a lead to keep your dog under control, please use one. If you have a complaint about a particular dog and its owner, please contact the park office (above the Community Centre) on 264150. Continued next page.
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Bellevue Park Bellevue says goodbye to a much valued employee Early in June one of our gardeners, Garry Steele retired. Garry has done a wonderful job maintaining and improving the park along with his fellow gardener Debbie, for the last 13 years. Garry started work for the then Wrexham Rural District Council in 1973. During his 40 years working for the Council Gary has a number of different jobs, including a stint looking after the sports grounds at the Queensway Sports complex and a period as head greens keeper at Moss Valley Golf course, before coming to Bellevue park in the year 2000. Garry will be much missed in the park not only by the council for his knowledge and skills, but also the bowling club who's greens he looked after, but most of all by park users who enjoyed his friendly and approachable manner. We wish Garry all the best for the future. …And hello to a new apprentice Earlier in the year Kyle joined the team as a trainee gardener. Kyle has made a very successful start to his apprenticeship, showing a good positive attitude, fitting in well to the team at Bellevue.
Bellevue Park Opening Times April - October 7am - 9pm; November - March 7am - 5.30pm. The following dog control orders (2009) apply in Bellevue park: Anyone who allows their dog to foul and fails to remove the waste is committing an offence and is liable to a fine (£1000) or a fixed penalty notice (£75). Anyone must place their dog on a lead when instructed to do so by an authorised person. Failure to do so is an offence liable to a fine (£1000) or a fixed penalty notice (£75).
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wellbeing Wrexham To suppress or to explore? Carers Service Are you looking after a relative or friend, who because of a disability could not manage without your help? If yes, the Carers Information and Support Service can assist in many ways. If you would like
When trouble approaches, what do you do? Run for the hills? Hide? Pretend it isn't there? Or do you focus on the promise of rain in those looming dark clouds? New research suggests that the way you regulate your emotions, in bad times and in good, can influence whether – or how much – you suffer from anxiety. Researchers found that those who engage in an emotional regulation strategy called reappraisal tended to also have less social anxiety and less anxiety in general than those who avoid expressing their feelings.
Reappraisal involves looking at a problem in a new way. When something happens, you think about it in a further information more positive light, a glass half full instead of half phone us on empty. You reframe and reappraise what's happened 0800 2761070 . and think what are the positives about this? What are the ways I can look at this and think of it as a stimulating challenge rather than a problem? The World Health Not all anxiety is bad. Low-level anxiety may help you Organization maintain the kind of focus that gets things done. predicts that by Suppressing or putting a lid on your emotions also can 2020, anxiety and be a good strategy in a short-term situation, such as depression –which when your boss yells at you. Similarly, an alwaystend to co-occur – positive attitude can be dangerous, causing a person to ignore health problems, for example, or to engage in will be among the risky behaviour. most prevalent Many things are inherent in life - change, birth, death, causes of disability aging, illness, accidents, calamities, and losses of all worldwide, kinds- but these events don't have to be the cause of secondary only to ongoing suffering. Yes, these events cause grief and cardiovascular sadness, but grief and sadness pass, like everything disease. else, and are replaced with other experiences. Our ego,
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by jane redfern jones
however, tends to cling to negative thoughts and feelings and, as a result, magnifies, intensifies, and sustains those emotions while overlooking the subtle feelings of joy, gratitude, excitement, adventure, love, and peace. If we Focused on these positive states as much as we tend to dwell on our negative thoughts and painful emotions, can
Let's Walk Cymru is a Wales-wide walking programme designed to increase the number of people using the great outdoors as a way of improving their health and wellbeing. The abundance of natural green spaces in Wales provides great opportunities for people to participate in and enjoy walking. To join the Ramblers as a member of the Wrexham Group phone: 01978 312515.
transform our lives and our general outlook. Previous studies had found that people who were temperamentally inclined to focus on making good things happen were less likely to suffer from anxiety than those who focused on preventing bad things from happening. "This is something you can change," say the researchers. "You can't do much to affect the genetic or environmental factors that contribute to anxiety. But you can change your emotion regulation_strategies." Research published by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“There is nothing good or bad, only thinking makes it so.� ~ Hamlet
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Children’s page WIN! WIN! WIN!
Send us a picture of something or somewhere near where you live and you could win a £20 gift voucher! The best pictures will be put on the council website. Pictures must be no bigger than A4 and should be posted to the address on page 2 or emailed to webmaster@offacommunitycouncil.gov.uk. Please include your full name, age and address. Competition for children aged 12 and under.
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Wordsearch! FIND THESE WORDS: OWL RABBIT SQUIRREL ROBIN BADGER HEDGEHOG FOX TOAD They can be in any direction
BLACKBIRD HERON MOUSE CROW
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Children’s page Colour in this lovely barn owl
Image courtesy of www.artyness.co.uk
Magazine edited and published by Jane Redfern Jones. www.janeredfernjones.co.uk. Send items for insertion to webmaster@offacommunitycouncil.gov.uk or post to the address on page 2.
Offa Carnival 2013 Open Summer Soccer School (run by the Brickfield Rangers Football Club) PDSA dog show, Stokes Amusements rides and stalls, Morris dancing troupes, Abbey Rd Gym Club display, Whitchurch Dog Display, Birds of Prey, Inflatable Jousting, Hoola Nation and Free The Llay Brass Band. Entry Lots of community and craft stalls . Refreshments in the Community Centre. This is a great community event getting bigger every year. With free admission why not bring your family along. The carnival runs from 11am till 4pm. For further information or to book your place for a community stall please contact Karen Benfield, Clerk to Offa Community Council, on 01978 291562.
Saturday 6th July At Bellevue Park Offa Community Council Contact Us: Karen Benfield, Clerk to the Council: 01978 291562
clerk@offacommunitycouncil.gov.uk www.offacommunitycouncil.gov.uk