Articles May 2023

Volunteering at the Coronation Weekend

On Monday 8th May, members of the public will be invited to take part in The Big Help Out, which will encourage people to try volunteering for themselves and join the work being undertaken to support their local areas. The aim of The Big Help Out is to use volunteering to bring communities together and create a lasting volunteering legacy from the Coronation Weekend.

There are two volunteering sessions planned on 8th May in Longhorsley:

• Old Church Wood tree checking. Meet at 10am by the cemetery. Wear sensible footwear, bring gloves, a small fork and a sturdy hammer if possible. Contact: Penny Ford  788278.

• Litter picking session, equipment provided. Meet at 10am in the Village Hall car park. Contact: Anne Peat  07876 475536.

For people that are interested in taking on a volunteering role, there are a lot of opportunities on a local level in the context of churches, schools, village hall, group activities etc.

There are also many volunteering opportunities in the wider community in Northumberland. A number of websites can help you to find a suitable volunteering role. A few of these are:

• www.royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/volunteering

• doit.life/discover

• reachvolunteering.org.uk/i-want-volunteer

Alternatively, if you are aware of a charitable organisation that is looking for volunteers then please get in touch with us to advertise for free in the “Can You Help?” section of the Tree.

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Longhorsley Parish Council

The Annual Parish Council meeting will be held on Wednesday, 10th May, in the Village Hall, starting at 7pm, with a parishioner slot at 8pm. Meeting notices are displayed on village notice boards, with minutes and other information found on the Parish Council website.

Contact details for the current members are detailed below:

Clerk: Gillian Turner, 4 Lowther Close, Seaton Manor, Ashington, NE63 0HY  01670 812704 or  parishclerk@longhorsley-pc.gov.uk

Chairman: Norman Douglas 07485 174529 norman.douglas@longhorsley-pc.gov.uk

Councillors: Sarah Alcock, Kirsty Bell, Peter Boyle and Anne Peat.

The Longhorsley Annual Parish Assembly will take place on Wednesday 24th May at 6.30pm in the Village Hall. This is your chance to air your views or indeed to raise any issues - all are welcome. The presentation of the Longhorsley Community Award will also take place at this meeting.  

Northumbria Connected Website

Residents are reminded that they can receive regular “live time” updates regarding issues in and around the area by signing up to the Northumbria Police service via the Northumbria Connected Website.

Morpeth Household Waste Recovery Centre

As from Monday 15th May, the opening arrangements of the above centre will change from the current 7 days per week to 4 days per week, with the new days of opening being Friday to Monday - the opening hours have not changed (8am to 7.30pm during summer and 8am to 6pm during winter months).

Litter around the Village

It has been noted that litter and dog poo bags are being left in inappropriate places around the Village, making it look untidy and unkempt. Can we please remind you to use the litter bins provided or to take litter home.

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Village Hall Available for Children’s Parties

Attention all parents! If you are looking for a local venue to hold your children's birthday party, then look no further than Longhorsley Village Hall. There is plenty of car parking and full use of kitchen and toilets, what more could you want - and all that for just £50 for 3 hours.

The Village Hall is a charity and we keep the charges low to encourage use of this important local facility.

Lots of weekend dates available. Check out the website for availability:  www.northumberlandvillagehalls.org.uk/longhorsley-village-hall 

or email  Longhorsley.Hall.Booking@gmail.com

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Longhorsley Tree Editorial Board Vacancies

The Editorial Board for the Longhorsley Tree newsletter meet every three months to review, plan and discuss its contents.

Our chairwoman Sally Woolley and secretary Elaine Sayer have recently decided that it’s time for them to move on. We are sorry to see them go and would like to thank them for all their support over the past 10 years.

If you are interested in supporting the work of the Longhorsley Tree then please get in touch with the editors on  longhorsley.tree@gmail.com.

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Your County Councillor

Education improvement is continuing - in 2017 NCC was in the lower quartile for Ofsted results but we are now in the upper quartile with all inspections so far at 91% for Good or Outstanding. I thank all those staff in schools, our improvement team, and all at County Hall for this improvement. 

Meanwhile the new Leisure, Skills, and Library Centre at Morpeth opened last week and is doing very brisk business - it’s a great new facility so I hope you can get to visit it.

And our glass recycling pilot is collecting an average of 64kg glass per household, which is still outperforming the average benchmark figure of 41kg. I am hoping we can roll this out to more villages next year.

If you want any more information about any County Council service or have any issues please just get in touch and I will be happy to try to help.

Glen Sanderson  07730 979737 glen.sanderson@northumberland.gov.uk

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Long-term Closure of B6344 Bottom Road to Rothbury

Major engineering works to tackle the active landslip on the stretch of road between Weldon Bridge and Rothbury start this month. Traffic lights are in place from 24th April while preliminary works, including clearance of trees and other vegetation, takes place along with service diversions. 

The road will then be closed completely over the length of the landslip from 30th May until the works are finished, forecast for Spring next year.  

A diversion will be in place from the end of May via the B6341 with extra signs reminding drivers that Rothbury and the Coquetdale is open for business as usual. 

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Coronation Quiche Recipe

A deep quiche with a crisp, light pastry case and delicate flavours of Spinach, Broad Beans and fresh Tarragon. Eat hot or cold with a green salad and boiled new potatoes - perfect for a Coronation Big Lunch!

Serves 6

Ingredients

Pastry

125g plain flour

Pinch of salt

25g cold butter, diced

25g lard

2 tablespoons milk

Or:

1 x 250g ready-made shortcrust pastry

Filling

125ml milk

175ml double cream

2 medium eggs

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon

Salt and pepper

100g grated cheddar cheese

180g cooked spinach, lightly chopped

60g cooked broad beans or soya beans

You will also need a 20cm flan tin.

Method

• To make the pastry…

  • Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl; add the fats and rub the mixture together using your finger tips until you get a sandy, breadcrumb like texture.

  • Add the milk a bit at a time and bring the mixture together into a dough.

  • Cover and allow to rest in the fridge for 30-45 minutes.

• Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the pastry to a circle a little larger than the top of the tin and approximately 5mm thick.

• Line the tin with the pastry, taking care not to have any holes or the mixture could leak. Cover and rest again for 30 minutes in the fridge.

• Preheat the oven to 190°C.

• Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper, add baking beans and bake blind for 15 minutes, before removing the greaseproof paper and baking beans.

• Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C.

• Beat together the milk, cream, eggs, herbs and seasoning.

• Scatter 1/2 of the grated cheese in the blind-baked base, top with the chopped spinach and beans, then pour over the liquid mixture.

• If required gently give the mixture a delicate stir to ensure the filling is evenly dispersed but be careful not to damage the pastry case.

• Sprinkle over the remaining cheese. Place into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until set and lightly golden.

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Longhorsley Tree 2024 Calendar

If you have taken a photo of a Longhorsley view that you’d like to see in next year’s calendar, then please send it to longhorsley.tree@gmail.com

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Longhorsley Takeaway Food

We will send out a Breaking News if we are notified of any changes.

The Shoulder of Mutton

The Shoulder of Mutton is open and offering takeaways every day.

Sunday lunches 12-6pm ~ Monday to Saturday 5pm-8pm

See their menu at  shoulderofmuttonpub.com ~ phone 788236 to order

The Flying Fryer

The Flying Fryer will be here every Friday from 4pm to 7pm, depending on demand.

Facebook The Flying Fryer 07984 426 725

Dou_h&co 

Dou_h&co are here some Thursdays 4:30pm – 7:30pm.

The next visit dates are Thursdays 4th May and 1st June.

Pre-order on  07507 834 628 from Monday 9am.

See their menu on the Dou_h & Co Facebook page, Instagram and Dou-h.co.uk

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Post Office in Longhorsley Village Hall

Monday 9.15am   to 12.15pm

Tuesday 9.30am to 1.15pm

Friday 11.30am to 1.30pm

Please note that this Outreach Service cannot accept large parcels.

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Mobile Library Visiting Times

The Mobile Library visits Longhorsley once a month, on Fridays between 3pm and 4pm, in the Village Hall car park.

The next visit is expected to be on 5th May.

The Mobile Library Service website can be found here

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June Edition

The last date for submissions is 20th May. You can email or phone us.

Please keep articles under 250 words, if at all possible.

Jan and Sheena Haveman 07834 740649 longhorsley.tree@gmail.com

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