Articles March 2025

Longhorsley Parish Council

The next Parish Council meeting will be held on Wednesday, 12th March, 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:  Samantha Doyle, 35 Burghley Gardens, Pegswood, NE61 6TN 07427 123268 or parishclerk@longhorsley-pc.gov.uk

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

Councillors: Sarah Alcock, Kirsty Bell, Peter Boyle, Jennie Parker, Anne Peat and Trevor Potts.

Fix My Street

Northumberland County Council provide a service called “Fix my street”. It is used to report, view or discuss local problems, such as graffiti, fly tipping, street lighting, potholes, dog fouling, footpaths, flooding and overhanging trees/hedgerows and any other NCC service. Unlike their previous system, residents can now see if a particular problem has been reported and more importantly will receive feedback from NCC on any actions taken.

The website address is  fix.northumberland.gov.uk. If you have any issues please use this service to report it so that NCC are aware and can act on the issues. If you have no access to the internet, you can report a problem by phone to 0345 6006400 between the hours of 08.30 - 17.00 Monday-Thursday and 08.30 - 16.30 Friday.

Development South Road

We have been made aware from the developer that they are aiming for a start date of April for the construction of the development. We would like to host a meeting for parishioners to meet the developers, where they can see and hear directly from the developers the intended time scales and development plans. We have opened up communications with the development company and further details will follow once a date is set for the meeting.

Community Wood and Old St Helen’s Church

With the first of the bulbs pushing through and leaves beginning to bud on some of the trees, it seems hopeful that Spring will soon be with us. Whilst the trees and plants over at the Community Woodland and in Old St Helen’s Church have mostly been dormant over the winter, things have been going on to help with the upkeep of the area. Over 1000 tree guards have been sorted and taken to the local collection hub at Wallington for recycling, the new hedges planted along the boundary of the field have been checked and weeded and the flower beds in the St Helen’s Old Church kept tidy.

The Community Woodland has been owned by the Parish Council since 2017, since when hundreds of trees were planted to complete the woodland grant scheme programme, paths have been established and mowed, wildflower areas sown and maintained, benches, boards and path markers installed and 300m of hedge have been planted. In 2021 the Parish Council was granted a license from the County Council to manage the area within the Old St Helen’s Church, and in the last three years this has seen the area made more easily accessible, with wildflower beds sown and planted, paths cleared, and information panels installed. This has mostly all been done by a small group of volunteers who have collectively carried out over 750 hours of work to help maintain this community asset for everyone to use.

With so many residents taking such pride in the village, the Parish Council is hoping to set up a ‘Friends of Green Spaces’ group to help maintain and improve more of the areas in the Village such as Archies Pond and expand on the great work achieved in the Community Wood. Would you like to come along and help look after some of these areas?  No need for regular commitment or previous experience, just a willingness to come and help, at your own pace, when you can. Please come along to the Village Hall on Saturday 5th April at 2.30pm if you would like to find out more and get involved.

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Your County Councillor

I still have a small amount of money available through my Councillor schemes budget. Over the years I’ve helped fund some great local schemes in the village and across the patch.

So please email me if you have an idea for a project - it needs to be for a capital project rather than paying wages etc.

As always please get in touch if I can help with anything.

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

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Northern Ark Spring Update

Spring is here and we’re preparing for a busy season at Northern Ark Nursery and Hedgeley Honey. The nursery reopens in April and you can still buy plants at our regular market stalls at Alnwick every Saturday and at our usual pitches at Morpeth and Hexham. For this year’s shows we’re attending, check out our new Events page online - we’ll be adding to it as we go - northernarknursery.co.uk/events and Facebook page for details.

Essential jobs to do in the garden in March:

• Plant summer-flowering bulbs, such as gladioli, tigridia, galtonia, eucomis, anemone, lily and acidanthera. Prepare the soil first, to make sure that drainage is enough to prevent the bulbs from rotting. If in any doubt, wait.

• Mulching with a deep layer of organic matter helps to condition the soil, suppress weed growth, insulate plant roots from temperature fluctuations, and conserve soil moisture.

• Feed borders with a general-purpose fertiliser, such as Growmore.

• Propagate dahlias from tubers. Pot them up in multi-purpose compost so that the old stalk is just above the surface. Water and place in a frost-free, light place. Once fresh shoots have grown to 7.5-10cm, cut them off with a knife. Dust the ends with hormone rooting powder and push them into a pot with cuttings compost. Place in a propagator or plastic bag until roots appear.

• Roses will benefit from feeding with a granular rose fertiliser as they come into growth. One of the most important March gardening jobs is to finish pruning established bush and standard roses before leaves unfurl.

• Sow seeds in modules/pots in an unheated greenhouse: broad beans, leeks, lettuce, rocket, coriander, peas and Swiss chard. Sow sweet peppers, chillies, tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, celery and globe artichokes in a propagator.

At Hedgeley Honey the winter jobs keep us busy, making and painting hives and the all important feeding the bees fondant, checking that none have blown over or knocked over by stock. We have had a break from the farmers markets over January, but we will be back in full swing in March.

For info on our online shop and stockists, visit www.hedgeleyhoney.co.uk.

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March Tweets along Archies Pond

Early Spring can often be a stop/start affair. A walk on a cold grey day may draw a blank, but a westerly wind gets the birds vocal, so pick your day for a walk. Robins are easily heard, and along the walk a count of seven is normal. Milder weather will bring the first Chiffchaff, which is a dedicated two-note singer and rarely pauses for more than a few seconds. Anywhere between five and ten of them can be heard on a good day. In late April the Chiffchaffs’ look-a-like the Willow Warbler will arrive, but it has such a complex and sweet song they are easily told apart when they are singing in their overlapping habitats. Willow Warblers need just a tiny bit of scrub and trees, and there are typically five territories here in an average year.

The Willow Tit is in serious decline in Britain but can be found in parts of Northumberland including Longhorsley. It always breeds somewhere around the parish and has used the south side of the road to nest and can be seen feeding along the walk. It resembles a Coal Tit with no white nape or wing bars, but its distinctive song and calls are best looked up on a website such as those of the BTO or RSPB.

Andrew Brunt  788352

For more information about birds in Northumberland, visit the Northumberland and Tyneside Bird Club website at  www.ntbc.org.uk

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Post Office in Longhorsley Village Hall

Monday 9.15am   to 11.30am

Friday 11.30am to 1.30pm

Please note that this Outreach Service cannot accept large parcels.

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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 (apart from Tuesday).

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.

They will not be here on 21st and 28th March and 4th April.

Facebook The Flying Fryer 07984 426 725

Dou_h&co 

Dou_h&co visits on one Thursday in the month from 4:30pm – 7:30pm.

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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Mobile Library Visiting Times

The Mobile Library is currently revising its timetable, and we will provide an update through Breaking News once available.

The Mobile Library Service website can be found here

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April Edition

The last date for submissions is 20th March. 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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