Articles November 2025

Have Your Say on the Future of Rural Communities

The Rural Services Network (RSN) has launched a landmark new research project to make sure the voices of rural communities are heard loud and clear in national policy.

The Delivering for All Research Project is a national survey designed to capture the everyday experiences, challenges and priorities of people living in rural England, from small towns and villages to hamlets and isolated communities.

The survey, which takes just 8–10 minutes to complete, asks about key issues including housing, healthcare, transport, digital connectivity, planning, and environmental priorities. Responses are anonymous, but will directly inform Government departments, Select Committees, and MPs representing rural constituencies.

Following the survey, RSN will also be carrying out interviews, focus groups, and community case studies to build a powerful evidence base. This will feed into a major research report later this year, alongside policy briefings and community feedback reports.

Take the survey here: www.surveymonkey.com/r/deliveringforall

Back to top

St Helen's Update

The Diocese of Newcastle has published a Lessons Learned Review (2023) regarding the conduct and conviction of the Revd Peter McConnell, former vicar of St Helen’s, Longhorsley.

If you have a genuine concern arising from this review and would like to speak to someone within the diocesan safeguarding team, please contact the current vicar, the Revd Elaine Jones, at revelainejones@gmail.com to arrange this in confidence. You can also contact the safeguarding team at the diocese safeguarding@newcastle.anglican.org to speak in confidence with a member of the team.

Your voice matters, and you will be listened to with care.

Back to top

Longhorsley Parish Council

The next Parish Council meeting will be held on Wednesday, 12th November, 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.

A Big Thank-You……

To all of our residents who have undertaken garden works over the past few weeks, such as trimming hedges, trees and shrubs to prevent them overhanging and blocking pathways etc. Could we also use this opportunity as a polite reminder to those who have not carried out the works to trimming trees and shrubs that overhang or block pathways.

South Road Development

Following regular visits by a Parish Councillor to the site we are happy to report that the site is progressing to plan.

Your County Councillor

The County Council is into the Budget consultation and we have had over 700 responses so far to the online form. Additionally we have held three parish and town council meetings across the County which have attracted very good interest. I’ve also spoken to a large number of groups and will have a public meeting in Berwick at the end of the month.

We are tasked with finding £20 million saving, which makes protecting our frontline services difficult.

The County Council is continuing to invest however - we have completed a new superschool in Seaton Valley, we are half way through building a new school for Amble and will shortly begin a new school in Berwick. These are important but expensive projects, but will greatly improve the facilities.

We will be starting to build a new Maltings theatre in Berwick using Council and Borderlands funding.

Last week we welcomed Blackstone QTS to launch the next step in the £10 billion data centre campus near Blyth, and this will provide thousands of jobs over the years. The Council negotiated a fund of £110 million out of the arrangement and we will ring fence this for investment across the County.

Next week we will open the next station on the Northumberland Line which has proved a great success carrying almost 700,000 passenger journeys in ten months.

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

Back to top

Funds for our Village School, which won't cost you anything!

We’re excited to let you know that the PTA have now registered Longhorsley St Helen’s with Easyfundraising – a simple, free way to raise money every time you shop online.

Here’s how it works:

      1.    Download the Easyfundraising app (or visit their www.easyfundraising.org.uk) .

      2.    Choose our school Longhorsley as your cause.

      3.    Shop online as normal with over 8,000 retailers (including supermarkets, travel sites, clothing and more).

      4.    Each time you shop, a percentage of your spend is donated to our school – at no extra cost to you!

It takes just a couple of minutes to set up, but it makes a big difference to the funds we can put towards our fundraising efforts this year.

Here is the link.

Back to top

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.

Back to top

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 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

Back to top

Mobile Library Visiting Times

The Mobile Library visits Longhorsley once every 3 weeks, on Fridays between 15.55pm and 16.35pm, in the Village Hall car park.

The next visit is on the 14th November.

The Mobile Library Service website can be found here

Back to top

December Edition

The last date for submissions is 20th November. 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

Back to top