T & AThursday 16th October 2008
A woman who won an award for dedication from her employer is to give her prize to the Scout movement.
Sue Crossley, who has dedicated 15 years to the First Cottingley Beaver Scouts and four years to First Bingley Scout Group, was amazed when she was nominated by her colleagues for a Pride of the Co-operative Award. The 61-year-old attended a ceremony in London with her son, Adrian, 41, where she picked up the award.
As well as working part-time for Sunwin Renault in Bradford, Sue helps look after her sister, Julie, who suffers from schizophrenia and lives in sheltered accommodation in Keighley. And following the death of another sister, Jane, Sue became a surrogate mum to Jane’s sons, Richard and John.
She said: “It was lovely I was nominated.”
The award was to reward employees who had gone above and beyond the call of duty either at work or in their local community.
Sue was awarded a cheque for £250 and will give a further £250 to help refurbish a Scout hut for First Bingley Group, after a blaze destroyed their Sycamore Street headquarters in March. Scout leader Joy Smith said: “Sue is a star. She is a great member of our group and the Beavers in Cottingley. You can always rely on Sue.”
£4.5m centre opens its doors with invitation to royal supporter
A week of celebrations to mark the opening of a multi-million pound community facility has begun.
The doors of the £4.5-million Cottingley Cornerstone Centre were thrown open today, following six years of fundraising by residents.
The Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Howard Middleton, welcomed guests to the micro-village, complete with community centre, nursery, elderly day care facility, GP surgery and more than 50 homes.
The Littlelands site also houses the new St Michael and All Angels Church, where the first wedding has already been booked.
Celebrations continue with various community events until Friday at the site, which has been supported by Prince Charles since he visited the village in 2002.
Later this year, he will be invited to officially open the site.
Centre manager Zoë Marston said: “This week is just the opening week, we will officially open later in the year. Fingers crossed the Prince will come to that – he has showed such an interest in the project all the way through.”
Development worker Emily Godfrey said the centre was not just for people across the Aire Valley, but for anyone in the district.
The venture is a charity and money to use facilities will be ploughed back in to the site.
Trustee Irene Senior said: “What a relief! It has been a long, hard project, but people have been amazed by it. I never thought we would have anything like this in Cottingley.”
Church member Moira Smith said she was “delighted” with the new church.
She said: “The centre is quite overwhelming, and I hope the community will get involved.”
The final touches have been made to the centre but regeneration work is still envisaged in the village. Residents were given the opportunity to view £55,000 plans for The Oval at a forum in the village last night. Plans include landscaping, a seating area and trees, including a Christmas tree.
Bradford Council is also looking to improve parking and the pavement outside the village’s row of shops along The Parade.
For more information about this week’s activities, call Emily Godfrey on (01274) 512800 or 07825 046300 or visit cottingleycornerstone.org.uk.
e-mail: mel.fairhurst@telegraphandargus.co.uk
T & A 10th October 2008
T & A 9th September 2008
T & A 8:54am Tuesday 26th August 2008
Surgery ready to open its doors
A new purpose-built GP surgery in the heart of a unique development will welcome patients today.
The branch surgery of Saltaire Medical Practice is a key part of the Cottingley Cornerstone Centre in Littlelands and replaces the cramped surgery in Hope Hill.
The two-storey building has been funded by the Cottingley Cornerstone Centre and developed by Bramley Homes. It is being leased to the medical practice to enable them to provide healthcare in modern and spacious premises.
Benefits for the surgery’s 2,000 patients include a larger waiting area, a separate reception, to improve patient confidentiality, and on-site parking.
Dr Millns Sizer, a partner at the practice said: “We are delighted to be moving into this purpose-built surgery which we hope will serve the Cottingley community for many years to come.
John Chuter, chairman of Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust, said: “This new surgery is a wonderful example of partnership working resulting in a modern, more comfortable and well-equipped surgery for both staff and patients, which is closer to people’s homes.”
People are invited to an open afternoon hosted by the practice, on Thursday, September 4, from noon so staff can show them the new facilities.
The surgery is part of a £3.15 million programme of upgrades to existing premises and new health centres announced last year by Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust.
The programme includes rebuilding Keighley health centre to provide accommodation for services including Holycroft Surgery, replacing Haworth Road Health Centre with a new purpose-built health centre and providing new premises for Parklands Medical Centre in Buttershaw Lane and Royds Healthy Living Centre in Ridings Way, where staff currently work in cramped conditions.
New surgeries are also planned for Girlington and Lidget Green, where residents and councillors have long been concerned about the lack of GP facilities.
Six schemes which had previously been backed by the four former PCTs and which the new tPCT has confirmed its commitment to are: Newton Way Medical Centre, Baildon, Ashcroft Surgery in Eccleshill, Addingham Med-ical Centre, Silsden Health Centre, Sunnybank Medical Centre extension, Wyke, and The Ridge Medical Practice, Great Horton.
These include Barkerend Health Centre, Wrose Health Centre, Queensbury Health Centre, Moorside Surgery, Ashwell Medical Centre, Farrow Medical Centre and Thornton Health Centre.
Sites completed or under construction are Hillside Bridge Healthcare Centre, Undercliffe Healthcare Centre, Thornbury Healthcare Centre, Shipley Health Centre, Whetley Hill development, Saltaire Medical Centre and the Cottingley Cornerstone Project. Plans have also been agreed for new premises across Bingley.
e-mail: claire.lomax@telegraphandargus.co.uk
Landmark spire in place
By Kathie Griffiths T & A 23.11.2007
The spire is craned into place
A pioneering project to build a community brick by brick has taken delivery of its landmark.
A lorry arrived at the site of the Cottingley Cornerstone Project yesterday loaded with a 40ft church spire on its back.
It took a mammoth effort on the ground and a monster-sized crane to hoist the five-ton spire into place on top of what will be the new St Michael's and All Angels Church.
As the spire was fixed into position and topped with a cross, it was met with cheers and applause by onlookers.
"This really is the icing on the cake for us. We've been waiting to see the spire go up, it makes an impressive statement," said congregation member Andrew Clarke.
It was also a relief for Chris Spivey, who was one of the team at Laisterdyke-based Microfabrications who spent nine days building the fibreglass spire.
"It's just great to see it up there. It's a massive relief and a weight off of our minds," he said.
It was also cause for celebration for the Cornerstone Community Centre's new manager Zoe Marston, who took up the role on Monday. She said: "It's so exciting. The spire going on says it all. It says the project's here and we're proud of it."
Although wintry weather has been hampering progress, the scheme is only a few weeks behind schedule and building should be finished by the summer.
"June 2008 is the date we're sticking to. It's all going well although we still need more funds and are working on that," Zoe said.
The project has a budget of £9 million. The community complex will cost about £4.5m and still needs another £500,000.
"Fundraising is on-going, we've got lots of ideas and there's an outstanding lottery bid we're waiting to hear about," she said.
The project has had royal approval from Prince Charles who was so impressed when he visited the site in 2002 he made a donation from his personal charity.
Zoe said: "We'll be e-mailing photos of the spire straight to him. We keep all our backers up to date with progress."
As well as a church the project will also include 55 homes and a community complex which will include a function hall, an IT suite, GP surgery, pre-school nursery, elderly daycare, youth rooms, respite care for young disabled people, an arts and crafts room and meeting spaces.
Report in T & A 18.11.2006 re Cottingley Hall.
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T & A 2/11/2006
Excerpt from St. Michael's November 2006 magazine
Cornerstone Centre
An exciting step forward
All has been quiet on the Littlelands site over the summer months but things are now in full swing again.
Mid-October saw the signing of all the legal documents for the Scheme. If they had been piled one on top of one
another, they would have been over four feet high ! The vicar ended up signing her name over three hundred times.
As you can imagine, a lot of time and effort went into co-ordinating everything. It was like a military operation.
It all means that the builder, J S Bramleys, has total control of the site and will be building full-time for the next 18
to 20 months. We are praying for a mild winter, so that nothing can slow the progress towards the completion of the Centre
in early Summer, 2008. As yet, we don't have a definite date for when the new St. Michael's will be opened. This should
become clearer in the next few months.
All told, this is the beginning of the end after over four years' work. The concrete, bricks and mortar will start to
take shape into the Cornerstone Centre. We still need funds. We have applied to the Big Lottery for £500,000. But please keep fund raising
in any way you can: every penny counts.
Target 18th January 2007
T & A 26/9/2006
T&A 27/7/2006
T&A 27/7/2006
T&A 26/7/2006
T & A 27th February
