- Written by Website Administrator
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On Wednesday 7th November 2018 as we approached the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice which marked the end of the Great War of 1914 -1918 the Commemorative Oak tree in Carr Lodge Park, Horbury was blessed by Father Christopher Johnson of St Peter's Church. The tree was planted the day before with the help and guidance of the "Wakefield Tree Wardens" ably assisted by members of the Phoenix Rotary Club.
This is a significant moment for The Rotary Club of Horbury and Ossett Phoenix who have worked hard to make the planting of this tree happen. Credit is due in particular to the members of the "Remembrance 2018 Team" made up of several Phoenix Rotary members headed by the Chair of the Club's Community Service Committee, Nick Bardsley. The team also includes this year's Phoenix Rotary President Alan Hudders. Nick Bardsley is seen here beside the tree after the blessing ceremony. A picture including some of the good folks of Horbury, including local Councillor Darren Byford, who braved the pouring rain to attend, will follow.
The plaque that accompanies the Comemorative Oak
The crowd that braved the rain at the Tree Blessing
Phoenix Rotary's Community Service Chairman Nick Bardsley
- Written by Website Administrator
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As part of a local project marking the Centenary of the End of World War 1 in 1918, the Horbury Coop kindly hosted a display board for the project team.
So what was it all about?
From the end of August 2018 until at least Remembrance Sunday on November 11th we had a display board in Horbury Co-op featuring approximately 16-20 individual "pages" of the local men who died in World War 1.
Many local people whilst shopping at the Coop stopped to browse and reflect upon these poignant fact sheets and photos of the 192 men of Horbury and Sitlington who gave there lives in this conflict.
- Written by Michael Adams
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PhysioNet, established in 2005, is a North Yorkshire based charity that provides people that have disabilities in developing countries and Eastern and Central Europe with physiotherapy equipment, wheelchairs, mobility items and some hospital hardware.
Throughout the UK, a lot of equipment, is no longer required by a variety of agencies, for example the NHS, Local Authorities, Social Services and the private sector... and it would generally end up in land fill sites! PhysioNet has built up a network of of enthusiastic volunteers to collect such donated equipment and deliver it to a PhysioNet's depot in North Yorkshire...The Equipment is then catagorised, checked, wrapped and listed. Items are then hand packed into 40ft containers for shipment to countries around the world, eg Fiji, Ghana, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Bulgaria, Romania, Bhutan, Syria, Belarus, Ukraine, Ghana, South Africa etc.
- Written by Alan Hudders
- Hits: 685
As a result of a Senior Resident in Croftlands who was frightened to sit out on her patio due to possibility of slipping on the moss and debris, we got a request for help with clearing the patio. I mentioned to Tracey (PCSO) @ Brickhouse YC that we had this resident needing help and she immediately said leave it to us the youths @ (Brickhouse YC). So after arranging to visit the premise on Sunday 8th July along with 1 Youth (Olivia) who is a leader at the YC they set about clearing the patio to make it fit for the resident to sit out. The pictures show how bad the patio was before the work was completed, and the satisfaction of the resident on completion of the work . As a result of this excellent response the Manager (Karen) at Croftlands which is an Independent Living Scheme run by WDH has now had several more requests which Brickhouse YC are happy to take on. It shows how younger people in the community can integrate and help older people and they must feel proud of what they have achieved.
Well done Olivia and thanks for Tracey's help in organising this.
- Written by Bill Sutton
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Horbury Show was once again a great success this year with all available club members contributing to the organisation, management, and control of the park on the day. We had more volunteers than ever helping with set up, car parking, bric a brac and soft drinks stalls, litter picking, and general clear up of the site.
Our sponsors enabled us to put on new attractions
- Written by Nick Bardsley
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Horbury Working Members Club hosted the Rotary Club of Horbury and Ossett Phoenix Spring Bid Presentation Evening on Friday the 25th of May, which gave donations of financial support to 21 deserving causes.
Many thanks to all our beneficiaries, guest presenters and fellow Rotarians who helped make this such an excellent and enjoyable evening. Thanks also to Roy and his team at Horbury WMC for making us so welcome and maintaining a steady flow of food and beverages!
Photos in READ MORE:
- Written by Bill Sutton
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President Neil Kirkham and 16 members of the Horbury and Ossett Phoenix Rotary Club were the central core of volunteers who spent the Saturday before Easter planting over 500 trees on the former landfill site at off Owl Lane, Shaw Cross, Ossett. They were joined by family members and additional volunteers from the Ossett and Wakefield Rotary Clubs. The event was a joint effort organised by Roger Parkinson of the Woodland Trust and Rotarian Nick Bardsley.
The species planted were all native British and Hawthorn, Oak, Alder, Wild Cherry, Willow and Blackthorn. Although the site is currently somewhat barren at the moment the planting will ensure that the natural environment will be significantly improved as the trees mature and varied wildlife takes up residence and starts breeding.
- Written by Bill Sutton
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Rotary Club President Neil Kirkham led 16 members of the Horbury and Ossett Phoenix Rotary club on a visit to the new home of the Ossett Youth Club, at The New Spring Centre, Illingworth Street, Ossett on Thursday evening 14th March 2018. Formerly known as the Brickhouse Youth Club and based at the old Ossett Police Station the club had been required to find new premises when maintenance costs of their previous home had became too expensive and WMDC decided they would have to cease its use. After considerable effort by the Council Officials, Youth Leaders and volunteers, Rotarian Tony Sargeant of Ossett Rotary Club suggested the New Spring Centre meeting rooms of the New Spring Church, in Illingworth Street, Ossett would fit the bill. Following negotiations with the church it was agreed that the youth club would move in at the beginning of February. Wakefield Council agreed to cover the rental charges for the first 3 years in the new premises.
Thursdays visit was the first opportunity for the youth club to thank all the individuals and local groups that had helped find and move into their new premises and to show off the facilities now in place which include video games, table tennis, and craft work. Members of the Youth Club were on hand to demonstrate the equipment and helpers provided teas coffees and light refreshments.
Rotary Club President Neil presented a cheque for £600 to the Youth Club and paid tribute to the magnificent work of all the leaders who had created the club and were determined to keep it going when closure was a distinct possibility.
Click READ MORE for photo:
- Written by Bill Sutton
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Members of the Horbury Breakthrough Youth Club were presented with two new tents and 3 new rucksacks on Monday evening to help them in gaining their Duke of Edinburgh bronze awards. The Youth Club have 35 members who are tackling the DofE Bronze Award this year and found themselves short of equipment so sought help from the Rotary Club of Horbury and Ossett Phoenix. President Elect Alan Hudders and Chairman of Rotary Youth Committee Mike Robb attended the club meeting to hand over the equipment to Youth Leader Kate who will supervise the DofE challenges. Mike Robb said, "As a recipient of a Gold DofE Award in my youth I know how valuable overcoming the challenges and achieving the standards have been to me both at the time and throughout my life. I would encourage all young people to get involved with DofE and similar challenges it will stand them in good stead for the rest of their lives."
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The Rotary Club Charitable Trust, as reported previously in the Wakefield Express, and on this website, is currently looking for local good causes to support financially and applications should be submitted before 15 March 2018. (See article lower on this page for more details) "2018-02-01 Cash Available for Youth, Sport and Community Projects"
- Written by Nick Bardsley
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A cohort of enthusiastic volunteers met on the sunny morning of the 16th of February, to site and fix a variety of boxes to suitable trees in the wooded areas on the fringe of the Calder and Hebble Navigation towpath between the Navigation Inn and the first Railway Bridge towards Horbury Bridge.
The boxes were funded by the Horbury and Ossett Phoenix Charitable Trust and fabricated by the special needs young people who are service users of the Thornes Park Nurseries Project led by their Lead Volunteer, Roger Parkinson of Wakefield Tree Wardens Group.
Volunteers included Roger Parkinson himself, Arthur Lumb, Ken Sugden and Bob Haigh of The Broad Cut Breakfast Club (Canals & Rivers Trust Volunteers who have ‘adopted’ this stretch of the Canal from the Navigation pub to the Figure of Three Lock at Healey Bottom) and Rotarians Mike Rogers and Nick Bardsley.
We established boxes for a range of species, just in advance of nesting time, including Robin, Wren, Great Tit, Tree Creeper, Pipistrelle Bat and the less common Noctule Bat.
Roger’s son has the equipment to monitor the progress of these new habitats and any increase in bird and bat populations. I will feed back the results to the club and post them on this website, as and when we have them.
Thanks again to volunteers and members who voted in support of this community project.
- Written by Bill Sutton
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The Rotary Club of Horbury and Ossett Phoenix Trust Fund has announced that it has money available to fund suitable projects in the Horbury and Ossett and surrounding areas of Wakefield and Kirklees. The cash has been raised by a number of fund raising efforts by the Rotary Club over the past 12 months such as Horbury Show, Santa’s Sleigh and the Christmas raffle. Rotary Club President Neil Kirkham said, “ We raise money to support both local and international good causes, but by far the majority of what we raise goes back into our local community and that is the area we wish to target with an appeal for community, youth, sporting groups and individuals, to come forward and apply for financial assistance. We are anticipating making grants/donations in the region of £400 each but will consider both larger and smaller requests for funding.”
Any organisation or individual wishing to make an application should contact the Rotary Club by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. before the request deadline of the 15th of March. An application form will be provided and given due consideration by our committees. Decisions will be made and applicants will be notified before the end of April with successful applicants also being invited to a presentation evening, to be held on Friday the 25th of May this year.
Previous application invitations have resulted in our providing equipment and team strips for youth sports teams; assistance with gaining coaching qualifications for adults involved in junior sport; the purchase of specialist equipment for individuals with additional needs; personal development courses for young people e.g. Outward Bound, Operation Raleigh; the provision of furnishings or decorations for those in need and Christmas meals for the elderly.
In the last 18 months the Trust Fund has spent over £28,000 benefitting local Schools (Horbury, Ossett, Ossett Towngate, Middlestown), Youth Leadership scheme, Outward Bound, Local Scouts, Local Junior Sports teams (Horbury Town, Sandal Minis + Juniors, Thornhill Trojans) Gifts for the Elderly and Hyacinths for the Blind or partially sighted, Wakefield Sight Aid, replacing seats in Carr Lodge park, large donations to Yorkshire Air Ambulance, 2 donations to local Flood Appeals at the start of 2017 as well as donations to various International Projects from Disaster Aid to educational projects.