Village Questionnaire

The response to the village questionnaire was excellent with nearly 200 being returned. It's taken us quite some time to collate the responses and formulate an action plan but you can now see the results.
If you go to the 'What We Do' page on the website, there are three links which (providing you've got Adobe Reader or similar) will download (a) the collated results from the questionnaires (b) the analysis and commentary and (c) the action plan which the council has drawn up.

The exercise is important to the parish council as it enables us to focus on issues which are of general concern to residents.

Parish Council News 2 - August 2012

Due to there being no meeting in August, and as I am writing this before the September meeting it has been a fairly quiet period for the Parish Council.

The standard of grass cutting or lack of it, in the village continues to be closely monitored. The Councillors know this is one area which causes more complaints from the residents than anything and there have been letters, emails, meetings and phone calls made to both ISOS and Northumberland County Council as a result.  

Following on from the recent flood in Castle View Estate, Northumbrian Water has discovered some of the drains were blocked. Once these have been cleared, which should help minimise risk of flooding in future, it is hoped that a similar operation will be carried out in the Dene Garth Area. Thanks to those residents who have put the time and effort in assisting with the Councillors and authorities.

Having marvelled at the Olympics and the Paralympics, one of our brave Councillors took part in the recent Ovington Water Races, representing the Parish of Ovingham. Despite a hard fought race, the victor was the Parish of Ovington. Training will start early for next year.

Margaret Davenport

Parish Council News - August 2012

There was no Parish Council meeting in August but the next meeting is on 20^th September.

Following the recent floods, meetings have been held, on site, between some of our Councillors, residents and representatives from the authorities concerned such as NWater, Northumberland County Council and the Environment Agency. Progress appears to have been made for Dene Garth area with local landowners agreeing to carry out some recommendations made by the environment agency.

Following on from the recent success of the Ovilympics, it is hoped that this can be repeated next year. Ovingham Parish Council is extremely grateful for all the hard work by Councillor Holden and his large group of volunteers and appreciates that the event could not have taken place without them. Well done to everyone concerned!

Work is to be started soon on addressing some of the untidy areas of the village such as strimming back brambles etc at the top of Horsley Road and by Piper Road and also repairing fencing by North Meadows and Sunningdale Bungalow area. The Churchyard also needs tidying up and ivy removed from the walls.

Margaret Davenport

Wylam Road Closure

Northumberland County Council have just informed us that the C254 road to Wylam will be closed for possibly three days sometime between 6 August until 13 September.
This is due to Northumbrian Water installing a new water main.

You will have noticed that there are serious earthworks going on in the field to the north of the road close to the Hermitage. Looks like Northumbrian Water need to link this up with the extraction plant on the riverbank.
Diversion signs will be put in place.

Ovilympics - how it went.

After several months of planning and fund raising and with the weather being very kind on the day, the Ovilympics 2012 took place on the playing field on 14th July.

The afternoon's activities included Space Hopper, sack, egg and spoon and mini-sprint track races, wellie wanging and a tug o' war. Tynedale Harriers kindly organised and sponsored four serious one-mile perimeter races. The winners' achievements were celebrated with gold, silver and bronze medals on a specially built podium. Medals were presented by Bill Jordon, a 2012 Olympic Relay torch runner and Kevin Forster, 1988 Seoul Olympics marathon runner.

Stamina was maintained with the provision of refreshments from the pavilion, Rea's ice cream and the Hungry Elephant with their spectacular tent. Competitions alternated with entertainment by the Electric Band, Floralprint, Dean, a yet-to-be-named band from Ovingham Middle School and dance routines by Energize. All young and all so talented. Stalls provided a mixture of fun and information. You could make your own health drink on The Smoothy Bike, slide down the bouncy castle, get your face painted, make crafty things and even get your blood pressure checked. The Beat-the-Goalie goalie was still saving penalties three hours after the event had finished!

The event was very well attended and feedback has been very positive and encouraging. It wouldn't have been possible were it not for the tremendous amount of preparation done by the twenty plus volunteers on the planning team. The Reading Room committee has also been very supportive both with practical help and by providing marquees, gazebos and loads of other equipment needed for the event.

After a short break to catch their breath, the planning team aim to get together in a few weeks to make a start thinking about next year.
Now the bunting is down and the marquees packed away, the field looks very bare ... except for the youngsters happily playing there.

Ovilympics - 14 July 2012

Plans are just about finalised to ensure that the Ovilympics will be a great, fun, inexpensive, family afternoon out.
We have loads of competitions and entertainment lined up. There are loads of medals and trophies to be won and photo opportunities with an Olympic marathon athlete and an Olympic Torch Relay runner complete with torch.

We hope you can be there.

Wylam Road - Closure

N'land County Council have just informed us that a Traffic Order has been taken out to close the Wylam Road - the C254.
Northumbrian Water need to install a new water main near 'The Hermitage' and although they only expect the road to be closed for three days, the Traffic Order is from 6 August to 13 September.
Signs will be put in place earlier to advise motorists of the closure and diversion signs will also be installed.