COMMUNITY CAFE IST BIRTHDAY

 

 Long Eaton café dedicated to providing free breakfasts celebrated its first anniversary on Monday, May 20th. Since opening last year the Petersham Community Breakfast Café has provided more than 1000 breakfasts on Monday mornings to locals. Clients were invited to a special birthday celebration at the café to enjoy some home-made birthday cake and party games with prizes, after tucking in to the usual Monday morning breakfast. Situated in The Petersham Hall on Grasmere Road, Long Eaton, the project is run by Hope Long Eaton, a local group with a Christian ethos.

“The café offers free breakfasts for everyone who comes along and is currently open on a Monday morning between 9am-12 pm,” said project co-ordinator Carl McCarthy.

In addition to providing meals the café operates as a centre for local residents get advice and support on a variety of issues. A Citizens Advice worker is available to offer help, and local councillors hold surgeries there. For the unemployed Hope Long Eaton recently opened a job club which runs alongside the café between 10am and 12 pm. Here clients receive helpful advice on creating an effective CV, job interview skills and job search.

For those on low income worried about high energy bills the café’s volunteers will search for the cheapest tariff, as well as making benefit checks to make sure people are getting all they are entitled to.

“The problems facing some of the people coming to us can include homelessness, debt, unemployment and benefit delay,” added Carl.

“And not everyone who turns up is experiencing hardship. Many of those coming here just want to pop in for a chat and make new friends in the community.”

One offer here too are craft activities, games and a small play area for young children. Run and staffed by mainly Christian volunteers, the initiative has been funded by Derbyshire Public Health and relies on donations of food which come from Tesco, Asda, The Co-op and local charity the Canaan Trust.

“The breakfast café is about far more than food. Through God’s love we want help people in need, create a spirit of community and restore people’s faith in humanity,” commented Carl.

Hope is looking to enlarge its operations to run more activities and is now seeking funding and volunteers for this. If you feel you could help contact the team on 07838357262 or email hopelongeaton@gmail.com or go to the Facebook page Hope Long Eaton.

YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE A SAY ON HS2

PIC2 Wilsthorpe School pupils deciding what elements to incorporate into their ideal HS2 station

Young people in Erewash have been giving their ideas on what they would like to see as part of Britain’s new railway, High Speed 2 (HS2).

In an interactive workshop run by HS2 Ltd, members of Erewash Youth Forum were tasked with taking on the role of station builders. They chose which elements to add to their preferred building design while also considering the customer experience, environmental impacts and managing the project – just like the real thing.

Administered by Erewash Borough Council, Erewash Youth Forum is supported by Derbyshire County Council and 9 local schools, including Bennerley Fields School in Ilkeston, who hosted the HS2-themed event on Tuesday 14th May. Kim Soucy, Senior Engagement Advisor, HS2 Ltd, said:

“We are building a railway for the next 100 years and, as our future passengers, it is vital that young people are kept informed of HS2’s development whilst also having a say in what their future rail network will look like.

It’s important we consider their forward-looking ideas to future-proof the railway for successive generations, and I was really impressed with the concepts suggested by members of Erewash Youth Forum. Not only were they well-thought out, mature and realistic, they offered innovative ideas about the railway design and passenger experience.”

East Midlands Hub

From 2033, passengers in the region will beserved by a new East Midlands Hub adjacent to Erewash in Toton, which will provide high-speed connections to core UK cities including Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham and London.

As the best connected station on the new high speed network outside of the capital, and with enhanced classic rail, tram and bus services, the East Midlands Hub will ensure people in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire are well placed to benefit from HS2. In addition, HS2 services will also serve Chesterfield, ensuring that the whole region can benefit from new, improved and faster rail services.

Olivia Guy is a Year 9 pupil at Wilsthorpe School in Long Eaton. She said:

“As a group, we really thought about how we could make the station experience better for every kind of passenger who will use HS2. We proposed a design that was eco-friendly yet not too expensive, but also offered entertainment while you wait for your train.”

Train travel now is very hectic and it’s often difficult getting a seat. HS2 will get you places quicker but will also ensure there is enough room for everyone to sit down on its trains.

 

Ideas
Some ideas for the East Midlands Hub suggested by the pupils included installing gender neutral toilets, utilising face scanners instead of physical tickets and incorporating wildlife habitats into the building’s structure. William Holt is a Year 10 pupil at Saint John Houghton Catholic Voluntary Academy in Ilkeston. He said:

 “For people my age, HS2 offers incredible job prospects for the future. I am looking to go into engineering, a field which the UK already excels at, but HS2 really puts the cherry on top.”

Other ideas generated at the event included offering colour coded and sound enhanced environments to aid visually impaired and hard of hearing passengers, utilising recycled materials to build the station and installing a community garden to provide produce for the station’s cafés and restaurants.

 

Erewash Youth Forum

Consisting of representatives aged 11 to 19, Erewash Youth Forum meets 5 times a year and aims to listen and speak for the young people of Erewash. The Forum aims to promote equality among young people, ensuring they are more involved in decisions that affect their lives and advance their participation in society and civic life.

Over 30,000 people will play a role in delivering Britain’s new high speed railway, and HS2 is investing in young people now to leave a lasting legacy for the future.

HS2 Ltd’s education ambassadors will be working with pupils – ahead of the choices they will make over whether college, work or university is the right path to take – knowing that today’s teenagers are the ones that could be constructing HS2 as it extends from the Midlands to the North by 2033, or driving the high-speed trains of the future.

 

BIKE STOLEN FROM TRENT COLLEGE

Officers from the Long Eaton Safer Neighbourhood Team have released an image of a man they would like to speak to about a theft of a bike. The theft happened at Trent College, Derby Road, Long Eaton on Saturday, May 11, between 12 midday and 4pm. A white Raleigh bike was stolen after the padlock was cut. Do you recognise the man in the image? If so, please make contact with the team using any of the following contact methods, quoting reference number 19*241286:

Facebook – send us a private message to /DerbyshireConstabulary
Twitter – direct message our contact centre on @DerPolContact
Website – complete the online contact form www.derbyshire.police.uk/Contact-Us.
Phone – call us on 101.
You can also anonymously contact the independent charity Crimestoppers, on 0800 555 111 or by visiting www.crimestoppers-uk.org.

EREWASH REMAINS BLUE