Singers from Pudsey are part of Voices of Yorkshire
By Paul Parker
A choir which meets weekly in Pudsey is welcoming new members.
Organisers say Voices of Yorkshire is an ‘incredibly laid-back, supportive and non-judgmental environment’ at its Monday evening. meetings.
Sally Anne Lawrence said: “We have so many amazing events planned for 2024, performing at venues across Yorkshire and raising lots for charities big and small in the process. Joining us now means you’ll be able to take part in all of this alongside the nicest people you could ever wish to meet.
“No experience is necessary – just a love of singing! All abilities welcomed.”
Voices of Yorkshire are re-starting after the Christmas break on Monday, 15 January at Pudsey Wellbeing Centre, 7.45pm to 8.45pm.
“Life’s about making the best of the cards that you’ve been dealt,” says Will Bonner. “And wheelchair basketball is what’s allowing me to make friends, experience different cultures and show that everyone can develop resilience through effort and application in their chosen sport.”
Twenty-five-year-old Bonner grew up in Wortley and is still based in West Leeds, but since September last year has been playing for a team from Feurs in central France, about an hour’s drive west of Lyons.
“I’d played elsewhere in France before and in Spain but got this opportunity through my former British junior team coach. The pay as such isn’t brilliant but the team covers my living expenses and they’ve made me welcome. I’m back in France from mid-January to finish the season and hope they’ll keep me on for next season. That will also give me time to improve my French.”
Former Swallow Hill student Bonner has played for several British teams and was selected for the junior British team, the England North team and the sport’s Premier League. He’s also obtained a diploma in the sport.
He said: “My ambition is to represent Britain at the Paralympics, but you’d be surprised at how many highly skilled players there are.
“My philosophy is that I will see where this journey takes me and continue to play to the best of my ability, and I always encourage aspiring players to train hard and play even harder as they garner experience listening to coaches and learning from their peers.”
Wheelchair basketball was first introduced in the US to help rehabilitate injured WW2 veterans. The sport was first played in Britain in the 1960s and received recognition as a paralympic sport at the Arnhem Games in 1980 following the formation of the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation.
Spider-Y is the Leeds team training at Morley Leisure Centre on Tuesday evenings. Those interested in trying out the sport can contact the team on 07581 745428. Further details are available here.
Farsley Celtic Women strike early. Photo: Ivor Hughes
Photos: Ivor Hughes
It was seventh heaven for Farsley Celtic Women after they secured their place in the next round of the League Cup with an emphatic 7-0 victory over Goole at The Citadel.
Two goals from Georgia Bull and a 30-yard effort from Shirley Murphy put The Celts 3-0 up at half time.
A Lauren Rigby wonder strike on the hour mark gave the home side their fourth goal, before late strikes from Vicky Robinson, a second from Shirley Murphy and a goal from Evie Smith wrapped up the scoring.
The Celts showed few signs of rustiness despite a six-week layoff between matches due to winter weather and the festive break. They were wearing their new kit for the first time, sponsored on the front by Victoria Joinery (Yorkshire) Ltd, and Growlers Pies on the back.
Photographer Ivor Hughes was on hand to capture the best of the action. Here’s a gallery of 10 of his photos:
With Calverley’s Old Hall due to re-open this year following major refurbishment, Landmark Trust, the owners, are commissioning a £13,000 project to help design and deliver workshops about the hall and its history.
Landmark has appealed for a freelance creative practitioner and theatre company to deliver the Crafting Cultures project, which will focus on the revival of the hall. The project will offer a varied programme of activities based on the £1.6m refurbishment, discoveries made during the work and the hall’s past including the Calverley murders.
As well as the restoration and history, the project will include:
A community programme focussed on bringing together local residents, refugees, disenfranchised young people and the heritage world.
The creation of the holiday let to sleep 10, a community base, garden, and residential flat.
A craft training programme giving people chance to learn new skills
Calverley Old Hall
The proposed workshops will be offered to people in the wider Leeds and Bradford areas to help raise awareness of heritage and history and take the form of a performance, audio recording, a piece of creative writing, poetry performance or display of some sort.
Landmark says the workshops should aim to explore the circumstances around the Calverley murders, touching on themes such as mental health, gambling and debt, legal/justice systems, journalism and press coverage exploring the historic events in a way that is meaningful to audiences now.
The project is offering £8,500 to the freelance practitioners and associated artists, with £2,500 for materials and equipment and outcome costs (event/display etc) of £2,000. Full details are on thewebsite. The closing date for expressions of interest is January 15.
Calverley Old Hall, on Woodhall Road, is a grade 1* listed building, dates back to the 12th century. It developed to become a Tudor hall of some importance and owned by the family who gave their name to the village.
However following the murders in 1607 and the family being on the wrong side in the catholic/protestant conflicts, it was eventually sold, divided up and being used as a farm and living quarters for centuries before being partly destroyed by fire in the 1970s.
The Landmark Trust bought the hall in 1981. It was partly developed as holidays lets, though was very rundown and put on English Heritage’s At Risk register. It was thanks to the £1.6m grant from the Lottery in 2021 that the hall was saved and now after three years of work, it will be ready to re-open as a holiday let to sleep 10, with a room for the local community.
An artist's impression of the new Pudsey Grammar sixth form block.
By John Baron
Detailed plans for a £4 million ‘post-16’ centre at Pudsey Grammar School have been submitted to Leeds City Council for consideration.
The proposed new block will create 134 additional sixth form learning places in eight dedicated classrooms, along with breakout spaces, additional staff offices and a dedicated sixth form learning space with IT facilities.
An artist’s impression of the new Pudsey Grammar sixth form block.
It’s hoped the state of the art building would alleviate existing pressure on existing teaching spaces within the school and create a safe and secure educational environment for sixth form students, away from the main student body.
A planning statement accompanying the application stated: “The proposal will provide 950 square metres of accommodation over two storeys, utilising green renewable energy sources that are to be contained within the building.”
The proposed sixth form building would be accessed from North Street.
In May 2023 the Department for Education (DfE) awarded a grant of £4m for the design and build of a ‘post-16’ block at Pudsey Grammar School (PGS). The estimated construction costs for the block are £3.3m.
As WLD revealed in September, separate proposals by Luminate Education Group for a new £13 million Pudsey Sixth Form College on a playing pitch off Kent Road were delayed due to ‘unforeseen challenges’. The building received planning permission from Leeds City Council last May and had been due to open in September 2024. No new opening date for the facility, which will cater for 600 students, has been given.
Heads up: Allan and Misambo challenge for the ball against Scarborough. Photo: John McEvoy
By John Baron
Battling Farsley Celtic earned a hard-fought point on the road at Curzon Ashton – but may well feel they should be returning to West Yorkshire with all three points.
The Celts twice hit the woodwork in a frantic first half which saw the home keeper in inspired form. Curzon also had their chances, but Farsley keeper Zan Luk Leban pulled off some fine saves against their promotion-seeking hosts.
It was another strong performance on the road by The Celts as they look to build another unbeaten run following narrow back to back defeats against league leaders Scunthorpe over Christmas.
Farsley were the better side in the first half. Clayton Donaldson headed over from Noah Wadsworth’s free-kick in the third minute before Tom Allan warmed keeper Mason’s hands with a 30-yard drive. The keeper then had to be alert to keep out Michael Coulson’s low free kick.
Great play from Donaldson led to Atkinson having a deflected effort which came off the post after 19 minutes, and six minutes later The Celts rattled the woodwork again. A ball into the box from Allan is headed across goal by Carroll but Coulson’s header clattered the crossbar.
Leban saved well for The Celts as the hosts slowly clawed their way into the game, but on 43 minutes there was a big penalty shout for Farsley as Allan was dragged down in the box, Moments later Atkinson had a half chance but couldn’t get a shot away.
The second half saw Curzon start the stronger. Five minutes in and Leban made a great stop to deny Richards’ free-kick and a few minutes later the Farsley keeper was out well to deny Jimmy Spencer, who was played through on goal.
Farsley came close on the hour when Allan powered a header goalwards from an Atkinson corner, but it was blocked and Curzon survived a goalmouth scramble. A Rudy Misambo header then went wide from a corner and Branson’s superb strike from outside of the area just whistled past the post.
Curzon then ramped up the pressure as the game entered the final ten minutes. Rhys Hughes’ free-kick tested Leban again, and a Curzon diving header went just wide of the post.
Leban then got down well to deny Spencer a potential winner just three minutes from time.
There was still time for Farsley to snatch it and they came agonisingly close in the 95th minute when Donaldson battled through on the right but his effort was superbly saved by Mason in Curzon’s goal.
The game ended in a creditable draw for the away side in a goalless game that didn’t lack incident or chances.
Next Saturday Farsley entertain high fliers Scarborough at The Citadel.
The new troublesome swing bridge linked to the Airedale Mills development. Picture courtesy of Leeds City Council/YouTube.
By John Baron
Councillors will once again debate plans for ‘affordable’ housing at the Airedale Mills site in Rodley next Thursday afternoon.
Full planning permission for 67 houses on the site, off Moss Bridge Lane, was approved last June, despite concerns in the community.
The planning permission included a commitment by the developer for 15% of the properties to be classed as affordable housing. Now, applicant Rodley Ltd has applied to alter that commitment to give them the option of a developer building a 100% affordable/rented housing scheme.
Councillors sitting on the plans south and west panel will meet at the Civic Hall next Thursday afternoon to discuss the variation of original planning permission.
Rodley Nature Reserve have commented on the application, saying it is important that the development is owned and operated by a single entity with adequate resources to guarantee, in perpetuity, bridge operation and therefore access to the site. Reliability issues with the operation of the newly-installed swing bridge to the site have led to much debate in the community.
WLD has reported extensively on this ongoing planning saga over the years. Last August we reported a social housing providerwas set to take on the site.
Visit: From let, Cllr Andy Parnham, Phil Wisher, Cllr Salma Arif, Josh Wisher, Reece, Deputy Centre Manager
Councillors have said they are delighted to visit a new children’s and young people’s boxing project at Armley Leisure Centre.
The boxing classes are led by local boxer Josh Wisher who runs the Ministry of Boxing Gym, are held each Thursday at Armley Leisure Centre between 3.45pm and 4.45pm.
The sessions are open to eight to 16 year olds, either by dropping in or booked in advance at the leisure centre. They are free to attend with light refreshments provided.
They began following conversations between the Active Leeds Team, and other local partners from Leeds City Council and West Yorkshire Police which identified a need to tackle anti-social behaviour locally. Officers have worked to build trust within the local community, identify the type of activities which young people are interested in and how they can provide support.
The suggestion of boxing sessions was identified, and the Active Leeds team who had connections with boxers Josh Warrington and Josh Wisher, opened up a conversation with the Ministry of Boxing.
The boxing sessions have been well received with between 10 to 15 young people attending each one.
Councillor Andy Parnham, (Labour, Armley) said: “It’s fantastic that the young people have worked with Active Leeds, the police, Safer Neighbourhoods ASB team, Community Locality Officers and the Positive Futures team to find a positive solution.
“My ward colleagues, Cllr Smart, Cllr McKenna and I would like to thank Josh and Phil Wisher from the Ministry of Boxing for providing these excellent boxing sessions that are having such a brilliant impact locally. As a boxer who takes the time to get involved in his community, Josh is a fantastic role model for young people.”
Councillor Salma Arif, Executive Member for adult social care, oublic health and active lifestyles, said: “It was great to visit the boxing sessions, and see what we can do on a local level, to tackle anti-social behaviour in a proactive way.
“I’m really proud of the Team Leeds approach that has been taken, with significant health and wellbeing benefits for those involved.”
The ladies’ one-hour session at The Ministry of Boxing, in Moorfield Road, is free of charge 11am on Saturday, 6 January. The session offers boxing training for fitness.
Volunteers Mia Strebakowski and Tina Weinriech pictured with some of the seasonal greetings cards already donated to the recycling project.
By Andy Dalton
Leeds City Mission in Mistress Lane, Armley, is appealing for people to save their old, used greetings cards and put them to good use.
They hope to collect thousands of now-redundant cards after the Christmas season and reuse them. Enthusiastic volunteers plan to take up their crimping scissors and craft individual gift tags from donated cards for use next Christmas.
They ran a similar project in 2023. An incredible total of 2938 greetings cards were donated by readers of the West Leeds Dispatch and other supporters. City Mission volunteers were able to create 5170 gift tags. These were then distributed free of charge in the run up to Christmas to the delight of many recipients.
Their successful efforts have inspired them to repeat the project this year on a larger scale. The more cards they receive, the more they hope to produce for next Christmas. Their plan is to exceed this year’s total and produce over 6,000 new gift tags to give away.
A spokesman for Leeds City Mission said: “Readers of the West Leeds Dispatch rallied to last year’s appeal and we are asking them to do it again. This is a great opportunity to create something of worth out of waste. Please let us have your cards the next time you are shopping in Armley Town Street.”
Greetings Cards can be dropped off at the Mission Room – the base of Leeds City Mission. This is the last public building at the end of Town Street and is diagonally opposite Armley Library. Volunteers at the Mission Room will gladly receive donations of no-longer-needed cards anytime between 10.30am – 2.30pm Mondays to Fridays (not Wednesday)
Leeds City Mission is a Christian agency which has worked with marginalised people over three centuries since 1837 and seeks to meet the physical, social and spiritual needs of Leeds residents.
Leeds City Council has provided an update on the process it will follow while dealing with a number of recent applications from Leeds Bradford Airport relating to night-time flying.
The council received four new Certificate of Lawful Existing Use or Development (CLEUD) applications from the airport last month.
Applications, which have today been published in full on the council’s public access planning system, relate to whether certain aircraft movements are permitted at night from Leeds Bradford. They were submitted at the same time as a request from the airport for four previous CLEUD applications to be withdrawn.
The council can now confirm that, in line with national government legislation and guidance, it is undertaking a call for evidence from third parties in relation to two of the new applications.
This means that the council is seeking relevant factual evidence – such as flight data, flight times, flight frequency and size of aircraft – relating to the specific operations at Leeds Bradford outlined in the two applications.
It is important to note that a call for evidence is different to a ‘public consultation’, with general comments, objections and opinions not being invited as they cannot be taken into account during the determination process.
Coun Helen Hayden, Leeds council’s executive member for sustainable development and infrastructure, said: “The call for evidence means that third parties, including members of the public, have an opportunity to provide relevant evidence on these two applications.
“It must be stressed, however, that decisions on the applications cannot take into account evidence or comments which fall outside the determination process’s tightly-defined parameters. These parameters are not set by planning authorities such as the council, they are laid down in national law.”
Submissions must relate to the period covered by the airport’s evidence, which is January 1, 2008, through to December 23, 2019.
The call for evidence relates to the two applications (23/07489/CLE and 23/07490/CLE) for which the airport has submitted flight movement data.
In October, GALBA (Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport), accused the airport of breaking its night-time flight quota by nearly 500 flights. The airport has repeatedly denied such claims, insisting it was under the limit under its “interpretation” of the rules.
People who have relevant evidence relating to the two applications are asked to email the information – including any verifying details – to the council at planning@leeds.gov.uk no later than Friday, January 26.
An application to sell booze 21 hours a day at a New Wortley convenience store has today been refused by city councillors.
Booze Plus, on the junction between Tong Road and St Mary’s Close, currently sells alcohol for consumption off premises between 8am and 11pm Monday to Saturday and 10am-10.30pm on Sundays. Its new application would have seen those hours extended to 6am to 3am every day.
But councillors on the licensing sub committee refused Mr Saqib Ahmed’s application, raising concerns over its impact on crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour in the area.
The applicant’s counsel, Ms Bell, argued the store was a traditional corner shop serving the local community off a busy main road, and that the late-night opening was aimed at shift workers from local factories who often leave work at 1am.
She said her client had an excellent and unblemished record running a similar 24-hour establishment in Hyde Park and hit back at ‘speculative’ and ‘general’ objections from police, the council, councillors and local residents which failed to include specific concerns.
Police had objected on the grounds that New Wortley is a deprived and densely populated area of Leeds with its existing problems with anti-social behaviour, congregating youths and crime. There were also concerns that street drinkers from Armley Town Street could come down to Tong Road and that the application could create a night-time economy’ where none currently exists.
PCSO Brendan Counsell pointed to issues with a lack of parking and the noise impact on local residents at 3am. He Added: “This is one of the most densely-populated area of Armley and it would create a night-time economy in a part of Armley which frankly doesn’t need or want one and is already troubled by alcohol-related anti-social behaviour.”
Cllr Andy Parnham.
Councillor Andy Parnham (Lab, Armley) spoke against the application on behalf of his fellow councillors and Rachel Reeves MP. He said: “We strongly object to the extension of this licence. It would be a disaster for the area.”
He said there was a ‘cluster’ of anti-social behaviour, crime and violence in the area.
Police and the council’s environmental health department have already objected to the latest proposals, alongside Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves and Armley’s councillors, mainly on the grounds of public nuisance in a residential area.
Mr Ahmed’s latest proposals say a suitable CCTV system will be in operation to deter anti-social behaviour, a register of the designated licence supervisor and incident logs will be kept and the premises will operate a Challenge 25 policy to deter under-age drinking.
The committee of three councillors – including Cllr Tom Hinchcliffe (Lab, Bramley & Stanningley) – refused the application due to ‘shared concerns’ over repeated crime and disorder in the area and the likelihood of the application increasing existing social problems. They said they did not doubt Mr Ahmed’s ability as a licensee or the way he runs his shop but said the measures he had agreed to put in place would not have tackles the wider issues.
