Pink power: The fundraiser raised more than £1,600 for Candlelighters. Photo: Simon Cullingworth
Words: Jean Hollings
Photos: Simon Cullingworth
On a late February Saturday afternoon people turned out to support Wortley runner Stacy Procter and her army of pink fundraisers for Candlelighters.
Stalls at St John’s Church in Wortley varied from new toys, cakes, sweets, personalised gifts/chocolates by ‘Novelty Chocolates Bars & Treats’ plus face painting – and organisers were surprised by the huge support in the room.
With over 150 bottles of alcohol, the bottle tombola was a success and was the first to sell out. The gift tombola just held on until the end.
Sea of pink: The fundraiser, at St John’s Church in Wortley, drew the cross. Photo: Simon Cullingworth
The main raffle took 20 minutes to complete due to the generous number of donations – well done to all the winners.
A staggering amount of over £1,680 was raised and will be greatly appreciated by Candlelighters.
One of the fundraising stalls yesterday. Photo: Simon Cullingworth
Ellie Durkan, a student from Salford University, made the journey home to perform (sing and play the guitar) live especially for the event.
Salford University student Ellie Durkan sang and played the guitar at the event. Photo: Simon Cullingworth
Stacy, a member of the Bramley Breezers running group who has held numerous fundraisers for Yorkshire-based children’s cancer charity Candlelighters, made an emotional ‘thank you’ speech to close the event.
The event will be back in next February – look out for details nearer the date.
Lucy was resting in Armley, near Charlie Cake Park. Photo: Mark Stevenson
Words & Photos: Mark Stevenson
I was on a walkabout around the Armley area when I noticed Lucy’s legs. They got my attention so much I went and introduced myself.
Lucy’s friend told me they had walked from Seacroft the day before and had just been resting up on their way to Bradford.
I asked Lucy’s friend if I could take a photo or two of them both, to which she agreed.
I was speaking to Lucy’s friend (Lucy is the horse in the photos) and her husband and they told me they were English gypsies and that her partner had built the ‘caravan’ that they live in.
I asked them if they knew the tale of Charlie Cake (the park just over the road from where they were resting in Armley is named a local peddler who used to rest his horse up in the area, just like they were doing with Lucy). He also used to sell cakes – read the full story here.
Farsley Celtic players celebrate Jimmy Spencer's opener. Photo: John McEvoy
Words: Thomas Ritchie
Photos: John McEvoy/@leedsshots
Farsley Celtic won for the first time in the league in over three months as they defeated promotion-chasing Kidderminster Harriers 2-1.
It was a thoroughly deserved three points for the Celts – Russ Wilcox’s first since taking charge – as the Celts took the game to the visitors, with goals from Jimmy Spencer and Will Hayhurst securing the victory.
Jimmy Spencer nets the Celts’ opening goal against Kidderminster. Photo: John McEvoy
Both sides found it difficult to create any openings early on at the Citadel, but the contest sprang to life midway through the first half when Farsley broke the deadlock.
Kidderminster failed to deal with a Will Hayhurst delivery from the left, and it fell to Jimmy Spencer on the edge of the box who picked out the bottom corner with a terrific half-volley finish.
Big punch from Farsley’s Kyle Trennery to clear his lines. Photo: John McEvoy
Man-of-the-match Spencer was sensational throughout the afternoon as he caused all sorts of problems for Kidderminster’s defence, picking the ball up deep, holding the ball up, and bringing his teammates into the game.
And it could have been two for Farsley shortly after, with the impressive Kennedy Digie striking the upright after the Harriers once again were asked questions by a Hayhurst cross.
However, on the stroke of half-time, the scores were levelled. Trenerry mis-controlled a ball over the top before bringing down Amari Morgan-Smith, with Ashley Hemmings punishing the error from the spot.
Jimmy Spencer shields the ball against two kidderminster defenders. Photo: John McEvoy
Despite the equaliser, the same pattern of play resumed after the break, with Farsley the side looking to push things forward, and they were rewarded with just over 20 minutes remaining.
Nathan Cameron blocked Adam Clayton’s cross with his arm, before Will Hayhurst found the bottom corner with his spot-kick.
The Celts’ best chance to put the game to bed arrived within two minutes as a superb ball from Chris Atkinson found Jerome Greaves, whose first-time volley was denied superbly by Luke Simpson.
A tussle for the ball as Farsley defend a second-half Kidderminster attack. Photo: John McEvoy
As the 90 minutes drew to a close, both sides were reduced to 10 men in the space of two minutes, as Farsley’s Chris Atkinson and Kidderminster’s Joe Foules both received their marching orders for second cautions. Farsley manager Russ Wilcox also received a red card.
Farsley manager Wilcox was sent off for throwing the ball away. Photo: John McEvoy
At 10 versus 10 for eight tense minutes of stoppage time, the visitors threw everything at Farsley, with Trenerry having to make one excellent stop to deny Matt Lowe.
But the Celts stood strong, with Adam Clayton and Kennedy Digie dealing with the repeated long balls into the box superbly.
Post-match reaction
After the match Russ Wilcox welcomed the Celts’ first three points since November, which put them level on points with Telford at the bottom of the table:
New signing Kennedy Digie said the Celts got the result they deserved:
New Wortley Community Association was established in 1982 and registered as a limited company in 1981. The Association was formed in response to the death of a young boy in a road accident outside where the community centre is now.
One of the founders – Bob – explained in the Yorkshire Evening Post:
“There had been a series of accidents on the main road here. The community association had written to everybody but nobody paid any notice. I remember getting off the bus on my way home one time; seeing this little boy’s body by the side of the road – he had been hit by a coming truck.
“A public meeting was held and we decided to block the road off, until someone put a pelican crossing there. The community here was solid and united in their cause. So we blocked the road off and the police arrived in riot gear.
“Four of us got arrested, including me. In the end they did put a crossing in, but it shouldn’t have taken the sacrifice that it did.
“A lot of the people have lived around here for many years. We recognised that there was a need for a community centre. So we raised the money and through a government scheme we started this place. The association morphed from a campaigning group into managing a community centre; which is an entirely different animal.“
This is an example of a community coming together to improve their environment. Community spirit is at the heart of what New Wortley Community Centre tries to maintain for the area.
It’s a spirit that has been diluted and lost over time as our lives have been reshaped and cajoled into modern life by technology, finance and commercialism; out-of-town shopping has replaced the chance to go to the local iron mongers, the butchers and the bakers and catch up with the neighbours.
‘Concrete hutches’
Financially, affordable housing has isolated us in concrete hutches. Entertainment has all but disappeared as cinemas and dance halls have given way to anonymous multiplex entertainment centres in far-off retail and entertainment parks.
Kids no longer play in the streets, women no longer talk over the shopping lines that webbed between neighbour’s houses. Gamestations cocoon our youth into their bedrooms, and typing into their mobile phones in some strange new language, is deemed to be participating in social activity.
Ok so I’m old and I might have old-fashioned ideas and hark back to the past. I concede not everything was quaint and rose tinted.
New Wortley and Armley were working-class areas with poor healthcare, unemployment, poor working conditions. During the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century communal toilets, poor sanitation and the smog-filled air contributed to many diseases in particular chronic lung disease and cardiovascular disease among others.
Cleaner air, better nutrition and a fall in smoking numbers has improved things, but even in a public health survey in 2014 the area was still below the national average for health conditions.
I moved into Wortley Towers in 1981, probably just before NWCC was formed. For many years I kept myself to myself and had very little to do with the centre or even anyone in the local area. I spent my days at work and, like a lot of people, I locked myself in my flat when not working. I’m not certain if the NWCC building existed before 1982 but I’ve been told that it may have been a council property before that.
My memory of those early days were that the flats were filled with predominantly white English people whose ancestors may well have lived around here for years in the rows and rows of terraced housing that was demolished in the 1960’s national slum clearance schemes.
There was a much broader range of ages in the flats but towards the end of the 20th century things began to decline rapidly. Drugs, gang culture and alcoholism become much more prevalent. It seemed the council treated the flats like a halfway house between prison and oblivion, housing all the bad eggs in one basket.
Drugs den
By 2004 I was living next to a drug den that made my life so miserable I took to sleeping rough in my car. Fires were two or three times a week, fights in the carpark were common I even saw swords being waved about. The housing manager’s car was blown up. It would seem that about that time the council had decided enough was enough.
According to a Community Safety Action Plan produced in 2004 many of the problems of the area were to be addressed with the collaboration of police, West Leeds Housing, residents, schools and places like NWCC. At the time I was unaware of this but it did become clear that things started to improve over the next few years.
The demographics of the area began to change with an increased mixture of nationalities. Instead of having people who treated the flats like party town for anti-social behaviour, we now have people living there who are happy to have a home and respect their neighbours and their surroundings.
Building work at New Wortley Community Centre.
In 2015 The Big Lottery Funding granted money for a new centre to be built alongside the existing building.
Academics, Simon Warren and Craig Stott (pictured above), led the New Wortley Community Centre (NWCC) project every step of the way since plans began in 2009, before taking it on as their first major commission after founding the University’s Project Office back in 2013.
Local residents and workers at New Wortley Community Association at the opening of the centre extension in 2017. Photo: Cherry Bee Associates
The Project Office had been named as one of two winners in the ‘Live Projects Network’ category of the prestigious 2017 Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) Awards.
Heart of community: New Wortley Community Centre. Photo: Cherry Bee Associates
The covid pandemic has had a massive effect on the centre and the services that could be offered to the community.
While group social interactions were decimated, NWCC continued to help the community come through the worst with various means of support, including the food bank.
NWCC has now begun to rise in the pandemic’s wake and with the hard work and dedication of staff, volunteers and the community it can once again become the beating heart of the people it serves.
The Environment Agency is reminding anglers of the importance of having a rod licence after a West Leeds man was fined for fishing illegally.
Benjamin Pollard, 31, of Langley Road in Rodley, was fined £266 and ordered to pay costs of £127 and a victim surcharge of £34. He pleaded guilty to fishing without a licence at Humber Magistrates’ Court on February 9.
On 9 July 2021 an Environment Agency fisheries enforcement officer, who was on routine patrol, spoke to Pollard, who was found to be fishing without a licence at a popular fishing lake near Malton.
Peter Mischenko, fisheries officer for the Environment Agency in Yorkshire, said:
“It’s vital that anglers abide by the law to protect the future of the sport and the quality of our rivers and fisheries.
“We won’t hesitate to take action to stop illegal fishing and hopefully this will act as a deterrent for any angler thinking of cheating the system.“
“All money raised from rod licence sales is used to improve fish stocks and fisheries, benefiting anglers and the environment.”
Anglers can buy a rod fishing licence here, starting at £6. Those who fish illegally can be prosecuted and face a fine of up to £2,500. Illegal fishing can be reported to the Environment Agency on 0800 80 70 60.
Kirkstall Valley Farm flooded last month. Photo: KVDT
The organisation behind community run Kirkstall Valley Farm are appealing for helpers to clear the site following the recent floods.
Storm Franklin led to high water levels in the River Aire, with parts of the farmland off Kirkstall Road sitting under several feet of water as the Aire burst its banks.
The flooded farmland earlier this week. Photo: KVDT
Now the floodwaters have subsided, Kirkstall Valley Development Trust (KVDT) is appealing for members of the public to come forward and tidy up the farm and move some of the debris on the land.
Photo: KVDT
A spokesperson said:
“We’re having a big volunteer effort this Saturday, 26 February, 10am-12pm. e-mail kirkstallvalleyfarm@gmail.com for more information, all welcome.”
Kirkstall Valley Farm’s vegetable box distribution service resumed as normal earlier this week.
Farsley-bound: Mark Sinclair-Williams, John Gaunt and Lili Sinclair-Williams.
A mindfulness and wellbeing company is the latest company to announce it’s moving in to Farsley’s flourishing Sunny Bank Mills complex.
LSW London is relocating from the capital and is taking studio space in the recently refurbished Red Lane Mill.
During the past ten years family owned Sunny Bank Mills has been transformed into a modern office and mixed-use complex for the 21st century, creating 400 sustainable new jobs.
Lili Sinclair-Williams, the founder and creative director of LSW London, said:
“The location of Sunny Bank Mills in the centre of Farsley is perfect for us. We moved to the area in June 2020 and the mill has been a real draw for us – with its range of restaurants, bars, cafes and other exciting businesses. We’ve visited numerous times to enjoy all that SBM has to offer.
“We’ve experienced rapid growth in the past 18 months that has taken us from 30 stockists in the UK to over 600 stockists in 20 countries around the world. Over the next three years, we are going to expand our team, significantly increase our inventory levels and grow our distribution network – and we see Sunny Bank Mills as the perfect location to make this happen.
“Using my expertise as a therapist, I wanted to create wellbeing tools that were easy to use and accessible for everyone. Focusing on positive habits we repeat daily, I curated my favourite techniques into our first product, LSW Mind Cards. Today we have a full range of wellbeing and mindfulness products – including journals, cards and notebooks – selling in 20 countries around the world.”
Sunnybank joint managing director John Gaunt welcomed LSW London to Farsley and added: “Our efforts are now firmly focused on refurbishing the remaining space in the iconic 1912 Mill with 14,000 sq ft of quality office space over two floors available to let in a variety of configurations.”
LSW London was established in the capital in 2017.
Additional reporting: Richard Beecham, local democracy reporter
A new service tackling anti-social behaviour and noise in Headingley, Hyde Park, Little Woodhouse and Burley launched this week – thanks to a unique partnership between the council and the city’s two biggest universities.
The dedicated service is a national first, with Leeds Beckett University and University of Leeds funding overnight patrols, seven days a week, by council response officers.
The officers will work exclusively on noise and anti-social behaviour issues. They will carry out patrols to identify and stop potential issues from escalating while also providing capacity to respond to more calls, more quickly.
The partnership will provide additional call-handling capacity at weekends and during peak times throughout the year, including Freshers’ week and end of assessments.
In what is a significant investment by the universities, as well as a major commitment by the partnership to improve the communities, the service is supported by a new Community Coordinator to keep the service working and improving efficiently.
The partnership will monitor and regularly share updates on the performance and impact of the service, and hold termly meetings with residents’ association leaders.
Community members can also join a network of ‘key individuals’ to complete short, regular feedback surveys to help to develop the service. Please e-mail dedicatedservice@leeds.gov.uk if you live, work or run a business in the area and can spare a few minutes every month.
Councillor James Lewis, Leader of Leeds City Council, said:
“While universities make an incredibly positive contribution to Leeds’ culture and economy, we also recognise that some issues can arise in all communities with a student population.
“While these issues are not unique to Leeds, our response is. The dedicated service is a national first, building on years of partnership and listening to communities.”
Professor Peter Slee, Vice Chancellor of Leeds Beckett University, said:
“Leeds’ 70,000 students contribute significantly to the city’s economy and the majority play a positive role in their communities. This service recognises community concerns over the minority that behave inappropriately, and strengthens the partnership’s ability to respond to and deal with that behaviour.”
Professor Simone Buitendijk, vice chancellor of the University of Leeds, added:
“Together with our other partners across the city, we recognise the significant impact that noise and anti-social behaviour can have in the communities in which our students live.
“The introduction of this dedicated service is an important step forward for our collective approach in preventing as well as responding to these issues.”
Reporting concerns
In spite of the new dedicated patrol service, there are no changes to how anti-social behaviour and noise nuisance are reported.
5pm to 4am every day – 0113 3760337
Between 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday, or if you do not require an immediate response, call 0113 222 4402
E-mail dedicatedservice@leeds.gov.uk if you live, work or run a business in the area and are interested in joining a network of ‘key individuals’ and giving feedback, which should take no longer than a few minutes every month.
Clearing up student waste discussed by councillors
A Leeds city councillor claimed student areas of Leeds were “an absolute state” when it comes to waste management, and called on landlords to shoulder more responsibility when it comes to clearing up mess left each year.
The comments came during a discussion on how to improve the quality of the private rented sector in Leeds during the council’s Environment Scrutiny Committee.
A presentation by council officers stated that around 3,000 houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs) were currently licensed in the city, and that the upcoming new licensing period would allow the introduction of “minimum conditions” around issues like waste.
However, the meeting was also told that the powers would be limited when it came to targeting landlords for not doing enough to help avoid large-scale problems with waste in public areas.
Coun Kayleigh Brooks (Lab) said: “In the inner northwest area, we have an issue with waste and landlords not carrying the weight – especially for what we call ‘Hyde Park Christmas’.
“There is currently no way of removing a HMO licence because of mess left behind, but it will be possible when mandatory waste conditions come in?”
“Hyde Park Christmas” is an informal name given to a period during late June and early July when students on one-year tenancies move house. It can often lead to an almighty waste cleanup operation in parts of Leeds with large student populations such as Hyde Park and Headingley.
For a house to contain three or more tenants forming more than a single household, landlords must gain a HMO licence ensuring the house is safe to live in.
Leeds City Council’s head of private sector housing Mark Ireland responded to Coun Brooks: “To remove any licence we would have to have a reason for doing it. Someone not simply addressing waste would probably not be sufficient for us. We would have to have systematic evidence.
“For us to remove a licence we would have to demonstrate that the person is not fit and proper. To do that, there would be certain criteria we would have to follow.
“Ultimately if a landlord does everything that is reasonable, it would be difficult to prosecute them if the tenant persisted, because ultimately it is the tenant’s responsibility in legislation available to the council.
“To ban a landlord we need to prosecute them twice in 12 months within certain offences.
“If we find the landlord is persistently flytipping, we can use that evidence to say ‘we don’t believe they are a fit and proper person’.”
Coun Brooks responded: “I don’t see any point in mandatory waste conditions being included if we can’t take any action against the landlords. What exactly is the level of proof we need?
“The northeast (sic) is an absolute state and you have seen it, and you know it, and it is costing the council a lot of money to clear it up.
“I know we are spending money to try and tackle it. We need to do something about it.”
Mr Ireland said: “It’s laid down in legislation. We can’t hold someone accountable for the behaviour of someone in their property – you can only hold them accountable for the actions they take to address those.”
An artist's impression of what development on the Kirkstall Road site could look like.
Words: Richard Beecham, local democracy reporter
Councillors have criticised early plans for a housing development on a former industrial site on the outskirts of Leeds, claiming there are not enough larger family homes planned for the area.
Developer Glenbrook Properties wants permission to demolish the former headquarters of Arla Foods on Kirkstall Road and replace it with built-to-rent properties.
According to a report which went before the council’s City Plans Panel yesterday, plans for the site involve building five blocks of between seven and 13 storeys, containing around 618 flats, around half of which would be one-bedroom units.
New plans: Arla Foods on Kirkstall Road. Photo: Google
The site would also contain 230 “surface level car parking spaces”, all of which would have electric vehicle charging points.
A “mixed use” space would also be provided, expected to be a café and crèche.
The plans are made up of 308 one-bedroom, 248 two-bedroom and 62 three bedroom units. This is despite the council’s housing mix policy which dictates 50 per cent of new homes built should include two bedrooms and 30 per cent should contain three.
Councillors argued that, while these rules were often relaxed for city centre locations where families were less likely to live, the Arla Foods site was nowhere near the city centre, and that the rules should be stuck to.
Cllr Peter Carlill
Coun Peter Carlill (Lab, Calverley & Farsley) said:
“I see this as a residential area, and many of the people who live there are living in Kirkstall or Burley, and not the city centre.
“I would accept 10 per cent (three bedrooms) in flats near the train station in town, because that is where you are going to have single people living.
“This is a very different location. It is a family area. If we think about city centre living, that happens in the city centre.”
Cllr David Blackburn
Coun David Blackburn (Green, Farnley & Wortley)) added:
“Clearly this site is more family-friendly than a site nearer to the city centre. We need a better housing mix there. We are trying to bring back family housing in that area.”
A Leeds City Council report into the plans stated that the site was “only just over 300 metres from the city centre boundary”, and that it could be classed as an “edge of centre” site.
But councillors were not convinced.
Coun Kayleigh Brooks (Lab, Little London & Woodhouse) said:
“In terms of the location there is a brilliant primary school not a 10 minute walk away.
“I don’t understand why we have this confusion over whether it is a city centre location. It’s silly. You look at the location and it is quite clearly not a city centre location.
“If the developer is saying ‘family friendly development’, that does not say ‘one-bed’ to me.”
Coun Dan Cohen (Con, Alwoodley) said: “Council policies do not come from nowhere. They evolve, are debated and adopted. We might not all agree with them, but it’s hugely frustrating when we have them and choose to ignore them.
“I understand the logic of being flexible with some city centre locations, but I will not support applications where the housing mix is simply too far away from policy compliance.”
Earlier in the meeting, a representative from the developers said: “The unit mix we have proposed is based on our understanding of demand and need in the area.
“We have taken on board the feedback from previous panels. We have reduced the overall unit numbers which has increased the proportion of one beds.
“We feel that for the viability and deliverability of the scheme is the right balance.”
The proposal includes the demolition of the existing former Arla depot building which fronts the site.
A centrally positioned new east/west spine road would run through the site, which would include public open spaces.
As the plan is at the early pre-application stage, no decision was made on whether to allow the development, with more detailed plans expected to be submitted in the coming months.
Outline plans for more than 630 flats on the site from a different developer were originally approved in principle by councillors in January 2021, despite concerns on the impact of extra traffic on the already busy A65.
Leeds Youth Opera is celebrating the first show in its 50th anniversary year with a production of The Enchanted Pig in Armley.
The story revolved around the three daughters of King Hildebrand who, while their father is away at war, enter against his rules a room in the castle containing a book, which predicts their fortunes; two are to be married to princes, but Flora is to be married to a pig.
Venue: Interplay Theatre in Armley Ridge Road
The opera was commissioned by theYoung Vic theatre, where it was premiered in 2006. In a review of the original production, the criticMichael Billington wrote inThe Guardian: “This is a show that proves opera, at its best, is a source of magic and enchantment.”
Leeds Youth Opera will be seeking to re-create this magic in its production from 3 to 5 March 2022 at Interplay Theatre, Armley Ridge Road. You can buy tickets online from Interplay Theatre at £15 / £12 concession.
“The Enchanted Pig is a different kind of opera. It’s a modern, accessible and fast-paced adventure – a hidden gem right on your doorstep”, says Steve Byrne, Artistic Director of Interplay Theatre.
Malcolm Lynch, Chair of Leeds Youth Opera, added: “This is a very fitting opera for Leeds Youth Opera in its fiftieth year as it’s very much written for young people and is full of fun and wit both musically and in the sung dialogue.”
Music is composed by Jonathan Dove and Yorkshire-born librettist Alastair Middleton provides the words.
History of Leeds Youth Opera
A group of parents and young people were inspired by a touring production by Welsh National Opera in 1970. With the patronage of the late Lord Harewood and the Master of the Queen’s Music Malcolm Williamson, a small company of young people was established.
They performed Malcolm Williamson’s opera The Happy Prince in 1971. Since then it has performed more than 100 operas introducing children and young people to singing, acting, performance and theatre craft.
Some members of the company or orchestra have gone on to become famous opera singers in their own right whilst many others have found a lifelong love of singing and music.
