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Baby and child first aid courses at West Leeds nurseries

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baby first aid little people nursery

Leeds-based Little People Nurseries is offering baby and child first aid classes for parents, grandparents and carers in Bramley, Farsley, and Stanningley.

Taking place on weekends from 21 September, the two-hour class covers CPR, choking, bumps, burns, breaks, bleeding and febrile seizures.

Mini First Aid has also partnered with the Meningitis Research Foundation to ensure that everyone who attends will receive the most up-to-date information on meningitis awareness.

Vicky Hallas-Fawcett, owner of Little People Nurseries, said:

“We wanted to make sure that parents and carers had the opportunity to deal with any medical emergencies that arise whether at home or out and about.

“We’re delighted to partner with Mini First Aid to offer these courses to parents and carers. These are skills for life and vitally important.”

Established by Leeds mum Kate Ball in 2014, Mini First Aid offers a range of classes across the UK for adults and children as young as three years old, training them in basic and lifesaving first aid.

Kate Ball, founder of Mini First Aid, said:

“Our aim is to give parents and carers the confidence to know what actions to take if faced with a medical emergency and it’s fantastic that Little People Nurseries is committed to helping parents to learn these vital skills.”

Classes take place on the following dates:

  • Little People Stanningley, 21 September, 10am-12pm
  • Little People Bramley, 28 September, 10am-12pm
  • Little People Farfield (Farsley), 5 October, 10.30am-12.30pm

More details via michele@minifirstaid.co.uk or visit the website.

Bramley Bus Interchange is being improved: Have your say now

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westleedslife
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bramley bus interchange
Photo: Google

West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) are looking to improve Bramley Bus Interchange by upgrading the facilities – and they would like to hear your views, writes Keely Bannister.  

Situated on the edge of the shopping centre, the interchange is an integral location for many people who live, work or visit Bramley.

An artist’s impression of the plans. Image: WYCA

The proposed upgrades include:

• To provide an improved waiting environment and facilities

• To provide better travel information, such as real time information screens

• To provide enhanced, safe, pedestrian routes

• To allow buses only to access the interchange to improve safety, enforced by violation cameras

• To provide segregated loading/ servicing for the shops near the interchange

The main layout change will see stand D relocated to a new road which will be built through the grass which segregates Stocks Hill from Town Street. Two crossings will be added to create safe passage to this bus stop.

Detailed design will commence following the consultation with an aimed completion target of early 2020. Work to deliver the improvements is expected to begin in 2020 with the estimated cost of the proposed scheme being £440,000. 

You can view the proposals by visiting the Your Voice website. You can comment on them here.

The consultation closes on Monday 14th October.

Aquatic-themed day continues Hollybush’s anniversary celebrations

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westleedslife
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hollybush aquatic adventure

Hollybush Conservation Centre in Kirkstall will be continuing its 40th anniversary year celebrations with an aquatic-themed day of activities.

Hollybush is part of the national charity The Conservation Volunteers, which aims to create healthier and happier communities by connecting people to outdoor space. 

Every September TCV holds a ‘Big Green Weekend’ of open days across the country and this year Hollybush will be making the most of its canal-side location to offer boat rides, a canoe trail and other exciting activities to explore local water plants and wildlife.

Senior project officer Col Powell said:

“We love the opportunity to show people what we do here at Hollybush and are looking forward to a really fun day of activities to celebrate 40 years of community conservation in this lovely hidden corner of Kirkstall.”

The watery weekend starts on the evening of Friday 20th September with a special showing of celebrated film about wild swimming, The Ponds, in Hollybush’s atmospheric 17th century barn.

The main day of family friendly activities will be on Sunday 22nd from 11am.

As well as a variety of aquatic activities, generously funded by Grow Wild, there will be lots more going on during the day to showcase the work of the centre and its volunteers. 

This includes a 40th anniversary exhibition on the history of Hollybush, plus green crafts and a book swap to tie in with Leeds Recycling week.

Foodie highlights will include apple pressing with Leeds Urban Harvest, open air marshmallow toasting and wonderful cakes and snacks courtesy of the Hollybush café.

Third time lucky for wannabe Kirkstall flat developer?

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westleedslife
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leeds civic hall
Leeds Civic Hall

Plans for been submitted for a third attempt to build a three-storey apartment block on empty land in Abbeydale Vale in Kirkstall, writes Keely Bannister.

Mr Iradj Koohazari has submitted an application to build a block of five apartments. In total, one one-bed apartment and four two-bed apartments have been proposed with eight car parking spaces and 10 cycle storage spaces.

This is not the developer’s first attempt to build on the site.

An application was submitted by him to build a block of nine apartments in early January, before he withdrew the application after local residents objected.

The developer next submitted an application to build a block of five apartments with undercroft car parking in March which was subsequently refused by planning officers in June. 

A council planning officer’s conclusions on the refusal were as follows:

“The proposal is considered to have a significant detrimental impact on the character and appearance of the wider street scene through the unsympathetic design of the residential block within a constrained location which features a number of mature trees and an area of habitat.

“Furthermore the development fails to retain adequate space about the development to the boundaries creating an adverse impact upon neighbouring amenity through over dominance. In addition the development creates significant highway safety concerns with inadequate access provided. ”

A dwelling was previously sited on the land and this property was demolished to clear the land for development.

You can view and comment on the proposals by visiting this link.

Have your say on how Kirkstall will develop at Neighbourhood Forum meeting

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westleedslife
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Kirkstall Neighbourhood Forum is being reconvened this week as the community’s plans for a Kirkstall Neighbourhood Plan progress, writes Keely Bannister.

The meeting presents a chance for people who live or work in Kirkstall to have their say on how they want future development to take place in the area: from where buildings should be located to how the buildings should look and much more.

All of Kirkstall is covered, from Hawksworth Wood to Moor Grange; from Burley Top to the Spen estate. 

The next meeting takes place on Tuesday 17th from 7.30pm until 9.30pm at Queenswood Social Club.

Traffic worries to be discussed at Armley Forum meeting

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westleedslife
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The former Armley Library. Copyright Stephen Craven and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Updates from highways and the police on traffic related concerns, the proposed young persons’ mental health facility building at St Mary’s Hospital and Armley Gyratory improvements are on the agenda at Tuesday’s Armley Forum, writes Keely Bannister.  

Traffic related concerns are a perennial issue in West Leeds – but after a recent tragedy they have become a particular focus of resident concern in Armley.

Armley residents recently took part in a speed awareness day of action to highlight the problems with speeding in the locality. 

Planned improvements to Armley Gyratory are currently being consulted on and AECOM, the engineering company behind them, will be on hand to talk people through the proposals and answer any questions.

Representatives from the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) will alsoi be on hand to discuss the proposed construction of a new £13 million unit supporting young people with complex mental health issues at St Mary’s Hospital.

Anyone who lives or works in Armley is invited to join local councillors at the next Armley Forum on Tuesday 17th September from 7pm until 8.30pm at Armley Community Hub.

New lease of life for former Bramley shopping centre office block

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westleedslife
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bramley house

Work is under way to transform an empty office block above Bramley District Shopping Centre into flats.

Developers are working to turn the first, second and third floors of the landmark Viewpoint office block – also known as Bramley House – into 36 flats, with 19 parking spaces.

Workmen are currently on site, with a view to having the flats ready for next year.

The development is called ‘Bramley House’ and apartments will be available to let via The Lettings Room website.

Most of the units are one bedroom flats or studio apartments.

Parking spaces would be in the existing shopping centre car park.

The plans to convert the site to flats were approved in 2017. An application for external alternations to install a canopy over the existing external escape stair and alternations to the glazed screen at ground level to include a bin store door were approved by planners last week.

£10k bid to warn West Leeds youngsters against drug and alcohol abuse

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westleedslife
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Photo: MTaylor848/Wikimedia Commons used under creative commons licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

A project to warn youngsters in Outer West Leeds about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse could receive £10,000 funding.

Members of the council’s Outer West Community Committee are being asked to approve the grant for the Drug Watch Foundation (DWF) to provides drug and alcohol awareness information packs and workshops to children up to 19 years in schools and colleges.

Youngsters would be informed about the dangers, laws, health and social implications of drug and alcohol abuse.

DWF promotes active lifestyles, positive behaviours and building self-esteem amongst young people, with the aim of mitigating anti-social behaviour and the onset of health and well-being problems, including mental health.

A report to the community committee said:

“The number of beneficiaries that they can reach via this project is 16,500 and they aim to provide workshops to children via schools and colleges. educating them about the dangers, laws, health and social implications of drug and alcohol abuse. “

The committee will also decide a number of small grant applications, including a storage container for the Friends of Farsley Rehoboth group, when it meets at 1pm in Pudsey Civic Hall tomorrow (Monday).

Councillors will also discuss climate emergency and air quality, flytipping in Farnley & Wortley and problems with anti-social behaviour in Pudsey town centre.

On the issue on anti-social behaviour, a council report to be considered tomorrow said:

“…We have made significant progress, in arresting the main offenders on numerous occasions and working with Partners to look at longer term solutions to the issue. “

The Outer West Community Committee is made up of councillors from Caleverley & Farsley, Farnley & Wortley and Pudsey wards.

West Leeds planning applications: 15 September 2019

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westleedslife
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Each week West Leeds Dispatch brings you the latest planning applications from across the area.

Here are this week’s applications:

Armley ward

Bramley & Stanningley ward

Calverley and Farsley ward

Farnley & Wortley

Kirkstall ward

Pudsey firm marks 60th anniversary in style

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westleedslife
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A Pudsey company is celebrating 60 years in business this year, writes Martin Heaton.

Wetherby Shade Card Co at Grangefield Industrial Estate is celebrating 60 years of trading (and more than 50 years in Pudsey).

Andy Wilson, sales manager and sales exec Lee Taylor, sales exec said the Company was established in 1959 in Wetherby, starting by making Shade Cards for Yorkshire Chemicals (Kirkstall Road) Leeds

They soon out grew its premises, so they moved to Bradford.

Again in a short period of time they outgrew the premises in Bradford and moved to the current site on the Grangefield Industrial Estate.

Starting with just one machine they have expanded the premises and now have 18 production machines.

From the start at Pudsey, they recruited local people and today even though they have employees from various countries they are still very much a family orientated company with some husband and wife teams working together.

The company (along with many others) suffered in the 1980s with the near closure of all the textile mills.

But they managed to diversify and grow into the company that it is today. Along with sales to the UK they also export to 17 countries abroad.

For the 60-year celebrations they took their customers to York races for the day, which was a great success but, as Andy said:

“The biggest success was treating all the staff (over 100 people) to lunch and drinks at the Marriott as a thank you.”

Recycling left-over soap: Penny pinching tips from the ‘Auld Git’

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westleedslife
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If you hate using those slivers of soap sat in the dish but can’t throw them away either, try using them to make new soap bars! writes Armley’s Susan Denton.

Supplies needed:
Old soap
Knife or grater
Saucepan / heat proof dish to create a double boiler
Jug of hand-hot water
Silicone mounds or muffin tray
Spoons

Optional extras:
Scented oils
Shower gel
Hand held blender

Method:
Chop or grate your soaps into small shreds.

If possible put similar shades together. This gives a pleasant colour to your finished soaps.

However “muddy” coloured soap blends are great for children. They can get washed with “dirty soap”

Place soap shreds into heatproof dish and sit over saucepan of gently boiling water. Add small amounts of hand-hot water to the mixture as it melts.

Don’t worry if some lumps remain.

Now add some shower gel at this stage and mix well. A hand-held blender can be useful at this stage. Adding shower gel results in a foamier soap.

Also if wanted add your scented oil now, mix well.

Be warned your soap mixture will begin to set very quickly so transfer to your chosen mounds immediately

Leave the soap to air dry for 2-12 hours. Depending on size.

Remove from mounds and leave to dry and harden for at least 2 days before using.

Look our for more penny pinching ideas from Susan Denton here.

Mark’s History: How Sarah Ann Smith campaigned to bring war fallen home

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westleedslife
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Photo © Betty Longbottom (cc-by-sa/2.0)

A friend asked me if I knew the story of Sarah Ann Smith – and they seemed rather pleased that they did and I did not! writes Mark Stevenson.

Now knowing the story I wondered if I could connect it with West Leeds. The Legacies of War website run by Leeds University was more than helpful with this. 

Photo: Mark Stevenson

The British War Graves Association was founded in Leeds in 1919 by a Sarah Ann Smith, who lived at Tabor House in Stourton. Her son Frederick Ernest Smith died in 1918 after being wounded in France.

His final resting place is at Grevellers, near Arras, in Northern France. Sarah and many relatives believed the bodies of the fallen should be brought home.

One person living in Armley wrote to the press saying:

“Nothing stood in their way to serve their country when duty called; but now when they have paid the full sacrifice, they must be relegated into oblivion as soon as possible.”

Commonwealth War Graves in Bramley. Photo: Mark Stevenson

A meeting was held in Pudsey at the Unitarian School. At the meeting, Sarah pointed out that if you were Italian, American, French or German you had the right of removal, but because we were British our fallen relatives must remain on foreign soil. 

On the other side of the argument, one ex-soldier sided with the government saying that in a lot of cases there was not much left to bury sometimes and the dead should stay where they are. 

Sarah never got her wish to bring her son home but the British War Graves Association would help many relatives visit the war graves on Whitsuntide each year.

When Sarah died in 1936 the Imperial War Graves Commission – now known as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission – paid tribute to her efforts.

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