Christmas Fair and Car Boot Sale (7th Dec 2009)
       
The Christmas Fair went ahead on Saturday 5th December, the weather was as good as could be expected at this time of the year and it proved to be a great success. Click here to see some photographs.
So far (provisionally) the Craft made £151 the Tombola made £105 and the Ladies group kindly gave the Village association £20 for facilitating the event. 
So yet another great Withernwick event, and hopefully yet another that will become an annual event.
  
It did start to rain soon after the Christmas Fair was packed away and did not stop until 10.30am the next day, so sadly but inevitably the Car Boot Sale did not go ahead. No doubt the idea of a car boot sale is a good idea and so for sure there will be more.
     
Thanks to Carol for the Quizzes (30th Oct 2009)

We must all thanks Carol for organising and running the Falcon Quiz for the past couple of years. We probably all know by now that she will no longer be doing the job that she has done so brilliantly. The organising does take, time, effort and enthusiasm and Carol has all these qualities in abundance and she will be sorely missed. It is to be understood that quizzes will take place in the Falcon and we have to hope that they are at least half as good as the ones Carol organised. So a very big thank you from everyone in Withernwick.

Save Money on Your Water Rates (29th Oct 2009)

Do you feel you are paying too much for your water rates - well you can save £40. If your rainwater does not go directly into the sewerage system but, for example, runs onto the footpath - as it does for many in the village, then you can save £40 on your bill. All you need to do is ring the water company informing them of your circumstances and they will send you a form to complete which requires a sketch showing were the rainwater goes. The only possible catch is that none of your water must go into the sewerage system, so if your  water at the front of your house ends up on the footpath but that from the rear ends up directly in the sewer, then I'm afraid its no good asking. But its certainly worth a look at your drainage system.
        

Withernwick Walter (20th October 2009)

Sponsored Walk - 11th October 2009 (20th October 2009)

The sponsored walk took place on Sunday 11th October 2009, any money raised was in aid of the Everyman Cancer Charity (Click on the link to take you to their website). About 40 villagers and their dogs took part and so far £500 has been raised and there is still more money to come; this is an excellentr effort for the charity and another visable sign of the growing spirit of the village. People could either walk 1, 3 or 5 miles, heading out over the fields towards West Newton. The weather was fine except for one quick shower, which in no way could dampen the indomitable spirit of the walkers.

Click here for photographs

We Nearly Didn't Have a Website (6th Oct 2009)

Well I was nearly very rudely reminded that nowhere is perfect. I had previously told you how there seemed to be little or no crime here in Kuwait - well I did become a victim, thankfully only very briefly. On Monday morning, during break, my laptop was stolen. Apart from the material cost, at lot of work including much of the latest website content would have been lost - so we would have been without a website for quite some time while I rebuilt it. Fortunately the Senior staff at KES are fully on the ball and immediately instigated a complete bag-search. Despite the immense logistical problems, they found my laptop in the bag of one of the pupils!
My initial reaction at the loss was shock and disappointment, but realistically my faith has been restored, firstly the matter was dealt with and there are, sadly, always a few bad-apples anywhere. So all's well that end's well.

        
MacMillan Coffee Morning (4th Oct 2009)

On Saturday 26th September at 10.00am in The Falcon was held a coffee morning in aid of MacMillan Nurses. By 10.15am the pub was packed with villagers, friends and relations all enjoying tea, coffee and biscuits. There was also a cake stall, a tombola, a raffle and a doll's house display. The event was a great success and raised £1052.61 for MacMillan Cancer. (Although I wasn't there, I would also like to think it is yet another sign of the 'rebirth' of the village).

Google Earth (4th Oct 2009)

Recently a van has been noticed around the village which has turned out to be something to do with Google Earth taking aerial photographs of the village. This is a contentious issue, some people think it is okay where others don't. I suggest if you have any strong opinions one way or the other (and I have avoided suggesting any judgements), then please e-mail them to me and I will see if there is any concensus. If no one replies then I will be obliged to publish that no one was concerned, so if you are, please let me know.

Visitors from Canada (3rd July) We don't very often get visitors to Withernwick from far distant parts of the world, but Hannah and Amy Moulds dropped into The Falcon on 3rd July 2009 all the way from Canada. Of course I guess you recognise the surname, they are Mid and John's grandchildren. It was also fun to hear accents that are even stranger than mine. They were born in Hornsea  and did live in Withernwick as children, but they've obviously lived in Canada long enough to pick up the Canadian accent.

Withernwick goes to Skirlington (29th June)

On Sunday 28th June, Julia, Robert, Pat and Paul all set off from Withernwick at 6.15am. We arrived at Skirlington at about 6.35pm to do a car boot sale. The purpose of the sale was to sell what was left of the bric-a-brac from the village fete. We didn't see the Sun until about midday, but we did see Keith and Janice and also Kate and Richard Poulson, so it was a real day out for the village. All went well and we made another £51 towards the RNIB and St Alban's Church. Any bric-a-brac remaining will be donated to the Hornsea Lions charity shop, so it will all eventually go to a good cause. We'd all had enough by 1.30pm and so packed up and returned to Withernwick.

Conservation Area for Withernwick (12th June 2009)

I guess we've all had the letter informing us that the Council has highlighted a need for a conservation area to be set up in Withernwick. This apparently has been approved by the Parish Council (did anyone know of this?). I have received the actual proposals, so to save everyone sending for them, I have scanned them in put them and put them on the website. I guess there are pros and cons to us being a Conservation Area, so if you would like to share any opinions put them on the Guestbook (just head them "Conservation Area" and we'll see what everyone thinks.
Here is the map of the proposed area. Click here

And you can read the full proposal by clicking here you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to read this.
If nothing else the proposal is an interesting description of Wirthernwick and well worth a read. And also interestingly my cottage gets a particular mention, although they have spelt it wrongly, so here's a little quiz question for you - why is my cottage called Molineux Cottage?

The "Falcon Corner" (22nd May 2009)

As you probably all know I live just opposite The Falcon. Sometimes I have very scary experiences! No not Ghosts, I could cope with those but vast articulated lorries trying to negotiate the corner between my cottage and the Falcon. It looks scarier from my cottage, indeed I have had lorries within two inches of my window-sill, but if the lorry does make a misjudgment it's The Falcon that tends to get it. Here are a couple of photos to show you what I mean.

You might just notice the reflection of my cottage in the lorry window in the second photo. I have complained to the council on several occasions about imposing a weight/length restriction on lorries coming through the village but to no avail. I will try again.

To see a video of another big lorry trying to negotiate the village - click here. It did try to have a go at the Falcon corner but soon gave up, so it backed up and turned down Church Lane instead. Shouldn't lorries have different satnav's ?

Has Anyone Come Across "Withernwick Used as a Surname? (10th May)

I was recently e-mailed by a Ken Stephenson from Ontario, Canada, which amongst other things shows how the website comes up on Google now - we come second if you type in "Withernwick". Anyway I'll print his e-mail in full:

I live near London Ontario Canada. Here is my question ... have you met anyone with the Withernwick surname. My ggg grandmother was a Mary Scott of Cottingham .. who married a William Stephenson at Cottingham (just north of Hull) in 1838 ... as a family they emigrated to Canada in 1854 .. I have the boat record ... and it shows Mary and 5 of her children, plus 3 other Scott relations ... plus her sister .. Elizth Scott ... who was married to William Withernwick. This same Wm Withernwick is buried in a small country cemetery in Caradoc Township, Middlesex County Ontario ... near the town of Strathroy. The stone reads "In Memory of Wm Withernwick died Mar 12 1877 AE 69 ys 2 ms & 25 ds .. emigrated from Yorkshire England." Although her name is not on the stone .. I think Elizth his wife is likely also buried here (to my knowledge they had no children). This old stone is beside a Nicholls family stone (an Edward Nicholls married an Ann Scott)
There is a William Withernwick ... who shows up as Christened 23 Dec 1807 at Lund near Beverley ... that is likely him.

So has anyone come across the use of "Withernwick" as a surname before? The two uses must be connected. Please let us know.

Dog Pooh! (1st May 2009)

While checking out the playing fields for the village fete, we soon became aware that there is an unfortunately large amount of dog-pooh on the field. There is also dog-pooh around the village in general and most of all down "Butcher's Lane" (the footpath on the left at the end of high street).

Letting your dog pooh and not picking it up is anti-social and entirely unacceptable and also potentially dangerous, especially to children. So if your dog poohs anywhere in the village, be it Butcher's Lane, the Playing fields, anywhere please pick it up and bin it.

Everybody does need to work together to keep Withernwick as a thriving community and picking up your dog-pooh is a good way to start.

Windfarm Railroaded through by Government! (29th April 2009)

As you know I don't believe it is my place to grind personal axes, but in this case I guess most of you would gladly like to help. Yes the Withernwick Windfarm as been passed via appeal, in other words railroaded through by a Government frantically chasing its tail in order to meet EEC targets. It is indeed extremely dubious as to the effectiveness of wind-turbines, but that doesn't seem to bother the Government either. It does not now matter if you agree with them or not, this is a perfect demonstration of UK democracy in action. I have no doubt that windfarms will not be allowed in Surrey or Sussex, so this is yet another example of treating the East Riding as "the back of beyond" where the people don't matter and don't care.

Oh well, if its any consolation to most of us, I don't think you'll be able to see them from most central parts of the village, but I'm sure we do all sympathize with those in parts of the village where they will be "in your face".

Read the details of the Appeal decision - Click here

Land Wanted (23rd April 2009)

Mike and Dawn at Prospect Barn would like to buy up to ten acres of land suitable for the creation of a woodland within walking/easy cycling distance to Withernwick. Mike and Dawn are willing to pay full market value for the land, however this would be dependant on the fulfillment of specific requirements. Should you have any available land Mike and Dawn would be delighted to receive an email from you.  Please email

ddickinson@tesco.net."

Events and Activies  (5th Dec 2009)

The spirit of the village is certainly coming more and more alive. It started last night with the first quiz night in the Falcon for a while. It was a great success and won by Dawn and Mike's team. The raffle lead to a game of "Play your Cards Right" which did keep everybody involved. There are lots of other activities over the next few weeks, so get out and support them, we want to keep the momentum that has begun over 2009 to continue on into 2010. Great stuff, let's hope for more.
See What's On.
    

Community Association Meeting (9th Sept 2009)

The First meeting of the Withernwick Community Association met in the Falcon on the 7th Sept 2009. The full minutes can be seen by Clicking Here. 

Calendar Boys (25th Aug 2009)

We already have 12 'willing' volunteers for the Calendar who have now had their photos taken. As yet they are top-secret, so you'll have to wait until the calendar is produced.
We are now just waiting for a price from the printers and it will be ready.
We hope you are all going to buy one, the money raided will go to the Everyman Cancer Campaign (Click for website).

Sponsored Walk (20th Aug 2009)

There will be a sponsored walk on Sunday 11th October 2009. You will be able to walk as little or as far as you wish and it will take place somewhere in the village.
As with the Calendar Boys, all money raised will go to the Everyman Cancer Campaign.
We will let you know as soon as there is more detail, but in  the mean time you can all be getting fit and ready.
    

Improving Withernwick (20th April 2009)

I'm sure we all love Withernwick, it has many good points, but nothing is perfect and people have been suggesting ways that Withernwick could be improved. I guess there are some dramatic but overly expensive things that could be done but we should keep it realistic. How will they be funded? by East Riding or maybe by EON - they have promised us some money by way of compensation for the upheaval caused by the building of the gas-caverns.

If you have any thoughts on any of these things or want to suggest any more either let us know via the "contact us" page, or if you want via the Guestbook.

In no particular order:

• Signs at the entrance to the village that include a planter for flowers in front such as at Atwick and Skipsea.

• Flashing 30mph signs at the entrance to the village - like everywhere has apart from us.

• Weight / length limit signs for HGVs to prevent large lorries trying to get round the corner by the Falcon - this is a particular axe I would like to grind, it is very scary in my cottage sometimes! (See above).

• Do something with the village hall site, there is a problem that the land is owned by the Poor Law Charity, but I'm sure its not impossible get round that problem.

• Something done with the old village school. I understand ownership is a problem but why should we have to suffer an eyesore because of that.

• Build a cycle path to Whitedale to access the old railway line - I think EON may be going to do this.

• Somebody being responsible for keeping the village tidy e.g the bus shelter and dog-pooh on the playing field.

Calendar Boys (11th Oct 2009)

The calendar is apparently at the proof stage, so copies should be available soon. You can pay in advance for copies. More details will appear here as soon as they are known. Julia has already taken some advanced orders, so if you are interested contact Julia. The calendars will cost £5 each, not sure where they will be on sale yet or by post at £6.50 (inc postage and packing) - make cheques payable to "Withernwick Community Association" c/o Blondies, Main Street, Withernwick HU11 4TA. The photographs were taken by Jane Topham and Mary King. (Click on the cards to go to their websites).

Sponsored Walk (11th Oct 2009)

I have it on good authority that the sponsored was a great success. So soon there will appear a full story and photos (as soon as I get sent them). If you have any photos or a particular story to tell, do please let me know. I also understand that later in the day there was a power cut later in the day, you could have used all that expended energy from the walk to generate electricity!
       

Sponsored Walk and Calendar Boys (6th Oct 2009)

On Sunday 11th October there will be a sponsored walk in aid of the Everyman Cancer Charity, organised by the Village Association. The walk will begin at 11pm from the Public Right of Way to the rear of John and Mid Moulds. Alternatively please meet at the Kissing Gate at the junction of East and West Lambwath Road. The marquee will be pitched at the rear of John and Mid Moulds house where hot soup, tea, coffee, biscuits etc will be awaiting the return of the walkers. Anyone can take part, there is a choice of three walks, 1, 3 or 5 miles or you can just come for the tea and biscuits. There is no obligation to have any sponsors but, of course, the more money we can raise the better, so do your best to some sponsors. The walk will take place whatever the weather, so have a look out of your window and come suitably attired! It would be even worse here in Kuwait, its still 35 deg C in the day! I actaully miss rain!

The walk will also see the launch of the Calendar Boys calendar. So bring along some money for pre-orders. I'm not on it I'm afraid, but I'm sure there will be healthy sales all the same! There will be more details of the calendar to follow.

Village Community Association (23rd July 2009)

It is proposed to introduce a Withernwick Village Community Association. There will be a meeting in The Falcon on Monday 7th September 2009 at 8pm. Volunteers will be needed to run the association and applications are needed from anyone interested.

Click here for further information.

Paul Off to Kuwait (17th Aug 2009)

Kuwait English School (Click for website)	Kuwait City

As most of you know I am off to work, as a maths teacher, in Kuwait. I am doing so for a bit of adventure and to earn more money (no tax in Kuwait). I will miss Withernwick and everyone in the village very much (and the Tetley's bitter and bacon sandwiches). Although I will be back, I will need as much help as possible to avoid becoming home-sick (which I'm already feeling and I haven't gone yet!).
I will keep running the website, but I may be offline for a few weeks while I sort out a new broadband account. I will however be keeping my existing e-mail address and I will have a Skype phone (user-name lornepaul1).

So I will depend on you all to send me lots and lots of news and photos, and if you're on Skype please ring me up.
See Contact Us page for new contact details

Village Fete Meeting - Wed 8th July - 8pm - The Falcon (2nd July 2009)

The meeting to review the Village Fete was held in the Falcon on Wednesday 8th July. It was well attended and although everyone agreed that the Fete was a great success, there were still many useful suggestions as to how it could be improved next year.

The new total for the profit if £1764, this total may still be added to.
The money will be split as follows 
£500 to RNIB, £500 to St Albans, £500 to be kept towards the 2010 fete and £264 to the Children's Chistmas Party.

Also it has been proposed that a Community Association be set up. We will require volunteers to be on the Association and a letter will be posted to every household in the village giving details. The Association will be set up by the time of the next meeting at 8pm on 7th September in the Falcon, this will still be an open meeting.

You may have noticed a couple of blips on the website in recent times. A few weeks ago, the website came up as it would have been two weeks previous. I was very disturbed because in the mean time I had upload 107 photos of the fete. After an e-mail to "Just Host" (the hosting company) it was cured within 24 hours. Just a couple of days ago I discovered a far more disturbing blip. Firstly the site came up as page not found. So several e-mails later, each claiming to have cured it, I logged on and got some completely different website (did anyone notice?). A couple of angry e-mails later and it was  now cured, this time it took a day and a half.

Don't worry if things like this happen, I do look at the site every day and so do notice any problems. Indeed I can't really fault Just Host, up until this last blip they have been very good, so I'll let them off this time. Sorry if anyone was puzzled by the blips.

Plans for the Falcon (20th May 2009)

The Falcon has submitted plans for the extension of the kitchen. I don't think there is anything particularly contentious, but you can view the plans in a PDF document on this website by clicking here ( if you cannot view it , you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader by clicking on the link). It is a large file and so may take a while to download.

The meetings took place and the general feeling of Hornsea people was that Tesco's would be a good thing to come to Hornsea. That almost certainly means it is a done deal. I do hope it all work's out in the long term and that Newbiggin does not become a ghost town in a few years time.

The stall suggested so far are

·         Tombola…………..  Brian Pye  C·         Plants………………..Pat Pye C

·         Hook –a- Duck……….

·          Bran tub……………

·          Refreshments…………Barbara Tunnacliff C  

·         Cold Refreshments……….

·          Books & or Bring & Buy ………………..Paul Boyle C

·         Sponge throwing & or Stocks……

·          Hoop-la…………………………..

·          Cuddly Toys Stall……………Julia Wrightson C

·         Cooked meat/ pies/ pastries………….

·          Raffle…………………………Tickets to be  for sale in salon & pub

·         Dog Show………………………Joanne Arnett C

·         Buzz Off (Paul’s own)………………………Paul Arnett C

·         Cake Stall…………………….Christine Humphrey & Doreen Dunn (Withernwick ladies group) C

·         Face Painting…………………..Julianne C 

·         Wellie Wanging

·         Balloon Race? (Expense)

·         BBQ/Burgers ……………………Robert & Warren C (We need a kind person to donate the burgers & sausages please!)

·         Beat the Goalie (player pays to enter and could win a small prize for beating the goalie?)

·         Coconut Shy…………….....  

·         Yard of Ale (Charge to challenge)...

·         All of the stalls which have a C after them have been confirmed but if you would be so kind as to lend a hand with any of the other activities or stalls then please leave a note on the village website, many thanks. 

Calendar Boys 2010! (10th April 2009)

Not saying who's idea this is but it has been suggested that the hunky men of the village pose for a "Calendar Girls" style 2010 calendar. So if you have a high opinion of your 6-pack and don't mind having your photo taken with nothing but a rose-bush to protect your modesty, then let us know via the contact us page and we will forward your name.
Apparently there are now twenty volunteers! So come on you might miss out! Although Julia does want two men per month??? So still needs four more.

So come on lads - don't be shy!