The Voice of Hillam village, North Yorkshire. Delivered free to all residents. Volume 17, Issue 1. February - March 2005.
Beyond the Undergrowth by Phil Boothroyd Just over 2 years ago, having moved to Hillam, I spent some time at Hillam Gates train spotting with my young son, Nicholas. Whilst here we were spurred into action. I was shocked at the amount of accumulated litter lying at the verge side – well-intended signs were clearly not working. So my son’s tractor and trailer became the litter wagon as we cleaned up around Hillam Gates and progressed along Betteras Hill Road. We collected the deposits of years gone by. Beer cans and vodka bottles were prominent early items in our collection – not to mention various items of clothing, including odd shoes and underwear! We have found carpets and car tyres, shopping bags and bottles, footballs and a frisbee - the list is endless. With a sense of achievement our patrol extended to include other parts of the village. Not deterred by comments of “You’re fighting a losing battle,” we have persevered, and welcomed the encouragement of residents who have shown their appreciation of our efforts. Going for a Sunday morning walk has taken on a whole new meaning to us and we feel we are making a small contribution to preserving our picturesque village. The old litter sign on Betteras Hill Road of £100 penalty from Osgoldcross Rural District Council stands proud; sadly its respect has faded badly. So the crusade continues, as there is still much to do. It is hoped to resurrect the village spring clean up day begun by the late Geoff Hall, so we can all make a little difference!
Hillam News Open Evening This is Volume 17, Issue 1—that means Hillam News has been going in some form or another for 16 years. It also means that it is just a year since the new group accepted responsibility for regular production of the Hillam News. We took on a tough challenge, 24 pages to fill every two months. The content has to be interesting, topical and thought-provoking. For content we rely on a number of regular contributors and others who find the inspiration and have a desire to see some of their work in print. For funding we rely on our advertisers who enable Hillam News to be produced. Then we rely on our volunteers who duplicate and deliver it to every home in the village. We would like to thank all of our contributors, duplicators, distributors, advertisers and Sean, our printer, for making the Hillam News possible. Over the year we have tried to improve the presentation of both the articles and the adverts. Sometimes our efforts have not been successful, and we apologise where we have made mistakes, such as inserting headings which are incorrect (as we did in the Money Matters column of the last issue), or where we haven’t done justice to one of our adverts (or even missed one out). This year we would like to make Hillam News even better, and that means asking you the readers, you the advertisers and you the contributors what you would like to see improved. To do this we are holding an open evening on Wednesday 23rd February in the Community Centre. It promises to be a good, entertaining event, so please do try to attend and let us know what you would like to see or not to see in Hillam News over the coming year.
The open evening will take place at 7.30pm on Wednesday 23rd February at the Community Centre.
Village Spring Clean Up Day - Sunday 20th March What an inspiring story from Phil and his son. Lucky for us they are not the only ones who have been busy collecting rubbish, and what an amazing amount and variety there is to be found. See our list on page 2. Sunday 20th March has been designated as Village Spring Clean Up Day. Please take some time out to clean up the street, verges, paths and tracks near your house on the day. HILLAM NEWS is financed solely by advertising revenue and the generosity of contributors, photocopiers and distributors. The Editor is solely responsible for the paper’s contents. If you would like to advertise contact Bev Jackson on 685923. If you have an article to submit or a view you would like to have published, telephone Kay Webster on 680917.