June/July 2020
FREE Please take a copy home!
Promoting Bilston and surrounding areas in a positive light
Father’s Day Gift Ideas
Gardening Tips From Nigel
Rotary Help Care Homes
Pupils Inspect Urban Village
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Contents 6. Editor
18. Gardening with Nigel
8. Pat McFadden
22. Bilston Rotary
10. Crossword
24. Bev Momenabadi
12. Soroptimimists
26. VE Day Boxes
13. Poems
28. Wildlife Update
14. Bilston Town FC
30. Useful Tel Nos
16. WhatsApp Group
31. Crossword Answers
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Pat McFadden A few words from your Member of Parliament We Will Get Through This Together The last couple of months have been a very tough time for our country and our local area. Many people have died and millions of businesses and workers have been affected. And we still have no clear path to whatever the new normal will look like. I want to thank every NHS worker, care worker, supermarket worker, delivery driver and everyone else who has kept the country going through all this. They have put themselves in danger to help others, sometimes at the cost of their own lives. We owe them an enormous debt and one consequence of all this should be a better deal in future for all these workers. Locally, there have also been wonderful examples of people and organisations doing everything they can to help others.
Good News for Bilston Market Traders The market is hugely important to Bilston. Traders there had to close up at the start of the crisis and couldn’t earn a living. Because the traders pay their rates collectively through the market and not as individual businesses, they also found they were not entitled to business rate relief or the small business grants designed to help businesses through the lockdown. But after a lot of work the traders will now be individually rated which should help them get access to this financial help. I hope they get what they are entitled to soon so it can help them through this very tough period.
• Our local council has organised a fantastic food distribution hub at Aldersley Stadium which has packed and delivered thousands of food boxes to vulnerable people in the city. • Here in Bilston churches like Excel and others have done a wonderful job in collecting and delivering food. • The local Sikh Gurdwaras have also been preparing and delivering food to households in need. All these efforts show the strength of our community – the desire to look out for one another in tough times. They are the best of the human spirit.
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01902 519221
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Please see answers on page 31 Across 1 Disguise, conceal (4) 3 Bewilder, stupefy (8) 8 Article of clothing (7) 9 Impression (5) 10 Board game (5) 11 Document, log (6) 13 Direction of this clue! (6) 15 Overpass (6) 18 Type of reptile (6) 20 Thick, impenetrable (5) 23 Nimble, lithe (5) 24 Scrutinise (7) 25 Won back (8) 26 Certificate, lease (4) Down 1 Prestidigitator (8) 2 Tennis term (5) 4 Sixth planet from the sun (6) 5 Neglect, disregard (7) 6 Take to heart (4) 7 Population tally (6) 9 Membranous pouch (3) 12 Thwarted (8) 14 Pouring (7) 16 Peppery salad vegetable (6) 17 Laud, revere (6) 19 Imitate, caricature (3) 21 Sibling's daughter (5) 22 Bazaar, carnival (4)
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Interview with new Bilston Town Manager Dean Gill Dean Gill has recently been appointed as first team manager and coach of Bilston Town Football Club. Dean brings an impressive CV with him, having enjoyed success in previous roles at Wednesfield and Wolverhampton Casuals. Bilston started last season poorly, but picked up after appointing Wayne Spicer, who has since left to take up the position of Manager at Redditch United. Dean will bring his own backroom staff of; Lee Turton, who he’s worked with since 2005 and Stewart Baker, who’s been with him for five seasons, as well as some of the players from his old club(s). Bilston Magazine caught up with Dean, to find out more about the man responsible for turning the clubs’ fortunes around. BM: How do you feel about the new job. DG: We’re very excited, it was a big wrench to leave Wolves Casuals. Bilston Town FC can be a sustainable step 5 club with the right management on and off the pitch, we plan to bring the right management on the pitch to achieve that. Looking forward to getting more local supporters to games, it’s always been a well a supported club but we hope to improve that by giving them good entertainment and value for money in these difficult times. BM: Do you try and emulate other managers? DG: No not at all, I have massive respect for all managers in the game but I’m a strong minded individual and will ultimately do it my way, something that I believe is massively important in non-league football. Players and supporters see through frauds and pretenders - I
Pitchside Advertising pride myself on my beliefs and try to live to them as much as possible. BM: Who are your most admired & respected professional managers. DG: Probably; Mick McCarthy, Bobby Robson and Brian Clough BM: Are you friends with any other non-league managers. DG: Yes, During the season, I probably speak to at least two managers before 9am every morning and probably four every day, including Sundays… Managers like Pee at Alvercurch & Rowey at Khalsa are obsessed with the game, they eat, sleep and breath it. I endeavour to help and get on with as many managers I can when I can, It’s very difficult and lonely at times especially when you can’t buy a win. BM: How would you describe your team’s style of play? DG: I believe that’s a very subjective question, what I
Bilston FC after
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Bilston Rotary Club responds to communities in need during the Covid-19 pandemic The Covid-19 pandemic has been extremely challenging for many of us, but even more so for those on the front line and for vulnerable people within our communities. Determined to play their part, the Rotary Club of Bilston and Wolverhampton West have stepped in to do their bit to support local people and our key workers. Donating face visors to protect Bilston Care Homes and Domiciliary workers When the Rotary Club heard about the shortage of PPE to protect care workers who were putting their own lives and health at risk to serve others, the Bilston club was determined to help. The club managed to source £250 worth of face visors and delivered them to:
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Inshore Support Care Home Newly Court Care Home The Elms Care Home Glenthorne House Care Home Mill House Care Home All in Bilston+ The Willows Care Home CaringCare (domiciliary) Services
Rotarian Bob Stolz volunteered to deliver the face visors across Bilston and said, “We wanted to support our front line workers and figured that the best way to do this practically was with face visors. All the homes and services we donated to were extremely grateful as many felt that they’d been forgotten about by the powers that be. Rotary were pleased to step in.”
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Methodist Churches Get Active During COVID-19 Toiletries for Patients & VE Day Gifts Bilston & Fallings Park Methodist Churches have been busy helping the community, during lockdown. They were alerted to the shortage of toiletries for patients at New Cross Hospital, due to the ban on visitors, so decided to try and help. Thanks to a generous donation from the James Beattie Trust, they put together eighty packs which were presented to staff at the hospital.
The churches, led by Rev. Samantha Hagerman and Family Worker, Emily Donovan, then decided to distribute packs of Afternoon Teas to help isolated people and care home residents, celebrate VE Day. Again, with money from Hands on Wednesfield and the Emma Bussey Trust, scones from Matt The Baker on Bilston Market and flags from the Robin 2, a hundred packs were able to be delivered.
Bilston FC after
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Can You Dance? Billy and Aimee Can! shows such as the NTA’s, Strictly Come Dancing and Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway. And Tom Shilcock, a professional dancer and choreographer that has danced for a multitude of artists including Rita Ora, Take That, Jason Derulo and many more! Billy and Aimee have an exciting year ahead with the CYD? Dance Stars. You can catch billy and Aimee at;
University of Worcester Arena 24th May 2020 Hylton Road Worcester, WR2 5JN Local young dancers “Billy Ellitts, from Wednesfield and Aimee Rowe, from Bilston, both 13 have beaten hundreds of other dancers from across the UK to successfully gain a place as a ‘Can You Dance?’ Dance Star 2020. They will now have the privilege of representing their home town of Wolverhampton at the hugely anticipated Can You Dance? events up and down the country, working alongside international choreographers and dance educators. Concluding with a performance at the M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool in front of thousands of people in October.
The UK’s biggest touring dance convention has been in undated with hundreds of applications from youngsters aged 6-18 years, hoping to be selected as part of the prestigious team! Billy and Aimee were selected by a panel of leading dance industry experts. Including CYD? Directors Matt Flint, a creative director and choreographer for TV, Film and Theatre including
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Ashmore Glass & Mirrors Ltd 25 YEARS
TO CELEBRATE SERVING BILSTON FOR 25 YEARS
severe weather rated
Manufacturers of bespoke products from our extensive range
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To celebrate our 25th year we are hoping you can join us for the opening of our large new showroom on the 29th February and 1st March from 09.30am to 4pm, where there will be a free raffle draw accompanied with complementary food and beverages.
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Please call :- Wolverhampton - 01902 488334 Wednesfield - 01922 400029 Shrewsbury - 01743 466244 Freephone - 0800 980 9620 Or Call Craig on 07971 953775 Units 17, 18, 19 & 30 Essington industrial Estate, Bognop Road, Essington WV11 2BA