Cleaner Air competition
Cumbria County Council’s Active Travel will also be promoting Clean Air Day by encouraging parents and carers to park safely on the school run. Many families feel unsafe walking or wheeling to school due to unsafe parking, and the air pollution caused by increased congestion can have a negative impact on children’s health.
They have launched their “Safe Parking Pledge” Design a Postcard Competition where participating schools will receive printed bespoke parking pledges designed by school children. Schools who do not wish to take part in the competition still have the option to receive Safe Parking postcards free of charge.
The competition can be launched at school on/after Clean Air Day on 16 June, with a deadline for submission of Friday 1 July. Winners will be announced by the end of the summer term and the postcards will be printed over the holidays so that the initiative can be launched at school in September ready for when pupils return.
• Name of school • Which option you would like to take part in (if option 2, please let us know how many copies you need) • If you would like to receive any of the additional resources to support the campaign
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Soapery Beck clean-up
Staying on the clean-up theme, thank you to those staff who took the time to go out and clean up the beck near the office. By the looks of the number of bags of rubbish collected, you did a fabulous job. Thanks to Stephen Bewsher for organising.
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A Cycling Festival and win your perfect day
The events team have two great announcements this week. The first relates is to do with the Cycling Fesitval:
Solway Coast Cycling Festival rolls in to Silloth again this summer
Following last year’s successful event, the popular family friendly cycling event is returning to Silloth, taking place on 23 July 2022 at Silloth Green from 10am – 4pm.
The festival offers a wide array of events, including kids biking skills sessions, track race events, bike repairs demonstrations, fairground rides, children’s story telling, outdoor fitness classes, and many other kids’ activities.
Parents are being advised that kids who wish to participate in the biking skills sessions are required to bring their own bikes.
The children’s storytelling activities will be taking place at 11am, 1pm and 3pm.
In addition to this, there will be a series of grass track racing events, where kids will also be able to race on the track once the professional races have been completed.
There will also be an array of food and drink vendors at the festival, including ice cream vans, pizza vans and a smoothie stall.
A number of bikes will be available for hire on the day. Attendees are advised to book these in advance via the Visit Allerdale website.
Allerdale’s Events and Tourism teams are encouraging people to bring their own bikes with them to the festival. An area to store bikes will be provided, but attendees are encouraged to bring their own locks or fasteners in order to secure them.
The event is free to attend, however some of the activities will come at a cost. For more information visit the Visit Allerdale website.
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Win your “perfect day” out in Allerdale
Following its popularity over the past two years, people are once again being given the chance to win their ‘perfect day’ in Allerdale, a beautiful part of Cumbria.
The district of Allerdale is home to a large part of the stunning Lake District, the scenic Solway Coast, as well as the western end of Hadrian’s Wall. But it doesn’t end there – the area offers fantastic shopping trips in thriving market towns, cultural experiences in galleries and theatres, and a host of taste-tingling eateries and drinking spots.
The team at Visit Allerdale - part of Allerdale Borough Council - has partnered up with competition sponsors Alp Kit, Newlands Adventure, Lakes Escape, Leathes Head Hotel, Tithe Barn, The Bank of Silloth, and Solway Cycle Hire to provide a fantastic prize for one lucky person and their friend. The lucky winner will win an outdoor bundle from Alp Kit, a choice of ten activities provided by Newlands Adventure, one escape game at Lakes Escape, and a luxury overnight stay at Leathes Head Hotel.
The main prize will see the winners get to experience a perfect day in Allerdale for free alongside a family member or friend.
The night before their Perfect Day, the lucky winners will check in at the stunning Leathes Head Country House Hotel to get some rest and take in some stunning views of Borrowdale Valley. They’ll wake up to fantastic hotel breakfast, before being swept off to Newlands Adventure where they can choose from one of ten activities. After a morning of adventures, the winners will have the chance to relax with a picnic at Curwen Park before travelling to Workington to put their brains to the test in one of the Lakes Escapes escape rooms.
Once they have made their escape, the winners will be driven to Silloth, where they will have the opportunity to soak up the stunning Solway Coast via bike. Not stopping there, the winners will park up their bikes to enjoy an evening meal at The Bank of Silloth, before being driven back to Cockermouth to check in at the Tithe Barn Hotel and to reflect on a perfect day spent in Allerdale.
The day will be filmed by professionals and a short film will be posted on www.visitallerdale.co.uk to inspire others and showcase what the area has to offer visitors.
Runners up prizes for the competition include a £50 Explore the Lakes voucher, an Always Swimming Wild intro session for two people, a weekend for two at the Ferrier Apartments at Silloth, and a two night stay in one of Castlerigg Hall’s family pods.
The submission process for this year’s Perfect Day in Allerdale competition differs from that of the previous two years. To enter the competition, entrants are being asked to post a piece of creative writing about Allerdale, an image, a video, or their own artwork of their favourite place in Allerdale on Facebook or Instagram. This could be a piece of creative writing about Keswick, an image of Cockermouth Main Street, a time-lapse video of Silloth Green, or a piece of artwork featuring Maryport harbour.
All entrants are being reminded to use the #perfectdayinallerdale hashtag for their entry to be valid and to tag Visit Allerdale’s social media accounts.
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To tag Visit Allerdale on Facebook please tag “Official Allerdale Tourism”.
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To tag Visit Allerdale on Instagram please tag “@visitallerdale”.
The closing date for entries is midnight on August 17. The competition is open to anyone in the UK who are 18 years of age and over.
Allerdale Borough Council have produced a video of last year’s “Perfect Day in Allerdale” competition winner.
Councils work together to save local bus service
Allerdale Borough Council and Carlisle City Council have come up with a plan to save the 93/93A bus service between Bowness-on-Solway and Carlisle.
It was recently announced that the service would no longer run after an overhaul of timetables in the area was carried out by the operator Stagecoach.
However, the two district councils have stepped in to help subsidise the service for the next twelve months to help keep it alive, with each council providing £6k towards the costs.
The move comes after local residents voiced concerns about the axing of the services, particularly by those without their own transport.
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Covid-19
We haven’t heard much about Covid-19 recently, as we’ve moved to live with it.
However, it is still about and people are being infected – including our colleagues. We’ve also seen the first rise in cases nationally recently. There are also reports of a new variant which the government is watching.
Therefore just a reminder to continue to act responsibly to keep people safe and to ensure we can continue to provide our services:
- If you have symptoms, please stay away from the office and take a test. Even if it turns out to be a cold, rather than Covid, please work from home if you can to help stop it spreading to colleagues. Speak to your manager if you can't do your job from home.
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Tests are freely available from the fulfilment team on the ground floor. Take regular tests and stay at home if it is positive.
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When in the office, take a temperature test when you arrive and keep hands clean.
Local Government Reorganisation in Cumbria
 If you have any questions about local government reorganisation, please pass them to me, and I'll answer them where possible.
Council tax energy rebate
I’m pleased to say that letters have begun to go out to those who do not pay their council tax by direct debit, which allow them to claim the money at the Post Office.
The letters contain a barcode and information regarding how the recipient can claim the money.
In order to claim the £150 rebate, residents are being advised to take their letter and a form of photo ID to their local Post Office within three months of receiving the letter. All accepted forms of photo ID are listed within the letter.
We are currently working through a number of outstanding payments that were unable to be processed to those who pay via direct debit due to data discrepancies. The Council are in the process of completing further checks. Once checks have been completed, the Council will be making payment by the most appropriate method.
Thanks to David and the team for all the work behind this.
The Lakesman
On behalf of us all, I’d like to wish all those competing in the Lakesman every success – including some of our colleagues.
It’s a great event which is not only a huge achievement for those involved, but also showcases our great area. If you see anyone out competing do give them some encouragement.
And of course, thank you to all the staff members who are volunteering for the event on Sunday.
Allonby car park improvement works
The improvement works to the Allonby play-area car park have been completed (designed and managed by Trevor Hurst).
The works have been funded as part of the Allonby to Silloth coastal path project (Coastal Community Fund and RDPE) and include the creation of two new disabled bays that give direct and improved access to the cycle path. The whole of the car park has been also been regraded.
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A third of Allerdale businesses aren’t listed on Google, study says
More than a third of businesses in Allerdale do not have a Google Business Profile.
That is the finding of research commissioned by the Allerdale Borough Council which revealed that 35 percent of firms in the area have not taken advantage of the free online listing.
Covering a diverse sample group of more than 1,500 businesses throughout the Borough the investigation is part of Allerdale’s All Doing Digital campaign which aims to help and encourage business owners to make the most of digital opportunities.
A Google Business Profile is a free listing which makes key information about a business (such as location, opening hours and contact details) easily accessible to customers – without them having to sift through dozens of search results.
While most of the remaining 65 per cent of the sample group have a Google Business Profile, more than half of these profiles are automatically generated by Google and remain unclaimed by the business in question. Often lacking key information, these profiles have received little to no attention from business owners.
During the past few months, Allerdale has worked with Carlisle PR and digital marketing firm Intro to help local businesses do more digitally. They have created a range of handy factsheets to support businesses in promoting themselves online – including setting up a Google Business Profile.
E-Learning
To ensure we are all up to speed on our training requirements, please may I ask that you complete some of the modules on the e-learning platform. These are:
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Fire Safety training on Aspire if you haven't done so recently (in the past six months). Deadline for completion is end of August.
- The Data Protection modules should be completed by the end of August too – unless you have completed them in the past six months.
- Also a reminder for people to log in and complete the DSE training module and complete the assessment at the end.
Any queries, please speak to HR.
Starters next week
We welcome Deborah Woodthorpe to the team on 20th June. She joins as a Nature Ranger at the Workington Nature Partnership.
Meetings this week and next
On Tuesday we had an Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting to consider a call-in application for the Delivery Plan in relation to Keswick Leisure Centre. The committee agreed to refer the original decision back to the Executive with a suggested amendment to the wording of the Delivery Plan. This will now be considered by the Executive next week.
Executive committee for the Shadow Authority for Cumberland Council
Support Ernie Davidson and his sponsored bike ride
To support the Freeman Heart and Lung Transplant Association and the work they do on the 2nd of July I’m setting off with 14 others from Christ Church Maryport and heading up to Bowness on Solway on cycleways and quiet country roads, it’ll be 54 mile round trip so if anyone would like to sponsor me then just drop me a message.
The Freeman Hospital recently provided excellent care for my brother-in-law, Mike Bell, who in 2016 was diagnosed with a serious heart complaint. After years of treatment, he finally had a heart transplant and in May this year was finally able to travel to Australia to see his son, his daughter in law and new born baby girl.
The aim of the ride is to raise a bit of money to help the FHLTA continue with their work specifically aimed at supporting the short holiday/respite breaks they provide for families who are on the transplant journey and also to continue with the upkeep and maintenance of the on-site accommodation for families of long-term hospital patients which enabled my sister to stay over in the North East for long periods of time.
Anything you can spare is greatly appreciated.
....and good luck to colleagues in the Mighty Hike Walk for Macmillan
Kelly Glaister, Emma Dawes, Chris Fleming, James Ashcroft, Gary Banks, Paul Shearsby and Annette Minshaw are all doing the 26 mile Mighty Hike walk for Macmillan tomorrow.
Kelly has set up a sponsorship page if you'd like to donate: Kelly Glaister is fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support (justgiving.com)
Good luck to you all.
I hope you have a good weekend - it may even start to get a bit warmer.
Andrew
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