Spice FM Wednesday Show

Cars, pavements, streets, people …

Wednesday’s Magpie Show is dedicated to the problems West Enders say they are having with cars.

Cars on pavements. Cars on dropped kerbs. Cars on match days. Cars being parked for sale on resident’s streets. Cars in cycle lanes. What’s your issue?

We look at what the law says and listen to what locals have to say. Call the show on 0191 273 9888 (Option 1) if you live in Newcastle’s West End.

The Magpie CAR Show is on Spice 98.8FM from 11am to Noon, Wednesday 17 June.

Benwell Hill Cricket Update

 

NORTH EAST PREMIER LEAGUE Premier Division
DRAW after rain forces abandoned match.

Stockton set a blistering target for the Benwell 1st Xl, with their man Ramanpreet Singh proving particularly difficult to remove, until bowler Matthew Muchall managed to coax him into an error, with Jack Clark taking the catch. Singh was dismissed for 93, contributing to an impressive Stockton display of 223 for 10.

Alasdair Appleby and Zohaib Khan were at the crease for The Hill at tea, Khan on 24 from 18 balls with four boundaries. Perhaps bountifully, the rains came down and play was abandoned. Benwell were at 54 for 2 after 16 overs. The points were equally shared and The Hill remain at fifth in the table.

TWENTY20
Benwell WIN by 36 runs.

The 1st Xl batted first at the Harraton Cricket Ground in Washington, setting the pace with 129 for 8. Opening batsman Sameet Brar was a mainstay for The Hill, before being compromised lbw by Andrew Ebdale for 47.

The bowling attack of Zohaib Khan and Peter Jones contained Washington however and the visitors took the match, seeing off their opponents for 93.

NORTH EAST PREMIER LEAGUE Division Two
Benwell WIN by 74 runs.

It was The Hill 2nd Xl all the way here after they declared at 193 for 9, wicket keeper and captain Joe Moore making his half-century.

In reply, the four Benwell bowlers proved strong but it was Max Williamson who took most wickets. He had some costly overs, but five of them succeeded in producing exactly zero runs from Stockton. 119 runs was all they could muster, giving Benwell 29 points, enough to keep them in touch with second and third places.

Fenham Teacher And Community Volunteer Receives Medal

• Mrs Anne Robson Lloyd receives British Empire Medal

Anne Lloyd’s is a familiar face in Fenham, because of the years of voluntary service she has given to young people in the area involving them in drama and through her years as a teacher in the area.

That service has now been recognised with the award of a British Empire Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List and it is news she has had to keep under her hat for weeks.

Although just publicly announced last week, Anne Llloyd has known about the award since last month. Protocol, however, meant she had to keep the news to herself until it had been made officially public.

“The hardest part was keeping it from my three sons”, she says.

The news she was going to receive the award had been hard to contain and was a complete surprise. “I could hardly believe it“, she said. “I was utterly amazed. I just sank into an armchair”.

Anne Lloyd worked at Denton Burn’s Broadwood Junior School (now Primary) for 24 years, developing drama education and exploring its use as a tool for enhancing learning and as a means of looking at and engaging with the world.

She has also been the driving force behind a drama group at Holy Cross Church in Fenham which has involved hundreds of local children over three decades and more.

Children’s productions need big casts, she explains, to keep them all interested. Children of children she once taught have attended the group and it is testimony to her success in sustaining interest. Although no household names have been through her group, some had roles in the tv series Byker Grove and one acted in a BBC play.

Teaching children how to fight for theatre was one of her particular pleasures, and the learning that “nobody has to be hurt”.

She is less involved with children’s drama these days as it has become more difficult to recruit the numbers of young people needed to stage productions, she says.

Children are still encouraged to appreciate theatre through visits to Northern Theatre, pantomimes, and Christmas productions.

She is currently involved in a production of a new play ‘Football Crazy’ (with Newcastle United links) by Jane Wanless. She plays “a nosy neighbour”. It will be staged in November.

She has been church organist for 23 years. She sings in a choir. She is also active in the Ponteland Church of England parish and in the Mothers’ Union.

Her interest in drama started young while she was a student at Teeside High School, painting scenery. Sometimes extras were needed and her love for the theatre was born. By the time she was at Durham University it had become a passion. She recalls going down to Stratford with friends and camping out all night at the Royal Shakespeare Company in a sleeping bag to be sure of getting the cheap tickets for a performance of The Merchant of Venice.

Originally from Norton near Stockton, she moved to Newcastle in the late 60s with her husband (and ‘rock’) Donald and her new family. They started attending Holy Cross and were soon active members of the congregation. When a new curate set up a drama group at the church 1977 it wasn’t long before Anne put her teaching skills to good use and got involved.

The rest, as they say, is history. The group flourished and has staged a variety of performances over the years, ranging from mysteries to comedies and tragedies. It also served as a means of bringing other people together and after each matinee there would be a get-together for audience members in the parish hall over afternoon tea.

Now 76, Anne jokes that she is glad to receive the medal “while I’m still young enough to appreciate it”.

With a sprightly gleam in her eye, she says she has no intentions of resting on her laurels. “I’ll keep on going till I die”, she asserts. Somehow, one can’t help but believe her.

The British Empire Medal awarded to Anne Lloyd recognises her sustained contribution to education and the community in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Joe Scurfield Tributes

A special tribute ‘party’ to the late Elswick musician, bon viveur and political activist Joe Scurfield takes place at the Cumberland Arms on Sunday.

It has been organised by the family of former fellow Old Rope String Band member Tim Dalling and will be a chance for those who knew him or those that “like playing, listening or dancing to a tune”, to remember his life and music. Previously unreleased recordings will be played in public for the first time and relatives will travel from Holland to attend.

A more permanent tribute has already been set up in the form of a website called ‘Joe’s Tunebank’.

“Whenever Joe learned a new tune from somewhere he recorded it on a little cassette recorder on his kitchen. They’re pretty rough recordings but an interesting example of one fiddler’s repertoire and a lovely chance to, once again, hear Joe playing“, said Tim Dalling.

Scurfield made 14 of these 90 minute cassette tapes and work has begun putting samples of the violinist’s recordings on the website. Visitors can also see pictures and hear the voice of the artist who lost his life in a road accident a decade ago.

The Sunday 14 June tribute event takes place at the Cumberland Arms, Newcastle, NE6 1LD, from 1pm. More info available at Joe Scurfield Tribute Event Facebook page.

LINK – Joe’s Tunebank website

(picture courtesy of Joe’s Tunebank)

Arthur’s Hill Residents Rally Round

The Magpie award of the day for good neighbourliness goes to residents of Belsay Place in Arthur’s Hill.

After a man in his twenties was found this afternoon with a large head wound and in a distressed state by a local resident who called the ambulance service, others rallied round and brought water and blankets and cleaned him up, whilst others looked after the man to stem bleeding and keep him talking.

Hero of the moment was a young Blueline taxi driver on his way to work, who made sure emergency services knew exactly where to go, assured the injured man of the need to go to hospital and stayed until an ambulance arrived twenty minutes later.

Another hero was the local resident who first called emergency services, and because he had to go somewhere left his phone with another resident to continue the call.

Good neighbourliness often goes unnoticed and rarely gets reported, but it is reassuring to know residents will pull together in a time of crisis, whatever their nationality, cultural background or however well they speak English and regardless of whether they knew each other beforehand.

If you know of people in the West End who have rallied round to help others, let The Magpie know so we can show some of the good that goes on in our communities every day.

PM Ducks MP’s North East Mayor Question

• Prime Minister evades Newcastle MP’s question
• Can North East have devolution, without a ‘Boris’ attached?

West End MP Chi Onwurah got short shrift from the Prime Minister this week.

Onwurah asked the PM directly whether it was time that the North East, with its “manufacturing and technical prowess” and “highest productivity growth in the country” should not be given powers to build an economy that matched its values, “without a Boris – I mean a mayor – attached”.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, David Cameron avoided giving Onwurah a direct answer and neither acknowledged her recognition of the North East or the question of the region being forced into having a mayor.

Newcastle voted 62%/38% against the idea of a single person running the city in a referendum on the issue in 2012, preferring instead the way things ran at the moment. Although voter turnout was low at 32%, it was one of the highest turnouts in the country.

The Government however has said it will force the region to have a mayor if it wants Manchester-style devolution.

The Local Government Minister James Wharton this week told the House of Commons “If areas want the big devolution deal that places such as Manchester are getting, it is absolutely true that a Metro Mayor is a Government requirement as part of that package.

We have been accused of wanting to create Metro Mussolinis. Nothing could be further from the truth

“We have been accused of wanting to create Metro Mussolinis. Nothing could be further from the truth.

“The mayoral model has been shown to work all over the world, and a directly elected and accountable individual is an important part of that model.

“If areas want to push ahead with the sort of devolution package that areas such as Greater Manchester are already in line to get, a mayor will be a requirement of that process or will be part of that deal.

“We in the Government believe that that needs to happen, and we will insist on it.”

If regions did not want devolution on the scale of that to be given to the Greater Manchester then “Tell us what works for you”, he said.

“Tell us what geographic area works for you and what powers work for you. Come to the Government and make a deal with us that will help you grow your local economy, deliver better services for local people and, fundamentally, play a part in the northern powerhouse project that this Government are introducing to rebalance our economy so that the north of England can grow at the rate it should be able to expect, and so that the success enjoyed by London and the south over many years can be replicated across the country as a whole.”

Fenham Man Arrested After Byker Shooting

A Fenham man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a shooting in Byker a fortnight ago.

David Francis, 28, of Stocksfield Avenue (pictured) was arrested along with John Mario Thompson, 29 of Ada Street, Walker following the shooting in Scarborough Road on 30 May, which left a man with serious injuries. He remains in hospital in a stable condition.

A man and woman, in their 40’s, have been charged with assisting an offender.

All have been remanded in custody, said a Northumbria Police spokesperson.

Benwell Child Rapist Gets 14 Years

Paul Johnson, 28, of Ellesmere Road, Benwell has been sentenced to 14 years in jail, after being found guilty of child rape and other sexual offences.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how Johnson started abusing two girls while he was still a child and while they were as young as six or seven, The Chronicle has reported.

Sentencing him, Judge Paul Sloan QC described his “extremely serious” offending as having “a very significant and marked psychological effect” on his victims.

Twitter ‘Terror’ Tweets Accused Goes To Trial

A 32yo man with West End connections who allegedly posted “terror messages” on Twitter is set to stand trial in October.

Appearing at London’s Old Bailey, Abdal Miah was charged with four offences under Section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006, after allegedly posting links to jihadist videos on Twitter, the instant global digital broadcasting medium.

The Act makes it an offence to broadcast material encouraging others to commit, prepare or instigate acts of terrorism.

Miah, a Bangladeshi national, was arrested last month after a North East Counter Terrorism Unit operation in Newcastle’s West End. All charges relate to ‘tweets’ he posted in October 2014.

The NE Counter Terrorism Unit have stressed that there is no evidence to suggest any threat to local communities.

Related Story 21 May 2105 Man In Court On Terrorism Charges

News Source Court News UK website

‘Gawn alang the Scotswood Road’ GALLERY TWO

Some 4,200 runners took to the streets of Newcastle to take part in the annual Blaydon Race yesterday evening, setting off from Collingwood Street on the 5.7 mile run to Blaydon. The men’s race was won by Jonny Taylor of Morpeth Harriers in 26 mins 25 secs. The women’s race was won by Alyson Dixon […]