Referendum Date Set – Thursday 5th October

Neighbourhood Plan Update

Following the Independent Examiner’s review, it has been agreed that the Neighbourhood Plan can proceed to a public referendum.  This is the final stage of the Neighbourhood Plan process and it is now up to everyone who lives in the Parish to vote on whether they would like the Plan to come into force.

The date for the referendum is Thursday 5th October.  Voting will be held at the Parish Hall from 7 am – 10 pm.  New rules for voting in person have recently been introduced and voters will need to show photographic ID.

More information will be shared about the plan in the Parish Council’s newsletter which will be distributed shortly.  For now, if you would like further information please consult the County Council’s website – Neighbourhood Planning Page and view the documents by selecting “Broomhaugh & Riding”

Residents can also download a copy of the Final Version of the Neighbourhood Plan here.

Right to Inspect the Accounts – 22/23

The Parish Council has submitted its annual return to the external auditor, Mazars LLP. Any person interested has the right to inspect and make copies of the accounting records for 2022/23.  A notice explaining these rights can be found here. Additionally, the unaudited annual governance and accountability return which has been submitted to the auditor can be found here.  Please note: the accounting statements as published may be subject to change.

Dates for the inspection of the accounts – Monday 12th June – Friday 21st July – by appointment.  Please contact the Clerk.

New Electoral Arrangements for Northumberland – Have your say

New boundaries are being proposed for council divisions in Northumberland County Council.

The Local Government Boundary Commission wants to hear what residents and local organisations think about the proposals. A 10-week consultation on the proposals will run until 10 July 2023.  

What the proposals mean for Riding Mill:: The Commission has proposed that Broomhaugh & Riding should become part of the Corbridge ward (the Stocksfield Ward would now include areas of Prudhoe).  The Commission notes that “Broomhaugh & Riding parish has strong transport connections to Corbridge and beyond towards Hexham. We are interested to hear evidence on the community identity of Broomhaugh & Riding parish in relation to our proposed change”.  You can submit your comments directly to the Commission or you can write to the parish council and we will summarise comments in our response to the Commission.

Further details are given below or read pages 40-42 of the draft report:

A map of draft proposals for new electoral arrangements in Northumberland

Proposed divisions for Northumberland
Click map for high resolution version

Credit: contains Ordnance Survey data (c) Crown copyright and database rights 2023

 

The Commission is the independent body that draws these boundaries. It is reviewing Northumberland to make sure councillors will represent about the same number of electors, and that division arrangements will help the council work effectively.

The Commission has published proposals for changes to Northumberland. It is proposing that there should be 67 single-councillor divisions and one two-councillor division. Northumberland should have 68 divisions, two more than there are now. Most divisions will change, thirteen will stay the same.

Proposed changes include:

  • An increase to the council size for Northumberland from 67 councillors to 69 councillors in these draft recommendations. This will allow a division pattern that reflects both the urban and rural parts of the county.
  • Retaining one two-councillor division in Northumberland based on the evidence received during consultation on division patterns. That division is Alnwick.
  • Changes to divisions across the rest of the county with substantial changes in the Ashington, Blyth, Cramlington, Hexham, Morpeth and Seaton Valley areas.
  • The amendment of the divisions of Bellingham and Rothbury to provide for electoral equality in those divisions.

Launching the consultation Professor Colin Mellors, Chair of the Commission, said:

“We want people in Northumberland to help us.

We have drawn up proposals for new electoral divisions in Northumberland. We want to make sure these new electoral arrangements reflect communities. We also want them to be easy to understand and convenient for local people.

Residents and local organisations can help us do that. We would like them to let us know whether they agree with our proposals before we take final decisions.

It’s easy to get involved. Go to our website. Or you can e-mail or write to us.

Just tell us what you think and give us some details why you think that. It’s really simple, so do get involved.”

The Commission has a dedicated section on its website where people can see the detail of the proposals and comment on the names of electoral divisions and their boundaries. www.lgbce.org.uk/all-reviews/northumberland

People can also give their views by e-mail at reviews@lgbce.org.uk, and by post:

Review Officer (Northumberland)
LGBCE
PO Box 133
Blyth
NE24 9FE

Energy Advice

Climate Change News page updated with energy advice following the presentation at the annual Parish Meeting.

Click here for more details – energy advice

War Memorial Appeal

Riding Mill is bidding to raise funds to put right a mistake on its war memorial which went unnoticed for eight decades – can you help?

Crowdfunder appeal – click here

The memorial across the road from St James’ Church, in Riding Mill, bears the names of those men from the parish who lost their lives in both world wars.

But for some unknown reason the inscription for Frederick Best, who died as a prisoner of war in 1942 at the age of 29, wrongly indicates he served with the RAF. In fact, he served with the British Army in North Africa, as a sapper with the Royal Engineers.

Now, approaching the 80th anniversary of his death, and ahead of this year’s Remembrance Sunday on November 13, the village has launched an appeal to find money to alter the inscription.

The mistake on the plaque was only revealed recently by former churchwarden Sandy Gardner. Each Remembrance Sunday, he read out the names of the men from the village who lost their lives in both wars.

For the centenary of the end of World War One in 2018, he decided to find out the Christian names of those who died, so he could read out their full names rather than just their initials.

The research proved straightforward for every name, apart from that of FDK. Best.

Extensive inquiries with the RAF drew a blank. Only after calling on the help of village history enthusiast Susan Law did it come to light that Sapper Best served with the Royal Engineers, and that the inscription on the memorial had been wrong since it was added at the end of World War Two.

Now the village is embarking on an appeal to raise enough money to employ a specialist to make the alteration.

“My father was with the Royal Engineers during World War Two, so I know all too well how proud men were to serve with the Royal Engineers,” said Sandy.

“It is important we do the right thing by Frederick Best, and make the correction to the memorial. It is the least we can do in honour of a young man from the village who made the ultimate sacrifice for King and Country.”

Those who want to contribute to the appeal can do so online www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/war-memorial-correction

In addition, the parish council is keen to hear from any descendants of Sapper Best. They may help in piecing together more of his life story and family background, as well as be guests of honour at a rededication of the memorial when the amendment to the inscription is made, hopefully in time for next year’s Remembrance Service.

Anyone with information can email the parish council clerk Catherine Harrison at ridingmillclerk@gmail.com

 

TRAGIC JOURNEY FROM THE BANKS OF THE TYNE TO A FINAL RESTING PLACE IN MILAN

A PRISTINE white cross towers in solemnity over an immaculately manicured lawn on the outskirts of Milan.

The so-called Cross of Sacrifice, illuminated on its octagonal plinth by the Italian sun, is the centrepiece of a military cemetery marked out regimentally by 31 razor sharp lines of identically shaped white headstones, where the remains of 417 British and Commonwealth servicemen are interred.

Amidst the hushed ranks of the Fallen, one headstone reads; “Sapper F. Best, Royal Engineers, 26th November 1942 – age 29.”

Then, under a simply carved cross, there is a poignant and deeply personal inscription: “In proud and loving memory of our beloved son. Always in our thoughts.”

The only indication of his home village 1,000 miles away lies within the cemetery register, which records Sapper Best as the son of John and Annie Best, of Riding Mill, Northumberland. The inscription, one can presume, was included at their request.

That the body of Sapper Best, from Riding Mill, lies in this peaceful corner of Italy’s second biggest city is the only certain fact known about him.

His childhood, upbringing, working career, army service, exact wartime activities and death all remain somewhat vague; matters of conjecture shrouded by the mists of time and the fog of war.

But it has been possible to map out a sketchy outline of his tragically short life.

Frederick Best was born in 1913, the second youngest of five children to John and Annie. According to the 1921 census John was a chauffeur at Stelling Hall, at Newton. But is known the family subsequently moved to Riding Mill, and were living there during the war.

Nothing is known of young Frederick’s education, or his profession. But it is likely he became a skilled tradesman, which would have enabled him to take up service with the Royal Engineers.

He was a sapper with the 235th Field Park Company of the Royal Engineers, which recruited largely from Northumberland, Tyneside and the Tyne Valley.

When he enlisted is unknown. However, if he joined at the start of hostilities, it is possible he was with the Company, part of the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division, when it was evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940 as part of the British Expeditionary Force.

He would almost certainly have been with the Company in May 1941 when it embarked on a troop carrier bound for Egypt, via the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

Later that summer the Company head for Cyprus, before arriving in Palestine in January 1942, then to Syria, back to Egypt, before a fateful positing to the Western Desert Campaign in North Africa by Spring.

On May 26, Axis forces led by Rommel attacked the Gazala Line, in Libya, defended by in the region of 100,000 Allied troops, including Sapper Best and the 235th Field Park Company.

With two days Rommel overran the Allied defences and the 235th Company was captured.

Official Army records list Sapper Best as ‘missing’ on May 30. Later, records are amended to list him as a Prisoner of War.

PoWs were handed over to the Italians and transported to the port of Derna, on Libya’s Mediterranean coast. From there they were shipped to port of Taranto, in Puglia, in Southern Italy.

From Taranto the PoWs were moved to holding camps. It is recorded that some members of the 235th Company were held at a camp at Macerata. This was a large camp, established in the summer of 1942 on the site of a disused linen factory. Sanitation was poor, with only 12 toilets and three taps for the 10,000 prisoners held there.

It is most likely Sapper Best was imprisoned there, before being moved on to more permanent camps.

Sapper Best’s scant war records have him as a PoW at Camp Fossoli of Carpi, near the historic city of Modena, in northern Italy.

Although it has been impossible to verify categorically, it is most probable Sapper Best died there on November 26

The cause of his death is unknown, and can only be a matter of conjecture. He could have been wounded in the Western Desert campaign and died as a result of his injuries.

However, many more PoWs in Italy died as a consequence of malnutrition or poor sanitation in hastily constructed camps starved of meaningful Red Cross supplies until the winter of 1942.

Sapper Best’s remains would have been buried in a makeshift grave at the camp where he died, and only transferred to the cemetery at Milan after the end of the war in May 1945.

 

Neighbourhood Plan Consultation

We are consulting on the draft Neighbourhood Plan – please visit our dedicated Neighbourhood Plan page and view the Draft Plan and supporting documents.  The consultation ends 13th December.

Drop in event

If you want to find out more about the Plan we are holding a drop in event between 10 am and 3 pm on Saturday, 5th November 2022 at the Parish Hall where hard copies of the plan and supporting documents will be available.

Yearly Newsletter

18th October 2022

Our new newsletter has just been published and will be delivered to homes in the parish in the coming days.  If you would like to download a digital copy, please click here.

Her Majesty the Queen

The Parish Council is deeply saddened by the death of Her Majesty The Queen.  We join with people throughout our country and the world to mourn her loss and we offer our heartfelt sympathy to the Royal Family.

In Riding Mill, a Book of Condolence has been opened and can be found in St James’s Church.  The Church will be open 24 hours a day for the next week to offer a place for prayer and reflection

It’s also possible to send an online condolence message directly to the Royal Family via the following link: https://www.royal.uk/send-message-condolence

Following national guidance, the parish council meeting due to be held on Monday 12th September has been cancelled and the council will therefore next meet on Monday 10th October.

Further details of church services or local events will be shared when known.

 

 

Jubilee Picnic and Sports Day

A huge thank you to everyone who helped on the day, participated in the games and generally joined in the fun.  What a great day we had!!

Phil Benton Photography very kindly took a host of photographs and captured all the fun.

 

 

Follow the link on Facebook to see the full gallery.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=philbentonphotography&set=a.436531178475658

Anyone interested in purchasing a photo should contact Phil, further details on his website:
https://philbentonphotography.com/

Broomhaugh & Riding Mill History Trail

February 2022

We are delighted to introduce our new Village History Trail.  This trail has been designed to lead you around the village to explore buildings and features of note.

Two noticeboards have been installed to guide you and they can be found in the Old Playground and by the Parish Hall.  Leaflets are available or can be downloaded below: