Your independent, online news resource for the Cannock area

NOVEMBER ISSUE - FREE

One of our recent photowalkers, snapping the monument in Cannock town centre. MORE PICTURES on Pages 6-7

LOCAL RESIDENTS FIGHT TO SAVE IVY HOUSE

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PAGE 10

Local people are once again trying to save a landmark from demoli-

tion, only months after it was originally spared from being bulldozed.

Ivy House, which has been in Cannock for nearly 150 years, has once again been earmarked by Staf-fordshire County Council to be de-molished to make way for new de-velopments, including apartments and a doctor’s surgery.

The original plan was withdrawn by the council after more than 1,000 residents signed a petition against the scheme.

Residents are now applying to obtain listed building status for the site - of which only the original en-trance block remains - to avoid it being reduced to rubble.

Labour parliamentary candidate Janos Toth said: “I am backing resi-dents to keep Ivy House and there is now a dash to make sure listed building status is granted. This

would mean that Ivy House would be retained and only refurbished in-ternally.

“The Tory County Council have acted in an underhand way and washed their hands of Ivy House by selling it without listening to residents’ views. They are more in-terested in asset stripping than the views of Cannock residents. Resi-dents have been left at the peril of property developers.”

Ivy House originated as a work-house, built in around 1870, which later became Chase Hospital before finally being renamed as Ivy House, providing geriatric care.

Mr Toth added “This is a fight to preserve the historical past of Can-nock and this proposed demolition of Ivy House will be fought.”

For updates on this story, visit www.connectcannock.co.uk

SNAP HAPPY

Ivy House. Photo by Sarah Giles

Cannock District Council are making changes to parking charges around

the district in a bid to win back shoppers.

Free bays will be provided in Cannock, which are expected to be made available in April next year, and an extension to free parking fa-cilities in Hednesford is expected in the run up to Christmas.

Other parking charges are look-ing to be massively reduced, with prospective shoppers only being charged a nominal 10p to park their car. The plan, which is currently being trialled at the Avon Road car park in Cannock and Forge Road in Rugeley, will mean anybody parking

their car after 3pm on a weekday will only be charged the minimal price.

The 10p pilot scheme will run be-tween January and June next year in a bid to reduce the post-Christmas lull in retail shopping.

Councillor Diane Todd, Portfolio Leader for Town Centre Regenera-tion said “We have listened to local traders and want to do all we can to help increase trade into our town centres. It is another example of the Council trying to support its town centres and sits alongside the funds the Council is putting in to the centres to improve their appear-ance and encourage retailers to take on vacant units.”

Cannock parking costs reduced

2 – FREE – NOVEMBER EDITION

Each year over 500 chil-dren are abducted from the UK. In order to raise

awareness of this, Cannock Charity Abducted Angels or-ganised a walk from Cannock to Downing Street. Guest con-tributor Gareth Tibbles takes up the story.

On the 17th August 2013 at 12pm, Leila Sabra and Sean Fel-ton started walking the 175 miles to Downing Street to hand over a pe-tition of 7500 signatures to Prime Minister David Cameron to raise awareness about Child Abduction in the UK and that there needs to be more done to change the law to prevent this happening.

On their t-shirts are pictures of Leila’s missing daughter Aishah.

In March 2010, Sean’s son Jobe was abducted by his mother and with this Sean realised that if a child is abducted and the country where your child has been taken to is a non Hague country; the country that you live has to go through the legal system.

This could take months or years, and, even after a lengthy and expen-sive legal process, you may never see your child again.

After a long and fraught search and legal battles, Sean was one of the lucky ones who has been reu-nited with his son.

Aishah

Leila married an Egyptian na-tional and gave birth to a baby girl named Aishah. Prior to marriage it was agreed that the couple would

reside in the UK. However, after the birth of their daughter, Leila’s husband refused to follow through on their agreement and did not move to the UK.

Determined to save her marriage, Leila travelled to Egypt with the hope of persuading her husband to return with her. But he became abu-sive, showing no interest in Aishah. Leila returned to the UK and ap-plied for a divorce.

Both parties agreed that Aishah would stay in the custody of Leila on the condition that Leila take Aishah to visit her father and his family at least one month a year and the father could visit with Aishah any time he wished in the UK.

Upon the first visit to Egypt, eve-rything went smoothly. On the sec-ond visit, Aishah’s father kidnapped Aishah.

For eight months Leila fought through the Egyptian justice sys-tem to win custody of Aishah and to find the whereabouts of her child. She finally received a call say-ing Aishah was found and would be returned to her on the condition that Leila stay in Egypt as her ex husband had placed a travel ban on Aishah.

Kidnapped

Forced to stay in Egypt Leila found work as a teacher. However Aishah’s father, perturbed that Leila had won custody, started a string of death threats in an attempt to intim-idate Leila, hoping that she would give up on her daughter and return home. Leila refused to give in to the threats so her ex-husband went back to court demanding visitation rights. Leila knew that he would at-

tempt to kidnap Aishah again and refused these. A judge then threat-ened to have her arrested and re-tract Aishah’s custody to her. In fear of losing Aishah again, Leila was forced to comply. Aishah was kidnapped the second time in Sep-tember 2011, and, ever since, Leila has not stopped fighting to save Aishah and has become very active in aiding other parents in similar positions.

You can find out more about the work that Abducted Angels do by visiting their website at www.abductedangels.org, c/o Jungle Joes, 25 Martindale, Mar-tindale Trading Estate, Can-nock, WS11 7XN, telephon-ing 01543 571818 or e-mailing sean@abductedangels.org

The people who work at this charity do so tirelessly to try to make a change to the current laws in place and to offer support to any parent who is in this unfortunate position.

See more on this story at:bit.ly/CCangels

Walking for angels

L-R: Leila Sabra, Michelle Steventon, Rachael Shalloe, Sean Felton. Photo by Gareth Tibbles

A popular nursery in Penk-ridge is soon to start new funded sessions for two-

year olds under a County Coun-cil-led project.

Little Treasures nursery based at St Michael’s School has joined the ‘Think 2’ Project which is aimed at helping provide childcare for par-ents who receive benefits. Howev-er, parents who are not part of the scheme will still be able to join the nursery.

Tracy Stephenson, a manager at Little Treasures said:

“We currently run 15 hours fund-ed childcare for three and four-year olds at St Michael’s First School. Due to popular demand we have decided to open for afternoon ses-sions and wrap-around care from January 2014 to enable more flex-

ibility for parents returning to work. We will also be providing funded places for two year olds as part of the Think 2 Project. There are also options to pay for afternoon ses-sions if you do not qualify for the funding. We pride ourselves on our strong links with the school prepar-ing the children for smoother tran-sitions into reception. We feel that this will be a very positive improve-ment for our community.”

To qualify for a free childcare place your child must be two years old. And you must be getting one of the following benefits:

• Income support• Income based on Job Seeker’s

allowance• Income related employment and

support allowance

• Child Tax Credit but not Working Tax Credit (including The Child-care Element) and the household income is not more than £16,190. Note: if you get Working Tax Credit, regardless of your in-come, you will not qualify.

• Guarantee element of state pen-sion credit (from 30th April 2005)

• Support under Part VI of the Im-migration and Asylum Act 1999 If your two-year old is a

fostered/‘looked after’ child, you will automatically be eligible.

If your child already has a place on the Think 2 pilot scheme you will be automatically eligible and need do nothing more.

Little Treasures St Michaels nursery have twice been award-ed ‘outstanding’ status by Of-

sted, The report can be viewed at www.ofsted.gov.uk

If anybody is interested in booking a place or having a look around any of the sites, please contact Tracy Stephenson on 01785 711025.

Little Treasures can also be found on Facebook. See more at: bit.ly/CCtreasures

Little Treasures funded sessions for two-year olds

Photo by Sarah Giles

CONTACT US

Facebook.com/connectcannock

Twitter.com/connectcannock

EmailHello@connectcannock.co.uk

Phone07553 416313

youtube.com/connectcannock

foursquare.com/connectcannock

Cannock Chase Business Awards 2013 Winners

On Friday the 25th of October over 130 of Cannock Chase’s businesses descended on the Premier Suite for the annual Cannock Chase Business Awards hosted by Steve Mallows of the Best of Cannock, and Aidan Bur-ley MP. Businesses were invited earlier in the year to apply for a number of awards following the success of the 2012 ceremony. For the full list of winners go to bit.ly/ccwinners:

Photos : Lee Morrall Professional Photography Services Excellence Displayed by a New Business Award: Winner – The Groom Room (top picture)Excellence In The Use Of Digital And Social Media Award: Winner – Kazoo (pictured, with Steve Mallows, left, and Aidan Burley MP, right)

NOVEMBER EDITION – FREE – 3

ACROSS the country newspapers are closing down or at least seeing a

reduced capability to deliver lo-cal stories, reports Jerome Turn-er, researcher at Birmingham City University.

You may remember the Chase Post, but since this has now gone, the area is served by just one local paper, the Cannock Chronicle.

This isn’t a problem particular to Cannock though. So why is this happening? A number of reasons. Advertising is harder to sell, and this provides a large part of a news-paper’s income. Staff who were al-located to local reporting are either losing their jobs, or being relocated in media organisations.

So where can we turn for local news? Well, there are other out-lets, but I’m sure you’ll struggle to remember the last time you heard Cannock mentioned on BBC Midlands Today. There is another solution though: the In-ternet.

Some organisations like the police do produce news releases but for an independent Cannock news source, you’d have to look to the ConnectCannock.co.uk site (and their Facebook and Twitter pages).

So is this type of blogging just happening in Cannock? No, all around the country, around the world, in fact, ordinary people are setting up websites for their local

area. We call it hyperlocal.At Birmingham City University

we’re currently in the middle of a research project that is exploring this phenomenon of hyperlocal news publishing. We’d like to think this newspaper will have helped you discover another source of news, but there is also one other factor that makes hyperlocal publishing successful: you.

For the people, by the people

Some of the best hyperlocal sites thrive because their readers let them know what’s going on in their area, share stories and comment on eve-

ryday local matters as they occur. So as you’re reading the stories

in this paper, and hopefully looking at ConnectCannock online, think about what you can add to the con-versation.

You can participate through Twitter, Facebook, or the web-site.

Visit creativecitizens.co.uk. to find out more about our research project.

This newspaper is supported through a research grant from the UK Research Councils as part of the Connected Communities strand. Find out more at: bit.ly/cc-research.

Not just local news – HYPERLOCAL news

We sat in the back of a council meeting, lis-tening to complaints

about how one of the celebratory events in town had been relative-ly quiet. “Where was the pub-licity?”, came a voice from the gallery. “Nobody knew about it, that’s why nobody came!” We then overheard a man in front murmuring to his companion, “Tell you what this town needs? Some good old fashioned press”.

Three years ago we set up a Twitter account which was hastily named ‘ConnectCannock’ (‘Can-nock’ was already taken), with the idea of automatically feeding odd bits of news into the world of social media, which for some reason most of the local press seemed to be gen-erally ignoring.

That Twitter account has grown into a website that gets thousands of hits per month, reporting on local issues and events, with assist-ance from around 900 followers on Facebook and nearly 2,500 fol-lowers on Twitter.

Connect Cannock is a vol-untarily run, independent news source, developed and created by local people who felt that there was - to quote the song - a communica-tion breakdown around the town. There’s a lot of news, but very few ways of actually finding out what’s happening, and that’s an important part of any community.

Who we are

The site is run, developed and written by:

Ian Mellett, a local IT techni-cian and the original creator of Connect Cannock.

Sarah Giles, our resident pho-tographer.

For family events, we’re also ably assisted by Ashli Giles (8) and Kaitlyn Giles (6), who often take the helm in our video reports, and crop up at the Connect Cannock ‘photowalk’ events.

You can find the latest news direct from us by pointing your browser to

www.connectcannock.co.uk, get involved with our community over on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter (see box below).

We’re heavily dependant on people telling us their story; news, events, points of interest - they’re all something we strive to in-clude, so you can help us out by dropping an email to the team at hello@connectcannock.co.uk

Main image thanks to Lee Morrall Professional Photography

Welcome to Connect Cannock

Across the UK there are nearly 600 websites similar to Connect Cannock. Research by the ‘Media Community and the Creative Citizen’ project found that these websites produce a news story every two minutes. Image courtesy Birmingham City University

Researchers Jerome Turner and Dave Harte are studying Hyperlocal newspapers and web-sites. They are working with Tyburn Mail in Birmingham as well as with Connect Cannock

facebook.com/connectcannocktwitter.com/connectcannock

4 – FREE – NOVEMBER EDITION

A man who sparked a nationwide police search has been found safe and well in Cannock Chase.

Christopher Killarney, 23, was last seen by his girlfriend on the 21st of October, when he went missing.

Christopher’s disappearance was deemed a priority for police, who believed he may have been in the

Abbots Bromley area.The man has since been found

safe and well in Cannock Chase, located by an off-duty police of-ficer.

West Midlands Police have said that the man was taken into hospi-tal for treatment, but that it was not thought to be serious.

A campaign against a pro-posed development col-lected nearly 3,000 sig-

natures, as local residents made their voice heard by Cannock Council.

The Beecroft Road site, situated in the middle of town, is currently used as one of the main car parks for the area, providing easy access to local shops for visitors driving into the town centre. However, Cannock Council believe that the site could be better used for devel-opment and have been actively in-vestigating the site’s potential.

Originally the plans were to try and attract larger retailers to the area in the hope that this would increase footfall to the town as a whole, but after consultation with local people and potential developers, the initial idea was scrapped. Since then, the

council have amended their plans to look at smaller retailers for the area, sparking concerns from local peo-ple, who have started campaigning against the development.

Homes

We spoke to Richard Welch on be-half of the ‘Allport Alliance’., who told us that, while they see the threat as a small one, any potential for peo-ple to have their homes forcefully purchased needed to be fought.

Local MP Aidan Burley has also been involved, asking Labour Par-liamentary Candidate Janos Toth to say whether he “supports the resi-dents of Allport Road in their fight against Council plans to demolish their homes”.

Mr Toth responded by encour-aging the public to take part in the

council’s consultation project, and accused Mr Burley of ‘scaremon-gering’, adding “There are no plans today to knock down residents’ homes in Allport Road and he should stop making this false state-ment. Mr Burley is again holding back Cannock with his comments which will not help residents with legitimate concerns”.

‘Harebrained’

Mr Burley added “[Cannock Council’s] own market testing has shown zero interest in this hare-brained scheme - and now the council is affecting their house pric-es and ruining their lives by keep-ing this threat hanging over them. With the saving of Cannock Chase Hospital and all the extra services coming in, we need more parking in

town, not less.”The campaign includes both an

online petition which, at the time of writing, has nearly 600 signa-tures, alongside an ‘offline’ petition which has around 2,600. Mr Burley has presented the petition to Par-liament, and has claimed the deci-sion for the council to leave the site alone as a victory.

However, Mr Toth has respond-ed via his blog, stating “Cannock Chase Council has listened to the views of the public and taken these into account and it will be recom-mending that the Beecroft Road car park stays as it is. I believe that this is the right decision.

“I strongly condemn Aidan Bur-ley’s scaremongering throughout the consultation. There were no plans to knock down residents’ homes in Allport Road yet he made this mis-leading statement to me. He should be ashamed of himself.”

Cannock council has announced results of their consultation, which shows that the majority of people approached want to keep the exist-ing car park on Beecroft Road.

Desperately Seeking SantaA local charity are on the

lookout for people to get into the Christmas spirit

early by signing up for their an-nual Santa Dash.

The Newlife Foundation, who raise funds for disabled and termi-nally ill children, have announced the annual Christmas Dash for the fourth year running.

Starting from Cannock Leisure Centre and finishing at the Bank Bar & Lounge, the team of San-tas will be dashing (at their own pace) through the town centre on the 14th of December, starting at around 11am.

Dash

The event appears to be growing in popularity each year, with over 60 people donning a red suit last year, with the Connect Cannock team taking part in all but one year.

Adults will be charged a £5 entry fee and provided with a santa suit for the occasion. Children under 16 will be welcome to join in for free, and will receive a santa hat on the day (with any donations towards the hats gratefully received). Partici-

pants will be asked to ensure that a minimum of £30 sponsorship is raised.

Further details regarding the event, along with the other

work carried out by the char-ity, can be found on the Newlife Foundations website, at www.newlifecharity.co.ukPhoto by Sarah Giles.

Allport Alliance

A new charity has been set up to help pay for the care and medical treat-

ment of Staffordshire Police’s retired police dogs.

The Retired Staffordshire Po-lice Dog Benevolent fund will run alongside the existing West Mid-lands Benevolent Fund. Inspector Chris Dawson, of Staffordshire Po-lice’s Dog Support Unit, said: “This charity is really worthwhile and will be of huge benefit to our retired dogs and those who care for them. The dogs give so much to the public throughout their working lives so it will be nice for their supporters to be able to assist with their care in retirement.”

You can find them on facebook https://www.facebook.com/pag-es/Retired-Staffordshire-police-dog-fund/711287415554910

Police dog charity launched

Go Ape Cannock have an-nounced the opening of their new Tree Top Jun-

ior course. The course, on Cannock Chase

in Birches Valley, Rugeley, is set to open on the 26th of October fol-lowing refurbishment. Tree Top Junior courses are suitable for children one metre tall or over and it costs £16 per person. See goape.co.uk/top-tips-to-tree-top-junior for more details.

You can see what our little monkeys thought of the Go Ape Mobile Playground which vis-ited Cannock earlier this year, by reading our online review: bit.ly/CCgoape

Go Ape in Birches Valley

Halloween might have been and gone, but that doesn’t mean that

there’s any sign of an end to the spooky stories surrounding Cannock Chase, and one local author thinks he may have found the secret to the area’s paranor-mal past.

According to various reports, Cannock Chase is a hive of ghoul-ish goings-on, with the forested area seemingly overtaken by were-wolves, ghosts, goblins, a misplaced bigfoot and, most recently, a half-pig half-man hybrid.

However, local author and par-anormal researcher Lee Brickley be-lieves he’s got to the bottom of the story - and it’s that the army were trying to scare people away from the area to protect wartime instal-lations.

Lee told us that he was emailed by an anonymous source, who ex-plained that soldiers stationed at Cannock Chase were given the task of spreading rumours about a ficti-tious ‘pig-man’ that had somehow become loose and was terroris-ing the area. That way, local peo-ple would be less likely to wander around potentially militarised areas.

Lee’s book, “UFOs, Werewolves and The Pig-Man - Exposing Eng-lands Strangest Location: Cannock Chase” is available through Ama-zon at: bit.ly/CCpigman

Beware of the army pig-man

Missing man located in Cannock

Photowalker Ashli, full story pages 6-7. Photo: Sarah Giles

NOVEMBER EDITION – FREE – 5

Local charity the Hibbs Lupus Trust, have an-nounced a new event for

2014 which features fundraisers taking part in a trail run across Cannock Chase.

The Scott Dirty Dozen is a new event for 2014.

Trail running is becoming more and more popular over recent times and Cannock Chase is the perfect location for some muddy fun on natural trails.

Expect 12km of challenging ter-rain to get your teeth into that will include tight and twisty, lung bust-ing and probably a little wet and muddy areas that this outstanding area of natural beauty can throw at you. The course designers have set about putting together a route that is quite simply painful. Don’t expect any walls to climb over or barbed wire to go under. This is all about natural obstacles and of course be-ing able to run them.

Mystery Marriage Proposal

Regular followers of Connect-Cannock may have seen us post this photo after a day out at Hed-nesford’s Carnival.

The banner reads “Luan, will you marry me again?” - so of course, ever intrigued by a mystery (and the slightly sarcastic, hand written reply of “David must try

harder”, which distinctly appealed to our nature), our photographer snapped it and added it to our Facebook page to see if we could fi nd out the story behind it.

After a bit of Scooby-doo style investigate work, we tracked down Luan and David James, just as they were about to hit the runway for the fl ight to their honeymoon, after David renewed their vows.

Read the original post herebit.ly/CCmarriage

BITE SIZE

Over the years of running ConnectCannock we’ve covered many stories, from local events to current news. Here are a few of the smaller items we’ve covered to give you a taste of the kind of things covered on the website.

Fairy Walk Reopening

For the re-opening of the fairy forest at Birches Valley back in August, we sent our very own mini reporters - Kaitlyn and Ashli - to check out the scene and re-

port back. They did a video report showing off some of the activities from the day, which included an activity trail.

You can see their full report on our YouTube channel here:b i t . l y / C C yo u t u b e v i d e o s and our Facebook gal-lery from the event here: bit.ly/CCfairy

‘Night of Light’ to support Staff ord and Cannock Hospitals

Campaigners supporting Staf-ford and Cannock hospitals or-ganised a ‘Night of Light’ - an evening vigil which took place in a fi eld midway between Cannock

and Stafford, using lanterns to light the evening sky.

Over 1000 people attended the event, with around 600 of the special LED lanterns lit to create a large recreation of the group’s logo on a nearby hillside.

See the full gal-lery from the event here bit.ly/CClight

Huntington residents kick up a stink over waste plantResidents of a Cannock

suburb have voiced their concerns after a county

council decision has approved planning permission for a waste plant to be built.

Huntington, the civil parish sit-ting just on the outskirts of Can-nock town, used to be infamous for the Littleton Colliery, a massive coal pit that was closed down in 1993, later to be demolished and replaced by Littleton Green, the housing es-tate that now sits on the land, bring-ing with it Littleton Green Commu-nity School.

Shocked

Residents are now reported to be shocked and angered as Stafford-shire County Council has approved the extension of planning permis-sion for an anaerobic waste plant, set to be built in the Cocksparrow Lane area.

Staffordshire County Council have told us that the plans have been “approved subject to amend-ment” - a number of conditions, believed to be including liaising with local community groups, but residents are still unhappy with the decision.

Concerns were raised at a resi-dents meeting back in April over possible odours from the plant, as per reports from Cannock residents facing similar issues with the Biffa plant, along with the affect of traf-fi c and how it would impact the local school. One resident warned that the implementation of the plant would potentially result in more fatalities on the road, as large HGVs would have to turn on a blind corner.

Emails

Huntington MP Gavin William-son told the packed hall that he had received countless emails from peo-

ple who live near the existing bio plant in Cannock, who have told him that the site “does not smell so sweet, to put it politely”.

The Cannock Anaerobic plant has been subject to masses of com-plaints from nearby people, and has resulted in calls from both Aidan Burley MP and Labour Parliamen-tary Candidate Janos Toth to shut the plant down until the issues are resolved. As of yet, these matters are still ongoing.

You can read our article from attending the original com-munity meeting, and hear local MP Gavin Williamson’s open-ing comments on our site here: bit.ly/CCstink

Charity run across Cannock Chase planned

Included on the day

• Spot prizes provided by Scott Sports UK & Run and Ride

• Timing• Complimentary T-Shirt to

all entrants• Refreshments around the

course and at the start/fi nish

• Professional photography• Free Parking• Toilet Facilities• Supervised bag storage

On The Day Entries available unless we reach max entrants number.

Anyone wishing to take part is urged to register early due to lim-ited numbers. To register, go to bit.ly/CCtrail

Categories

• Male – £15.00 (On The Day £20.00)

• Female – £15.00 (OTD £20.00)

• U16 Male – £12.00 (OTD £15.00)

• U16 Female – £12.00 (OTD £15.00)

• Team Male – £50.00 (OTD £60.00)

• Team Female – £50.00 (OTD £60.00)

• Team Mixed – £50.00 (OTD £60.00)

Other Information

• Date: 23/03/2014• Start Time: Mass Start

10am• Max Field – 750

www.connectcannock.co.uk

6 – FREE – NOVEMBER EDITION

What does Cannock mean to you?Connect Cannock isn’t

just about reporting local news and events, but is

actively trying to take part in the community around us.

Our resident photographer, Sarah Giles, holds semi-regular photow-alks as a way to bring the commu-nity together, as well as to promote creative media in the area.

Sarah organised the first photow-alk in Cannock town centre back in February 2013, bringing together photographers of all levels and abilities. The walks have grown in popularity ever since, allowing peo-ple to come together and see the area in a new light.

“We’ve always been keen on in-volving the community in Con-nectCannock right from the very start”, Sarah told us. “Being a pho-tographer can be a very isolated job sometimes, and it seemed that there were a number of others in the Cannock and surrounding area who felt the same. We’ve had great feedback and involvement with our photowalks, which are a brilliant way to get people interested and in-

volved in their local area as well as bringing people with similar inter-ests together.”

The photowalks include people of all ages and abilities - to date, the youngest photowalker was six, using her toy camera to take photos as she walked with the rest of the group.

September

On September 7th we ran our fourth photowalk, around the cen-tre of Cannock.

We were blessed with good weather, and the company of around ten photographers laden down with their equipment to cap-ture images of the town. This in-cluded members of the Cannock Photography Club, which can be found by searching on Facebook and photography web site Flickr.

We were also joined by research-ers from Birmingham City Univer-sity, who are exploring community media (see page 3) and provided a slightly different focus to the meet-ing. This time we formed groups

and headed off in separate direc-tions to explore, photograph and try to answer the question: ‘What does Cannock mean to you?’ The results were fascinating and showed just how diverse the people of Can-nock are and how they see their town.

Our youngest photowalker Ashli (aged 8) told us: “I thought it was so much fun. My favourite photo that I took was of the wasp on the flower as I’d never taken a photo of a wasp on a flower before. Cannock has so many lovely flowers.”

If you’re interested in join-ing us on future photowalks, check out www.connectcan-nock.co.uk or our Facebook page /connectcannock for details, or email sarah.giles@connectcannock.co.uk. And if there’s somewhere you think would make a good location for a walk, then please let us know.

Clockwise, from left: Church (photo: Sarah Giles), Statue (Ken Hurd); Busker in tunnel (Sarah Giles); Wasp on a flower (Ashli); Charity shops (Sara Giles); Trolley (Graham Webb)

You can find more photos from Can-nock Photowalks on the Flickr group at:

bit.ly/CCflickrgroup

NOVEMBER EDITION – FREE – 7

Anti-clockwise, from above: one of the photowalkers in action (photo: Sarah Giles); Underpass (Sarah Giles); Cannock centre (Antony Ashcroft); 600 Volt Cable (Jerome Turner); Jade,with her son, commented (photo by Gareth Tibbles) “The park is rubbish. Especially when it’s a hot day. There’s nothing to do. It’s 25 years old.”; Pigeon (Anthony Ashcroft)

8 – FREE – NOVEMBER EDITION

WHAT’S ONThe nights are drawing in, and the weather is starting to reach the point where you need an extra jumper before you go out, but there’s still plenty of events on to keep you entertained in the run up to Christmas.

We’re always interested in hearing about new community events at Connect Cannock - get in touch to let us know what you’re putting on. You can fi nd various contact details on page 2.

A Book Sale takes place at Cannock Library, Monday 18th November to Saturday 23rd. Fiction from 50p, non-fi ction from £1.50, DVD £2 and children’s books 50p.

Get into the Christmas spir-it with Staffordshire Wild-life Trust’s Wolseley Centre Christmas Fayre, Saturday 16th - Sunday 17th November 10am-4pm. There will be a wide range of stalls and crafts. Admis-sion is £1.50 For more info call 01889 880100

Santa makes his grand sleigh-and-reindeer entrance at Birch-es Valley on Saturday 30th No-vember, 11am. The grotto then opens, and is £6 per child, adults are £1 admission. Newfound-land dogs will also be on hand to carry trees to people’s cars. Call 01889 586593 for details.

It’s only just been Halloween and now Cannock’s Prince of Wales Theatre will be taken over by the Circus of Horrors on Wednesday, 20th November. The Circus, containing a cast of 26 performers, is described as a ‘fusion of daredevil and bizarre circus acts’.

On a lighter note, get ready to don your fat suit and beard and run for Newlife’s annual Santa Dash on Saturday the 14th De-cember, between 11am - 1pm (see page 4 for further details of how to take part).

The offi cial Christmas Lights Switch On is: Cannock 15th of November 5-8pm, with guest appearances from Britain’s Got Talent Finalist Jean Martin and Santa Claus; Hednesford 23rd November, 6-8pm. Rugeley details will follow shortly.

Drop in for an electrifying discussionChase MP Aidan Burley

has announced a pub-lic ‘drop in’ session with

Network Rail to discuss the pro-posed £30m Chase Line electri-fi cation project.

The session will be held on Satur-day 23rd November 2013 between 10am - 2pm at the Tesco Supermar-ket located at Victoria Street, Hed-nesford. Similar sessions were held in October in Cannock, Rugeley and Walsall.

Aidan worked to secure this ad-ditional date after hearing about concerns from Hednesford Town Council and others that local peo-ple in Hednesford were not being

kept fully informed about the mul-ti-million pound project.

Offi cial fi gures show that Hed-nesford is the second busiest station on the Chase Line and experienced an 18% increase in passengers in 2011/12. It now generates nearly 180,000 passenger journeys a year.

This ‘drop in’ session will allow the public and businesses an oppor-tunity to meet Network Rail staff and fi nd out more about the project and the benefi ts it will bring to the town’s residents and businesses.

Commenting, Aidan said: “Elec-trifying the Chase line will trans-form journeys for my constituents who catch the train to work or visit

Birmingham for leisure, and marks the biggest improvement to passen-ger services since the line was reo-pened in 1989. I welcome Network Rail’s agreement to hold this addi-tional ‘drop in’ session at Tesco in Hednesford and would encourage all my constituents to attend.”

Hednesford is also the location for two of the bridge reconstruc-tion works that are due to com-mence after Christmas at Station Road, Hednesford and on the ac-cess road to the Chase Enterprise Centre. Electrifi cation will be deliv-ered by December 2017.

Cannock community group cooks up a 60th celebrationA Cannock community

group is celebrating af-ter receiving a brand new

kitchen to mark its diamond an-niversary.

The club’s building was in desper-ate need of modernisation as it had not been updated since it was set up for villagers by local philanthropists Richard Payne and Thomas Boot 60 years ago.

A 54-strong group of elderly residents meet on a weekly basis to enjoy a cup of tea and a game of Play Your Cards Right at the Heath Hayes Welcome Club off Hednes-ford Road.

Now residents can toast their 60th anniversary in their brand new kitchen, which was donated and installed by regeneration specialist Keepmoat.

Made up

“We are really looking forward to celebrating our 60th birthday in style, our members are absolute-ly made up,” said William Wyke, Chairman of the Heath Hayes Wel-come Club.

“This kind-hearted gesture by Keepmoat has really lifted the

spirits of the group and we hope to offer more events and activities thanks to the donation.

“As it was donated to us on our 60th anniversary we were thinking of naming it the diamond kitchen,” said 85-year-old William.

Keepmoat heard of the group’s plight when working on nearby properties and offered to re-place the kitchen and upgrade the electrics in the clubhouse free of charge.

Contracts Manager for Keep-moat, John Boyle, said: “The group is a much needed resource for eld-erly residents of the village, many

of whom plan their weeks around the events at the Heath Hayes Wel-come Club.

“I hope the kitchen will see the group through another sixty years as they continue to bring a ray of sunshine and companionship into people’s lives.”

Keepmoat is currently installing new windows and doors, external wall insulation and carrying out roofi ng works on behalf of Can-nock Chase Borough Council as part of a £2.5 million investment, which will see 106 properties im-proved.Photo: courtesy Heath Hayes Welcome Club

Pictured are William Wyke, Chairman of the Heath Hayes Welcome Club (left), and Lee Ashmore, Keepmoat Site Manager (centre), with local residents.

Age UK Grandparent and Toddler groups

Age UK South Staffordshire are urging local families to head down to their Grandparent and Tod-dler groups to chat, play with their grandchildren and socialise with other grandparents in the area. Five groups currently serve Cannock and surrounding areas:

• Landywood Children’s Cen-

tre, Mondays 1.15-2.45pm• Cannock Children’s Centre,

Wednesdays 9.30-11.30am• Springhill Children’s Centre,

Burntwood, Wednesdays 1.30-3pm (from Nov 6th)

• Huntington Children’s Cen-tre, Thursdays 9.30-11.30am

• Penkridge Children’s Centre, Thursday 1.30-3pm

All groups are run by Age UK South Staffordshire volunteers - who are all fully DBS checked and have relevant training and love spending time with children and people in the Staffordshire area. Children have activities to complete each week with a wide range of subjects being covered. They hold special celebrations for national events and provide outings through the year. Sessions come with a chance to do craft, have a snack and sing songs. Sessions are free but do-nations are welcome. Sessions are term time only.

If you need any information please contact Laura Wright on 01785 788484

NOVEMBER EDITION – FREE – 9

Brocton dog-walker unearths Belgian WWI model villageA WWI model battlefield

which has survived bur-ied for nearly 100 years

has been unearthed in the quiet Cannock Chase village of Broc-ton, after being accidentally lo-cated by a passing dog walker.

The battlefield - a detailed depic-tion of Messines village, Belgium, which was under German control for three years - was built by Ger-man prisoners of war and super-vised by troops from the New Zea-land Rifle Brigade.

Messines was the site of a major battle, defeating German forces that had rendered the site almost impenetrable, creating a network of tunnels under Messines Ridge from which they could bombard troops with artillery and poison gas.

The model includes the battle-field itself, trenches, dugouts and railways along with accurate con-tours of the area. The cobbled roads and contour lines were rep-resented by pebbles, with buildings painstakingly recreated to include bomb damage and the ravages of war. T iny replicas of homes and churches have been excavated from the site. Soldiers also used it to train for the later, and much larger, battle of Passchendaele which began in July of that year, as well as serving as a memorial to the fallen soldiers of Battle of Messines Ridge.

After WWI, the site became a tour-ist attraction, but was eventually left

to become overgrown and neglected.Staffordshire County Council

decided to dig up the site after the recent rediscovery, and using laser-scanning devices a 3D computer model was used to map the model to ensure it was protected during excavation.

Legacy

Excavation work began in Broc-ton during September after funding was granted from Natural England. Staffordshire County Councillor, Pat Corfield, Cabinet Member for Culture and Communities said:

“As we approach the centenary of the start of the First World War in 2014, it is essential we continue

to teach future generations about the legacy of the conflict.

“We must never forget the great sacrifices made and this exciting excavation project will help achieve that and showcase Staffordshire’s role in the Great War.

“As custodians of this important landscape we want to bring the site to life and learn what it was like for men from across the UK and our allied countries, as they trained for trench warfare.”

Council experts, along with spe-cialists from No Man’s Land charity and local volunteers have worked to ensure the protection of the site and the land around it.

Image: Staffordshire County Council

Works on Beecroft Road underpassAn underpass might not

seem like the focal point of a town but, as the

main access point between the town centre and the large Bee-croft Road carpark, the Beecroft underpass is an important part of the look of the town centre - and as such, Cannock Council are in the process of updating it.

The artwork has been supplied from local libraries, schools and colleges, along with your very own independent news source, Con-nect Cannock (we are listed in the ‘thanks to’ section) and designed by local artist Danielle Preston.

Local people were asked for their opinion on various schemes, with the new ‘light and fresh’ theme be-ing selected.

Councillor Diane Todd, Town Centre Regeneration and Portfolio Leader said “It is really exciting and

is going to make such a difference to the existing underpass. We will be left with an artwork piece that will last for many years to come”.

The site will soon be reaching completion, with an official ‘open-ing’ date to be set by the council. But public opinion is already divid-ed, with comments ranging from: “If only it wasn’t so dark in there, it looks nicer but it’s still very dark and depressing!” to “I love it! It re-ally welcomes you into the town. Much better than the old one.”

Photos by Sarah Giles

Witnesses are being sought for Cannock and Cheslyn Hay bur-

glaries which occurred at about 2.30pm on Friday 26 July.

The suspect first burgled Jessica’s Fresh Foods in Market Street, Can-nock. A member of the public was taken to hospital with injuries to his arms. The suspect also knocked over a woman who was treated for minor injuries at the scene.

The same offender is also be-lieved to be responsible for a bur-glary that occurred just before 2.45pm on the same day (July 26) at Signal Cards and Balloons in Station Street, Cheslyn Hay. The offender stole a quantity of cash from the store and a handbag from a member of staff containing cash

and bank cards. No one was injured during this incident.

Suzuki motorbike

The suspect escaped on a Su-zuki motorbike and is described as a white male, slim build, ap-proximately 5ft 5in to 5ft 6in tall, with a tanned complexion. He was wearing a blue two-tone jacket that had the words Goodride across the shoulders and a laser helmet with a Chameleon on each side.

Anyone with information, or who knows the man captured on CCTV, is asked to contact Stafford-shire Police on 101, quoting inci-dent number 430 of July 26

Cannock and Cheslyn Hay robbery witnesses sought

If you’re new to the area, or just looking for something different to do, don’t forget

to check out our very own Con-nect Cannock recommendations via foursquare, the popular loca-tion app.

It’s easy to use - head over to www.foursquare.com/connectcan-nock and just click ‘like’ to start see-ing recommendations on the best places to go, things to see and ac-tivities to do. Once you check into a place, you’ll see any comments we - or Connect Cannock readers that have emailed us - have made.

Want to send in your own rec-

ommendation for us to add? Tell us your favourite nightlife hotspot, restaurant - anywhere you find interesting that you think others would find interesting too.

Email us at recommend@ connectcannock.co.uk and we’ll add your tip.

Location, Location, Location

10 – FREE – NOVEMBER EDITION

Take part in our survey and you could win £100 in vouchers

ConnectCannock have recently been working with researchers at Birmingham City University who are exploring community media (see page 3).

As part of this work, we’re interested to hear more about the people of Cannock, find out what you thought of this paper and ConnectCannock online, if you’ve used it before.

Complete this survey and return it to the address below by 30th November, and you’ll be entered into our random prize draw to win £100 in high street vouchers (Love2shop gift card from high-streetvouchers.com).

Alternatively, you can complete the survey online at bit.ly/CCsurveys - you’ll still go into the prize draw.

To post this survey, send the completed pages to:

Jerome Turner, Room 345Birmingham School of Media Faculty of PMEBirmingham City University Millenium PointBirmingham B4 7XG

TERMSIn completing this survey, you

agree to the recording of your an-swers. These answers may form the

basis of future publications about community news websites, although you will be kept anonymous in doing so and your identity will not be divulged. Such publications may be in the form of journal articles, books or any other form through which the research project seeks to publish. You agree that we may use quotes from you within those publications (again anonymously, as quotes won’t be linked to your name). Contact details are primarily required in order to enter the prize-draw, and your information will be stored securely. Please email jerome.turner@bcu.ac.uk to find out more.

You can also complete this survey online at bit.ly/CCsurveys

NOVEMBER EDITION – FREE – 11

You can also complete this survey online at bit.ly/CCsurveys

12 – FREE – NOVEMBER EDITION

Guest contributor Jerome Turner reports from Hednesford raceway

stock car racing, a great day out for the family, even in the rain.

Fortunately, stock car racing can be enjoyed by hardened veterans and newcomers alike, as this was only my second visit to Hednesford. At least on this occasion I was able to identify which car was winning each heat, harder than you’d think, when cars are continuously lapping each other on the oval track.

Sunday’s (13th October) meeting featured five different ‘classes’ of vehicle, racing three heats each - fif-ten heats in total.

Italian Job

Ministox are classic minis driven by 11-16 year olds, perfect for fans of the Italian Job. By the power of social media, we had arranged to meet ministox superstar Ryan Pol-ley before the first heat. With two young mini lovers in tow, we were

able to visit the pits and see the cars in their pre-race preparations. Polley won his first heat, and came fourth in his second. The final heat for the class was the Midland Champion-ship final, won by Billy Banwell.

Other classes included ‘stock rods’ (Vauxhall Novas, Corsas, Citroen Sax-os and Peugeot 106s) and their pred-ecessors the ‘classic hot rods’ (Ford Escort Mk1s and Mk2s, Ford Anglias, Minis and Vauxhall Chevettes) - funny to think that the Nova I was driving in the 90s could so easily have ended up on a racetrack. Edward Trofer and Andy Steward won the final heats in those respective classes.

Oval Track Legends (pictured above) are American hot rod body shapes powered by 1200/1250cc Su-perbike engines. This class seemed to have the most participating racers on Sunday, and the collective roaring of those engines was quite incredible.

Finally, the banger class is where the fun really starts, or to the un-trained eye at least, where crashing and smashing is somehow deemed

a reasonable way to drive. Make no mistakes, this is no ‘demolition derby’ event, and winners are still identified as those first across the line (Trevor Perry in this case, tak-ing the final heat), but when you see the state of the cars coming out, you wonder how many of them will manage a single lap, let alone several loops of full-contact action. It’s worth pointing out cars (in all classes) are often removed from the track, whether through crashing or breakdown - the first heat of the banger class ended with less than half of the cars remaining by the time they made it across the finish.

Family fun

All in all though, this simply adds to the enjoyment. In better weather, it’s possible to get track-side to feel the roar of the engines in your stomach as they fly past, but Sunday’s event was more of a grandstand turnout, dodging the drizzle. Catering is provided on site

by a cafe and doughnut van, and it’s worth noting parking is free (as is entry for children under five). If you’re getting close to the racing, it can be very noisy, so ear defend-ers for small children are probably advised.

Next Hednesford event is a family-friendly fireworks race day on 3rd

November, but we’ll be returning on 12th January for National Bangers Civil War, as chaotic as that sounds. Races also take place in Birmingham.

Oval track legends (top) and classic hotrods (above) at Hednesford. Photos: Jerome Turner

Visit www.spedeworth.co.uk/incarace/ to find out more results

It could well be argued that Hednesford Town Football-Club are at their highest pin-

nacle since the glory days of the Football Conference back in the 1990s.

Under the guidance of current manager Rob Smith they have gone from stuttering in the South-

ern League Premier to topping the Skrill North in the space of three years. The next step is of course promotion back to the Conference Premier itself; however the majority of Hednesford fans will currently be more than happy with how things have panned out in recent times.

Little was known how the 2013/14 season would progress after the excitement of promotion in the previous campaign. With the league’s top scorer amongst their ranks, in the form of Elliott Dur-rell, and someone in Smith who has already picked up the Manager of the Month award for August, things

are certainly looking rosy once again for The Pitmen.

If you’re interested in seeing the team in action for yourselves then pop along to one of the upcoming home fixtures at Keys Park, WS12 2DZ (times listed are kick off times):

• Tuesday 5th November v Har-rogate Town, 7.45pm kick off

• Saturday 9th November v Bradford Park Avenue, 3.00pm

• Saturday 30th November v Stockport County, 3.00pm

• Saturday 14th December v Stalybridge Celtic, 3.00pm

• Thursday 26th December v AFC Telford United, 3.00pm

You can find out more about Hednesford Town FC - The Pit-men - at their official website, www.hednesfordtownfc.com

Hednesford Town Football Club – The Pitmen!

CRASH AND TURN