Community News: High Sheriff Launches Fund for Cheshire Charities

L-R:Zoe Sheppard, CCF CEO; Upcoming High Sheriff Alexis Redmond MBE;
Malcolm Ling, Organiser ofCheshire and Shropshire classic car events;
Sarah Callander Beckett, High Sheriff of Cheshire

A fund has been launched by the High Sheriff of Cheshire to benefit a number of charities that provide services to people living in rural areas.

High Sheriff, Sarah Callander Beckett, has set up the fund with Cheshire Community Foundation, of which she has recently been appointed a Trustee. Cheshire Community Foundation matches charitable donors with the causes that matter most in Cheshire and Warrington.

The High Sheriff’s fund will support two charities operating in rural areas - Overwater Wheelybus and Friends for Leisure.

Overwater Wheelybus – a charity in its last phase of fundraising - aims to improve the social experience and quality of life for local people with mobility issues by purchasing a bus that provides wheelchair transport to Audlem.

It will invite on board people from; care homes, private homes, schools catering for children with special needs and anyone else with accessible transport needs who would not usually have the opportunity to experience a trip on the water. The bus will give the occupants the ability to go shopping or meet up with friends and will also work with the Audlem Medical Practice to meet the needs of people who require accessible transport to attend medical appointments.

Friends for Leisure meanwhile, works to address the social isolation and loneliness often experienced by disabled children and young people, by providing inclusive leisure activities from which they are often excluded. The charity provides their own regular group activities, which rely heavily on volunteers, so that they can take part in community activities whilst also building strong relationships. The team will use the funds raised to expand their existing services and cater for those on their waiting list.

Both charities will benefit from the proceeds of a fundraising raffle during the annual High Sheriff Awards for Enterprise, which will take place on 22^ndMarch.

The High Sheriff Awards for Enterprise, held in partnership with the University of Chester, will this year be held at Chester Racecourse. It will host Cheshire’s leading entrepreneurs and business leaders and be a celebration of outstanding business achievement across private sector organisations of all shapes and sizes.

Sarah said: “Members of our community living in rural Cheshire can often find themselves disadvantaged due to the lack of services available locally.

“Poor internet connectivity, limited public transport, reduced access to sports and recreation and smaller numbers of support groups can lead to people across generations living in isolation, with limited options to improve their quality of life.

“We wanted to work with these people to give them a better quality of life and provide them with services they wouldn’t have otherwise had access to.”

Zoe Sheppard, Chief Executive of Cheshire Community Foundation, said: “We are very much looking forward to working with Sarah to build on the early successes of the Cheshire Community Foundation and change many more lives for the better.”

The Office of the High Sheriff, which is more than 1,000 years old, is an independent non-political Royal appointment for a single year.

For more information on The High Sheriff Awards for Enterprise, please visit: https://www.chester.ac.uk/hs/about

Out & About: Bang Bang at the Battle of Nantwich ... and Onwards to a Scratch Panto!

The Battle of Nantwich

So, the Battle of Nantwich went off with it’s usual bang...bang...bang! I have been on the organising committee for five years and we are really pleased with how well the event went (despite the rain!) this year.

We have welcomed new volunteers, both to the committee and also on the day with marshalling duties. Students from Reaseheath supported us again by making holly sprigs to wear in celebration of the Siege of Nantwich being lifted in 1644, hence the name “Holly Holy Day”.

Thanks must go to our sponsors, many of whom have supported the event for several years and big thanks to our headline sponsor Applewood Independent, who supported the event for the third year.

The Battle takes place on Mill Island and is enhanced by the fringe activities and entertainment that goes on across Nantwich including Pike and Musket displays at Nantwich Museum, Domesday Morris Dancers and Ezra and his Plough Witches roaming around town, plus book signings in the Nantwich Bookshop.

This year we took the decision to move the RedShift Community Stage in to St Mary’s Church as heavy rain was forecast. Thank you to Rev Stephen Snelling and the St Mary’s team who were so accommodating at such short notice. We enjoyed performances from Shavington Panto, Nantwich Players, Nantwich Young Voices, Tim Lee and 17 year old Sinead D’Abreu-Hayling who came 5th in the UK Open Mic competition a couple of weeks ago.

We had two new additions to the event this year; we welcomed Sarah Callander-Beckett, the High Sheriff of Cheshire as our new Patron to the Holly Holy Day Society. We also welcomed Joseph Heler Cheese who kindly produced a special Battle of Nantwich cheese which was on sale on the town square.

Thank you to everyone who supported the event, whether it was as a volunteer, sponsor or attendee. Thank you also to BBC Radio Stoke who interviewed me both before and after the event and Granada Reports who did a terrific report on the event.  

St Margaret's Scratch Panto

Saturday afternoon gave no rest for the wicked … Michael-John and I escaped Nantwich at 3pm and raced over to Wrenbury Village Hall to take part in a “Scratch Panto” in aid of St Margaret’s Church in Wrenbury.

A Scratch Panto is a rather crazy concept, one that I am not even sure is real, or just a made up thing by the organiser Alison Long, who has an uncanny knack of hooking you in to taking part in something without you even realising you had signed up!

Actually, it was my fiance Michael-John who “forgot” about our Battle of Nantwich commitments when he agreed to be an Ugly Sister after Alison fluttered her eyes at him! Of course I couldn’t refuse to join the chaos by being the stage manager.

So, there we are, a “body” cast of 12 and “voice” cast of 10 people from 3.00 - 4.30 pm for a run through. Having dashed from the Battle with no lunch and not a lot of liquid, I found myself getting quite confused about which prop I was supposed to be sneaking on to the stage or cast member I was meant to be “directing” next!

In true panto style “it was alright on the night” and we really did bring the house down with laughter. Thank you to the Cotton Arms in Wrenbury for sponsoring the sausage butties in the interval and well done to everyone who had a hand in making the props and stage. We even had a motorised “Fairycopter” for the Fairy Godmother (Janet Palmer from Wrenbury Village Stores) to “fly” in on. A very entertaining and memorable evening which raised over £1,200 for the church.