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Support for the 'Rooksbridge
Crossing' appeal and petition!
“Lights
for
Life”
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On the 4th July 2008 it was 6 months to the day that Gordon Ireland
(from the Chantry in Rooksbridge) was so tragically killed while
crossing the A38 at Rooksbridge.
Chris Crook with Gordons widow Pat Ireland and his son Paul have taken the
initiative to form a charity in memory of Gordon Ireland to provide a
safe crossing point in our village.
We have found that at least £90,000 will have to be raised before the
Highways department will consider providing this vital facility in our village!
It is absolutely vital that
we support and get this campaign off the ground for the safety of our residents, Especially the
many children in the village who daily run the risk of crossing the busy A38 in order to
get school buses etc.
And of course in respectful memory of one of our
residents, who is so sadly missed by his wife Pat and her family and friends and
all who knew him.
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'Lights
for Life'
Is the name for the
new charity that is being set up to campaign for a pedestrian
crossing across the A38 in Rooksbridge. Many of you will have seen
the petition that is available to sign in Rooksbridge Post Office or
on line at
www.rooksbridge.org.uk. So far there have been more than 1200
signatures from local residents and regular users of this stretch of
the A38.
The encouraging response to
the first petition shows that there is real concern about the dangers of
crossing the road in Rooksbridge, particularly in view of the large
number of children who have to cross on their way to and from
school.
From initial enquiries, it
would seem that we, as a community, are going to have to raise a
considerable sum of money as a partial contribution to persuade
Somerset County Council to put the construction of a light
controlled crossing higher up its priority list.
If you share our concerns
there are a number of ways in which you can help:
1. Sign the petition at
Rooksbridge P.O. or on line.
2. Write individually to the
Parish, District and County councils.
3. Contact your local
councillors in person.
4. Suggest ways of raising
the profile of this campaign and ideas for fund raising.
5. Come along to the next
meeting to be held at 18 The Chantry, Rooksbridge.
Please
contact Chris Crook on 07966 551074 or by e-mail at
chrcr@aol.com
Keith Bellingham.
PLEASE JOIN THIS
COMMUNITY CAMPAIGN! |
'Lights
for Life'
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Lights for
Life Ball - Tickets now available!
Dear All
As you may be aware I am now the Chairman of Lights for Life, a
charity based in Rooksbridge to improve road safety for our
children, and residents alike, who have to cross a very busy and
dangerous road. We have paid for a new pavement, new village
signs and are now waiting for the installation of two vehicle
activated signs funded by us. There is also ongoing consultation
regarding the school buses and plans to put an Island Crossing
in the village....we will not stop until it is safe!
Please find attached a photograph, showing one of the tickets
which we now have on sale. If you are interested in purchasing
some then please email or call me on 07981 331213 and I will put
some aside for you.
If any of you can donate a prize for our auction or prize draw
then that would also be appreciated.
Best Regards
David Maund
Chairman of Lights for Life
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Chris recently received this letter of support
from a group in Swansea who are in a similar
situation.
May 2009
Dear Chris
I read about your
pelican crossing campaign on the Internet and I
thought I would write to express our solidarity.
We too are
campaigning for a pelican crossing in our
village following a knock-down of a little girl
and many dozens of "near-misses". We have been
refused by Swansea Council although the figure
they have given us is £22,000 - yours seems to
be very much more.
Our community is
rather small but nevertheless we have managed to
raise £10,000 in a year. There is a glimmer of
hope that Swansea Council will provide matched
funding when they meet next month on June 24th
so we are crossing our fingers for that.
Good luck in your
campaign - I'm so very sorry to hear about your
community member who was killed. It amazing how
much money is wasted by councils yet vital
projects remain unfunded.
Best regards
Gaynor Thomas
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Some past
events
Rooksbridge Lights for Life
Pub Quiz Night
held March 2010
The Wellington
Arms Rooksbridge
We had 50
people entered the quiz and everyone enjoyed the fun night
and about £240 was raised for
the 'Lights for Life' charity which was good . (Thelma Vowles)
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Rooksbridge
Lights for Life Charity Race Night
A HUGE thank you to everyone who
supported Rooksbridge Lights for Life Charity Race Night
held at the Wellington Arms on the 3rd April
We placed our £1 bet on our "fancy" in each of the
8 races run & cheered our horse (or pig!) home.
A delicious ploughmans supper was donated by the
Wellington Arms & each races was sponsored by a local business.
Later in the evening we were able to become owners
for the night and scooped the rewards & the prestige when our
horse won - or the opposite when it lost!
Congratulations to the lucky winner of the
"Tri-cast" sheet who took home the £100 prize
Judging by the amount of noise alone everyone had
a great time with their family and friends, especially during the
eventful Irish Bingo!
The evening raised over £900 which is a
fantasic sum.
Do you feel you could help at any of our future
events or have you any ideas for fundraising? If so please come
along to our
AGM to be held at the Wellington Arms at
7.30 on Wednesday 6th May - you will be very welcome.
Maxine (Sec) RLFL
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 Xmas
Bag packers!
Libby and Simon
Tidswell, along with Chris and local youngsters, Cameron Crook, Clare Tidswell,
Alex Etherington, Hannah Dunton, James Tidswell, Andrew Tidswell,
Amy and
Jack Smale, Gemma Allwood and Andrew Ireland.
Spent the day packing bags for xmas
shoppers at Tesco on Saturday 13th Dec. 2008
And they raised another amazing £350 ! for the 'Lights for Life'
appeal.
Which has now put the fund at a little over £14,000!
And with many more fundraising events in the pipeline! A fantastic result.
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Part of the team who gave
their Saturday to raise over £350 for the Lights for Life appeal.
L to R.
Cameron Crook, Amy Jacobs, Alex Etherington, Hannah Dunton, Claire
Tidswell, James Tidswell, Andrew Tidswell, Andrew Ireland
Photo via Libby Tidswell. |
It seems I was a bit
conservative estimating
the amount raised so far for the 'Lights for Life' fund at £10,000?
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Rooksbridge
“Lights
for
Life”
Wassail Evening
Despite the atrocious weather, over 200
people took part in a great evening.
2009 Wassail King and Queen
Edward Parsons and Bethany Rosco
photo by Jon Ryan
Our
village "Wassail King and Queen" helped to raise over a £1000
for the 'Lights for Life appeal.
Radio
Somerset.
At very short
notice, Pat Ireland and Chris Crook were invited to talk about the Lights
for Life appeal live on the Breakfast Show at Radio Somerset on Saturday 13th
Dec.
Hopefully this
should raise wider awareness of the Appeal, its origins and its importance to
the village.
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An
evening of music and song
from
local musician and songwriter
Cameron Crook
Plus guest entertainer!
All proceeds to
Rooksbridge
‘
“Lights for
Life”
An
event that happened really quickly last month was a music gig at Burnham
On Sea.
By
Rooksbridge musician Cameron Crook.
Even
at such short notice, the event drew about 55 people and took another
£165 for the appeal on the door.
Our thanks to Cameron and the crew!
For further
information, please contact Chris Crook on
07966 551074,
email
chrcr38@aol.com.
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Well Done!
Kayleigh and friends raise over £1000 for Charity.
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Kayliegh Crook hands a cheque for the
'Lights for Life' fund to Pat Ireland.
Image copyright and courtesy of the Cheddar Valley
Gazette. |
Kayleigh presents the cheque to Marion
Clements of the Yatton branch of Cancer Research accompanied by proud
dad Chris and Pat Ireland.
Image copyright and courtesy of the Cheddar Valley
Gazette. |
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Kayleigh Anne Crook presented cheques for over £1000.
to two charities at the "Lights for Life " ball. Money
which she along with her family and friends raised by producing and performing
the 'Kayliegh Dance Show' at Bridgewater College earlier in the year.
The money raised was shared between Cancer Research in memory of a close
family member. And the 'Lights for Life' charity, in memory of resident
Gordon Ireland who was fatally injured crossing the A38 at Rooksbridge.
The Charity has been set up by local residents to fund a campaign to
install a safe pedestrian crossing in the village.
The 'Lights for Life' ball
was a huge success and hopefully a report and pictures will be available
soon.
The organisers wish to thank all and everyone involved, for the help,
support and extreme generosity in making this event so very much
worthwhile. |
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“Lights
for
Life”
‘Grand Autumn Ball’
The evening raised
over £7000 towards our village crossing!
A report on the
evening from Chairman Chris.
I would very much like to report that the
'first' Rooksbridge 'Lights for Life'
charity ball was an overwhelming success!
The Charity Ball went ahead as planned on
Friday 17th October 2008 and was attended by
over 200 people at the Batch Country House.
With a number of guests coming from as far
away as Bournemouth, Exeter, London and
Northampton, all of the feedback has been
extremely positive, especially as the event
was only 6 weeks from conception until the
night itself!
The 200 guests were greeted with welcome
drinks and canapes, before being seated for
their main course in the splendid ball room,
surrounded by red, amber and green balloons
rising above bright coloured traffic cones
adorning the 22 beautifully presented
tables. The theme of 'traffic lights' drawn
from the 'Lights for Life' logo for the
charity, made for an impressive array of
colour for the evening.
After the delights of the dinner had been
enjoyed by all, the evening then moved
through a busy course of entertainment and
fund raising. This featured an auction
precided over by 'Lights for Life' charity
chairman Chris Crook that raised an
incredible £4,800. The highest bids on the
night going to 'a meal for 6 cooked by a
gourmet chef at your own home' fetching
£600, a helicopter flight for 4 over the
river thames route over London fetching
£500, along with the same figure for a 1
week family of four holiday in Spain. A
silent auction event followed whilst the
party got into full swing with local band
'On the Level' providing an excellent array
of songs to get everyone up and on the dance
floor. An alternative hour or so's
entertainment was also on offer in a
seperate room where a casino was set up for
those who fancied a game of black jack or a
go on the roulette tables. To complete the
evening there was also an option of a disco,
a raffle and a quieter room where a drink
and a chat could be conducted for those who
felt the need.
Pat Ireland, Chris Crook and the 'Lights for
Life' committee would very much like to
thank everyone who came and supported the
evening, those who bought and donated gifts
and prizes and everyone else who worked and
contributed to what was a lovely evening for
the residents, family and friends of
Rooksbridge. The total sum raised is likely
to be upwards of £7,100 which considering
the short lead time to the event and the
obvious difficult financial climate we are
in, is a huge success and show of support
for our goal of a safe crossing in our
village.
Our campaign continues with further events
being planned already so watch this space!
We can also confirm that due to popular
demand, the Rooksbridge 'Lights for Life'
Grand Autumn Charity Ball 2009 will take
place on Saturday October 10th at the Batch
Country House. Please put it in your diary
or on your calendar, as we aim to make it
even bigger and better than this year.
Don't miss it! Watch out for further news
of events on the village website ( www.rooksbridge.org.uk)
and in the magazine.
Regards
Chris Crook
Chairman - Rooksbridge 'Lights for Life'.
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ROOKSBRIDGE SAFARI SUPPER
This popular regular event
took place on..
Saturday 4th October at 7-00pm
Proceeds to
'Lights
for
Life'
Our Rooksbridge based charity
appeal for a safe crossing point in the village.
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July 2008
Kayleighs Dance
show
in aid of the
Rooksbridge Crossing
appeal
and Cancer Research.
Thurs 24th July 2008
at
Clare Bowen Theatre. Bridgwater College.
Kayleighs
Dance Show and her group of dancers, also featuring music from Cameron Crook and
others was a huge success. With upwards of £500 being raised for the two
charities.
The show was
dedicated to Tom Hitt, Gordon Ireland & Bunty Crook.
Thank You for
watching and to everyone involved.
All money raised
will go to both Cancer Research UK and the “Rooksbridge A38 Crossing Fund”.
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The dance show was amazing but then I am a little biased as my
daughter Kayleigh planned and ran it all as well as taking part and
my son Cameron featured heavily with his music. On the night itself
we raised around £450, but we also got many of the youngsters to get
sponsored so will hope to increase this figure substantially. There
were around 100 people in the audience which was a great turn out.
Myself and Pat Ireland did a short introduction as to what the event
was in aid of. It was a joint fund raiser for Cancer Research and
the Crossing Appeal. My daughter wanted to raise more funds for
Cancer Research as she has done on many occasions since the death of
her Grandma (my Mum), to cancer 9 years ago. She (my Mum) would of
course have been very proud of her 2 grandchildren!
I'd like to thank all of those that took part, the willing helpers
and of course everyone who attended and supported the event so
well. I'm sure they felt it was something worthy of paying good
money for!
We are now planning a grand charity ball in aid of our appeal for
October / November time at a local venue, so watch this space for
further details! Chris Crook.
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The
petition is delivered by Bike!
A report from Chris Crook and some images from July 4th
We did very well on the day, in fact better than I expected! My
sweepstake for guessing the time of my arrival was way out
in my estimation as I had a range of 60 minutes from two
hours to three hours. Our actual time was 1 hour 48
minutes so the closest was the first on my sheet that said 2
hours!! This I might add was due to the very fit bunch of
guys I was cycling with who really made me push myself along
at a faster than expected rate. I had anticipated a few
stops, but we barely came to a halt at all, although Jim
Boylan (a guest cyclist) stopped several times for a toliet
break, but still managed to catch us up easily each time.
He had ridden his bike down from Nailsea to join our cycle
and then rode it all the way back from Taunton as well! An
amazing effort.
The riders were, myself, Paul Ireland, Chris Caton, Jim
Boylan and Paul Archer and we were protected at the rear by
Pat Ireland, who drove behind us all the way with a 'warning
cyclists' banner in her rear window and a flashing orange
light on the roof. Although our cycle was about making a
point to the County Highways Department, it also generated
some funds with Paul Ireland getting himself sponsored for
the event and raised close on £500, a brilliant effort along
with my sweepstake bringing in about £80, the first real
contribution to our funds for a crossing. I must say a
thank you to Rookery Manor for contributing a money
off voucher for the winner of my sweepstake, who was a guy
called Tom, a regular from the Wellington Arms. Apologies
to the ones who wanted to guess under 2 hours but the option
wasn't on my sheet......sorry!
Well, we arrived at County Hall suitably shattered at about
2.30pm just as the rain began to fall. We had been very
lucky along the way and our only hazard was the crazy A38
traffic and a head wind coming straight at us on a number of
occasions, making it more of a challenge than it already
was! I was also a little miffed when we were passed by a
guy who was on his way home or to work, who went past us as
if we were stood still, and in an effortless manner cycling
with one hand on the handlebars and the other on his
holdall! I must be doing something wrong or I'm going to
get a new bike!
We were greeted at County Hall by the 'Portfolio holder for
Transport' Mr Tony Shire. Pat Ireland, after handing him
a petition of nearly 1200 names, spent about half an hour
talking through our campaign and obviously the tragic
accident that had triggered it. Mr Shire was pleased with
our means of transport as he is also backing a campaign to
get a lot more safer cycle routes in and around the Somerset
area.
He assured us that our case was being looked at and that
they were keen to help albeit unable to state more than we
had already known in that we would need to raise in the
regions of £90k, should we want a full pelican type crossing
at this time. Pat Ireland emphasised that she will do
everything she could to make this happen in memory of her
husband Gordon, who had been so tragically run down and
killed in Rooksbridge 6 months ago to this day. I further
emphasised our strength of feeling in that should another 5
people be killed on the road in Rooksbridge, that we would
be moved into a medium priority category! I stated
vehemently that we wanted to solve the problem now so that
no more people were killed! We discussed the fact that a
team had been to Rooksbridge to measure up the road to see
if there had been any possibility of a mid road
safety island area, to reduce the risks in crossing. We
understand that initially this seems to be an unlikely
solution, as the road is too narrow and would need
considerable changes to make this option work. Other
possibilities will continue to be considered whilst we
continue our own efforts.
Our overall feeling from our efforts was a positive one and
we felt that the good press coverage of the event will have
highlighted our campaign considerably and increase the
support for our petition. The on line petition continues
through the link on the www.Rooksbridge.org.uk
so please continue to get everyone you know to sign up to
it. The official charity for this campaign is in the
process of being set up and we are looking for people from
the village to be involved. Anyone that may be interested
in joining the committee should contact me on
chrcr38@aol.com. For the time being we intend to carry
on raising funds for the crossing by whatever means we can.
If you have any ideas for fund raising events then please
also let me know. There are a number of events already
being planned with the first being a dance show on the
Thursday 24th July, involving a number of children from the
village of Rooksbridge, as well as many more youngsters from
many other parts of the UK. Please watch out for details of
this event and give it all the support you can!
Regards
Chris Crook
Scroll down for
some images from the start at Rooksbridge.
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Lights
for Life!
Photo Gallery from the
appeal
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Some images from the Safe
Crossing appeal
Appeal is delivered by Bike!
Local residents set off to deliver the appeal and a petition by
cycling to Highways Dept Taunton
Riders were, Chris Crook, Paul Ireland, Chris Caton, Jim
Boylan and Paul Archer and we were protected at the rear by
Pat Ireland, who drove behind us all the way with a 'warning cyclists' banner in
her rear window and a flashing orange light on the roof.
Bear in mind these images were taken at around midday
When traffic is at its lightest.
Imagine trying to cross the road here during the rush hour!
Click on the thumbnails to view
the bigger images
[photogallery/photo00007787/real.htm]
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Click here for more images |
| On Friday July 4th 2008, Paul Ireland and Chris Crook and friends from the village, cycled from
Rooksbridge to the Highways Department at County Hall in Taunton
to deliver a petition requesting a pedestrian crossing in our village.
(Hopefully you will have seen and signed it. You may still add
to the petition and view comments Sign
it here).
Our
village needs your support, please support this very worthy cause
Please contact Chris Crook on
chrcr38@aol.com
or phone 07966 551074 for more information
more.......... |
'Chairman of Lights for Life charity extends
his fundraising efforts to another notable cause'
Chris Crook ran the London Marathon on
Sunday 26th April
In memory of
Tom Hitt and in aid of the Children’s Leukaemia charity, ‘CLIC Sargent’.
It is nearly
4 years now since we lost Tom to Leukaemia, at the
tender age of 16 years and 10 months. Tom was the
son of my best friend Dave, who I have grown up with and known since he
himself was eleven. Our two families have spent many
great times and holidays over the years together, which have given us
some great memories, before Tom was struck with this dreadful disease of
‘Myloid’ Leukaemia.
You can still sponsor Chris on line by clicking the link
below
www.justgiving.com/chriscrook
or contact Chris direct
chris.crookie@btinternet.com
Tel: 07966551074
Well here I am.... I made it in 4:12!
Well, I managed to get around in one piece
despite the added challenge of a very hot day down in London! I
did also manage to beat Ronan Keating and Katie Price, but I
don't suppose that is too much to shout about is it!
I ran the whole way and didn't 'hit the wall'
which was most pleasing on my part! It was a fantastic
spectacle to be part of although not one I will be expecting to
ever do again! I really enjoyed three parts, crossing Tower
Bridge at 11 miles and feeling good still, the wonderful support
of the crowd, it really was overwhelming at times and of course
running down the Mall to the finish, breathtaking! Not that I
had much to take by that time!
With the support of so many of you, incredibly I
will expect to have raised more than £1,800 for the CLIC Sargent
charity. I expected this to be very tough, tougher than the
race itself, but it has been a great privilege to reach this
figure for such a great cause and for me, one that does mean a
great deal to me, thank you all so much.
Cheers
Chris
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