Saturday 11 December 2010

Skills

It seems there is some money to do the feasibility study for eco energy generation. (Approx £25k). If you are interested in getting Warcop close to self-sufficiency and are also interested in helping with the data centre, please get in touch.

Sunday 7pm, village hall, Tuesday 7pm village hall.

Friday 10 December 2010

The Chamley Arms, Warcop, has (temporarily) closed its doors


The notice on the door tonight, and the piece in today's Herald could leave you thinking that this is another dying rural community.

But Warcop doesn't just give up like that. Warcop has an astounding history. Even offcumeduns are proud of it.

Warcop has had up to 5 pubs in its time, a ropemaker, tailors, haberdashers, grocers, engineers and more. Its history is preserved and cherished by Michael Gregson, whose family for years have kept more than just an anecdotal archive of this village's quite incredible history. You can enjoy a taste of it for yourself in the village archive, and having been there recently, we can guarantee you won't be easily satisfied with a single visit!

This village has a heart. It might not be instantly obvious if you drive through but it's unavoidable once you have been caught up in Warcop's charms. Even Andy Goldsworthy, who learnt his skills on the Warcop village landscape as a tentative gardener, was captured and paid his apprenticeship back by leaving a substantial legacy to the village in the form of a much-appreciated and well-visited pinfold.

You cannot live here and not love the place. It may not be easy, but once you are accepted, this unique Cumbrian village offers a perspective that no other can. In the recent snows of the last two winters, the local farmers kept the roads clear. Whilst this may seem a minimal task to an outsider, there are actually profound reasons to do so - midwifes and doctors can get to their patients, farmers can reach their flocks and cattle, children can arrive at school, each and every person in the village can get to work, wherever that may be.

We all know that this village has little to offer in the way of work, now or in the future, but we can help those who have been offered a living in Eden Valley; they have a chance to attend their jobs, the kids have an opportunity to learn, and everyone has that really simple choice - out or in! Our kids can at the very least get across the beck or the Eden to catch the bus, because our community WORKS.

Snow?! Pah. Our village hasn't been snowed in for yonks. And when it floods, it needs to be really deep before you can't get out.

So, give up on our pub? Don't expect us to give in easily. Or at all.

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Skills Share!

We're trying to get a IT skills share etc going in the village & a meeting arranged to discuss this & other matters about starting the Old Mill up.

I've been having a think about my skills to share:-
Julie's Skills to share:-
  1. Financial Planning advice including retirement, investments, mortgage & debt advice. Care Fees & protection. I’m a trustworthy IFA. Complete MOT of your finances on offer! Also cash flow planning ie when will you run out of money?
  2. Bookkeeping – part qualified CIMA Accountant.
  3. IT Skills – to share with others
  4. Laminating (wipe clean coating) for A4 posters etc
  5. Cooking – dinners, lunches, baking etc
  6. Cooking, Cleaning, washing, ironing, sewing on buttons – good at getting somewhere organised. Home help. Eco cleaning! Can change fuses & plugs etc.
  7. Driver with car – Shopping or can car share for trip to Penrith etc
  8. Professional carpet cleaning.
  9. Eco clean advice – You don’t need to use all those dangerous & expensive chemicals!
  10. Bird watching Walks – I used to work for the RSPB as a volunteer.
  11. B & B or Rent a spare room by the night or week etc.

Wish List

  1. Tap in bathroom fixing properly.
  2. Fitting of a Woodburner & plumbing in off back boiler possibly
  3. Mill laid clearance – I need a hand & to borrow some fishing waders.
  4. Replacing new light fittings in hall.
  5. Need a Wood store and storm porch

Can we work something out?

Sunday 28 November 2010

Starting the Old Mill up again!

Lindsey and I have been chatting to quite a few people in the village about starting up the watermill again as part of a wish to create community renewable energy project for Warcop. It's been amazing to find out what villagers did 80 or so years ago on their own, because they dug a beck all the way from Hayberghyll, the other side of the A66 to a feeder pond now located within the Army camp. It was a huge project with sluice gates, overflow ponds, interconnected to the becks that flowed through the village to the River Eden. This water system provided clean water to the village (goodness knows why the authorities stopped Warcop accessing it!!!) & powered an overshot waterwheel at the Old Mill, which drove dynamos adapted from one of the saw mills located here. I'm told that even during the harshest drowts in Eden area the spring at Haberghyll never dried up it constantly flowed. I'd already been in touch with a few Hydro companies and hopefully with a bit of help from grants/loans as part of being the Big Society, we might be able to get this up & running with the addition of other forms of renewable energy such as solar panels etc.

Everytime we start chatting to anyone about this, people in the area start giving us valued ideas history and feedback, which has been absolutely brilliant.

I think we're trying to organise holding a meeting to discuss all this...but any feedback, assistance, ideas on this blog would be greatly appreciated. It would be brilliant if Warcop could be put on a firm footing to self sustainability, generating electricity as a co-operative & any excess could be sold back to the grid.