Eden Broadband

A meeting was held on Thursday 3rd March in Kirkby Stephen with a rep. from the Broadband Delivery UK team (Mike Kiely from the DTI/BIS) to update everyone on the BDUK pilot project progress and to discuss next steps.

Social Media Surgery

Warcop will shortly be hosting a Social Media Surgery, thanks to funding from the north of Cumbria. This will be open and free to anyone - and we mean *anyone* to attend in the Village Hall. (Date to be confirmed shortly).

Whether you are on holiday in Eden, a local business, resident, or even from over the border - Yorkshire, Teasdale, Lancashire, you name it - come and learn what social media is all about with us.

We hope this will become a regular feature of the Exchange and SkillSwap so....see you there. Or if you can't make it, we'll see you on Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Digg, Stumbleupon etc!

And if that is all double Dutch, we *really* look forward to seeing you in the Hall so it can be explained and you can save money on phone calls, texts and your Internet usage.

Contributing to this blog

This blog is for the Parish of Warcop, in Eden, Cumbria, which includes Bleatarn, Sandford and Flitholme.

Anyone can contribute, and the more that do so, the better it will become as a resource for all of us.

We are also not shy of our neighbouring parishes, so let us know if you are in Upper Eden and want to share news, events, etc.

You can learn how to use the blog, as well as anything on the Internet (Skype, Facebook, Twitter etc) at Warcop & Sandford Exchange or the Social Media Surgery.

Exchange Dates to follow.......you should come! We have been and they really are worth attending - you never know who you will meet.

Village Hall- reminder to all residents of the Parish

Please submit your comments about the Village Hall as soon as possible.

This Parish needs to work together and to do so it needs your voice.

If you haven't received any info on the village hall proposals, please see Sue Fell or Ray.

Online Village Newsletter & Events

The first 2011 Parish Council meeting for Warcop, and the Warcop & Sandford Exchange, have now been held, so shortly we will be issuing the first 2011 newsletter.

We intend to update the Parish about the pub, village hall survey, Gipsy Fair plans, Exchange dates, and more so if you have anything to add before publication, please let us know.

Events, for sale items, etc, please just post here on the blog, or give unwanted items away on Freegle.

Thanks!

Notes:

Upcoming Event: Broadband and Localism Event in Carlisle this Saturday. Car share available from Warcop.

Websites to check: BroadbandCumbria.com - for a lively debate about how Cumbria should be facing the Next Generation Broadband issue, community engagement and support, networking and the latest news from the IT world.

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.

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.