It’s Christmas!
Christmas Lights Switch-on in Loughborough will be on Friday, 28 November.
Starting at 4pm, the Market Place will host a wide range of stalls, food and drink stands and fairground rides, and a host of talented performers will be appearing on the main stage to entertain the crowd.
There will also be a Santa’s grotto to visit. The lights will be switched on at 6.30pm by the winner of the Light up Loughborough competition winner and the Mayor of Charnwood, Cllr David Northage.
Start the festive month with a bang! See below a number of great events to attend on the weekend of 6th and 7th December including the Anstey Gateway to Christmas events on the 6th December and Barrie Stephen’s Christmas sponsored dog walk on the 7th December. We look forward to seeing you there!
If you are in Loughborough, please try and make time to head to Queen’s Park to visit ‘Bing,’ an Alsatian/Collie cross from Loughborough who served during the Second World War.
A metal sculpture has been produced in Bing’s honour. Bing was parachuted into Normandy on D-Day in 1944 and into the Rhine in Germany in 1945. He was trained to locate the enemy and protect military personnel during the Second World War and was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal in 1947 for bravery in service – the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross.
Patch Walk
On Tuesday 14th October, Deborah joined officers from Charnwood Borough Council and PC Greg Moore for a multi-agency patch walk in Anstey. Some issues were picked up, residents were spoken to, and some repairs were reported that need to be carried out. A very well spent hour!
Local Government Reorganisation
www.northcitysouth.co.uk/draft-proposal
Charnwood Borough Council’s Cabinet have approved the final Business case at the meeting held on 13th November. Their final submission to the government is for the North, City, South proposal, jointly with all the other District and Borough Councils in Leicestershire, and Rutland County Council.
You can read the final plan on the link below or by scanning the QR code. The government will then consider the proposals and conduct a consultation on their preferred model in the Spring of 2026.
During Charnwood Borough Council’s Scrutiny meeting, where they are discussing their Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) plan, it was advised that under their proposed model of North, City, South, residents' council tax in Charnwood would rise by 8.5% straight away. This is due to Rutland CC having a higher council tax than us, and LGR would require council tax harmonisation across all the area covered by the new unitary councils. Rutland's council tax would be reduced by 11%.
Best Café Competition
Congratulations to the Nook corner coffee shop in Anstey, which has won the Peter Bedford MP for Mid Leicestershire Best Café Competition. Peter said when presenting Sharon and her team their award:
“Congratulations to Sharon, and the team, and thank you so much for taking part, nearly 1,500 people voted in this competition – it’s been tough for small businesses recently, so it’s amazing to see just how much support they have from the residents of Mid Leicestershire.”
Charnwood Community Lottery
The Charnwood Community Lottery has recently celebrated its 7th anniversary! The Charnwood Community Lottery is supporting 60 local causes.
Charnwood Borough Council launched the community lottery in 2018, when Deborah was the Lead Member for Communities. Since then, over £145,000 has been raised to support local community groups in the borough.
There are 65 good causes that have signed up to the Lottery that can be supported by purchasing tickets. They include Anstey Community Library, Living Without Abuse and Loughborough Leggo Youth Group. It is completely free for organisations supporting good causes across the borough to sign up to Charnwood Community Lottery.
Each ticket costs £1 and players have the chance of winning up to £25,000 every week.
Since its creation, the Charnwood Community Lottery has seen:
· Five tickets win £2,500
· 58 tickets win £250
· 451 tickets win £25
· And over 4,500 tickets win a free draw!
If you have any issues or concerns, we are here to help.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. Glad tidings to all.
Deborah and Paul
