This information is provided by the Barwick-in-Elmet Historical Society.
May 2013
Life continues quietly without much in the way of change, except the weather which has suddenly woken up to summer in the first week of May. Everyone has been complaining about a long winter and now there is a distinct joie-de-vivre in everyone's step. Ever since the success of Bradley Wiggins in the Tour de France and in the Olympics last summer, there has been a noticable increase in the number of men (in the main part) taking to exercising on racing cycles on the roads passing through the two villages at weekends or, at this time of the year in the evenings. They are nearly all dressed in proper cycling clothing and helmets and many are in clusters of ten or so, possible in clubs or nascent clubs. This is an encouraging sight for, being in such numbers, car drivers have to drive with more attention to other road users. Let us hope that in future years we can still report that cycling is a well established habit.
April 2013
The last week in March had brought a substantial snowfall and cold weather. On the 3rd April some of the snow still remained in north facing places and in areas where the snow had been the heaviest, such as the lane at Potterton leading up to the York Road. However the Easter weekend had sunshine and slightly warmer weather. However, spring did not begin until the middle of the month. At least, the land has dried out enough to enable farmers to get onto the land and start to catch up with late planting.
The city has been spending some of its new year budget in painting double yellow lines in Barwick and marking out parking bays on Main Street outside the Gascoigne and the Post Office, a place which is scarcely ever empty of cars and can cause problems for buses discharging passengers.
March 2013
The double yellow lines have appeared in Scholes on the first Tuesday of the month. They were installed just before a few days of light falls of snow, sleet or hail stones. The villages await the announcement of how many new houses will be given approval under the new planning scheme. There is conjecture that the number of houses approved will be considerably less than the total numbers under consideration.
For those who have not been to Barwick in recent years, there is now a coffee shop and delicatessen open in Main Street, next door to Anthony's bread shop.
Yellow lines were installed at the end of the week ending 22nd of the month Main St./Leeds Road/Long Lane junction near The New Inn, just before a heavy snowfall which lasted nearly two days. It started to thaw but the temperature was only just over 0°C. which no doubt pleases children on the first few days of the Easter holidays.
The new bus timetables as outlined in the November 2012 entries have been approved and will begin in late July 2013. While a new transport development has been announcement. As part of the national plan to build a high speed link from London to the north via Birmingham (known as HS2), it is planned that the spur to Leeds should continue north-easterly to link up with the main east coast line at York. It is planned that this extension will bring a high speed line between Barwick and Garforth. It will run south of the M1 which will absorb some of the sound from the railway so that the sound in Barwick and Scholes will be similar to that experienced by the current railway line. It is planned to complete the new line by 2033.
Those people who used to live in the parish in the 60's and early 70's will recall that the parish was on a military flight path which kept military aircraft away from the Leeds conurbation. Well, if you were to return today, you would find that there are now extremely few fighter or bomber planes using that flight path but there are frequently military helicopters, including Chinook helicopters, in the corridor. There are also far more civilian helicopters using the airspace above the villages. Over and above that on clear mornings there are many airliners leaving their vapour traces in the sky. They are mostly airliners approaching Europe from North America on overnight crossings. Later in the morning the reverse flow of airline traffic can be seen under the right conditions.
February 2013
Transport issues dominate the news at the beginning of the month. The parish council has discussed parking arrangements in both Barwick and Scholes. In Barwick it was announced that parking restrictions will come around the Main St./Leeds Road/Long Lane junction very shortly. More limiting parking restrictions are being proposed for parts of Scholes; residents of Belle Vue Road and Morwick Grove may soon need permits to park outside their own homes; visitors to residents in those roads and visitors to the primary school will not be able to park in those roads. There are also proposals for parking, waiting and speed restrictions in Scholes. A 20 mph speed limit will apply on roads near the school as will waiting near the school at arrival and leaving times. The parish council also has received a complaint from a resident in Barwick that parking near the post office in Barwick precludes buses from stopping in a safe place. With the very large increase in the size of Scholes and to a lesser exrent in Barwick, there are worries that the current difficulties in parking in the two villages will become worse.
The society has been given a map surrounding the parish which is the first edition made by the Ordnance Survey in the 1850's. It had been fixed to the back of a cupboard for many years and was in a delicate condition. It is elephant size and needed carefully handling. The society applied for funding from the Barwick-in-Elmet and Scholes Community Fund to have the map conserved, placed in a suitable carton for protection and to have the map scanned. The award has been granted and is being conserved by the West Yorkshire Archive Service. With the scan,the society will produce copies on DVD's for distribution to schools in or serving the area covered by the map. The society feels that local students should have the opportunity to gain knowledge of the history of their locality.
January 2013
The new year has begun with mild weather and not too much rain. In addition a letter has been received by all households in Barwick from the Vicar, Andy Nicholson. It has two aims. One conveys strongly that the church is the villager's church, not just for worship on Wednesday and Sunday mornings. It also outlines thinking which is taking place to make the church a more open, welcoming social as well as a spiritual place.
The Barwick-in-Bloom team will not have time to rest on their laurels this year as it the village has been chosen to represent Yorkshire in the large village category of Britain in Bloom 2013.