Rolleston United Foundation – Our News!

Thanks to a generous donation from Rolleston Transport Festival committee we were able to award money to several applicants this year. We would love to hear from more students so here is a brief resume of how you may qualify for a bit of financial help.

– Find an application form on the Rolleston Parish Council website (www.rollestonondovepc.co.uk) and Facebook page
– You need to be a resident of Rolleston or Anslow (Ancient parish boundaries).
– Contact us if you’re not sure if you qualify.
– Applications are not means tested
– Apply if you are 16-18 years old (y13) and intending to start a College or University course in September 2025.
– If you have any questions or queries please get in touch with Vanessa Winstone on rollestouf@gmail.com
– The next awards will be made in September 2025.
 
Good Luck!

Environment Agency Update on Flooding

Rolleston Update 26-9-24

The below provides an overview of the activities/discussions that have occurred during the past month.

Channel maintenance works.

Following repeated requests for work to be conducted on the channel downstream of the village from residents who have been affected by flooding, the Environment Agency’s Asset Performance team agreed to carry out a list of maintenance items to reassure residents that the channel will be in good condition to convey flows.

This consisted of removing the wire rope barriers in the channel, removing a fence built across the channel upstream of Rolleston Gauging Station and removing the worst vegetation and debris that was reported in the river from the village down to where it joins the River Dove.

The team have been working on the channel all this month and have removed all the obstructions that had been identified. As well as that, they are going to do a final run through with the tractor and mowing attachment.

And the team also identified a number of additional locations where they intend to conduct further works to remove vegetation, roots and overhanging trees. These locations are from the confluence with the Tutbury Mill Fleam through to the gauging station and also where the river passes through the old railway embankment.

These further works have been approved, but the team will only return to carry them out in October/November. I am pleased to report we have had a lot of very positive feedback from residents commenting on the good work that the team have done and we hope this will leave the village better prepared for Autumn/Winter. We have already had a significant rainstorm recently, but as far as I am aware, there was no flooding of properties as a result.

Business Case development.

Collaborating with our consultants, Arup, we continued to make good progress and remain on programme.

As described last month, our focus has been on analysing all the potential options (long list) that are possible both inside and outside of the village and then undertaking a shortlisting process for those which warrant further investigation and economic analysis. This shortlisting is based on a number of factors but focusses on cost and effectiveness.

Our long list consisted of:

  1. Do nothing (HM Treasury rules – this has to be assessed.)
  2. Do minimum (As above – this has to be assessed)
  3. Raised defences – building hard flood defence structures at Brookside, Burnside and Brook Hollows.
  4. Modification of the waterfall at Brook Hollows.
  5. Modification of the weirs through the village.
  6. Upstream flood storage – engineered flood storage facilities at a number of locations upstream of the village,
  7. Dredging – dredging works upstream of the village, through the village and downstream of the village,
  8. Temporary barriers – possible use of demountable barriers (we believe it would be impractical to install such a measure in the timescales usually involved)
  9. Flood relief channel – possible diversion of flood flows around or under the village (this was quickly rejected as being probably the most expensive and least practical option)
  10. Natural Flood Management (NFM) – the use of NFM in the upstream catchment of the river in co-operation with farmers and landowners and
  11. Property Flood Resilience – individual measures on each property.

Programme:

Strategic Case Completion = December 2024

Stakeholder engagement.

  • East Staffordshire Borough Council – council had a 3rd party survey the structural condition of the waterfall and features within Brook Hollows after damage was reported to them after storm events. The Council have conducted some repairs on the structure of the waterfall (See below) and have also installed monitoring points on the structures to monitor further whether the walls might be shifting or moving. We will continue to liaise with East Staffordshire.

Ground reinstated and seeded

For further information.

If you have any questions, please contact david.hughes@environment-agency.gov.uk

 

St Mary’s Church Christmas shoe box appeal 2024

Following last year’s very successful appeal, it would be lovely for St Mary’s to again play a part in bringing joy into the lives of underprivileged children at Christmas. We hope that you will be able to make a contribution to this year’s shoe box appeal.
The age ranges are:

  • 3 to 5 years old
  • 6 to 11 years old
  • 12 years old and above

If you would like to cover and fill your own shoe box, the deadline is Sunday 27th October.
You may find it easier to bring items to church and place them in the box provided. This proved to be a very successful option last year.
You can bring anything from the list below at any time, but the suggested dates and items may help you to plan regular donations, if this suits you.

  • 8th September – pencils, pens, crayons
  • 15th September – colouring books, notepads, drawing pads
  • 22nd September – toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, facecloths, hairbrushes, combs
  • 29th September – hats, scarves, gloves
  • 6th October – underwear, socks, hair accessories
  • 13th October- games, puzzles, small musical instruments, any small toys
  • 20th October – small cuddly toys, small balls (eg tennis balls), small vehicles
  • 27th October – sweets (which are dated January 2025 or later)

If you have any spare shoe boxes or any left over Christmas wrapping paper which we could use, please place these in the box at any time.

It costs £3 to send each box. If anyone wishes to give a £3 donation for the transport cost for a box, please place this in an envelope and put it in the box at any time. If you prefer, you can give the envelope to the vicar to pass on.

Last year, we had some fantastic contributions from local Rolleston residents and we hope to welcome donations this year from all who wish to be involved.

If you have any questions, or if you would like anything collecting, please email Vivien Sharples on viviensharples@hotmail.com who is co-ordinating this appeal on behalf of St Mary’s.

YMCA Burton 16th annual Sleepout event -Friday 25th October at the Pirelli Stadium

The 16th annual Sleepout event is taking place on Friday 25th October at the Pirelli Stadium! We’re hoping to make it the biggest Sleepout so far, and are aiming to raise £50,000 to support our essential services, supporting individuals and families in crisis in our local community. We rely heavily on donations from the public so that our services can keep going, in particular our foodbank service, so funds raised from this will make a massive difference.

Here’s a video link to a previous Sleepout if you’d be interested in having a look: https://youtu.be/vNDr6jKKnHQ

Here’s the link to the event to get the tickets: Sleepout – Burton YMCA

This is a great event for individuals and families to get involved through sleeping out for one night to make a difference to those facing many nights sleeping rough on a daily basis. Our Sleepout has been described as an incredibly eye-opening and humbling experience, with many realising that they must not take what they have for granted.