First major exhibition of US troops stationed in Chipping Sodbury before the D-Day Landings to feature at The Big Lunch

12:10pm Wednesday 14th May 2014 in News By Alexandra Womack

The Chipping Sodbury Big Lunch this year takes on a 1940s theme

THE first major exhibition of an important part of Chipping Sodburys past will be held during a war-themed event next week.

A collection of rare photographs of the American signal company stationed in the town during World War Two will be on view to the public during this years 1940s-themed Chipping Sodbury Big Lunch on Sunday, June 1.

Put together by local historian Jim Elsworth in conjunction with Sodbury and District Historical Society, the exhibit will include 100 pictures taken during the seven months prior to the D-Day Landings of 1944 when 62 US Army soldiers from 165 Signal Photo Company made Chipping Sodbury their home.

The troops became familiar faces to many in the town and organised events including American film screenings and tea parties, the likes of which many residents had never seen before. They also brought Coca Cola, chewing gum and a smooth American drawl previously only heard on the wireless.

Jim, who has collated the exhibition with help from the 165 Signal Companys official archives, said: People who were children at the time will recall the soldiers being here, but did not realise the special role they played on D-Day and the liberation of Europe. All they knew was that got any gum, chum would result in a gift of chewing gum and of course the soldiers organised films, tea parties and other entertainments for children.

Around 100 photos and the associated stories will relate the events from their arrival in Chipping Sodbury, interaction with our town and friendships made, and their operations in Europe.

He added: A major part of the exhibition will tell the amazing story of those 62 men. It is a sobering thought that of the 62 men, seven were killed in action, 14 were wounded to the extent they had to be repatriated and three were taken as Prisoners of War.

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Discover Chipping Sodbury's American past at 1940s themed Big Lunch

April 10, 2014

By Jordan Wasilka

Whether youre looking to re-invigorate the family home, spruce up the garden, or just add something new to your recreational life, the annual Brandon Home and Leisure Show will almost certainly have something for everyone when it hits the Keystone Centre this weekend.

The event, now in its 48th year, will feature over 165 exhibitors showing off a wide variety of home, garden and recreational products and services including patios, decks, gazebos, hot tubs, barbecues, travel trailers, lawn and garden equipment, fishing and pleasure craft, personal watercraft and more.

General manager Dave Melcosky says that he can still remember when the shows original incarnation then called the Brandon Sportsmans Show was 10,000 square feet in the 1970s and featured mainly recreation equipment. Now the Brandon Home and Leisure Show spans nearly ten times that over 96,000 square feet and has a vast breadth of products on offer.

Its quite large, says Melcosky. Its really gone through a growth spurt in the last little while, particularly on the leisure side.

Attendance is up as well, according to the general manager, with last years event drawing over 10,000 for the first time since he became involved with the event five years ago.

In fact, the annual event is so large that its even spilling outdoors.

Theres lots of interest in modular homes now, so well actually have two modular homes in the entranceway coming into the Home Show, with one inside as well, says the general manager, adding that theyre residential/cottage homes that are built to all of the Canadian housing standards.

Melcosky says that, while some bemoan paying a fee to enter the show, the value proposition is extremely good. Its all under one roof The diversity of this if you were to put $6.50 worth of gas into your car, I doubt youd hit half of the businesses featured in the show. Its a total one-stop shop.

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Annual Home and Leisure Show hits Keystone this weekend

Outdoor Gazebos
Outdoor Gazebos - created at http://animoto.com.

By: Dj Heckes

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Outdoor Gazebos - Video

ELLICOTTVILLE Building on a centuries-old tradition of performing music after dusk in a serene, garden-like setting, Ellicottvilles first-ever Night Lights event will take place from May 15 to May 31 at the Nannen Arboretum.

The event will combine strategically placed lighting to literally shed a different light on some of the more than 200 species of trees in the park, along with different musical performers each evening to create an entirely new magical experience for visitors.

Bringing such a wonderful experience to Ellicottville, in cooperation with the Rotary Club of Ellicottville and the Nannen Arboretum Society, is part of an ongoing commitment to share with locals and visitors alike what a great area this is to live work and play, said Ellicottville Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Brian McFadden. Night Lights is also helping to make sure that Ellicottville has the most extensive lineup of festivals and events ever, commencing with this event in May and going all the way through to our Christmas Stroll in December.

For additional details about attractions and events in Ellicottville, visit http://www.ellicottvilleny.com and click on Events, or contact the Ellicottville Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-349-9099.

The town of Ellicottvilles Nannen Arboretum is managed by the Nannen Arboretum Society, a nonprofit, volunteer-based organization dedicated to providing home garden and natural resource education and an opportunity for nature appreciation and leisure. The eight-acre park contains paved pathways, over 200 species of trees, a Japanese garden, pond, a chapel, gazebos and an entertainment stage.

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Night Lights event at Nannen Arboretum May 15-30

DENMARK Voorhees College is one of 13 Historically Black Colleges and Universities to win a $10,000 Tier II grant in The Home Depots 2014 Retool Your School Campus Improvement Grant Program.

Voorhees win will allow the institution to beautify the campus with additional assorted flowers, shrubbery, trees, planters, a drip line irrigation system, garden benches and gazebos.

We thank everyone who supported our efforts and voted for Voorhees throughout the competition. We would also like to thank The Home Depot for partnering with us to promote healthy living and learning for our students and all the constituents we serve, said Marcus Burgess, vice president of institutional advancement.

According to the competition rules, Voorhees was selected based on relevance to the proposal requirements; completeness of the proposal; ability to execute the project within the budget; ability of the project to make lasting, positive transformations on the campus that are noticeable; use of sustainable, eco-friendly and/or energy-saving materials and online voting score.

After the completion of the project, it is our hope that we can create a more welcoming and refreshing meditative space for students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends to gather, connect with nature and reenergize their spiritual being, Burgess said.

To see a complete listing of all the 2014 Retool Your School Campus Improvement Grant Program winners, visit http://www.retoolyourschool.com/2014-winners/.

For more information, contact Teesa Brunson, communications director, at 803-780-1194 or tbrunson@voorhees.edu.

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Voorhees wins $10,000 Retool Your School grant from Home Depot

Tilehurst Residents and Community Association organised the event which boasted eight live bands, a funfair, more than 20 real ales on sale, food from all over the world and 80 gazebos with arts, crafts, games, sideshows and much more

The third Tilehurst Festival went off in a blaze of glory and sunshine on Sunday as 8,000 people flocked to Prospect Park to enjoy the fun.

Tilehurst Residents and Community Association (TRACA) organised the event which boasted eight live bands, a funfair, more than 20 real ales on sale, food from all over the world and 80 gazebos with arts, crafts, games, sideshows and much more.

The festival also hosted the fourth Reading Chilli Cook-Off.

Rob Stringer, who chairs the Tilehurst Festival committee, said: It was a great day. We had no problems with the weather, in fact we had fantastic weather.

People came from all over Tilehurst and West Reading around 8,000 altogether.

And given the size of the event, there was no trouble at all.

Everyone there was very happy and smiley and there to enjoy themselves.

The free event was run this year to raise money for two charities, Arthros and Muscular Dystrophy Thames Valley, and to pay for outings and events in Tilehurst for the community.

Tilehurst Festival

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Tilehurst Festival goes off in a blaze of glory and sunshine

To the editor:

What follows is a direct quote from the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution: (N)or shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. This, by Supreme Court fiat, includes regulatory takings.

This newspaper has branded those citizens who own property that just happens to be contiguous to Swansboro town limits as just freeloaders, and that because of geography relative to the town limits we are living on the cheap. This is repugnant! Is the mayor a king? Where in hell do individual rights fit into this?

The Tideland fails to mention that we enjoy county water service, road paving and maintenance, sheriff protection, and we do pay county property taxes, sales taxes, employment taxes, Obamacare tax, utility taxes, N.C. income taxes and Federal income taxes, just to name a few. And we are required by law to collect sales tax and income taxes with no compensation from any government. We provide jobs that pay good wages with benefits. We have created several million dollars to add to the local economy. We put up a small, temporary help wanted sign on N.C. 24. The townies confiscated it and demanded that we pay them $50. Non-compliance with the Gateway!

Many of these confiscations find their way back to Swansboro so that they may be squandered on nonsense like Sunset Park, or a marina that competes with another Swansboro business, or time wasted on a meaningless debate over building height, or gazebos, or a million dollars paid for the Catholic church property. Who in hell offered to buy Sunset for one million confiscated dollars and then lease it back for $1 a year? Now we have the Gateway mess that is a regulatory nightmare.

The Tideland failed to mention that there was a strong response to Swansboros attempt to confiscate property, and do so without providing sewer service while changing the zoning in very damaging ways. Our family business property would have been rezoned to residential, as would four or five other business properties. No reason for this change was given.

This arbitrary rezoning alone would severely damage our ability to obtain bank financing, severely damage the value of the business and make it impossible to sell if we chose to do so. The rezoning would require a new permit if the property were to suffer damage of 50 percent or more, so if the property is rezoned residential then we are screwed. We are a business!

My response was to threaten a suit for damages caused by a regulatory taking, and I had a very strong case. It would be fairly easy to show how this taking would reduce values.

Mr. Richard Banks, code enforcement officer at the time, listened and realized the stupidity behind this abuse of power. The property was not rezoned. The property is in the ETJ but subject to only building code regulation. That is the way it should have been, but the townies had other plans that they preferred to keep to themselves.

In the meantime, the N.C. state legislature was addressing the abuses of ETJ. I communicated with the committee in charge and urged them to create some balance within this legislation. Give the landowner some power to fight back. I was not alone. The legislature has spoken. Maybe now the townies will show some respect for the law and for individual rights.

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Individual rights trump 'takings'

CARPAS, GAZEBOS - REYKO
http://www.reykoargentina.com.

By: CARPAS REYKO

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CARPAS, GAZEBOS - REYKO - Video

ANDERSON, Calif. -

The life of a young woman who died too soon was honored by many throughout the community Monday.

Hundreds, possibly close to a thousand people gathered to pay their respects to 27-year-old Hayley Riggins.

Riggins was in a motorcycle crash at the intersection of Buenaventura Boulevard and Placer Street in Redding on April 25.

Police said the other involved car ran a red light at the intersection.

The woman behind the wheel, 53-year-old Virginia Anderson admitted to police she was under the influence of prescription medication, marijuana and methamphetamine.

The next week Hayley was removed from life-support, her organs set to be donated so her legacy can live on.

On Monday the skies were sunny as hundreds of motorcycles and vehicles departed the area of the crash in Redding.

Led by the Missing In America Project and law enforcement, community members and bike club members made the 20 or so minute drive to Anderson River Park, along the way they were joined by other riders.

The streets lined with supporters.

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Hayley Riggins' life celebrated

Barracuda cover. Erica Peladeau with The Gazebos
via YouTube Capture.

By: Erica Peladeau

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Barracuda cover. Erica Peladeau with The Gazebos - Video