Bradfield Parish Council

Nov

2024

Friends of the Loxley Valley receive Bradfield Parish Council grant

Friends of the Loxley Valley are delighted to have received a grant of £4,478 from Bradfield Parish Council to help tell the story of the valley’s water power heritage.

The grant means we can start to put up interpretation boards and finger posts along the valley.

We hope they’ll help to increase awareness of the historic water wheel sites that thread all the way along it.

The signs will also showcase the beautiful landscape along the valley. And they will tell how nature has threaded through the old water power remains to create outstanding habitat for wildlife.

Bradfield Parish Council chairperson Penny Baker presented the generous grant cheque to FoLV committee members David Holmes and Diana Conheeney. The presentation took place before the council’s November meeting in the council chamber at Low Bradfield.

The award follows our successful presentation to the council’s first public “participatory budget meeting” at Worrall Memorial Hall in October.

The meeting was open to everyone who lives in the parish. Local groups made presentations, and parishioners then ranked the bids to decide which groups would receive grants.

The grants came from funds set aside for community projects.

Friends of the Loxley Valley would like to thank everyone who voted for our bid. The standard of all the bids was very high, and it is humbling to know that we have succeeded.

The other successful bidders were Friends of Glen Howe Park, Dungworth Village Hall, Bradfield Dungworth School PFA, Oughtibridge Millennium Garden, Oughtibridge War Memorial Sports Club, and Friends of Stoneface Creative.

We’d like to congratulate them all, and offer our commiserations to the groups who didn’t succeed this time round.

We’ll now start work to research, design and erect the Loxley Valley signs. We look forward to reporting back as things progress.

Please click here if you’d like to read more about our grant bid presentation in October.

May

2022

Friends of the Loxley Valley taskforce trims valley bottom footpath

A Friends of the Loxley Valley taskforce has cleared and tidied a section of the valley bottom footpath to keep it clear of obstruction and accessible to all.

A team of nine FoLV members spent two hours cutting back overgrowth and clearing the tapping rail for people with visual impairments.

We did the work on the “easy access” stretch of footpath between Rowell Bridge and Olive Mill.

We also cleared a branch that had fallen across the path, and tidied up dog pooh that had been left on the path.

We’ve agreed the community stewardship work with the public rights of way unit at Sheffield City Council.

We’ve said we’ll try to keep the path free of overgrowth and other obstructions. And we’ll keep the tapping rail alongside the path clear. This is so that people can feel their way along the path using walking aids.

We hope this will help the council’s footpaths team to concentrate on urgent repairs with a limited budget. They’ve recently repaired broken and missing sections of the tapping rail.

Thanks to Bradfield Parish Council

This was our first practical work session. It follows a generous £200 grant from Bradfield Parish Council that helped us pay for work signs, hi-vis jackets, and public liability insurance. Thank you!

Friends of the Loxley Valley members spent two hours doing the work on Saturday, May 28th. Our next session is from 6pm to 8pm on on Tuesday, June 14th. All members are welcome.

Friends of the Loxley Valley members with footpath maintenance tools

Friends of the Loxley Valley members working on the valley bottom footpath.

Easy Access Trail with tapping rail

The section of footpath from Rowell Bridge to Olive Mill is part of an Easy Access Trail.

The then Sheffield City Council leader David Blunkett (now Lord Blunkett) opened it in 1985.

It features a wide firm surface suitable for wheelchairs. And it has a tapping rail that people with visual impairments can use to help find their way along the path. The path features in this short video from Sheffield’s Outdoor City team…

The footpath between Rowell Bridge and Olive Mill is part of an Easy Going Trail.

This section of footpath was opened by Sheffield City Council leader David Blunkett in 1985.

Friends of the Loxley Valley footpath volunteers after tidying the footpath.

Friends of the Loxley Valley taskforce volunteers after trimming and tidying the footpath. From left: Diana and Alex Conheeny, Tina Gilligan-Kubo, Joanne Lee, Richard Williams, Richard Clark. (missing are Sophie who was still busy trimming, Pete who was doing a bit of tool maintenance, and David who was behind the camera)

May

2022

Friends of the Loxley Valley receive £200 community grant from Bradfield Parish Council

Friends of the Loxley Valley are delighted to have received a £200 grant from Bradfield Parish Council to help us to do environmental work around the valley.

The community grant award will pay for public liability insurance and a set of high vis safety vests.

It will make it possible for FoLV members to start projects such as footpath maintenance work and litter picks.

Initially, we hope to start work along the stretch of “Easy Access” footpath between Rowell Lane and Olive Mill.

We hope to help keep it clean and tidy, and to help keep the “tapping rail” alongside the path clear of vegetation.

We will also do similar work along a short stretch of footpath further down the valley, between Loxley Road and Low Matlock Lane.

Bradfield Parish Council Chair Councillor Stephen Bennett presented the £200 cheque to FoLV treasurer Andrew Holmes and secretary Stewart Kemp before a recent parish council meeting.

“Friends of the Loxley Valley would like to thank Councillor Bennett and his fellow parish councillors for this generous community grant,” said Stewart Kemp.

“The money will help our members to work safely and visibly as we begin to do practical work around the valley.

“We’re all aware of the financial pressures facing local councils as they try to keep on top of countryside management and footpath maintenance work.

“We hope that FoLV members working as community volunteers will help to keep the Loxley valley looking at its best.”