Latest news with #Oswestry
BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Reopening date set for Shropshire community cinema
A reopening date has been set for a town's community charity Maona Arts plans to start showing films at the former Kinokulture cinema in Oswestry, Shropshire, from 5 July, with an 'official opening' the day cinema closed in April 2024 when the people who had run it for 14 years, Ian Garland and Ruth Carter, then, Maona Arts has raised more than £28,000 to pay for the restoration of the building and signed a lease for it on Saturday. James Bond, the chair of the Oswestry Film Society, said volunteers would spend the next month getting the cinema ready to said it needed a "good clean" inside and out after lying empty for so society has been hosting live cinema nights at the Hermon Chapel arts centre on Wednesdays since Kinokulture money raised would meet the costs of the lease for 12 months, plus seating, and a refurbished box office and bar. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Oswestry's town centre post office to remain open as a franchise
A town's Post Office will remain open and offer the same services, at least until the end of the current financial year.A campaign to save the Willow Street branch in Oswestry, Shropshire, was launched when the Post Office announced last year it was one of 115 at risk of was led by the MP for North Shropshire, Helen Morgan, who said common sense had Post Office said it is transferring all of its remaining directly managed "Crown Post Offices" to franchisees, and the Oswestry branch will be one of five run by RF Retail. More than 3,000 people signed a petition organised by Ms Morgan who said: "I have no doubt that this pressure has helped to keep the Post Office open."The Lib Dem MP also said she would be "monitoring the situation closely to ensure that no services or hours are lost from Oswestry town centre".A decision has yet to be made about the long-term location of the branch, which may move to a different site in the town centre from April next Post Office, which announced in April it wanted to move to a "fully franchised network", said it it was still seeking partners to run more than 100 other Crown Post Offices around the country. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
26-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Oswestry food bank seeing 'steady increase' in demand
A food bank in Oswestry has said it is spending more than £70,000 a year on buying comes as figures from the Trussell Trust show that nearly 245,000 emergency food parcels were given to families across the West Midlands in the past and Borders Foodbank provides groceries and hygiene products - as well as practical advice and Liz Jermy said she was seeing a "steady increase in families needing to use our food bank." Anti-poverty charity the Trussell Trust, which runs a nationwide network of food banks, has found a 44% increase over the past year in the number of food parcels it's giving the areas of Shropshire run by Shropshire Council, 9,753 parcels were given to families from three Trussell Trust food banks between April 2024 and March April 2017 and March 2018, just 4,737 were handed charity does not have any food banks in the region run by Telford and Wrekin Council. Ms Jermy said in 2024, the food bank spent £72,000 on food."That's just for Oswestry and the surrounding villages," she said she's seen a "big rise" in people needing to use the food bank since the Covid-19 pandemic."It's people who are in work, but just not able to make ends meet." The trust believes it's important to have people working and volunteering at food banks who know what it's like to need their years ago, Malcolm was homeless due to illness causing him to give up working and a marriage ended up being placed in a Travelodge, whilst looking after his ill said he was "very worried" about going to a food bank for the first time, adding that he was "very emotional because I couldn't get food to feed my son." "I walked in to find smiling faces [...] [and] they sent me off with two big bags of food," he said. Once he was back on his feet, Malcolm decided he "wanted to give back."He is now a volunteer and trustee at Oswestry and Borders Food Bank - his role involves welcoming people into the building."If there's a queue I go and talk to them - because I remember how I felt the first time I walked in." Ben, who is employed by the Trussell Trust, has his own experiences of food poverty, and believes rising prices are leaving more families in need of the charity's help."As someone who's lived on Universal Credit, I know it's not enough to afford all of the essentials," he said. "You might be able to afford three out of the five essentials, but you need to find the other two somewhere - that's where food banks plug in the gap." Volunteer and trustee Alison said she is not surprised that the number of families receiving food parcels is rising."Everybody is tightening their belts, and there is an increasing amount of people for whom tightening their belt just isn't enough," she said. When Alison's husband died suddenly, she remembered the "sick feeling" when she realised there was no life insurance to help support the family."These things come out of the blue, and you have no idea [what to do]." Alison added that food banks offer a lot more than just groceries."Financial advice, mental health support, bereavement support - all that kind of things happening alongside the tins of beans." Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Merchant's house restoration project gets lottery boost
A Grade I listed building has been given £479,972 by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to support a restoration 15th Century Llwyd Mansion in Oswestry, Shropshire, a former merchants house has been placed on Historic England's Heritage at risk town council, which owns the building, said it will use the cash to pay for surveys and urgent structural repairs before applying for a full grant of £2,870,665 building had been restored in the 1800s and used by a series of businesses until 2022. But structural alterations and repairs compounded by lack of care over many years had left the building in a dilapidated state, the council said. A plan for its future use is likely to involve community and commercial spaces on the lower floors and holiday let accommodation on upper floors, it added. Town mayor Rosie Radford said she was "absolutely thrilled to have secured this funding".The council hoped to have the work complete and the building fully open by the end of 2029. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Babbinswood Farm has months to save 'cow and calf' dairy
A dairy farmer who switched from a conventional way of milking to a holistic one says it is "more rewarding".The calves at Babbinswood Farm near Oswestry, in north Shropshire, stay with their mothers until they are weaned at up to eight months old, instead of being separated hours or days after they are farmer Casha Bowles-Jones said her "cow and calf" dairy could be at risk unless she can raise money by selling some of the land to the community.A change in personal circumstances has meant that half the value of the farm is up for sale. They need to raise £1.5m by September. Five generations of the Bowles-Jones family have farmed at Babbinswood. In 2002 it converted to organic, and then 15 years later, after completing a course in holistic management, mother and daughter, Barbara and Casha, adopted the cow and calf or cow with calf Barbara said they started with one rescue cow and have built up to a herd of 80 dairy cows. "We wanted to do it in the most compassionate way possible," she said. "The farm milks once a day", instead of the conventional two, "and the cows share their milk between us and their babies." Casha said: "I'm a mother, and knowing the cows have been kept in a way that really resonates with the way I feel a mother should bring up her child - to me that's just natural and what we're trying to replicate here." A litre of milk is more expensive to produce from a suckled dairy system, as the calf is getting a share of the milk, so the yields are lower. Casha estimates her cows produce, on average, around eight to 10 litres a day compared to 25 to 30 litres on conventional dairy means the milk is more expensive and considered more of a luxury product. A litre of milk from the farm costs £3, plus a refundable deposit on the glass bottle, compared to around £1.40 in supermarkets. The milk is pasteurised on site and sold in the farm shop and is also delivered to customers. Four months to raise £1.5m This way of farming could come to an end due to a change in family circumstances, and half the value of the farm is up for sale. The family has formed the Babbinswood Farm Community Benefit Society (CBS) to buy 116 acres of the 176-acre farm and put the land into community ownership.A crowdfunder has been set up for anyone who wants to buy shares and make director Charlotte Hollins said: "Not only do we want to retain this way of farming for Casha, but also for the community to have a part in it." Cow and calf farming methods are more commonplace in other parts of the world, including Nordic countries as well as Mexico and Australia, according to farming consultant Anna Bowen. She said it was not unusual to find cow and calf milk being sold in supermarkets abroad and hopes the same may happen in the UK one National Farmers Union said it "celebrates the diverse range of production systems and those farmers who are busy meeting shoppers demands for milk and dairy products". NFU Shropshire county adviser Ed Garratt said: "While farmers decide how they want to farm, they all have things in common, including a real love for the job, pride in growing food, a deep sense of care for their animals and a commitment to producing the best produce to the highest standards while looking after the Rob Davies, NFU Midlands dairy board chairman, said: "Our high animal welfare and production standards are recognised the world over and are hugely valued by shoppers, who recognise choosing British dairy means eating high-quality sustainable food." Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
