Your Village Your Voice Goes From Strength to Strength

Some of you might remember a post a month back mentioning that the Mid-Durham Area Action Partnership, headed up by Andy Coulthard, was working closely with the various communities in Esh - the schools, the churches, the Parish Council and the Residents' Association to name just a few -  to help facilitate communications between local government bodies and the village. 

Following a meeting in June between the AAP and Esh residents, an action plan was drawn up to help address some of the issues concerning villagers (the blocked drains - a popular topic around here! - dog fouling, overgrown verges, road safety, and horse droppings on the roads and pavements being just a couple). An up to date copy of the action plan can be found on the blog detailing the progress made so far... as you'll be able to tell from the plan, Andy and his team have been seriously busy in the last 6 weeks and made huge strides already! 

BIG Lottery Funding in Esh

Lots of recent village projects, events, and collaboration with the two village schools, Esh CofE Primary School and St Michael's Esh Laude Primary School, have only been possible due to a generous grant from the BIG Lottery Fund. Check out the new slideshow on the Gallery page for a few shots of what the grant went towards...

Who knew road drains could be so exciting?!

From this...

To this!

Yesterday, a momentous happening occurred in Esh: the road drains were cleared! The Residents' Association had been in regular contact with the County Council for several months regarding the blocked drains and localised flooding, and yesterday afternoon all the accumulated surface debris, horse manure and mud was cleared out and the drains restored to sparking (and fully-functioning) condition... just in time for a downpour to give their newly-acquired drainage power a test-drive! A big thank you to the brave souls from the Council who grappled with the grates, the garbage, and the grime to free Front Street from the floods and floating manhole covers. 

This weekend...

Just a reminder that there are two village events taking place tomorrow, Saturday 21st June. 

Flowers in memory of Liz,
from the Residents'' Association

There will be a memorial service at the C of E church at 11am for the late Liz Porteus who passed away earlier this year. The service will be followed by a faith-lunch at no. 7 Front Street; for more details, please see the village calendar. 

Meanwhile St Michael's Esh Laude RC Primary School are having their Summer Fair tomorrow at the school. All are welcome to attend - fingers crossed the weather holds! 

Dorothy's Wells Project Tanzania

Jim and a happy child!

Dorothy's Well Project is an Esh-based charity which raises money to drill wells in Tanzania, providing fresh drinking water to people of Africa who otherwise would have to walk for up to three hours a day to collect dirty water. Founded in 2009 by Esh resident Jim O'Connor in memory of his late wife Dorothy, the project aims to reduce the frightening statistic that every 20 seconds, a child in Africa dies of a water-related disease.

Since the sinking of the first well at Machame, north eastern Tanzania, and building of latrines at Nkoraya Primary School, a further six wells and twelve latrines have been installed in rural Tanzanian communities, all of whom were in desperate need of clean drinking water and sanitation facilities.

Each well costs around £20,000 to sink, money raised through local coffee mornings, raffles, tombolas, bring and buy sales, lunches, supermarket bag packing, and Ceilidhs, as well as sponsored events including the Coast to Coast walk and the Boxing Day North Sea Dip, and more recently, a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro which helped to kick-start the funding programme for 2013. 

To find out more about the project and how you can help, please visit their website, www.dorothyswell.org or see their Facebook page. 

Action-Stations!

Following a very productive meeting with the mid-Durham Area Action Partnership and members of the Parish Council earlier this month (see post below), the AAP have written back to the Residents' Association with a comprehensive action plan designed to highlight specific local concerns and the intended means by which to address them. 

Issues raised by village residents included road safety (stationary traffic blocking main access routes through the village, speeding, road crossings, and overgrown verges obscuring road signs), dog fouling and horse manure on pathways and the road, the regeneration of the children's play area, and ideas for opening community-run initiatives such as a village shop. 

The action plan has its own page on the blog so that all residents can see what is planned and the partnerships involved - indeed, rumour has it that the drains are due to be cleared imminently... do watch this space! 

Road Drains in Esh

A less positive post today...has anybody else noticed the poor state of the drains in the village?!

Front Street is particularly badly affected - the drains are almost overflowing with mud, horse droppings and other general debris from the road - and several residents have been trying to remedy the situation outside their houses in an attempt to prevent localised flooding.

The County Council have been informed on a regular basis about this over the past few months to no avail, although the Residents' Association have repeated been assured that our concerns have been heard and that action will be taken.

Please add your voice to those requesting that the Council urgently attend to the drainage issues in the village by emailing the Highways Action Line at Hal@durham.gov.uk and quoting the following reference number: 32113867.