Local News for the people of Holt Park

by Luke Beaumont

It’s valentines day and we wanted to share with you some things we LOVE about the local area. There are many things we love about Holt Park, Cookridge, Tinshill, Ireland Wood and Adel and here are just a few of them. We’d love you to add to the conversation and tell us your favourite things about the local area in the comments at the bottom of the page.

Sports and recreation activities

We are in no short supply of sports and recreation activities in Holt Park. There is a vast range of clubs and activities people can join or partake here are just a few we could think of (Let us know if you can think of any more)

Holt Park Bowls Club – On a sunny summers afternoon you will see a range of age groups taking part in a round of crown green bowls.

Tinshill recreation ground has long been a part the makeup of our local area an in recent times the football pitches on Tinshill rec. have undergone improvement works. More interestingly in 2011 a group of local youths hosted a successful campaign to have football goals on Tinshill Recreation ground throughout the summer

Holt Park Active – No doubt many people in LS16 will be be looking forward to the opening which is scheduled for October 2013. We have been following the story of Holt Park Active right back from the days of when it was know as Holt Park Wellbeing Centre and Holt Park Active Living Centre

Holt Park Tennis Courts have had seen both highs and lows throughout the years. Never the less they remain a defining feature of the local area, and in recent years since the resurfacing of the courts have seen increased usage.

Hidden away on Church Lane is Adel War Memorial Hall. Built 1928 as a tribute to those who served in the Great War. Adel War Memorial Memorial Hall  is a membership organisation and incorporates Adel Sports and Social Club with access to archery, badminton, bowls, cricket,drama, football, hockey,lacrosse, running, snooker, squash, tennis.

Last year also so Adel War Memorial play host to the very first Adel Beer Festival. We spoke to local attended Stuart Moss who said

“To say that the 2012 festival was the first one, it was well organised, with great beers and good entertainment. I’m looking forward to ticking off some more beers at the 2013 event.”

Lawnswood YMCA – Can be found on Otley Road and play host to a range of activities including Cricket Coaching, Gymnastics, Netball, Football Coaching, Table Tennis, Tennis

Education and Learning

When you are not busy making the most of all the sports and leisure facilities in Holt Park, the local area also plays host to a range of education and learning facilities

Nearly everyone who lives in the local area will no doubt have visited the Holt Park Library at some point. There you can find a range of information, from computers and the Internet to newspapers fax machines and photocopiers the local library is a valuable resource. Where heard they even have these things called ‘books’ . . . .

Holt Park Library also regularly hosts a number of community events and activities. Here are just a few we have previously covered children’s halloween day, national family week, knit stich and natter

Another name synonymous with Holt Park is Ralph Thoresby. The local high school continue to also be an asset to our local area as well as a positive influence. Last year saw our local high school hosted a number of charity events including their Christmas appeal for less fortunate children, Bollywood charity theater event, and not to mention that they continually win award for their theater productions. As if the students of Ralph Thoresby High School weren’t busy enough they also took part in a spring clean of the local area last year

Trinity and All Saints is another educational establishment in the local area, they offer a range of degree level course including Business, Management & Marketing, Children, Young People & Families, English, History, Journalism, Media, Film and Culture, Primary Education, Psychology, Secondary Education, Sport, Health and Nutrition, Theology & Religious Studies, Victorian Studies.

Whilst we don’t currently know a lot about what happens at Trinity and All Saints we are eager to find out more about them.

Special mentions also go to Ireland Wood Primary School and Cookridge Primary School who have both been involved in a number of projects and held a number of activities

Holt Park Tenants and Residents Association

Our tenants and residents association is a vital resource for local residents to promote and defend the interests of tenants and or residents in our local area. Last year they were involved in a number of projects including but not limited to The Holt Park Entrance Project which saw the regeneration of an old piece of land which was then formally opened by the Children of Cookridge Primary School and local MP Greg Mullholand

Also instigated by Holt Park Tenants and Resident Association was the Holt Park Recycling Scheme. Both the Entrance Project and the Recycling scheme were nominated in the Community Stars Award which went on to see Holt Park Tenants and Residents Association win an award for Best Green Initiative as a result of the recycling facilities.

Local Volunteer Groups and Charity Groups

There are number of local voluntary and charities groups in our local area which go into making Holt Park and interesting and vibrant area, perhaps the one that first springs to mind is Kidz in Campz who have been situated in Holt Park District Centre for over 5 years. We especially appreciate the regular Kidz in Kampz Fun Day which brings life and activity to the somewhat run down shopping centre (We’d love to see more ‘local markets’ and fun days making use of the shopping centre. Let’s hope Kidz in Camps have plans for more fun days)

A little further down the shopping centre is OPAL (Older Peoples Action in The Locality) with a high senior population in LS16 we are glad to see that OPAL’s is a registered charity which supports the over 60’s living in Cookridge, Ireland Wood, Tinshill, Holt Park, Adel and Bramhope.

Once you have visited both those local shops you could always keep walking a little further down the Holt Park District Centre to ABC Coffee shop for a light refreshment and piece of cake.

Down in Adel on Weetwood Lane is Hope Pastures donkey sanctuary who have been established since 1974 and have a packed diary of events of which local people can partake in. This is a must for any local animal lover.

Another of our favourites is The Granary Café in the historic location of Crag house farm in Cookridge and is run by Caring for Life. We took a bike ride there this summer. To quote the The Granary Café.

“Much of the produce used is harvested from the farms own gardens,So we are able to provide customers with a fresh high quality menu daily.During the daytime we serve a variety of freshly prepared dishes,home-made cakes and hot beverages.”

But this is not all the Granary Café has to offer on our visit there were were pleasantly surprised to discover they run a small shop with a whole range of local source fruit, veg, dairy and meats. If you ever get a chance to pop up we would highly recommend it.

Last year we were actively involved helping tidy up and improve Lawswood Cemetery with a fantastic group of people who came together as The Friends of Lawnswood Cemetery.

You only have to look at the pictures on the Friends of Lawnswood Cemetery Facebook page to see what vast improvements have been made. We have to admit it wasn’t all hard work. Supervising countryside ranger Dave called regular tea breaks which were often accompanied by delicious brownies made by group leader Andrea.

Another local and lesser know volunteer group is Friends of Golden Acre Park who we briefly helped for a couple of weeks. Golden Acre Park is steeped with a rich history stretching as far back as 1932 when it first opened it was a a privately run amusement park  with a miniature railway, swimming pool and boating lake. Today Golden Acre Park is a public park and houses both ornamental and display gardens. Since initial entry and success in the Green Flag award scheme in 2005/6, Golden Acre Park has successfully retained this award in subsequent years and continues to hold it to present day.

Learn more about Friends Of Golden Acre Park

And finally a special mention goes to Adel Players who are a long-established amateur drama group with at present over 40 members. Adel Players put on three productions per year, each running for four nights to an audience of up to 160 people every night.

Adel Players have recently put on the following productions Bedroom Farce – Playwright Alan Ayckbourn, All My Sons – Playwright Arthur Miller, Arsenic And Old Lace – Playwright Joseph Kesselring.

We hope you love Holt Park as much as we do! Show you support for the people and organisations of our local area but clicking one of the sharing buttons below and let them know you care.

We hope this post hightlights just a few of the things there are to love in and around Holt Park, Cookridge, Tinshill, Ireland Wood and Adel. Now it is your turn. Leave a message in the comments below and let us know one thing you love about the local area

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