Articles

Many residents have contacted me over the years about the safety of the Church Road and New Road junctions with the A6 in Kibworth. Like many of you, I’m frustrated that despite repeated promises, these junctions remain dangerous and nothing has been done to fix them.

For the history and film buffs we have a talk entitled ‘Zulu and the Battle of Rorke’s Drift’ on Tuesday 3February at 7.30pm. How true to life, or not, was the depiction of this famous battle in the film Zulu?

I am Steve Taylor and an 8th degree black belt in Taekwon-do. I started training in 1977 and got my black belt in 1983, one year later I started teaching in Oadby where my classes soon reached 100 students per night. In 1988 I moved to Kibworth and shortly after opened a club in Kibworth Village Hall. Taekwon-do is a Korean military martial art comprising of self defence including against knives etc. Sparring, patterns and destruction.

The first meeting of the new year for the Kibworth & District Heritage Society is to take place on Wednesday 21 January in Kibworth Community Library at 7.30pm. This will be a talk by Kibworth resident John Freeland, he will be speaking about his great-granduncle, Alonzo Freeland. He was at one time owner of the premises which is now Somerby’s Chemist Shop on Station Street. Alonzo was both a chemist and a photographer and there will be several previously unseen photographs of Kibworth on view.

Over the weekend 3 and 4 January Norton & Gaulby Young Farmers went out across the South Leicestershire area to collect people’s Christmas trees for recycling. This year we have achieved record breaking numbers of 561 trees. We made £4494.50 all for three amazing local charities: ‘Yellow Wellies Farm Safety Foundation’ ‘Gems’ and ‘Derbyshire, Leicestershire &Rutland Air Ambulance Service.’

December marked the start of a number of festive gatherings, including the ‘Leicester City Centre Light Run’, a festive charity fun run at Wistow, and the club Christmas party. This year, we were lucky enough to offer members a prize draw thanks to the generosity of local businesses. A special thank-you goes to ’Bridge 67,’ ‘Kibworth Garden Centre’ ‘Rosie Made a Thing’, ‘Mollie Mae Cards’, ‘Elise Tear Sports Massage, and ‘Anita’s Holistic Health’ for their kind donations. A great night was had by all.

Following on from my recent article concerning Skeffington Hall and some of its residents. I was surprised to learn that in the Fox & Hounds public house that once stood on the side of the A47 in Skeffington, the licensee had two very interesting pictures that adorned one of the walls in the bar area. They record the extraordinary images of the racehorse who won the Grand National at Aintree. He won on two separate occasions during 1935 and 1936. It belonged to Major Noel Charles Bell Furlong of Skeffington Hall.

Now that the holiday season is finally over Kibworthians can look back at the humour brought by the Flamingos on the traffic island in the centre of the village. These pink birds generated a light relief to what is for some people a very stressful period. Thank you to whomever is concerned.

The accompanying photograph shows the current committee of the Fleckney Spinners Table Tennis Club. From left to right: Miriam Wohl (press and recruitment, safeguarding), Anita Pabla (quartermaster/mistress), Rob Logan (all-round good egg), Callum Harbidge (secretary), Bob Palmer (Chair, safeguarding). Not included James Robertson (treasurer).

This term at KMA we have been focused on our careers education. At KMA we want every student to leave us with a clear understanding of their next steps and some clear career goals. Therefore, we take every opportunity to embed careers into the curriculum. This takes different forms over the five years. From tutor time sessions, careers snippets in lessons or whole day events, culminating in a half term’s worth of 1:1 interviews with our careers advisor for Year 11. We also offer ongoing support over the year as they gain their places at Colleges and their Post-16 providers.