Clift Meadow, Bramley – an explosive year

CommunityAd, as has become customary, checked in with Graham Auld for an update from the community asset that is Clift Meadow.

 

It’s been a great year of activity and events down at the centre which is brilliant news as the first few months of this year were governed by lockdowns so it’s been wonderful to see the event calendar explode into life most recently with fireworks.

 

While considering how to start this article (midst of October if you must know) the weather has changed from mildly moist to downright autumnal with a hint of winter as the nights draw in. Cricket season is well and truly done and football is in full swing – I even heard someone mention that event that comes after Halloween and before New Year that early!

 

It was a busy summer on the meadow with users getting back to regular classes and some of our events kicking off. Birthday parties (and other social events) have been back in full swing – weekends are great for parties, no regular bookings mean good availability so you can have a get together without needing to fit everyone in your house.

 

We were absolutely blown away with the support the local community gave to our first music event on Clift Meadow and the lovely comments afterwards (and we fully accept some things were not up to snuff), we are considering what comes next. I think we’ll struggle to bring the likes of Judas Priest, Motorhead or Led Zeppelin to Clift Meadow for a local show (my emails must be ending up in their spam) but we’re open to suggestions for top quality local bands – hit us up on Facebook (@CliftMeadow) with your ideas!

 

The Fete was awesome this year, easily the busiest we’ve had in years, it was great to see so many people from the village coming out to enjoy themselves.

 

Our last major event of the year was another big one; a joint organising committee with Clift Meadow Trust and Bramley School Association organised easily the biggest fireworks show in Bramley and this year just happening to land smack bang (pun intended) on the 5th of November! It was our first sell out event with 1400 tickets sold, a cool crisp evening but dry and clear – perfect for a gigantic fireworks display. As always we’ve identified some things we would like to improve for next year but the immediate order of business is a massive thank you to the volunteers who helped marshal and staff the event on the night and another big thank you to everyone who bought tickets ultimately supporting the work of Bramley School Association and Clift Meadow Trust. We hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did!

 

Hopefully, you’ll have spotted the gradual improvements we’ve been making to the meadow, the hedge to the main road is now a consistent height allowing views in and out of the area. The community garden is looking pretty smart and is settling down as Autumn approaches. We’ve installed some smart new green bins for both dog poo and ordinary litter and just recently a couple of new benches. I must say the new bench is very comfortable allowing a slightly more reclined seating position while you relax and take a load off your feet – do try it out next time you’re passing. In the car park we have a pair of new planters to keep the footpath clear for pedestrians and in the next few months out on the meadow you’ll see some new trees going in as we look to replace some loss over the years.

 

Those with a keen eye might have spotted some new poster boards going up on the outside of the buildings recently, these will be used to advertise both classes active in the Pavilion and Brocas halls along with some of the larger events. We are again indebted to the Parish Council for their support by way of a grant to cover the cost of these display boards.

 

Circling back to events, I just wanted to mention Christmas… in previous years we’ve run a Christmas Fayre, stall holders selling potential gifts, Santa’s grotto, all the usual excitement. At a meeting this Autumn we decided to give the Christmas Fayre a miss this year, it’s not because the Trustees are a bunch of grinches but these events are planned months in advance to secure appropriate stall holders (and of course a spot in Santa’s calendar). We felt at the time the risk of a cancellation due to COVID restrictions was higher than we were comfortable with and we would do better to deploy our efforts on facility improvements over the winter months. A couple of weeks after you read this we’ll know if that was the right call or not but either way we hope to be getting Santa booked for Christmas Fayre 2022 in plenty of time.

 

All that remains is to wish the Bramley Community a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all the volunteers at Clift Meadow Trust. Should we be blessed with snow then let’s see your best efforts at snow craft on the Meadow! The best will feature on our Facebook page @cliftmeadow and possibly even our website. We value your feedback on any of our events or facilities, drop us an email to [email protected].

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