On Friday 19th March 2010 Bob Swallow gave an audio visual presentation in Long Preston Village Hall of the story of the Settle Carlisle Railway from conception to closure proposal. This included pictures of the environment, weather and accidents. It covered the golden years of steam followed by Beeching, the diesel era and neglect.
A Flowers of the Dales Festival Walk
A group of 32 joined Keith Wilson on Saturday 15th May 2010 to look at the spring wildflowers and signs of other wildlife in the partially wooded Dales church yard of St Mary’s Church in Long Preston. This was followed by a walk along the beck side paths and up the walled lanes to the moorland edge to see the contrast between limestone and gritstone habitats. Some photos of the walk are shown here.
On Saturday afternoon June 19th, a group of 24 was led by Edward Wilkinson on a walk around his land, between Back Lane and the River Ribble. Edward showed the many type of grasses and plants on the pastures and explained the management techniques he used. He also gave a demonstration of sheep shearing. Some photos of the walk are shown here.
Secret Gardens -
An open gardens event was held over the weekend of Saturday & Sunday 10th & 11th July 2010, with seventeen gardens being open from 2pm to 5pm.
Over 160 people took this opportunity to view a wide variety of gardens in the village.
As well as Long Preston villagers the event attracted visitors from surrounding regions, including as far as Wakefield and Blackpool.
”Settle Carlisle Railway -
On Friday 8th October 2010 Bob Swallow gave his second audio visual presentation in Long Preston Village Hall on the story of the Settle Carlisle Railway.
”A Sign of the Times”
On Wednesday 3rd November 2010 Alan Hemsworth gave his second entertaining talk in Long Preston Village Hall; this one on the origin of pub names.
Railway Station Model Comes Home
Last year the Heritage Group staged a Railway History Exhibition which featured the large scale model of Long Preston Station and sidings. The owner of the model has dismantled it to start on a new model of Lancaster Station, and has kindly donated to the village the central part of the Long Preston model, depicting the station. The Village Hall Committee agreed to this being permanently installed in the Village Hall.
The unveiling ceremony was held on Friday 1st April 2011 and a Coffee Morning on Saturday 2nd to show off the model in it’s new location, together with display boards about the history of the railway.
Photographs of the unveiling and the coffee morning can be seen in the Events Photo Gallery.
Stained Glass Window for Village Hall
A Coffee Morning was held in the Village Hall on Saturday 21st of May to present
the initial designs for the stained glass window to be installed in the foyer of
the Village Hall. Jackie Hunt outlined the principles behind the design and presented
her sketches of the four stained glass panels, which were well received by the audience.
The designs and some of the ideas drawn by the children can be seen here.