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Chairman's Report 2008

I wish everyone in the Association, be they members, users, helpers,
supporters or whatever, a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New
Year.

The big news about the Hall itself, as I write this, is that in the
middle of January the work will be started on the outside. This has been
much mentioned in local press as part of the Main Street regeneration project by Leeds City Council.

The main work for the Hall will basically be the repair or replacement as necessary of the external rendering, woodwork, guttering etc., the replacement of the window frames with double glazed uPvc units, external lighting to the front and new signage and notice boards.

The end result should be a marked improvement to the external
appearance of the Hall to match the attractive interior. And yes
there are still some improvements we think should be done internally.

However, if any of you reading this have any suggestions about
anything that you think would improve the lot of Hall users in any
way please tell any of the committee members. If you wish to
remain anonymous please slip a note under the door of the Lily
Room.

Garforth Musical Society Report

The pantomime season is now over and although "Scrooge" was
different from the usual traditional pantomime we had very good
comments and were well supported. We now look ahead to our
April Production of My Fair Lady. Auditions have taken place and we are all ready to commence rehearsals is January.

The show will be staged during the last full week in April (22nd
to 26th). GMS have never staged this show before so we are looking forward to the challenge.

Anyone out there who would like to join in whatever capacity - you can always finds us at the Methodist Church in Church
Lane Garforth on Tuesdays between 8.0 and 10.0 p.m. and the
same times on Thursdays in St. Benedict's Parish Centre on Wakefield
Road.


Next Newsletter
This will be early June last input will be 31st May 2008 so if you want to contribute get this date in your diary!!

RNLI - Garforth Branch

Happy New Year from us all at Garforth Branch!

The last few months have been extremely busy and profitable with
our Branch attending various functions such as the Sea Shanty in
Hull for two days, talks, boat jumbles, as well as the usual coffee
mornings. Tesco granted permission for an in-store collection and
we also participated in two collections at HBOS (Halifax- Bank of
Scotland) in Leeds.

With the help of some wonderful carol singers and instrumentalists
from Garforth Community College our Christmas Fayre/Coffee Morning at the end of November raised a fantastic £413.97! Customers and RNLI helpers alike thoroughly enjoyed the morning which
culminated with the choir repeating their repertoire a second time! The
home made cakes and tombola stalls sold out and souvenirs, particularly
Christmas cards, sold very well.

To further swell our funds, we received a generous donation from the
young people who had sung and played for us so beautifully. By
way of thanks, we have tentatively booked them to sing carols for
us again next year!

You may recall that last year we held a Bingo,Beetle Bop evening. As it proved so popular we intend to hold a similar event this year!

The suggested date is 12th April 2008 so look out for further information on ticket sales.

May we take this opportunity of thanking all those who have supported us during the past twelve months and we look forward to receiving your continued support this year. We are always on the lookout for anyone interested in joining us and helping out at Coffee Mornings and various other functions. Please speak with any one of the committee if you feel you are able to give us some time.

Caroline Atha School of Dance

Another busy term! We've had another successful
set of exam results, with Stacey James continuing her teaching examinations, and achieving her Pre-Associate Part 2 in her
Tap exam. A very busy competition term with many children receiving medals, and more Golds than before. The Senior Troupe won their section at the November festival.

Well Done! We look forward to a busy Winter Term, and the forthcoming
show in December 2008


The following were elected to the management committee at the AGM:

Chairman - David LeRoy
Vice Chair - Keith Marshall
Treasurer - Penny Cassidy
Booking - Secretary Doreen Hawkins
Committee Member - Barbara Mortimer
Committee Member - Roy George
Committee Member - Gordon Hall
Committee Member - John Scott

Tea Dance

The highlight of a lot of sequence dancers week is our Tuesday
afternoon Tea Dance. The year started of with an average of 41,
but due to holidays and sickness we finished the year with an average of 39. This is still very good, as the average for 2006 was 37.
Our Christmas party was another success with everyone enjoying the occasion.
The wine, cake and mince or apple pie went down very well. No photos were taken as I forgot the camera. We are all appreciative for the thanks you give us for organising the dances.
All that is left is for the organisers to wish you all the best for 2008.

Garforth Townswomen's Guild

The Guild meets on the 2nd Thursday of each month in Room 16 at
Garforth Community College. We have attendances of approximately
38-42 people. This year we have had excellent speakers on
a wide range of topics from Bushcraft and Survival, Golden memories of Variety and even Truffle making, We have social events to include theatre visits, mystery coach trips and visits to restaurants. We have serious talks on
Social Studies and International events with debates on global warming, the rights of grandparents etc., and because we are a countrywide organisation we can make our views known and influence events.

Our Arts and Crafts group exhibited in the recent Arts and Craft
exhibition at the Garforth Community Association venue in Main Street.

We also have our own Table Top Sale and Coffee morning
in the same building. We are a lively group of caring people with
many interests. Our next meeting will be held at 7.30 p.m. on Thursday the 10th January 2008. Why don't you join us you will be made very welcome.

For further information please contact Mrs Kathleen Harrison (0113) 2877571.


Spotlight on dates:

GADS next Play 9th to 12th April
GMS next show "My Fair Lady" 22nd to 26th April
RNLI "Bingo / Beetle" Bop event 12th April
(Venue and date to be confirmed)
GCA input for Newsletter 31st May
Sandown Clowns Sunday 16th March (Watch Board for times)

GCA Art Group

To round off the year, the group held its Christmas party at the
George Beefeater on 19th December. It was the culmination of a successful twelve months, which regular readers will know has been taken up with demonstrations, workshops and exhibitions.
Looking through last year's report for this edition, it looks as
though we are moving in the same direction, but with one or two
differences. We have a life study evening featured for this month
to be followed up in March with a full day workshop on life
drawing and painting under the guidance of Steve Weaver, a local
artist from Kippax. Having visited Patchings Art Festival for the past three years, it has been decided that a change might not be a bad thing and for this year's outing we hope to get some outdoor
painting experience in the dales or the North Yorkshire moors. With
thoughts of the success (despite the monsoon- like weather) of the weekend workshop held at Goathland some three years
ago, it has been suggested that we plan a similar outing and this is being looked into but is not yet finalised. The programme for the whole of 2008 will be out this month, allowing members plenty of 'free painting' evenings to indulge themselves as well as a variety of listed
subjects to try their skills at. Details of other proposed workshops
and demonstrations will also be shown in the programme, and on-members are very welcome to join us for these events. For nyone wishing to come along, the fee for a full day workshop is 15 and for an evening demonstration it is £3. Where else could ou get value like that?

Garforth Amateur Dramatic Society

2007 was a fantastic year for GADS, and 2008 promises to be even
better.

The "White Cliffs" was a very different play to our usual choice.
The director and all the cast worked together to keep up the pace.
The audience certainly appreciated it, phrases such as "different", "powerful", "frightening", "fabulous costumes" were heard as people filtered out with many saying how much they enjoyed it.

Although we are still busy in the process of choosing our next play, we are certain everyone will enjoy whatever we select. The next play will be performed on Wednesday 9th April 2008 until Saturday 12th April
2008, so watch this space for updates on this and everything else that we will be getting up to in the coming year!

Want to join us? We are always looking for new members, so if you want to be part
of the society in 2008, contact our secretary, Laura, by emailing:
little_black_sheepy@hotmail.co.uk


Garforth Pre-School Playgroup
Well, we've certainly had a fun term with the children, using lots
of different materials to make snowmen and tree decorations and
calendars for New Year!
We are going from strength to
strength at the moment with an
amazing amount of support and
much needed help from our parents
and new Committee.
Councillor Mark Dobson is now
officially on board alongside long
standing colleague Councillor Andrea
McKenna – we are very
grateful for their on-going participation.
Thanks to Steve Smith we now have our own website and have
raised an incredible amount of over £475 towards our insurance
during our Christmas fund raising effort. Many thanks go to:-
Maeve Carroll for obtaining so many great prizes from local
sponsors who we would like to thank:

* La Bella Vita The Old George Scream Hair and Beauty Studio Razers * Hair Salon Spice of India D M Firth Butchers
* The Garforth Greengrocer Garforth Post Office
* Woodhead Bakers Lloyds Chemist Phoenix Trading Card Warehouse Virgin * Vie Polka Dot World of Play
* The Co-operative Garforth Tesco Sainsbury's at Jacksons Garforth Bookshop and last but not least Dorothy Anne's
Cheers and a Happy New Year from Playgroup!!
Playgroup website: www.garforthpreschool.co.uk


Friday Coffee Morning

The team ready for the fray, even though the first customer was
already in. Our friends (that's all you Garforth folk) use the coffee
morning to meet chat and have a nice hot drink and more often than
not a good laugh. Come and join us!!!

Bowmen of Leeds

2007 has been a successful year for members of the club in competitions.
Our juniors go from strength to strength attending many competitions,
winning numerous medals and also taking the Team Trophy at the Yorkshire Championships in June.

We have three juniors currently in the Yorkshire Junior Squads where they get regular training from Senior and County coaches. In addition two of our youngsters were selected to represent Yorkshire in the 5 counties Junior Championship in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, organised by the Northern Counties Archery Society.

They also gained a Black Rose award each for scoring over 900 points in another competition.

They would have walked one and a half miles during that competition to score and collect the arrows.

Away from the more serious business of target archery, a number
of us took part in Clout competitions, where you have to aim at a
flag in the ground at a distance of up to 180 yards. Again national
awards are available for achieving certain scores and we have gained two white and one black tassel. The colours are those of the
rings on a target with a higher award being
closer to the gold. I was fortunate enough to get a white tassel this year, taking part in three clout competitions. Shooting at the longest distance I would have walked two and a half miles to get that badge.

I am also happy to report that I personally won a cup at the
Yorkshire Championship, my shock at my name being called causing mirth among the assembled crowd. Archery is one of the few sports where you can find yourself shooting next to a world champion in a local competition. At the same competition with a world champion on the shooting line, there was also a blind archer and someone else in a wheelchair. Truly a sport open to all.

Andy Wilkinson, Chairman, Bowmen of Leeds