Acklam 2020

Programme and How to Contact Us

The newsletter of Acklam Community Council always carries a feature with the latest news of environmental interest in Acklam, together with the time, date and place of our next meeting. The date and time of our next formal meeting is:

 

Monday September 15th, 2008 at 7.00 pm at Hallgarth School

 

Our meetings are open to everyone with an interest in Acklam and its conservation.

 

Middlesbrough Community Environment Awards 2007

Environment City hosted this award event in November and we picked up a number of awards.

 

• Large Community Project (Acklam Pond) -- Highly commended
• Community Organisation Achievment Award (Acklam 2020) -- Winner
• Volunteer Award (Peter Williams, Acklam 2020) -- Highly Commended

 

 

Some of Acklam 2020 without their litterpickers and wellies

 

The Renaissance of the Avenue of Trees.

Well, we made it to the finals of the ITV Programme 'The Peoples Millions'. On November 27th at 6.0 pm our bid appeared on ITV for a project to rescue the Avenue from slow neglect. Unfortunately we were not successful. We are grateful to all who supported us and voted for The Avenue. Many thanks. The avenue still desperately needs attention and we have not given up on our efforts to attract funding and get the work done.

 

Schools I

The Education Authority has for a long time been pondering future of secondary education in the town. It has always been likely that

 

• Hallgarth and King's Manor schools would merge.
• St David's and Newlands schools will merge.
• One, or both, of these new large schools would relocate to new, purpose built, "state of the art" buildings.
• Acklam Grange school would be rehoused in a new building built on the same site.

  The Authority has finally (and reluctantly) shown its hand. In order to atempt to secure some of the largesse that the government believes is the answer to the education fiasco, the Authority is proposing to continue the existing, highly unsatisfactory, situation. In addition to the existing problems of traffic chaos, vandalism, feral free-range children and environmental and social degradation they now propose to import the children from Newlands School to the existing, cramped St David's site while building around the existing buildings of Hall Garth and King's Manor to create a further relatively cheap and cheerful new building for the combined schools.

  The theatre and the swimming pool would of course be lost.

  The failure of imagination and foresight is breathtaking and induces deep despondency. The only hope is to persuade some sponsor to step forward to propel the project towards Academy status and force a broadening of the vision of the project. Otherwise there is only the prospect of an accelerating ghettoisation of Middlesbrough.

  some minor modifications to the plans have been achieved and more discussions with representatives of residents are planned.

  Acklam Pond

  The scenario concerning the Acklam Pond is described in the section "Acklam Pond"

   

  

   

  The Acklam Heritage CD-ROM

   

   

  

  The Heritage Lottery Fund provided the means, a team of archaeologists, historians and ecologists provided the information, the libraries, museums and archives helped with many photographs and residents and old boys of the school gave us extra information. Ian Kraus and his team from Fragment Productions did the arduous work of assembling this wide ranging compendium of information and stunning photographs into an accessible format that allows people of all ages to find something of interest.

  
  

   

  National Heritage Weekends

  Each year in September there is an attempt nationally to celebrate our heritage and to organise events and visits. Middlesbrough organised visits to places not normally open to the public, or provided expert guides to give a new insight to other public places. Visits were offered to The Archives, the Town Hall and Middlesbrough Theatre, the Port Authority headquarters. Opportunities were given to climb the Transporter Bridge and Acklam Hall and St Mary's church were opened to provide a rare opportunity to admire these central parts of the town's history. This year (2007), again, Acklam 2020 and the Local History Society were on hand to guide visitors around Acklam Hall with the added attraction of tea, scones and cakes provided by the ladies of Acklam 2020. Acklam Hall was a very popular destination and over 600 people took the oportunity to visit the building and to admire the magnificent ceilings and vistas.

   

   

  

   

   

  Schools II

   

   

  Middlesbrough College faces challenges compounded from the falling population of Middlesbrough, the idiosyncratic nature of the provision of 6th form places in the area and the financial drains of the unsuitable sites it has inherited.

  The strategic aim is to consolidate all of the college activity at one, new, purpose-built, building, sited in the new Middlehaven development. When this aim is achieved, three of the four sites would be disposed of and the move made by the end of 2 to 3 years. At some point, the College will leave Acklam Hall. Discussions are currently taking place among the Council, The Council Planning department, English Heritage and the College to identify possibilities for future uses of the Hall and its grounds that would preserve its character and the heritage. To this end consultants have been retained to prepare a conservation and management plan for the Hall and the conservation area surrounding it. The results of this work will form a basis for later discussion of suitable owners and uses. We understand this work has now been completed and presented to the Council and to Middlesbrough College. A resumé of the proposed management plan for the Conservation Area surrounding the Hall can be seen on the Middlesbrough Council website.

   

  

  Secretary:

  Marilyn Wood