News

News items are listed in reverse chronological order (most recent items first).  Use the navigation below, to view other years.  The currently selected page is indicated with black, bold text, below.

Santa's coming to Aston Lodge - 21^st December 2021 ^

Christmas is coming and it would not be complete without Santa touring Stone with the Round Table! Santa will be bringing his sleigh to Aston Lodge on Tuesday December 21st, from 6pm.

It's a magical event for families to enjoy and a great fundraiser for Stone Round Table to help local organisations. This year Stone Round Table will be happy to take either online donations using this link, or you can donate cash to their traditional volunteer collectors.

Round Table will distribute the funds to local good causes, clubs and Charities as in previous years. They have raised over £10k over the last 4 years, which has helped organisations including:

• AED Donate
• First Walton Rainbows and Girl Guides
• 5^th Stone Scout Group
• Stone FM
• Stone Hockey Club
• Little Stoke Cricket Club
• St Michael's First School
• St Dominic's Primary School
• Douglas Macmillan Hospice
• Stone Community Hub and Stone Foodbank.

Look out for Santa on the 21st December after 6pm!

Best regards and Merry Chistmas.

2022 Bin Collection Calendar - 20^th December 2021 ^

The 2022 bin collection calendar is available here.

ALRA Website Launched - 17^th December 2021 ^

We are delighted to announce the launch of the Aston Lodge Residents Association website.

The website is an additional channel of communication alongside the successful Facebook page and our email service. The website gives space to present more permanent information, images and news.

For the launch, we are excited to have a very special nature feature on the website. Our resident naturalist, David Emley, has put together a fantastic selection of images and information for us all to enjoy.

The website has been created and will be managed entirely by volunteers. We are hugely grateful to the residents who have worked hard to get the website up and running. The content will evolve over time and will be regularly updated. We hope you like it and find it useful.

The pandemic has severely affected all of our lives and activities. We are sorry not to have been able to organise any social activities or public meetings but I am sure you can understand why not. Hopefully we will be able to get together in 2022.

All that remains is to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for the New Year.

Robert, Helen, Lee and Qamar
Co-Chair of Aston Lodge Residents Association

Check your Christmas bin days - 7^th December 2021 ^

Please take a look at this Stafford Borough Council Press Release, to check your revised bin collection arrangements over the Christmas period.

Note: there is also a link to the latest bin collection calendar for Aston Lodge (normal collection day Friday) on our links page.

Staffordshire County Council COVID-19 Pandemic Survey - 15^th November 2021 ^

Below is a link to a survey from Staffordshire County Council (SCC), that you might be interested to complete. It asks about how the pandemic has affected you in terms of work, health and social and is a chance for us to tell SCC where their priorities should be.

Live in Staffordshire? We want to hear from you! Share your experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and tell us what our future priorities should be: take the survey.

Note: the survey closed on 30^th November 2021.

Staffordshire and Shropshire Land Rover Club - Race Meet - 2^nd September 2021 ^

Staffordshire and Shropshire Land Rover Club will be holding another off-road race meet, on 18^th and 19^th September 2021, in the fields above Aston Lodge.

The event will begin on the evening of Friday 17^th, with racing taking place between 3pm to 9pm on Saturday and 9am to 3pm on Sunday.

For more details, please view the event on the club's website: SASLRC Race Meet.

Speed Awareness Campaign - Update - 29^th August 2021 ^

You will notice that the speeding sign artworks have now been removed from the various locations around Aston Lodge. We always intended for this to be a short term DIY campaign and not to 'litter' the estate for too long. A big thank you to the residents who installed signs in their gardens and to everyone for their involvement and courtesy. The campaign was funded by a small grant from Stone Town Council. We have written to the Town Clerk to thank the Council and to offer the signs to any other community that might like to use them for a while.

And finally, thank you to all the careful and courteous drivers out there on Aston Lodge.

Note: Please see previous news item (22^nd June 2021).

Gardening Volunteers - Donation Update - 29^th August 2021 ^

Many thanks to the residents who have donated towards funds for the Aston Lodge Volunteer Gardeners. We have received a great total of £375 which means we can cover the costs of the public liability insurance and some essential tools. The volunteers have had a little break for summer holidays but will be back to it again soon. If you are interested in occasionally joining the volunteers, please let me know.

Thanks again for your donations. Hopefully we can soon get back to some social events when we are more clear of the Coronavirus.

Note: Please see previous news item (27^th June 2021).

Gardening Volunteers... Can you help? - 27^th July 2021 ^

The ALRA Gardening Volunteers have done amazing work over the last year and continue to do so. If you walk around the estate, you may well have seen them at work and we all benefit from their efforts to keep the estate tidy and safe.

The group carries out a wide range of maintenance jobs:

• Keeping the pathways clear and edged
• Reclaiming and restoring overgrown pyracantha hedgerows
• Building insect habitat dead-hedges
• Removing dangerous tree branches and collapsed shrubbery
• Clearing the blocked stream gully
• Clearing the roundabout cobbles and sweeping what seems like miles of pathways!

The work goes on. There is always something to do and the merry band of volunteers meet every week to get it done. They do great work and have made a huge difference to our estate.

Why do they do it? Most of the pathways remain un-adopted by the County Council and the developers, who had some responsibility for maintenance, have long since scarpered. So, it's down to us with Aston Lodge People Power! More importantly, the group really enjoys what they do; it's sociable, fun and good exercise in the fresh air. New volunteers are always needed and are most welcome.

The volunteer group has a few needs to be able to function effectively and safely. Firstly, ALRA must purchase the essential public liability insurance, which is £168 annually. Secondly, the group needs tools and safety gear, both of which do wear out over time. One of our volunteers uses all his own power tools and safety equipment, but these tools break and need servicing.

With this in mind, we are asking if you will consider making a small donation to ALRA, to support the volunteer team with tools, safety equipment and to cover the costs of insurance. It hasn't been possible for ALRA to hold any fund-raising events because of the COVID-19 situation. Any amount will help, pennies or pounds. If we all chip in, it will go a long way and it will be used directly to benefit us all on the estate.

We have received funding in the past from Jill Hood's Borough Council fund. In addition to asking for help from the residents, we will also apply for another grant from Council, but there's no guarantee that we'll be successful.

You can donate with cash or cheque, by posting through the letter box at:

• 4 Springwood Drive
• or,
• 1 Ullswater Drive

You can also donate by bank transfer to:

• Aston Lodge Residents Association at The Hanley Economic
• Sort Code: 30 01 20
• Account Number: 09995102
• Reference: P897854

Note: please remember to include the reference number (P897854) in your payment instructions.

Thank you in advance for your support and if anyone is interested in volunteering, please email: secretary@alra.org.uk.

Note: Please see update (29^th August 2021).

Staffordshire Policing Update - 3^rd July 2021 ^

Our local policing team and the Neighbourhood Policing Commander, Giles Parsons, recently hosted an online chat for the people of Stone. Here is a link to a summary of the meeting (held on 25^th June 2021), from Chief Inspector Parsons, including details of our local policing team and how to contact them.

Speed Awareness Campaign - 22^nd June 2021 ^

Aston Lodge Residents Association (ALRA) have launched a campaign to tackle the issue of speeding motorists on Aston Lodge estate. The speed limit across the estate is 30mph but there are no official speed control signs to remind drivers of this and there are no traffic calming measures on the estate at all.

This is a great place to live and the vast majority of drivers stick to the speed limit but there are a few who treat our roads a bit like a race track. There's also a large number of delivery vans around the estate, often going too fast.

There is a risk to pedestrians as well as a noise nuisance. There are lots of people out and about including families, children and older residents who use the estate for exercise, dog walking and socialising. This has increased during the pandemic. The Highways Authority has been asked to review the issue on Aston Lodge but, inevitably, this will take time. Also we know that to install traffic calming measures is expensive and there are roads/areas much more in need of investment.

Therefore, ALRA decided to have a go at a DIY campaign to raise awareness. Residents were invited to submit artwork that could be used to make speed awareness signs. The designs have now been chosen and made into signs by a local printer. The signs will be installed by some residents in their front gardens and in prominent places. The signs will be in place for a month and then removed.

We are grateful to Stone Town Council who have supported this initiative with a grant of £250 to get the signs made. Thanks also to the resident youngsters who submitted artwork. They are represented by 5 year old Rosie, one of the winning artists who said 'We want cars to slow down and keep people safe'.

We hope that residents will support this short-term campaign to remind drivers to take care.

Note: Please see update (29^th August 2021).

Letter From Staffordshire Fire and Rescue - 10^th June 2021 ^

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, having recently taken over as Station Manager with responsibility for Stone, Gnosall and Eccleshall Fire Stations. Letter from Liam Hickey.

Stone Community Speed Watch - 14^th May 2021 ^

Community Speed Watch is an initiative whereby local residents can help make a difference in their community by helping to reduce the speed that motorists travel through their village or town. If you are interested in volunteering, then please take a look at this Community Speed Watch leaflet.