Search Results for: Peter McConnochie

Village Resident Prosecuted Over £20K Benefit Fraud

RUDDINGTON.info

A Ruddington man has narrowly escaped a prison term after illegally claiming nearly £20,000 in housing benefit. Peter McConnachie (67), of Ling Crescent, was prosecuted at Nottingham Crown Court this week (September 13th) after Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) worked with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to spot a data-match in 2021. This had seen the Ruddington resident claim over three years of illegal payments when he did not declare his employment at a local pub and restaurant. Failing to notify the Council of his change in circumstances in 2018,…

Ruddington School Places Crisis Deepens

Graham Wright

Just over a week ago, when Nottinghamshire County Council proudly announced that 96.3% of Nottinghamshire children had been offered their parents’ first preference school for a reception place in September 2023, that statistic simply didn’t ring true for many families here in Ruddington. A parents’ petition to the County Council has now been started. See the update below*. Since then, we’ve been made aware of at least nine village children not securing the expected place to begin their education at James Peacock School in Manor Park. That’s despite five of these…

‘RUDD Awards’ Shortlist Revealed

RUDDINGTON.info

Organisers of the first ever ‘RUDD Awards’ have just announced the 18 finalists – individuals, businesses and community groups from the village who’ve been shortlisted from over 300 nominations. The inaugural ‘RUDD Awards’ were launched in July 2022 by RVCP, Ruddington Village Community Partnership, to celebrate locals who’re making a difference to life in Ruddington, as well as contributing to a thriving ‘community hub and prosperous high street’. The process was that residents and visitors submitted their nominations in six main categories. Earlier this month the awards committee shortlisted six nominees in each category. Then an…

‘Help My Street’ Reaches Ruddington

Graham Wright

A new online platform – which aims to make both becoming a volunteer and requesting help in Ruddington a simple, safe and effective process – is being launched this weekend. Although Help My Street is a national, not-for-profit Community Interest Company, the team who mobilised volunteers in our village to help our vulnerable residents during the COVID-19 ‘lockdown’ has worked alongside Ruddington Parish Council to develop a dedicated Ruddington homepage – the first village in Nottinghamshire to have one. This will allow people from our community to register to help others in…

Lockdown Bike Fixes

Graham Wright

Meet Ruddington resident Julian Bentley! He is a self-employed maths tutor who, like many others, watched his normal workload drop away during ‘lockdown’ although continued to offer some Maths tutoring by video. Meantime, as lockdown began, Julian noticed a lot of new bicycle riders in and around the village – many of whom were having difficulties such as saddles set too low, insufficiently inflated tyres and so on. “I knew from spending three years as a cycle Instructor that a lot of new riders would have a knowledge gap around cycling…

Ruddington Photographer’s Lockdown Legacy

Graham Wright

A Ruddington based photographer has launched a unique doorstep project which aims to capture the community spirit of our village during the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. ‘Portraits Of This Time: Faces of Lockdown’ is an expanding portfolio of images taken by Peter McConnochie (pictured above on his own doorstep), who’s known professionally as Urban Scot Photography. He has already begun documenting these unprecedented times along the numerous residential streets of our substantial South Nottinghamshire village. “When the lockdown measures were introduced I was unable to get out and create street portraits or…

Ruddington Neighbourhood Watchers Needed!

Graham Wright

Earlier this month Rushcliffe Borough Council launched an invitation for residents to join Neighbourhood Watch Schemes in their area “to help reduce crime and promote safe, informed communities”. This led RUDDINGTON.info to discover that, out of all the Neighbourhood Watch groups dotted around our village, only ONE of them remains active! That’s the scheme covering the Ashworth Avenue, Packman Drive and Ling Crescent area which was initiated by local teacher and photographer Peter McConnochie: “I live in Packman Drive and decided to set up a local Neighbourhood Watch group several years ago…

Ruddington Photographer Publishes New Book

Graham Wright

Back in the the spring we reported on a unique, online project by a village resident who was busy capturing the community spirit of Ruddington during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic by photographing individual householders and families on their doorsteps or at their front windows. Peter McConnochie‘s acclaimed ‘Portraits Of This Time: Faces of Lockdown’ online portfolio, featuring almost two hundred images taken in Ruddington during March, April and May 2020, was really just a local ‘side project’ which the keen photographer achieved by utilising his periods of permitted daily…