Category: Sport

Community Centre Consultation

Graham Wright

It’s almost a year since Ruddington Parish Council (RPC) announced it had completed the purchase of the former Youth & Community Centre site on The Green from Nottinghamshire County Council for use by our whole village community in the future. It has lain empty and disused since December 2016, with the main building having to be boarded up in 2018 (top) following repeated acts of vandalism. After lengthy negotiations, RPC Chairman Allen Wood finally received the keys from County Councillor Reg Adair eleven months’ ago amid great celebration and anticipation. He commented…

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Village Tennis Star Secures Title Double in Prague!

Marshall Thomas

Ruddington’s James Shaw has completed his 2020 season in fine style after winning both the quad singles and quad doubles titles in the Wheelchair Tennis at the Prague Cup Czech Indoor.  The 25-year-old world No.19, who is part of the LTA’s Wheelchair Tennis World Class Programme, beat fellow Brit and top seed Antony Cotterill 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 in the quad singles final before partnering Cotterill to make it two wins from two round-robin matches in the quad doubles event.   Second seed Shaw, who started his quad singles campaign with a…

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Second National ‘Lockdown’ Confirmed

Graham Wright

All non-essential retailers and hospitality businesses in Ruddington will be forced to close again this week if plans revealed by the Prime Minister today receive parliamentary backing. With trick-or-treating already off the agenda for tonight, Boris Johnson’s Hallowe’en announcement is a scary warning that even more urgent action is required to stem the alarming second surge of COVID-19 infections in England. It follows stricter measures already announced in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Mr Johnson was joined by England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty and the government’s chief scientific adviser…

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Yet Another Green Flag For Our Country Park!

Graham Wright

A popular Ruddington, visitor attraction has received its fourteenth consecutive Green Flag Award, acknowledging it as one of the very best parks in the UK. Of course, Rushcliffe Country Park is also much loved and well used by thousands of village residents – with this safe, open, green space right on our doorstep being especially appreciated by locals during the Coronavirus outbreak. In fact, these international awards were a little delayed by COVID-19 this year, but it didn’t stop Ruddington again being among a record-breaking 2,061 UK locations which have now received…

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New Skatepark for Ruddington

Graham Wright

It’s been announced a new skatepark will be built at Rushcliffe Country Park by next spring – to replace the current wooden structure there which is now reaching the end of its useful life. Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) has advertised the contract to construct a bespoke concrete facility, which it promises will be designed in close collaboration with the young people from our village who will use it. It’s envisaged the replacement skatepark will meet the needs of future Olympic skateboarders and BMXers from Ruddington and the surrounding areas. The planned…

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Ruddington Soft Play Centre Will Not Reopen

Graham Wright

It was on Guy Fawkes’ Night almost six years’ ago that an imaginative addition to Ruddington kids’ social scene first lit up children’s faces in our village. On November 5th 2014 a new soft play centre called ‘Dizzy Rascalz’ opened its doors on Brookside Road and became an instant hit with youngsters and their parents. In March 2020, however, like so many other businesses, it was forced to close temporarily due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Now the owners have decided the knock-on effect of the ‘lockdown’ – plus new operating restrictions and guidelines…

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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…

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Village Tennis Star “Feeling Stronger and Fitter” After Lockdown

Graham Wright

Ruddington wheelchair tennis star and Tokyo Paralympics hopeful James Shaw believes that he has returned to on-court training stronger and fitter following the COVID-19 Coronavirus ‘lockdown’. Villager James, who turned 25 this week, says this is thanks to support he’s received from the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the national governing body of tennis. He’s just resumed training in Loughborough and remains focused on future goals – hopeful of being able to compete in front of home fans in Nottingham later this year. He reveals: “Training is pretty much back to normal now. I’m…

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Country Park Partial Reopening

Graham Wright

As Government ‘lockdown’ restrictions are eased a little, Rushcliffe Borough Council has announced the reopening of some car parks at its open spaces, tennis courts and skate parks. These include a limited number of facilities at Ruddington’s Country Park – which were closed in March due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. The Authority says risk assessments have been completed with its teams and third parties to ensure all can be accessed in line with government advice. However visitors are asked to ensure social distancing of two metres is maintained at…

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Rushcliffe VIRTUAL 10K & Running Festival

Graham Wright

A popular, Ruddington running event which attracts hundreds of participants each year is still taking place – but has gone online! So, rather than the usual crowds packed into Rushcliffe Country Park today, like many other things at the moment it will instead be a ‘remote’ experience. The 2020 Rushcliffe 10k & Running Festival had already been postponed from March 1st due to a waterlogged course. It was then rescheduled for Sunday, April 5th – until the COVID-19 Coronavirus lockdown scuppered the new date, too. Rather than cancel it altogether, event…

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