‘Laptops for Learning’ Village School Appeal

A community spirited Ruddington computer repairer has come to the aid of cash-strapped local parents whose children need access to a laptop for their studies during ‘lockdown’. With kids at home again whilst our schools are closed due to the latest Coronavirus surge, Damien Coggin (pictured above), of Ruddington Computers on St Mary’s Crescent, has stepped in to fix for free unwanted laptops which are passed on to St Peter’s C of E Junior School. He even set the ball rolling himself by pulling from his website two reconditioned laptops he’d had up for…

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‘Elf on the Shelf’ With Thomas James Estate Agents

Thomas James has revealed that the winner of its Christmas ‘Elf on the Self’ competition was Kiera Bingham – who spotted the most correct Elf moves and outfit changes in the High Street branch between Monday 14th December and Saturday 19th December to win herself the prize. She also won £100 for St Peter’s School, where she is a pupil. Associate Director Denise Selwood says: “Well done Kiera! We would also like to wish everyone in Ruddington a Happy New Year.” BACKGROUND: Listen up, kids!  You can become an ‘Elf Inspector’ for…

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Free Fish ‘n’ Chip Fridays for Ruddington School!

Although pupils will be able to stay in class during the Government’s new, national COVID-19 ‘lockdown’ from Thursday, the Coronavirus has already had a noticeable impact at one of our village schools this week. Other than for those entitled to free school meals, parents and guardians of children at St Peter’s Junior School have been asked to provide packed lunches for their kids after its kitchen was closed. It followed an email from the Ruddington school on Monday advising that a member of staff had tested positive for COVID-19. Although asymptomatic,…

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Council to Fund Half Term School Meals

Ruddington businesses, community groups and individuals are welcoming Nottinghamshire County Council’s announcement that it will provide the necessary funding for free school meals over this half term. As we reported on Saturday, many in our village, including St Peter’s Junior School Headteacher Michael Bradley, were critical of the Government after a Commons bid to extend free school meal vouchers to holidays during the COVID-19 pandemic was rejected by MPs last week. It prompted footballer Marcus Rashford MBE to step in again with a new plea for local help from Councils and businesses.…

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Ruddington Rallies Around Rashford

Big hearted Ruddington businesses, community groups and individuals are backing the appeal by footballer Marcus Rashford to provide food during the half term break for all children who’re entitled to free school meals. It comes after a Commons bid to extend free school meal vouchers to holidays during the COVID-19 pandemic was rejected by MPs. The 22 year-old Manchester United star then stepped in again to make his new plea for help. Earlier this year, Rashford was awarded an MBE following his campaign to allow 1.3 million children in England to claim free…

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‘Light Up Ruddington’

Churches in our village have got together to suggest a rather less scary and more positive alternative for householders than celebrating Hallowe’en this year. Instead, ‘Light Up Ruddington’ has been launched by Mark Holden, who’s the Children, Families & Youth Leader at the Baptist Church: “After a member of our church saw this project being run in Loughborough – which they called ‘Streets of Light’ we thought we could do it here in Ruddington” explains Mark. “The idea is that as we are surrounded by so much negative news, worry…

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Ruddington Soft Play Centre Will Not Reopen

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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Honey, I’m Home!

If you enjoy combing Ruddington’s charity shops for bargains, your prayers are answered – because the usual buzz has just returned to one of them. And the volunteers say it’s good to bee back. (That’s it. We’re done now! – Ed) The Honeycomb is the first of the three fundraising shops in our village to re-open after an extended closure due to the Coronavirus, (which, of course, shut all our non-essential retailers for almost two months during the ‘lockdown’). The Church Street shop – which raises money for those who are…

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Be Considerate This Summer

For many Ruddington children, the arrival of the summer school ‘holidays’ this year has been rather less of an occasion – with the majority not having attended classes since March 20th anyway, due to the Coronavirus outbreak. However, kids with too much time on their hands during hot weather – with home schooling on pause and with even less things to do than usual due to continuing COVID-19 restrictions – can lead to trouble. This has prompted an appeal from Rushcliffe’s Police Inspector Craig Berry to show consideration for others over…

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School Cycling Route Plans in Jeopardy

Campaigners fear their hopes for a designated cycleway from Ruddington to Rushcliffe School may have been dashed by the failure of the County Council to secure over £300,000 of cash earmarked for such schemes. Pedals Nottingham Cycle Campaign says it’s dismayed that Nottinghamshire County Council achieved just 46% of its potential funding from The Government’s Emergency Active Travel Fund – designed to improve cycling and pedestrian provision for residents to have a safe alternative to public transport in light of the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. The authority won just £263,250 out of the potential…

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