There has long been a strong community spirit in Crooke Village, not least when the forming of The Crooke Village Co-operative saved the village from compulsory purchase by Wigan Metro.

The Co-operative ended in 2008 when Adactus Housing Association took over the houses that were owned by the Co-operative.

In October 2009, The Crooke Village Residents Association was formed and is open to all residents in the village.

Already, we have a representative on the Shevington Parish Council and representation on the Shevington & District Community Association. We are also working closely with local Councilors and with various departments within the Wigan Metro.

As resident and members of the association, we have taken pride in our village and have worked hard to make the village look more tidy and clean. We started by clearing away the excess shrubery from aroung the land where the tippler used to stand, by widening overgrown foot paths, planting trees and bulbs, cutting down some dead trees and generally improving the appearance of the village.

The Crooke Village Residents Association holds an open meeting to all of the village residents, tenants and house owners alike, once a month and each meeting is publicised in advance with an agenda being posted on the village notice board. These meetings take place on every second Tuesday of the month starting at 7:00pm. The agenda, when posted on the notice board, will advise of the location of the next meeting. If you wish to know what has happened in the past at these meetings, you will find the minutes of those meetings posted on this site either as a recent posting for the last month's meeting or as an archive where all the other meeting minutes have been posted. The intention it to keep you up to date with any developments, ongoing projects, monies raised for specific events and to generally keep everyone in the know as to what is going on.

This association just deals primarily with the upkeep of the flora and the village's general appearance. We actively encourage any resident and/or tenant to have the right to carry out work around his or her premises with a view of doing something to enhance the appearance of the village.

We, as associate members are also residents and we too have points of views and opinions. If you have any concerns that you think ought to be aired and discussed, please bring them along to a monthly meeting where you concerns can be addressed.

      

      

      

      

More recently, members of the residents association and others have, with the blessing, permission and assistance of the Water Authority, to paint the bridges railings and adjoining fencing. They were sadly neglected and needed a lot of attention. The Water Authority supplied some staff and materials and the villagers and helpers did the rest.

      

      

      

      

      

      

More recently, Villagers have cleared snow from the footpaths and road ways and only recently, taken part in another litter pick around the village. See below.

On Saturday, the 5th of February, on a wet and dismal day, 15 members of the community turned out and did their first litter pick of the year, in and around the village, from the village entrance to the gate at the other end of the village including the park area and a little by the side of the canal. Thanks to Nick Burdekin from the council who provided the litter picking sticks along with the rubbish bags, we collected a vast amount of rubbish. Thanks again to Nick, who arranged for the collection of the rubbish on the following Monday.

These are the pictures of the result of the first litter pick.

A second day of litter picking took place on Saturday the 26th of February where a similar amount was collected but mostly along the canal from 'The Royal Oak' bridge, past the village and as far along as the sewage pipe which passes over the canal some 300 yards further down the canal.

No further litter picking plans are planned at present but we now have the tools to do the job when needed.

On the 27th of February, members of the community planted 4 bags of Daffodil bulbs around the inner end of the village. We were expecting assistance from Cath Simm and her members under her charge but the weather was inclement and they were unable to come. There will be another planting day but as yet, that day has not been set. The Daffodils that are already growing on the green outside the chapel, will be repositioned around the green on that day. In the mean time, here are some pictures of those planting the bulbs on the 27th.

Steve Topping and his crew, members of the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers under Kath Godfry, have been working in the village for the past week. During that time, they have erected a wooden gate separateing Wigan Lower Road from the Green to help prevent toddlers and children from running out into the road. It also gives a better sense of security to the area.

Nearby, the pathway leading to the gate, has been subject to flooding in bad weather so in a bid to reduce that problem, Steve's party put in a drain that will hopefully stop that from happening again?

Steve and his team have already spent some time working on the green last week outside the Chapel moving the daffodils. They had been planted in straight lines across the green and they were being relocated around the green instead. They are expected to return on Monday to finish what they have started there and once the road way resurfacing has been carried out, they will then return to do some fencing repairs/construction?

Some of you may remember Steve Topping because he has worked with us before. When we started to clean up the village with Paul Dandy who was part of 'The Street Scene', Steve was the one doing all the fetching and carrying of tools, trees that were to be planted, the delivery of bulbs and the removal of the shrubbery and cuttings of unwanted undergrowth. Hopefully, we will see more of him and his party when they come to do other work when required?

      

      

      

      

      

      

As expected, Steve Topping and his crew returned on Monday to finish moving the daffodils from straight lines into selected areas around the green which makes it look a lot better than it was before. A good job well done.

On behalf of Crooke Village, I would like to thank Wigan Metro for allowing Moss Bank Nursery to dispose of the bedding plants bought by the council and made freely available to those who wished to claim them. You may remember a similar project last year where removed potted plants in Shevington were left for those who wished to claim them, were allowed to do so. As a result of this years clearout, some members of Crooke have obtained some of these plants and adorned our village with their blooms. It is an ongoing example of 'Work In Progress'.

The two fir trees that stand behind 'The Crooke Hall Inn', will soon, no longer be there as they are being cut down. Over the years, they have grown tall and thick, preventing the sun light from penetrating their surroundings so it was time for them to go. Liane, the landlady, is planning on having a tree bench built around one of the trees in the same area to help encourage drinkers to stay on pub land rather than on the grassed area nearby. Watch this space.

As an Association, we are here for everyone in the village whether you are a tenant or if you are a house owner. What ever the Association does, it is done on behalf of the village. The Crooke Village Residents Association will next be meeting on Tuesday, the 13th of December in 'The Crooke Hall Inn' in the cellar bar and after the meeting, there will be some light refreshments apart from drink and there will also be some kind of entertainment presentation. The meetings are open to everyone without exception.