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— Bellingham Parish Council (@BellinghamPC) July 24, 2023

Bellingham Indoor Market Update

Due to ongoing difficult trading conditions we have made the decision to move our market from a monthly to a quarterly event.

Hopefully this will encourage more shoppers to turn out to support our local traders.

The current plan is to run March, June and September on the 3rd Saturday as usual, with the Town Hall running its Christmas fair in December.

Thank you for your ongoing support with the market.

You can now book your WeFibre Installation!

Anyone who has pre-ordered their new Gigabit Full Fibre Broadband service can now book their installation!

If you have already pre-ordered you will have received an email with a link to the booking site (Check your Junk folder in case it's gone in there). Once here, press the Book Now button, select WeFibre - North East from the list, choose your installation day and timeslot and complete your details. 

WeFibre's teams are currently pre-connecting customers homes and businesses ready for service but the actual "go-live" date of your new connection won't be for another few weeks. The teams are keen to get as many properties in cabled streets ready to go on the big switch-on day.

You will not be billed until the service is activated. 

We'll post the date of big activation day here when it's announced!

If you haven't claimed your Government voucher or pre booked it's not too late! Please see the post below for details on what to do.

If you have any queries with the booking process please contact WeFibre directly at helpdesk@wefibre.com or call 0330 229 0222.

It's all go from 1st August!

We're happy to be able to announce that the first homes and businesses will be connected to our new Gigabit service from Monday 1st August!

If you have already pre-ordered your new service WeFibre will reach out to you from next week to get your installation booked in.

If you haven't pre-ordered yet go to wefibre.com and enter your postcode. If you have claimed your Government grant you will see Gig Home Earlybird (with Voucher Funding) and setup will be Free. If you don't see voucher funding and your installation is showing as £49 it's not too late to claim your voucher. Head over to wefibre.com/grants and complete the form and WeFibre will be in touch. 

We've worked hard to bring Bellingham one of the fastest broadband networks in the UK at an incredible price.

It's now time to get connected and enjoy it!

Check out our dedicated Gigabit Broadband page for more information on the new service. 

We've had a number of requests over the past few months asking for cycle racks in the village centre so they have somewhere so securely put their bikes when visiting our shops.

At the moment bikes are propped against shop fronts which can block the pavement for pedestrians and against trees and the bus stop sign which can block off parking spaces.

We enquired with NCC to see where some could be put and they have arrived today and supplied and installed some for us!

The new racks are located behind the benches on King Street and beside the bins and post box outside of the newsagents.

The racks by the newsagents have the additional benefit of keeping the corner clear so it's easier for drivers turning left from Woodburn Road to see safely.

No parking spaces have been removed with the installation of the new racks.

Rivers and burns are a natural place to head for when the weather is hot over the summer months.

Make sure you take care and follow the advice below - 

It's colder than it looks

Water at open and inland sites is ofter much colder than it looks, cold water can affect your ability to swim and self-rescue.

Don't go to far

Always swim parallel to the river bank, that way you're never too far away from it.

It's stronger than it looks

Currents in the water can be very strong. If you find yourself caught in a current - don't swim against it - you'll tire yourself out. Stay calm, swim with the current and call for help. 

The water level in the North Tyne can rise quickly if water is released from Kielder Reservoir.

Know where the lifesaving equipment is

If you swim in the North Tyne next to the Jubilee Field there is a Lifebuoy on the river bank at the bottom of the field. 

Bring a friend

Always bring a friend when you go swimming so if anything goes wrong, you've got someone there to help.

Click below for more information from Lee Heard, Charity Director at the Royal Live Saving Society UK.

Huge congratulations to Bellingham’s own Fountain Cottage Cafe and B&B - Winners of the best cafe in Northumberland / Tyne & Wear for the second year running!!

We wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to make Sunday's event such a big success!

Thanks to Trevor Suckling for giving us the tent for the day, Margret Wilson & the Twisty Roads Society for supplying the medals for the kids sports and Father Jim at St Oswald's for allowing us use of the church car park. Also Jason Arnup Music who was on top form after a very busy weekend and couldn't wait to get started yesterday afternoon!

A special shout out has to go to Amy Riley for running the kids sports and to Brenda Huddleston for pulling the whole thing together as well as arranging all of the bunting around the village! Amazing Job - you did the Parish proud!!

Finally, thank you to you - our community, for coming along and celebrating the Platinum Jubilee with us. It really is great to see everyone coming together and having some fun.