Quinteto Mambo Jambo at the Trades Read more

KERBSIDE CRISIS: At Wednesday's Calderdale Council meeting (18 Feb) , Kerbside will again be raised at full council. There is likely to be a vote of no
confidence in Cabinet. The meeting is of course open to the public.

Crime in Hebden Bridge - report of Tuesday's 6 weekly ward meeting - 18 Feb

PARKING: have your say! See report of Thursday's consultation and the opportunity to comment. - 14 Feb

RIVERSIDE WINS PRAISE FROM OFSTED
"a good school . . . with a rich and varied curriculum . . . strong links with the local community." Read more, including Hebweb news from 1997 to show how different it was then. - 11 Feb

Credit Crunch casualties: Laughing Gravy and Hebden House close- See news and forum

Wheelie Bins and Wheelie Bin Roadshows are on the way. Read more - 10 Feb

Calderdale/SITA cut refuse collections to once a fortnight, and attempt to bypass Kerbside. Wheelie bins - even for those living on steep hills. Read more - 5 Feb - see also recent Forum messages on Kerbside and wheelie bins

Those attending the Hebden Bridge Arts Festival Open Meeting were the first to hear that Mark Steel has been booked for this year's Festival. - 4 Feb

Handmade Parade 2009 - read more

KERBSIDE CRISIS: Director calls for firm action from local Calderdale councillors and MPs as Kerbside's existence is further threatened by falling prices of recycled materials. Read more - 29 Jan

New on the Hebden Bridge Web:
Local Bloggers - including the very moving accounts from by Sharyn Lock of Hebden Bridge who is helping out in Gaza and currently four others

GARDEN STREET DOCUMENT LEAK TO HEBWEB - David Fletcher's response - 26 Jan

Iinterested in generating energy for your home? Three information events at the Alternative Technology Centre. More info - 23 Jan

Calder Valley's choice as Labour Candidate, Janet Oosthuysen, has been rejected by Labour's National Executive - see Yorkshire Post article and forum - 20 Jan

The Woodman - plans submitted - see Planning Watch

Calder High results - figures published today show 2008 GCSE results the same as 2007 - 52% received 5 A-C grades, including Maths and English. A level results showed marked improvement with an average of 772 points per student. More info. - updated 16 Jan

Holocaust Memorial Day - Stephen Lawrence's mother to speak in Calderdale. Read more - 8 Jan

Hebden Bridge Street Angels - hope to be on our streets by Easter - see news report of Tuesday's meeting

Community payback
- a team of men and women have been undertaking unpaid work around Hebden Bridge as part of a community order. Read more - 6 Jan

Below: Vigil for Gaza in the centre of Hebden Bridge on Friday 2nd January.

Sharp fall in Hebden Bridge crime rate
Report of the first of a series of regular one hour meetings planned for 2009 between the police and our local community. - 7 Jan

Boxing Awards scheme launches in Hebden Bridge - don't worry, no hitting or being hit. Read more - 17 Feb

Civic Trust - speakers at AGM. Read more - 16 Feb

Police Ward meeting: Tuesday, 6.30 at the Police Station

The search for Yorkshire's green champions, and government support for rail service improvements. See news - 11 Feb

2010 will mark the 500th anniversary of the Packhorse Bridge. Click here to see projects planned or already underway

The canal - Monday, 2nd February
Click image to enlarge

The Central Street saga - why is Calderdale preventing long needed repairs to this corner of our town? Read more - 27 Jan

Trades Club launches Saturday afternoon
kids' fun sessions - read more - 21 Jan

Central Street - Tory Cabinet member explains why funds were refused. Read Forum thread 20 Jan

Forum discussion: Central Street, Gaza Vigil, Garden Street, Kerbside and much more

Little Theatre Garden gets make-over
Read more - 13 Jan

Help Raise the Roof of the John Fawcett Centre, the ambitious project to transform the Hope Baptist Chapel into a community resource. - 10 Jan

Community Singing Lessons at the Trades - 10 Jan

New: Language Cafe opens in Hebden Bridge - 8 Jan

Hebden Bridge protest against Israeli bombing - more info

New Wet Play Area for Calder Holmes park
Read more - 6 Jan

Local accommodation available
- see Small Ads or "Where to Stay"

UFOs - latest - see forum

Below: some of the many hundreds who gathered for carols in the square this Christmas Eve

2008 ON THE HEBDEN BRIDGE WEB
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR

Here is a sample of the hundreds of news items which have appeared on the Hebden Bridge Web over the past 12 months. Town controversy centred on the Garden Street Development, Calderdale's attempts to close down Kerbside and the Fustian Knife sculpture in the square. Hebden Bridge's cultural life was greatly enriched by another successful Arts Festival, the Hebden Bridge Handmade Parade and the World on your Doorstep Festival. Read more

GARDEN STREET DEVELOPMENT
David Fletcher has put in an appeal against refusal of planning permission. See Planning Watch for having your say. See also The Garden Street Development, a Hebweb feature giving the background and news from 2004 until the present. - 23 Dec

There are plans to demolish old fire station and tarmac as temporary car park. See news.

Sustainable Transport Group urge significant improvement to local rail network - more info - 14 Dec

KERBSIDE: TALKS BREAK DOWN
Sita refuse to recycle with Kerbside. Public urged to write to the 7 Conservative members of the Calderdale Cabinet, and Hazel Blears, and return their Sita boxes. More info - 9 Dec

Local recycling firm gives Kerbside a Christmas boost

Snow - see photos with many thanks to those who sent in their pictures.- 7 Dec

INSPECTORS PRAISE CALDER HIGH
“Calder High is a good school.” This is the judgement of the Ofsted inspection team who said that our local comprehensive has a number of “outstanding” features including an excellent curriculum and an “exceptional” range of additional activities. More info 3rd Dec

Snow! - 2nd Dec
See more photos

Superfast web, TV and phone
Report of public meeting held on Wednesday (19th Nov) to unveil proposals to bring fibre to the Upper Calder Valley. The proposed new network would give local people access to ‘super-fast’ phone, video and internet services, and be owned by the community.

Plans: wine bar in Holme Street opposite Riverside School, apartments for the former adult education centre and 6 new dwellings at Old Chamber. See planning watch - 19th Nov

New Film Society for Mytholmroyd - more info

Hebden Bridge Picture House is booming: a fantastic combination of mainstream, art-house and foreign films, the Picture House offers so much more than a standard cinema including hot drinks and home-made cakes served by friendly staff. - 30th Oct

Local Food for Local people - talks from Suma and Hughes Family bakery, and cake samples. Saturday morning, 8th November - see events

Countryfile - John Craven was out and about around Hebden Bridge this week to record an edition of Countryfile for BBC1, Sunday 19th October.

Hebden Bridge Trail on your iPod, with audio narration by local actor, Rob Garrett. See our audio-video section or the Hebden Bridge History Walks page

Town Talk 12 - from Hebden Royd. Read attacks on Calderdale over its failure to recycle with Kerbside, and for the lack of progress with Central Street improvements. Also disability issues, station car park and a list of Town councillors.

Swimming Pool Association - questions still unanswered, once again being asked. Trustee Dorothy Sutcliffe fails to attend council meeting for second time. See forum thread - 7 Dec

Expand Hebden Skatepark - video now available - Following its premier at the Trades you can now see the film on You Tube. The film explains why the space is so well used and the desperate need for its expansion.

Street Science comes to Hebden Bridge - listen to the discussion at the Alternative Technology Centre between a leading nuclear scientist and those opposed to nuclear energy. Radio 4, 3.45 pm Tuesday 2nd December. Listen again now

KERBSIDE PUBLIC MEETING - over 200 hundred people turned out this cold Saturday (29th) morning. Cllr Peter Coles: "I am ashamed of what Calderdale has done to Kerbside". Paul Brannigan: Calderdale were not interested in recycling before Kerbside and now local people have voted overwhelmingly for Kerbside black boxes. Report and photos

Local playwright Christopher Reason has dramatised the next Classic Serial for Radio Four - a 2 part adaptation of the satirical nove, The Good Soldier Švejkl by Czech writer Jaroslav Hašek, set in WW1.

Photos section - updated

The Seamy Side of Town - Hebweb discussion continues. Inspector Chris Norbury joined the debate, and revealed actions he and his colleagues have already taken. 3 Nov

"We're really busy with our bed and breakfast and most get in touch through the Hebweb - Laura of Laurel End - see accommodation

Hebden Bridge student elected to Youth Parliament as MYP - 17th Oct

HB Partnership's celebration of community and activist groups showed what a truly remarkable town we live in - Read moret

Nearly 4 months after Under the Bridge was first posted on the Hebden Bridge Web, the Courier reports that "drugs film shocks town" - see our radio and video section for the video, click here for Courier report.

HebWeb News - see over a hundred pages of news items (mostly with photos) and dozens of shorter items from this year's news of Hebden Bridge. See also our archive section for previous home pages, older news and forum messages. Please help the Hebweb by supporting our advertisers.

Asbestos, now banned in the EU, kills up to 4,000 people a year in the UK alone. This week's New Statesman reveals how the industry hid the truth for decades and why the death toll will certainly continue to rise." - Full article - see also Hebweb feature

Guardian on Hebden Bridge: "There probably isn't a more Guardian-y place in the universe. The arty class started coming here in the late 60s, attracted to its then ludicrously cheap stone mills and millhouses. Now you can't move for louche lesbians, academics, journalists, tortoiseshell spectacles and jazz musicians with questionable haircuts. Even the local brass band is so cool it plays ska." -

Useful sites - updated, links checked, police contact info added

Hebden Bridge: " the great unwashed" - see news

Archive - updated to include home pages from 2003

JOHN MORRISON

• VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE- all 98 episodes - first appeared on the Hebden Bridge Web and then published as the highly successfull Milltown Trilogy. Buy them online or read what Sir Bernard and others have said about the books.
  
  The perfect gift for the uncherished relative.


• A Kind of Love-in - scenes from life in a small South Pennine milltown.


• 'Milltown: an Unreliable History: 'Some samples - to either whet your appetite or leave a nasty taste in the mouth.
  
  
• Women are from Venus, Men are from Mytholmroyd

JILL ROBINSON

• BERRINGDEN BROW: Memoirs of Single Mother with a Crush- a novel by local author Jill Robinson published as a book by Pennine Pens. Read online samples

• Sylvia Plath Forum - hundreds of thousands of words discussing this US poet, buried in Heptonstall.



• Poems from Glyn Hughes
  - see features