The Bakehouse, a new real bread co-operative, is now delivering to Heptonstall.

Based in Mytholmroyd, the Bakehouse has a new bread hub at The White Lion in Heptonstall.

They produce slowly fermented bread of all kinds, made from organic, locally sourced ingredients, free from enzymes and additives. The range includes sourdough, olive bread, Moor Ale bread, chocolate and currant loaves and bagels.

Bread subscriptions forms are available, and the bread can be collected every Thursday between 3pm and 8pm.

You can also get in touch through their Facebook page. 

A new food co-operative, Great Rock Co-op, has opened at Staups Lea Farm, beyond Blackshaw Head, selling everything from meat to rhubarb.

Local producers can take their food to the shop, which takes a 20% cut of the proceeds. It is staffed by volunteers and is open on Saturdays between 10am and 2pm.

So far, producers selling through the shop include Bridestones Brewery, Pextenement, Craggs Cakes, Crimsworth Farm, Clare’s Bread and Burnt Edge Farm.

On Saturday it featured in the Yorkshire Post.

A message from Heptonstall Forward communications group: we were recently contacted by William Turnbull, owner of the Cross, offering information about the Cross pub. As this has been a controversial subject in the village,  we don’t intend to continue the disputes here.  However we believe that people will welcome more information about the pub’s future. Mr Turnbull’s remarks below:

“The pub is open again and there are new tenants in, Simon and Sophie, a young couple from Oldham. I’ve told them I just want it running in the same way, to give the people in the village what they want.

“They are interviewing a new chef on Monday and will be doing food again, the same kind as before. I’ve put in new carpets, new flooring, new tables and chairs, and re-done the beer garden.

“I own half of the barn at the back. I’m negotiating to buy the other half, which is the old toilets. I’m then going to apply for planning permission to turn it into four bedrooms for bed-and-breakfast, to encourage walkers into the village.

“I bought the Cross pub to save it as a pub. I lost the pub in my home village and whenever I’ve got some spare money from my business I buy a pub to save them. I bought the Railway in Hebden Bridge for the same reason.

“ I’ve no interest in turning them into Chinese restaurants or Indian takeaways or anything else. I hope in time people in Heptonstall will be pleased that it’s been saved as a pub.”

An electricity generator and fuel supply has been installed by the toilets on Townfield Lane due to problems with the power supply to ten nearby houses.

After a powercut on Friday morning, workmen dug up the edge of Smithwell Lane looking for the fault, and realised the fault was in the middle of the road.

Calderdale Council has prevented them from closing the road to make the repairs because of the closure of Lee Wood Road.

The generator was installed on Friday evening as a temporary measure, so no houses are now without electricity. The electricity board are now negotiating with the council about how to proceed.

The new path from Townfield Lane to Heptonstall school is now open, saving parents and children from having to walk on the main road while the traffic is heavier than normal.

Children are enjoying getting to know the ponies. In case you were wondering, they are:

Skye, light brown with white socks.

Aran, very dark brown with a white muzzle and white socks.

Jura, dark brown with a whitish tummy.

Thanks to Rosie for the information.

Repairs to Lee Wood Road, which carries traffic around the village from Hebden Bridge to Slack Bottom and beyond, are likely to take months and cost at least £1million.

The repairs were delayed by heavy snow in March and have now hit technical problems, with the council now refusing to give a date for completion.

Coun Barry Collins told the Heben Bridge Times: “We are having to excavate to a depth of 4.5m below the road level to reach stable ground to find the new wall.

“The poor ground  conditions and the depth of the excavation have reduced the length of wall which can be safely excavated to five metres at any one time as the edge of the excavation is unsafe and obviously poses a risk to workers on the site. This restricted working area has reduced the manpower that we can effectively employ at any time.

“We accept that this is obviously a problem and potentially extends the length of the project but that’s what we are facing in a technical sense.

“It is absolutely clear from the seriousness of the problems that we have uncoered on the hillside that this is going to be extremely expensive.

“I understand people’s concerns on the timescale and the disruption it is causing but given the scale of the problems we are uncovering, I’d prefer not to put a timescale on this.”

He told the HB Times that the council was awaiting the findings of a geotechnical report on Tentercroft and Hollins before it made any further decisions on additional works that may be required.

The council has conducted traffic surveys using speed guns and found that on average 93 cars passed through Heptonstall in an hour at an average speed of 12 miles per hour. The maximum speed recorded was 18 miles per hour.