Christmas Santa Tour

Santa arrived in Pemberton on the 9th December to tour the streets of Worsley Green and Redwood Estates.

Santa and his helpers started the tour from the Alexander Court care home on Howard street and ended the tour at the White Swan in Pemberton, where Trinity Brass Band and the Choir played and sang Carols.. a great night was had by all, and more importantly, money was raised. Thankyou to all the residents and passers by who kindly donated change to the collectors.. your support was genuinely appreciated

Local Hero Awards .. 'Contribution to the Community' Award

The local hero awards, which is organized by Wish Fm, took place in November. Dave Arrowsmith from the Pemberton Community Association was awarded with an award for Contribution to the Community. Dave cofounded the Association in 2003 with Mike Dewhurst. Since the Association was founded almost 7 years ago, the group has made a difference to the area, by working with agencies such as Police, Housing and also Ward Councillors. As well as working with local residents, Dave and the committee arrange kids parties, christmas hampers and the Pemberton Gala and Music festival.

A couple of years ago, Dave brought the Rock Bus to Pemberton, to help get youngsters of the street. The bus is equipped with playstations, internet linked computers, library and an area dedicated for young people to sit and chat. There is also food and hot and cold drinks provided... all free of charge.

Dave would like to sincerely thank everyone who nominated him for the award.

New Chair for Association

On Thursday 9th July 2009, The Pemberton Community Association held their AGM in the Lamberhead Green WMC in Pemberton.

At the meeting, Steve Cartwright became the new Chairperson for the group. The third in six years. Steve joined the group four years ago as treasurer and has put alot of hardwork into the Association by way of arranging events, forging ties with businesses, schools etc and also attending meetings outside of the Association meetings when no one else was available from the group.

Helen Bennett joined the Association 18 months ago as assisitant secretary. At the AGM she became the secretary, taking over the roll from Dave Arrowsmith.

Dave Arrowsmith is the co founder of the Association, and was responsible, with Mike Dewhurst, in setting up the Association. Dave has now taken over the roll as Treasurer, as well as being the vice chair.

When the group was established in April 2003, there were 13 committee members, now we have 8. Our committee members are Jane Gillham, Louise Gillham, Phil Glover, Stefan Brownlow and Revd Colin Oxenforth.

Pemberton Memorial Garden

The memorial garden is situated on Chapel Street, Pemberton opposite the Dog and Partridge pub.

The site was formally a methodist church, the first methodist ministry in the area. Several years later, it became a burial ground. Unfortunately the site was left and became untidy.

When the Association was formed in 2003, we took on the site as our first major project, and set about obtaining permission to renovate the site into a memorial garden. With help from former township manager, Linda Coe, we were granted permission and set about transforming the garden.

We received a grant from Awards for All, and also involved the children of st John the Divine in Pemberton to design a memorial garden. We were overwhelmed with the drawings, every child had virtually come up with the same drawing. We including a part of every child's design and brought in a landscape gardener to carry out the work. Pemscapes was a great help, and sourced free materials to help with the completion.

The garden was officialyy opened on the 9th November 2006 by the mayor of Wigan, Cllr Eunice Smethurst and was dedicated and blessed by the methodist minister Revd Ken Sowerby.

The ggarden is open to the public 7 days a week, 365 days a year. If you would like to help with mantaining the garden, please contact Dave at the Asociation on 07925 867070