Other Community Groups
Barrow Upon Soar Community Association BUSCA is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation with membership is open to all residents of Barrow-upon-Soar and the surrounding district. BUSCA holds an annual general meeting to which the public is invited.
A number of sub-committees organise specific activities:
Barrow Voice: This is a quarterly village magazine, available in print and on-line. It aims to celebrate the achievements of Barrow people, and to produce at least six ‘Feature’ articles in each edition which are wide ranging, reflecting national as well as local events and are well illustrated. Articles cater for different demographics e.g. young /old, new residents / long established, men/ women. The housing growth of the village has been recorded especially noting the consequences it may have on drainage.
BUSCA events have generated many articles especially the library’s improved facilities and IT courses, Centre Stage, the Panto Group, Youth Theatre, Murder Mystery and the Twinning Group’s trip to Marans. As 2018 was the centenary of the end of WW1 there were special remembrance articles. New businesses were written about, such as Skidaddles and also those being taken over, Tyler’s Flower Shop, Ultimate Pizza, or refurbished, the Co-op. And the Barrow Voice website off-shoot ‘A Year in Pics’ continued to flourish.
Barrow Panto Group: The Panto Group was formed in the autumn of 1996.
‘Peter Pan the Panto’ was held on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th March 2019. Rehearsals took place in the Arts Theatre of Humphrey Perkins School, Wednesdays from 7:00pm - 9:00pm. We always need people back stage or making costumes, scenery, getting props, helping with lights and sound, front of house…and all the other jobs that make a show.
Peter Pan will be entered for the Pantomime Alliance Awards evening.
Barrow Youth Theatre: This is the Award Winning Junior branch of Barrow Panto Group. Membership consists of approximately 50 young people from 8 to 18. Rehearsals start in April each year to produce a junior musical of high quality in the middle of November. Rehearsals are on Wednesdays from 6:30pm to 8:30pm in Humphrey Perkins Community Centre. Members are directed and coached by trained experts and gain confidence and abilities. The group is supported by a large number of adults who are all DBS checked. All the adults in this thriving theatre group are volunteers and we are always looking for new help.
After our record-breaking production of Hairspray in November 2018, Barrow Youth Theatre is now hard at work on Oliver. Casting has been completed and there are nearly 70 young people attending regular rehearsals. Abi Crossley, our Director is thrilled with the way things are shaping up. The performances on Friday 1st November and Saturday 2nd November. It's going to be a spectacular show.
BUSCA New Community Building Committee: The New Community Building committee of BUSCA has worked tirelessly for the past 10+ years to try to achieve a community building that can be used by all residents at any time of day or evening. Barrow is a large village with a rapidly growing population and its many small halls do not meet with demand. Very many possible sites have been investigated
Barrow Heritage Group: The main project for this group is the history of primary education in the village. Using the log books of the church school, the Board school and the minute book of the school board, progress has been made in deciding what form a publication might take, the biggest problem being to decide what to include from the large amount of information we have accumulated.
The Heritage Group were asked to contribute a display to the Open Garden’s Autumn Watch. The theme was the canal and river. After the event the display was put in the Library for a couple of weeks and then in the Beveridge Club.
The group continues to answer the enquiries that come through the web site. Currently there are three strands of activity:
· Natural History which includes surveys of wild life, vegetation and habitats as well as country walks;
· People and Places which at the moment is looking at the history of streets, their buildings and the people who lived in them;
· Archaeology which collects evidence from the past by field walking to collect relics and then researches the history of these relics;
Barrow Twinning Group: The village of Barrow upon Soar is officially Twinned with the Community of Marans in the Charante Maritime region in south west France.
In June 18 a party of 34 members, spent a very enjoyable 5 days in Marans visiting l’Ile d’Aix by ferry and had an enjoyable lunch at Les Paillotes restaurant. We also visited the Chateau de la Roche Courbon. We were shown round the lowland marsh area of Marais Poitevin and had a tour of the home of the Master of the Dikes. The final trip was a guided tour of the port of La Rochelle known as La Pallice which included going into the WWII German submarine base which is within the port complex. One of our new members visited Marans as part of a school visit many years ago and was reunited with her original exchange partner and family.
In June 19 we hosted a visit by our friends from Marans. A series of visits included a guided tour of Beaumanor Hall, Greyhound racing in Nottingham, the 1940’s event at Great Central Railway, a visit to Baddesley Clinton Manor House and a farewell meal at Longcliffe Golf Club. A date for the return visit next year has already been agreed.
We shall continue to welcome new members and endeavour to expand our range of activities with the community of Marans.
Barrow Community Library: The Community Library in Barrow was the first in Leicestershire to open with volunteers providing the services. In July 2015 BUSCA were handed the keys and began to run the library, providing a hub in the village for borrowing books, using computers and photocopiers, enjoying talks and events for adults and children, coming in for a chat over a cup of coffee. There is, in addition to books provided by the county council, a growing number of books provided free to the library from volunteers and the public as an Independent Book Service for free borrowing. There are about 50 volunteers that carry out frontline duties whilst others provide support through maintenance and building security duties. The library digital inclusion project provides IT support outside the library using portable computers and aims to provide assistance to those who are not accessing IT.
During 2018 the library carried out alterations and refurbishment of the library building to provide an accessible toilet, a hygienic kitchen, additional storage and replacement of the boundary fencing.
Barrow Hedgehog Rescue – A local group that aims to save as many hedgehogs as possible, and preserve hedgehogs in the wild.
They provide workshops and lectures to local schools and other community groups to educate as many people as possible on how to help the hogs.
Hall Orchard Eco Warriors – Members of Hall Orchard CE Primary School took part in a Great British Spring Clean event in their school grounds as part of the wider litter picking events that took place around the village.
Walk for Health Group – this group has been running for a number of years and regularly has 50-60 members walking around the village footpaths and jitties, as well as the wider local countryside. Members can choose from 4 different walks, depending upon ability and meetup after the walk for coffee and biscuits at the local three Crowns public house.
