KADRAS

Kelsall and District Rural Amenities Society (KADRAS) was formed in 1969 in response to the pressures created by the rapid expansion of the village in the late 1960's, and the concern felt over the long delayed decision to construct a village bypass.

The objectives of the society as laid down in the original constitution were threefold:

To stimulate public interest in. and care for, the beauty, history and character of thearea and its surroundings.
To encourage the preservation, development and improvement of features of general public amenity or public interest
To pursue these ends by any means, including exhibitions, publications and other forms of instruction and publicity and the promotion of schemes of a charitable nature
The Society would attempt to promote and encourage these objectives by charitable means only.

All the work of the Society is carried out by volunteers who have worked hard over the years to live up to the objectives laid out by the original committee.

The mainstay of KADRAS is the village magazine.
In the early days the magazine was published on an ad-hoc basis but is now produced every two months (we are up to Copy No 285). As a sign of its continuing popularity, we publish around 600 copies and we have a group of about 30 distributors delivering the magazine to subscribers. We are always looking for new people to make contributions to the magazine or help with distribution.

When the Covid pandemic broke out in 2020, the committee felt that it was unfair to ask our distributors to deliver from door to door and for the ensuing two years the magazine was made available free online on the Kelsall village website. We returned to paper copies in March 2022 so the magazine is no longer available on-line. Our finances took a big hit over those two years because the magazine subscriptions (£5 per annum for 6 copies) are our only form of income.

The surplus funds from our subscriptions are spent on various projects within the village.Some are described below.

We have produced variousother publications over the years including village directories, two editions of Kelsall Village Walks and a Parish Paths leaflet produced in conjunction with the Parish Paths Partnership and Cheshire County Council in the late 1990's. The latest walks leaflet was published in the summer of 2007 and copies of these are still available at local outlets.

KADRAS also published ahistory of the village by Elspeth Thomas, a founder member and stalwart of the Society. She died before the draft was completed, but in 1996 the book 'The Story of Kelsall' was published in her memory. A few years ago the book was made available on the Kelsall website in a text searchable pdf format but hard copies can still be obtained on some sites on the internet. Please see the Landscape pages for the details of these publications

KADRAS Young People Bursary
When the Kelsall Millennium Committee was dissolved after completing its work, they gifted a sum of money to KADRAS and a small bursary was set up, aimed at the young people of the village. Individuals or organisations involving young people have been able to apply for small grants to help with a personal or group project. The original money was used within three years but the Society has continued with the bursary and has made a number of awards in the ensuing years. We are still happy to consider any worthwhile application.

As our ownproject for the Millennium we, in conjunction with the Parish Council (PC), created the garden at the War Memorial on Chapel Green and as a committee we still look after its upkeep. Together with the PC, hanging baskets were also bought (and have since been replaced), to offer to village businesses to hopefully enhance our surroundings.

The society is the umbrella organisation for the Theatre and Entertainment Group, originally set up again by the Millennium Committee, and in conjunction with Cheshire Rural Touring Arts (CRTA) we promote two professional productions a year. All of these are usually well attended and we are happy to continue with these shows while there is still support for them.

The society has made anumber of donations over the last few years to various groups in the village. These are too numerous to mention completely but here are some examples – Beer Festival, St Philips Holiday Club, OPAL and Good Companions groups. We have paid for the installation of a seat at the top of the 39 Steps (with the aid of CWAC's Public Right of Way team) and one at the Village Green.
Another continuing feature for the village is the village Christmas tree, which is erected by KADRAS in St Philips churchyard. We are indebted to St Philips PCC for allowing us to use the churchyard and also DD Forestry who have supplied our tree over the years at a generous discount.

In the last few years we have organised' Litter picking' events a number of times a year. With the help of a few regulars, we have tried to keep the village tidy especially through the summer months.

This is a flavour of some of the projects we have taken on in the last few years. The village finally got its bypass in 1986, nearly 20 years after the Society was formed but we will endeavour to carry on promoting and encouraging the original objectives of the Society as best we can. Anyone who wishes to have further information or would like to get involved with the society can contact any of the committee members listed below.Ray Evans – ChairmanJuly 2022