Community, Parish Council & Village
The Colne Valley Flower Club resumes its meetings on Wednesday 19 September in the Orpen Memorial Hall at 7.30pm. Arranger Anne Bell from Newport will demonstrate her flowers with the title ‘From Me to You’. The evening is an invitation to come along for free.
Vice-president Mrs Pat Moran welcomed members and visitors to the meeting. A minute’s silence was held in remembrance of Claire Short a valued and long standing member who contributed so much to our W I.
The next drama group meeting will be held at the home of Pat Beeching on Monday 17 September. There is to be a W I Summer Tea Party in the Methodist Church Hall Chapel Lane on Thursday 23 August from 2pm to 4pm. No charge for this event but bric a brac and cakes would be appreciated.
Orders for calendars £3.25 and diaries £3.20 are now being taken by the treasurer.
Subscriptions for 2008 will be £27 which includes the new W I magazine.
Secretary Susan Leng read out the delegate’s report from the London AGM which 5,000 attended. £83,000 was raised for the W I Denman College near Oxford from the sponsored bike ride in Cuba.
Mr Peter Minter was welcomed with his illustrated talk on the history of bricks. Members heard all about his local brick works with the re-construction of his kilns. Many famous buildings including Hampton Court and St Pancras Station have used his skills to produce unusual bricks in whatever shape and colour required so buildings can be restored to their former glory. A truly fascinating evening.
Next meeting in the Orpen Memorial Hall is Wednesday 5 September when Linda Scoles talks on ‘Divided by a Common Language’. Competition an article from USA.
The Highways Agency are now nearing completion of this project and expect to remove the old bridge overnight on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th August. This will involve closure of the A12 Colchester By-Pass with diversions through the town centre and traffic controls on Braiswick Road itself. More details are available on the village website here.
There will be a coffee morning in the Methodist Church Hall, Chapel Lane next Wednesday August 8 from 10am to 11.30am. Stalls include cakes, bric-a-brac and greetings cards.
The Colne Valley Flower Club planned open garden evening last month was cancelled due to poor weather. All the stalls were set up at the July meeting in the Orpen Memorial Hall and £120 was raised towards the club’s local charities YMCA and the Haven Mental Health Support. The speaker Melvyn Prentice spoke about the various gardens he had been involved with during his 28 years as a horticulturist and illustrated his talk with many photographs.
There is no meeting in August but September 19 welcomes demonstrator Anne Bell from Newport with her arrangements entitled ‘From Me to You’. It also includes ‘Bring a Friend Free’.
Children from Heathlands Primary School held a sponsored car wash last weekend to raise money to fund a suitable tribute to the life of Daniel Mullinger, their schoolfriend, who was involved in a tragic accident on a school trip to Felbrigg Hall. They exceeded all their expectations raising over £1,000 on the day.
The above takes place this weekend (28th-29th July) starting on both days at 10am in the fields off Nayland Road in the village. Saturdays arena events include Essex Dog Display Team, Massed Scout Bands from Holland, Kite Flying Display and SD Marshall Arts. Sunday sees the welcome return of the Imps Motorcycle Display Team. The Freefall team ‘The Tigers’ and various bands. The Country and Western Concert on Saturday at 7.30pm has free entry. Proceeds to local charities. Contact Mr Culham on 01206 271253 for further information.
The attended freighter will be stationed on the Orpen Memorial car park this Saturday (28th July) from 10.45am to 12noon.
The agenda for this meeting is now online on the Village website. You can view it here.
The village collection for the Lifeboats raised £1,024.60p. The first time to realise over £1,000. The organisers wish to thank both the contributors and collectors. The Colchester District total was £9,109.90.