Youth Group Organize Family Fun Day

BYG LogoYouth Group Organize Family Fun Day

Bergholt Youth Group – BYG – is holding a family fun day at the Orpen Hall and Lorkin Daniel field on Saturday 27th June, from 2-4pm.  There is no entry fee to the event and all family members are welcome to come along and see what the Youth Club provides for children in the village.

As well as having most of the usual Youth Club equipment out for people to try, including the pool and table tennis tables and the various PlayStation, XBox and Wii games etc., BYG will also be running tennis sessions, a penalty shootout competition and some poor unsuspecting soul will be in the stocks ready for target practise with wet sponges!  There will also be afternoon “tea and cake” on sale, in addition to the normal Club tuck shop.

BYG is run every other Friday evening from September through to July for children of school year 6 and above.  It has been running for over 6 years, staffed by volunteers.  BYG currently has around 90 members and the Club evenings are regularly attended by over 50 children.  There will be a Club info table displaying further information and the Club volunteers – “Crew” – will be on hand to answer any questions people may have.
BYG Fun Day 2015

Diamond Jubilee Family Fun Day

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The whole village got together on Saturday 16th June to hold a Family Fun day on the Lorkin Daniell Playing Field in the village. The organisers and volunteers turned up to set out the fayre from very early on Saturday morning and were determined to put on a show to remember despite the very windy conditions.

Our event began as planned with an assembly of our children at Heathlands School all having decorated their scooters and “jubilee rides” ready for the parade to the playing field and ultimately the judging competition. Many were clutching their favourite Teddy Bears ready in expectation of the Teddy Bears picnic they would all enjoy following the scooter competition.

 The parade was led by Terry Doonan a long time resident of West Bergholt with his highly decorated mobility scooter who at times struggled to keep his powerful “ride” ahead of the excited children’s parade. As the parade entered the specially prepared field and arena they were greeted by the sound of Chariots of Fire and the applause of proud parents and spectators alike.

The winners of the decorated “ride” competitions were presented with their prizes by Neil Mathews, Head Teacher of Heathlands and the winners were;

  • Caitlin & Leandra Williams-Macklin – Best Decorated Scooter
  • Ben & Max Lemmon – Best Dressed Winners
  • Alexis – Best Overall Winner – Dressed as a Queen Bee

Over 250 children sat down to the Teddy Bears picnic where each child was presented with a Diamond Jubilee celebratory box of goodies including hat, flag, cake and drink all lovingly prepared by the Blue Bell team and village volunteers.

At the end of the picnic we were all treated to the sight and sound of an impressive fly past by the Royal Air Force who obviously hearing of our family event appeared to divert from their usual flight path to attend our fayre on the way to greeting Her Majesty on her official birthday.

We were all then treated to series of displays by the West Bergholt Dance Troupe, Zumba Class and Heathlands Choir where all were encouraged to take part at the appropriate time. To add further excitement we held our traditional family games competition including a Tug o War, Sack Race and Egg and Spoon Race with prizes for the winners in all categories.

During the afternoon the Woman’s Institute announced the winners of the Diamond Jubilee Card Competition where children were asked to design the front and inside of the card and a verse composed by an adult was selected to complete the greeting card which is to be sent to the Queen on behalf of the village to mark her Diamond Jubilee year. The winners were;

  • Front cover drawing – Olivia Knight 
  • Inside cover drawing – Lily Tyler 
  • Verse written by – Susan Walby (Barker)
Front cover drawing – Olivia Knight
Inside cover drawing – Lily Tyler

Your Majesty,
This card is sent on your Diamond Jubilee
with the heartfelt good wishes of the
people of West Bergholt, Essex


Thank you for your dedication,
Always working for our nation,
Doing lots to aid world peace
Constant schedules without cease.

Enjoy the love, the joy, the cheer,
In this Celebration Year.
West Bergholt folk would like to say
God Speed, Three Cheers, hip, hip Hooray!

Verse written by – Susan Walby (Barker)

The awards were announced by Susan Leng WI President and presented to the winners by John Gili-Ross Chairman of the Parish Council.

This material has been developed for the West Bergholt Village Website at http://www.westbergholt.net

Little Ducks Singing Group

Little Ducks is an established, and very successful music group, who have recently moved to West Bergholt. Sessions take place at St Marys Church Hall and they welcome any parents/carers with pre-school age children to join. They are also very happy to have any older siblings in school holidays for the same price.

The group is based entirely on sharing nursery rhymes, action songs and percussion music. This fun, interactive and very noisy session promotes all areas of learning and hopefully gives parents lots of ideas to carry on the music making at home! As well as having lots of fun, nursery rhymes are great for language development – they have a lot of rhythm which catches the children’s attention and repetition, which is good for speech development. It is important in sessions that the children not only enjoy being part of a lively group but actively participate in the music making and tidying away. The group’s aim is to get all the parents and children, no matter how small, moving to the beat and playing with simple musical instruments and colourful finger puppets.

Research shows that children who are actively involved in music (who play or sing it regularly) do better in reading and maths when they start school and are better able to focus and control their bodies, play better with others and have higher self esteem. These are really important influences when Little Ducks structure and rework the group which happens every term. They are always looking to add new material to their session and like to involve children and parents in this process as it is a group for all ages! It is also really important that children are able to add their favourite songs and really get involved in the group.

The group will run for an hour and spends around 40 minutes on different musical activities. These involve finger puppets, musical instruments, beanbags, dancing and other rhythmical activities. They have found at their existing group that the children love the variety on offer with something for everyone. They finish the session with drinks and snacks and a time for friendships to be formed and old ones to be strengthened.

Running every Friday morning from 10.30-11.30am, the cost is £3 per family. This price includes a healthy yummy snack and drink for the children and a cuppa for the parents/carers. Little Ducks try to run through all school holidays where we are able to use the hall facilities but this is always subject to change. It is always lovely to welcome new faces so if you fancy a morning of lively, energetic, fun they would love to welcome any new faces who fancy giving Little Ducks a try.

For further details please contact Little Ducks directly – Kirsty Rush 07775 427 422 and Cathy Doyle 07795 084 328

This material has been developed for the West Bergholt Village Website at http://www.westbergholt.net
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