Community, Parish Council & Village
Coffee Morning – Keep the Bell RingingThe Friends of St Mary’s Old Church are holding a coffee morning to support their “Keep the Bell Ringing” appeal. Taking place on Saturday 18th February, in St Mary’s Church Hall, coffee, tea, squash & delicious cakes will be on offer from 10:30 until midday.
All are welcome, no charge will be made but Continue reading “Coffee Morning – Keep the Bell Ringing”
The Friends of St Mary’s invite you to join them for mulled wine, mince pies and refreshments at the Old Church. Taking place between 12-2:30pm on Sunday 11th December the event is a social occasion to meet friends, chat and look at the decorated Christmas trees. You could also become a member (or renew your membership) of the Friends of St Mary’s Old Church. All are welcome, no admission charge but donations gratefully received. Any funds raised will go towards the urgently needed repairs discussed in a previous article on this site.
The friends are also selling packs of Christmas Cards featuring the Old Church in wintry scenes. Costing £3.50 you can buy the cards from Scissorhands, the Pharmacy or directly from Teresa (241878) or Jane (240167).
Friends of St Mary’s Old Church have launched the “Keep the Bell Ringing” appeal for £10,000 .
Our 1,000-year-old West Bergholt Old Church in Hall Road is now in need of serious care and attention to give it the chance to continue another 1,000 years. Its roof is leaking in 2 places requiring repair of the valley gutter and dormer window, and the belfry needs work on its weather cladding. The estimate of cost for this external work, by the Churches Conservation Trust which now cares for this redundant church, is an eye-watering £127,200. The CCT secured grant funding for most of this sum, but we have to raise the funding shortfall of £10,000 locally.
We need your help! The plan is to erect scaffolding and do this specialist work next Spring, so we need to raise the funds quickly to make this happen. To confirm the grant the donors need to see that we can raise our share of the money.
We will ring-fence all donations to this appeal, you could help us in the following ways:
Internal works as wellWhile this external repair work is undertaken we will also carry out urgently needed plastering work and decoration inside the church. This will be funded by the very generous legacy of Mrs Yvonne Henderson which was left specifically for this purpose.
Thank you for reading this appeal. We hope you will be able to help us preserve our lovely ancient church for future generations and keep it available for the use of our village. Please be as generous as you can.
Start your Christmas celebrations this year by coming to the 2016 Candlelight Carol Service at the Old Church on 18th December at 2.30pm.
St Mary’s Update – 1st September 2016St Mary’s Church update for 1st September provides listings of services, bible readings and other events and news such as Wired Youth Club, Messy Church, Ride & Stride & an Evangelism Course.
Starting at 7:45pm, Wired youth club kicks off the new term with a Lego evening! Continue reading “St Mary’s Update – 1st September 2016”
St Mary’s Update – 9th August 2016St Mary’s Church update for 9th August provides listings of services, bible readings and other events and news such as Ride & Stride, Messy Church with an Olympic theme & Coggeshall Flower Festival.
This coming Sunday the theme for Messy Church will be the Olympics. Hope you can join us! Continue reading “St Mary’s Update – 9th August 2016”
Reach new heights with the EACH Colchester AbseilOn the 22nd March 2015, the East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) are holding their fourth Colchester Abseil at The Town Hall.
The abseil will be an exhilarating 100ft descent and will give participants a birds eye view of the high street. The abseil is being managed by Creation Climbing Centre and there are up to 60 places are available.
Last year over 50 adults took to the challenge raising a fantastic £6,500 for EACH! The money raised helps care for children and young people with life-threatening conditions and supports their families. Last year, EACH helped 572 families, many of whom live in Essex.
To find out more about this fantastic event and to sign up, go to www.each.org.uk/colchesterabseil or call 01206 848450.
From babies to young people up to the age of 18, EACH supports families, children and young people living with life-threatening conditions across Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk from diagnosis to end-of-life and throughout bereavement. They do this through a range of services delivered where the family wish – in their own home, at hospital, in the community or at one of their three hospices in Milton, Ipswich and Quidenham.
Care at end of life isn’t the only service EACH provides though; many children and young people who use their services are extremely active but need additional support and care. A child might receive the support of a play specialist to give them access to appropriate play activities helping them grow in confidence and aid their physical and mental wellbeing, enjoy sensory rooms at the hospices, have music therapy sessions to offer the opportunity to interact, communicate and express themselves or sessions in the therapeutic hydrotherapy pool.
Their support stretches further than the young person to include families, they know the stresses and strains living with a life-threatening illness can place on all the family. EACH runs special family events where families can meet others in similar situations to them, sibling days always full of smiles and laughter and spiritual care.
As last year, the Methodist Church in West Bergholt organised their annual house-to-house collection for “Action for Children” (formerly National Childrens Homes) , the Methodist children’s charity. Last year they nearly reached £1,000 (£934.79 to be precise), and whilst they would have dearly loved to break that barrier this year, once again they missed out by a small amount raising £930.19, which is very similar to last years. This was achieved despite the fact that the shortage of collectors this year meant they were not able to cover as much of the village as they had done in previous years, as one of the organizers commented:
This is a very worthwhile contribution to the important work of Action for Children. Thanks to all who supported and particularly to the small band of collectors. We did not break the £1,000 barrier this year but maybe next year!
Action for Children is a national charity founded over 140 years ago. It is dedicated to supporting and speaking out for the UK’s most vulnerable and neglected children and young people, for as long as it takes to make a difference in their lives… In short they:
Their vision is:
For a world where all children and young people have a sense of belonging and are loved and valued. A world where they can break through injustice, deprivation and inequality to fulfil their potential, shape their own destiny and experience the joy of life.
As last year, the Methodist Church in West Bergholt are organising their annual house-to-house collection for “Action for Children” (formerly National Childrens Homes) , the Methodist children’s charity, from 1st to 13th September. Last year they nearly reached £1,000 (£934.79 to be precise), and would dearly love to break that barrier this year. To help them make this, they would be delighted to have some more helpers to do rounds, so they can cover as much of the village as possible. If you can help, even for only a small round, please contact Sylvia Wilks, 76, Mumford Road (01206 242511) as soon as possible.
Action for Children is a national charity founded over 140 years ago. It is dedicated to supporting and speaking out for the UK’s most vulnerable and neglected children and young people, for as long as it takes to make a difference in their lives… In short they:
Their vision is:
For a world where all children and young people have a sense of belonging and are loved and valued. A world where they can break through injustice, deprivation and inequality to fulfil their potential, shape their own destiny and experience the joy of life.
Sunday 22nd June was a glorious day. The sun shone and over 400 people turned out to visit 13 open gardens and the allotments in West Bergholt. Apart from the beautiful gardens, some small, some large, there were donkeys to feed, a vintage Jaguar to admire and a 1960’s jukebox to listen to. The church halls laid on refreshments, as did Garlands Farm. Plants and other produce were on sale at the allotments and some gardens.
The event, organised by the West Bergholt Gardening Association, raised over £3,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust. In addition Tom Bowdidge’s family raised over £400 for the Tom Bowdidge Foundation at his grandparents open garden. To find out more about these charities visit www.teenagecancertrust.org or www.facebook.com/thetombowdidgefoundation.
The event drew visitors from other villages and even from far flung places such as Ipswich (a charabanc full from their allotment society!) and Leigh-on-Sea. The organisers would like to thank everyone who took part including the visitors. They welcome comments, both positive and negative, please send to [email protected].
The Association are looking to make this an Annual Event . Watch this space!!!
The club’s next meeting will be on the 15th September when DEBORAH HART will give a talk on Hanging Baskets and Winter Containers. 7.00 for 7.30pm. Why not come along to the Orpen Hall, all are welcome. There is a small charge of £3 including refreshments , also gardeners raffle.
A hardy band of carol singers were outside the Coop store from 18.00 to 19.30. They entertained shoppers and Coop staff with a range of popular carols. Thanks to the generosity of the shoppers, and the singers, the sum of £52 was raised for Action for Children. The hot drinks and mince pies enjoyed after the singing were most welcome.
The service by candlelight provided a very special Christmas celebration atmosphere with a mix of traditional carols and readings. Many of the congregation were also able to enjoy a chat with coffee and mince pies in the hall after the service.
Building on the events held in the summer this proved to be a popular morning for families. Twenty-four children, together with accompanying adults, enjoyed a range of Christmas crafts including make your own Nativity Scenes, Snow scene domes and flying reindeer complete with sleighs! There was also time to enjoy a chat and the drinks and cakes proved popular also. Encouraged by the response we will be looking to provide further Coffee and Craft mornings in the Easter school holidays – look out for our publicity nearer the time.
Thanks to all who supported and worked to make possible the above events, and best wishes for the New Year.