Old Church Annual Call to Mulled Wine & Mince Pies

Invitation To Enjoy Music, Mulled Wine & Mince Pies

This coming Sunday, 26th November, the Friends of St Mary’s Old Church invite you to enjoy ‘lunchtime’ Mulled Wine & Mince Pies with them. This is a free event and all are welcome between 11 am – 1 pm in the Old Church on Hall Road (CO6 3DU). This is also an opportunity to view the Mediaeval Paintings.

You might also want to take a winter walk before or after, if so you might want to check this history walk out on this website.

Fundraising

The Friends would be happy to receive donations, of course. This will help them with the maintenance of the Church and Grounds. In recent years they have received great support from the Churches Conservation Trust who funded significant structural repairs. There still remains, though, much work to be done including expensive conservation costs for the mediaeval paintings.

November 15, 2021March 5, 2023

Planning for Festival Field 2022

Festival Field 2022 – Our Next Village Fete

Festival Field 2022 is the working title for next year’s Village Fete. Planned to take place on 4th June 2022 it will be closely linked to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations with the beacon lighting on 2nd June. Planning started in September with a group of parish councillors and members of the public sharing ideas. Their outline plans for Festival Field include:

Sports

Sporting plans so far include:

June 17, 2020June 18, 2020

Day 86 of (stairway to) Lockdown – the ‘MC Escher’ edition

Day 86 of (stairway to) Lockdown

Day 86 starts off with an update from the Parish Council. It is also MC Escher‘s birthday who was famous mostly for his ‘Impossible Stairs’ – navigating the pandemic sometimes seems a bit like this!

A couple of mini-snippets:

Recycling back to normal apart from textiles on 22nd June,
Colchester Zoo opens tomorrow pre-booked entrance only,
If you are going into town, remember to keep left on pavements.

After all that we have:

Parish Council Work Continues During the Pandemic

Continue reading “Day 86 of (stairway to) Lockdown – the ‘MC Escher’ edition”

June 15, 2020June 15, 2020

Day 84 of (shopping) Lockdown – the ‘Primark’ edition

Day 84 of (shopping) Lockdown

Day 84 is also day 3 of the Siege of Colchester some 372 years ago, that siege only lasted 77 days and here we are at day 84 of our COVID-19 siege. With the shops reopening, are we at the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning? If we want it to be the former then I guess we need to stay alert? Today is also the start of Loneliness Awareness Week, other news:

Loneliness Awareness Week

The Marmalade Trust started Loneliness Awareness Week (LAW) 4 years ago to raise awareness Continue reading “Day 84 of (shopping) Lockdown – the ‘Primark’ edition”

June 12, 2020July 19, 2020

Day 81 of (easing) Lockdown – the ‘Wot, no kick-off?’ edition

Day 81 is when we should have been gathering around TVs seeing the EURO 2020 kicking off – hey ho. Instead, we can:

St Mary’s Church

St Mary’s is pleased to announce that they will be reopening, Continue reading “Day 81 of (easing) Lockdown – the ‘Wot, no kick-off?’ edition”

June 1, 2020June 1, 2020

Day 70 of (surreally) Lockdown – the De-Lockdown edition

Day 70 of (surreally) Lockdown

So, is this day 70 of Lockdown or is it day 1 of De-Lockdown? Heathlands School saw around 70 children attending today so, for them, it is pretty much over until the Summer Holidays in just over 7 weeks. Other news:

Older Adults Keeping Active

Sport England have published Active at Home, co-funded by them & PHE. It aims to help older adults keep up their activity levels while isolating Continue reading “Day 70 of (surreally) Lockdown – the De-Lockdown edition”

May 20, 2020May 20, 2020

Day 58 of (is it?) Lockdown – the Life in Lockdown edition

Day 58 of (is it?) Lockdown

On day 58 we get the chance to finish what we started on day 57; the Essex Life in Lockdown article inviting you to share your lockdown story. After that:

Consultation on Police Priorities,
Mental health awareness week,
- Mental health & wellbeing courses,
- Children’s Mental Health,
Garden Waste Collections,
Environment & Highways Meeting,
ECC COVID-19 Financial Impact,
As usual, some light relief.

The People of Essex – share your stories

The Research and Citizen Insight team at Essex County Council are reaching out to residents of Essex to hear their experiences and share stories of what it has been like for you during this extremely challenging time. How has COVID-19 and the lockdown has impacted your life, how you’ve been getting on, how you have managed to stay connected with friends, family and your community and how you’ve been feeling throughout the lockdown period? Continue reading “Day 58 of (is it?) Lockdown – the Life in Lockdown edition”

May 19, 2020May 19, 2020

Day 57 of (is it?) Lockdown – The Heinz edition

Day 57 of (is it?) Lockdown

Slim pickings in terms of news on day 57, just 2 items and one of those is incomplete. A little bit of trivia to start with. Heinz has always been known for its 57 varieties but even when it was first introduced in 19th Century Pittsburgh they had more than 60; Henry J Heinz simply thought 57 was a lucky number. Of course, Heinz now has over 5,700 varieties, read more here. The news:

Message from Hospital Trust about PPE;
How was it for you? Share your stories;
A selection of light relief, exercise indoors, confusing rules and a really good Jolene parody.

Continue reading “Day 57 of (is it?) Lockdown – The Heinz edition”

May 7, 2020December 31, 2020

Day 45 of Lockdown – the “What did they do” edition

Day 45 of Lockdown

Day 45 and we are all agog to see what plans Mr Johnson will reveal on Sunday. The little game on the right might help you predict. Other news:

Free access to your history until Sunday,
Local NHS Chief wants you to be confident in attending hospital if you need to,
Last night’s Supermoon, and
A bit of a wind-down before the bank holiday weekend with Vera Lynn.

Last Few Days of Free Access at Ancestry

Linked to the VE day 75th-anniversary, Ancestry has been offering free access to their website – this expires on Sunday so if you are keen to track your roots this is the weekend to do it!

I (webmaster) have been impressed to Continue reading “Day 45 of Lockdown – the “What did they do” edition”

April 30, 2020April 30, 2020

Day 38 of Lockdown – the Letters to Loved Ones edition

Day 38 of Lockdown

Day 38, does it seem shorter if I say about 5½ weeks? Anyway, today’s update starts with a new service being offered by our local hospitals for those with loved ones unable to be visited. It then continues with:

Letters to Loved Ones

Keeping in touch with loved ones in hospitals run by East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) is being made easier thanks to a new email and message service. While visiting is restricted at the Trust, messages can now be sent to friends or relatives in hospital through the Letters to Loved Ones service. You can either email or leave a voicemail to your loved one for the team to deliver. Continue reading “Day 38 of Lockdown – the Letters to Loved Ones edition”