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Advent Calendar for 2021

Some pictures from last years advent calendar

Will you help with an Advent Calendar for 2021?

Last year’s Giant Advent Calendar windows trail was so successful St Mary’s thought they would do it again for 2021! The idea is for 24 windows around the village to be decorated with a scene from the Christmas story, with 1 new window being revealed each day in December, up until Christmas Eve.

The video below shows the amazing designs people created last year (speakers on):

How to help

If you would like your house or business to be part of this year’s calendar, please contact [email protected] by Thursday 25 November. You can use an upstairs or downstairs window, as long as it is visible from the road.

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Planning for Festival Field 2022

Festival Field 2022 – Our Next Village Fete

Festival Field is 2022's 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:

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From Digs to Jumbo – Local History Talks

The past & future of the Jumbo

The Balkerne Water Tower aka Jumbo

The next Local History Group meeting focuses on Colchester’s Victorian water tower, Jumbo. Andrew Crayston, a Trustee of the Colchester & North East Essex Building Preservation Trust, will lead the talk. You will hear about the past & future of the Balkerne water tower, affectionately referred to as Jumbo. There are some useful links below to find out more about Jumbo.
UPDATE: read the meeting report here.

Where & When

The meeting will take place on November 10th in Orpen Hall starting at 7:30 pm. Members & non-members are welcome for £2 and £5 respectively (membership £10 per year). Please email the group at [email protected] if you want to attend; the group will then be able to keep you informed if there are any last minute changes to the meeting.

Roman discoveries at 2 recent digs

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Return of the Village Quiz a Resounding Success

Success for The Invincibles at the Village Quiz

The Village Quiz Challenge Cup

Eleven teams vied for the Village Quiz Challenge Cup last week and raised £310 towards the cost of a new Friendly Bench from Plastecowood – that’s well over half way!

Quizmaster Mike Morrisey, with support from Anita & Pauline, delivered a quiz with 10 rounds of 10 questions and a bonus picture round of 45 famous places (like Angel Falls). The halfway point was time for the Raffle which contributed £90 to the overall sum raised. The rounds were:

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Digs at Jacks & the Mercury Theatre

Adam Wightman Reporting on the Digs & Jacks & the Mercury

Following the success of their last meeting, Adam Wightman (Senior Project Manager of The Colchester Archaeological Trust), is going to update the Local History Group on these digs this Wednesday. Both digs were possible because of refurbishment works.

In the case of Jacks, just off the High Street, builders dug six shafts to create foundations to stabilise this 17th century building. This gave the Trust 6 windows on the past; find out what they found in Shaft C at Jacks.

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Charlie Haylock Coaches Ralph Fiennes

Charlie Haylock & Ralph Fiennes

Charlie Haylock talk about his role in the Netflix film “The Dig”

Local Suffolk celebrity, Charlie Haylock returns to the Local History Group for their first talk in person since March last year. This time it is to talk about his work as the dialect coach in the production of the recently released film “The Dig”.

The film tells the story of how local amateur archaeologist Basil Brown, played by Ralph Fiennes, discovered the Anglo Saxon Royal ship burial at Sutton Hoo. Suffolk Landowner, Edith Pretty, employed Basil, an amateur archaeologist, in 1939 to satisfy her suspicions that the numerous mounds on her property had secrets to tell.

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Who Was Constable William Raven?

Find out about William Raven, Buried in Old St Mary’s Churchyard

Constable William Raven
Constable William Raven

William Raven, a resident of West Bergholt, was born in Coggeshall in 1817, joined the Essex Constabulary in 1844 and died in 1911. You can now visit his, & his wife’s, grave in (Old) St Mary’s Churchyard but what happened in between those years?

Find out when Professor James Raven, from the Universities of Cambridge & Essex, gives a talk about his ancestor. He will touch on a number of topics that bear comparison with today such as:

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