Community, Parish Council & Village
General news items
What started as an idea is fast growing into reality with the Bergholt Youth Forum now having an organising committee and volunteer club leader (Eddie Cote) appointed and in the process of opening a bank account and raising further funds.
To find out more click here to visit their page on the village website.
If you would like to join the village carol singing please meet at the Methodist Hall, Chapel Lane at 6.30pm on Tuesday 18th December meet for carol singing around the village. The collection is to support National Children’s Home – Action for Children. More collectors and singers are needed.
Vice-president Pat Moran welcomed members to the Christmas meeting. She will be the new president in January 2009 with Clarice Chittenden as her secretary.
An invitation has been received from Fordham WI for 3 February with the speaker a paramedic. Contact our secretary if wishing to attend.
Following supper Paul Clancy spoke about the Art of Magic with a demonstration. He is a member of The Magic Circle which started in 1905 with 23 members and now has 1500 magicians 230 of which are women.
The next meeting on 7 January when subscriptions of £29 are due will include a talk on The Splendours of the British Isles by Susan Leng. The competition is a New Year’s Resolution.
If you love Christmas music, you’ll love the West Bergholt Concert Band’s Christmas Concert at St Mary the Virgin on Saturday 13th December at 7:30pm!
This year we’ve packed in more Christmas music than ever, including nine brand new pieces ranging from a gorgeous new arrangement of Mary’s Boy Child to a selection of carols arranged by Vaughan-Williams, Christmas classics from The Christmas Waltz to Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree, plus more recent classics such as This Christmas and Christmas Time Is Here.
If that hasn’t tempted you… we’ll also be playing some of our old Christmas favourites, including Leroy Anderson’s Christmas Festival, Prokofiev’s Troika, Oh Holy Night, Santa Claus Is Comin To Town and The Thirteen Days Of Christmas (yes, thirteen!). It’s sure to be a cracker of a concert, so please either reserve your tickets via the band’s website or come along early as the church fills up very quickly.
With this course, starting on 13th January, the Workers Educational Association are addressing a very different subject to follow their successful autumn course.
The course provides a comprehensive overview of Spanish art and architecture over the years from pre-historic cave paintings to the productive 16th and 17th centuries and thence right up to date. There will of course be the usual visual aids and also weekly handouts. The tutor is Catherine Dell who lived and worked for several years in Spain, which gives her valuable backing to lead this course. (Pictured right is Gaudi’s [still] unfinished masterpiece – La Sagrada Família in Barcelona).
The course follows an established pattern of ten Tuesday evenings 8pm to 9.40pm at the Methodist Church Hall with its wheelchair access and loop system, if required. Fees are £43 standard (no concessionary rates possible unfortunately), with nil fees for those on income related benefits or JSA; also financial help should be obtainable if net household income is under £15,050 per annum. If you are unsure whether this course is really for you, please come and sample the first evening free. Further information available from our secretary on 01206 240791.
Members, families and friends joined together at the Stoke-by-Nayland Golf Club on Sunday to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the West Bergholt Concert Band. Three generations of musicians took the stand to ‘cut the cake’ (L to R being Darcy Levison, Jane Sweeting and Tony Handley) and players and audience alike toasted the success and continuity of the Band, established in 1978 by Sid Cooper, a local peripatetic music teacher.
Over the years the Band has raised thousands of pounds for charity playing in aid of St Helena Hospice, Muscular Dystrophy, British Heart Foundation, Royal British Legion, Shelley Centre for Therapeutic Riding, Tendring Volunteers to name just a few! After a celebratory concert the members, families and friends sat down to a three course meal and an evening of entertainment.
The Band is actively recruiting new members and would like to hear from any players of a woodwind or brass instrument keen to join their number. Visit the band’s website for more information and contact details.
The 14th Annual General Meeting of The Friends of Hillhouse Wood will be held in the Orpen Hall commencing at 7.30pm on Wednesday 10th December 2008. Refreshments will be served from 7.00pm. Members and Non-members welcome.Following formal business, there will be an illustrated talk presented by Joe Firmin and Ian Rose entitled:
More details available from M. R. Pluck, Honorary Secretary, by telephone 01206 514173
The BYG is gaining momentum and looking forward to establishing itself with a sound constitution and links to other established youth groups in the Essex area. Next steps are to be taken at a meeting being held at 10am on Saturday 22nd November in the John Lampon Hall – why not come along and have your say?
You can read more on the BYG page on the village website here.
It is with great sadness that after many months of deteriorating health Peter Johnson, a resident of West Bergholt for many years, has died. Peter was a hugely passionate man when it came to all things environment and particularly so with regard to our village.