Community, Parish Council & Village
General news items
The service for the Women’s World Day of Prayer has been prepared by the women of Guyana and will take place on Friday 7 March in the Methodist Church, Chapel Road at 1.30pm.
The speaker will be the Reverend Ruth Ridge.
Soup and snack lunch begins in the hall at 12.30pm where all are welcome.
Chairman Caroline Dunn welcomed members to the Colne Valley Flower Club. The committee were voted back en bloc officers including key officers:
The club’s charity for 2008 is the Acorn Village.
Wendy Munnion from Maldon provided a demonstration entitled Variations on a Theme which was varied and vibrant with a musical connotation.
Wednesday 19 March welcomes Linda Harman from Ipswich.
The village Gardeners’ Association restarts on Monday 18 February at 7.30pm in the Orpen Memorial Hall Lexden Road when guests will be admitted free. The speaker will be Nick Bugden from Notcutts who will present ‘Spring Magic’.
Vice – president Pat Moran welcomed everyone to the meeting’s 87th birthday this month. March is Members Meeting and donations of jewellery, bring and buy and raffle would be appreciated.
Once again George Mills is asking for washing machine powder and toilet rolls for the orphanage in Chernigov. Our delegate will take these items to the County Annual Meeting at Southend-on-Sea following our meeting the evening before March 5.
Once again St Helena Hospice have asked our help by donating fresh not frozen baked cakes to be brought on Wednesday 2 April.
Following the sending of 222 items boxed up by 2 of our members to the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan before Christmas a thank you letter was received written by a 23 year old soldier. On behalf of his colleagues he wanted to express how much they all appreciated our kind thoughts especially as they are separated from their families.
The speaker Mrs Gianetta Nosworthy gave a very enlightening talk with slides on the history and present gardens of the Marks Hall Estate near Coggeshall.
John Worland was winner on the BBC Look East programme of one of 15 regional final places for a prestigious BAFTA. The category he is entered is for the “Sixty Seconds of Fame Award” – a category designed to encourage more people to take up film-making.
He won the place after Look East broadcast a number of short films reflecting a theme of “Unite” – John’s film, Empathy, which starred his grandson, was voted by viewers as their favourite and is quite charming.
To read more and see the film click here for the BBC Look East website article.
Mrs Caroline Dunn welcomed members to the AGM of the Colne Valley Flower Club.
The chosen charities for 2007 were Colchester’s YMCA The Foyer and Haven Mental Health Support. A cheque for £400 was presented to each charity. Guest speaker Alan Smith from Ipswich with 7 other NAFAS members had been chosen to represent the Colchester Group at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2007. He arranged two displays in brown orange and blue during his talk to give members an idea of what was accomplished on a much larger scale at Chelsea.
The next meeting is on Wednesday February 20 when subscriptions of £20 will be due.
West Bergholt Parish Council is reaching out to young people with a letter to all secondary school age youngsters, inviting them to attend a meeting to discuss their needs. The full text of the letter is as follows:
To all secondary school pupils in West Bergholt
West Bergholt Parish Council has been considering how best to meet the needs and aspirations of all village residents and in particular how it can engage with the younger age group. It is proposed to hold an informal open meeting where we invite you to speak on any issues which you see as important and together discuss how we can address them.
As an outcome from the meeting I hope we will be able to establish a village Youth Panel which would meet regularly and liaise on a permanent basis with the Parish Council. I expect the meeting to last about an hour.
To help prepare for this meeting, I have spoken with a small group at Stanway School. Also before the open meeting each household in the village will receive a draft copy of the findings of the village survey carried out in 2006. I hope you will read this, and indeed respond if appropriate, as it will probably stimulate your ideas for the village development and provide a basis for discussions at our meeting.
The open meeting will be held in the John Lampon Hall ( at the rear of the Orpen Hall) on Friday 8th February at 7.00pm.
Finally please share this letter with your parents as they will receive an invite to a Parish Meeting to be held later in the year and no doubt issues such as those you raise will be discussed there. Please make every effort to attend as this is the start of an opportunity for you to have a say about what goes on in your village and a chance for us to hear about the things that concern you most.
Don’t worry if you misplace this note as a copy can be found on the village website at www.westbergholt.net. I look forward to meeting you on the 8th February.
Thank you
Yours faithfully,
Harry Stone
The 1st West Bergholt Scout and Guide Group held their annual jumble sale on Saturday 12 January in the scout headquarters, Lexden Road and would like to thank contributors and everyone who attended the jumble sale last Saturday for helping to raise the grand sum of £750.
Tickets for the Orpen Players’ production of Hansel and Gretel are now available from Ash’s store Colchester Road.
The pantomime is at the Orpen Memorial Hall Lexden Road on:
Tickets are priced children £3 adults £5 apart from the 8pm performance on 2nd February which is is priced £5 for everyone.
Contact Roger Milne on 01206 241048 to reserve tickets.
Further notices have been issued in respect of road closures at Chitts Hill to allow railway works to take place. The affected dates are Sundays 13th, 20th & 27th January and 3rd February starting from 1am and due to be finishing by 4am on the following Monday in each case. More details are available here.