Community, Parish Council & Village
General news items
Last year we had to cancel the Annual Fete due to COVID-19, but this year we cautiously open back up again after lockdowns. Taking place on Saturday 24th July between 12 – 4 pm, the Fete will be held entirely outdoors and scaled down, but we hope it will still bring joy and allow us to celebrate being together again!
Continue reading “Return of the Fete”
Click It Local Colchester is a new virtual high street service that aims to support independent shops in the area by offering same-day delivery to residents across the entire district. It enables local businesses to compete against the likes of Amazon & eBay by offering home delivery.
Continue reading “Click It Local – Local Businesses Home Delivery”A group of locals formed the WEA West Bergholt Branch nearly 40 years ago on Tuesday 20th October 1981. They launched their first ‘season’ of lectures in spring 1982 on the topic of “The Citizen and the Law – criminal, family, and consumer”; local lawyers presented the course.
They started their most recent series on “Imperial China: Land and People” in spring 2021 was curtailed because of the Covid 19 lockdown 1; they did manage to complete nine of the ten weeks of this excellently presented subject though.
Continue reading “After nearly 40 years…”
Although West Bergholt is a substantial still growing village, it has an interesting history. Members of the active Local History Group continue to investigate, research and document it. They usually meet at the Orpen Hall on the second Wednesday of each month from September through to April, except December. In the months of May through to August they try to arrange group visits to places of local historical interest.
As with most groups, the COVID-19 Pandemic interrupted group activities since March 2020 but, hopefully, that is now changing.
The Environment & Highways Committee of West Bergholt Parish Council met on 10th June 2021 with topics including:
As we await news of when & how we might be coming out of lockdown, this update starts with an update on Gathered Services and then continues with:
… and the usual listings of services and contacts but first:
We’ll start with the fundraiser but other stories include:
Help raise money to give Heathlands’ Year 6 leavers a good send-off this year. Kelly, who runs regular High-Intensity Interval Training classes in the village, is running a special Zoom fundraising session on Monday 7th June at 7:30 pm. Kelly describes her HIIT sessions as:
Continue reading “Fundraiser for Year 6 Leavers & Other News”
The Environment & Highways Committee of West Bergholt Parish Council met on 13th May 2021 with topics including:
As was announced on social media at the end of last week, a much respected and loved Parish Councillor passed away on Friday 21st May. Cllr Murray Harlow passed away suddenly after being admitted to hospital only at the start of the week.
Murray was well known in the village, not just as a Cllr but as a genuinely larger than life character. He was never happier when discussing village matters with the many friends and acquaintances he had in the village.
Murray was a member of the West Bergholt Parish Council for over 10 years where he served as a Vice-Chair of the former Premises Committee. He was also a member of the Environment and Planning Committees and for several years the Council’s Communications Officer.
There cannot be many people locally who had not met Murray, either through:
Murray was at his best speaking directly to members of the community. He was especially helpful when the Parish Plan was launched in 2008; again, with the Neighbourhood Plan exhibitions and consultations that took place in the period 2013 to 2019. I have vivid memories of him drawing people’s attention to our plans at the exhibitions in the Orpen Hall, and, when people were sceptical, warning them of the implications if we left things to chance or didn’t endorse the plan as a community.
Murray leaves behind him two daughters Amber and Ciara and their young families. On behalf of the PC I extend our heartfelt condolences on their loss, a loss shared by the whole community for this very likeable “gentle giant”. RIP Murray we will miss you enormously.
Chris Stevenson
Chairman
WBPC
RIP Murray Harlow
11th May 1951 –
21st May 2021
Summaries first, official declarations are embedded at the bottom.
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