Our village & parish life in our hands Click to complete survey.
The Parish Council would like to thank everybody who has already completed the village survey, in particular the online survey; so far they have received in excess of 450 responses.
With these responses crucial to the future of the village, however, the Parish Council, and in particular, the Neighbourhood Plan Group, are keen to get more responses and so the deadline has been extended until 10th August for online survey responses, so if you still want to complete the on-line survey you still have a chance.
Do you want to learn to draw or improve on your ability?
If so, a new class is starting in St Mary’s Church Hall, West Bergholt on 17th September and running for 6 weeks (although if there is enough demand will continue to run on thereafter). In this six-week course you will learn all about line, tone, negative spaces and perspective. All tools to help you translate what you actually “see” to paper and help build confidence in your skills and achieve great results.
Anna promises small, friendly classes with an experienced tutor who will give encouragement and advice. This short course will cost just £45.
For more information and register your place please contact Anna Boon BA (Hons) Fine Art on 01206 262780 or by email [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”]. If you would like to see some of Anna’s work you can also visit her website at http://www.annaboon.co.uk/.
More about Anna
Anna grew up in Cornwall, moved briefly to Glasgow and has since settled in Suffolk. After a career in the travel industry, and bringing up two children, she fulfilled a long held ambition to study art and gained a BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art from Colchester School of Art and Design.
At present Anna is building a portfolio of work to exhibit and teaching adults the joys of drawing and painting.
Anna is also a founder member of “Quartz” a group of artists who meet regularly to exhibit and to help and encourage each other in their individual practice.
The Traffic Safety Plan focuses strongly on congestion around the school
The latest village news has been made available locally and is also posted here online together with other News Bulletins. As well as a reminder to respond to the neighbourhood plan survey, this issue draws attention to the West Bergholt Traffic Plan which was discussed at a Public Meeting on 4th July. All residents are encouraged to read the plan and those who attend Heathlands are strongly encouraged to consider walking to school wherever possible..
Our village & parish life in our hands Click logo to complete survey.
The Neighbourhood Plan survey has drawn in an encouraging 300 responses to date, many of these online using the electronic survey. The Steering Group have a target of 500 responses in mind as this would represent about a third of all households. With this in mind the survey period has been extended to 19th July.
So if you haven’t responded yet, or if there are others in your household you could encourage to respond, please take the 10 minutes needed to complete the questionnaire ideally on line! If you prefer to respond on paper then remember the questionnaire was included as an insert in June’s Village Bulletin. If you need extra copies of the survey, the paper copy is also available to download here – WB HH Questionnaire ver 15.
Extra prize draw for under-18 survey respondents
Remember you can enter our prize draw with a chance to win a Co-op hamper! As an added incentive for younger members of the community to respond, we are creating a second prize of a £20 Amazon gift voucher available for respondents aged under 18.
One of the Friends of Hillhouse Wood‘s younger members has decided that, for her Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award, she will spend the next 6 months or so going through Hillhouse Wood collecting litter and making observations. Her first two visits have now been recorded on her online diary, part of the Hillhouse Wood sub-site, and can be followed here.
Are you concerned with Speeding traffic through the village?
Your Village needs YOU.
Many people in the village have complained about the speed of some motorists as they drive through the village. Speedwatch is a small group of volunteers who have been trained by the local Police, and who are able to check speeds of vehicles using an official radar speed gun. We are able to go, when we are able, to locations which have been assessed as safe, and to note the details of cars or other vehicles travelling above a speed threshold. These motorists will then receive letters from the Police.
The two villages of Eight Ash Green and West Bergholt work jointly on this and our locations include the A1124 (Halstead Rd), Spring Lane, B1508 (Colchester Rd), sharing people and equipment. Any session requires a minimum of two volunteers but extra people are helpful to collect details. If you could spend a hour or so, when convenient to you, and would be interested in joining us, then could you let me know as soon as possible. If we receive enough volunteers, then we can arrange another training session with the local police.
We are not anti-motorist, most of us are motorists ourselves. We aim to get all to obey the speed limits, for the safety of all road users. There are many places with restricted views in these villages, one motorist well in excess of the limit at one of these motivated me to get involved with this project.
If you are interested and would like to join us, please contact me as soon as possible by phone on (01206) 571910 or email [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”].
Essex County Council have notified us of a future road closure in Ipswich Road from the East Street junction in Colchester. This will start at 08:00 on 17 June 2013 and last for 5 days. The closure is required in order to “repair consequential damage”.
The road will be closed from its junction with East Street, in a generally north-easterly direction for a distance of approximately 50 metres. The alternative route will be via Ipswich Road, A133, East Street and vice versa.
Access to properties for residents and emergency vehicles will be maintained during the closure but may be subject to delay whilst the works area is made safe.
Our village & parish life in our hands Click to complete survey.
The Neighbourhood Plan is in its formative stages. A Steering group has been formed to produce the plan, and the area to be covered by the plan has been determined. A preliminary workshop has been undertaken with members of the community and from all the information assembled to date a community questionnaire/survey has been produced.
Please complete the survey.
We now need you, the members of our community, to let us have your views on a range of topics by completing our online survey (click the link). The survey will take you just 10-15mins to complete, and any members of your household can participate. Your views really will help us to determine how the village and wider parish area should change over the coming years and what improvements the community see as being important to pursue.
If you would like to find out more then visit these pages on this website:
So don’t stand back, come forward, complete the questionnaire and be a promoter and guardian of West Bergholt, and share in and shape our vision for the future. Completed surveys are eligible for entry into a prize draw with a chance to win a food hamper courtesy of the Co-op.
A new easy way to find details of local NHS and Social Care services
A new signposting service has been launched in Essex.
If you need to find details of an NHS or social care service and don’t know where to look, you can now call a new telephone helpline.
Essex Signposting is free and can give you details of all local NHS and social care services including dentists, GPs, opticians, pharmacies.
The service can be contacted on freephone 0300 0032125 or email [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”], Monday to Friday between 9.00 am and 5.00 pm. (Note that calls to the 0300 number are normally free from both landlines and mobile phones although you should check your contract if you are concerned about this).
NHS & Social Care Reforms
The Essex Health and Social Care Signposting Service is run by NHS Central Eastern Commissioning Support Service on behalf of Essex County Council and Healthwatch Essex. It is a new service introduced in April 2013, following Government reforms to the NHS and social care which saw the introduction of a new local and independent consumer champion for users of health and social care, called Healthwatch. In some parts of the country, local authorities have commissioned their local Healthwatch organisation to provide a signposting service for users of health and social care. In Essex, the County Council has commissioned NHS Central Eastern Commissioning Support Service to provide the service in 2013-14.
Healthwatch Essex
Healthwatch Essex is the new local and independent consumer champion for users of health and social care. It will play a role at national and local level and will make sure that the views and experiences of the public and people who use NHS and social care services are heard and are taken into account when decisions about the design and delivery of those services are made.
Steve Hallam reports on this year’s Dawn Chorus walk in Hillhouse Wood.
Dawn seems very early
There are times when 3.45 am feels like a truly mad time to go for a walk. Such times are generally around 3.15 am, when the alarm sounds. And, as the guide for this year’s Dawn Chorus walk, I couldn’t help wondering if anyone else was going to be mad enough to turn up this year. As it turned out, my timing was such that I arrived at the old church right on time (close enough to prompt some concerns by Andrew Savage concerning the reliability of the Hallam alarm clock). As I drove down the lane to the church I saw one car (phew – someone’s turned up), then another, and more, and then lost count. I then saw what looked like a small army standing by the bench. Had a coach party turned up?
Andrew, being Andrew, was doing a head count – 32 people! Amazing, and a Personal Lifetime Best!
Which, of course, raised the stakes for being able to find everyone some good birds to see and hear. We had a guess regarding the first species we would hear (not withstanding the Tawny Owls that had been heard already). The suggestions were Cuckoo and Nightingale – both good ones, as these birds have previously achieved this status.
First call from Whitethroat
In previous years we have heard something almost as soon as we’d started off. This year, however, we were past the site of the hurdle maker’s cottage before we heard our first bird. To make up for the delay it came from the hedge right next to us. It was a single blast of Whitethroat, perhaps complaining about its sleep being disturbed. They don’t normally sing this early (not that I have a robust ‘data bank’ to base this opinion on).
An opportunity to catch some late bluebells as well
Things continued to be quiet as we approached the wood, such that I was starting to worry what to talk about. However as we reached the main entrance a solitary Robin struck up its fluid song, and (relief!) we could hear a Nightingale singing lower down the wood. As we stood and listened at least two Tawny Owls were calling at each other from either side of the wood, while the first Blackbird also started. The Blackbird is sometimes referred to as ‘the poor man’s Nightingale’, so we had a good opportunity to compare the two. The first Wrens also entered the fray at this point, while a Pheasant called somewhere in the dark.
Nightingale still singing
We moved on into the wood and took up position around the top pond (it was noticeable how many torches came into use as the group negotiated the narrow path to the pond!). The Nightingale was continuing to sing and could now be heard more clearly. Here we also heard our first Rooks and Wood Pigeons as they woke up. We moved on down the hill to where we had arguably the highlight of the walk: the Nightingale that we had first heard had continued to sing throughout the walk so far. By now we were only a few yards from its bush, but it continued to sing unabated. Everyone in the party was able to thoroughly familiarise themselves with a Nightingale in full cry. At the same time one of the wood’s Blackcaps finally woke up close by. To complete the noisy ‘soundscape’ some Blue Tits started their incessant calling on the other side of the path.
Surprising Goldcrest
Moving on down to the stream at the bottom we heard a singing Chaffinch, some Canada Geese noisily flying nearby, the first Chiffchaff of the walk and the major pleasant surprise of the walk – a singing Goldcrest. What he was doing there I have no idea, as they normally live in conifers. He was near the large Alder trees, so maybe these were acting as a substitute habitat. Reaching the lower pond we had our second surprise – a pair of Mallards. They are presumably looking for a quiet place to breed – they may not have chosen wisely. But it is an implicit comment on the relatively good state of the pond this year that they are even considering setting up home. Whilst here we also heard our first Jackdaws and Great Tits. At this point I (and hopefully at least a few of our guests) heard one call note from a Buzzard somewhere overhead. As we continued round the rest of the wood things started to wind down, but we heard a Nightingale singing in a thicket that I’d not heard occupied before, along with both resident species of woodpecker.
Missing Song Thrush
So what did we fail to hear this year? There are always some species that inexplicably keep quiet. Our ‘roll of shame’ is headed by Song Thrush and Dunnock, while I was also hoping to hear the Nuthatches. The solitary Cuckoo in the area failed to call, whilst it appears that the Yellowhammers who usually live by the track have disappeared. Overall, though, a tally of 21 species was very respectable.
