Women's Institute - June Report

Vice president Bea Girkin took the meeting as the president attended the National Federation AGM in Cardiff. A delegate is required to report on the County Annual Meeting in Clacton later this year, 3 other members may attend at £5 each.

After the committee meeting at the president's home on 29 June a programme planning meeting follows at 11am. Please bring along suggestions for 2011.

Contributions to the stall at the school fayre can be brought at 1pm or taken to the president's home the day before.

Maureen Williams from SAGA spoke about the various services and holidays available from the company.

No meeting next month as annual outing.

FanFayre

The recent Summer Fayre held in the grounds of the school raised £2,000. Thank you to all the organisations who took part.

Pamper yourself for Breast Cancer Care

A Paper Evening is taking place on Thursday 8 July in Heathlands school hall New Church Road from 7pm to 10pm. Entry is £2 with 11 therapists offering different treatments for a mere £5 each. Money raised will go to Breast Cancer Care and school funds. For further information on advanced tickets call 01206 240312.

Recycle Week 21-27June 2010

Colchester Borough Council is supporting Recycle Week and is encouraging residents to recycle their small electrical and electronic equipment (anything with a battery or plug) at local Recycling Centres for Household Waste.

What can be recycled?

Waste electrical and electronic equipment that can be recycled includes:

• kitchen appliances including kettles and toasters
• power tools
• tv’s
• music equipment
• electronic children’s toys
• battery powered clocks and watches
• fluorescent tubes and low energy light bulbs

Nearly 40% of UK residents say they are ‘electrical lovers’ with a quarter missing out on time with family and friends, and 33% losing sleep to spend time with gadgets such as laptops, mobile phones and iPods. Each of us accumulates an average of three new electrical items a year, or 173 million nationally, but only 1 in 5 small electrical items gets recycled each year. The valuable materials such as silver that these items contain can be used again which saves precious new resources from being used. When recycled, just one toaster can provide enough steel to make 25 new cans.

Where can residents reuse or recycle electrical and electronic equipment?

Recycling Centres for Household Waste in the Colchester area are at Shrub End, West Mersea and Lawford. Click here to find the nearest site and information on all items that are accepted there.

Alternatively unwanted working electrical and electronic equipment can find a new home by donating them to charities, including the British Heart Foundation, or on reuse websites. Click here for charity and reuse website contacts.

De-clutter your e-clutter

Nearly 40% of UK residents have at least one electrical item from the last decade stored unused at home. So whether clearing out cupboards, the attic or shed during Recycle Week or throughout the year residents can give all their old, broken or unwanted small electricals the chance to be useful again. There’s no need to hang on to these items due to not being sure of what to do with them or hoping they will come in handy one day.

Residents can pledge to recycle their waste electrical and electronic equipment, enter a prize draw and find more interesting facts and tips by visiting the Recycle Week website.

Broadband - Village Implementation Survey

Another step forward was made in our quest to provide high-speed broadband services to our village on Tuesday 15th June when County Broadband carried out an access point survey.

It is necessary to identify suitable sites to locate the access points that will fulfil two purposes. One or more of these access points will provide termination points between the village and the broadband network whilst others will distribute the radio signals that underpin the service to our residents and businesses. A number of sites were identified that will be fed into a network planning software tool to determine those sites that provide optimal coverage. The survey will also clarify how many access points the village will need to meet user demand, which in turn will determine the cost of providing service into the village.

We still await the outcome of our grant application to Essex County Council, which will help meet the costs associated with service provision. Confirmation of this decision is expected at the end of July.

Nicenstripy helps Scouts 'Be Prepared'!

Lawn care and garden maintenance company, nicenstripy stepped in to make sure the local scouting group could live up to their ‘Be prepared’ motto, when the West Bergholt Monday night Badger Pack were on the search for a suitable vehicle to provide transport for a trip to the Thorrington Scout Camp.

Andrew Ross, owner of nicenstripy says “we were delighted to be able to help out the local scout group to make sure they could get all their kit safely to their camp. We have always been keen to support the local community and indeed some of the boys involved in the camp are related to nicenstripy’s clients. As an outdoor based business we think it is important for the younger generation to appreciate the benefits of an active outdoor lifestyle. Perhaps we should talk to the Scouts about creating a Lawn Care and Garden Maintenance Badge next year!!”

Volunteers - The Heartbeat of our Village

The Parish Council was invited to recognise the volunteers and their organisations that make such a difference to our village. The Colchester Community Volunteer Service held a thank you lunch for those volunteers nominated by the various communities in the Borough. Those attending were greeted by the Deputy Mayor in the Moot Hall and treated to lunch and presented with certificates as a thank you for their community spirit and involvement.

The Parish Council were faced with the difficult task of selecting the volunteers and organisations that make West Bergholt such a special place to live in. We had a maximum of 4 nominee invitations and with more than 20 volunteer organisations in the village this was not an easy task. I am always amazed and proud of the number of people who happily give up their free time to help and assist others. I view our volunteers as the heartbeat of the village whether they have just began to operate a new organisation or are part of one that has operated for many years. Our nominates were David Bowden, Murray Harlow, Bob Gooden and Susan Walby representing the BYG, Youth Football, Luncheon Club, the Church, Allotment Holders and First Responders to name just a few (they are pictured above).

Thank you to all our volunteers.

John Gili-Ross

30 New Homes, Change of Land Use - Consultation

Consultation Opportunity
The Parish Council are to consider two sites submitted for consideration by the Agents in preparation of the Colchester Borough Council Local Development Framework Site allocations.
The Sites being considered are:

• Land between Armoury Road and Maltings Park – proposed 30 new dwellings (approximate site highlighted brown in map to right).
• Pattens Yard – Nayland Road – Change of Use to Local Employment Zone

The Parish Council’s comments to these proposals will be agreed at the Parish Council Meeting on:

WEDNESDAY

23rd June 2010 at 7.30p.m.

In the John Lampon Hall

A “Have Your Say” session is held prior to the meeting for the public to comment on the above or any other matter. This session will not normally exceed 15 minutes.

To find out more about these applications including documents submitted by the applicants advisors, visit the village website at http://www.westbergholt.net/pc_minutes.htm.

8pence per metre makes big money

Congratulations to Rick Cranfield, assistant headteacher at Heathlands Primary school, who completed 600 hours of training over 6 months which enabled him to run the London Marathon in 4 hours 11 minutes.

Rick raised £3,500 for Leukemia and Lymphona Research which equates to 8.3p for every metre of the 42.195 kilometres run (26 miles & 385 yards in old money of course).

Hillhouse Wood News Update

Various activities have taken place in the wood including a bluebell walk attended by 60 people, an early morning dawn chorus and next month a summer butterfly, dragonfly and insect walk guided by Joe Firmin and Philip Smith is planned.

A grant has been secured to enable the clearance of the overgrown top pond in the Autumn.

Find out more about Hillhouse Wood on the village website here.

Over 2 grand of aid

Christian Aid Week, which ran from May 9 to May 15, raised £2,001.2 from collections around the village and the Hunger Lunch.