So where is ratty?

... seemingly alive and well on the River Colne!

West Bergholt Gardeners’ Association members shared the passion of Darren Tansley, Essex Wildlife Trust, in ‘The Search for Ratty’ when they learnt about his project on water vole restoration to the stretch of the River Colne between West Bergholt and Chappel. Darren’s presentation was followed by the Annual General Meeting when eight committee members were elected. This was the first meeting of the 2010-2011 programme of speakers and activities.

A day outing to East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden, Norfolk has been planned for 15 June 2011, stopping off on route at Taverham Garden Centre. Members and non-members were urged to book early so as not to be disappointed. Further information obtainable from the Treasurer at terryclaydon@aol.com


Mike Logan-Wood, Leader of the RSPB Chelmsford and Central Essex Group, will be addressing members at the next meeting on 18 October at 7.30 in the Orpen Hall. He will present on ‘Secret Lives of Garden Birds’. Visitors are also very welcome to attend.

Joining our organisation is easy and inexpensive. Membership subscription is value for money at only £8 per year. The Chair, Valerie Lofthouse, can be reached on 01206 855450 or valerielofthouse1@hotmail.co.uk for details on the Gardeners’ Association.

Bergholt Heath YFC Results & Fixtures

Our under 8's team is thoroughly enjoying their first season playing football together. Today the goals were scored by Jonah Murray and two from Richard Frost. Well done boys!

The under 12's lost their first match in the A league this season narrowly losing out to Lexden Saints, current A league champions, 2-1 at home. Both of the Lexden goals were somewhat lucky - a deflected shot wrong-footing the goalkeeper and a speculative high shot that caught in the strong wind. The game was generally very even with both sides having chances. The Bergholt Heath goal was scored by Antonio Sabini with a quick shuffle to the left to create space inside the area and a cool left footed finish into the corner. The Bergholt Heath 'man of the match' was Jamie Bowden.

The under 13's lost 9-2 away to Stanway Rovers, also in the A league. Bergholt Heath took the lead and at half time the match was evenly balanced at 2-2. The second half saw Stanway Rovers bring on some of their "Alliance League" players which made all the difference, with the score running away from Bergholt and the team looking a little demoralised at the end.

Our under 15s are still to get their season up and running in the D league, today losing away to Clacton 25-0. However the manager was unable to field a full team of 11 players.

The under 16's faired better but still came out on the wrong side of a 2-1 defeat at home to Brightlingsea.  Josh Claydon scored the Bergholt Heath goal.

Our under 18's team were the only winners this week, running out comfortable 9-1 winners away to Tolleshunt D'Arcy. A true reflection of the teams dominance would have been a score well into double figures, however the referee appeared to take pity on the home team, which kept the score down. Alex Ponsford scored a hat-trick, with Ben Brice and Leo Reid scoring 2 each. Ben Rout and Ben Flower completed the scoring for Bergholt.

Fixtures for next Sunday 3rd October:
Coggeshall v U8
U12 v Coggeshall KO 10am
U13 v Harwich & Parkeston KO 12 noon
U15 v Long Melford KO 2pm
Halstead Blues v U16
Bullers v U18

End of life in the slow lane

The equivalent of a dual carriageway in broadband is about to arrive in West Bergholt, and the improvement in speed should be more noticeable than joining a motorway from a country lane!

Next week sees the installation of the first access point in the village by County Broadband, a company specializing in wireless broadband connections for rural communities. Earlier in the year residents and Village Bulletin readers will recall that the Parish Plan group started

discussions with County Broadband to determine how the village could move away from its not-spot backwater, and enter the mainstream of digital activity. Now after months of behind the scenes activity involving grant applications, discussions with the Parish Council and the equivalent of digital water-divining by County Broadband, the basic plumbing-in activity begins.

Here’s what will happen:

• Starting right now, residents can express interest (see link below) in becoming connected to the County Broadband systems, allowing access speeds of up to 8Mb (remember the days of 56K modems!);
• By end of September an access point will be installed on the highest point in the village; this will receive digital signals from Braintree – you will be lucky if you spot this, as it’s only the size on an A4 piece of paper!;
• In October County Broadband will be able to install receiving equipment in homes and businesses in the village. To begin with this will be confined to a line of sight distance from the first access point to individual properties;
• By the end of the year and depending upon the rate of take-up from residents, more access points will be installed to enable coverage of the whole village.

If you are interested (and we are expecting that many households will be eager to get onboard quickly) you should start by registering your interest at County Broadband’s website.

Click here to register your interest, or call County Broadband on 0845 686 5000.

The company is maintaining a register of interest, and will be forwarding contracts for service provision shortly. Their website also contains all the technical and installation information you’ll no doubt want to find out about, together details of connection and subscription fees.

Whilst the Parish Plan Group and the Parish Council will maintain a dialogue with County Broadband, and oversee the delivery of the service in the village, the basic model for residents and businesses is that of traditional customer and supplier. Accordingly, any queries relating to the service should be made directly with County Broadband. Having said this, news about the introduction of the system will feature on the village website www.westbergholt.net and periodically in the Village Bulletin.

Press down that digital accelerator and hang on to your hats!

Article composed by Chris Stevenson: Chair West Bergholt Parish Plans Group

BHYFC Results & Fixtures

Unfortunately two of our teams had their matches - both at home - postponed this weekend as the opposition could not raise a team (worrying for this time of the season!): The under 13's Vs Stanway Rovers and the under 15's Vs Frinton & Walton.

Our under 8's played their first home match in the "non competitive" league against Stanway Rovers on the Poors field. The boys all enjoyed themselves.

The under 12's played their first away match of the season against newly promoted Frinton & Walton. Having been comfortably 2-0 up in the first half, a sloppy goal was given away and then they had to play uphill and against the wind in the second half. Frinton & Walton played some long balls into the box and having survived some close shaves it was no surprise when Frinton & Walton equalised. The manager changed formation to 4-4-2 which steadied things, and although the home team continued to have most of the possession it was a little more composed. With around 5 minutes to go Gianni Sabini broke down the right and crossed for James Holden to score the winner from close range. Final result F&W 2 - 3 Bergholt Heath. Scorers: Frinton & Walton: Edward Dooley, James Dafion. Bergholt Heath: Matthew James, Leo Tiffney, James Holden. Bergholt Heath 'man of the match' - Jake Adams.

The under 16's team lost 5-1 away to Cornard Dynamos. Unfortunately there was a bit of 'handbags' in the match and one of our players was sent off for retaliation. The Bergholt Heath scorer was Joshua Claydon.

Our under 18's also lost a close match 2-1 at home to Colchester Athletic Reds, the winner being a speculative long range effort that almost disappeared into the clouds before dropping down beyond the goalkeeper, bouncing on the line and back up into the roof of the net. Bergholt Heath's scorer was Leo Reid.

Next week's fixtures:

Under 8 v Marks Tey KO 10.30am, Poors Field
Under 12 v Lexden Saints KO 10am, Poors Field
Stanway Rovers v Under 13
Clacton United v Under 15
Under 16 v Brightlingsea Regent KO 12 noon, Poors Field
Tolleshunt D'Arcy v Under 18

Your Colchester - Your Budget

As balancing the budget becomes increasingly difficult, Colchester Borough Council needs to make some tough decisions that will impact on you as local residents.

Residents’ views are critical in helping the Council to shape the future of its services and Colchester Borough Council would like you to share your priorities with them. Simply tell them which services are most, and least, important to you.

Say what you think. Complete the quick questionnaire by visiting www.colchester.gov.uk/yourcolchester or share your ideas on Twitter at www.twitter.com/yourcolchester.

The questionnaire asks you to state the 3 most- and 3 least-important services to you from the folowing list:

• Activity Centres
• Arts and Culture
• Benefits
• Building Control
• Business and Economic Development
• Car Parks
• CCTV
• Cemetery and Crematorium
• Community Support
• Council Tax
• Customer Service Centre
• Housing and Homelessness
• Licensing
• Mayoral and Civic Duties
• Museums and Heritage
• Parks and Recreation
• Planning
• Planning and Transportation Policy
• Regeneration
• Sport and Leisure
• Street Cleaning
• Street Wardens
• Support Services
• Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour
• Tourism
• Waste and Recycling Collection

It also invites you to contribute any ideas you might have to save money or increase income.

The questionnaire will be available to complete until 4 October 2010. The Council will then collate and consider your responses as part of the first stage of its budget consultation.

If you have a head full of trivia

... then the annual Methodist Church quiz night should be for you. On Saturday 25th September, starting at 7pm, tables of four can be booked from Judith for just £16. Judith can be contacted on 01206 241969.

Anyone for coffee?

As part of the MacMillan Worlds Biggest Coffee Morning, St Mary's church, New Church Road, will be open from 9am on Thursday 23 September. Last year 43,000 people registered and raised £7.9 million, it is hoped £8 million can be achieved this year. Our contribution last year was £251.29p - let's see if we can smash that amount this year!

Women's Institute - September Report

The president welcomed members and asked for suggestions for committee in 2011 to be brought to the October meeting.

The walks and lunch on 25 August was a great success and Clarice Chittenden thanked Pat Moran for organising the event with 27 people attending the lunch.

The speaker was Liz Mullen (pictured right reporting from a field gun team training exercise), an ex-BBC Essex presenter who now works on '107 Garrison FM' radio. Her talk was entitled Not Just a Game of Soldiers.

Orders can now be made for 2011 calendars £3.25 and diaries £3.45 - member Barbara Buckley has a photo included in the calendar.

BHYFC Results & Fixtures

A mixed start to the season with lots of goals scored in both directions.

Our new Under 8 team started their first ever season of "non-competitive" mini soccer away to Long Melford in the "West" league. Thomas Whitlow scored a goal.

The Under 12s won their first game of the new season in the 'A league' at home to Cornard Dynamos Blues, 2-0. Ronan Gallagher and Antonio Sabini scored the goals is an excellent display. This was an especially pleasing result as Cornard finished above us, second in the league last season, and we lost the corresponding fixture 3-1 last year.

Our new Under 13 team lost their first match in the A league 2-1 away to Brooklands. Myles Went scored our goal.

The Under 15s did not fare so well, losing 15-0 away to Cornard Dynamos.

Our Under 16 team also lost, at home to Sudbury 4-1. Our goal was an own goal.

Unfortunately the Under 18s match at home to Bullers was cancelled as the away team could not raise a team.

Fixtures for Sunday 19th September:

• Under 8s vs Lexden Saints, KO 10.30am
• Frinton & Walton vs Under 12s
• Under 13s vs Stanway Rovers, KO 10am
• Under 15s vs Frinton & Walton Reds, KO 12 noon
• Cornard Dynamos vs Under 16s
• Under 18s vs Colchester Athletic Reds, KO 10.30am

Autumn events season under-way

As everybody gets back from summer two clubs' events are introducing the autumn season.

The Colne Valley Flower Club start their season on 15th September with a demonstration by Joyce Furssdonn with her arrangements based on the title 'Inspire and Enjoy'. For further information 'phone Clare on 01206 241145 or visit the club's page on the village website.

The WEA introduce a 10-week series of talks by Graham Slimming on the subject of "Art in the Age of William Morris" on 21st September in the Methodist Church Hall. You can read more about this on our newsfeed here or contact the WEA on 01206 240791 or visit their page on the village website.

Don't forget that these and many other events are listed on the homepage of the village website. If you have an event to list, contact the webmaster.