Summer Music

Summer Music in Winstred Hundred – One Day, Two Events

July 4th this year saw the Wiggies going Yankee and Peldon indulging in the sense of summer arriving.  They reported as follows:

wiggies-go-yankee-2015

Wiggies Go Yankee

What a wonderful afternoon was had by all with St Stephens decked out in American flags and bunting, a packed house sat down to be entertained by the talented LMT Singing School dressed in vintage costumes, hair styles and make-up celebrating the great American song book.

A delicious buffet ran throughout the afternoon with traditional American food and, while the singers had a chance to eat, the Ladies Barbershop Quartet “Velvet Rose” took over.

People overflowed outside enjoying the hot weather where a Craft and Cake stall was busy, raffle tickets were being sold and children were playing games.

The GW Events Committee would like to give special thanks to the singers who made our afternoon, all the people who cooked and served the delicious food, cleaned and helped putting up tables and the inevitable clearing up. Together they made it a very successful event.

GW Events Committee

music-on-a-summers-day-2015

Music on a Summer’s Day in Peldon

On 4th July the Peldon Village Hall Management Committee ran yet another very successful and enjoyable evening with the Crissy Lee All Star band in the garden of Brick House Farm. We managed to raise nearly £7,000 with tremendous support from over 260 people.

We started the glorious evening with a young steel band which got the evening off to a great start as the sound of steel drums rang out gently across the garden. This was followed by wonderful music from Crissy’s band with two great and renowned singers, Liz Oki and Victor Bynoe complementing each other perfectly, an excellent backing group and Crissy playing unbelievably. She also did an amazing drum solo with the help of one of her young music pupils which aised a further £250 for Cancer Research UK.

Everyone had a great two course supper, and the licenced pay bar also added greatly to the fund, with the Pimms in great demand. This was followed by a successful raffle and an entertaining auction where some unusual and once in a lifetime items were sold.

Bob Holmes

 

 

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ECC & CBC News Updates

Essex & Colchester News updates – July 2015

This is a summary of a number of recent announcements made by Essex & Colchester Councils during July 2015:

Listen to council meetings how and when you want

A new audio webcasting system is now in place streaming live from some of our council meetings and debates, available through our website and twitter feed, or you can choose to catch up later.

Links to the audio are from the ‘Your Council’ tab of essex.gov.uk with recordings available alongside meeting details and agendas. You can jump straight to a specific agenda item if that’s all you want to hear again.The Full Council meeting broadcast is planned for 14 July and committees of the council have also started to come online. Look out for tweets with links to the audio stream at the beginning of each meeting on the @ECC_DemSer twitter feed.

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Transparency on calls to ECC’s Contact Centre

Telephone calls to Essex County Council’s Contact Centre now start with a recorded message about call charges. This follows new legislation introduced by the communications regulator Ofcom and the Advertising Standards Authority for 084, 087,09 and 118 numbers, as part of the national UK Calling scheme.

Callers to the Contact Centre on all 0845 numbers are informed that calls cost 5p per minute plus the access charge from respective service providers.

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Road rollerEssex ahead on pothole repairs

The number of unrepaired potholes on county roads has fallen. In the three months leading to June 30, unrepaired potholes and carriageway defects on the county’s busiest roads have reduced by 70 and 75 per cent respectively, compared with the same period last year. According to Essex County Council figures, potholes and other carriageway defects were maintained at under 350, with 137 on the county’s busiest roads and 206 on main and key roads. Outstanding carriageway defects on local roads have also fallen over the same period, from 5,212 to 4,626, with 2,581 potholes repaired, continuing the positive trend seen over the previous three months. Since the same period last year, carriageway defects on local roads are down by 23 percent, from 6,001 to 4,626. To report a pothole or carriageway defect visit http://www.essexhighways.org/tell-us-pothole.aspx.

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Essex Outdoors children's activitiesHave a summer holiday to remember with Essex Outdoors

Essex Outdoors exciting 2015 summer holiday programme for 8-16 year olds has been released. Centres in Bradwell, Danbury, Harlow and Mersea will be running School Holiday Activity Days, which include up to four activities in one day, between 23 July and 28 August. Activities include aerial trekking, archery, bouldering, BMX, canoeing, caving, climbing, kayaking, low ropes, orienteering, zip wire and much, much more. Harlow is running additional climbing days as well as canoe and kayak days between 23 July and 28 August, with Bradwell also running a canoe day on 18 August. Activity days are the perfect way for children and young people to try the challenge and excitement of new activities. Activity days cost £30 per day or buy four days and get the fifth free. Dates, times and activities vary per centre so please check the website for full details or contact your nearest centre.

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Aiming High for Disabled Children – summer programme

Essex Outdoors will be running the ‘Aiming High for Disabled Children’ programme this summer. The programme offers a range of day and overnight activities for free to disabled children and young people who are aged 8 to 18, as well as their carer. The programme includes:

  • Activity days at Harlow from 24 July to 28 August
  • Activity days at Danbury on 28 and 30 July
  • Sailing/crabbing day at Bradwell on 25 July
  • One night break in either Bradwell or Danbury on 15 August.
  • Mersea Island Festival overnight (five nights from 23 August)
  • Mersea Island Festival day visits from 25 to 30 August

Please note participants must live within the administrative boundary of Essex County Council to qualify for free places. For eligibility as well as dates, times and activities per centre please check the website.

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Family fun at Bark in the Park

Bark in the parkJoin us at this special dog themed fun day for dogs and their owners on Sunday 9 August in Colchester’s Castle Park.

Bark in the Park will transform the open space in Colchester’s park into a dog and dog owner’s extravaganza.  This event, led by Colchester Borough Council’s Animal Control Team, will offer everything man’s best friend needs. There will be plenty to keep the whole family (and their dogs) amused throughout the day and visitors are assured of a great day out.  Owners will also have the chance to enter their pet pooches into the various dog show events that will take place during the day.

Dog Show Categories

  • Best Young Handler
  • Smiliest Staffy
  • Most Gorgeous Rescue
  • Handsomest Dog
  • Prettiest Bitch
  • Calmest Tail
  • Best Trick
  • Overall Best in Show

 There will be entertainment and demos, competitions and prizes, K9 Aqua Sports, dog agility, doggie trade stands and much more! Make sure you register online (for free) to enter one of the seven pet Dog Shows on the day!  Find out more here.

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Have you watched CBC’s latest video?

A brand new tourism video promoting Colchester has been created to showcase everything that the Borough has to offer! If you haven’t had a chance to watch it on their YouTube channel yet, then click the link:

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Summer Reading Challenge 2015

guinness-world-recordsSummer Reading Challenge 2015

Help make this a record breaking summer

Every year the national Summer Reading Challenge aims to keep the country’s children reading throughout the holidays and as this year’s theme is ‘Record Breakers’, Essex Libraries wants as many pledges of support as possible to set a new Guinness World Record™ for ‘the most number of pledges received for a reading campaign’, and to contribute to an Essex record.

Children pledge to visit their local library, read six books of their choice and collect stickers in six categories to secure medals. Adults and volunteers pledge to support children to read. Older children can take part in a reading and arts programme called ImagiNation.

Councillor Roger Hirst, Essex County Council Cabinet Member for Customer Services, Libraries, Planning and the Environment said:

Getting more children to read for pleasure during the summer holidays will be a fantastic achievement. This record attempt will be used to highlight the importance of reading for pleasure as well as the importance of libraries in communities. I want to see Essex playing its part in creating this new world record.

The Summer Reading Challenge is produced by The Reading Agency in association with Guinness World Records™ and delivered by libraries, bringing together fact and fiction and helping young readers to discover some wonderful and truly amazing records from around the world.

Record Breakers and ImagiNation run from 11 July to Saturday 5 September in all Essex libraries and mobile libraries.

Note – the Mobile Library’s next visits are scheduled for 29th July, 12th August, 26th August and 9th September visiting The Glebe (Peldon), Creek View Cottages (Gt Wigborough) and The Street (Salcott)  on each of those mornings.

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CBC Summer News 2015

summer-2015-activitiesWhat’s On Summer 2015

Colchester Borough Council report on a number of activities throughout the upcoming Summer holidays ranging from comedy, activity workshops, events at country parks, doggy activities and more.  They advise you check their websites (links below) to find out more:

Activities at Leisure World Colchester include animation workshops, swimming, arts, crafts, dance, tennis and much more!  There’s also water fun for all the family – fly down flumes, travel along a crazy river of waves, plunge down drops in the crazy outside rapids, dodge the water cannons and more in the leisure pool!  As they say:

We’ll take care of the kids!
 

Colchester Museums have lots of fantastic events the summer, including Go Live! Week, mediaeval medicine, Roman Food, Archery and much more.  Don’t forget you can visit one of our three museums where history comes alive through displays, technology and hands on activities.  Their site has a handy calendar so you can see what is on any day of the holidays.

Colchester’s Country Parks offer a host of activities and events for you and your family to enjoy at from learning about foraging and making your own den or dream-catcher to wildlife and health walks. Why not make the most of warmer weather by coming along to one of our wonderful parks to enjoy all the great outdoors has to offer!

jimmy-carrJimmy Carr – Funny Business at Charter Hall

On Friday 31 July Charter Hall, Colchester’s premier events venue, is excited to welcome back Jimmy Carr with his live show ‘Funny Business’. Tickets are £25, book now at www.charter-hall.co.uk. Street Life! presented by School of Street (SOS) are performing on Sunday 5 July and tickets are now on sale for Robot Wars: The 2015 Live Show on Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 September.

Bark in the Park

Come and have fun with your pet pooch on Sunday 9 August, from 10am in Colchester’s Castle Park. K9 Aqua Sports UK, three show rings, dog agility and doggie trade stands. £5 adults, kids and dogs FREE. Enter your dog into one of our shows, for FREE, Best Young Handler, Smiliest Dog, Handsomest Dog, Prettiest Bitch, Calmest Tail and Best Trick. Book your dog into a show & book tickets.

past-inhabitantsLooking for something a little different?

Colchester’s Visitor Information Centre has a fantastic range of guided tours so you can find out more about Colchester’s fascinating history. Listen to the lives and times of characters from Colchester’s past as they take you through the dread, drama and dismay of Colchester’s important history. Theme tours are great fun for all age groups!  Visit their website for themes, dates and booking information.

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