Great Notley Garden Village Residents Association

Newsletter Number 14

Date : January 2001.

Chairman : Ken Game. Telephone - 343030. Secretary : Bert Rix. Telephone - 341066.

E-mail : herbertrix@btinternet.com GREAT NOTLEY GARDEN VILLAGE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION. Chairman: Ken Game. telephone 343030. Secretary: Bert Rix. telephone 341066.

The first message of this newsletter is that we are holding our Annual General Meeting in the main hall of the Notley Green Community Association at 8pm. on Thursday, the 1st. February. The second message is that we fully intend to honour our promise to produce these informative letters at regular future intervals.

Many members of the Great Notley Garden Village Residents Association will have been following letters in the Braintree and Witham Times where one writer said that the five candidates for the recent Parish Council elections were sponsored by the Residents Association. We must state firmly now that the Residents Association has never sponsored any candidates for the Parish Council.

The R.A. fully believes that it can best serve the interests of it’s local members by remaining independent. The fact that candidates for the local Parish Council elections were members of other committees and organisations does not mean that they were sponsored by these organisations or committees either.

CAROL SINGING IN AID OF THE ESSEX AIR AMBULANCE.

The Chairman of the Residents Association, Ken Game organised three evenings of carol singing in aid of the above very worthy charity and did a great job getting paperwork organised and the co-operation of many diverse local government departments. Getting the paperwork right was the biggest problem. Ken’s wife, June produced the vocalists.

Two evenings were spent singing in the roads of Great Notley Garden Village and another evening was devoted to singing outside TESCO store, and for which permission we offer the Manager our grateful thanks.

No houses refused to contribute and quite a lot of compliments were made about the carol singers. We would like to express our thanks for the generosity of all who gave so willingly.

The 3 evenings produced a total of Ł509. The troupe was sufficiently encouraged to want to repeat the effort at the end of this year.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS IN GREAT NOTLEY GARDEN VILLAGE.

With every passing year the decorative Christmas lighting by local residents seems to get better and better. We already have some well remembered stalwarts and thank them for the pleasure their efforts have given. Were a prize to be up for the most attractive and best decorated area, then G.N.G.V. must surely be in with a chance.

PARKING FEES IN BRAINTREE TOWN.

The Chairman & Secretary of the Residents Association are both members of the Braintree Town Centre Strategy Group which is an organisation dedicated to improving the town centre’s prosperity. All their efforts are geared to attracting more trade to the town centre and damping down crime and hooliganism. Measures to this end in- clude CCTV and a radio link to monitor shoplifting.

We have been asked to point out the scheme to refund parking fees in Braintree which is promoted and operated by a number of retail outlets. Those shops participating in the scheme advertise the fact in the store windows.
This is beyond the fact that parking charges in Braintree are modest by any standards anyway.
Shopping visitors to Braintree will be aware that the parking lots outside the Museum and in nearby roads are now only available to resident parking only. The Braintree Town Centre Strategy Group has carried out a survey that seems to indicate that the old, short stay, parking spaces are not fully utilised during the day. The group is now trying to see whether any reasonable modifications can be made to the scheme in order to bring back at least a certain measure of short term parking. It is understood that Braintree District Council may be reviewing the position in the near future. We will keep you informed of future developments, but in the meantime do make use of the parking fee refunds.

PARISH MAPS IN THE TESCO ENTRANCE OF CUCKOO WAY AND AT “MRS. HEDGES”.

The above mentioned map boards which have been in place since the early days of the Great Notley Garden Village development and only depicted a few local roads because G.N.G.V. was in it’s infancy.

These boards do not appear to have been updated more recently and with building being extended north, past Panners Farm and on up to Queenborough Lane, along with enclaves like Willow Grange and Hunters Lodge there does appear to be a case for the map boards to be updated.

Ask any local residents and they will tell you that usually, several times each month, cars and vans stopping in front of the board cannot find their destination marked. In many cases locals cannot guide them because they, too, are not aware of the names of new roads.

Early last year Ken Game, Chairman, who represents the Residents Association on the Great Notley Forum raised this matter and was advised by Richard Moore of Countryside that the updating of the boards was imminent, but this has not happened. At the Forum meeting towards the end of last year he again raised the matter and it would appear that some communication had taken place between the Chairman of the Parish Council and Countryside resulting in a decision that no updating would now occur.

Ken Game said that this was unsatisfactory and requested that the original promise be honoured. The Chairman of the Forum, Councillor Peter Turner agreed and it was determined that representations be made to achieve this.

FLOWER ARRANGING GROUP.

A flower arranging group under the auspices of the Notley Green Community Association is being formed and will meet on the first Thursday of each month from 7..30-9pm in the small hall of the N.G.C.A. This is intended to be a relaxed and friendly group with an expert tutor.

For more information ring Pauline on 344805.

MUSIC AND DRAMA GROUP.

The Drama Group hope to present the play “A Slight Misunderstanding” for Club 55 during the summer. Any person interested in joining an amateur music and drama group.please contact June Game on (343030) or Jessie Rix on (341066).

CLUB 55.

We have been upbraided for referring to the above club in our last newsletter as the “Over 55 Club” We are sorry if we caused any offence. None was intended.

We have also been asked to clarify the item in Newsletter No.14 referring to N.G.C.A. resignations. The Residents Association committee are united in the opinion that this is a matter of interpretation as at least two members did resign due to the “incident” mentioned.