Great Notley Garden Village Residents Association
Newsletter Number 26
Date : November 2002.
Chairman : Ken Game. Telephone - 343030. Secretary : Bert Rix. Telephone - 341066.
E-mail : herbertrix@btinternet.com
THE PARISH COUNCIL.
The Residents Association continues to monitor the progress of the Parish Council and it would seem to the committee that they are directing their efforts in the wrong direction. They are still obsessed with the idea of a skate board park in the RAFT area instead of concentrating on matters more properly within the province of a Parish Council.
They are, for example, holding in the Parish Account a considerable amount of money for the purpose of moving the huge amount of earth at the side of the basket ball court and putting in place a small edition of a skate board park. It will be a vast expenditure for the benefit of a relatively small number of youths when there are other matters in Great Notley Garden Village that would be better addressed.
For example, the Parish Council spent about £1,500 last year on producing the Great Notley Times which is the deficit between advertising revenue and printing costs. By contrast, the Residents Association is self-funding. Ask anyone who attended the recent A.G.M. and who received a copy of the accounts.
If you refer to page 45 of the recent issue number 9 you will read how we fared in the Best Kept Village Competition. The scores given for most sub-divisions are pathetic and make our cricket team look like experts. These are the areas that the Parish Council should be concentrating on because there will not be any improvement without a guiding hand from them.
THE VILLAGE PUB.
It is now well known that the new village pub is to be named "The Oval" which obviously evokes thoughts of cricket. It is also said that the new owners wanted to have the hedge at the edge of the village green cut down so that people could watch cricket on summer evenings.
Unfortunately, showers and a dressing room were not included in the building of the Community Centre and this would have been an encouragement to cricket enthusiasts to form a Great Notley Cricket Team.
Bearing in mind the name of the pub it might be possible to erect a gasometer on the far side of the village green to give some atmosphere!!!
BRAINTREE TOWN CENTRE STRATEGY GROUP CHRISTMAS LIGHTS APPEAL
The Braintree Town Centre Strategy Group wishes to express their thanks to all residents who purchased draw tickets in support of the Braintree Christmas Lights Appeal.
It is hoped that the lights will be an improvement on previous years although still leaving room for bigger and better things to come each year.
BRAINTREE CHORAL SOCIETY.
The Braintree Choral Society would be very pleased to welcome any members of the community, both male and female who are interested in joning the choir.
It is not a requirement to have had previous experience of singing in a choir, enthusiasm being of the utmost importance.
If you are interested please ring Sylvia Lester on 01371-850211.
LET'S TAKE CARE OUT THERE.
Whilst going round the village at various hours of the day it is quite disturbing to observe the valuable items left outside houses, i.e. Mountain Bikes, Roller Blades, Pushchairs, Garden Implements etc.
It does provide an opportunity for any villain to avail themselves of an easy, nice little earner or an early Christmas present. So, the committee would suggest that you don't make it easy for them as incidents of this nature have already occurred around the area.
CAROL SINGING.
The Residents Association will be singing again this year in aid of the Essex Air Ambulance and your support would be most welcome. Once again the singing will be along local streets and outside TESCO and more participants will be most welcome. Dates have yet to be confirmed, but if anyone is willing to join us for such a worthy cause please ring 343030.
ANOTHER STEALTH TAX?
There is mention in the local press of further efforts to recycle certain rubbish such as paper, plastic and glass bottles with a charge for non-compliance of £1 per black bag. We have one further suggestion. If manufacturers would only stop wrapping articles in a way that requires a blow-lamp to extract the contents there would be a lot less waste in the first place.
As for posted junk mail which sometimes arrives with two envelopes from the same source we would have less paper to take to the recycle bins. Mind you, every minus has a plus in that if there is no genuine mail, only junk, one does know that the postman has been.
E-MAILS AND THE LOCAL WEB SITE.
Since making mention in newsletter No.25 that e-mails direct to the Residents Association are welcome, instead of by the roundabout route via Manic Monday we have had quite a few.
We are still committed to preserving anonimity, but most e-mails are written in the same vein, so we are just printing one that is representative of others received.
"My wife and I are in total agreement with previous correspondents who state that the skate board park should be sited in the park and not at the RAFT as is proposed.
We are beginning to feel that the council have some sort of vendetta against the residents around the village green, which is supposed to be for the enjoyment of all. for example, was the village green ever designated to be a series of football pitches used Saturday and Sunday mornings with sometimes 3 or 4 matches at one time, and now practice sessions 2 or 3 evenings per week - all involving parents' cars parked in the road or half on the pavement? All of this adds to the nuisance of noise to that already from the RAFT which sometimes can be heard late at night. These activities are encouraging more and more traffic to the "Village Green" without the proper parking facilities. In our opinion this problem is now an accident waiting to happen!
Also we now have the prospect of more noise and traffic from the so called "Village Pub" which is far larger than anyone anticipated. On this matter we think the council have a lot to answer for"
Editorial comment:- If satisfactory facilities were available at the Discovery Centre this would obviate the possibility of the football teams considering playing elsewhere. We agree with the sentiments expressed in the above e-mail and voting records at the Parish Council will show that most of the voting in favour of things like the pub and skate board park have been supported by councillors who live in, or have been associated with White Court.
DO YOU WISH TO LEARN SPANISH?
Beginners classes started on Tuesday, the 26th. November at Notley High School. There are still vacancies for this course, which runs for another 5 weeks.
If you are interested in this particular course, or any future Spanish course please telephone 01376-556300 and ask for Mrs. Karen Bainbridge.
DO YOU WISH TO LEARN MORE ABOUT COMPUTERS?
Computers now feature increasingly in everyday life and there are still people who are afraid of them. E-mails, like mobile phones are taking off at an increasingly faster rate. An e-mail is quicker and cheaper than a letter, cf. under 5p. against 19p. So simple too. Spend as long as you like composing "off line" and then change to "on line" when, with a tap of a key the deed is did.
Notley Green Primary School in Bridge End Lane at Panners Bridge are holding classes every Tuesday afternoon between 2pm. and 3.15pm. Just drop in whenever you fancy and all is on a "first come, first served" basis.
A separate subject is covered each week and future instruction will include Word Processing, Excel, E-mail, Internet, Spreadsheets and Desk Top Publishing.
For more information ring 01376-556320 and ask for Mrs. Fiona Stringer.
NEAREST POST OFFICE.
Now that Great Notley does not seem to be in line to get a Post Office, our nearest P.O. is at Great Leighs. Coming home from Chelmsford recently I made a detour along the "forgotten road" and stopped off to buy stamps. It was a treat to walk in and get served at once, unlike the two Post Offices in Braintree that usually have a lengthy queue.
The other bonus was in driving away and not having to wait for a gap in the traffic.
BEAM LIFT AT PANNERS BRIDGE.
The bridge at Panners junction is being constructed to carry the new A120 over the existing link road between the end of the existing Braintree bypass and the A131. The design incorporates 21 beams, which were recently lifted into place on top of the bridge columns.
Each of the beams measures 34.95 metres long, is 1.4 metres wide, is 1.6 metres high and weighs approximately 70 tons.
The lifting process for each night's work followed a well-planned pattern, which began with the delivery of 4 beams during the preceding afternoon. At 10.30pm. the final traffic management measures were put in place, closing the link road and allowing the lift procedure to begin. Beams then arrived under police escort from a near lay-by and entered the bridge area in pairs. The first vehicle manoeuvred beneath the crane jib, allowing the beam to be attached to the lifting cables. Then the lorry moved away and the process was repeated with a second lorry. The lifting process for each beam took approximately 40 minutes, from the arrival of the lorry beneath the crane to final alignment and placing on the bridge.
The vice-Chairman and Secretary went along about 23.30hrs on the first Monday to watch and found the lifting for that night had been done.
So we went along the second night at 22.00hrs and it was bitterly cold and very windy. We waited for about an hour and as all was quiet we went home. It seemed there was too much wind to be safe and on the Wednesday morning no more beams had been lifted.
Wednesday evening we turned up again about 22.00hrs and were rewarded on this occasion with some good camcorder shots, which were quite impressive when viewed on the T.V.
A few people turned up to watch, but the smallness of the numbers was a suprise.
THE SWAN PUBLIC HOUSE AND RESTAURANT AT BRADWELL.
At the above public house and restaurant, which was extensively refurbished earlier this year following flood damage you will now find a delightful atmosphere with a varied menu of excellent quality. All food is freshly bought rather than the frozen variety which is unique in this day and age.
The members of the committee of the Residents Association wish all members a very merry Christmas and a successful New Year.
30th November, 2002.
