NEWS FOR BROXTED & CHICKNEY

from the Five Parishes' Magazine

APRIL 2006

GOOD FRIDAY MEDITATION

The quietness and calm of Chickney church is the setting for the Good Friday Meditation at 2.00 pm. Heating and additional seating is provided to give just a little extra comfort! Afterwards, open fires, tea and hot cross buns will welcome you at the home of Terry and Sandra Reed. A donation from the collection will be made to the Churches Conservation Trust who maintain Chickney church. The balance of the collection and proceeds from the raffle at tea time will go to Broxted church.

Please come along for this important day. Parking in the lane by the church should be left for the use of the less mobile. There is adequate parking through the gates on the grass area or at the bottom of the drive.

EASTER LILIES

If you would like to have an Easter lily in church in memory of a loved one, please contact Michael Goulding on 01279 850251.

WILL YOU SPONSOR BETH?

Beth Harwood-Mann will be running the London marathon on the 23rd April. Any money generated over and above the £1,500 she has promised to raise for the Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre in Colchester will be donated to Broxted Church. A sponsorship form will be pinned to the notice board in all of our churches or alternatively you can contact her at home on 01279 850665. Please support this effort – thank you.

N.B. The phone number printed in last month's Magazine was incorrect – apologies to anyone who tried to contact Beth unsuccessfully.

BROXTED PARISH COUNCIL

The next meeting will be on Wednesday 12th April at 8.00 pm in the Village Hall. The Council always welcomes members of the public to its meetings. The minutes of the Council meetings are posted on the village notice boards, and they and much other useful information can be viewed on this website.

SSE QUIZ

The quiz in aid of Stop Stansted Expansion organised by Phyllis and Roger Clark on the 4th March was a great success – 111 people in 18 teams tackled ten rounds of quite difficult questions, with a team from Henham and Elsenham churches the eventual winners. The SSE team led by Carol Barbone were the runners-up. Phyllis and Roger would like to thank all those who contributed to the success of the evening, helping to raise £1,117.63 for the funds.

CHILDREN'S SOCIETY BOX OPENING

Yvonne would like to thank everyone who came to the Children's Society box opening coffee morning. With a couple more boxes still to come in, she expects the sum collected for the society to be in the region of £360. If anyone feels they could have a collection box in their home or business premises, please contact Yvonne on 01279 850355.

PEOPLE

THANKS AND BEST WISHES

Dick and Peggy Knowles would like to thank all those whose thoughts and prayers were with them, and for all the many Get Well cards that Peggy received. She is now well on the way to recovery following her hip operation. We wish her well and are happy to pass on a very big thank you to everyone from her.

LINDA & GEOFF BARROW'S OPEN HOUSE

A report in somewhat lighter mode by Terry Reed on the Social Morning held in February in aid of Broxted church:

			Eleven it was and don't be late
			The morning promised to be great
			Up the drive and to the right
			Use the grass and park up tight
			Michael, Mike and John make three
			Supervise and watching me.

			Open house, open door
			Wipe your feet, watch that floor!
			Linda, Geoff welcome smile
			Pooch a growl, well just a while.

			Donations please, entry free
			Drink for you?  Kisses for me
			Buy a book, buy the cakes
			All hand made by ducks and drakes.

			Ducks and drakes or girls and boys
			The cakes sold well along with toys
			Chew the cud and sup the drink
			More were here than you think.

			Prizes too, corks galore
			Try again, more and more
			Champagne, chocs and even peach
			But out and out of Audrey's reach

			Sweet sixteen avoided all
			Till Jan with faith approached the stall
			The hand plunged in and pulled it out
			Oh yes it is! Went up the shout.

			The morn drew on and funds were raised
			The thanks were made with people praised

			Four hundred pounds plus ninety phew!
			All in all raised from so few
			Alas the pence I near forgot
			The fifty-five made up the pot!

			So Linda Geoff we thank you through
			The open house till half past two.
			

THE COUNTESS OF WARWICK'S COUNTRY SHOW 27th/28th AUGUST

The management team continues to meet on the third Wednesday of each month and plans are now well under way. Bookings are being taken for stalls of all varieties, from craft to trade and commercial. For a copy of the rate card and booking form contact 01279 850025 for craft stalls and 01371 878157 or 01371 872894 for the others.

The organisers are looking for Volunteers! If you live in the Five Parishes and have enjoyed the Show in the past, can you spare an hour or two to help at this year's Show? They have teams of people looking after the car park, selling programmes, helping clear up, moving furniture and helping with stalls. However, to allow the people already involved in the various teams to take a break and enjoy the Show themselves, they really do need a few extra people who can spare a few hours on either day.

If you are one of these people and fancy helping with the Show on one of the two days please contact the Revd Gillian Greenslade on 01371 872509, leaving your name and contact number as well as how you would like to help.

THE FRIENDS OF THE FIVE PARISHES

The Gathering in the Garden Room at Easton Farm takes place on Friday 7th April, at 7 for 7.30 pm at Easton Farm, Little Easton by kind invitation of Bob Trembath. Members are cordially invited to come along as guests of The Friends to enjoy a get together with friends and a little light background music. Contact Michael on 01279 850251 or Angela on 01371 872894 for details.

THE FRIENDS OF THE FIVE PARISHES 50% CLUB

There are just 5 more chances to win in the 50% Club this round. If you would like more information contact Fran Woodrow at Windy Ridge, Duton Hill, Dunmow. The club recently gave £800 to The Friends of The Five Parishes towards the upkeep of churches in the Five Parishes.

If you would like more information just contact Fran Woodrow. The winner of the March draw was Jane Askew.

THE FIVE PARISHES CHOIR

At the All Age Worship service in Broxted in March, the choir gave a superb rendition of Sanctus from The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins. The performance showed just how far our choir has progressed under the direction of Peter Smith and hopefully one day ere long we will hear them perform further works by this composer.

GARDENS OF EASTON LODGE

The Gardens are closed from 12th March until the Easter holiday weekend. They are then open until the end of October with a season of special displays and events on the theme maps and journeys. The first exhibition by Dutch photographer Ewout Franse opens on Friday 28th April and runs until 29th May. For details e-mail cmummery@aol.com or telephone on 01371 876979 or 859767.

SSE CHOREOGRAPHED PHOTOCALL AND RALLY

SSE need 300 people on Saturday 10th June to form a choreographed picture message to demonstrate to the media and TV the continuing opposition to any expansion of Stansted Airport. Assembly will be at Church End, Broxted from 9.30 am. SSE will supply instructions and materials for the Photocall. The Photocall will be followed by Walk to Win circular walks of 5 or 8 miles. For information call Stuart Walker on 01279 850862, e-mail brickhouse@nascr.net.

BEWARE – IDENTITY THEFT COMES TO THE FIVE PARISHES?

It has been reported to the Magazine that on the 2nd March in Mill End Green, Great Easton the contents of a rubbish bin disappeared at about 6.45 am. A white van was seen driving away from the area where the rubbish had been placed and subsequently was found to be missing by the time the Council van arrived at 8.00 am. Both the Police and Council officials have been notified but this warning is given here for everyone to be on their guard against identity theft. This can happen by unscrupulous people taking things containing one's personal details from one's rubbish.

GREAT EASTON CHURCH OF ENGLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL

The first two weeks of April provide a well-deserved rest for the children and staff with an opportunity to celebrate Easter before returning to school. It is also an opportunity to reflect on our achievements so far in 2006 and our plans for the rest of the school year.

The children have continued to enjoy our weekly Enrichment Afternoons and healthy school meals. We still have enquiries from other schools about how we manage these initiatives and we are very proud that we have been able to sustain them. We are able to do this because we have an extremely committed staff team and parents, governors and friends who are prepared to support the school and share their time and skills with us. The children are also very proud of their topic books which become a special record of their work and progress. They learn to develop presentation skills, firstly by mounting their work, and then by designing how it can be presented in an interesting way that will engage their audience.

In early March we launched our computerised library. This is a system that uses an image of the children's fingerprints to issue and return books. The Year 5 children were trained as library monitors by an adviser from the Library service and they received their certificates and badges at our World Book Day assembly. The monitors, together with a group of parents and friends of the school, have volunteered to be on a rota to help children choose and find suitable books. They also look after the library stock and update the computer system.

Year 5 children are looking forward to spending a week, at the end of April, at the Bradwell Outdoor Education Centre on the Essex coast. This is the sixth year that we have used this centre. It provides time for the children to participate in adventurous activities and to discover hidden personal strengths and the value of working together as a team. As the weather improves we are also looking forward to enjoying our splendid grounds that we hope further to develop by designing a mural for our ‘yellow wall’ at the edge of the field. The PTA is also busy planning a Children's Fashion Show to be held on Tuesday 2nd May, the annual Bouncy Castle Fun Day on Saturday 1st July and a Snail Race Night on Friday 14th July. Please put these dates in your diary now. We would love to see you.

Gill Hopkins

Headteacher

See also www.greateaston.essex.sch.uk.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Friday 7th April	Friends Gathering in the Garden Room
Saturday 8th April	SSE Quiz at Takeley
Thursday 13th April	Maundy Thursday Last Supper, Broxted
Friday 14th April	Good Friday Meditation, Chickney
Sunday 16th April	Easter Services at Tilty and Little Easton
Friday 28th April	SSE Quiz at Duton Hill
Sunday 30th April	Duton Hill Funday
Monday 1st May	Tilty Church Spring Lunch
Tuesday 2nd May	School's Children's Fashion Show
Saturday 10th June	SSE Photocall and Rally
Saturday 17th June	Friends Members' Evening, Broxted
Saturday 1st July	School's Bouncy Castle Fun Day
Friday 14th July	School's Snail Race Night
Sun/Mon 27th/28th August	Countess of Warwick's Country Show