NEWS FOR BROXTED & CHICKNEY

from the Five Parishes' Magazine

DECEMBER 2006

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Jane and members of her church committee send their best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to everyone who has helped and supported Broxted church during the year. Thank you to the wonderful flower arrangers and to the cleaners who keep the church looking its best. Thank you to the coffee makers, the organists and choir and particularly to Dick for keeping the churchyard so nicely. Thank you to the committee for all their support and to the Rector for all her work throughout the year.

HARVEST FESTIVAL DONATION

Following the Five Parishes Harvest Festival held this year in Broxted church, £250 has been donated to Harvest for the Hungry 2006 in addition to the altar gifts given through Great Easton school. Angela Palotai, treasurer of Harvest for the Hungry in Chelmsford, says that in total 6,720 boxes were collected this year and a group of volunteers are travelling to Bulgaria to help to distribute them.

CAROL SINGING IN THE PRINCE OF WALES

As detailed in the Rector's letter, the carol singing evening in the Prince of Wales this year will be on Monday 18th December from 7.00 to 8.00 pm. Do come along, bring your friends and neighbours and join with members of The Five Parishes Choir for a jolly evening.

BROXTED PARISH COUNCIL

The next meeting of the Parish Council will be on Wednesday 6th December at 8.00 pm in the Village Hall. Note that this is one week earlier than usual. 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 can be viewed on this website.

BUS SHELTER

Estimates have been obtained for the re-building of the Brick End bus shelter and it is hoped that work on it will start very shortly.

BROXTED VILLAGE HALL

At the public meeting on the 1st November it was unanimously agreed that the Parish Council should take over legal and financial responsibility for the hall, to ensure its continued existence. It was suggested that a list of local tradesmen willing to help maintain the hall should be established and that a rota of cleaners/carers should be established. The Council is now investigating what legal steps it must take, and it is likely that a new Management Committee will be established in the New Year.

CHILDREN'S CHRISTMAS PARTY

A reminder that the annual Children's Christmas Party takes place on Sunday 10th December at 3.00 pm in the village hall. If you have not yet told Rachel that you would like to attend, please call her on 01279 850047 as soon as possible.

MACMILLAN COFFEE MORNING, BRICK END BROXTED

Sarah would like to say a very belated but nevertheless heartfelt Thank You to all those who attended and/or contributed towards the Macmillan Coffee Morning held at Oakmeads on the 29th September. The weather was abysmal and a perilous flood had to be encountered but that did not stop the flow of visitors and an amazing £225 was raised for a very worthy cause.

One visitor left behind their umbrella – it did stop raining eventually! If they would like to contact Sarah on 01279 850887 she will gladly return it to them.

PEOPLE

• CONGRATULATIONS

  to Dick Knowles who celebrates his 80th birthday on Christmas Day. We send you our very best wishes on this special occasion and hope this will be a very joyful occasion for you and Peggy.

• BEST WISHES

  for a speedy recovery go to George Wright who fell and broke his arm early in November and as we write is still in Addenbrookes Hospital. We are all thinking of you, George.

• CONDOLENCES

  Friends of Canon Geoffrey Holley were saddened by his passing on the 16th October, just four days short of his 78th birthday, and many from the Five Parishes attended the Thanksgiving for his Life in Thaxted church on the 28th October. We send sincere condolences to Joan Holley and his family.

• THANK YOU

  Molly Warboys would like to say a big Thank you to all those who sent her Get Well cards and kind telephone messages following her recent knee replacement. She is doing well and progressing with her physiotherapy exercises.

THE COUNTESS OF WARWICK'S COUNTRY SHOW

2006 Result

Yet another record has been set with a profit for this year's Show of just over £17,000. A distribution of £4,000 for each of the four churches has been made and the balance added to the contingency fund. In addition to these sums, the Five Parishes is pleased that our neighbouring churches of Little Canfield and Takeley also benefit from their activities at the Show. Without the support of friends from both within and outside the Five Parishes, these results would not be achievable.

2007 Show

Please put the date of next year's Show on your calendar – it will be on Sunday/Bank Holiday Monday 26th/27th August. While many of its members are working already on their section of the Show, the team as a whole does not meet until January. If there is anything you want to bring to their attention, please do let them know. If you do not know any of the team members, then telephone the Rector, she will be happy to talk to you and to pass on what you say at the next meeting.

THE FRIENDS OF THE FIVE PARISHES

The Friends' fourth Magic Evening was as magical as ever and the general opinion was that it gets better every year. The Friends thank Brian and Audrey for their very generous contribution in putting the show together with such great aplomb. A magnificent £2,200 was raised and we look forward to next year's performance, which will be on the 26th October – make a note in your new diary now!

Brian and Audrey send their thanks to all the friends who assisted so admirably in the preparation and clearing away for the evening. The huge success of this event was greatly helped by all those that contributed and as a ‘team’ effort this was second to none. Once again their grateful thanks for all the continued support that they enjoy.

THE FRIENDS OF THE FIVE PARISHES 50% CLUB

It is not too late to join the 50% Club. The club raises funds to help our churches in the Five Parishes. A cheque for £9 will buy a subscription until the end of August 2007. Have you considered buying a subscription for the children or grandchildren this year? The odds are better than the lottery though the prize is smaller! Please send your cheque, made payable to ‘The Friends of the Five Parishes 50% Club’ to Fran Woodrow at Windy Ridge, Duton Hill, Dunmow, Essex. The winner of the October draw was Mr Barltrop from Surrey, one of our long distance members.

CHRISTMAS BY CANDLELIGHT IN THAXTED CHURCH

In Thaxted church on Saturday 2nd December The Harlow Chorus presents Bach's Christmas Oratorio. Tickets including a glass of mulled wine are £24 and £18 reserved, £14 unreserved (concessions £11) and £6 no view. Phone the Thaxted credit card phone line on 01371 831421 or contact Julia Dimon on 01277 362440, e-mail tickets@harlowchorus.org.uk.

LIGHT UP A LIFE 2006

The local hospice Light Up a Life ceremonies take place in December. In conjunction with the Late Night Shopping evening in Dunmow, the St Clare ceremony is on Friday 8th December at 6.00 pm outside The Starr, in Market Place. The Farleigh Hospice ceremony in Chelmsford is on Friday 1st December, congregating outside the Cathedral at 6.30 pm.

UDC THREE BIN RECYCLING COLLECTION

As there are large amounts of non-recyclable material after Christmas, in the week beginning 25th December there will be NO wet recycling collection. Instead all UDC vehicles will be working on the non-recyclables collection as follows:

Usual collection day	Revised collection day
Monday 25th December	Wednesday 27th December *
Tuesday 26th December	Thursday 28th December *
Wednesday 27th December	No change
Thursday 28th December	No change
Friday 29th December	No change

* Note due to the amount of material expected immediately after Christmas it may not be possible to complete the revised collections on the advertised day so some their collections may take place a day later. If so, bins should be left out overnight for collection the following morning. In recognition that extra waste is generated at Christmas, UDC will, as a one-off, accept non-recyclable material left in plastic refuse sacks beside the black bins during this week.

Household recycling site, Thaxted Road, Saffron Walden:

Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day – closed

Christmas Eve – open 8.00 am to 1.00 pm, otherwise open until 4.00 pm every day

Mobile recycling skips:

23rd December, 9.00 am to 3.00 pm:

Dunmow, Chequers Lane Car Park – garden cuttings.

Stansted, Lower Street Car Park – garden cuttings, wood and metal.

30th December, 9.00 am to 3.00 pm:

Dunmow, Chequers Lane Car Park – garden cuttings, and for one week only, dry recycling (paper, card, cans and plastic bottles).

Thaxted, Margaret Street Car Park – garden cuttings, wood, metal and dry recycling.

Recycling hotline: 01799 510344.

The hotline will be staffed during office hours (closed on 25th/26th December and 1st January).

GREAT EASTON CHURCH OF ENGLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL

We are most fortunate to have a very active Parent Teacher Association (PTA) at our school. Through a variety of social and fundraising events it raises valuable additional funds for the benefit of our children. The funds from the past year's activities financed the glass panels for the playground shelter, which also serves as our walking bus stop; staging for the hall (helped by a very generous donation from the Rotary Club of Dunmow), a cooker and fridge for our kitchen/science area, and a complete set of maths games that cover the whole of the primary mathematics curriculum enabling every child to take home a different game for homework each week. This year funds are being raised for stage lighting so that we can enhance our school productions. Our Snail Race Night in October raised a fantastic £742 towards this. Our next event is the Christmas Bazaar on Friday 1st December from 5.30 to 8.00 pm at the school. Do come along and enjoy our festive activities, Father Christmas is visiting and there are plenty of stalls to help you with your Christmas shopping. Refreshments, including filled jacket potatoes and hot dogs, will be served throughout the evening.

On Friday 8th December we shall be visited by the Bigfoot Theatre Company who will perform A Christmas Carol to the whole school in our hall. Later that day our choir will be taking part in the Advent Tidings Concert at Thaxted Church. They will join students from Helena Romanes School and other local primary schools. We shall be working on our own drama and music production next term which will be performed at three concerts towards the end of March – watch this space!

You are warmly invited to our Christmas Nativity Service in Great Easton church on Tuesday 19th December at 10.00 am. At the service the children in Year 1 will help to tell the Christmas story by dressing up as the characters, supported by the rest of the school in music and words. This will be a fitting start to our holiday, reminding us about what happened at the very first Christmas and the message of hope and peace that it brings for everyone.

Gill Hopkins

Headteacher

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

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Sunday 26th November	Felsted Choral Society evening
Thurs/Fri/Sat 30th Nov/1st/2nd December	Bardfield Players Sweeny Todd
Friday 1st December	Christmas Bazaar, Great Easton School
Friday 1st and 8th December	Light Up A Life Ceremonies
Saturday 2nd December	Christmas by Candlelight in Thaxted Church
Sunday 3rd December	Stansted Village Music Club
Tuesday 5th December	Good Companions Christmas Tea
Thursday 7th December	Ivy Club Christmas Dinner
Sunday 10th December	Carols by Candlelight, Tilty
Sunday 10th December	Broxted Children's Christmas Party
Tuesday 12th December	Carol Singing, The Swan
Wednesday 13th December	MU Christmas Party
Thursday 14th December	WI Christmas Lunch
Thursday 14th December	Carol Singing, The Three Horseshoes
Sunday 17th December	Candlelight Crib Service, Broxted
Monday 18th December	Carol Singing, Prince of Wales
Tuesday 19th December	School Christmas Nativity Service
Tuesday 19th December	Senior Citizens' Christmas Party, Duton Hill
Thursday 21st December	Carol Singing, The Stag
Saturday 17th March	Race Night in Little Easton