18th April 2020

Village News and Events

in Boxted and Langham

Welcome to this week’s newsletter. This week, there is some useful information from the Council, Cosmic Kids yoga online and some support from Essex County Council which provides a service for the most vulnerable in our community.

If you wish to have an item included in this newsletter, please submit by Thursday 5pm at the latest. Thank you.

Stay safe everyone.

Beautiful Boxted

Anne Slater has captured this spring tree blossom on a beautiful sunny day.

Village life in lockdown

John and his partner Rachel have lived in Mill Road since 2000. They arrived with three young children who all went to Boxted Primary School. Two are at home during the current lockdown, while the eldest is now living and working in London.

They are getting lots of gardening and odd jobs done while stuck at home, although John is quite busy and working from home most days. He was on the phone to his boss recently from his “home office” when a bird came down the chimney – it wasn’t easy to keep the conversation going with a starling flapping about!

Mill Road residents have formed a “Boxted Mill Road C-19 Support Group” on Facebook, and John is also a volunteer for the Boxted Good Neighbours scheme (see most recent village newsletter). Rachel works at a Colchester primary school as a school counsellor and the lockdown means that she now sees children using video calls instead of face to face. It isn’t ideal but at least she can maintain contact and identify any children or families who are having problems.

They say they feel extremely lucky to be living in the countryside where they can easily get out for a nice long walk with their retriever Cassie. Having a reasonably large garden also helps – imagine living in a tower block in the current situation, it must be very tough.

Good Neighbours covers both Boxted and Langham and provides support with requests such as prescription collections, doctors appointments or just to have a friendly chat! Thanks to both telephone operators and responders for all they’re doing.

To help protect our volunteers, we ask people who have or suspect they may have symptoms of coronavirus not to request transport to or from medical or other appointments.

Monday to Friday, 8 am to 7 pm

Monday: 230525 or 272773
Tuesday: 273804 or 271079
Wednesday: 272755 or 272774 (please note this new number, which has been recently updated)
Thursday: 322301 or 272599
Friday: 273301 or 271813

PLEASE PHONE THE NUMBER(S) SHOWN FOR THE DAY ON WHICH YOU MAKE YOUR CALL
If there is no reply, please do not leave a message but RING ANY OTHER NUMBER.

Digital help at home

There will be no digital help at the Hub for the time being, but fear not! You can still go online and get help and support.

Colchester Borough Council is still offering digital support via a remote service. See the Council’s webpage ( https://www.colchester.gov.uk/digitalaccesssupport/ ) or, for further information, contact:

Colchester 01206 282 452/ Clacton 01255 686497
Email: Digitalaccesssupport@colchester.gov.uk

Get updates on Coronavirus from the government and take part in the latest symptom survey

You can get the latest information from GOV.UK straight to your mailbox. Sign up here :

The Government is asking you to share your coronavirus symptoms to help others. This will help the NHS to co-ordinate its response. https://www.nhs.uk/coronavirus-status-checker

As anticipated, we are now seeing a high demand for assistance with food and household essentials from elderly and vulnerable Boxted residents. We are now giving out care packages to our elderly, fragile and isolated members of the Boxted community.

We would like to support also any NHS workers in Boxted who are in dire need of help. The vast majority of people that we are assisting right now are well-known to us, and are those most in need

Therefore we would like to ask you if you might, from time to time, be able to donate ANY food, fresh or non-perishable, loo roll, household products or ladies’ sanitary wear/Tena products.

Donations may be collected by us from your doorstep, or you can deliver them to the doorstep of the Hub, Tuesday to Friday inclusive, 10 am till 2 pm.

We encourage everyone to join as one community. We have asked the vulnerable and elderly to get in touch with us should they need any help with the following:

Food supplies
Basic household essentials
Pick-up or refill of prescriptions
A friendly chat

We also offer a ‘meals on wheels service’ that you can order by telephone and which we can deliver to residents of Boxted.

You can contact us via telephone:
DAYTIME 01206 272129
EVENINGS: 07488 345019

https://www.facebook.com/boxtedhub/

Please note that the service we offer is primarily for those Boxted residents over 70 and those in most urgent need – who are vulnerable in these difficult times.

Please note that, whilst we are not open, we are operating a very successful home delivery service to anybody living in Boxted and Langham, not just those who are self isolating because of age/health conditions.

We are also continuing to have a post office service available at the shop. Thursdays from 9am until 12.30pm. The shop will not be open as volunteers will be working to receive deliveries and make up telephoned orders for our customers, but Post Office customers will be able to enter the shop one at a time just to use the Post Office.

Please respect your distance to help keep us all safe.

We are very grateful to Postmaster Chris who will be coming along to provide the service.
Please pass this message on to all friends and neighbours who do not have access to social media.

Cosmic Kids

Yoga and mindfulness for children aged 3+. Get them to chill out during lockdown!

https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

Church services

Churches can longer be kept open as places for prayer and solace.Therefore all churches will be locked and will remain so until further notice.

Should you require prayer please contact Revd Mandy Elmes via email lwb.wb.gh.parishes@gmail.com .

Sunday services are now on the St Mary’s West Bergholt Website for all to view. This requires no Facebook account and therefore means everyone can access the recorded services. They will be uploaded on Sunday afternoons for as long as services are streamed.

“Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you”

1 Peter 5-7

Essex Welfare Services

Essex County Council has established the Essex Welfare Services as part of PROVIDE (a health and social care service). EWS has been set up to assist the most vulnerable in the community to allow them to access shopping, medicine and other support.

This week and going forwards, GP surgeries will be calling, sending out SMS text messages or posting letters to those who are 70 or older or are offered a flu jab due to pre-existing medical conditions. This is because these people are identified as being vulnerable and having to self-isolate for prolonged periods of time and therefore potentially require additional support.

You may potentially receive a call from the National Shielding Helpline on 0333 3050466 – this is NOT a scam. However, the phoneline is not live and you may receive a message saying they will try again soon.

When they call back, the caller may ask for some details such as your name and NHS number to confirm they are speaking to someone who is deemed as vulnerable, but they will never ask you for details such as you National Insurance Number or bank details.

There are concerns that this service has not been widely publicised and therefore people are leaving reviews on trust sites saying that this is a scam due to the caller asking whether the person is vulnerable or not. It is important that this misinformation is not spread as it could lead to vulnerable individuals missing out on essential support: https://www.essexwelfareservice.org.uk

Scams

Grahame Stehle
Colchester Neighbourhood Watch

Following on from last week, there is no let up in communications about Coronavirus related scams and I point you to Victim Support in our web site – https://colchesternhw.org.uk/partnerships/ Here you will find advice for individuals and groups.

The lockdown has raised concerns about the possibility of Domestic Violence and Coercive Behaviour. Click here for more on this – https://colchesternhw.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2020/04/Domestic-Abuse-and-Coercive-Control.pdf .

Finally, there is a downloadable leaflet about coronavirus scams entitled ‘Wash your hands of coronavirus scame’. Download the leaflet here .

Covid-19 information pack for residents

Colchester Borough Council, in partnership with One Colchester, has produced a comprehensive information pack to help guide residents through the continuing COVID-19 crisis.

The easy-to-read digital guide contains useful links, advice and guidance on all aspects of life that COVID-19 touches on. From community resources, local online support groups and social distancing guidance, to wellbeing and mental health support and much, much more.

Find the information pack here

Avoid lighting bonfires during coronavirus crisis

We know it’s hard right now for residents to have to manage their rubbish and recycling, because of our reduced collection service, but we would please ask you not to burn it.

There are serious health implications linked to bonfires. Smoke from bonfires can aggravate pre-existing respiratory conditions, like asthma and COPD. That is why we are asking residents to think about their neighbours and not to dispose of waste (garden or any other) by burning it.

For advice on how to reduce, reuse and store your recycling, click here

Stay at Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives

Please continue to check our dedicated webpage at colchester.gov.uk/coronavirus/ and our social media channels to keep informed of the latest news on the council’s work to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and any changes to its services.

For the latest public health guidance visit gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public

We thank you for your patience and understanding and wish you well during this time.

Faeces of the Village

Back by unpopular demand – a reminder about picking up after your furry friend. Please, please do it. With more of us taking to the footpaths during lockdown, it’s even more important that we keep our villages clean.

It has been noted by residents that there is a sharp increase in the amount of dog poo decorating the sides of footpaths and, disgracefully, in the farmers’ fields. There’s no excuse – picking up your dog’s poo is an important part of being a responsible dog owner. In 2016 a public space protection order (PSPO) was introduced in Colchester against the anti–social behaviour of dog fouling.

Under the above PSPO, owners are required to clear up after their dogs in public areas. Failure to do this will result in a fixed penalty charge of £100 or a fine in court of up to £1000.

Next visit:
Saturday 25th April 5-8pm

Boxted Royal British Legion car park

Useful websites for essentials

During these unprecedented times, you may find it useful to order some essential items online. Please be aware that these sites are currently experiencing high levels of usage, so you may find it difficult to access the supplies they offer.

Milk and More

https://www.milkandmore.co.uk

Colchester Dairy

https://www.facebook.com/Colchesterdairy/

Who Gives a Crap Toilet Rolls

https://uk.whogivesacrap.org

Facebook

A Facebook group, ” Colchester Borough Emergency Coordinations Group “, has been set up consisting of people offering help and support during this difficult period.