Village News and Events

in Boxted and Langham

Faces of the Village

Pictured above: Jonathan and Camille who recently completed a litter pick along part of Straight Road and the western end of Langham Road

Jonathan and Camille moved to Thatchers, Mill Road, Boxted in October 2019. They are both keen gardeners and DIY-ers and can often be seen working outside the house or in the garden.

They are both fortunate to be able to work from home during these difficult times and are greatly enjoying the ability to get out in the fresh air, either in the garden or on walks around the village.

Jonathan and Camille are both professional Geologists and have a keen interest in the natural world and local history, both human and geological.

Jonathan was recently co-opted to Boxted Parish Council.

Anyone who is interested in signing up to be part of a regular rota of volunteer litter pickers can contact the co-ordinator, Stephen Whybrow 07801 749575 or email stephenwhybrow@msn.com . Yellow safety vests and litter picking pick up tools can be provided.

Rubbish!

Following on from Stephen Whybrow’s piece about litter picking in a past newsletter, here’s a photo of what Steve Mann collected and sorted this week from 400m of Straight Road and Horkesely Road.

Most of the volume is plastic drinks bottles and metal drinks cans thrown from cars which, as well as being unsightly, also means they don’t get recycled.

We can do better than this! Please don’t let people, young or old, throw litter from your car.

Have your say on the countryside and transport

Natural England is seeking your views on how we can refresh the Countryside Code. This is an opportunity to influence it:

To find out more and to participate (can take up to 25 minutes, but you can skip questions if you’re short of time), go to https://defragroup.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9sosQ0YlnPyfv3T

To guide people visiting the countryside. It also has a duty to advise landowners and managers in relation to access on their land.

Transport East is developing an ambitious Transport Strategy for the East of England, setting out a vision for a future of inclusive and sustainable transport over the next 30 years.

To make sure the Transport Strategy delivers positive outcomes for everyone, we want to better understand the views of local people. By being clear on the direction of travel, we can then focus on delivering a Transport Strategy to provide a route-map for this exciting journey.

Your feedback will help us to identify the region’s priorities. This information will help us develop new transport policies and projects to make the East of England a better place to live, work, learn and visit.

To take part in this survey, visit  https://www.transporteastfeedback.org/

Do we really need a wider bridge?

Petition update

“Our studies also recognise the difficulty that refuse collection and emergency service vehicles have when trying to navigate the junction currently.” (Essex Highways). Click on the image above to watch the latest video.

Save our bridge! For more information and to sign the petition, please head to  https://www.change.org/p/essex-county-council-save-our-bridge

Bank scams

Beware of fraudulent texts and emails from organisations claiming to be your bank. Here’s an example of what to look out for:

Church services

• St Mary’s Langham: The precautions now recommended for Covid 19 security are not at present practicable in St Mary’s Church and therefore, taking Episcopal advice, this church is closed for the time-being. Therefore St Mary’s is closed for private prayer for the time being as well as well as for gathered services.
• St Peter’s Boxted: Dominic has advised that he has been able to complete the necessary risk assessment for St Peter’s and therefore Boxted will remain open each day for private prayer (this may change if the restrictions change but for the time being it can remain open)

A weekly service is streamed via Zoom.  This week we welcome Bishop Roger who will be leading, preaching and presiding at the service.

Topic: Sunday Service
Time: This is a recurring meeting 9:50 am

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88066393276?pwd=Z25OMWtBVDBVWEw3ZEpHZ0hYYXpJZz09

Meeting ID: 880 6639 3276
Passcode: 909659

• Download the order of service for Candlemas here
• If you have children who wish to colour in a picture and you have access to a printer, download the presentation of Christ colouring sheet here

Please email lwb.wb.gh.parishes@gmail.com to request details of the zoom link; a recording of the service is available from Sunday afternoon at the following link:

https://lb-churches.co.uk/streamed-services/

Volunteers needed!

Stephen Whybrow is seeking volunteers to help co-ordinate the fund-raising effort for this year. He writes:

“As we are all aware Langham with Boxted Church Finances have been badly hit by the pandemic. Traditional fundraising events will not be practicable for some months, so we will be launching two online fundraising initiatives which can be supported from home. However we will still need a raft of volunteers to participate!”

The two initiatives are

1) eBay Sales of unwanted items

This was run with great success by Patsy Ann Maggs as part of the St Peter’s Tower fundraising so we know it works. Patsy Ann has agreed to mastermind the initiative again and will handle all the eBay offers and the dispatch/collection of the sold items. However success will depend on having a flow of items to sell throughout 2021.in addition to identifying items which you no longer have use for and are prepared to donate we are looking for a group of ten or more volunteers who are prepared to ask their friends, families and neighbours for similar donations. Guidance will be prepared as to the sort of items which will sell and which we are looking for and also those items which will not and which we should avoid.

2) Virtual Plant Sale

Over the years plant sales have been a productive means of raising funds and with the ever growing interest in gardening and the growing cost of plants this is likely to continue. Although much remains to be worked out the essence of the ideas is that volunteers will contribute plants from their gardens and that these will be offered for sale on a website at very attractive prices. I am looking for lots of volunteers to contribute plants in 2021, a couple of volunteers to help with the planning and coordination and someone to set up and manage a website!

“Please please help Patsy Ann and myself succeed with these Covid safe fundraisings.”

You can contact Stephen on 01206 272773 / 07801749575 or email  stephenwhybrow@msn.com

In brief …

Your quick reference guide to newsletter regulars.

Mobile library

Following the latest Government guidelines the mobile library service is suspended until further notice.

To keep up to date with any changes please visit the Mobile Library Service website

Thursday opening times for the Post Office at the Langham Community Shop are from 12.30 to 4.00 pm.

Monday opening times remain the same at 9.00 am to 12.30 pm.

Remember that this service is still available online. Michael Smith at Colchester Borough Council is still offering digital support via a remote service. See the Council’s webpage  or, for further information.

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

Useful links:

Boxted Parish Council
Boxted Village Hall
Boxted Village Website
Boxted Neighbourhood Plan
Boxted Primary School
Boxted British Legion

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Newsletter editor: Angela McLauchlan : Design and layout: Shirley Szymanek