PARISH COUNCIL MEETING – THURSDAY 21st MARCH 2013The Parish Council held its latest meeting on Thursday 21 March at the village hall, Stambourne.

Pavilion - Oscar reported that the pavilion roof is in need of repair. Consideration was given to incorporating this work in with the rubber mesh and cleaning and making one single grant application for the work. Oscar will make an assessment of what work is required and report back.

Playing field – The parish council made a successful application for a pack of young trees from the Woodlands Trust. The trees are a mixture of rowan, cherry and birch and have now been planted on the playing field. We hope that they will all thrive and grow on the field.

Highways – The state of the roads within the parish is a continuing problem. The potholes can be reported direct to Essex County Council on www.essex.gov.uk/reportahighwayproblem. We will continue to report potholes in as soon as we are aware of them.

Footpaths – We have been in contact with the Footpaths Officer requesting some non-slip surfaces for some of the footbridges on the local footpaths. We are hopeful that 2 bridges in the parish may be replaced completely next year and one other will have the non slip surface fitted in the new financial year.

Parish Plan – Thank you to those of you who came forward following the item in the last newsletter. We will be in contact with you soon to detail the next stage.

Finance and your Council tax – You may have noticed an increase in the parish element of your Council tax information sent to you recently. Each November the parish council has to decide its budget for the next financial year. In the year 2011/12 the amount was £3,999, in the year 2012/13 it was £3,399 and for the year 2013/14 £4,000 has been budgeted. As you can see there was a drop in the figures for 2012/13 which has been increased only to the amount budgeted in the year 2011/12.

Overall, Stambourne has one of the smallest outgoings in the area and the Parish Council are extremely mindful of keeping any costs to the absolute minimum.

Debbie Hilliard
Parish Clerk
Tel: 01440 785629
Email: Debbie.hilliard@duffields.co.uk
PARISH SWEEPING DATES

Braintree District Council will carry out channel sweeping on the following dates this year:-

Monday 10 June 2013, Monday 30 September 2013, Wednesday 15 January 2014 and Tues 6 May 2014.

ST. PETER & ST. THOMAS BECKET PARISH CHURCH

Mothering Sunday has just been and gone and I have been reflecting on my mum and her memory. My mum is fast approaching eighty and is having trouble remembering names and simple instructions. Her long term memory is fine however.

As we get older our memories tend not to be as sharp as they once were and as the population gets older, Dementia and memory loss are becoming more common.

I have visited a Residential Home near here where they have built an old fashioned sweet shop and installed old fashioned telephones in order to make those with memory loss feel more comfortable.
Churches also can help those with memory loss feel more comfortable, by using services that are traditional and familiar, as well as more modern ones. I have been told that nuns cope better than most with memory loss because of the repetitive order of their daily lives. My mum is a server at her local church and the vicar has changed some of the order of serving him and this has thrown mum a bit.

The Church Times featured an article about this issue last week and it stated that although people with Dementia cannot remember the words of worship for God, they will often remember with their hearts and bodies and will sway and pray during a service. People who seem disconnected from life suddenly become connected during worship.
As a church there is much we can do to care for our elderly parishioners with memory loss.
And it is worth remembering that when we forget God he never forgets us.
God Bless

Barbara

NEW PARISH ELECTORAL ROLE – IMPORTANT NOTICE

ST PETER & ST THOMAS, STAMBOURNE

Under the Church Representation Rules, the Parochial Church Council of Stambourne Church are required this year to renew the Electoral Role for the Parish.

Notice is therefore given, that all persons wishing to be enrolled on the new Electoral Role for the Parish, must notify the Church Electoral Roll Officer by 4th April 2013. If this newsletter reaches you after this date, please return the form as soon as possible.

Persons on the previous Electoral Role must also re apply.

The Electoral Role is key to ensuring that Stambourne Church is well represented within the local Diocese and helps to ensure our Church remains secured for future generations.

Please contact:
Nick Haywood
Church Electoral Roll Officer
Little Tagley
Finchingfield Road
Stambourne CO9 4NG
Tel:01440 788452
Email: nghaywood@btinternet.com

STAMBOURNE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH Adrian Burr
ART, MUSIC & POETRY WEEKEND

What a weekend we had! The artists brought their pictures and the poets brought poems and we are grateful to the Toppesfield school for allowing us to show both produced by pupils.

On Friday afternoon Kevin Moore from Face2Face, a charity that uses art to help young people, came and allowed several of us to explore a miracle in art (in more ways than one!!). We chose the miracle we wanted to portray, and then in groups produced a picture to represent that event. We were greatly helped by Kevin who quickly sketched us at work too! You can see a report with pictures at Kevin’s web site www.face2facetrust.org.uk/news/2013/03/great-art-adventures/ !

Saturday lunch time over 45 people enjoyed a Ploughman’s lunch accompanied by the Jazz of Emma Hagger from Ipswich (Piano) and David Ward from Dereham (Double Bass). They were greatly appreciated and there was an atmosphere of warmth and joy, despite the freezing temperatures and the snow!!

We auctioned a painting from Belarus to support a lady who needs a life-saving operation, which will cost her £1600 (no free medical care there.) Saturday evening Daniel Cozens brought another 20 of his paintings to show us and gave a lovely talk on his work and his faith. We started our worship time on Sunday at 10am and Mark Inman gave an interesting talk on Creation and how the Bible and science fit together so well. He is an earth scientist by training, but sees no conflict between the Bible account of creation and the physical evidence that is drawn from the geological record. Rev’d Richard Caink then talked about two paintings – one 15th and the other 16th century, and explained their thinking and their meaning. One was of the death of Jesus and the other of Mary meeting Jesus in the garden after his resurrection. Both speakers provided links to our theme and showed how our faith is still relevant today.

So the weekend was busy, enjoyable, well received and we, at the chapel, would like to thank everyone who took part, who visited and enjoyed the art works, the poems and the music, and who helped in any way at all. We appreciate the support we have had and can’t thank everyone enough for the encouragement. People keep saying “...and when we do it again....” and apparently I turn white.... Well perhaps not quite... We’ll wait and see whether this should be a regular event....

News
We have completed the second series in our exploration of the Bible entitled “Why Salvation?”. We looked at Why Abraham and discovered God’s big plan for this world. We continue this starting on 13th June and every Thursday thereafter for six weeks at 2:30pm looking at “Why Jesus?”

As events unfold before us with the continued credit difficulties and recession, with countries coming close to bankruptcy, continued violence in different parts of the world, we look out on a peaceful Stambourne and think “Why us?” Was it the prayers of great forefathers such as Henry Havers and James Spurgeon that has saved us? Or the deeds of our parents? Or even our own small faith? The Bible is quite clear as to where the world is headed. Maybe not yet, but maybe sooner than we expect. Even so we are told to be ready, to read the signs and to understand. In Matthew 24:36 Jesus says “No one knows the day or hour”, but in that passage we are being warned to be ready...

Activities for Spring
Our next activity is a meal followed by watching a film together. All are invited. We are considering “Not Quite and Angel” with Paul Hogan in the lead role – an amusing and fun film for the family watch for the advert and the date.....

Preachers at Chapel in April and May

7th April Harry Creswell
14th Communion – Adrian Burr
21st Chris Stirling
28th Adrian Burr, worship led by the band
5th May Brian Mead
12th Communion – Adrian Burr
19th Harry Creswell
26th Adrian Burr, worship led by band and to include a wedding blessing
2nd June Mark Inman

Activities
Open Church is every Tuesday morning at 10am, with prayer at 9:30am
Band Practice is at 7:30pm on Tuesdays – all welcome to come and listen

Adrian Burr, Minister, 07983 656166

PICNIC IN THE PARK
Sunday 2nd June
3pm onwards

Bring your own picnic and join in the fun

CELEBRATE THE CORONATION 60 years ago
www.stambourne.com


It is with much pleasure you are invited to
Our village Picnic for friends and you

We celebrate the coronation 60 years ago
A nice occasion to have a picnic don’t you know

Smiles and laughter with family and friends
Bring a brolly because of our weather trends

Look on the bright side and the sun may be out
So bring along your bright sunhat we shout

Looking forward to seeing you all there
For a lovely day we can all share

Bring and Share Picnic. Don't forget to bring along a rug or your favourite deckchair to sit on, your parasols, a game to play, some sunshine and, most importantly, your smiles!

Can anyone help us find a sound system (amplifier) that we can plug an iPod docking station into for our background tracks on the day?TOPPESFIELD SCHOOL Kim Hall

Well it's a been a busy term at St Margaret's with the children engaged in some exciting experiences including a visit from author Jack Trelawny who shared stories with the children and happily signed copies of books purchased as a keepsake for the children. As part of world book day we also had the travelling book fair in and raised £526.45 which gives the school over £220 to spend on books. Thank you to everyone who supported.

The children and staff had a great day dressing up as one of their favourite book characters and later listening to staff share their favourite book with the children.
The author this week was very good and the children seem very enthralled by the series of books we have in the class. They are quite easy to get through too with short chapters!

At the consortium swimming competition everyone did really well. We were just 2 points behind coming 3rd this year, a brilliant achievement; well done to all the children, especially Sophie who came first and Holly who came second in their individual races.

An exciting development is the decision to extend to four classes from September.
You have probably noticed that the number of children in the school has been steadily rising over the last couple of years and we now have a good understanding of the numbers expected to join us in September. Our expectation is that we will have at least 84 children on roll at that time.
Having received our budget allocation for the financial year beginning in April we have been crunching the numbers and we are pleased to announce that we will be moving to a four class structure with effect from September. The immediate effect will be smaller class sizes and less of an age range within those classes; both of which, we believe, will enhance the learning experience of your children.
We are all very excited about the move and an advert has been placed for a fourth teacher.

Jumble Sale

Saturday 4th May 2pm

Including a cake stall

Any cakes will be welcome

Any one wanting to bring Jumble we will be open on Friday
morning 10 - 12am and afternoon 2-4pm
and again in the evening 7-9.

Saturday morning we will be open 10-12. More helpers needed please.

All proceeds to Essex Air Ambulance.

If any one wants jumble picked up
please ring Lois on 01440785720.

Lois Hunter

TV FILMING IN FINCHINGFIELD – “CHICKENS”

Big Talk Productions will be filming scenes for their new comedy "Chickens" in Finchingfeld in April.

Chickens is a new 6 episode comedy for Sky and tells the story of a village at the start of the First World War where all the men have gone to war, leaving behind a village of women and three young men who are doing their best to avoid joining the Army.

Filming is scheduled for five days starting on Monday 15th April. The hours are currently schedules as:
Monday 15th 0900 – 2000 hrs
Tuesday 16th 1300 – 0000 hrs
Wednesday 17th 1300 – 0000 hrs
Thursday 18th 1200 – 2300 hrs
Friday 19th 1100 – 2130 hrs

The majority of the filming will take place on the village green with some scenes taking place on the other side of the bridge at the junction of The Causeway and Church Hill.

As the series is set in 1914 it will be necessary to make some alterations to the appearance of the village, for example covering road markings, removal of street signs etc.

We will be also be putting in place 4 sets of temporary traffic lights on the main roads into Finchingfield. Traffic will be held for up to five minutes during each "take" and then released. We will be putting up road signs three weeks before filming to warn drivers of delays in the village during filming; we are also planning to place an advertisement in the local paper suggesting that people who use the roads through Finchingfield as a "cut through" seek an alternative route.

We will do our best to minimise any delays and ask for your co-operation and patience where possible during the week of filming. We will be looking for women to be background extras in the series so if you would like to be involved in any of the filming please contact Georgie Fallon on 07866 509 402 or georgie@bigtalkproductions.com who can give you all the details

http://www.bigtalkproductions.com/chickens/
CHARITY BARN DANCE, BIRDBROOK

Raising money for The Essex Air Ambulance & The West Suffolk Hospital Trust

Saturday 25th May @ Bailey Hill Farm, Birdbrook

From 7:30 Music @ 8
Hog Roast @ 9

Ticket only Event

Tickets £12.50 includes Hog Roast, Licensed Bar, Raffle

For more information and to book your ticket call 01440 788 211 or email barn.dance@yahoo.co.uk


Stambourne Ladies Group

We meet every second Wednesday in the month at 7:30pm at the Village hall Stambourne

Membership is £10 per year Jan to Dec and £1 each visit or £2 as a guest

We have a speaker talking on a range of subjects and refreshments over the year

Please contact Vanessa on 01440 785122 for any information


DIARY DATES
APRIL
3rd & 17th, Mobile Library, Chapel End Way (16.35), Village Hall (16.55)
10th, Stambourne Ladies Group, 7.30pm, Village Hall

MAY
1st, 15th & 29th, Mobile Library, Chapel End Way (16.35), Village Hall (16.55)
8th, Stambourne Ladies Group, 7.30pm, Village Hall
4th, Jumble Sale, 2pm, Village Hall
16th, Parish Council Meeting, 7.30pm, Village Hall
25th, Barn Dance, 7.30 Bailey Hill Farm, Birdbrook

JUNE
2nd, Picnic in the Park, 3pm onwards. CELEBRATE THE
CORONATION 60 years ago


Items for the next Newsletter by 17th June Steve Platt Tel : 01440 785638 or Mobile : 07767 357016 Email : me@stephenplatt.com