cotton parish council village newsletter spring...
TRANSCRIPT
Cotton Parish Council Village Newsletter
Spring 2017
Front cover contribution of 2017 Lambs and Daffodils from Andrew Mutimer
Cut off date for Summer edition of Cotton Quarterly is Friday 21st
April 2017. All contributions to be sent to
Cotton Oil Buyers Saturday April 1st Saturday July 1st Saturday October 7th Saturday December 2nd Contact 01449 781127 or 07845068679 [email protected] We will now take new members within 3 miles of Cotton so please let any family or friends know
It is with a heavy heart that we bring to you the sad
news of the passing of John Hales. John sadly passed
away in January after his battle with Cancer. John
was a highly thought of resident of the village since
living here his whole life. As a former worker of
Muntons, the company showed their respect by
displaying their flag at half mast from the day John
passed and up until his funeral. An avid Norwich City supporter, John was
also paid tribute to in the Norwich City football programme on a match day
where Norwich won!
I myself felt very privileged to have known John as he spent many mornings
with me and my horses. He was always such a positive and friendly man
welcoming us, along with others into the village. He would tell me stories
and reminisce on the ‘good olde days’. We would share jokes and banter.
John is and will continue to be sorely missed. R.I.P John Hales. I will miss
your waves from the window whenever I go past
Written by Danielle Whitmore
Reg. Charity no: 1080734
CARTERS
M E A D O W
Volunteers Turn Up In Record Numbers
January’s Work party witnessed a record number of willing helpers, the morning was spent clearing scrub having a bonfire and preparing the meadow for the year ahead. It was wonderful to see so many people of all ages pitching in. If you would like to join in the hedge clearing, bonfire making, tractor driving or brewing the tea.
You will be made very welcome
Work Parties
Sunday March 5th
Sunday April 2nd
Sunday May 7th
All work parties start at 10.00am until noon
Thank You Tony & Jeannie
To mark their moving to Northern climes, founding volunteers Tony & Jeannie Hutchinson planted a Yew Tree and a Holly Tree, to mark their 15 years of hard work and dedication to our woodland We wish them every happiness in their new home, and thank them for their inspirational part in making Carters Meadow what it is today
Parish Council The Parish Council met on the 16
th January 2017 when a precept of
£6000.00 pa was agreed.
It was decided to award the contract for maintaining the village hall playing field to AJC Trees, Bacton Football Club will continue to cut the grass on the football pitch.
The problem of potholes in Willow Lane and Dandy Corner have been reported to the Highways Department who should be dealing with the matter
At last the posts for the Vehicle Activated Signs have been erected although not quite in the positions requested. However the Council will go ahead in purchasing the equipment, funding for which is being provided by S.C.C. Councillor Stringer. The signs will indicate the actual speed of vehicles passing and will store the information. This information will be analysed and if particular problems are highlighted the Police and Suffolk County Council Highways Department. will be informed hopefully dealing with the problem in the appropriate way.
Councillor Knight has resigned from the Council due to business commitments, the Council wish to thank him for his contributions during his spell as Councillor. As there is now a vacancy the Council will be co-opting a new Councillor as soon as possible.
The Parish Council will have met on the 6th March a report of this meeting will appear
in the Parish magazine and the minutes will be on the website along with the date of the next meeting.
The Annual Parish meeting will be held on Thursday 18th of May at 7.30pm in the village hall when you will be able to meet representative of village organisation and hear their reports. The Annual Parish Council meeting will be held on Wednesday 24
th
of May again in the village hall at 7.30pm.
This is my last report for the magazine as I will be retiring from the post of Parish Clerk at the end of March. Hopefully by the time you read this a new clerk will have been appointed. I would like to thank Councillors past & present plus Cotton’s residents for their help and support over the last 12 years
Village web-site www.cotton.onesuffolk.net
Facebook Cotton Parish Grapevine
Colin Hall Parish Clerk
VACANCY
The Parish Council has a vacancy for a Councillor, if you would like to con-tribute to the community and can spare a few evenings a year please con-tact the Parish Council Chairman, Peter Gibbs on 01449 781308 or email
Annual Parish meeting
The Annual Parish meeting will be held on Thursday 18
th of May 2017
at 7.30pm. Come along and meet representatives from village organizations hear their reports and ask questions. Light refreshments
will be served.
Bacton & Cotton Local History Society
Film Night
Historic Films to be shown
Three very special films of Bury St. Edmunds Historical Pageants, staged
in the Abbey Gardens, are being shown by Bacton & Cotton Local History
Society in Bacton village hall at 7.30 pm on Tuesday, 16th May. This is a
great opportunity to see this rare footage of the Pageants of 1907, 1959 and
1970. Indeed, you, family and friends may well have been to one of these
Pageants and talked about it. Professor Paul Readman of Kings College,
London will give a short introductory talk to each film.
This unique event will be widely advertised and promoted so do make a
note in your diary now to come along. (A small charge will be made by the
History Society of £ 3 for non-Members and £ 2 for Members).
Village Hall After over 10 years on the Cotton Village Hall Committee, John and
Ann Doherty have stepped down from their roles. As Chairman, John
as instrumental in driving the much needed renovations and improvements to the village hall.
Along with Ann, their tremendous support and unrelenting efforts in running the hall and
organising many social events, gave a new lease of life to a much loved community facility. On
behalf of all those who have benefitted, past and future, the Committee would like to express
their heartfelt thanks for all that they have given.
After John and Ann’s departure we urgently need new members! Come and meet our friendly
bunch at the next Village Hall Committee meeting on the 17th May or talk to any of us before-
hand. Have your say about what happens in and to the Village Hall!
QUIZ NIGHTS
QUIZ MASTER 7.30pm start
10th March - ?
16th June - Peter Mead
15th Sept - James Hanlon
8th Dec - ?
Any budding Quiz Masters out there???? If you think you can
take on the collective intelligence of the Villagers in our popular
Quiz Nights then we have two dates still available. Contact any
of the committee members for further information.
Christmas Floral Workshop
Many thanks to all the ladies who attended this event on Saturday 17th December. A most enjoyable morning was had by all who attended. We are most grateful to
Mrs Christine Marston who gave us an excellent demonstration and then allowed us to raid her store of ribbon and cones etc. to add to our arrangements.
Almost £200 was raised for St Andrew’s Church, Cotton and we hope to repeat this
event next December.
Thank you again for your valued support.
Julie Bullock
Cotton Community Circle Club & Café Dates
At Cotton Village Hall
Tuesday 14th March 2-4pm Community Circle Club
Tuesday 28th March 2-4pm Community Circle Club
Saturday 8th April 10am-12noon Community Circle Cafe
Tuesday 11th April 2-4pm Community Circle Club
Tuesday 25th April 2-4pm Community Circle Cafe
Tuesday 9th May 2-4pm Community Circle Club
Saturday 20th May 10am-12noon Community Circle Club
Tuesday 23rd May 2-4pm Community Circle Café
Tuesday 13th June 2-4pm Community Circle Club
Tuesday 27th June 2-4pm Community Circle Club
Saturday 1st July 10am-12noon Community Circle Café
Tuesday 12th September 2-4pm Community Circle Club
Saturday 23rd September 10am-12noon Community Circle Café
Tuesday 26th September 2-4pm Community Circle Club
Last Friday of the month at Cotton Village Hall. Eyes down at 7pm and it is open to everyone.
DATES FOR 2017 MARCH 31ST AUGUST 25TH APRIL 28TH SEPT 29TH MAY 26TH OCT 27TH JUNE 30TH NOV 24TH JULY 28TH DEC 29TH
Parochial Church Council St Andrews Church Cotton
“Parochial Church Council” - sounds a bit pretentious doesn’t it, but that is what the body responsible for the church management side is called by law; it’s a “body corporate” and as such has a legal existence apart from the members who compose it! Speaking of which like every small charitable body nowadays ( yes, we a charity also) we need fresh blood and thinking to keep us in touch with all of YOU as we are all elected each year by people of the parish of Cotton whose names are on our Electoral Roll - so make sure your names are on it (contact Diana Stevenson the person respon-sible on 780121). But even if you are not on that list, if you are on the register of local government electors you can also help choose the churchwardens at our annual meeting which this year will be held on SUNDAY 12th March at 12 noon after morning service IN THE CHURCH - so do please join us that day - it is a civic duty! Many thanks are due to Julie Bullock and family for a most successful pre-Christmas table decorations session at the village hall; very well attended I hear with supporting cast of refreshments and materials from the local countryside! Well done! We are organising another Flower Festival this year, which will be over the weekend of 24/25th June and our resident organiser Christine Marston (781567) will be chasing everyone for contributions again soon! The theme this year will be “Favourite Hymns” so something to keep in mind and have us looking forward to those warm summer months - no reason not to be optimistic! Our service that Sunday will again be a Songs of Praise when we can sing together some of the hymns celebrated in the floral compositions we will have seen over the weekend . There will also be the usual plant and bookstall; entry will be free but donations gratefully received! Works undertaken at the church under present grants have been mentioned in this column in no less than SEVEN previous issues (as well as in required publicly posted notices); by the time this issue reaches your hands we shall at last have completed all the works for which finance is currently available. After a further period of time we shall be able to observe and measure the degree to which improvements to external drainage and plaster removal have been effective in resolving an age old problem; however we are under no illusion that we may not yet have to explore beneath the internal floor around the font! It is also obvious that we shall need to resurface the deteriorating footpaths very soon if funds are made available; and then the bells may become a priority again - a great deal of work for a few! However all thanks to those who support churchyard working parties throughout the year - much significant work has been with the achieved, as well as those family members who lovingly maintain their own sacred spaces.
EASTER PERIOD SERVICES will fall on Palm Sunday 9th April at 11.00 a.m. , on Maundy Thursday 13th April with Holy Communion at 7p.m. and on Easter Day 16th April with Holy Communion at 11.00 a.m. as usual.
Mervyn Walker
one of the Churchwardens - for Cotton PCC
Bacton & Cotton Local History Society
7.30 pm Bacton village hall Members £2 Non-members £3
Everyone welcome to a friendly evening of information and interest.
March 21st Haughley Castle
On Haughley village sign there is a large castle yet there is no castle to be seen in the village! But, there is a 30 foot mound surrounded by trees that mark where stood an imposing Norman motte and bailey castle. Edward Martin will describe such castles and of this one in particular that was captured by an invading army in 1173.
April 18th Anglo Saxon ‘royalty’ at Exning
An archaeological dig at Exning, north west of Newmarket, found more than 20 Anglo Saxon skeletons together with jewellery and glass bowls that pointed to them being of high status. Andrew Peachey of Archaeological Solutions, who carried out the dig, will tell us that the finds dated from around 650 AD and may have been connected to King Anna who ruled East Anglia in the 7
th century
May 16th FILM NIGHT !!!! 3 historical pageants in Bury St. Edmunds
Paul Readman, Vice-Dean (Research) of Kings College, London and a col-league will be screening films of historical pageants staged in Bury’s Abbey Gar-dens in 1907, 1955 and 1970 and will give a short, informative talk about them. (This is a big event which we will be advertising widely so do make it
known, bring friends for what promises to be a fascinating evening.)
Neighbourhood Watch
There has been more incidents of crime committed in our village of late I’m afraid. On 3
rdJanuary this year, stables and sheds in Scuffins Lane were broken into. Tools and
machinery were taken and hidden in nearby allotments ready for collection. Luckily they were found before collection. Suspects were two white males in a white Transit van with an 05 plate. So if you do see such a vehicle cruising round the village, or stationary, and looking suspicious, then please call police on 101, they would welcome such a call. Next we have a break-in at the Old Cock Inn in Cock Road. The padlock and hasp were broken off the door of a wooden garage. On this occasion nothing was stolen, perhaps the thief’s were disturbed before they had time to steal.
So again, lock up your sheds and garages, fit good security devices and lighting.
Vehicles left on drives should always be locked and any visible property taken out.
Villains are about and looking for opportunities to deprive you of your property, however valuable. So try to keep it safe.
More scams are about. A message from Police Connect on behalf of Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cyber reporting centre. Action Fraud has received several
reports from victims who have been sent convincing looking emails claiming to be from Amazon. The spoof emails from’ [email protected]’ claim recipients have made an order online and mimic an automatic customer email notification. The scam email claims customers have ordered expensive items. iPhones, luxury watches etc. The emails then cleverly state that if the recipients haven’t authorised the transaction they can click on the help centre link to receive a full refund. The link then leads to an
authentic -looking website which asks victims to confirm their name, address, and bank card information.
Don’t be fooled. Amazon will never ask for personal info to be supplied on email. On any scam, look for typos or grammatical errors. Attachments or prompts to install soft-ware on your computer, don’t go into them. My own experience last weekend. An email purporting to be from a colleague and giving a website for me to enter into. Luckily I never did. I saw my colleague the following day. She never sent me an email. How they get our details and websites I never know. But play safe, if in doubt, delete. Don’t forget the Cotton Parish Grapevine has up to date details of crime on Facebook.
Tony Craighill. Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator. 781917
Historical Cotton
Bert “Bellringer” Chilvers
Bertie Ezekiel Chilvers was born 1888 and is a former resident of Cotton.
He was a colourful character and known to be the bell ringer of St An-
drew’s Church.
Bert was a relative to the Carter family, whom Carters Meadow is named
after. Bert’s relative Mrs Lloyd, previously Miss Carter, donated the land
in 1999.
Very little is known about Bert Chilvers. He died in 1971 and as you can
see from the picture below, the only other description other than name
and birth to death date is the title ’BELLRINGER’. When reading the
‘Report of Suffolk Guild of Ringers for the Diocese of St Edmundsbury
and Ipswich 1940-1945,’ and ‘Report of Suffolk Guild of Ringers for the
Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich 1959 Bert is listed as District
Secretary for Stowmarket.
Bert also at some point , was the village postman, delivering parcels and
letters by bicycle which was quite an achievement as Bert unfortunately
had a withered arm (we are unsure of the reason why).
In January, Tony & Jeannie Hutchinson bid goodbye to Cotton and realised a dream of moving to Mull, off the west coast of Scotland. They had lived in the village for 28 years in Cock Road, and during that time contributed in so many ways to village life and the wider community. Jeannie served for 18 years on the Parish Council, chairing it from 2004 -7. Tony was Treasurer of the Friends of Cotton Church when it was socially very active in the village, and Jeannie a Committee member. Tony also served as Treasurer for the Cotton Jubilee celebrations in 2012. Jeannie was a Trustee of Carters Meadow and both of them regularly rolled up their sleeves for the working parties at the Meadow, and for many village litter-picks. They were regulars at many village hall events, and keen quizzers, and their company, Polstead Press, did many publicity and print jobs for village events, including the Cotton Quarterly, all at "mates rates". Through their business in Stowmarket (now run by their son Chris), they were active in the town's business community too. A big THANK YOU to the Hutchinsons for all they contributed to life in Cotton. Many of us lucky enough to call them friends will miss their delightful company and we wish them all the very best for their new life in Scotland.