Mendham & Withersdale

Dear Parish Council,

You may have noticed in the media that the Suffolk Better Broadband Programme is gathering pace, and we hope to start work on improving services with Suffolk in Autumn this year.  Before we start work, we have to go through a public procurement process to select a provider to develop the Suffolk network.

In order to make this contract as attractive as possible to bidders, as well as to provide evidence to use as leverage during negotiations, we are asking households to register their demand for broadband.  This will make our case as strong as possible.  Not only will this aid the procurement process, but it will also inform us of where the areas of particular need exist across Suffolk.

The survey only takes a few minutes to complete, and can be found at www.suffolk.gov.uk/broadband.  If you could use your channels to promote this as much as possible, it would be fantastic.  Ideally we want to get the message to all households in all parishes, that their input via this survey will be critical to improving broadband in Suffolk.

We have also produced a hard copy of this survey.  The idea here is that any willing volunteers can distribute and collect responses, catering for those who do not have access to the online version.  In addition to these we plan to distribute hard copies via libraries, and brief library staff on the online process, to make it as accessible as possible to all.

Responses are really needed in time to inform our planning, which means to end of March is when we will need to start reviewing responses.

A lot of background information to the programme, including a summary of our plan, monthly newsletters, and a FAQ page also appears on www.suffolk.gov.uk/broadband

Business Development, Suffolk County Council

Endeavour House, 8 Russell Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 2BX

Telephone: 01473 265211

We came second! only a single point behind Coddenham. Metfield came third. We have also been awarded a cup for 'most improved village' having got better results than when we applied last in 2003. Great result and well done to all involved! Take a look at the application here (the doc is 1Mb in size so will take a few seconds).

More good news is that we have won the 'Philip Watson Cup' for The Most Improved Village having risen from 7th place in 2001, when we last entered. The cup will be presented at the Mendham & Withersdale Community Council Beaujolaise Nouveau event in the Sir Alfred Munnings on the 18th November.

More on that soon!

Well, the Dog Show was bigger this year with trade stalls and sponsorship and they made nearly £2,500 profit. Well done! There were no dog fights and even some of the more strange dog owners were pleasant this year. The wind caused a problem, with the tents I mean. A new commercial marque bought by CoCo was blown away early in the morning. Shame. The bar was a bit out on it's own as they decamped the rest of the things to the hall. It looked busy although it did go on into the evening a bit. Apparently someone stole about £350 from the entries tent. Who would do that? In a village like ours? Who would do that? Anyway the police are on to it.

Anyway they are going to make it even bigger next year with even more dogs! Should be a great day out again. Well done you lot!

Tracey Tompkins and Scott Norman assisted by the Village Hall Management Committee, have proposed that the land behind he village hall can be used to place a MUGA (Multi Use Games Area). At a public meeting at the village hall on Wednesday 2nd February 2011 at 7:30pm, the idea was discussed and received wide support and so will go ahead. All possible will be done to minimise light pollution and noise and to ensure that both people from within and outside of the parish are able to use the facility. A lot of work needs to be done now as we move ahead. Any thoughts, ideas or issues then just call Tracey Tompkins on 01379 852969 or Colin Herbert on 01379 588202.

Here is a copy of the flyer that is in the March 5Alive.

Free time, spare money,any ideas? Then call us and help us with this true community project!

Many thanks!

Goodbye to Phillip Copland

In December we said goodbye to our choirmaster Philip Copland.  At our last practice we held a lunch at All Saints Church which the vicar and several members of the congregation attended.  Dawn Dawson organised and presided over the food and drinks which made our goodbye into a real fellowship occasion. We presented Philip with a book token and a DVD and he will also receive framed photos of the choir and himself which Peter Christian kindly took after the Carol Service.  We thanked Philip for all his work during the past three years during which the choir has developed greatly and wish him well in his new position at Barsham.  His last service was the Carol Service on 19^th December which was a joyful occasion.  The choir sang two anthems: “Oh little one sweet” composed by JS Bach and a John Rutter anthem “Christmas Lullaby”.  The church looked beautiful; the service was uplifting and the sermon memorable.  Afterwards there were refreshments and an opportunity to socialise; altogether it was a wonderful evening.

Practice

Due to the cold weather choir practices are being held in members’ homes, this will continue for some time.  We had a working lunch at the beginning of January to discuss the future and it was decided to change our practice time to start at 9.30, but still meeting on Thursdays.  We also hope to sing at the first and third communion services in the month, if there are sufficient choir members present, and to sing an anthem or hymn during communion. Some people put forward ideas for future events including two Evensongs and u possible summer concert. This last suggestion was greeted with enthusiasm by the choir but will need a lot of planning.  We would need more singers than we have at present and it would be good to have instrumentalists to vary and expand the programme which we hope will be an eclectic mix including show songs.  At present these are only suggestions which have to be discussed and agreed to by the PCC.  Then the hard work begins.

Joint effort

We joined forces with some choir members of St Peter and St Paul’s Church Fressingfield and St John the Baptist Church Metfield to sing at the Benefice service on the 30^th January 2011 at Hoxne.  It was a very enjoyable service at which the Archdeacon, Canon Judith Hunt, preached.  Several Lay Elders were commissioned and new members of the Mothers’ Union were admitted.  The joint choirs sang three Taize chants during communion which were well received.  At present Metfield church has no organist and therefore no choir; however we have invited the members to join us for practices which they seem pleased to accept.

New singers

We really would like some new singers, especially men as our numbers are few.  Whist Kathleen Flaxman plays at the first service in the month, Jim Kirkham is now our regular organist and this means one man less to sing the harmonies.  Janet Kenyon, who is a music teacher, is willing to lead our warm ups and improve our singing skills so new members will be part of the new order; there is no expertise required, merely a love of singing.

Future focus

The choir’s main focus is and will continue to be supporting and enhancing worship at All Saints, but we hope to spread our wings a little and with the help of new members we hope this will be an exciting and enjoyable year.