**Mobile Skateboard Park**
Chelmsford Borough Council's mobile skateboard park is visiting the Recreation Ground on Friday 10th July from 3.30 pm tp 9 pm.
Ramps are suitable generally for eight years and up. All helmets, knee pads, elbow pads and hand pads are provided, so turn up and enjoy the session!
Village Conference 2009
The 2009 Village Conference was held in the Bell Centre on Thursday April 23rd. In addition to the reports from the Parish Council and other local bodies on which the Council has representatives, there were presentations from our local neighbourhood police and from the fire service. (You can see the presentation from the fire service here - not quite the same without the accompanying commentary you would have heard if you'd been there, but some interesting statistics.)
Click here to see the minutes of last year's conference.
Click here to see the annual report presented at the conference.
Essex Book Festival
Sophie Hannah with councillors Angela Martin & Chris Shaw
Sophie Hannah, an award winning poet turned best selling crime writer, spoke at the Parish Hall on Saturday 28th March as part of the Essex Book Festival. It's the first time we have hosted one of the Book Festival events, and we were delighted to find we had such an interesting and entertaining speaker, much appreciated by the audience.
We hope to host another event as part of next year's Festival.
Parish Sports Programme
Chelmsford Borough Council's Sports Development Unit is running holiday sports coaching sessions at the Recreation Ground again in 2009. These are FREE to all young people aged between 6 and 14, as the Parish Council subsidises the cost.
All sessions are multi-sports, and are varied and fun. They will be held in the Easter holiday, the May half term holiday, and the summer holiday on the dates shown below. There's no need to book, just come along at any of the times shown.
Easter 2009
Tuesday 7th April, 9.30 am to 12.00 noon
Friday 17th April, 1.00 pm to 3.30 pm
Summer half term 2009
Thursday 28th May, 9.30 am to 12.00 noon
Friday 29th May, 1.00 pm to 3.30 pm
Summer 2009
Tuesday 11th August, 1.00 pm to 3.30 pm
Thursday 13th August, 1.00 pm to 3.30 pm
Wednesday 19th August, 1.00 pm to 3.30 pm
Thursday 20th August, 9.30 am to 12.00 noon.
Essex on Tour in Great Baddow
2008/2009 season
We are very fortunate in having the Essex on Tour scheme, supported by Essex County Council and borough and district councils, which provides a subsidy to bring professional theatre and music to villages.
Following last season's success we booked two productions again -
Old Mac and the Three Pigs
This very
entertaining show for children had a packed audience in the Parish
Hall on Sunday afternoon, November 16th.
For adults and older children we booked
'Ian
Keable - Conjuring up Comedy'
This one man
comedy and magic show on February 28th told the story of how Ian
made the journey from accountancy to magic, becoming a member of
the Inner Magic Circle, and then went on to a full magic show. A
large audience found it extremely entertaining - many thanks to
those brave people who accepted his invitation to help out with the
tricks!
We intend to book shows again for the 2009-10 season, so watch out
for details later in the year.
Police
Beat Surgeries
Our neighbourhood policing team will be holding regular beat
surgeries in Co-op shops in 2009, a new venue instead of the mobile
van that has been used previously. Come and meet members of your
local policing team, report any policing concerns, obtain crime
reduction advice and find out more about what is happening in your
area.
The latest dates we have are:
Saturday
6th June, Meadgate Co-op
11 am to 1 pm
Tuesday
16th June, Meadgate Co-op
5 to 7 pm
Friday
26th June, Beehive Lane
Co-op 11 am to 1 pm
Saturday
4th July, Somerfield,
The Vineyards, 11 am to 12 noon
Wednesday
22nd July, Meadgate Co-op
6 to 7 pm
Wednesday
5th August, Somerfield, The
Vineyards, 4 to 5 pm
Wednesday
19th August, Meadgate Co-op
5 to 6 pm
Saturday
5th September, Meadgate
Co-op 12 noon to 1 pm
Wednesday
16th September, Somerfield,
The Vineyards, 11 am to 12 noon
Wednesday
7th October, Meadgate Co-op
11 am to 12 noon
Saturday
24th October, Somerfield,
The Vineyards, 12 noon to 1 pm
To find out up to date news from your neighbourhood policing
team, click here.
Trading
Standards Doorstep Calendar
You can pick up a 2009 calendar from the Parish Council office. It
shows Essex scenes, combined with hints on how to deal with
doorstep callers and advice on security, plus many useful phone
numbers. It is particularly aimed at elderly and vulnerable people,
so if you know anyone who might find it useful, why not collect one
for them.
Trees in Great Baddow
As part of the
National Tree Warden Scheme, Chelmsford Borough Council introduced
a Parish Tree Warden scheme in 2004. Tree wardens are volunteers
who are interested in working with the Borough Council to encourage
more tree planting, improve the management of trees, raise public
awareness of the importance of trees, and celebrate trees. We are
fortunate to have a tree warden in Great Baddow, and he has started
to describe some of the trees which are easily visible in the
village.
To read his first article about one of our trees, click
here!
For the second article, click here.
To contact our tree warden, email him via the
Parish Council.
Don't forget our Tree Trail leaflet, which is
available to help you enjoy a walk through the Recreation Ground.
Copies are available free of charge from the Parish Council Office,
the Community Association or Great Baddow Library.
Click here to download a copy
Centenary Award
The winner of
the 2008 Centenary Award was Mrs Pat Vickers, and she was presented
with her award by the Mayor of Chelmsford, Cllr Tom Willis, at the
Council's Community Celebration in January 2009. The award was made
in recognition of her work as a driver and helper for the Tuesday
luncheon club for senior citizens, and as a driver for the
Community Care group and Farleigh Hospice.
Nominations for the 2009 award can be made at any time up to
October 31st, and nomination forms are available from the Parish
Council office.
Honorary
Burgesses
Mrs Eileen Hance was made the fourth Honorary Burgess of Great
Baddow at the Parish Council community celebration in January 2009.
This was particularly in recognition of her lengthy service to
Farleigh Hospice. All the names are shown on a specially designed
board in the Parish Hall.
Nominations can be made at any time for this award, which can be in
recognition of valuable contributions to a wider area than Great
Baddow. Nominees must be residents of Great Baddow. Please contact
the Parish Council office for more
details.
Parish
Council Election Results May 2007
There was an
election between 6 candidates for the 5 seats in the Village Ward
of the Parish Council. Results were as follows:
Stephen Martin (Lib Dem) 1071 - Elected
Jesse Pryke (UKIP) 535
Diana Ronaldson (Lib Dem) 1055 - Elected
Keith Ronaldson (Lib Dem) 969 - Elected
Chris Shaw (Lib Dem) 1122 - Elected
Andrew Sosin (Lib Dem) 1022 - Elected.
In the other two wards of the parish the number of candidates for
election equalled the number of seats, so the following councillors
were elected unopposed without a ballot:
Sid Bass, Angela Martin, Maureen Miller, Trevor Miller, Will
Richardson, Stephen Russell, Veronica Sadowsky, Jannetta Sosin (all
Lib Dem).