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Slightly off the pace with this one, but blimey - it’s only The Wivenhoe Society Newsletter, Winter 2011.

Hurrah!

You wait a whole month for one esteemed local publication packed full of intrigue and developments, and then along come three all at once. The Chronicle, the Town Council Newsletter and now WivSoc.

What I like about Wivenhoe and the #hyperlocal media within is that there is broadly a consensus. Sure, issues such as the clogged up Clingoe Hill are going to divide (or even unite) but The Chronicle, the Town Council and WivSoc are concerned with the same positive agenda, and offering similar pragmatic solutions.

But first of all - how about a picture showing some men waving handkerchiefs and skipping around Black Buoy Hill?

Blimey.

The front pic for WivSoc this Winter features the wonderful Boxing Day Morris Men of Colchester, entertaining the boozers of the Black Buoy. Or maybe it was the other way round?

Moving on, and the Message from the Chair - the good Tom Roberts - reads as a call to arms for more local support of WivSoc:

“Our committee is much smaller than it should be. In short, we need more of our large membership to volunteer to help run the Society or it will cease to function.”

A good starting point would be to attend the AGM at The Nottage on 30th March. Get a feel for the fine work being undertaken, and then think about what you have to offer Wivenhoe, rather than what Wivenhoe can offer you as some great world leader no doubt once said.

The Chair’s introduction piece then addresses planning. The proposal to build one 3-bedroom, three 4-bedroom and four 5-bedroom houses at Ten Acres takes on a rational approach. The WivSoc view is one of pragmatism, recognising:

“Your average developer would have applied for - and probably got - permission to build a far greater number of homes on the site, but this plan is very sensitive to the site and minimises the loss of trees.”

A “great disappointment” is observed at the plan to build nine houses on the patch of grass in front of the undertakers (cripes) on Rectory Road, with the “bland design” being noted.

Tellingly (and wisely) the Chair concludes:

“It is odd that we can increase the population fourfold, with all that implies in vastly increased council tax revenue, yet when it is finally acknowledged that a new health centre is needed, the funding is not there to buy residential land for it, so it has to go on agricultural land on the edge of the town!”

Jane Black that adds her considerable experience in where and how to comment upon planning applications within Wivenhoe. Your first port of call should be over here… Similar advice was recently given in the Town Council Newsletter.

The excellent Annual Wine Tasting evening, held at the Congregational Hall last November, is then given a write up by the good Dave Harrison. Memories are slightly hazy; there’s logic in documenting your life online, dontcha know…

The WivSoc Post-Christmas Party also gets a short piece (perhaps *too* small, given the grand nature of the evening at the Loveless Hall.) Many thanks to Jean Coverley for the excellent food, as well as showing good editorial judgement in not publishing a picture of some dodgy bloke wearing a pair of braces.

The Uni_of_Essex Knowledge Gateway is then given over to some background reading, with the piece being written before the rather ‘lively’ local meeting down at The Nottage. I hear a whisper that the meeting has made the front page of the next issue of Wivenhoe News (um, blessed by local media, aren’t we?)

Councillor Robert Needham has penned a moving piece all about Wivenhoe’s Men of Trafalgar. This is a wonderful piece of local research, and is certainly worthy of a read [happy to re-publish online, if an electronic copy comes my way...]

Looking Forward to Spring Flowers is all about, um, looking forward to spring flowers. Hurrah! Aren’t we all?

“Wivenhoe in Bloom have successfully planted over 3,000 crocuses in the greensward on either side of Rosabelle Avenue and by the bus stop on the High Street, as well as 500 scilla in the boats outside the William Loveless Hall, on the corner of De Vere Lane and other sites in the village.”

Cripes.

Better luck with the budding than I have had with my 70 dodgy daffodil bulbs from B & Q.

The ace Off the Rails writes a piece on p.8, all about the Vintage Mobile Cinema Bus at the station on 6th February. If you’re reading this whilst the online ink is still fresh, then you may just make the cinematic spectacular.

The Parish Paths Partnership updates with news of recent work, including finance woes from both local and national government, and speculation that this project would be just perfect for the #bigsociety.

Some young charlatan around town waffles on overleaf, all about Introducing the Wivenhoe Forum.

Oh Lordy.

We’ve just past the fifty-membership mark. If you sign up over here, then I promise to think seriously about taking part in the Boxing Day Morris Dancing come next Christmas.

The good folk of Transition Town Wivenhoe report back from the excellent work currently in progress to obtain a twenty-five year lease for the Station Master’s House from Network Rail. The Town Council puts in a call for ideas to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and then that lot over at the Brightlingsea Society also get a big up.

And finally…

Save the most important until last: Membership of the Wivenhoe Society is £8 for a family or couple (love the idea of encouraging courting…) or £5 for a single person. Reduced rates of £6 and £3 for those without an income.

It’s not all about membership and joining however. This is just the first step to having an active role in the way local issues are handled around Wivenhoe. The social scene is rather wonderful as well.

Disclaimer: I am a member of the Wivenhoe Society, although not a committee member. All views expressed within this blog post are mine alone, and not that of the committee, or the Society in general.