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Here’s something of a rather nice hangover from the summer months - Wivenhoe Town Council is now in a position to officially plug and launch the website dedicated to all WTC business. This is a project that I was heavily involved in, advising, and then building for our Town Council.

www.wivenhoetowncouncil.co.uk

I was presented with the remit to put online a site that would be simple to update, and then would be relevant for WTC business only. The Wivenhoe Encyclopedia is a much loved source around the town, but sadly it seems to have out-lived its original purpose.

This was a point that was recognised by Peter Hill, one of the original creators of the Encyclopedia, during the course of our Wiv Chat recording. The original plan for the Encyclopedia was to be everything to all folk in Wivenhoe, coming under the control of WTC.

As the town, it’s many varied groups and the modern interweb have all grown, so has the demands on updating the Encyclopedia. The Town Council was left in a position where it couldn’t update the site with its own content as quickly as many folk expected.

Parallel to this is the setting up in the intervening years of websites for most of the other interest groups, such as the Cricket Club, poetrywivenhoe, Helping Hands etc. WTC needed a dedicated site to communicate instantly with the residents.

That’s the development theory anyway. In practice it remains to be seen how this pans out. I have handed over the site to the Cllr’s and WTC Clerk, as well as carrying out training with a small group.

Build it and they will come etc - it is now down to WTC to update with content and help further understanding and communication around the town. I have suggested that comment pieces and an explanation of policy would work well, alongside the vital admin tasks such as publishing monthly minutes for WTC meetings.

As for the old Encyclopedia?

Don’t worry - this isn’t going to have the plug pulled. This is a point I was keen to put across during the early conversations. It is still widely used around the town as a valuable resource. It was certainly my online guiding resource when planning the Great Escape. If you want to find out who won the Crabbing Competition in the summer of 2002, your search should still lead you to the relevant information.

Point of order: like the Wivenhoe Town Councillors themselves, I haven’t been paid for this work. I invoiced for £40 - the cost of the hosting package that I secured for twelve months. I now have no involvement with the site, other than tech advice, if need be.

Phew. Glad that’s been cleared up…

Here’s the official presser being put out by WTC:

Wivenhoe Town Council is announcing the launch of their new web site

www.wivenhoetowncouncil.co.uk

The construction of the new site was prompted by a need to simplify and modernise existing internet access to Town Council information. It was coupled with the loss of host server arrangements for the familiar and long-standing Wivenhoe Encyclopedia site.

The Encyclopedia was set up many years ago and developed into an informative and well-used site for all matters relating to Wivenhoe. It’s success in this field lead to a somewhat overloaded facility. With all local societies, organisations and businesses having a place alongside interesting historical references, artistic and social references, it became a sort of ‘one size fits all’ facility.

With the development of individual websites for groups and organisations, the need for a comprehensive site has now diminished.

In consequence, the Wivenhoe Town Council site will concentrate on Council news. It will of course include a link to Wivenhoe Encyclopedia where all that useful information that has been gathered over the years will be retained for reference use. There will be links to other sites that have a relationship and interest to Wivenhoe and it’s people.

The Council hopes that this new and focused site will enable members of the community to access local council based information quickly and efficiently. It will also enable visitors to follow links to related items in the same manner.