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Momentum is gaining in the campaign to try and keep the Quayside Cafe open down by the Hythe. With our friends up at the University of Essex majoring rather well in Economics, but not so in Community Studies, locals around the Hythe, St Andrew’s and Wivenhoe are stepping up efforts in highlighting how Town ‘n Gown has become rather one sided of late.

You may remember that the University confirmed at the start of the year:

“It is correct that the Quayside Cafe will be closing at the end of this term, in March 2012, as it is making a loss and our priority is to invest in providing facilities for our students. We recognise that this will be a disappointment to the small, but committed, number of cyclists and walkers using the Wivenhoe Trail, but we do need to prioritise our spending on the needs of our students.”

It now seems that the small and committed are becoming slightly larger, with growing support from across the Town side of the equation to try and keep the Quayside Cafe open. Local councillors from neighbouring wards have put aside any party differences and spoken out against the decision. Labour’s Cllr Julie Young [broken CBC links ahoy!] from St Andrew’s stated:

“I am very disappointed that the University are removing this community facility that is used by walkers, cyclists and the large number of students at The Quays. The University is developing new social facilities as part of The Meadows Development but this is the other side of the Railway Line and in my opinion not convenient for the 800+ students that live at the Quays.”

Meanwhile, LibDem Jon Manning of Wivenhoe Cross has questioned how and why the University is treated as a special case when it comes to planning in Colchester:

“What this really shows is that despite its claims that it is an education first establishment it works very much on a business footing. The University clearly puts money over the community well being of its students. The recent planning app saw the University get permission (deferment conditions dependent) to put more rabbit hutch style bedrooms near to the Knowledge Gateway with little social space. A common room was part of the plan but here they are closing a current community facility to turn it into bedrooms.

Should the University therefore act like a business and be treated as all other businesses in Colchester, or should they be treated as a community asset. I would be interested to hear views on this as it has always been a conundrum to me.”

Even the most definitely overtly non-party political Mayor of Wivenhoe, Cllr Bob Needham, has written to the University, expressing the concern of the local Town Council.

Support online has surfaced in the form of an online petition fronted by Sir Bob of Sunny Colch.

Cripes.

And just to prove how such a hyperlocal issue has legs, local poet Mr Mule has managed to raise the issue to a wider audience with his always engaging weekly column in the East Anglian Daily Times. Appearing over the weekend were the following words [slightly edited down, and posted with the very kind permission of Martin.]

“The Uni giveth and the Uni taketh away. May I be the first to say that I’m beginning to get a bit fed up with the University, their Knowledge Gateway, the attendant tearing up of lovely old trees and the hideous new access road which cuts onto Clingoe Hill. I’m also sick of them gnawing big chunks out of the green buffer, which separates Colchester from the rest of Tendring. I hate the arrogant way they just bluster in, knock things down and put up ugly blocks of buildings without anyone calling them to account. How does that work, precisely? Is it all in the sacred name of education?

The Hythe, Colchester’s ancient former engine room, is in transition. It’s being re-tailored for the future. The regeneration of East Colchester is a serious ongoing project and very much a long game. Now, much as this may surprise certain people, the old Hythe does actually have a community what the much-misunderstood unfinished symphony which is the new Hythe doesn’t yet possess are enough of the amenities which constitute normal street life.

The Quayside Cafe, functional, neutral and more importantly, open, is one of the Hythe’s few such assets like many sophisticated things, it’s very simple. You can sit outside it when it’s sunny and you can nip indoors when it’s cold. There are loos there, too. It’s the right thing in the right place. Remove it and you’ll give all the doubters yet more ammo with which to whinny about why the new Hythe is never going to work.

Worth much more to society, than any money it might make, the Quayside Cafe only needs to tick over. And I’ll bet you anything that there’s someone, somewhere in Colchester who’d love to run it. Maybe those Colchester Slackspace people would know? Perhaps Matt, the young man who was temporarily installed at Colchester’s old Bus Station Cafe, could run it? Until recently, when his lease expired, Matt served coffee and cake from a tiny kiosk and also ran a bicycle repair shop next door.

Town and Gown should not just mean occasionally inviting a few of the locals in for a big backslap and bow-tie dinner. Nor should it suffice simply doling out the honorary degrees like dog-treats once a year to a touchingly grateful hoi polloi. Much better if Gown were to ask Town: Look, we can’t really use this cafe at the moment, but we know you like it. How would you like to rent it?” Come on guys. Play fair.”

Large, international economic organisations such as the University of Essex are unlikely to listen to local unrest over how student facilities are managed. But when a facility is also supported by the local community, allowing a little leeway to show genuine community co-operation would stretch a mighty long way.

All the way from Wivenhoe, St Andrew’s, the Hythe…

HONK! A hyperlocal public service announcement: The Mayoral Variety Show is taking place at the William Loveless Hall [where else?] on the evening of the 24th February, 2012. HONK! Many of the fine song and dance talents within the town will be on show. HONK! Tickets clock in at only a fiver. Kids for a quid. Which is money well spent if you want to spend your Friday evening observing the shock and awe that is the rumoured appearance of a dance troupe comprising of Wivenhoe Town Cllr’s. I’m not sure whether to bring the red carpet or rotten tomatoes.

Dubbed by *some* as Wivenhoe’s Got Talent, this is a great event that will showcase the semi-pro talent that we have in our town, as well as the more theatrically challenged participants. The role call of the incredibly talented ADP Theatre School, the Colne Bank School of Dancing and the G & S Society could each hold their own as a headline act.

This is no end of the pier Friday night freak show, either. Any show that is Directed by Shane Diggens suggests that the approach is nothing but professional. Add in the experience of Joan Gifford and the multi-talents of Hazel Humphries, and a fiver seems more the like the change you should be receiving from a £20 note.

All funds raised from the Mayoral Variety Show will go towards the Wivenhoe Mayor’s Fund. Money from the fund is distributed in May and goes to assist groups and societies in Wivenhoe with their community work.

HONK! Wanna know which Cllr’s will be putting on the face paint and kicking their legs in sequence?

Um, yeah. So do I…

To Abberton Reservoir! …mid-morning on Sunday to chase some birds. Back in the day and I would have been chasing birds and their bushes during the early hours of a Sunday morning, and all without the aid of a retractable telescope as well. Age and sensibility catches up with all the young dudes eventually.

The birding party of three arrived at the Reservoir and immediately waded right into a rival birding faction twitch off.

“Is this the meet up for the RSPB guided walk?”

…enquired Chief Birder.

Glares across the observation room, some mumblings about the “other lot” looking through their big lenses down the road, and then a polite reminder that the gathering of ladies and gents in sensible outdoor clothing were comparing notes under the banner of the fine folk of the Essex Wildlife Trust.

Whoops.

No worries. When in Abberton then observe the birding etiquette that is very kindly put in front of you. Which for mid-morning on Sunday was a very helpful conversation with a charming Essex Wildlife volunteer, who explained in great detail all about the incoming plans for Abberton.

Put simply, the basin is about to be topped up. Extensive construction work is almost complete, allowing a 58% volume of water to flow down from Norfolk. Which by my back of a bird watching guide calculations means that I can spend an extra four minutes and four seconds in the shower each morning shampooing the short ‘n curlies, seeing as though the basin of North Essex is about to deliver a new deep end.

The birding party of three was shown various before and after maps of Abberton. I was reassured to see a West End and East End marked up. Betcha the posh birds hang out West, whilst the seagull slappers flap their bingo wings out East. Phrases such as ‘higher ground’ and ‘boardwalk’ were discussed. You could even shoehorn some white boy soul soundtrack into the psychogeographic birding activity and make a West End musical out of it. Any old bearded tit could take the lead.

With Abberton before and after finished, it was time to hang out in the hides and talk all about birds. There is an unwritten etiquette whilst out birding that leads the conversation and what response is required. It’s a game of poker involving plovers and the like. Never show your hand and reveal the Ace up your tweed sleeves.

“Seen the Great Grey Shrike yet this morning?”

“Not yet - just the Short Ear Owl, I’m afraid.”

The Short Ear Owl may *or may not* have been an old branch nestling away in the grassland with a couple of burnt autumnal short leaves still decorating the top. It certainly moved in the breeze, and so got the tick on my list as a bird.

You need to know to know who is ruling the roost in the hide and treat them with the respect that they command. This is usually the chap with the largest scope. You know what they say about a fella with a particularly strong focal range…

My Magpie eyes were hungry for the prize, which was just as well, seeing as though a darting black and white blip blurred out of focus in my binoculars. A bird is a bird, as the phrase went back in the day when bushes were being chased. Any port in a storm.

“The Eagle has landed!”

…I declared, much to the astonishment of the two other birders in the fellowship of three.

“Really?”

…enquired the hide head honcho.

“Um, nope. I’ve just sat down mate.”

Whoops.

Little success was to follow. The big white duck turned out to be a swan; the children’s tree house that I praised turned out to be an owl’s hut. Crow was my only serious contribution to add to the whiteboard of spotted birds back at the Abberton base.

It took me a decade back in the day to perfect my bird in the hand and two in the bush routine during the early hours of a Sunday morning. The thrush has only just disappeared, so to speak. Give it another decade of birding down at Abberton and I’ll soon rise up the pecking order.

Showing #blackpond was a risk I’m really glad we took @wivmovingimage

— Moira Collett (@heatheruth) January 28, 2012

Yep - the screening of Black Pond at the Philip Road Centre by the lovely folk of Moving Image was a risk worth taking. I’m not sure that I would have wanted to have paid £10 plus for a *proper* cinema screening, but then this is the beauty of having an independent community cinema right on your doorstep.

Any film that trades under the blurb of:

“If Syd Barrett had ever written and directed a movie, it might well have looked like this”

…is setting you up for something that isn’t quite Walt Disney. Moving Image managed to move mountains in getting agreement from Director Tom Kingsley to show a one off screening of the “deeply eccentric, haunting marvel.”

Tom was so impressed with what he discovered about Wivenhoe’s independent cinema via the website that he allowed the Philip Road show on Saturday to take place. Thanks for the interest ‘n all that, but I hope Tom doesn’t make a habit of checking out hyperlocal Wivenhoe blogs.

The film was… interesting. I would rather have sat through it than anything that Uncle Walt might have come up with, but by the second third in and I thought that it had become pure comedy. If Chris Morris has masterminded the production then you would label it as genius. I felt sorry for the poor family dog that came a cropper.

Whoops - was that a spoiler?

But yeah, it certainly worked for Moving Image. Another close to capacity Philip Road Centre on a Saturday night, confirming yet again that there is an interest in a community cinema for our hyperlocal patch.

What I love so much about Moving Image is the informality of it all. Couples arrived with blankets on Saturday evening and no one battered an eyelid. I made a beeline for the radiator and came close to peeling off my size 9′s and plonking my feet on top of the old pipes.

The real risk on Saturday evening was allowing a *cough* [yeah, I really do mean COUGH...] slightly man flu suffering hit and miss hyperlocal blogger into the building.

“You don’t look well,” remarked one of the rather nice Moving Image regulars.

Yeah, cheers pal!

The coughs came quick and plenty after the first third of the film. Maybe this is why the comedy value kicked in at the point where the Night Nurse should have been sending me off to La La Land?

Apologies, all.

For a film that is based around a dysfunctional family in a rural setting, it was reassuring to walk back up the High Street with what I strongly believe is a very functional family living in a rural setting. Black Pond was unsettling, especially so after necking half a bottle of Night Nurse.

But a risk well worth taking all the same.

A new website has appeared over the weekend in Wivenhoe, explaining more about the aims and background of the Wivenhoe Community Trust. This is the registered charity that has ambitions to purchase the St John’s Ambulance Building along Chapel Road, and renovate the structure so that it is able to use the space as a community resource.

It is encouraging to see that the plans are now appearing open and transparent. The Trust has been very active in coming up with a future use for the building for many months. Explaining these in more detail online makes the process more transparent and accountable.

Let’s start first by finding out who is behind the WCT:

“Chairman: Brian Sinclair, Vice Chairman: Peter Hill, Secretary: Tim Sherwen.

We are a small group of people who have come together to try to acquire the St John Ambulance Hall. We have the funds to buy it. We want to run the Hall as a charity, providing a place that can be hired for meetings, for family occasions, for exhibitions of different sorts by painters and craftspeople, for showing Wivenhoe Memorabilia, for lectures, for smaller musical events and entertainment, and as a much needed rehearsal space for different bodies.”

These are well known names around the town, with many years of combined civic activities between them. Brian currently sits on Wivenhoe Town Council and is a former Mayor. Peter is also a former Cllr and Mayor, with a history of implementing local projects in the town. He was personally responsible for putting the Wivenhoe Encyclopedia online, as well as his generous work with the local Scout group and the almshouse charities.

The vision for the St John’s building is explained by the WCT as follows:

“Imagine the small hall in Chapel Road being owned by Wivenhoe for Wivenhoe. It would be the first, and only building in Wivenhoe, to belong to the community through a registered charity. This charity is called the Wivenhoe Community Trust (charity no. 292693). Of course there are many other buildings that are owned by various sporting and other organisations which can be hired. But have you tried to hire one? Is it available when you want it?”

This is a decent point. We often seem overrun with local venues: The William Loveless Hall [where else?] The Nottage, the Phillip Road Centre, the Scout hut, The Bookshop Shed, the Cricket Club, the Sailing Club, the football club, the Methodist Hall and the Congregational Hall. Fine though these may be, none of them are managed by a community registered charity.

So far so good. But all of this community management of buildings isn’t delivered by a magical sprinkling of dust from the Wivenhoe Pantomime fairy. What of the costs?

“Yes, it needs doing up, but it is structurally sound. It needs new electrics, better lighting, new toilets and kitchen, perhaps even a new roof and definitely a coat of paint. We have a fully costed budget for all this work. It is not as much as one might think, especially if we don’t make any structural alterations.”

All donators to the previous Engine Shed project have been contacted. It has been agreed that these funds will now be put to use in helping the WCT to secure its aims. The Trust believes that the weekly overheads can be kept low:

“The basic running cost of the building will be an incredibly low £25 per week as it will be run by a charity. On top of this will be the cost of electricity, cleaning etc that will come from it being hired out.”

But a building is nothing without consideration for the social space within. This is adequate, but rather limited once you step inside the Victorian structure. The Wivenhoe Pantomime won’t be about to switch venues from up the road at the Loveless Hall, but it is a space that is sufficient for community use by many different organisations within the town. WCT suggests:

“Club and Society meetings of any sort, lectures and other educational events, a Wivenhoe History group, yoga, keep fit and other similar physical fitness groups, children’s parties, family celebrations, exhibitions by local artists and craftspeople, small musical events, dance rehearsals, performance rehearsals and stage and scenery construction.”

The building needs a use, and sooner rather than later if the costs are to be kept down. With a planning application by the celebrated local potter Pru Green having been turned down by the Planning Committee of Colchester Borough Council last October, WCT clearly believes that the future lies with a community owned usage of the existing structure.

Ah, but wait! What’s this?

“Right now another party has extended their option to buy it subject to planning consent being obtained. Their first attempt to get their plans to demolish the building and replace it with a two storey, flat-roofed building of modern design which was refused.”

Pru Green has re-submitted her application for the:

“Demolition of the superstructure of existing St Johns Ambulance building and erection of two storey building of mixed use C3 Residential and D1 Gallery/Studio.”

The reason that the original application was refused was based around three concerns from the Planning Committee:

(i) the loss of community space provided by the existing St John’s building,

(ii) the impact on the neighbouring property and

(iii) the impact on a neighbouring tree.

It will be interesting to see how these three points are addressed once the application is inevitably called in by one of our Borough councillors, and put to the Planning Committee to consider yet again.

I blogged back in October after the original application was turned down:

“The emphasis now switches over to the Wivenhoe Community Trust, the local group that wants to keep the St John’s Ambulance building as a community space. This has been a planning issue that has divided local opinion. With a decision now made by Colchester Borough Council, expectations will be high for Wivenhoe Community Turst to deliver.”

Whatever your view on the future of the building, it is to be applauded that the Wivenhoe Community Trust has now stepped forward and made available the plans. Openness and transparency from all viewpoints on this highly sensitive hyperlocal matter is what is needed right now. Conversation and co-operation with those with an interest in the building can only be good for the long-term benefit of Wivenhoe.

If you want to make a comment about the proposed demolition of the building - either for or against - you can express your views over on the Colchester Borough Council planning site.

And so there you are, reclining in the reading room, large G & T in hand and monocle perched over your best eye, and y’know what? You haven’t actually got anything hyperlocal to read.

Bugger.

But wait! What’s this? The letterbox stutters like a dalek with a speech impediment, and then slowly slowly, the hyperlocal preferred newspaper of choice lands in your lap. Steady the buffers. Steady the G & T.

Yep - it’s only the January edition of the esteemed Organ of Truth and Justice, The Brightlingsea and Wivenhoe Chronicle. And y’know what? Start as you mean to carry on Scoop - it’s a bloody good read to welcome in the first month of 2012.

Scoop starts with something of a scoop for Scoop [steady] with the lead story of:

New Green Waste Local Collections Planned

“Following the recent closure of the recycling centre at Martin’s Farm, St Osyth, one of the region’s leading specialists in waste recycling has announced plans to launch a new venture for the local collection of green waste in bags. Run from Brightlingsea, the recycling would cover Brightlingsea, Wivenhoe and villages in north east Essex.”

Which is also pretty much Scoop’s news patch. Perfect. And a fine initiative as well. It’s either Dave’s Big Society filling the hyperlocal gap in service provision, or rampant commercialism comes to town. Either way, I rather like it:

“Launching of local green waste collections follows discussions between Brightlingsea based Eastern Waste Disposal Ltd and representatives from Brightlingsea Town Council, Tendring District Council Council and Essex County Council regarding problems created by the closure of the recycling centre at St Osyth’s.”

Note the absence of Wivenhoe Town Council and Colchester Borough Council. No worries. We are caught on the cusp here in Wivenhoe, not knowing if we are Arthur or Martha, but more than happy to pick up the scraps heading our way from across the Tendring border.

EDW are the fine people that very generously give up their resources and time to help out with the Wivenhoe Society riverbank clean up twice a year. So I like to think that they are more the smiling face of the Big Society, rather than rampant commercialism.

Fine work, fine story.

Just to clear up [aha] any flotsam and jetsam that be still littering [yeah, yeah] around the issue of re-cycling, The Chronicle also covers on p.2

County Council Closes Recycling Centre

Recycling old news, etc…

Not so amusing is the truly horrific headline of:

Violent Street Robbery in Wivenhoe

Many local folk are aware of this incident. It doesn’t sound any better with repeated reading:

“In a particularly violent assault in Wivenhoe, a 57 year-old man was robbed of his cash, and his bank cards were stolen from him. Three men were involved in the attack which took place in an alley leading from Clifton Terrace to the town’s railway station.”

Further disturbing details of the attack then follow. This was truly horrific, and it is no consolation when you remember that crime, or even the fear of crime is all-relative. A speedy recovery, and positive results from the police inquiry would be most welcome.

To add a little cheer, how about posting direct from a Chronicle advert? Nope - not for double-glazing or drain repairs, but something rather lovely that a regular reader was clearly inspired to take out paid advertising for:

“Wivenhoe resident, **** wants to thank those good Samaritans who came to the aid of her son on New Year’s Eve. He had been accompanying his mother on a shopping trip to the Co-op. Whilst suffering from the effects of his medication, he fell and injured his head. Several people came to his aid. An ambulance was called and immediate assistance was given. The staff at the Co-op were magnificent.”

Awww. That’s the Wivenhoe that we know.

The Chronicle also carries the formal objection from Wivenhoe Town Council with regards the *possible* positioning of the recycling and storage facility across the water in Fingringhoe:

Residents Have Fears over Noise and Pollution

“Wivenhoe Town Council has expressed its concerns over to Essex County Council over proposals to have a recycling and storage facility for construction and demolition waste at Ballast Quay, Fingringhoe. In its stand, the council is echoing the fears of many residents in lower Wivenhoe who are particularly concerned over the prospect of the noise which would be created from the unloading and crushing of waste building materials.”

The thing to remember here is that Fingringhoe has been ruled out as a preferred choice for the plant. But planning issues and common sense are never the best of bedfellows. The message coming out of WTC is that an active eye needs to be kept on this issue. A plan is needed, should Fingringhoe by default come back on the agenda. What is being proposed would certainly impact upon those living in Wivenhoe - a 24/7 plant, with all the noise and light that this would require.

Tai Chi Dave gets the nod and the wink on p.12, showcasing the success story of Dave Allen’s Great Bentley classes. The Open Mic session at the Rose and Crown on 6th February is also featured.

And that my friends is pretty much the re-cycling run through of the esteemed Organ of Truth and Justice. Waste disposal runs heavy - a week on Wednesday for your CBC collection of The Chronicle, assuming you don’t keep them filed away, ironed, prim and proper.

eBay gold, I tell you. eBay gold.

This is rather encouraging news as we approach spring in Wivenhoe and start to think about all things bright and beautiful: Colchester Borough Council looks to be appeasing the rather ugly mess made by the Environment Agency during the sea wall clearance along the Wivenhoe Trail, by planting 750 hedging plants. Locals in were left feeling rather angry, not to mention slightly exposed, when the Environment Agency steamed in last February with a poorly publicised vegetation clearance.

“Over the last two years the Agency has cleared vegetation from flood defences throughout Essex and south Suffolk to help maintain more than 300km of sea and estuary walls that protect people and property from flooding.

Now Colchester Borough Council’s country park team has been given Hawthorn, Blackthorn and Native Dogwood plants for planting at Hythe Lagoons this February. They will help to provide cover for the lagoon’s birds, and the Blackthorn and Hawthorn berries will provide food for the birds during the winter.”

And so it would seem that the loss along the Wivenhoe Trail is to the gain of the opposite Hythe Lagoons. But hey hoe - it’s all good news that some of the beauty is about to be returned back to our natural landscape.

The one size fits all mass clearance along the East coast by the Environment Agency has been open to question in Wivenhoe. The policy may be suitable for some of the seawall along the Sussex coast, but applying the same principle down in North Essex may not have environmental benefits for the hyperlocal… hedgerows.

You break our legs, and we say thank you when you offer us crutches, etc.