And so what we have here is the first interview for Wiv Chat, a new show that is planned for the emerging Radio Wivenhoe. It’s a hit and miss affair - purely on my behalf, and nothing to do with the very generous time and conversation supplied by Peter Green, my first guest.
The plan is to hopefully record one of these per week, and then broadcast them on a Sunday evening on Radio Wivenhoe. There is also scope for weekday repeats.
The wonderful folk at Radio Wivenhoe are probably going to package the chat up slightly better than I am able to, or even have time to carry out. What I thought might work here however is simply to re-post the audio on m’blog as an extra archive source. I have broken the recording down into three segments so as not to make it too challenging on the ear.
I really want the ownership, of sorts, to be in the hands of the local community. I am such a great believer in oral history and collecting as many memories and conversations as possible.
The direction of the conversation is very much open-ended. Wiv Chat isn’t meant to be a Radio 4 quality style production - I’m not being rude when I state that I simply haven’t the time right now to work on these for any longer.
Peter Green proved to be the perfect guest. Born and bred in the town, the free fall conversation simply flowed, not necessarily chronologically, but I think that we just about get away with it.
The recording quality can be worked on, but there is something of a certain mood that I believe has been captured with the sound of the mid-summer rain bouncing off the conservatory windows at Peter’s home. The barking dog also gives it a certain individual ambience.
The story told covers five generations of the Green family living in Wivenhoe. We learn about Peter’s Grandfather and his time spent sailing professionally out of the Colne. Closure is reached with the tale about Peter’s Granddaughter, the captain of the England Women’s rugby team (blimey) returning to Wivenhoe and seeing how the town has changed.
I am incredibly grateful to Peter for helping me out with this first Wiv Chat recording. He was most trusting in allowing a stranger into his family home to ask personal questions and share his many local memories.
If you have a Wivenhoe story that you would like to be shared, then please do contact me at [email protected]. This is very much a make it up as you go along type project - I am open to new suggestions as to what might work for you.
We could record the conversation at my house, or at yours - or possibly even at a neutral public space somewhere within the town. As ever, I always offer up the right of deletion, should something be recorded that you are not happy with.
I believe so strongly in recording and archiving this hyperlocal material digitally. The technology makes it a relatively simple process; the true value may only become apparent in many years to come. We didn’t overtly mention this, but I got a strong sense that Peter also felt the same.
And so many, many thanks to the charming company of Peter Green and his barking dog. Hopefully this will be the start of a successful series of Wiv Chat, and maybe something far greater for future generations.
When Saturday Comes and all you want to do with your Wivenhoe weekend is to read the papers in bed, take an afternoon wander down to the Quay and then stumble out of The Station sometime before the National Lottery winners are announced.
No chance.
To the Farmer’s Market! …was the rallying call to kick start the weekend for @AnnaJCowen and I. The Congregational Hall had the usual fine local produce on sale, as well as some charming conversations with traders who like to talk, rather than concentrate on the hard sell.
We didn’t come out with a wicker basket brimming with North Essex country fare, but a rucksack stuffed full of sausage meat and beetroot. These will come in handy, believe me.
The Wivenhoe Community Safety Neighbourhood Watch Group also had representation. It’s good to be a local busy body etc, but don’t have nightmares. The recent police crime map for this area in April may look a little alarming, but out of the eleven incidents of violent crime, only four were reported in Wivenhoe, with the remaining seven coming from our friends over in Rowhedge.
must.pay.a.trip.to.rowhedge.later.in.the.day
But first off, how about keeping up the busy body theme and poking yer face around local garages?
Blimey.
Nope, it’s not a new obsessive architectural peccadillo that is affecting the North Essex estuary, but the Grand Garage Trail kindly organised by the good folk of St Mary’s Church.
Hurrah!
Originally started by Cansdale and Ross under the Wivenhoe Braderie banner two years ago, the Grand Garage Trail is now a glorified car boot sale taking place around the town.
Maps were purchased the day before, and then much like the splendid Open Gardens of last month, we wandered around Wivenhoe and were welcomed into the properties of various folk around the town.
The event was as broad and as bonkers as you wanted it to be. Many garages were doing great business in re-selling on children’s toys that have been outgrown. Local art also featured heavily. I was disappointed in not being able to walk away with the underground safe on sale along the High Street.
It all got a little lost as we wandered into the Loveless Hall by mistake - often the best way to wander into the Loveless Hall - and found that we had strayed into a separate sale organised by the Colchester Twins Club.
Double cripes.
Cake was on hand to calm us down, and to give us a kick up the backside to take on the remaining Grand Garage Trail down towards the Quay.
A quick chat at Curiosity, and we reflected on the quality of the stock sold within. But time and tide wait for no Grand Garage Trailers, and as we exited left along Station Road, we saw that the legendary Grand Garage dinghy has been bought, and was already being prepared for a launch at the Rowhedge Regatta later in the day.
No worries.
The girl and I made up for our nautical loss with some lovely bargains of our own. A pair of panniers, a darts board, a kitchen chair and a chopping board (free from Builder Mark, natch) - all clocked in at precisely £10.
The panniers in particular were quite a find - the conversation that followed was priceless. It seems that I’m not alone with my Moulton collection within Wivenhoe.
The town undoubtedly has many talents, but topping the list for me is the claim to fame of the chap I purchased the panniers off - he only test rode the original Moultons back in the day.
Chapeau!
Seedy exchanges followed, with an ill met by iPhone fading light presentation of the bonkers multi-coloured Moulton. I’ve still to actually ride the machine around the town. @AnnaJCowen reckons that even the ‘homosexual meets the beast‘ hybrid of the design is a little risqué, even for Wivenhoe.
Was that the day done, Comrades?
Nope - we’ve barely started. Booze had yet to feature, and there’s nothing I like more than a Wivenhoe lunchtime tipple whilst admiring quality local artwork and enjoying local conversations.
To the Wivenhoe Gallery! …etc for the opening of the Spanish Paintings exhibition by local artists Michael and Julia. Running for two weeks down at the Wivenhoe Business Centre, the rich Mediterranean landscapes are most certainly worthy of a visit.
The love of the Spanish culture came across in the artwork, and the conversation that followed with Michael and Julia. I pressed them on the possibilities for their future muse, and was pleased to hear that Wivenhoe landscape painting is certainly a work in progress.
With my lunchtime muse of red wine having fired me up, I was ready to stand on the edge of the Quay, survey the Rose and Crown customers and gaze out with a glazed over eye across the estuary and declare:
“To Rowhedge!”
Oh Lordy.
The fighting talk of the red plonk has sunk many a galleon, but not the Wivenhoe and Rowhedge Ferry. This was Regatta Day for that other lot on the opposite banks of the Colne. It only seemed polite to turn up and see how our near neighbours can put on a party.
We weren’t alone in our Wivenhoe wanderings. It seemed that half of the town had pitched up at either The Anchor or The Albion, observing the sea crafts of differing sizes sail past. There was always the possibility of some riverside rubbernecking as a particularly graceful smack came close to cutting up a kayak.
Whoops.
Crabbing, as ever, was incredibly popular. The hit and miss weather seemed to fit perfectly with the Dark Side theme. With the waters of the Colne disappearing faster than my pint of Kent Best, concern soon turned towards how the chuffers we could get back to base.
No one wants to be stranded in Rowhedge on a Saturday evening, but the Kent Best booze was making a decent job of damage limitation. A catch up with the fine @Colchester101 - whoops there goes another pier, whoops there goes another pint of beer, etc.
Anything that Wivenhoe can do, Rowhedge of course likes to think that it can do better. We don’t like to talk about *shhh* the May Fair police helicopter, and I’m sure Rowhedge folk were a little weary of the chopper action overhead on Saturday.
One thing that Rowhedge definitely does do better than Wivenhoe is to assemble together a group of local males who then tug away on a large rope in tandem.
“We’re from Wivenhoe - we drink beer, not pull rope” was the rallying cry that was later rolled out to justify the slip slidin’ spectacle of the Wivenhoe Tug of War team.
The Rowhedge chaps may be great at tugging away, but no so brilliant on the booze front. Chundering quayside just ahead of the grand Tug of War final is not quite dignified estuary etiquette, Sir.
With the estuary water now looking as limp as the Wivenhoe tug of war team effort (said the poncey bloke watching from the sidelines…) contingency plans were needed for the Great Escape.
Cometh the hour, cometh the good @Colchester101, who kindly drove us all the way down to the Hythe, and then back up Clingoe Hill once again. There was to be one more surprise waiting for us back at base - a new houseguest staying in the shed.
Moving Image was on our Saturday evening radar. Ever one to keep it local, the screening of Fishtank was trumped by a lovely, lovely hyperlocal invite to… go round next door for an evening of games and booze.
Brilliant!
And so just another quiet Wivenhoe weekend, you say?
Wivenhoe - you are wearing me out. But you wear it out oh so well.
A weekend downpour of Biblical proportions, which can only mean that it’s time for the summer publication of Wivenhoe News.
Blimey.
Sea Defences Saga Flows On is the lead story.
See what they’ve done there?
“There has been much anger and dismay caused by the stripping of vegetation from the seawalls in Wivenhoe alongside our tidal river, both downstream and upstream from the flood barrier.”
The bad science justification that was bungled out by the Environment Agency is also re-published, as is a very kind plug for *cough* the Wivenhoe Forum thread.
What’s new here is the offer by the Natural England - the spineless body that rubber stamped the destruction - to re-plant 5,000 “compensatory trees” - you break our legs and we say thank you when you offer us crutches.
Eight hundred and fifty have been put aside for the North Essex estuary. Don’t go getting your digging spades out just yet, Comrades:
“In the Colne Estuary they [Natural England] have provided 850 small tress to Brightlingsea Town Council for a site to the east of the town.”
If you stand at White House Beach on a clear estuary morning, and then squint out over the water with one eye closed, you may just be able to see the benefits of the trees bestowed upon our beloved Brothers in Brightlingsea.
Cheers.
No worries. What we need is a smiling picture of a lovely local lady to add some cheer to the sea defence doom:
“Workers of Wivenhoe - Shelia Scammell, Lollipop Lady.”
Lovely.
Wivenhoe May Fair 2011 gets the p.2 treatment, in something of an after the Lord Mayor’s Show airing. Time to move on, time to plan and time to restore May Fair as a community event for 2012.
Speaking of Mayor’s, Cllr Sinclair is captured in one of his final acts of civic duty in what has been a busy year. The Guide’s Wedding Party is all part of wearing the Wivenhoe civic chains.
But it’s not all about the Brownies or Girl Guides. On a more serious note, there is a plea on p.2 for a new Scout Leader for Wivenhoe:
“Let’s not beat about the bush: twenty youngsters, full of energy and enthusiasm [and then some] raring to take up the opportunity offered by the Scouting movement.”
This is a BIG role that really needs filling. The Wivenhoe News editorial on p.3 plays with similar themes:
“Off the Rails seems to be looking for pretty much a whole new team, the Wivenhoe Society is limping along with no Secretary and a very small committee, the WEA has been without a Chair for a year and is about to lose its Secretary.
One of the things that you often here in praise of Wivenhoe is ‘there’s so much going on here.’ Well folks - things only happen because people organise them.”
Wise word, but maybe it is a reflection of the work / life balance? There are only so many hours in the day and bills still need to be paid. It’s no secret that I have had to severely cut back on my out of hour’s unpaid activity of late.
On a more lighter note and any news article that contains the phrase: “superb French folk music, played on hurdy-gurdies [geddin there!] and bagpipes” has to be a winner. The Town Meets Gown event gets a mention on p.3.
Dr Philippa Hawley and Halcyon Palmer pen a simply superb local historical account on the various Wivenhoe surgeries dating back over the past Century. It is apt timing, what with the STOP / START / STOP farce of the new Wivenhoe surgery by the Fire Station continuing to stall.
I’m not going to re-publish any of the copy here - this article is worthy of your purchase of Wivenhoe News alone. More of the same please.
The Two Ronnies of Wivenhoe local politics, Cyril Liddy and Dave Purdey, are given the It’s Goodbye From Me, and It’s Goodbye From Him headline.
With sixteen and eight years respectively serving as unpaid Town Councillors, both Cyril and Dave are rightfully given a short column to say a fond farewell.
Of sorts…
Along with Sheila Scammell and her lovely Lollipop Lady tales on p.8, Alison Kent also carries an ACE interview with Ray the Rubbish, the retiring litter picker of Wivenhoe:
“I think you should try to keep the front of your property clean, like the old days. Have pride in where you live.”
Hear, hear.
I didn’t realise that the job was only fourteen hours a week - Ray has seemed to be ever-present during my short stay here. Good luck to James, Ray’s replacement.
Aquatic matters are the concern on p.11. Lifeboat Week gets a deserved plug, as does the Wivenhoe branch of the Royal British Legion:
“Remembrance is a very large part of the Legion’s ethos. Those who attend the Legion Wednesday evenings will know that those who have given their lives in Afghanistan and other places in the service of their nation are individually remembered.”
The building fund for the Legion has been boosted by a donation of over £2,000 from the Boxing Day walk staged by WORC. £690 was also raised at the ACE fireworks display. October 29th is already in the calendar for one of the best nights that Wivenhoe is able to offer.
Next door but one at The Nottage and there is a plug for Water Marks - the Summer Exhibition, featuring local artists Alison Stockmarr, Barbara Peirson and Pru Green.
The exhibition is open on Sundays from 2pm - 5pm until 11th September, and on Regatta Day on 23rd July. It is VERY good. There’s a blog post already being lined up…
Speaking of the Regatta, Wivenhoe News reports:
“There will be the usual wacky races and about thirty stalls and a brass band. The pram race will take place on 22nd July.”
Wivenhoe Youth Hub continues to grow and develop new ideas and partnerships. Page 12 updates with reports on the gig at the Philip Road Centre by local band Rising Soul, a go-karting event organised with Brightlingsea’s 4Youth (reckon we got the better name…) as well as the ACEarchery and rowing evening.
What is rather humbling about The Hub is that those involved offer so much more back into the community. There was a considerable presence at the WivSoc riverbank clean up, help offered at May Fair, as well as support for the Crabbing Competition next month down by the Quay.
Likewise good news coming out of the ADP Theatre School:
“Angie Diggens has booked the Colchester Charter Hall for a show with her Wivenhoe students, combining the best of her last two shows at Clacton.”
Saturday 25th June at 7:30pm, £12 a ticket, details on 282020.
Helen Chambers writes a review of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society production of Oklahoma! at the Loveless Hall:
“The singing was faultless, the whole cast strong and talented.”
And keeping with the Wivenhoe artistic feel, Andy Brooke writes a well-deserved homage to Moving Image:
“It’s great to see people you know in the audience and have a genuine community atmosphere, rather than renting a DVD at home.”
Further details of the Moving Image summer schedule are up on m’blog over here.
The rock ‘n roll rollicking rollercoaster ride that is Radio Wivenhoe (blimey) get a plug on p.14, as does a call for “journalists, bloggers and poets” for Off the Rails. The Wivenhoe Poetry Prize looks forward to the 2011 results as part of the poetrywivenhoe evening at The Greyhound on the 23rd June. Meanwhile a new University of the Third Age art group is starting at the Loveless Hall on 14th September.
All ‘appening - all ‘appening I tell ya.
The good folk of Wivenhoe Bookshop have an entire page to plug future activity, such is the depth of the programme that is on offer. Too much to condense into a throwaway blog paragraph - my suggestion would be to head to the Bookshop for a perusal and a polite chat.
Open Gardens on p.16 is caught between the publishing deadline and the sheer splendour that was the most splendid event this spring. It remains the highlight to date of My Year in Wivenhoe - wonderful, wonderful community spirit and pleasure.
Keeping it green fingered and Wivenhoe Bloom explain a little more about the brilliant use of dead space on the Wivenhoe Triangle that is overlooked by the Co-op, the opticians and Jardine:
“The site belongs to Highways - it’s classed as a verge - but WTC has a licence to plant. Jardine has contributed a very generous donation of £250 towards the cost of materials and plants.”
I have no shame in plugging local businesses that put something back into the community. An excellent gesture and kind contribution, Cristian. Jolly good work, Jardine.
The Parish Paths Partnership column penned by Helen Evans on p.16 puffs out a huge PHEW after finding out that Essex County Council continues to support the hyperlocal initiative.
Three Wivenhoe rights of way have been worked on by P3 to day: the side of Broomgrove Schools, the back of the houses in Broome Grove and the path along the top of the sea wall - you might have already heard about the latter…
So successful is the Wivenhoe P3 project that the group has now become a roving project. It is the A-Team of parish paths partnerships. If you have a problem with some overgrown bramble around the North Essex estuary, this crack team of cleaners should be first on your To Call list.
Cripes.
The joyous news coming out of p.17 and the WAGA update is:
“Spring is finally here.”
Hurrah!
Mayor Needham (woh!) explains more about the recent Beating the Bounds walk around Wivenhoe:
“The tradition of beating the bounds came from a time when no one, except the rich, could leave the parish without permission. It was a method of ensuring that local youngsters knew the limits of their parish.
It involved choir boys, the Parish Clerk and clergymen, leaving from the church armed with wands or sticks.”
Splendid. Soft lot, nowadays. The tradition was restored on 5th June this year. No young child was hurt in reviving this most excellent local tradition.
Wivenhoe bird watcher supreme Richard Allen explains very helpfully the difference between swifts, swallows and martins on p.18. Recent local sightings include:
“Nightingales have arrived in good numbers with a particularly vocal bird near the railway underpass along the Trail. Butterflies have enjoyed the good early weather.”
The ever-observant @AnnaJCowen (blimey) has also spotted a Jay along the Trail.
It all gets rather saucy at the foot of p.18 with Spoons, Spurtles and Spatulas.
Oh Lordy.
“Members of the Wivenhoe Woods Working Party recently attended a day’s course in green woodworking. Instruction was given on how to turn wood on a pole lathe and make spoons and other utensils using knives and a shave horse.”
Phew.
A Personal View of Transition Town Wivenhoe by the good Bob Mehew on p.19:
“I considered Wivenhoe a good place for a Transition Town: strong community spirit; a great awareness of climate change, environmental and sustainability issues; a willingness to get involved, to learn, to educate, to participate.”
TTW continues to grow and innovate. Wivenhoe is all the better for it.
The Wivenhoe Townscape Forum (*not* the Wivenhoe Forum…) gets a deserved article on p. 19:
“There is much in Wivenhoe of historic interest. There are 73 buildings in the town which are included in the English Heritage list of buildings of national interest.
The local list of historic assets is being carried out with the support of WTC and WivSoc, in order to list some of the best historical features of Wivenhoe which have not yet been recognised so that they do not become forgotten in the huge amount of new building and development.”
Bill Ellis writes a brilliant personal account of life at Cook’s Shipyard when the order books were full, with comparisons of the modern day site. Photos of the new jetty accompany this on p.22.
We return to the seawall clearance on p.24 with Peter Kennedy, the esteemed Editor of Wivenhoe News, explaining the depth of debate that this has delivered:
“We have received many pages of emails and submissions, and I shall attempt some sort of overview.”
A summary of comments and complaints follow. The consensus is that the Environment Agency has been crap at communication.
Fine work then from Wivenhoe News, which has put some direct Q’s to the EA, and received some rather direct answers:
“Q: Were any badgers found during the Wivenhoe work?
A: No - there were no badgers found for the Wivenhoe work.
Q: Are any of the proposed sites for compensatory replanting located in the Wivenhoe area?
A: No. Wivenhoe Marsh has found to be unsuitable.”
That’s what happens when you rip the entire natural habitat out, fellas.
Whoops.
The Surgery Saga Grinds On is the p.25 message from Bernard Jenkin, MP. Nothing to do with your national coalition NHS policy, I trust, Sir?
To be fair to the MP for Harwich and North Essex, our Conservative colleague airs a sense of frustration over the continued delay:
“The Government’s decision to review its health legislation raises the immediate concern that the new Wivenhoe GP surgery will be beset by even more uncertainty. There is no case for this. There is no excuse for further delays, and I have made this clear to the CE of the PCT.”
Speaking of the impact of coalition policies on a hyperlocal level, p.26 explains more about the £9k (!!!!) tuition fees that @Uni_of_Essex proposes to introduce.
Some PR fluff from the University is then re-printed. Twenty-one summers ago and I was fishing around for a University place. £9k (or the inflationary equivalent) would have put me off considerably. I wouldn’t have heard of Wivenhoe. I wouldn’t have moved here.
Oh how fickle is the Invisible Hand that pushes and prongs us through the life’s great adventures.
Blimey.
Town and Gown fiscal relations are restored with news of the £2,200 raised at November’s dinner at the Nottage, and now handed over as a bursary to five grateful local Wivenhoe students.
Broomgrove Infants updates on p.28 with reports of the Royal Wedding celebrations; Broomgrove Juniors explain more about the Outside / In project with Slack Space in Colchester.
Celebrations also at Millfields - a fond farewell to Angela Eglington after twenty-five years of teaching, as well as the school’s very own 30th birthday.
WivSoc rightfully reflects on the success of the riverbank clean up, with seventy volunteers stepping forward to help clean up the Colne. The sad winding up of the Wivenhoe Youth Theatre is lamented, with more positive news coming from the Colne School Choir’s recent performance in Wivenhoe.
Councillor Sinclair reflects upon his past year of civic service wearing the gold chain on p.30:
“I would have like to have seen a healthy election this year as we are entitled to 13 Councillors. Sadly there were only eleven candidates, hence no WTC election.”
Plus:
“A planning application has been lodged to demolish the St John Ambulance Hall for replacement with a privately owned project. I am part of a project to save the building. A group of people have come together, with funds, to keep it as a usable community facility.”
Mayor Needham writes on p.30 about the challenges that lay ahead for his administration:
“The proposed medical centre, a future for the former police station; reaching a satisfactory conclusion to the planning gains associated with the Cook’s Yard development and keeping an eye on the gains that maybe derived from any further development.”
The local politicos were caught cold ahead of publication deadlines. Columns from Essex County Councillor Julie Young, Colchester Borough Councillors Steve Ford and Mark Cory, were all penned before the re-election of the latter two.
Great fun to watch from the sidelines, mind.
On the sporting front and Wivenhoe Tennis Club has a call for new members; Andrew Nightingale, the Chair of the Wivenhoe and District Sporting Facilities Trust is also asking for help - financial help - for Broad Lane. Anymore updates on the mystery Mr X and his millions?
And to finish on some hyperlocal happiness - Wivenhoe Helping Hands publishes a rather humble piece, explaining more about the volunteer work of this organisation and how it is genuinely helping folk around the town.
Wivenhoe News is sold at the Co-op, Crossways, the Post Office, Bryans Newsagents and the lovely Wivenhoe Bookshop.
May Fair 2011 - how was it for you? The music, the conversations and the friendships made it fantastic for me. The police sirens late in the day did put a bit of a downer on the experience. A brief trawl through twitter - that ever reliable and factual source of information - shows that *most* folk at May Fair 2011 came away with sunburns and smiles.
Everyone will have their own unique May Fair stories and experiences. You can’t capture the essence of May Fair in a throwaway blog post - you probably wouldn’t want to either.
May Fair for me was very special. My experiences of the afternoon are unique to me, and this blog post is primarily for my purposes, to capture, document and remember what was something of a rather special afternoon.
Along with @AnnaJCowen and the pneumatic recovering house guest, I came close to being up the wotsit creek without a paddle. We were keen to show the pneumatic recovering house guest the delights of the Rowhedge Ferry. Time and tide wait for no May Fair man. Swimming to the KGV almost became a possibility.
Midday tea in the Rowhedge Heritage Hut was when we first heard the chords strike up across the Colne. Time to board the Ferry back to base, time to join the queue of twenty, thirty, forty ferry passengers, all with the same idea.
Whoops.
The good skipper had the foresight to make short shuttle runs across to Ferry Marsh. But with the water fast disappearing, the roundabout route back to the Quay was required.
We did the mental maths and worked out that we may just make the final sail before the ferry became stranded. The boat had become something of a booze cruise, with Rowhedge folk crossing the Colne with boxes of beer.
Anything to declare, Sir? We really should tax that other lot once they land in Wivenhoe.
Back on dry land and we snaked our way around the station, over the foot bridge and towards the KGV and beyond. By 1pm and it was clear that May Fair 2011 was simply MASSIVE.
We missed local lad Lou Terry up on the Sunrise Stage, such was the effort involved to walk from one end of the KGV to the other. An age demographic was clearly in place - fresh-faced yoof were down towards the rear of the field, with the more mature crowd camping out at the top. I have no shame in stating that I was two thirds up, with a preference to continue the ageing process.
Conversations followed - an ever present smiling Mr Mayor and the Lady Mayor, as well as two separate catch ups with middle aged men whom I usually associate with my semi-naked experiences every morning in a steam room out towards the Hythe.
Hot pants appeared to be the May Fair fashion accessory for this spring. I don’t think I’ve got the legs to carry it off, but then again I would also struggle with the balding Goth look, another fashion favourite for 2011.
Transition Town Wivenhoe, Wivenhoe in Bloom, Moving Image - all the great and good of local groups were out in force. The pneumatic recovering house guest came close to a cure in the Healing Field. I pitched in with a rather random and unexpected offer for work with a local organisation.
I’m not sure what happened to the Main Stage running order, but we took up a strategic position towards the right, just in time to catch the ace @AdyJohnsonUK. A shortened set from Colchester’s finest, but one that seemed perfect for the occasion.
Pink Flamingo peaked as MY May Fair moment. Only a couple of months earlier I had been privileged to catch Ady singing a short secret set@15QueenStreet. Seeing the songs from the Worry Doll album being transferred to the Wivenhoe May Fair, and still working with all the intimacy from earlier, had to be a highlight.
The pneumatic recovering house guest had to head back to the big city, and so our May Fair was cut short around 5pm. We walked back down towards the train station, seeing Wivenhoe Wood become a temporary toilet for the afternoon. Not great but hey - at least the greenery got a well needed watering.
The first police sirens started soon after, and then whilst back at base catching the close of play at the cricket, the helicopter action started. I didn’t personally witness anything, and so I’m not going to let it get in the way of MY May Fair 2011.
However if I were in the HEADLINE act, CAV OK, I’d be pretty peeved to be told at the last minute that the set has been cancelled.
Seeing this rather fine chap below wave us a Wivenhoe farewell is the memory that I would like to leave with.
Here’s a letter that has been passed on to me, before being submitted to Richard Houghton, the Team Leader (Strategic Planning) of the Environment Agency, Anglian Coastal Authorities Group.
Phew - that’s quite a title, and one that deserves such a well-reasoned correspondence in relation to the continued vandalism of our natural Wivenhoe habitat by the EA.
I’m not one for letter writing, or even offering up templates for others to simply copy and paste and then pass on. But the sentiments below - penned by a very popular figure within the town - seem to capture perfectly the anger that many have felt over this issue.
There has still been no explanation as to why such a homogeneous national policy has been implemented so savagely within our unique Wivenhoe environment. The arguments are floored, contradictory and plain bad science.
The threat still remains that the diggers will return down to the front before the end of the month. The EA is coming close to its own deadline - whaddya reckon May Fair morning as when we first see (or maybe miss) the EA bully boys once again?
A very fine letter - many thanks for passing on…
Dear Mr Houghton,
I am writing to you regarding the advance notice just received by Wivenhoe Town Council of further vegetation clearance on sea defences which the EA plans to carry out in May, July and September / October of this year.
This represents a significant intensification of what is already regarded as controversial policy, with a radical aim of reducing all vegetation on sea defences to a bland monoculture of turf contravenes all standard policy on wildlife, biodiversity, landscape protection and public amenity.
In the case of Wivenhoe in particular, there is no evidence of damage to seawalls from either brushwood or rabbits, and the assessments in the Shoreline Management Plan make clear there is no problem with carrying out visual inspections. The seawalls downstream border a relatively sheltered stretch of the river Colne, and the seawalls upstream are protected by the Colne barrier.
In view of the damaging impact of this policy, I should be grateful if you could provide answers to the following questions:
Is it correct to assume that the current Sea Defence Vegetation Management programme is being applied to all 300 km. of seawalls in East Anglia which were subject to vegetation clearance in 2010-2011
What are the main drivers of this unprecedented top-down policy initiative? (Implemented in a one-size-fits-all manner, they appear to be mainly political and bureaucratic.)
How much of the annual EA budget for 2011-2012 is being allocated for this purpose? What will be the overall cost?
What is the scientific basis – i.e. published peer-reviewed papers - for adopting a policy which seeks to eliminate all woody growth from sea defences?
Who took the decision, and when was it decided (contrary to assurances received by Wivenhoe residents from EA officials in March) that three further clearance operations would take place in 2011?
Could you identify specific locations in Suffolk / Essex where rabbits have caused significant damage to sea walls?
Can you give an example of an Essex seawall that has failed due to the presence of ‘woody growth’?
Which bodies are monitoring the ecological impact of a regime of cutting up to three times a year – and what flora, apart from grasses, is expected to survive this treatment?
The original report of this management technique in last year’s RFDC minutes stated that you would be creating replacement habitat. Please could you report on your progress with this plan.
Has consideration been given to the likely impact of repeated use of heavy machinery on the structural integrity of seawalls?
And here’s the proposed sites for further sanctioned vandalism in the next round of destruction. Note: the red on the maps published below indicates the intended targets for destruction by the Environment Agency.
An opening up of the inbox and blimey - it’s only an email from the Environment Agency informing me of yet further acts of vandalism to the natural habitat around Wivenhoe that is about to be carried out:
“Following on from our sea defence woody growth clearance in 2010, we will be doing further work to limit its re-growth. This is in addition to our routine grass cutting on all embankments.”
You break our legs and we say thank you when you offer us crutches. Um, cheers, fellas.
“Where is this work happening?
Sections of defence where patches of bare earth exist between woody stumps.”
The bare earth exists ‘cos the buggers chopped it all down back at the start of the year.
“When is this work starting?
We plan to cut up to three times this year in areas of re-sprouting woody vegetation. These will be in May, July and September / October.”
Ah, love the ambiguity in trying to catch us out. Expect bulldozers down by the Sailing Club overnight.
“What will we be doing?
We will use various machinery including tractor mounted and hand operated cutting equipment to remove woody re-growth to encourage the development of a good turf cover.”
Wivenhoe is many things to many people. The Garden of England it ‘aint. The natural and rough beauty of the estuary is far preferable to some prim and proper-bordered garden lawn. If you want an English Rose then you ‘aint gonna find it out along the walk to Alresford Creek.
“Why are we doing this work?”
Ah - now there’s a loaded local question…
“The woody vegetation will be cut to encourage a good turf to re-establish. We do not wish to sow grass-seed because the Essex coast is home to a unique variety of plants. We will encourage these plants to re-colonise using seeds already in the soil”.
Um, why not just let them grow?
“Raised flood embankments are key to protecting people and property from flooding. Each flood defence is routinely inspected and heavy vegetation prevents detailed inspection. Earth slips, settlement, damage by burrowing animals such as rabbits, foxes and badgers all create weakened defences.”
I’m still searching for those mythical Wivenhoe rabbits, me.
“Heavy woody growth on an embankment also causes drying-out and shrinkage cracks in its structural core: under high water loading such a defence is significantly weakened. Rapid detection and appropriate monitoring or repair work is key to sustaining fit-for-purpose flood defences.”
Preferably by laying down in front of a digger when it comes to disrupt and damage our community sometime later this month.
“This information is to let you know about our vital work in your community. We are happy to come along to community groups and residents associations to explain more about our activities. Please contact us if you would like to discuss this in more detail. We will keep you up-to-date with any further developments.”
The maps very kindly supplied by the Environment Agency have been published below. I’m not sure if they were to sent to me as a genuine attempt to improve communication, or as some insider leak to allow Wivenhoe locals to prepare for the battleground ahead.
Blimey.
If you buy into the argument that the vandalism around Wivenhoe is being carried out as an act of flood protection - which I don’t - then you still need to ask the question as to why the chuffers all that is green and good is being bulldozed upstream past the Flood Barrier.
Ferry Marsh is once again up for the chop. If the Trojan Horse argument of getting rid of those pesky rabbits to stop flooding downstream is to be believed, then the Flood Barrier should do the business upstream.
As many locals have already observed, this is very much a macro Environment Agency one size fits all policy of destruction. It may be worthwhile on some coastal region elsewhere, but here in the North Essex estuary wilds and there seems no logical explanation in implementing it.
Has anyone from the Environment Agency actually inspected our very micro environmental conditions? What in all honesty is to be achieved by chopping away at the habitat that exists in the planned flood marsh areas past the Sailing Club?
I very much appreciate the transparency of the Environment Agency is passing this information on to me, but is still remains a complete load of unscientific and irrational twaddle that has absolutely no relevance to Wivenhoe.
It was only a couple of weeks ago that I posted some pictures of the shrubs once again starting to take root along the walk out towards Alresford Creek. The cynic in me suggests that some policy twonk at the Environment Agency saw these as an opportunity to send in the boys with their big diggers once again.
No posters put outside on public footpaths this time - not yet, anyway. Just a private email that almost got buried away in the spam folder. Has anyone else received a copy of this? WTC? The Sailing Club? Residents along the Quay?
The bleak Wivenhoe winter came to an abrupt end when the first signs of spring were savagely uprooted by the Environment Agency. After a glorious Mediterranean (seriously) North Essex Easter, hopes were high of the natural beauty of our habitat returning.
How painful is a summer spent looking at what essentially is a gravel track going to be, once the Environment Agency gets to do the dirty once again? What price to pay for this? A figure of £750,000 for Wivenhoe alone was mentioned at a recent WTC meeting.
The spectacular natural beauty of what lies down by the Quay and beyond is probably the principle reason why many of us choose to live here. Take this away, and you may as well live in Rowhedge - and no one really wants to do that.
The bullyboys and their diggers took us by surprise at the start of the year. Who will be prepared to stand up for our community this summer? Wivenhoe Town Council? Our Borough Councillors? Our esteemed MP?
Sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands, Comrades.
Note: the red on the maps published below indicates the intended targets for destruction by the Environment Agency.
An aborted mountain bike scramble across the Rowhedge Lagoons during those dark, depressing estuary winter days didn’t exactly endear us to that other lot across the Colne. My mountain bike met its match; I met a great big stinking fresh cowpat, which was amazingly the only organic substance that hadn’t frozen solid.
There is something much more civilised though to messing about on the water. For a town that has a history and heritage based around boats, sailing along the estuary provided a lost link to the old and new.
Ever respectful of the river tide, there is roughly a three and a half hour window of opportunity to flirt between Fingringhoe and Rowhedge. With friends staying for the weekend, we chose the Rowhedge route for our first sail. I don’t think I could have kept a straight face explaining that we were off to Fingringhoe.
Running approximately every half hour, it is this relaxed way of working that is the appeal of the Wivenhoe Ferry. Dashing to make the 9:23 out of Wivenhoe Station once a week does my head in. Travel is all about the enjoyment of the journey, and not about a means to an end in reaching your destination.
And so with a half of lager shandy in my hand from the Rose and Crown, we waited by the Ferry boathouse. Our fellow passengers were a young family and a charming dog. Transporting animals and bicycles is at the discretion of the Skipper. You’ll probably be fine with a hound, but I wouldn’t push your luck with a horse.
With the Ferry Man paid (and a bloody ear worm of Chris De Burgh) a single fare of £1.50 was a bargain price for exploring somewhere so close, yet so far away. I made sure that a return leg was possible - spending the evening stranded in Rowhedge wasn’t on the sea faring radar.
We passed a couple of eager young canoeists during our crossing, as well as a tired and emotional crew on a craft that was doing its best Oxford University Boat Race sinking impression. The good Captain was swigging from a bottle of red, and toking on a fag end. If yer gonna go down, best do it in style, fella.
And then just under ten minutes later, we landed.
What now? Bugger off back to Wivenhoe?
Um… Nope. A swift pint in the The Anchor soon became something of an early evening session. This is truly a delightful local pub - a charming landlord, a well-kept beer cellar and the most pleasing of toilets this side of, oh, Fingringhoe up the road.
Fast becoming tired and emotional ourselves, you can see how the booze has the effect of some rather boastful boyhood behaviour from some folk around these parts. Bugger that - a quick consultation with the brilliant Ferry Timetable programme, and our return sail was soon waiting.
Chin chin.
The programme to accompany the 2011 season of sailing has been lovingly put together by the small group of volunteers that so kindly keep the service running. It is worthy of a blog post alone, such is the quality of the beautiful content and ideas based around sailing along the banks of the Colne.
Poems about the river and woods, a short story from David Williams and the usual exceptionally high stand of local bird illustrations from Richard Allen, Wivenhoe’s bird watch supreme. Historical maps sit beautifully with the as ever striking linocuts from James Dodds.
The Chairman’s Note looks ahead to the 2012 season - the 20th anniversary of the restoration of the Wivenhoe Ferry. Funding remains an issue as ever. Special thanks is given to Mr Mayor for kindly offering his support through the Mayor’s Charity Fund, as well as generous support front the Wivenhoe Regatta Committee and RBS. Local businesses advertise in the programme, proving that the benefits of the local economy working closely with local service providers.
Having made the brief journey over to the Dark Side, we soon found ourselves back in The Station, purely as part of a scientific experiment to compare and contrast the booze from both sides of the Colne.
New possibilities have now been opened up to us - the Rowhedge Strawberry Fayre in the Village Hall on the 9th July, anyone?
You may remember how the excuse of protecting the sea wall from burrowing rabbits (nope - me neither) was put up as the justification for the savage destruction of our beautiful local walkways. Strange then that the diggers left in place the roots of the rosehips, blackberry and hawthorn bushes.
Unlike the Environment Agency, Mother Nature has all the answers when it comes to the natural way of protecting our environmental heritage. A Mediterranean month of April in Wivenhoe (steady) and the first signs are starting to show of re-growth along the walkway past the Sailing Club and out towards the Creek.
Even the manufactured marshland - the mess made by the digger’s caterpillar tyres - is starting to heal. No sign of re-growth here, but at least the mud has hardened and looks slightly more pleasant on the eye.
Heading back in the opposite direction towards the Hythe, and it is a similar celebratory spring story along the Wivenhoe Trail. The Environment Agency decided to butcher the bushes all the way down to the University Quays accommodation, leaving a very exposed and bleak landscape.
Now I’m not great identifier of all that is good and green (um, it’s grass, isn’t it?) but some rather charming weeds with white flowers are now lining either side of the Trail out of the wooded area, three, four deep, greeting you as though you are Royalty as you cycle along.
Which is some ways, Comrades, we all are, of course.
The next challenge is to make sure that the Environment Agency isn’t given the opportunity to devastate our landscape with such ease ever again. A formal letter of warning (and it was a bloody warning) was sent to Wivenhoe Town Council last August, ahead of the vandalism.
This was slept on, with the diggers surprising councillors, and locals, with the unannounced speed of the devastation some six months later. I like to think that having seen the reaction to the folly of this mass enforced policy, Wivenhoe won’t give the diggers such an easy ride, should they return around these parts once again.
Now then - keep it a secret, but *shhh* - I’ve found a supply of hawthorns that should be ripe with rosehips in six months time. Don’t tell the Environment Agency; do tell however those nice folk from Transition Town Wivenhoe who are putting together a Free Fruit Map of the area.
To The Nottage once again on Wednesday evening for a committee meeting with the lovely WivSoc folk. With the smell of yacht varnish in the barn below being mixed up with the aroma of booze from the Rose and Crown along the Quay, this was something of a Wivenhoe moment.
There is always a sense of great history in entering the Nottage. You feel that you are truly experiencing something of Wivenhoe’s past - and hopefully the future, with WivSoc pushing forward a positive agenda for the town.
Of course you could always replicate the experience by brewing yacht beer and drinking it in your garden shed on a Wednesday evening once a month. But that would mean that you would miss the WivSoc stories. These blog posts don’t write themselves, y’know…
As ever, a varied agenda of the serious and trivial was in store. Off the Rails was up first. A request for assistance has been made by the local arts groups that is responsible for putting in place public art at Wivenhoe Station.
Off the Rails has been officially adopted by Network Rail as the organisation in which to promote art along the platforms. The potential problem is that Off the Rails may be ace at art, but has little experience of organising. WivSoc has been asked for advice.
Although not really coming under the WivSoc remit, it was agreed that conversations with Off the Rails should continue, with a view to helping the group become more self-sufficient. Another suggestion was to steer Off the Rails with the recent moves to re-start the legendary Wivenhoe Arts Club.
I’m not quite sure how this happened, but the debate then somehow let drop that the Station Master’s House has had something of a roof falling in on the world moment: THE ROOF REALLY HAS FALLEN IN, apparently, with the first floor coming crashing down.
Whoops.
Exactly where this leaves the fine Transition Town Wivenhoe and the ambitious (and ace) plans to turn the building into a sustainable community centre remains to be seen. TTW has a war chest of community goodwill, but sadly not a blank cheque to re-build Wivenhoe.
Sticking with matters fiscal, and it seems that WivSoc has saved the UK economy.
Cripes.
Recent changes in tax and insurance law means that the Chancellor has been presented with an extra £3.10 to help reduce the deficit.
We’re all in this together, Comrades.
Planning looked at the proposed development of nine new properties along Rectory Road. I still don’t quite get this ‘development’ terminology; it seems to suggest moving forward, an advancement, a development, if you will. But what if the development [urgh] is actually a step back?
They usually are…
Record Road has been previously submitted, and then withdrawn. It is now back in the hands of Colchester Borough Council. WivSoc has no formal objection, apart from a passing comment on the access road planned. A letter is being drawn up to put this point across. Town planning speak for re-wording of the phrase “jolly nasty design” were then discussed.
It is at this stage in the development (aha!) that it is perhaps worth reminding folk of the recent changes in the CBC planning application process. New applications will by-pass the Committee and go straight to council officers, UNLESS two formal objections are made. These need to be put in place through your local CBC ward councillor.
A hop, skip and a jump down Rectory Road, via an afternoon bender at the Rose and Crown (steady) and we’re at Cook’s. We’re also at the point that no WivSoc committee meeting would be complete without: the development [urgh, urgh] of the old shipyard.
A diligent spot on the CBC database by our esteemed Queen of Planning, and it seems that a variance in use has been put forward for the commercial developments along from the Quay.
The units were originally intended for commercial use for home workers as a business unit. The suggestion now is that they will be able to open up on Sundays and Bank Holidays, and also have the option to serve refreshments outdoors.
With On the Corner (nee the Corner House) now focussing on the evening economy, having one more place to purchase coffee in Wivenhoe during the daytime has to be seen as something worth welcoming.
Keeping with the public space theme, it seems that the old St John’s Ambulance building has become embroiled in a bit of a local tug of law. Time to repeat my personal mantra of not commenting in public on private planning applications. Still holding out for that nightclub at the bottom of the garden…
With Moving Image finding funding problems for the long-term purchase of the building, a local artist is interested in taking over St John’s for studio space. This includes the possibility of opening up for exhibitions.
*Some* members of Wivenhoe Town Council though are unhappy with this move. They see the building as one of the few remaining possibilities to keep it as a shared community resource. Booking a public venue in Wivenhoe is becoming increasingly difficult. *Some* members of WTC would like to keep all options open.
I wouldn’t stretch it out as far as calling it a rival bid, but a second group is in the running to try and restore the building for community use. A figure of £25,000 has been quoted to carry out repairs. It appears that the second group already has this capital.
I’m not ruling out a *ahem* THIRD bid, should my application for the nightclub in the back garden be turned down.
Keeping it social and the WivSoc is genuinely overjoyed with the tremendous success of the recent riverbank clean up. This was the most successful yet, with 80 volunteers turning up on a Sunday morning to help make the Colne a little bit cleaner.
The results are there to see - a tidal litter free stretch, all the way down to the Hythe. WivSoc was particularly happy to see young volunteers from the Hub and the Scouts and Guides coming out to help.
Cleaning up the Colne has become something of uniting community issue (or maybe not…) with some lovely plans to stretch out across the other side and involve our friends from Rowhedge.
It has been suggested that WivSoc twins future clean ups with the Rowhedge lot. We can even wave to one another from the other side. I know which half of the great divide I’d wager has the greater amount of mess to clean up.
Other social news includes a welcome return of the WivSoc wine tasting evening, taking place this year on the 18th November at the Congregational Hall. Our friends from the Co-op are once again very kindly providing the booze.
Chin chin.
But try and keep it sober - here comes that nice Mr Mayor with his formal report from the recent WTC meeting. I say formal, but the Dress Down Wednesday and affable approach of our civic leader, kept it all rather light-hearted.
A fair few serious issues however:
The proposed new Health Centre behind the Fire Station has seen considerable movement in recent weeks. As previously reported, Mr Mayor has held a meeting with the PCT, leaving Councillor Sinclair:
“More positive than at any stage before.”
Basically the PTC wants a decision imminently, ahead of the proposed national government shake-up of the NHS. A meeting of the Executive is being held next month, where a final decision is expected to be made.
Mr Mayor reported that the site itself is now ready for construction. The last remaining planning hurdle (a stray tree root) has now been resolved. Slight cynicism though from some sections of WivSoc, with mumblings of we’ve been here before…
Mr Mayor then spoke of his personal quest to:
“Bang a few heads together to try and get some co-operation from our local councillors.”
Cripes.
Not in the literal sense of course, but with currently two LibDems, One Tory and one Labour councillor, Mr Mayor is concerned that possible Section 106 funds coming out of the Knowledge Gateway might get lost in the political fog of tribal party politics.
The Cross ward has been singled out as being in most urgent need of new funds. A hit list of possible projects has been drawn up by WTC. I’d personally like to see a tag team-wrestling contest featuring all four councillors.
“Most town councillors are on board with the concept. There is a feeling that this is a one-off opportunity to keep these under public use. We dare not let go of them.”
The police apparently quoted a figure of £400,000 four years ago, although WTC holds strong that this was never put forward in writing. It is expected that a similar figure will remain the market value today.
Which is slightly steep for a local town council that has just had a significant funding cut from the paymasters of CBC. The plan is to approach the Municipal Loan Board, and then rent out the properties to service the loan.
We finished off with My Mayor updating on the #hyperlocal political process:
“We have four new councillors, and four retiring councillors - which leaves us two short of our quota. I would have LOVED for this to have gone to election - it would have done WTC a world of good.”
I still reckon mud wrestling is the way to go, Comrades.
See ya next month…
Wivsoc - 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.
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