onionbagblog

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.

I’m not usually one to deal with rumours (oh no, not me, Sireee…) but talk did turn to the possible return of the random Rowhedge tired and emotional swimmer.

Oh Lordy.

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.

Meowww.

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.

Full flickr stream over here.

Taking in the waifs and strays of Wivenhoe, cleaning up cat s***.

They really should erect a blue plaque above our home inscribed with this fine character reference.

Yeah, so @AnnaJCowen and I have a new lady / man in our lives. I don’t really do Facebook, but… it’s awkward.

I’m not sure if we’re sleeping with a boy or a girl, and to be honest, I haven’t had the time for a good look down below to identify exactly what is going off in the kitty gonad department.

But if you are missing a gorgeous white cat around Wivenhoe, s/he is with us right now.

The charming Pet Shop Girls are of course involved - aren’t they always. It was to the very good fortune of White Minstrel (copyright @wivenhoepets) that s/he wandered into the Business Centre early on Saturday morning.

Off all the bars in all the world and you have to place your pretty paws @WivenhoePets, etc. What exactly is wrong with the Black Buoy?

As you would expect, the charming Pet Shop Girls cared for White Minstrel for most of the day. S/he was VERY hungry, and then became rather tired.

It was at this point that @AnnaJCowen and I walked in - also very hungry and rather tired and emotional having attended the ACE opening of the Spanish Paintings exhibition (bloggage to follow, Comrades…)

The problem for the Pet Shop Girls is that they are overrun with cats already on the domestic front. Keeping White Minstrel in store, so to speak, would probably lead to a run on cat food in Wivenhoe. S/he does like a good feed.

Meanwhile, back at base and we are overrun with Murphie, the psychologically unstable little Madam of Wivenhoe, who is also rather adorable. I share my life with two females of this description.

We do have a rather large garden shed however, which offers a safe house overnight for White Minstrel. S/he is currently falling asleep in there, quite content, and with quite a full belly.

We would love to look after White Minstrel for a while longer, but s/he ‘aint ours. Plus little Murphie would be sectioned for the madhouse if another cat came into our home.

SO…

Are you missing a white cat? S/he’s is quite bulky, very friendly and yeah, very hungry. S/he is wearing a black collar with small studs around it. Some small bells are also attached.

Please call into Wivenhoe Pets if you are missing this cat, or if you know of anyone that it might belong to. You can also email me over here.

In the meantime - how exciting: a dual cat household, both of whom are blissfully unaware of each other. I wish human relationships could be like that.

Meowww…

Not so much Estuary English, but Estuary Spanish.

Blimey.

Julia and Michael will be exhibiting at the Wivenhoe Gallery down at the Business Centre for the next fortnight. Between them they have an artistic background that covers some considerable ground and experience. It’s worth popping down to Brook Street just to hear their story.

Expect bright colours, charming company, and hopefully a little business as well.

Serving Brightlingsea, Wivenhoe and Nearby Villages, the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play that is The Brightlingsea and Wivenhoe Chronicle is with us once again.

Hurrah!

It’s a cracking read in The Chronicle once again this fortnight. With those out of towners @TheGazette getting it all so very wrong over the May Fair story, it is pleasing to see local scribe Scoop Scarpenter present a Tell It Like It Is approach to local news reporting.

But first - how’s about a pic of a handsome chap wearing a gold chain, grinning out at you from the front cover?

Oh goody.

The Towns’ New Mayors is the lead, with a nice photo (taken by a hit and miss snapper) of Councillor Needham, the new Mayor of Wivenhoe:

“Born and bred in Wivenhoe, Robert Needham is now starting his third year on Wivenhoe Town Council. He is a former police dog handler and Sergeant, serving with Essex Police over a period of 30 years, and later becoming Community Operations Manager for Colchester Borough Council.”

He also runs a tight ship when it comes to chairing meetings, not to mention being a charming host at Open Gardens.

The Chronicle also documents Mayor Needham’s work on the severe weather policy for the town, as well as his role in helping to set up Helping Hands in the town.

“Wivenhoe is certainly diverse.”

We wish him well..

Likewise for Radio Wivenhoe, the new online broadcasting station that has been set up down at the Business Centre, which gets the p.2 treatment. Mr Mule writes:

“Wivenhoe now has its own radio station which will go live in early July. The station was initially the idea of Jerry Davis, who’s long harboured ambitions to create a radio station in the area.”

The Chronicle reports how forty volunteers turned up at The Greyhound last week to express an interest. The medium term plan is to apply for a community radio licence in 2013.

“Many of the volunteers seemed to be of the opinion that insufficient radio airtime was being allocated to forms of music outside of mainstream tastes. A majority of people at the meeting thought that Wivenhoe had the flair and breadth of talent to eventually create a radio station tailored to the town’s own needs.”

Not ‘arf.

The first Wiv Chat recording with a hit and miss *ahem* broadcaster has already been lined up for this week.

Blimey.

“For listeners, Radio Wivenhoe can be found at www.radiowivenhoe.co.uk. The email address is [email protected].”

You could even try [email protected]

Cripes.

Keeping with the Chronicle's catchy headlines, Independent Booksellers Week of Activities once again Tells It Like It Is:

“A number of activities for people of all ages will be organised in Wivenhoe as part of the Independent Booksellers Week. Run locally by the ever enterprising [and then some] Wivenhoe Bookshop, events start on 17th June at 6:30pm with a book launch of Truth or Dare, a collection of short stories.”

The Bookshop’s brilliant blog contains further… reading. Plus this might be an apt occasion to publish once again the first of hopefully many more @audioboo’s to come from the Bookshop.

Local scribe and all round good chap, Ben Thomas (@Heskey1992) writes an ACE May Fair round up on p.6: Musical May Fair Never Fails to Entertain.

Ben covers all three main stages, taking in the commanding Ady Johnson, the rising local star Lou Terry and even the festival favourite, the bonkers Mr Sonic Manipulator.

“This year’s event has certainly left the large crowd pleased with the musical performances. Individuals who had travelled from across the country and further afield had nothing but positive reviews about the year’s entertainment.”

A separate news story on p. 11 runs with:

“Disturbances Break Out at the May Fair“

It’s a clever journo trick played by Scoop, and one that the likes of @The Gazette would do well to learn from. May Fair 2011 was mainly about the music. You can’t cover up the police presence towards the end, but this wasn’t the headline news here.

“By mid afternoon there appeared to be a number of drunken youths acting aggressively and there were reports of bottles being thrown at members of the public and also fights breaking out in the field, in the adjacent wooded area, and also in The Avenue, Wivenhoe.

After calls were made to the police, two officers at first arrived, but by 6pm more than 40 police officers had been deployed to Wivenhoe to handle the various incidents.”

Hardly the “hundreds of youths” that @TheGazette got slightly over-excited with in its irresponsible, and inaccurate, reporting.

The Chronicle continues:

“A 20 year-old man from Marks Tey had been arrested prior to the main disturbance on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly and has since been charged with this offence and two offences of criminal damage.

Two 15 year-old boys were arrested just before 8pm on suspicion of assault and they have been bailed until 17th July while enquiries continue.”

Tell It Like It Is.

Meanwhile, the Battle of the May Fair makes for sombre reflection. Time to plan for 2012…

Moving on…

Who fancies an evening covering “immigration, religion, Zionism, Islamic jihad and the ongoing problem of people who are not yet middle class?”

Cripes.

Liam Mullone will bring all the above of to Wivenhoe during his performance at the Funny Farm at the Cricket Club 30th June. The Chronicle also reports Juliet Meyers and David Hannant are also appearing.

Meanwhile:

“Have you thought about joining the scouting adventure as a leader?”

Um…

p.7 carries the very urgent need for Wivenhoe Scouts to recruit a new scouting top dog. Further details via [email protected].

Ivan Sage writes a lovely review on p.10 of Wivenhoe’s ADP Theatre School’s production of Around the World 2 - Return Ticket, recently performed in Clacton. The show heads to the Charter Hall in Colchester on 25th June.

Local legends The Medlars meddling at Wivenhoe Folk Club on 7thJuly at The Flag are featured on p. 12; sharing the space is mention of the Helping Hands AGM at the Sailing Club on 16th June at 7:30pm. New volunteers welcome…

Now Hear This:

“The Hearing Care Centre will be holding its next Wivenhoe Open Day on 29th June at Wivenhoe Eyecare Opticians, 1 Belle Vue Road. Free, no obligation hearing tests and expert-advice on any hearing related problems are available.”

The Spanish Paintings exhibition at the Wivenhoe Gallery gets a plug on p.14, and that as they say is adios from Scoop for the next fortnight.

Fine work, fella.

Dogs being walked along Wivenhoe Quay, cats on every estuary street corner: hey - y’know what we need? Wivenhoe Pets, of course.

And so it was with great delight that my first proper pet ownership more or less coincided with the opening of Wivenhoe Pets down at the Business Centre towards the end of last year.

A cat is a cat is a cat - you feed them, they pooh. Everyone’s happy.

Um, not quite…

Andreya and Jane (for they are the *ahem* Pet Shop Girls) provide much more of a service than simply selling pet food. Both are highly skilled and have a professional background in pet care.

As well as a local delivery service, a cat care service if you are out of town, and even a growing garden business, it is the conversations and help that I value most when down at the Business Centre.

The Wivenhoe Pets Wall of Fame is a badge of honour to be included upon (Murphie, not me.) We’re in fine company as well, with one lovely neighbour also having representation, and I here talk of the other side *shhh* possibly about to take part in the pet action as well.

Matching up the Wall of Fame with the audio above made perfect pet sense. There is of course the special guest appearance of everyone’s favourite Station Cat towards the end. Andrea and Jane have been crucial here in ensuring that a genuine care in the community approach is now in place to look after Wendy and her needs.

You can contact Wivenhoe Pets on 01206 823 941, or via the Facebook page, or even on twitter @wivenhoepets. Pop in for a chat, explain your pet needs, and I’m sure you’ll be accommodated.

Meanwhile, the Facebook page updates with:

“MISSING BLACK CAT - missing since Thursday night 9th June - Lower Wivenhoe area. No tag, large, slim male, very friendly. Black with few white hairs under his neck. Any information please call 07833 256949″

NOT the adorable Naughty Boy, who sadly is back on his semi-permanent vacation in Frinton.

Meowww.

To The Greyhound early on Tuesday evening to hear plans all about the prospect of launching the hyperlocal Radio Wivenhoe here in the town. A public meeting had been called by Jerry Davis of Wivenhoe First to explore the local interest and local angle.

In my best BBC broadcasting voice, I hereby announce that these plans are VERY ambitious; I also add in the belief that they are equally VERY achievable.

Put simply, the plan is to put together a uniquely local Wivenhoe programme schedule. The station will start off as an online venture, with a view to applying for a community licence, once Ofcom pimps out the franchise in 2013.

I strongly support the idea of doing it yourself, right here in Wivenhoe, and preferably right now before the big boys of Radio Ga Ga come cashing in on our local patch. If there is sufficient support and evidence that a station can be operated locally online, the ambition to secure a community licence becomes all the more realistic.

Jerry opened the meeting echoing these very same thoughts. He explained how SGR in Colchester was swallowed up by the radio behemoth that is GWR, which promptly then switched the programming down the road to Chelmsford.

I grew up in an age where local radio mattered to the local community. I worked on local stations that genuinely impacted and improved the lives of those that listened. The last thing that Wivenhoe wants right now is some soulless corporate radio beast bangin’ out bloody Jon Bon Jovi every hour, on top of the hour.

Just under forty local folk gathered Upstairs at The Greyhound to hear the plans, and then to think about ways in which to progress. What was truly humbling was to witness the cross section of community support that had come out to participate.

The good Councillor Ford, Poetry Peter, Pantomime Puffin, May Fair Mike, Bookshop Sue and Mr Mule - all on fine fighting form, all wanting to be able to offer up their own specialised and unique perspective on Wivenhoe life to the local community.

The beauty of this back to basics approach is that the online space makes all of this possible. What exactly is radio in 2011 anyway? It’s all audio, Comrades - you don’t need to be sitting in some plush penthouse suite in Leicester Square to call yourself a radio station.

Wivenhoe Business Centre (blimey) can serve the purpose of a base. The initial plan is to offer live weekend programming from the Business Centre, with a small studio currently being sourced.

Pre-records or repeats can be streamed for the rest of the week. As one would expect from a Wivenhoe venture, there is a gloriously creative collective approach to all of this. Some ideas may work, others may not.

The skill is to simply get out there and try something. Sitting back and allowing Radio Ga Ga to come into our town would kill all creativity, as well as bypassing (and out-pricing) our genuine local businesses.

We are fortunate to have Heather Purdey, a former Director of the International Journalism MA at City University on board. Heather is happy to help out to train up local broadcasters, as well as to advise as to how we best approach Ofcom.

As for the programme schedule itself? It waves the stiff mast of two Wivenhoe fingers up in the air at Radio Ga Ga and the goons, with a gloriously bonkers mix of all that is great and diverse within Wivenhoe.

Classical, swing, 80′s, rock, soul, local sports broadcasting (hurrah!) local comedy (hurrah! hurrah!) and interviews with local politicians (hurra… um, hang on.)

Add into this the possibility of outside broadcasts at events such as the Wivenhoe Regatta, plus close involvement and participation from both schools, and you can see the potential for hyperlocal radio within the town.

Oh yeah - some hit and miss bloke is threatening the possibility of a local chat show.

Blimey.

And so with a tight schedule to stick to (news coming up at the top of the hour blah blah blah) the meeting was wrapped up at just under an hour of offline broadcasting. The closing message from Jerry was:

“This isn’t my radio station - this is for Wivenhoe. Whatever the community wants, we would like to get them involved.”

Jerry speaks of being the “facilitator” - he is actually much, much more, having personally taken the financial hit for setting up Radio Wivenhoe and purchasing the software required. Running costs are around £50 a month - the value of a genuinely local radio station for Wivenhoe can’t be calculated.

Mr Mule rallied the troops in typical poetic and inspiring style:

“If we want this to happen, we have to do it ourselves. We have to prove that we are up to the job.”

Someone should give that man a microphone. And a radio show.

As for your involvement? Well…

A good starting point would be to step forward and offer any skills that you might have - broadcasting, sales, admin, organisational - all are vital to the success of the Radio Wivenhoe.

Test transmissions will continue until July, with local programming hopefully then being broadcast out of the Business Centre. There is a pirate approach to all of this, but brought up to date for the modern interweb age and all totally legit.

NICE.

Not ‘arf.

Image copyright: Jane Knight.

Ah, here’s one that almost escaped underneath the Wivenhoe radar: local artist Jane Knight will be staging her first photo-art exhibition at Les Livres Gallery in Trinity Walk, Colchester over the next month.

I come from a non-artistic background, and so Jane will of course always be known to me as one half of the charming Pet Shop Girls down at the Business Centre. Looking at the loving way in that the displays are arranged, now all seems to make perfect pet (and artistic) sense.

The excellent Urban Abstracts website adds:

“Jane has supplied a top London Picture Agency with images for over sixteen years, with her photographs appearing in numerous publications such as The Times newspaper, Sunday Telegraph and The Discovery Channel Website to name but a few.”

The exhibition opens on 10th May, and runs through until 8th June, with a Monday - Thursday viewing for free.

Although not officially part of the wonderful collection of images assembled by Jane, there is a rather charming Wivenhoe Rogues Gallery of the various pets that pass through the Pet Shop on display down at the Business Centre…

Meowwww.

Plus: here’s a brief plug for the Nottage Summer Exhibition, starting on 15th May this year. It will be open from 2pm - 5pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays, exhibiting work from Pru Green, Alison Stockmar and Barbra Pearson - all local artists - and one of whom use to have a studio in the very same space where these words are being bashed out right now.

Blimey.

It all started with a rather innocent post over on the Wivenhoe Forum (whaddya mean, blah blah blah… Oh - JUST JOIN!)

The appropriately named forum member fatcat started a thread, stating:

“We have a station cat.

I first noticed her about three years ago as she crossed the line, soon after she worked her way into the booking office and since then has become a permanent fixture with chair / blanket / scratching post / food / water. My enquires tell me that her owners have moved on and left her to her own devices.”

The conversation developed, as online dialogue often does; we have now come to the stage where Wendy Aid is in action; a fund has been set up by the very, very lovely Pet Shop Girls (TM) down at Wivenhoe Pets in the Business Centre, to make sure that our local station cat receives the correct medical attention.

The whole social history of everyone’s favourite station cat has now been re-told online. I was always aware of Wendy, if not in name, then certainly in presence. She personally greeted @AnnaJCowen and I during our many reckie’s into Wivenhoe, ahead of the Great Escape.

Wendy’s legendary welcomes have even stretched out across the Atlantic, with the wonderful “Wivenhoe vacation” couple from Rochester also pointing out the pleasure in being personally welcomed into the town with a purrr…

I always assumed (never assume!) that Wendy was owned by Network Rail, although probably not as some preposterous PPI initiative. It turns out that Wendy is no feline fiscal experiment in poxy Third Way politics.

Food, water, bedding and a scratch pole have all been provided by the decent #NXEA folk at Wivenhoe Station. But as I’m starting to find out back on the home front, a bowl of Whiskas a day doesn’t quite tell the story when it comes to the complexities of kitty cat love.

The Pet Shop Girls very kindly contributed the following to the Wivenhoe Forum:

“We were so sorry to hear about Wendy, we have had many a cuddle with her and she’s a truly gorgeous cat!

We would be more than happy to help Wendy, by having a collection pot for her at Wivenhoe Pets, I’m sure our customers would be more than happy to help her!”

Awww…

@tinysketchbook added a photo; Marika suggested some online adoption. fatcat had the cheek to suggest that Wendy could do with losing some weight.

Meowww!

The Colne Valley Veterinary Practice was consulted [cheers, fatcat] and a plan of action was put into place. A collection tin is now in place with the Pet Shop Girls.

Wivenhoe Pets also runs a rather wonderful loyalty scheme, where continued purchases receive a discount. I’ve got a £5 voucher, having bough a pussy palace for little Murphie. My £5 voucher is about to be cashed in to help our station cat.

Purrrfect (yeah, yeah, yeah…)

But cat collecting it seems is not enough for Wivenhoe’s very own cat celebre. Forum member charmaine added that Wendy is about to be immortalised in art:

“Her image is to be worked into a community rag rug picture to embellish our station. Would anybody like to learn to rag rug or contribute to this rag rug project?”

Blimey.

charmaine adds:

“By the way, Wendy was like a social worker down at the station during the snowy weather. I saw her climbing into the laps of freezing and hopeless travellers waiting for ghost trains, when so many were cancelled or late. She brought a purrr and smile to some very frozen worried faces.”

And so ends our tale of how a rather innocent post on the Wivenhoe Forum has resulted in #bigsociety (steady) plan to take care of a community cat. Being Wivenhoe and it is of course entirely appropriate that an artistic element has been added.

Meanwhile, @murphie_kitten is fast becoming not a charity case, but a bit of a head case.

Meowww…

Guess who’s heading this way?

Meowww…

So yeah, I can confirm that the victor in the Great Wivenhoe Cat ‘n Dog Wars is the species least likely to drag you out of bed at 6am on a Sunday morning for a walk. Never argue with @AnnaJCowen when it comes to cats. Her bark is worse than her bite.

And so the plan was always to have an extra mouth to feed, once we became settled in Wivenhoe. I was all for the dog walking lifestyle of waving to fellow walkers along the Wivenhoe Trail. The girl wasted no time in getting her claws into me.

But it wasn’t the constant catcalls that wore me down. An unwelcome (but adorable) guest finally won me over. Cats are territorial and so we need to lay down the boundary lines. P***ing in the back garden isn’t keeping the unwelcome guest away.

It was with perfect timing then that the wonderful Wivenhoe Pets opened up down at the Business Centre, shortly after our estuary arrival. A weekend trip of planning, and I think we’re all set for the new arrival(s).

Wivenhoe Pets really was perfect in putting us on the right path. The basics have been bought, advice has been given. We even got a lift back to base to help carry all of the cat paraphernalia.

Colchester Cat Rescue is on our radar next. They employ a very clever copywriter who can pull at your cat heartstrings with a flick of the, um, mouse:

“Adelaide came to the sanctuary with her kittens. She’s around two years old and is now looking for a new home having completed her motherly duties. We have no background on Adelaide as she was a stray but it’s quite likely she has had a rough start to her life. We are seeking an adult home with somebody who is calm around her to help her gain in confidence. Adelaide is a very sweet little cat and with some one to one time she should blossom.”

Awww…

It’s not a beauty contest of course, but pictures have been provided. My eye is immediately drawn to the most ugly [double, double awww... awww...] sorrowful looking of the lot. She needs some love.

Daddy, what did you do during the Great Wivenhoe Cat ‘n Dog Wars?

Um, I gave in to the demands of @AnnaJCowen and re-opened the cat flap [NOT rude.]

Meowww…

Here’s something that sounds barking mad, but equally brilliant:

The Hounds of Wivenhoe Exhibition photo shoot

“Wivenhoe dogs are invited to have their photographs taken as part of the upcoming Hounds of Wivenhoe Exhibition for display at the Crab and Winkle Gallery, Platform 2.

Just turn up in the station car park on Sunday 19th December, from 11am until 3pm, and be prepared to sit nicely - a pre-photo groom available!”

Get down, boy.

Blimey.

It’s almost tempting to go and buy a bonzo, just for the photo shoot itself. I don’t think that the feline loving @AnnaJCowen would approve, but I’m always up for teaching an old dog new tricks.

Disclaimer: A dog is for life, and not just for the ace Hounds of Wivenhoe photo shoot. Plus it’s probably worth plugging Wivenhoe Pets once again, a new business to the town, just down by the Business Centre.

So yeah - if you want a picture of your pooch to appear on platform 2 at Wivenhoe station, Sunday is the big day for pruning. The repressed dog lover within laments that my only canine action for the day is likely to be at The Greyhound.

Woof woof Chin chin.