onionbagblog

Prior to my most recent Wiv Chat recording, Peter Hill and I had yet to cross paths. I had heard, and read plenty about this popular local figure, but somehow our Wivenhoe wanders had taken a different way.

Or possibly a different pub.

Time to put this right I though. With twenty-five years unpaid civic service on Wivenhoe Town Council, an interest in supporting young folk and a passion for online publishing - I just knew that Peter and I would find some common ground.

Peter likes to talk of how he has now taken a step back from local activity, after an unbroken quarter of a century serving as a Town Councillor. It sounds more like a life sentence than civic service.

But as we explored various ideas within the chat, it soon became clear that Peter is just as busy now as he was some five, ten or even fifteen years ago. I wanted to find out the motivation for this - Peter put it perfectly early on in the conversation when he stated:

“People change when they come to Wivenhoe.”

Quite.

I don’t think he meant in a metaphysical bodily transformation (but then again…) - more like you have to be something of a social hermit to not want to participate and experience the many levels of activities that Wivenhoe life has to offer.

Our dialogue starts in 1972 with Peter and his wife Bonnie moving to the town from Southend. Searching to find a social scene, Peter immediately started helping out with the Wivenhoe Scouts and Guides movement - a connection that still remains in place today.

This led to further connections, a formal introduction to Wivenhoe Town Council, an active part in promoting the Wivenhoe Carnival and perhaps Peter’s finest hyperlocal achievement, the setting up of the Wivenhoe Encyclopaedia.

“It’s all about meeting new and different people…”

Which is something that I am finding out for myself.

Having undergone some superb Radio Wivenhoe training the previous Saturday, this was my first attempt at taking up the advice of being more direct.

“You need a structure - you need to nag away and ask those tricky questions.”

Um, yeah, www-welll, tell me about blah blah blah…

I did ask Peter about the mystery Mr X, and the promise to pump £1m into the Broad Lane Trust, something that Peter was instrumental in establishing. I also approached head on the incredibly delicate issue of the St John’s Ambulance building and the rival community bid to Pru Green’s private planning application.

The famous phrase of “Wivenhoe is full” also cropped up - which I believe the origins can be traced back to Tom Roberts?

And then just as I was prepared to put on my serious Paxman persona - whaddya know: @murphie_kitten did a whoopsie.

Whoops.

We picked up the pieces (but not the litter tray) and tried to compose for the conclusion of the conversation. The bells of St Mary’s can be heard towards the end - a fitting finale to end an interview with a fella who has fought for Wivenhoe in the past, and continues to do so, even after officially taking a step aside.

A couple of quotes coming my way via the Wivenhoe Forum:

“I have today written to the Environment Agency to formally object to the destructive work taking place along the sea wall from Wivenhoe Sailing Club to Alresford Creek. I suppose it’s probably too late to do anything about it but feel I must object to the lack of local consultation and publicity about the scale and extent of these works.”

As a bit of a busy body Wivenhoe local, I wasn’t even aware that the work being carried out by the Environment Agency was taking place out towards Alresford Creek. My daily commute takes me in the opposite direction, heading for the Hythe.

It’s a shame that it has taken such a heartbreaking issue as the vandalism of the sea wall, but yeah - hopefully the Wivenhoe Forum is now finding a use and a shared purpose.

Some more quotes on the same subject:

“I have spoken to Wivenhoe Town Council who received a letter from the Environment Agency in August 2010. I’ve seen nothing locally about these works.”

This is exactly what I had in mind when setting up the Wivenhoe Forum towards the tail end of last year. Having an engaged local community, sharing in dialogue and hopefully co-operation, can only benefit the town as a place to live and work. All information is good.

“An explanation of why this work is being done by the Environment Agency has been posted on the Wivenhoe website.”

This came from user gene, who is also responsible for running the most excellent Wivenhoe Encyclopedia (many thanks for the link, btw.) I have found this online volume of local knowledge invaluable since planning the Great Escape. It is formally linked with Wivenhoe Town Council. I prefer my independence…

Plus as comprehensive as the Encyclopedia may be (and it truly is a source of great knowledge) there isn’t the functionality for locals to talk together online. Once again - this is precisely what I had in mind when putting together the Wivenhoe Forum.

“Personally I am very disappointed that Wivenhoe Town Council was made aware of these works in August 2010 by the EA but that this information has not filtered through to the population of the Town.”

To which the response was:

“I have passed your comment to the Town Council.”

Ace.

Proper hyperlocal online communication that is being channeled in the right direction. Many thanks to the users involved for helping this process to work.

I then received a very kind comment to m’blog, from a non-Wivenhoe resident, stating:

“After a long drawn out decision – initially inspired by a Guardian Let’s Move article in 2007 – the time has come to house-hunt and school-hunt in Wivenhoe. It is very exciting but with two primary age children and a Liverpool street commuter the over subscribed schools and the crazy train fares are a little scary.

It was good to find this forum.”

Ahhh - lovely. It was good to see that the reach of the Wivenhoe Forum is also starting to spread outside of the town. This was another reason behind the initial idea - helping to promote Wivenhoe from within to the outside.

The Wivenhoe Forum is still only under two months old. My problem is that I’m far too impatient. I actually have higher daily traffic to m’blog than to the forum right now. Ironically this is actually up on the Lambeth levels from back in the day. Must be something about the content, Comrades.

In terms of membership, the Wivenhoe Forum is now up to seventy registered users. Not all are active of course, plus we have about half that number of lurkers each day. Online dialogue and co-operation is only ever any good if you can get a greater number of conversations started.

I’m still loath to go out there and start pimping out the forum around the town. But I’ve been encouraged as to how an issue such as the Colne clearance has acted as a springboard to realise the possibilities that this form of online contact can create.

Oh - and I personally managed to pass on an unwanted chair via the forum.

Cripes.

Onwards.

A winter walk out to Thorrington Tide Mill was the challenge. What could possibly go wrong, as we set off out of Wivenhoe *ahem* rather late in the afternoon with the bruising skies above looking foreboding?

Um…

The inspiration behind the walk was twofold. The wonderful Wivenhoe Encyclopaedia details the walk, as well as Martin Newell, the pop genius of this parish, enthusing about the panoramic scenes in his ace Prospect of Wivenhoe book.

Having already explored the Wood, Rowhedge and Alresford, the next logical location in the Saturday afternoon series of walks for @AnnaJCowen and I had to be out towards Thorrington.

Armed with a ropey print off of the Wivenhoe Encyclopaedia map (which to be fair, isn’t exactly OS quality in its original form,) and boastful claims of “back before tea,” everything was going fine until we reached Alresford Creek.

The realisation that the girl had forgotten the hip flask was the first crisis flash point. Failing to comprehend how utterly stupid it is to be stuck in the great outdoors during darkness, was a bit of a downer - they don’t have streetlights around here, y’know.

Ever creative, the Wivenhoe Encyclopaedia map is actually three maps rolled into one. For a non-creative cartographer that gets lost just reading street signs, this was all rather confusing.

Hey hoe - we pressed on, although not too sure exactly where on actually was. I don’t believe in re-tracing your footsteps to try and seek inner knowledge, but a quick scan of google maps back at base leads me to believe that we actually completed all three walks - twice over as well.

Cripes.

But away from the amateur rural exploration skills, both the Wivenhoe Encyclopaedia, and the pop genius of this parish were right about one thing: Thorrington Tide Mill is simply stunning. Not the building but se, but the views that it offers out towards Brightlingsea, and then back down the Creek and all the way back to Alresford.

A mere half hour walk out of Wivenhoe (yeah, right…) and you are presented with a landscape that can compete with the best that the British Isles has to offer. That’s not something that you can often say about Brightlingsea.

Blimey.

The return leg required a bit of guess work (“follow the Creek” - ah!) and soon we were back at Wivenhoe. In the absence of any hip flask activity, it would have been rude not to continue our afternoon of exploration, with the Black Buoy soon appearing on our radar.

Chin chin.

Thorrington strikes me as the type of place that is forever changing. Having approached it under rather brutal winter conditions, I look forward to a summer return. Don’t forget the hip flask, luv.