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This is all rather encouraging: our fine Mr Mayor, Brian Sinclair, is making all the right noises about finding a future public use for the soon to be vacated Wivenhoe Police Station.

Speaking to the Gazette about the imminent move of PC Mick Bond, PSCO Louise Neville and Sgt Lou Middleton to (probably) Wivenhoe Fire Station, Mayor Sinclair has stated:

“If the police station is to be disposed of, Wivenhoe Town Council will be doing all it can to see if it can purchase it. It sits between the community hall and our offices and it would be a great pity if such a focal point in Wivenhoe was sold for development.”

With the William Loveless Hall built to suit a community that has now clearly outgrown the size of the community hall, many in the town are of the opinion that the opportunity to keep the police station in public use should be seized. Mayor Sinclair is in agreement:

“Wivenhoe is growing and there may be a need in the future to expand the community centre. The most important thing at this stage is to ensure any future expansion of Wivenhoe Town Council facilities is not lost to development.”

Hurrah!

The Town Council currently rents the offices from Colchester Borough Council. Wivenhoe Town Council owns the Loveless Hall. One would hope that a friendly local authority deal to benefit the community, and not private capital, could be arranged.

Wivenhoe police station is penciled in to close in March. Our three officers are expected to move to the fire station, following the pattern of the Tiptree experiment. Drop in sessions at Wivenhoe Library have also been mentioned as a possibility.

Added into the excitement (seriously) is the election of a new Wivenhoe Town Council this May…

A bit of a rounded blog post, taking in the wonderful Wivenhoe Bookshop, Moving Image and some mosaics. Oh, and a possible opportunity for local groups to grab some free books.

Blimey.

That’s what happens when you cast yourself a little too wide over Wivenhoe - updates start to come in on all fronts. Many thanks to all for the various heads up. Funny to see how they are all inter-related. Keep them coming…

First off on this #hyperlocal literary tour and we take in the Wivenhoe Bookshop. Pantomime action sadly kept me away from the Drum unplugged gig at the weekend. All reports however suggest that this was an incredibly successful and intimate evening. More of the same please.

But sometimes a bookshop has to do what a bookshop has to do - y’know, sell books ‘n all that. In the Wivenhoe Bookshop mailout for this month, there is news on the Perfect Seasonal Read:

“Still time to bag a space on An American Tale For Winter, our short course on Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, which begins on 3rd February.

The six informal study sessions on this dramatic Gothic novella include a screening of the film with Liam Neeson and Patricia Arquette, and homemade cake.”

Yummy.

If you fancy yourself as something of a scribe yourself, then how about Finding the Writer Within?

“Following the success of our recent Memory - Place - Belonging writer’s course, tutor Thorunn Bjornsdottir Bacon joins us again from 25th Feb.

This time Thorunn, founder of Raven Creative Writing, is offering a six week Short Story Writing course. Places are limited, so early booking is advisable.”

A bit of book cross-pollination, and the Wivenhoe Bookshop also gives a heads up to PoetryWivenhoe:

“Acclaimed poet Katrina Naomi returns to poetrywivenhoe on 27th January, supported by popular local writer and poet Mike Harwood

Her latest pamphlet of poems, Charlotte Bronte’s Corset, penned whilst Writer in Residence at the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth, and very well received, will be available in the bookshop, and on the night.”

Phew.

Time for a sharp intake of breath before turning the next page…

Ever wanted to see the Wivenhoe Bookshop in mosaic form?

“Anne Schwegmann-Fielding loves to recycle the old into the new. In her skilled hands buttons, crockery, shattered glass, tools, and utensils take on new life and are transformed into vibrant and beautiful sculptures, collages and mosaics.”

Anne’s work will be on show until February in our favourite local bookshop.

Next challenge: produce an accurate mosaic model of the old Engine Shed in all its glory.

Only joking…

Keeping with the story-telling theme however and here comes a rather lovely project, with a little help from @firstsite and our very own Moving Image, the independent community run cinema for Wivenhoe:

“The Vintage Mobile Cinema Bus:

Firstsite can proudly introduce a unique slice of cinema and automotive history. The Vintage Mobile Cinema Bus is touring around Colchester and Essex, showing free screenings of fascinating archive footage of twentieth-century Essex.

The luxuriously appointed mobile 22 seat cinema, converted from a unit built for the Ministry of Technology in 1967, is a unique slice of cinema and automotive history.

Rescued from a field in Essex, it’s the only remaining bus from a fleet of seven, and the renovation includes 1930s velvet cinema seats, HD projection, and Dolby surround sound.”

Sunday 6th February is the date that Wivenhoe can welcome this venture. The Station will be the location, with screenings at 11am, 11:45 am, 12:30pm, 2pm, 2:35pm, 3:30pm and 4:15pm.

And finally, a literary related word from the good George McKissock, known to some around these parts as *ahem* Squire Adamant (a role which suits the fine fella rather well…)

George has been incredibly successful in being able to secure from World Book Night just under fifty copies of Selected Poems by Seamus Heaney. This is a community led institutive, with the idea to bid for books that can then be released back into your own local patch.

George hopes to spread the good words of Seamus Heaney out amongst PoetryWivenhoe, the Library, Tudor Tea Rooms and The Station (I think he means the railway station, but you never know. Chin chin…)

The message from George is that there may still be time for others within Wivenhoe to apply for a particular book. With all these austere talk of cuts to libraries, this may be the start of a new form of community distribution of reading material.

Although the deadline has officially passed, an email from World Book Night states:

“Nevertheless we are still asking people to sign up as givers on the World Book Night website or by calling 0207 467 0855 to ask for an application form. If you know somebody who you think would make a great giver, please let them know that the deadline is rapidly approaching.”

Broomgrove? Millfields? Um, The Greyhound?

20,000 books in total are up for grabs. Many thanks to the Squire for the heads up.

Read all about, blah blah blah…

No surprises to hear confirmation that Wivenhoe Police Station is to close sometime before March. The Gazette is reporting that the Tiptree experiment of moving the local officers into the fire station was deemed a success, and is now to be rolled out in Wivenhoe, Brightlingsea and West Mersea.

No surprises either that potential money saving is behind the closure of the police stations:

Chief Supt Alison Newcomb, Eastern Division Commander, said: “We need to make extensive savings and are going to do that in a way which means we can maintain the service.”

This doesn’t mean that Wivenhoe will be losing our dedicated officers in Sgt Lou Middleton, PC Mick Bond and PSCO Louise Neville. No confirmation as yet, but the new location for the Wivenhoe team is “thought” to be uptown towards the Fire Station.

The Gazette also raises the suggestion that Wivenhoe Library may take on a new use, with a possible police surgery being held there. With cuts being implemented across most public services, the library would do well to re-invent itself and find an added purpose.

As for the future of the Wivenhoe police station? This probably lies somewhere related to the future of the empty three police houses around the back. With many folk in the town often expressing that Wivenhoe has outgrown the limited space of the William Loveless Hall, the closure provides the perfect opportunity for the Town Council to purchase some extra land.

Ah - but where to find the money? It’s all a bit of a chicken and egg situation, no doubt mirrored throughout Essex with many public buildings about to be laid dormant over the coming months.

Did someone mentions *shhh* @asset_transfer and the The Place Station? The Station Master’s House has already been uploaded as a project asking for support. Finding uses for these public spaces looks like becoming something of a trend as the cuts continue to hit communities.

I’m learning to love Wivenhoe Library, having overcome a short falling out period involving the main entrance:

Press button to open.

I stood there standing for a few minutes, waving madly at the book folk within. I failed the Wivenhoe Library Idiot Test.

Oh the fun I had trying to leave:

Press button to open.

I stood there standing, etc…

But nope - once within the High Street citadel of high (ish) knowledge, and the Wivenhoe Library really is a lovely, lovely place. The opening hours take a bit of adjustment, but then I can quite easily cope with a late opening for an even later closing. A chap bathes in the morning, and then reads in the afternoon.

That online source of esteemed knowledge in 140 characters or less, um, @EssexLibraries, reliably informed me ahead of the festive season that the Wivenhoe Library will be open on New Year’s Day.

Blimey.

I bet the librarian’s New Year’s Eve booze up was a barrel of fun.

So yeah, it was with some fortune that a recent book had a return date of 1st January stamped on the inner page.

“That ‘aint never gonna happen,” chipped in the book snob @AnnaJCowen. And whaddya know - the girl was right. Wivenhoe Library *was open* on New Year’s Day morning, but I was still feeling tired and emotional from the night before.

As for my forfeit for being four days late with my return? Ten pence. That’s two and a half pence per day, for the guilty pleasure of being a slightly naughty boy in bookworm circles.

I always find that chance visits to the Wivenhoe Library lead to a greater reward. There’s the risky element of surprise, not knowing, or expecting exactly what is around the corner. It’s not quite cottaging in some public convenience, but whatever gets you through the night, etc.

What has been getting me through the night of late is the wonderful collection of hyperlocal books stocked by the Wivenhoe Library. The Pop Genius of this Parish not surprisingly figures highly, but then I have got a lot of Wivenhoe catching up to do.

Feeling greedy late on Tuesday afternoon, I approached the counter carrying four books. Seems that I need to build up more stamina - fourteen is the top load for each time that you check out.

And so my reading material for the next three weeks takes in A Portrait in Old Picture Postcards (I’m not very good with the words, and neither it seems is Amazon) Guy Taplin (following a random and chance encounter with the sculptor out towards the estuary, who entertained @AnnaJCowen and I with a Boxing Day feast of local folklore,) This Little Ziggy and the Wild Man of Wivenhoe.

It all makes a change from the stash of Viz comics still piled up in the smallest room in the house.

Of course the wonderful Wivenhoe Bookshop is equally worthy of your custom, and yep, I have been known to buy up bits and pieces for my own burgeoning library of late. I did balk at the cut price reduction of A Journey though.

With the Essex Book Festival on the local horizon as we finally shake off this deep, deep winter, there’s more reason for literary love within our local libraries.

The programme of events at Colchester Library includes a reading from David Baddiel on 10th March. It would have been much more interesting to invite the esteemed author over to these parts to see if he can pass the Wivenhoe Library Idiot Test.

*arms flapping, waving as I type…*

The Christmas lights of Wivenhoe - as seen through a very snowy F717 lens.

And so having braved the heavy snow (ooh - get you) for the Christmas Craft Fair at St Mary’s on Thursday evening, I found myself wandering back uptown with a camera and some rather lovely picture postcard style scenes.

Seeing as though the main event of the evening was the *ahem* turning on off the Wivenhoe Christmas lights, you can see see where this post is heading…

I underestimated the power of a snowflake in managing to slightly distort an image. They may appear beautiful and unique in all of those children books, but when blown up in Photoshop, what you see is what you get - a great big blob of white.

I should have really ventured beyond the Loveless Hall and towards the top of the town. The Horse and Groom, The Flag, and yep, even the Co-op have some Christmas lights worthy of a photoblog post.

But that’s for another day, maybe.

Anchor Hill, buried away, somewhere…

The scene outside St Mary’s.

Elms Price Maston. Other local estate agents may also serve your needs…

Curiosity, everyone’s favourite second hands good shop on the corner.

Bengal Spice - something hot for the cold weather.

LOVE this little fella, and the care and attention that the folk in the toy shop take in dressing him each morning.

Laurel and Hardy outside the Post Office.

Chin chin.

The Town Council offices.

Much love for the snowy Loveless Hall.

The Wivenhoe Library, all lit up