|
Light up a Life
The Christmas season is a very special time of year – a time for celebration with families and friends, but for many it can be a sad time where thoughts turn to loved ones who are no longer with us.
The town council in partnership with St Clare Hospice invites you to the annual ‘Light up a Life’ event, to come together with your friends and family to remember and celebrate the life of someone close to you.
Recognising just how much the Christmas lights decorating the tree on Kings Green are appreciated by residents and visitors to Loughton, the town council has carried out improvement works in time for the 2011 winter season. The new lighting display uses the latest energy efficient bulbs. With the total cost of the works being over £5,000 we were grateful to EDF Energy who showed their community spirit by carrying out disconnection and reconnection works free of charge.
The lights will be switched on during the annual Light up a Life service on Saturday 26 November. We hope residents will join us at 4.30pm outside the Methodist Church, 260 High Road for the candlelight procession to Kings Green. After the service refreshments will be served in the foyer of the Methodist Church.
If you would like to dedicate a light in memory of someone special to you, please call 01279 773750 or visit www.stclarehospice.org.uk. Dedication forms can also be collected from the town council offices in Rectory Lane. Funds raised provide vital support for St Clare Hospice in its work for terminally ill patients and their families.
The town council also provides financial support totalling £8,000 to the two town centre partnerships for their work to decorate the High Road and Broadway shopping centres with Christmas lights. Details of the switch-on events in these roads can be found in Dates for the Diary in the centre pages of the winter edition of "Think Loughton".
Loughton's Outdoor Gym
The town council is delighted to announce the opening of Loughton’s first outdoor gym on the Roding Valley recreation ground. This exciting free facility, officially opened in July by the town mayor, Cllr Caroline Pond, is already proving a winner with local residents of all ages. Cllr Suzanne Harper, chairman of the Recreation committee, said: “The gym appeals to all age groups and those who don’t want to go to organised gyms. We see it as a great way to promote health and fitness for all.”
Located near the tennis courts, you’ll find eight pieces of equipment that can accommodate up to twelve people at a time. The design of the equipment is targeted at age 12 and upwards.
We are grateful for the financial assistance received from the Big Lottery Fund and Essex County Council’s West Area Forum. It’s good to know that some of the money from lottery tickets bought by local residents has been spent in Loughton.
The town council hopes to provide a similar facility on the Willingale Road playing field when funding can be found.
Debt of Honour Display
In June, shortly after Armed Forces Day, councillors and members of the public were joined by representatives of the Loughton Royal British Legion, with its chairman Ernie Russell, for the unveiling of the second Debt of Honour display in the foyer of the Murray Hall. Unlike the first display, which commemorated local men that had given their lives in service of their country during the first and second World Wars, this display celebrates the heroism of those who were decorated for their bravery and returned safely home.
The new display features just a few of those local men whose courage still serves as an example to others. Some will be well-known; the Victoria Cross holders have blue plaques on their former homes, as does Marine Bill Sparks, who won the Distinguished Service Medal in the “Cockleshell Heroes” raid of 1942. This display is part of a larger project to remember all those acts of heroism. There are still many more people with Loughton connections whose wartime deeds and awards are in danger of being forgotten, so if you have any reminiscences, family stories or photographs of anyone with Loughton connections who received a military award or decoration, we would be delighted to hear from you. To view the current display, please contact the town council.
This year’s Remembrance Day Service at the War Memorial, Kings Green, will be held on Sunday 13 November at 12 noon.
Flower Baskets
The town council is pleased to provide the flower baskets in The Broadway and the High Road to ensure our town centres look their best and encourage more residents and visitors to shop locally.
We have added a further 9 baskets in the High Road this summer but there is space in both roads for more and we are looking for sponsors.
If you would like to help make Loughton an even lovelier place to live and work please contact the Town Clerk for information.
Best Allotments 2011
The town council competition is open to all Loughton’s allotment enthusiasts, who have been busy nurturing their plots and growing a wide variety of vegetables, flowers, herbs and spices. We were delighted that Karen Kenny, Eastern Representative from the National Association of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners, undertook the challenge to find winners from the shortlist of some 26 plots drawn up by the town mayor, Cllr Caroline Pond assisted by councillors Stephen Pewsey and Chris Pond.
Now in its third year, Best Allotment in Loughton 2011, was won by Mr Brian Smith from the Loughton Potato Ground, who was presented with the Horticultural Association Challenge Cup and a £25 gardening voucher by the town mayor on 18 July. The cup was kindly donated to the town council by Jean Andrews who had been looking after it ever since the demise of the LA & HA in 1998. Karen’s verdict on Brian’s plot was, “Good tidy paths and a wide variety of fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers complementing each other and encouraging natural predators of pests. In general a pleasing plot well tended”.
The wooden shield, which was previously presented to the winners, will in future be allocated to the Town Mayor’s Special Award. This year the shield was presented to the worthy runner up, Mr Lewis Perry from the Willingale Road allotments. Karen commented that Lewis’ plot was, “A very tidy and interesting plot with a good variety of produce including fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers”.
Framed certificates were also awarded to four ‘highly commended’ and three ‘commended’ plots. If you would like information about vacancies on allotment sites contact the town council who will be pleased to help.
New Bus Shelters
Two new shelters were installed by the town council in June, at the Jessel Drive/Colebrook Lane junction (southbound) and outside The Spinney at the Murray Hall bus stop in Borders Lane). This was achieved with grant funding from Essex County Council.
Blue Heritage Plaque
The town council’s ongoing heritage programme saw the erection of a blue plaque at 41 The Uplands in March this year to commemorate Sir Frank Baines KCVO (1877–1933). This eminent architect rose to become the chief architect of Her Majesty’s Office of Works.
His most famous London buildings are Thames House (currently the headquarters of the British Security Service agency, MI5) and the Imperial Chemical House.
Hillyfields Play Area
The Town Mayor, Cllr Caroline Pond officially opened the refurbished Hillyfields play area on 17 June 2011 with the help of Oak View School children, who had an enjoyable time trying out the new equipment. Cllrs David Wixley and Chris Pond also attended.
Footpaths
There is currently an opportunity to dedicate more local footpaths as public rights of way. Public rights of way (PRoW) are highways that allow the public a legal right of passage. We plan to submit the following paths to Essex County Council for inclusion on the Definitive Map for Essex:
l From Willingale Road, along the south bank of Pyrles Brook under the railway viaduct (the Five Arches) to Rookwood Gardens joining the Langston Road to Piggotts Farm footpath just beyond the Bank of England Printing Works.
l From Rectory Lane, by Loughton Clinic, via the forecourt of Loughton Hall, to Borders Lane between the College main and middle buildings.
If you have regularly used these footpaths, and especially if you did so before 1985, please write or email the town council with the details by the end of September 2011.
Essex on Tour
Essex on Tour is proud to bring you an evening of superb classical music by the City of London Sinfonia Quintet.
Saturday 15 October 2011 @ 7.30pm at The Loughton Methodist Church, High Road, Loughton, 1G10 1RB
One of the UK’s leading chamber orchestras, City of London Sinfonia (CLS), was
founded in 1971 by the late Richard Hickox and celebrates its 40th anniversary
this year. Led by Stephen Layton (Artistic Director & Principal Conductor) and
Michael Collins (Principal Conductor), the Orchestra has earned a reputation for
strong, distinctive programming, outstanding performances and recordings.
The evening will feature five of the leading musicians from the chamber orchestra.
• Simon Blendis VIOLIN
• Jane Carwardine VIOLIN
• Katie Heller VIOLA
• Rachel van der Tang CELLO
• David Rix CLARINET performing the following works:
• Schubert String Trio in B flat D581
• Tchaikovsky Andante Cantabile for string quartet
• Lefevre Clarinet Quartet
• Shostakovich String Quartet No 8 - 1st movement
• Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A major K581
Do not miss this fantastic opportunity to experience classical music at its best.
Tickets are £10 and available from:
Loughton Methodist Church – telephone 0208 502 3071 (Cheques payable to Loughton Town Council please)
Loughton Town Council – telephone 0208 508 4200 (credit / debit payments also accepted)
Website sales
Tickets also available on the door.
The Murray Hall
Bookings continue to increase at this local community hall which is proving a popular venue for private parties and functions. We would still like to encourage more regular community use by local groups during the week.
Facilities at the hall will be further improved by the installation of a large automatic projection screen provided through a £1,200 grant from Essex County Council’s Community Initiatives Fund.
For more information on hiring the hall call Terry Hudson on 020 8508 4200. Concessionary rates with discounts of 50% are available for local residents, voluntary groups and charities.
Community Payback
The town council has developed a successful partnership with the Harlow Probation Office leading to several projects being undertaken locally by offenders as part of their ‘pay back’ to the community for their crimes.
Offenders usually wear bright orange high-visibility jackets, marked ‘Community Payback’ while they’re working outside so you can see that they’re paying back for their crimes.
Teams have removed graffiti from buildings, repainted the inside of the Roding Valley football changing rooms and helped in the collection of autumn leaves in the cemetery in Church Lane.
If you have ideas for other suitable projects, please contact the council.
2011 Cemetery Space
Sadly, Loughton Cemetery in Church Lane, has no new plots for full burials, but following ground clearance and earth investigations, 44 new plots have been made available for the interments of cremated remains (ashes). The period of ownership of the Exclusive Right of Burial in these plots would be for a period of 25 years. For more information contact Joan Innis, Burial Clerk, on 020 8508 4200.
Allotment Competition
Judging for this year’s Best Allotment in Loughton award will take place in early July when hopefully plots will be looking their best. All allotment tenants at the Loughton Potato Ground and the Roding and Willingale Road sites are invited to take part. The winner will be presented with an engraved trophy and a £25 gardening voucher.
Outdoor Gym
Installation work on this exciting new facility on the Roding Valley Recreation Ground commenced at the beginning of May. Leisure officers from Epping Forest District Council will be running induction sessions. Details of these and the gym’s official launch will be publicised on the council’s noticeboards and website.
Hillyfields Play Area
As part of the rolling programme of works to improve the town’s play areas, the refurbishment of the Hillyfields play area was carried out in March 2011. This was achieved with a £15,270 grant from the Government’s Aiming High for Disabled Children Fund.
We are grateful to Gill Wallis, Community Development Officer at Epping Forest District Council and her team who helped secure this funding.
The new equipment includes a climbing frame, springer unit and two play panels. The safety surfacing was replaced and the bench and fencing repainted to complete the look. All the equipment at Hillyfields is suitable for all young children up to ten years old and particularly those with mobility problems.
Football Season 11/12
Organisers of our regular clubs who play on the Roding Valley pitches will be contacted during June to discuss their requirements for the coming season.
There will be a few vacant pitches available at weekends next season so if you’re thinking of getting a new team together, contact Terry Hudson on 020 8508 4200 to discuss pitch sizes and costs. Casual pitch hire is also available.
Councillor Co-option
At its meeting on 27 April 2011, Chris Harper was co-opted by the town council to fill the vacancy in St Mary’s ward following the death of Cllr Roy Thomson last November.
Mr Harper is no stranger to local council work having previously served four years as an Essex county councillor also for St Mary’s ward. His term of office will last until the next town council elections in May 2012.
Family Fun Run 2011
A hot and sunny spring morning greeted almost a hundred runners and walkers at the town mayor’s second family fun run in aid of local charity “The Dream Factory” held on April 10th. Town Mayor David Wixley sounded the klaxon at the start of the event after he had completed the course earlier in the morning to ensure he was on hand at the finish to present everyone with their medals and ribbons.
Joining the participants for the 4 km route around the Roding Valley Recreation Ground were Cllrs Ken Angold-Stephens and Stephen Pewsey and celebrities, Lisa Nash (film actress and presenter), and patron of the Dream Factory charity, Colin ‘Sweet C’ McMillan (former British, Commonwealth and World featherweight champion).
Just over £500 was raised for this locally based charity set up by Avrill Mills from Epping. The charity makes dreams and wishes come true for children and young adults with either life limiting or life threatening conditions, or who suffer from severe disabilities.
We were also pleased to welcome staff from the local Sainsbury’s store in Debden, who joined the fun run to raise money for the London Air Ambulance. We are particularly grateful to members of the Loughton Athletic Club who acted as marshals on the course ensuring everyone arrived safely at the finish. Thank you also to Sainsbury’s who provided bottled water for the event, the British Red Cross for first aid cover and Sue Wiseman, Epping Forest South Division Commissioner who ran a tuck shop to help raise funds for the 2011 World Scout jamboree.
To find out more about the work of this local charity visit www.yourdreamfactory.org
Results:
Winner - Laurence Gale (Roding Valley High School)
Second - Luke Wilson (Loyola Preparatory School)
Third - James Noakes (41st Epping Forest Scouts).
Annual Town Meeting
This year's meeting, held on 23 March in the Murray Hall, was well attended by local residents and supported by a number of local organisations who took the opportunity to publicise their activities by mounting displays in the hall. Full details of the official reports on the council’s activities and its future plans can be found here.
Following the presentations by town mayor David Wixley and the chairmen of the council’s committees, guest speaker Max Houseago, an Olympic Regeneration Officer, spoke enthusiastically about the opportunities afforded by the 2012 Olympics. Mr Houseage is employed jointly by Epping Forest District Council, Borough of Broxbourne and Hertfordshire Councils to ensure the local community benefits from the Olympic legacy. He reminded everyone that the games would be underway in just over a year’s time and reported on the pre-games opening of the White Water Centre at Waltham Abbey in April 2011. This world class facility, located within the Lea Valley Regional Park will continue to attract both local visitors and tourists for years to come so raising the profile of the area.
Mr Houseago confirmed that the current economic development study will help maximise the benefits of creating a wider tourism destination area including Loughton through careful branding. He ended his presentation by reminding the audience of the list of positive values associated with the Olympics and Paralympics – respect, excellence, friendship, courage, determination, inspiration and equality.
The meeting concluded with a question and answer session. Residents raised issues including the need to encourage more young people to participate in sport, local planning matters and inconsiderate parking in Oakwood Hill. In response to concerns regarding potential traffic congestion associated with the Olympic events, Mr Houseago confirmed that LOCOG (the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) is keen to discourage spectators from driving to the events in order to protect local residents and businesses from nuisance. Visitors to the games will be encouraged to use public transport or take advantage of the Park and Ride to be located at North Weald airfield.
We are grateful to representatives from the Alzheimer’s Society, Citizens Advice Bureau, Essex Savers Credit Union, Emergency Planning at Epping Forest District Council, Loughton Festival, Loughton Film Society, Loughton Folk Club, Loughton Radio Club, Loughton Stroke Club, Loughton Tree Strategy, New Vistas, Redbridge Samaritans, Royal British Legion Loughton Branch and West Essex Ramblers who mounted displays in the hall.
Annual Civic Service
This year's Civic Service was held in February at the Loughton Methodist Church. Revd Tony Morling and town mayor, David Wixley welcomed everyone to the service, including the Lord Lieutenant of Essex, Lord Petre, and Epping Forest MP Eleanor Laing.
The recipients of the Citizenship Awards were Taylor Baldwin for his voluntary work at the Loughton Youth Project and Joyce Barcley, for her many years of service to Guiding.
They were each presented with an illuminated scroll and a £250 cheque for their favourite local charity. Both winners requested that their award money be added to the council’s grant scheme for local groups.
The town council would like to thank White Bridge Junior School Choir, Church Organist Malcolm Bell JP, Epping Forest Youth Councillor Hibba Sheikh, Peter Relph (Forest Creative Writers), Revd Nina Coulthard and town councillor Katie Nicholson for their participation at this year’s event.
Murray Hall Honours Display
Loughton has been the home of many eminent men and women, particularly artists and scientists. Many of these are commemorated by the blue plaques installed by the town council, but the most important monument in the town, the War Memorial on King’s Green, is a reminder of those who were not famous but did make the supreme sacrifice for country in two world wars. The new display at the Murray Hall honours just a few of those men and is part of a wider town council initiative to ensure that their heroism is not forgotten.
One of the men honoured in this display is Gordon Alfred Joslin, from the Essex Regiment, who was killed in action in Normandy in 1944 aged just 19. We were privileged that his brother, Raymond, who lives in Woodford Green was able to attend the opening ceremony and provide more poignant details of Gordon’s short life. Also joining local councillors and representatives from the Loughton Royal British Legion at the event were Lieutenant Greg Napier and Sergeant Nicholls, currently serving with the Royal Anglian Regiment, and Lt Colonel GH Brewer TD and Mrs Wynn from the Essex Regiment TA Association.
This is intended to be a rolling display bringing to life many of the names on the war memorial and will next be refreshed in June 2011 to coincide with events connected with the annual Armed Forces Day and 90th anniversary of the Royal British Legion.
Research has shown that there are still more people with Loughton connections whose names are not included on the memorial, ranging from the Crimean War to the present day, so the town council plans to develop part of its website to record details of their lives and sacrifice. If you have any reminiscences, or photographs of anyone whose name appears on the war memorial, Loughton Town Council would be delighted to hear from you.
The display can be viewed whenever the hall is open for public events or by prior arrangement with the council office.
Loughton Festival
This year's festival will run from 19 March through to the 31 May. There will be country walks, talks, concerts and charity events and this year, music will be in abundance with concerts, two opera events and a folk music day. Most of the 2011 events will be raising money for Guide Dogs.
The Loughton Festival started life as a literary festival and continues to highlight creative writing. David Stevenson and Michael Large will be in discussion about their new books that are both published in May: one a historical novel and the other about how World War I ended. The festival is also inviting local writers to join our published authors by reading a short excerpt from a story or poem. Details about how to book a slot are on the website.
The festival always has three talks by experts in their field. Local historian Peter Lawrence will take us on a surprising journey under the streets of London and James Bettley will take us into Essex, as he explores its Victorian architecture. Our third talk will be by Eliza Cubitt, who will deliver the Arthur Morrison Society talk: Into ‘The Perilous Depths’ – Philanthropy and Slumming in Arthur Morrison’s East End, which describes how Morrison and other writers felt that the best way to aid the poor of the East End was to write about them. The failure of Victorian philanthropy led Morrison towards some terrifying ideas, encouraged by Reverend Jay and the prevailing pseudo-sciences of the time.
Details of all the events and how to obtain tickets will appear on loughtonfestival.org and leaflets will be available in Loughton and Debden libraries, local bookshops and from the town council offices.
Christmas Best Dressed Window Competition 2010 Winners
Loughton Town Council's Best Dressed Christmas Window 2010 for shops and businesses has now been judged. The judging panel, consisting of the Town Mayor Cllr David Wixley and the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Environment and Heritage Committee, Cllrs Caroline and Chris Pond had the difficult task of deciding the winners from an impressive line up of artistically designed windows.
This year all Christmas themed shop windows in the town were automatically eligible for the competition, which has three categories - local/independent, multiples/chain stores and charity. This year's winners are as follows :
Geraldine's Hair Fashions, 76 The Broadway
Zee & Co, 221-225 High Road
St Clare Hospice, 72 The Broadway
The Town Mayor, Cllr David Wixley, presented each winner with an engraved cup and a framed certificate on Friday 8th December. A cheque for £100 will be sent to their
nominated charities.
Congratulations to all the winners and a big thank you to everyone who dressed their window this year adding to the festive atmosphere in the town for
Christmas.
|
Loughton Town Council : News Archive
