Hadleigh Community News, February 2025

Making More Than Just Sawdust

The Hadleigh Men’s Shed is more than just a workshop - it’s a hub of creativity, camaraderie and community spirit. Our group comes together to share skills, learn new ones and produce a variety of handcrafted items that not only bring joy to their makers but can also bene t the wider community. ood is at the heart of many of our projects and while we joke that we are experts at making sawdust, we do make some nice items; bird boxes, planters, wooden toys and much more. None of us are experts, but there is enough shared experience to turn our hands to anything. e are also proud to give old items a new lease on life. e up-cycle items like old tools and refurbish cherished heirlooms.

These projects not only reduce waste but also preserve stories and memories. hile many of our projects are practical, we also embrace the artistic side of making. Members experiment with carving, pyrography and other crafts, producing unique decorative pieces. These projects allow members to explore their creative potential.

Though the tangible items we make are impressive, the real “product” of the Hadleigh Men’s Shed is the friendships and connections forged along the way. orking side by side, sharing advice and celebrating accomplishments bring us together, helping to combat isolation and foster

Continues

a sense of belonging. If you’re curious about what we make, or if you’d like to make something with us, then why not pop in for a visit?

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hether you’re an experienced maker or a complete novice, there’s a place for you at the Hadleigh Men’s Shed. Together, we can continue creating not just items but also a stronger, more connected community.

How can you help end hygiene poverty in 2025?

was a huge year for Toiletries mnesty. e reached directory members, supported nearly 6 million people, and our work spread across the globe, welcoming new organisations from the North merica, ustralia, urope and more. e re really proud to have been able to support so many people in need, and look forward to doing the same this year.

Now that the holiday season is over, you might be looking around your home at all the things you ve accumulated and be thinking what am I going to do with all this?

17100 Community News Magazines are delivered during the first week of each month to homes and businesses in Hadleigh, Sudbury, Bildeston, Boxford, Chelsworth, Milden, Edwardstone, Groton, Hitcham, Kersey, Monks Eleigh, Long Melford, Whatfield, Elmsett, Hintlesham, Polstead, Lavenham, Newton Green, Holton & Raydon

We warmly welcome contributions of articles, letters, sports reports, events and photographs, just email or send to the address below and it will appear in the next issue. Deadline for copy is the 18th of each and every

ell, here s an option If you ve received some new goodies to replace existing products you own, or you ve received ten soap gift sets and aren t sure what to do with them - why not donate? rom toiletries, to jumpers, to electronics, there are organisations that would love to receive items for their communities. hile we might not be able to help you get rid of your old T , we can de nitely help you make someone s day brighter by donating toiletries you don t need.

In January, Toiletries Amnesty founder Karen Harvey MBE was invested at Buckingham Palace and received an MBE from the King, for services to those living in hygiene poverty, to considerate consumption and to the environment.

has marked years of Toiletries Amnesty, a decade of hard work, a self-funded project, built from a couple of spare bottles of shampoo, now a global NGO giving millions of people access to the toiletries they need and diverting thousands of tonnes of beauty industry waste from land ll. Not a bad e ort

Today we can celebrate and look back at what we’ve achieved, but we are also looking forward - what more can we do, and how can we fund it? Bigger things coming in e hope you’ll be on board hether you’re an individual, a small business or a huge brand, there’s something all of us can do to get involved and make a huge di erence to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the UK and abroad and be kind to the planet at the same time.

Thank you,

The Toiletries Amnesty Team e in Elmsett and surrounding villages would like to continue to support this amazing cause. You were so generous in 2024 and if you would like to continue to support or indeed haven’t had your clear out yet, please bring your unwanted toiletries, used or unused, down to our “Second Saturday” o ee mornings raft markets starting on March 8th 2025 (see separate sheet for ongoing dates).

COFFEE MORNING

Saturday 8th February 2025

The Salvation Army Hall, Duke Street, Hadleigh 10am - 11.30am – Cakes & Bric-a-brac All Welcome

Wheelie Good Start to the New Year for St Mary's School!

St Mary s School Support Group were delighted to receive a donation of £3,032 from the Morrisons oundation.

The funding from the charitable arm of the supermarket has enabled the school in Hadleigh to buy special trikes, balance bikes and scooters for outdoor play and activity sessions.

David Smith, Administrative Assistant at St Mary s School Support Group said: “On behalf of The Friends of St Mary’s, The Early Years at St Mary’s Primary are delighted with their new trikes, scooters and balance bikes kindly funded by the Morrisons Foundation.”

“The ride-ons have really enhanced the children’s physical skills and through promoting social skills such as turn taking and collaboration. The children are also developing their communication skills through negotiating turns and imaginative play.”

David Scott, Morrisons oundation Trustee said: “Supporting charities at the heart of our communities is what the Foundation is all about and I’m delighted that we’ve been able to fund these bikes and scooters for pupils at St Mary’s which will be put to great use for many years to come.”

The Morrisons oundation was set up by Morrisons supermarket in 20 5 and awards grants for charity projects which help improve people’s lives. Since launching, over £44 million has been donated to hundreds of charities across England, Scotland and ales.

Hadleigh Elderly Peoples Welfare Committee Christmas Voucher Scheme

As usual some 400 vouchers were distributed to the over 70s in Hadleigh valued at £ 2 per person. The vouchers have been mainly funded by the Christmas Appeal which has again been successful but the Committee will also dip into the Appeal reserves to cover the total cost.

The Committee would like to recognise and thank very much indeed those businesses and organisations who gave so generously. The total sum raised was a magni cent £4 05.00 and the following contributed: Hadleigh armers Agricultural Association, raney, and and Pest House Charities, Hadleigh Thrift Shop, Plant Parts td, Abacus ire and Security td, incer Kievenaar td, rost and Partners, Dunstone Optometry, Keith Avis Printers td, Andrews Butchers, alter right, Press Gang, Pretty Nails and Spa, Su olk Building Society, Hadleigh Castings td, City on a Hill Care and Highcli eterinary Practice. ecipients have expressed their grateful thanks for the vouchers which, as always, have been greatly appreciated. The Committee is extremely grateful to all the shops which have accepted the vouchers and to the loyal team of distributors who work so hard to deliver the vouchers personally. As ever the backing of the Hadleigh Town Council is much appreciated and the Committee’s sincere thanks goes to everyone who has been involved this time. inally, anyone who has lived in Hadleigh for six months or more, will be aged 70 this year or who has attained the age of 70 but not received a voucher previously and would like one should write, giving name, address, date of birth and time lived in Hadleigh to: David Stokes, avenbank, Upper Street, ayham, Ipswich IP7 5J

BRIAN PALFREMAN

February 16th 2017

The memory of those we love remains with us always Love Pauline and family

Sarah Cook & Jim Marshall 13 March 2025

Hadleigh Old School Welcomes A Plant Detective & Live Theatre This March

Hadleigh Old School, the arts and entertainment venue, at 3-5 Bridge Street Hadleigh (IP7 6BY) will be hosting two ticketed events in March. The rst a special talk by renowned gardener Sarah Cook, and the second the return of leading Su olk theatre company Eastern Angles with an original play Sophia: Princess, Su ragette, Sister.

‘The Search for Cedric Morris’s Irises’: Told by Sarah Cook – The Horticulturalist Detective and her plantsman husband Jim Marshall, at 7pm on Thursday 3th March 2025.

A chance nd at the gardens of Sissinghurst led Head Gardener, Sarah Cook, to develop a passion for the tall bearded irises propagated by Cedric Morris at Benton End in Hadleigh. There in her rst winter she saw a label for Iris ‘Benton Nigel’ and it made her think of home. hen Sarah was a child in the 50s, growing up in Hadleigh she visited Benton End on open days for the ed Cross. At the time Cedric Morris was a world-famous plantsman, credited with breeding the rst ‘truly pink’ irises, including one called ‘Strathmore’, as well as being a renowned artist and co-founder of the East Anglian School of Painting and drawing with his partner Arthur Lett-Haines. But by the time Sarah retired from her duties at Sissinghurst in 2004, some 30 years after Cedric’s passing, many of his Irises were lost.

Sarah will recount how she tracked down the missing cultivars, with a hunt that took her around the world. She will also give an insight into Morris’s plant breeding skills that, produced ,000 seedlings per year. Along the way, repatriating over 30 of Cedric’s 0 named Irises, including ‘Benton Baggage’ named after a cat, Sarah has scaled the heights of British horticulture. Sarah’s husband Jim, enlisted Howard Nurseries to grow the irises commercially and together they took their discoveries to the Chelsea lower Show in 20 5, winning a gold medal. Sarah has also established the Plant Heritage Historic Collection of Iris (Sir Cedric Morris introductions).

After the talk, Sarah and Jim will be able to take questions on where to acquire and how to grow Irises, as well as some of the many other plants in their care.

‘Sophia’ by Hannah Kumani is a new play performed by Eastern Angles Theatre Company. Sophia Duleep Singh was born into royalty and grew up to be a revolutionary. Sophia’s father was the last Maharajah of Punjab, dethroned by the British as a child and exiled to England. The family made a home in Elveden in Su olk, until bankruptcy and a new mistress swayed the dispossessed Maharajah to make a secret new life abroad and plot to take back his kingdom.

Back in England, the young Princess faces years of loss and mourning before embarking on a lifechanging journey to her family’s homeland in India. eturning with a bold new sense of bravery, Sophia uses her status to become a beacon in the ght for women’s su rage and Indian independence.

Hadleigh Cricket Club

Happy New Year e hope everyone is wintering well. It might not feel like cricket weather at the moment, but the new season will be here before you know it. To blow away those cobwebs senior winter nets start on 0 ebruary at St Joseph s College, Ipswich, and continue for eight weeks every Monday night. Sessions run from 7- 5pm and are open to existing and new members.

Hadleigh Neighbourhood Plan

ow After nearly 0 years (with breaks) and four years since it was picked up last, Hadleigh’s Neighbourhood Plan nally has a referendum date 25 ebruary 2025

Hadleigh Neighbourhood Plan has been prepared by Hadleigh Town Council and resident volunteers over the last four years for the bene t of the entire town and whilst it can’t focus on every individual need, it is based on extensive research and consultations with residents, businesses and visitors to the town. Over 25 consultations took place. There is one nal statutory process which must be followed before the plan can be ‘made’ (adopted). This involves the holding a local referendum which will be conducted in accordance with procedures used at normal local government elections, including the need for Voter ID.

The question that will be asked of those entitled to vote is: ‘Do you want Babergh District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Hadleigh to help it decide planning applications in the Neighbourhood Plan area?’

If more than 50% vote ‘yes’, then Babergh District Council will be legally obliged to ‘make’ (adopt) Hadleigh Neighbourhood Plan part of its development plan and consider it when making local planning decisions.

Prior to the referendum, you can read the Plan on the town council’s website, or hard copies are available at The Guildhall, Hadleigh Library and the Leisure Centre.

It is so important that we those entitled to vote exercise their right to do so and get as many out on 25 ebruary as possible, all for Hadleigh s future

The Town Council will be holding two public sessions to answer questions that residents have – these are St Mary s Church on the morning of riday 7th ebruary and in The Dining oom at The Guildhall from :30 am - 2:30 pm on Saturday 5th ebruary, ahead of the referendum on Tuesday 25th.

Your trusted Care Companion

The Many Joys of Being a Healthcare Assistant at City on a Hill Care

If you’d told me 0 years ago I’d become a healthcare assistant, I would’ve laughed and said, “Not me I can barely keep my plants alive ” But here I am, a senior carer at City on a Hill Care, and let me tell you – this isn’t just a job. It’s a journey, a blessing, and at times, a comedy sketch.

We can offer assistance with any of your needs including the following:

Safe shopping with peace of mind

Making home-cooked meals

Getting out and about

Live in Care

Personal care

Light housework

Driving you to appointments

Running errands

Learning new skills

Companionship at home and for Holidays

Dementia and Alzheimer’s care

And anything else that is important! lease get in touch to nd out more

Telephone: 0330 1335 492 or 07513 856 786

Email: info@cityonahillcare.com

Website: cityonahillcare.co.uk

HIDDEN GARDENS OF HADLEIGH 2025

The biggest joy? The people. Each day is like stepping into a new chapter of a story. You meet the most amazing individuals, each with their own quirks. There’s the one who loves to share advice about life (even when you didn’t ask ) and another who insists their cat secretly judges your choice of footwear. These moments aren’t just funny; they’re the heart of what we do – making connections.

And it’s not just the clients who bring joy. My fellow carers are like my second family. e swap stories, lend shoulders to cry on, and share endless laughs about the things only carers would understand. (Like that one time I wore two di erent shoes to work because mornings are hard ) At City on a Hill Care, we don’t just work together – we support one another, celebrate the little victories, and keep going through thick and thin.

Of course, there are challenges. Some days are physically tough, and others pull on your heartstrings. But even on those days, there’s a moment – a smile, a “thank you,” or just the way someone relaxes because they know you’re there for them – that reminds you why you do it.

hat I love most is the little things: knowing how someone takes their tea, helping them rediscover con dence, or sharing a laugh over something silly. It’s in these simple moments that the real magic of care shines.

So, if you or someone you love needs a carer who truly cares – someone who will go above and beyond to brighten their day – give the lovely Mercy a call on 07864 77540 or pop by for a cuppa at 5 High Street, Hadleigh ( right above the sweet shop). Trust me, we’d love to chat and show you what makes City on a Hill Care so special.

Hadleigh Garden Club

At our Christmas Meeting we held our annual quiz which was cleverly put together by committee members iona and Nicola. uestions were general knowledge which also included some questions about Hadleigh and Lavenham to which the answers gave us interesting local information. There was of course a few gardening related questions and a much enjoyed music recognition section. This was an informal fun evening with lots of laughter and a nger bu et and mulled wine provided by the Committee.

Each month the competition is won by the person with the most votes and at the Christmas Meeting the “Aggregate inner over the Year” was Carole Cranston who produced some excellent entries. Carole was presented with the trophy by Maggie Miller, (Chairperson) and will keep this for the following twelve months.

The super Christmas ra e prize of a hamper was won by Jan Moyes. Our next meeting will be on Monday 7 ebruary at 7.30 pm in the Guild oom opposite St. Mary’s Church. The speaker will be The Plantsman in esidence at Beth Chatto Gardens talking about Bees, Bugs and ewilding.

The competition is “A vase of Hellebores”. There will be the usual ra e, tea co ee and natter. Members £2 per meeting and visitors are welcome for a fee of £4 per meeting. or more information contact: Angie on 07 46 744457 or hadleighgardenclub gmail.com

*T&C’s apply. Please see website for details **carehome.co.uk scores are based on independent reviews with a maximum score of 10. Rating correct as of 17/01/2025

2025 gets o to a great start at Travel Stop

e are delighted to have, at long last, reopened the doors to our Hadleigh shop full time (Monday to Saturday .30am to 5pm) and have been thrilled with the number of people popping in to say hello and to comment on our re-decoration And we have been kept busy with so many of you kicking the New Year o either researching exciting holiday plans or making bookings for 2025 and even 2026 ollowing our well-attended series of specialist client presentations in 2024, we are continuing with a variety of events planned for 2025. e are particularly excited to have our colleague from ‘Inside Japan’ joining us on ednesday 26 ebruary to give a presentation on the many options they o er guests wanting to ‘get beneath the surface’ of Japan. Charlie Orr who, prior to joining the ‘Inside Japan’ team, lived and worked in Japan for several years and has his rst-hand knowledge of the country, along with the ‘must-do’s’ to share with you. ‘Inside Japan’ was founded with the speci c intention of sharing their ‘love of Japan’ – which they call their ikigai (the Japanese word for ‘reason for being’), focusing on both the popular and the little-known aspects of Japanese culture. In the presentation, Charlie will bring to life a trip to this extraordinary country and tell us about how they create tailormade travel packages for independent travellers and also present in depth information of some of the small group travel tours that they o er. There will be two presentations to choose from: 4pm and 6pm.

Wali Noori

ali is a remarkable man, An Afghan patriot who on leaving school at 8 wanted to do something to help his family survive in his war-torn country - as simple as putting food on the table. He got employment with the British Army as an Interpreter which included guidance to the cultural aspects of the Afghans. Unlike the British soldiers, who had rest periods between patrols, ali was in constant action. After months inpost he was blown up by a landmine with horri c results – wounded and blinded. He was extracted and now lives in Colchester.

ithout sight he nally found something to occupy his time and returned to his hobby of running. As a result he has won many medals including Gold at the Invictus Games.

Come and hear his extraordinary story of determination that has proved what can be achieve against all the odds. The Pavilion, aydon, 4 March, 7 for 7.30pm. Price £ 2 including wine snacks.

East Anglia Potato Day

Potato Day is returning to Otley College (Su olk ural) for the third year. e will have 40 varieties of Scottish Seed Potato available to buy per tuber as well as a variety of stalls including Tamar Seeds, Onion Sets,Master Composters, Bee-keepers, Street orge orkshops, BTO, Allotment Assoc, Ipswich ildlife Trust, Seedswap, Su olkTree ardens, Climate Change Gardening and efreshments.

Bob lowerdew, President of Norfolk Organic Gardening Club and adio 4 s Gardeners uestion Time organic gardener, and will also be on hand to answer gardener s questions.

EAPD is organised by volunteers from three organic gardening clubs and 2025 will be our 28th year. A list of the varieties ordered is on the website. If you have six pots on your patio, you can have a di erent variety for eachpot and only buy six tubers

Generous Giving

There are many things that you don’t talk about in polite society - death, politics, sex, religion, and MONEY.

So here they all are in the rst sentence to grab your attention

At St Mary’s Church we spent much of 2024 raising money for the enewal Project, progress has been featured monthly in this publication. e have great plans, plans that cost a lot of money with lots of zeros added on the end.

Our great building is Grade One listed, which means treading lightly and following special guidelines at even greater expense but it is a lavish building enjoyed by many who appreciate the richness of its history. hat many don’t account for is the day-to-day costs of running such a voluminous space - having the heating and lighting on, sta costs of a cleaner and administrator, even sundries like loo rolls and light bulbs All these come from the church budget, the money given by the congregation each week. Think of it as basic housekeeping, and we all know from our own family expenses we have to live within our means, cut the non-essentials or go under.

Then there is the Parish Share, paid into the diocese – “The Parish Share is the amount of money that your parish is asked to contribute

their housing.” If you live in Hadleigh you are in the parish of St Mary’s whether you come to church week in week out or have never crossed the threshold

By the end of 2024 St Mary’s had come up short and the money wasn’t there to pay our Parish Share in full. Everything has gone up, there is a cost-of-living crisis going on. The PCC (Parochial Church Council) had an emergency meeting in January to look at general fundraising. Those on the church electoral roll may remember having a letter from the church wardens a couple of years ago when we were in a similar sticky situation.

e are the most generous church in so many ways – the pop-up is supported admirably by contributions of both time and money. Any time we put on a show or have an event to raise cash for something speci c we surpass all expectations.

It is the day-to-day unglamourous running of things that we fall short of. e are not asking you to give more if things are nancially a struggle for a you – that wouldn’t be responsible. But think about it – has the church been there for you or your family in a time of need, how much do you value its presence in the town? St Mary’s is a resource for our whole community, whether you attend services and events weekly or not.

Cash gifts are always appreciated, there’s a big “treasure chest” at the back of church for that very purpose, but giving digitally has never been easier. There’s a handy device near by that you can tap your card on and give when you next pop in.

There is also something called the Parish Giving Scheme that anyone in the parish who wants to give can sign up to. You set a starting amount and each year, if you opt in, that can be increased to cover rising costs, but it is not compulsory. You have complete control of your giving. You can opt to give a one o donation, you don’t have to sign up to regular giving, although that can help with our budgeting.

Let me introduce you to our Parish Giving Scheme uickesponse code – or PGS code for short. You may have seen them popping up all over the place, they are just like a more complicated bar code but they can be read by a smart phone. Using the camera on your phone, don’t take a photo but click on the link that ashes up and you will be rewarded with a screen that looks like this. Click on regular giving or one-o gift and prayerfully consider what you are able to give. Everyone hates asking for money and if your nances are already stretched to the limit, please don’t feel guilty about ignoring this message. But – if you are in a position to dig a bit deeper it really would be appreciated. It is great to have plans to renew and restore the building for the future but we still need money to keep us functioning today

MOTHER'S DAY

e are aware that lots of people from Hadleigh and surrounding villages came across to Elmsett to use the shop and post o ce. Since the complete closure of the shop in March 2024 a group have been meeting regularly to look at the viability of setting up a community shop and, after a considerable amount of research, we are pleased to say that we decided to go ahead with the project.

The structure was already in place, a store area at the back of our Village Hall, and this has now been completely refurbished to bring it up to the standard a shop requires.

Of course there are huge nancial implications to this and we ideally need to raise £50,000 to enable us to open. e are registered as a Community Bene t Society which means that we can o er shares for sale as an additional way of fundraising. Shares are available at £ each with a minimum of £ 0 purchase so if you are interested in investing please email us and we will get a Shares Booklet to you. elmsettcommunityshop gmail.com. If you would prefer a hard copy lets us know your address and we can deliver to the door

Our fundraising team have been putting busy putting on Bingo and uiz nights and a huge Christmas a e, all of which have been very successful thanks to the support and generosity of villagers. e are very much hoping that the shop will soon be open very soon with our part-time manager, supported by a group of willing volunteers atch this space

The Cock Inn

The Cock Inn

ell ham Bam that was Jan How quick was that folks? One minute it was New Years Eve and now it’s the year’s shortest month. hat a great NYE we celebrated at The Cock Inn. hile it’s a ticket only a air it’s great fun, a comfortable environment and well worth the visit. Big thanks to Dave illis for being the DJ and I must say he did a terri c job.

Hadleigh Suffolk

I guess the talk of the town is them dear old car parking charges that were introduced in mid January. ell they are in place and we have to abide and remember folks that if you want to park overnight, which is part free, you need to ensure that if the overnight starts at 5pm and nishes at am you need to pay for the hour at each end of your stay or purchase an ‘Overnight” season ticket. e are thinking of o ering bicycle hire and please remember to purchase your season ticket for our bicycle stand and electric scooter parking, or pay at the machine in the bar (hah just joking). If you visit the leisure centre opposite the pub rst you can park for 3 hours for free, so its 20 minutes on the jogger and 2 hours 40 minutes replacing the uids lost in the gym right? Having said that there is nothing better than a quick dip in the pool before a cold beer or glass of wine. itness can be fun ebruary kicks o Six Nations ugby with the opener on riday 3 st January as rance host ales in Paris. England are in action the following day on Saturday st ebruary as they travel to Dublin to face mighty Ireland. On Saturday 8th England are at Twickenham to play rance and are again at home on Saturday 22nd where the Scots will visit. See our advert for KO times. It will be an interesting tournament as there is little di erence between most teams though Italy often struggle at the foot of the table and ales have joined them too. ill we see a revival of the dragon? Players will be up for the challenge as we will be entertained by the British & Irish Lions Tour of Australia later this summer. e will open early for the Test games with free bacon rolls as usual. More details later.

Staying on the sporting front we have a truly competitive Premier League this time out with a few teams promising to make an attempt to challenge current leaders Liverpool to the top spot. hile Man City’s wheel seems to have fallen o of late Arsenal, Newcastle and even relative newcomers Notts orest are in the frame. hat a great job from their manager Nuno Espirito Santos, who by the way was red from Spurs after just a few weeks. The Premier League has seen four managers sacked this season thus far. That’s more than Greggs who have over 2500 shops in the UK Arsenal v Man City and Man City v Liverpool look like great games however I’ll be intrigued to see Newcastle v orest. Could this be a title decider? Check our advert for the months best picks though there may be some changes to ebruary’s xtures as a result of the Champions League and Europa League Knock Out Play O s. or those who are unaware both European competitions have changed their format this year. The top eight of each comp quality for the Knock Out stages while those nishing from th to 24th will play o to decide who joins the last 6. Simples eh ollowing a quieter January on the live music front ebruary welcomes some great favourites back to The Cock. A big hello to Buzz, a terri c 4 piece band playing all the older stu on Saturday st followed by the ever so popular Three Steps to Heaven duo on Sunday 2nd. The Blaggers with their repertoire of sounds from The Eagles, The ho, ELO, Beatles, leetwood Mac will play on Saturday 8th and the wonderful tones of Andrew Spall greet us on Sunday th. elcome back to The Preservatives on Saturday 5th with this 4 piece band ocknPopin to iconic songs through the ages. Stalwart Adam Harrod visits on Sunday 6th and no intro required here. Adam really gets the place rocking on a Sunday afternoon. On Saturday st March we are lucky to have Band of Mold visit once again. A 5 piece band who are just incredible. All Saturday gigs start at 8.45pm and Sunday solo Duo’s at 3pm. Did you know that over the past few months there has been a national shortage of Guinness due to the national pub game ‘Split the G’. Guinness drinkers would take their rst supp of their pint and try and leave the remaining Guinness on the middle of the ‘G’, which is aproximately a third of the way down the glass. Incredibly the game pushed the sale of the black stu through the roof, creating a shortage. Luckily we managed to keep stocks and things are returning a little to normal.

Every year we try to refresh some of the products that we sell though we are mindful of the regular customers who like their regular beers etc. e now stock Brixton eliance Pale Ale from South London brewer Brixton. It’s biscuity with pine aromas and citrus avours. It’s part of the

emergence of these American hoppy ales like Neckoil, Level Head and Punk IPA. eliance Pale Ale is named after the famous eliance art deco arches Brixton where cobblers and tailers practiced their crafts. Give it a try, its delicious. e have a great choice of cask conditioned ales for you to enjoy too throughout the month with ales arriving weekly from breweries such as at Cat, Ossett, oosters, udgate, Salopian and we are even promised a visit from Brains Beer’s everend James. I’m thirsty. New wines too as we have expanded our range of Jack abbit to include Pinot Grigio as well as Malbec and Merlot.

inally, a big congratulations to the organisers of the hugely successful ‘Dart Marathon ‘ that took place at The Cock Inn during January. The guys played darts for 2 hours non-stop and the management and the team were there to serve them sustenance. Over £2,500 was raised for Macmillan Cancer esearch. Hopefully we can turn this event into an annual one as we know these wonderful charities require constant support.

Don’t forget folks, please drink responsibly and you dogs, please keep your owners on their leads while on the pub premises.

POLSTEAD FILMS Small Things Like These

Starring Cillian Murphy and Emily Watson. Small Things Like These, a sensitive, beautifully shot and quietly moving adaptation of Claire Keegan’s acclaimed novel, about one man’s stand against the evils of Ireland’s infamous Magdalene laundries, the church’s homes for unwed mothers.

“It tells its story in a gentle but powerful way.”

“Cillian Murphy is exceptional as a man wrestling with his church and his conscience.” or buy in Polstead Community Shop

All proceeds in aid of Polstead Village Hall Charity

The Cock Inn

Traditionally run freehouse

Hadleigh’s largest selection of Cask Ales, Gin, Vodka, Whiskies and Wines plus a super glass froster for chilled lagers!

St Mary’s Primary School

In ebruary, things are going a little jazzy at St Mary’s with premier league jazz pianist, composer and educator, Pete Letanka, coming to the school for four days to work with all the children. They will write songs, sing with Pete and his jazz trio and play pitched and unpitched percussion instruments, such as djembes, agogos, glockenspiels and more. e are looking forward to the end-of-project concert with some of the children and the Trio at Hadleigh Town Hall. Sadly, and just due to room capacity, this concert will be by invitation only. The school is immensely grateful for the nancial contributions from the Ann Beaumont Trust, Mrs B Boyd and Mr J Buckle, which have enabled this project and concert to take place.

In sporty news, our after-school sports clubs are very popular with sports such as dodgeball and girls’ football being the current o er for this term. Teaching sta also run a whole variety of sports and dance at lunchtime clubs, as well as an Eco Club, eading Shed, the school choir, and the Lunchtime Nurture Clubs, where we o er a supportive environment that can help with social, emotional & behavioural challenges. e aim to help children develop skills like self-esteem, con dence, communication, empathy and trust through indoor and outdoor play activities. It is a safe space where children can feel valued and respected.

Last term, around 60 parents and carers came to enjoy a school lunch with their child in the dining hall. The team from our caterers, Aspens, laid on a wide range of beautifully-cooked food, which was commented on very positively by all the guests who came to lunch.

Thank you for coming e are grateful to the Morrisons oundation for their funding of a new eet of balance bikes, trikes and scooters for our Early Years children. The Early Years Team say that they are delighted and that the ride-ons have really enhanced the children’s physical skills and promoted social skills, such as turn taking and collaboration. The children are also developing their communication skills through negotiating turns and imaginative play. A big thank you to Morrison’s for your generous donation

Lastly, the Early Years children and sta were over the moon to welcome the Boudicca Border Morris dancers to dance with the children, who also tried on some costumes. This was such a fun event. Thank you

Mar uis Su olk

Fundraiser for Jude

Over Christmas, the owner of Marquis Su olk, Steven O’Leary chose to fundraise for a local family who’s 6 year old son su ers from a rare muscle disease called Nemaline od Myopathy. Jude has already been in two comas because of his condition and has various complications with his lungs and heart but his dream is to swim with dolphins which mean he needs substantial medial support to undertake such a trip. Steven and the team at Marquis Su olk are so proud to be able to support this cause and make a di erence for Judes family.

Claiming a piece of registered land by occupying it

e have all heard of ‘squatters rights’ and, indeed, the high-pro le cases which go with it – whereby someone had occupied a rather nice house for long enough, and then been able to go on and claim it as their own. This is all based on an area of law which is referred to as Adverse Possession – that is, being in occupation of a piece of land to the exclusion of the true paper owner for long enough to obtain some sort of legal title to it.

here the land is registered, the occupier needs to show that they have been in occupation for 0 years or more. They must also show a reasonable belief that the land belongs to them. hen the Land egistration Act 2002 came into force, the intention was that it made it much harder to bring a successful claim. This is because where the land being claimed is registered and an application has been made, HM Land egistry will then notify the registered owner. If the registered owner objects, the occupier can only succeed when very limited circumstances apply.

There is still a reasonable amount of land in the Mid Su olk area that has not yet been registered for one reason or another. Broadly speaking, if a property has not been sold since 0, it has not been compulsory to register it at HM Land egistry (and where property has just been transferred by way of gift, this only applies since 7). One of the reasons that we advise clients to think about registering their land, where it is not, is that it makes it much more di cult for someone else to occupy part or all of it and then make a claim.

Site Visits and Full

Hadleigh Mayor’s Diary

Hello Everyone. As ever, January is a cold and slow start, but still plenty to look forward to and celebrate.

Congratulations to Barbra Boyd having been made an MBE in the King’s New Years Honours List for services to charitable fundraising and the community. Barbara opened the Thrift Shop in Hadleigh in and both local and international causes have since bene ted considerably from the funds raised. ell deserved Barbara.

I am looking forward to the Mayor’s uiz on riday 28 ebruary which is raising funds for the local Scouts and Guiding Group. Please do come along and support our local groups and exercise those brain cells as an added bonus. I personally remember enjoying Brownies and Guides so much and have so many happy memories and experiences to call upon. The volunteers we have in Hadleigh across all sectors, are what I believe, what makes our town so special. So many people o er up their time and energy for the bene t of others it is mind blowing. e have an abundance of kindness in Hadleigh, long may that continue and the legacy of that grow in the young people of our Town.

I hope you are keeping warm and safe driving on the roads, particularly in the mornings. It will be amazing when and if we have an end to the endless road closures. I understand essential work is necessary, but it feels like it just goes on and on.

There was a well-attended public meeting held by the Town Council regarding the planning application for a Lidl store at the top of Lady Lane on Monday 6 January. The views expressed were across the board and some very valid points raised both for and against the application. It was impressive to hear how much research members of the audience had done. It was also impressive to host a public meeting and how all contributors were respectful of each other’s viewpoints. By the time this is published, the Town Council will have submitted their response, and it is all over to Babergh to consider the comments and decide having rst got the planning application into ship shape as there were some glaring errors in the original one.

Something that might have passed you by, it did me, but something to mark in the diary for next year is National Chocolate Cake Day –27 January. ho knew? Not sure we need a special day to celebrate chocolate cake but...

hen putting my Christmas decorations away I found a plastic wallet with lots of “essential and important” information – that I never knew I had Looking through the wallet I found stu I knew why I kept and others items I really thought hat? . Some of what I found made me laugh and I share a few with you. It was list of Paraprosdokians – yes who knew? Every day a school day. They are gures of speech in which the end of the sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected. Apparently, inston Churchill loved them so we are in good company.

• e never really grow up; we only learn how to act in public.

•You are never too old to learn something stupid.

•Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. isdom is not puting it in a fruit salad.

• ar does not determine who is right – only who is left.

•I didn’t say it was your fault; I said I was blaming you.

Don’t forget to place any of your up-and-coming events on the Visit Hadleigh ebsite. It’s not only a bene t to us all knowing what is going on and planning maximum attendance at fund raising events but also lets visitors know what is happening so they can plan any visit and enjoy all our town has to o er.

Female reindeers, bowling and fantasy dreams

ell Christmas has long gone leaving many bowlers looking forward to their presents coming later in the year. They’re the ones who wrote their lists for the man in red with dreams like “Please, please let me win something this year” or “At least let me beat Christine, Di and Sue for once”. Sadly I suspect some will be disappointed and demanding their carrot and glass of brandy back, but too late my friends, the man in red left the building weeks ago. Meanwhile indoor bowling carries on with Spinners and eavers winning more league games and dangerously close to doing well. Come on boys and girls .. getting our hopes up? You know better than that. And since we’re still in post Christmas trauma recovery, did you know that male deer shed their antlers in autumn, and that only female deer keep theirs in winter. Makes you wonder who was pulling Santa’s sled, eh? I’ll leave you to comment on who does the work and who gets the credit. But it‘ll be no time before Spring, warmth and the new outdoor season’s upon us and bowlers can at last smile again. ell, maybe apart from the bowlers who wrote those begging letters to ather Christmas. Meantime, if you fancy a try, do contact either of the members below who will arrange it for you:

How can Emotions Coaching help?

Emotions coaching o ers several valuable bene ts, both for us and our relationships. Here are some of the advantages:

By learning to identify and understand our emotions, we can better manage our feelings, reducing stress, anxiety, depression and emotional outbursts, leading to overall better mental wellbeing. hen we recognize and empathise with others’ emotions, we improve the way we communicate, which deepens emotional connection. This leads to stronger personal and professional relationships and helps us to navigate social situations more e ectively.

hen we

understand and can manage our emotions, we feel more in control of our lives and are better equipped to handle con icts and challenges with a clear and balanced mindset, leading to more e ective decisionmaking.

Emotions coaching helps you develop better coping strategies for dealing with setbacks, enhancing your resilience in the face of challenges. hen we understand our emotions and can con dently use coping strategies, we enhance our emotional intelligence, which is crucial for personal and professional success.

Parents who practice emotion coaching with their children can help them develop emotional intelligence early, leading to healthier emotional development and better behaviour regulation.

WildEast is Coming to Hadleigh

ithout getting into the why and wherefore of Climate Change, I think its fair to say that everyone would agree that the global climate is de nitely changing. rom the recent wild res in Los Angeles to the devastating oods in Spain, the evidence is everywhere. Even here in the UK we are seeing more intense rainfall over shorter periods, leading to localised ooding.

These environmental changes are challenging individuals and organisations to consider how they should change or adapt to meet any potential threats. As we start 2025, HEAT have invited a number of high pro le speakers to visit Hadleigh to tell us about their own particular areas of expertise and how they are coping with environmental change.

The series starts with a fascinating insight into the world of ildEast, who are taking an idea to restore the depleted biodiversity in the East of England, to the next level. Their goal is simple but hugely ambitious; to restore 20% of our region back to nature. That means every window box, garden, school yard, church yard, prison yard and farm yard can play its part. or too long, nature restoration has been done by too few people, in too few places. ildEast exists to democratise nature recovery and give everyone an opportunity to rebuild habitats and restore ecosystems. They don t need a million people doing nature restoration perfectly, they need millions doing it imperfectly. So whether it s rewilding part of your garden, joining a community nature project, or simply following ildEast on social media, every action matters and every action helps. To celebrate and register the support that they receive, they have created the ‘Map of Dreams’ which reveals the progress of the project as it spreads across the region. The ildEast talk will be informative, entertaining and inspirational and you can hear it rst hand at the Hadleigh Baptist Church, George Street from 7pm on Thursday 27 ebruary 25.

Aldham Common Charity

Rowland Taylor Service of Commemoration

The 470th anniversary of the death of Dr owland Taylor, Hadleigh’s Protestant martyr, will be marked on ebruary th with a service at St Mary’s Church, 3pm.

owland Taylor became ector of Hadleigh in 544 where the new Protestant reforms of Edward VI’s reign were adopted. However, when in 553 Mary Tudor became ueen and re-instated the oman Catholic religion, Taylor, and others, refused to give up the Protestant changes and beliefs. His arrest was ordered in March 554 and in January 555 he was excommunicated and sentenced to be burnt at the stake. He was returned to Hadleigh and on ebruary th burnt on Aldham Common. The Common was enclosed in 72 with the income to be used for ‘the poor of Hadleigh’. Today, the Aldham Common Charity administers the land and the money raised is distributed in grants. All are welcome to attend the service and join Trustees for tea and cakes after the service.

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HADLEIGH NATURALISTS SOCIETY

Winter Programme 2025

Monday 3 February

7.30pm - Wild Flowers of the Italian Dolomites - Roger and Tina Loose

Monday 3 March

7.30pm - Ladybirds Adrian Knowles

Meetings held in the Seminar Room upstairs in Hadleigh Library. Visitors £3.

Saturday 12 April

10am-noon - Annual Spring Fayre - Ansell Centre, Hadleigh

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BBC Proms Star Shines at Hadleigh Jazz Club Christmas Show

Concluding a sixteen-date sell-out tour, swung into the Town Hall for its annual seasonal concert for Hadleigh Jazz Club.

Those lucky enough to secure tickets were treated to sublime seasonal Jazz from star vocalist Joanna Eden with the much-lauded Chris Ingham uartet - Chris (piano MC), Mark Crooks (saxophone clarinet), Geo Gascoyne (bass) and George Double (drums).

Joanna has a long relationship as vocal coach to singing superstar Sam Smith. Her 2024 highlight was being invited to accompany him on piano and to duet with him on the ballad Hushabye Mountain at a televised BBC Proms concert: watch on https: www.youtube.com watch?v SUT 5acS-uY

or the Hadleigh show, drummer and HJC promoter George downed his sticks to take up the microphone and join Joanna on the ballad, which he did with aplomb. Multi-talented George is no mean singer, and their duet was rightly met with rapturous applause - a show highlight. Immediately changing the tone of the evening from sublime to engagingly silly, the next number saw Joanna, George, and Chris donning suitably seasonal hats and scarves. Their rendition of Snow — from the motion picture White Christmas — was no less entertaining, in its own way - another real winner.

CommunityShop

Coffee Morning

Elmsett & Aldham Village Hall IP7 6PA 10am -12pm

ith a stocking full of musical goodies, a wonderful variety of Christmas songs were unwrapped for all tastes. There were 20th-century classics like Deck The Halls, Let It Snow, Winter Wonderland and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. And there were more recent hits (perhaps future classics) such as ham’s Last Christmas, The Darkness’s Don’t Let The Bells End, Chris ea’s Driving Home For Christmas and John utter’s Donkey Carol.

I must give an accolade to Chris for his completely over-the-top (his words) rendition of Danny Elfman’s What’s This by the character Jack Skellington in Tim Burton’s movie The Nightmare Before Christmaso -beat but great fun.

ith the warm, engaging tone and e ortless phrasing of his sax and clarinet, Club favourite Mark completed the front row with Joanna and Chris. The John ilson Orchestra star reedsman delivered a superb clarinet accompaniment and solo masterclass. He’s a great favourite of mine.

The highly accomplished bass player, composer, and arranger Geo treated listeners to the dexterity of his ‘chops’ providing a vital element to the rhythm section. He also entertained the appreciative and knowledgeable audience with delightful breaks.

Jazz Journal has described the band as the country”. Having seen Chris and George’s groups on numerous occasions over the past decade, I can only endorse the sentiment about their playing for what has become the slickest of well-oil Jazz machines - outstandingly tight.

Next up at HJC are clarinet virtuoso Adrian Cox and the talented guitarist Denny Ilett, whom the Chris Ingham Trio will accompany. The swinging New Orleans-style jazz show is on Saturday 5 ebruary. Ticket demand for both performances has been high, but some may still be available from www.ticketsource.co.uk hadleigh-jazz-club Add your name to the Club’s mailing list to be ahead of the rest. Do this by emailing george.double hotmail.co.uk; calling him on 07 4 3608 0; or by visiting www.georgedouble.com hadleigh-jazz-club

Hadleigh Black Cat Club

At our January meeting we were joined by Trevor and Yvonne from the Hadleigh Community irst esponders who gave a very interesting talk on their work. It also provided them with an opportunity to display the new kit bag that was purchased through donations made to the Gareth Meredith Memorial alk. Although the rst walk held in 2023 raised all of the money for the infra-red vein nder and its special stand for the Health Centre, further donations totalling £320 continued to be made. This was enough to cover the cost of the kit bag with some left over which will go towards the cost of new uniforms.

Join the team at

Hadleigh Rugby ClubVolunteers Needed

The club has some very exciting events coming up. e are looking for weekend kitchen support every Sunday ( am- 2.30pm) when there is training and or a home game.

• Prepare, serve and sell hot cold drinks, snacks, breakfast rolls and post rugby match meals for our age grade teams

• Clean and tidy up working space kitchen after use com

Ed Seeley Gardens & Grounds

Get your garden ready for Spring! Offering all garden aspects including:

•Large and small scale mowing

•Fencing and decking

•Hedge trimming

•Garden clearances

•Bed cultivation And much more! Get in touch today!

Phone: 07704 589350 Email: edseeley.gardening@gmail.com

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Councils have ‘no option’ but to review Joint Local Plan after Government’s huge housebuilding hike

Babergh and Mid Su olk District Councils say a huge rise in housebuilding requirements set by the Government has left no option but to review their Joint Local Plan.

The Babergh and Mid Su olk Joint Local Plan, adopted in November 2023, is the blueprint for the districts’ future until 2037.

It is designed to ensure residents and communities have su cient housing, employment and inward investment, environment and heritage is protected, and that the right infrastructure is in place.

However, the Government has increased the annual housing requirement from 4 6 to 775 homes in Babergh (up 86%) and from 535 to 734 in Mid Su olk (up 37%).

This is despite both councils exceeding existing requirements in recent years.

Councillor Andrew Stringer, Cabinet Member for Heritage, Planning & Infrastructure, at Mid Su olk District Council, said: “We all want

vibrant communities.

“Our record of housing delivery in recent years has been outstanding, above our target is now not allowed to count towards future years’ targets.

“This is deeply frustrating and leaves us with little option but to take positive action now and start to review our Joint Local Plan.

“Taking this action is the right thing to do for our communities. If we don’t, we risk national planning policies dictating what happens in our towns and villages in future years – and this could lead to unplanned development which doesn’t deliver what our communities wish for.”

Each year, planning authorities must demonstrate they have a ve-year land supply for the required number of homes.

Under existing requirements, this has been exceeded in Babergh and Mid Su olk.

But the higher gures, set by the Government in December’s National Planning Policy ramework review, mean this may become more challenging in future years.

avourite of King James & Chief Minister to Charles I, this talk throws light on the life and possessions of a beautiful man who surrounded himself with beautiful things.

o c : info tasstourvalley.org.uk quoting simply click the code which will take you direct to our website www.tasstourvalley.org.uk

If this happens, there is a risk that national planning policies would start to take priority over the Joint Local Plan - and the councils may nd themselves in a position where they are required to approve planning applications on sites contrary to the development plan.

Councillor Sallie Davies, Cabinet Member for Heritage, Planning & Infrastructure, at Babergh District Council, said:

start to lose control over where new homes are built.

“We will not gamble with the future of our communities in this way, so we have no option but to review our plan - despite the many years of work, research and consultation that has gone into it - and to work with our communities to plan for the housing growth the government wishes to see.”

She added: requirement. This is unrealistic - Babergh has only got close to this homes.

councils are the problem. A collaborative solution involving the housebuilding industry, working alongside social housing companies, councils and communities is needed.”

‘Part One’ of the Councils’ Joint Local Plan, which identi es the overall housing requirement for the districts, was adopted in 2023.

Since then, work has been continuing on ‘’Part Two’, which was set to make housing allocations, and address other matters include open space designations and Gypsy and Traveller provision.

The Councils will now build on the work to date and start on a full review of the Joint Local Plan.

A revised timetable will be brought forward to the council in ebruary – setting out a period of further evidence gathering and consultation, before the plan itself is reviewed.

St Mary’s Renewal - A Community Project

Key - RT: Renewal Team C of E: Church of England

The 28 Day Notice for the Heating and Lighting is on display on the church door. e hope to receive the sealed aculty, by the end of ebruary. Once the aculty (the equivalent of C of E planning approval) has been granted, we can then order the heating and lighting units.

o Our application for funding from the Su olk Historic Churches was successful so the fund-raising committee has been awarded a grant of £5,000. e have also just received £ , 5 in Gift Aid. So that means with donations now received from all the pledges and committed grants our Heating & Lighting und totals £ 00, 52. This is an amazing sum and meets our dreams and aspirations when we started this project back in January 2024. Sincere thanks to all who have generously contributed to this impressive sum. It’s never too late to make a donation. David Hoyle is the man to help you. See below for details.

o e have two grant applications still being considered so we will share news of these when we know more. mo o c There is more good news. e have been invited to re-apply for Demonstrator Church status. If successful, we would be the rst Church in this diocese to be granted this accolade as a trail blazer in moving our Church to a Carbon Net ero footprint. Just by replacing those old gas heaters removes a staggering 6.58 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year. In addition to this prestigious status we would also be entitled to apply for a capital grant from the Church of England; up to 25% of the project costs and a further 7. % of the project cost from The Benefact Trust.

The holes, left by the removal of the old Vestry, have been repaired. A nishing coat will complete the work.

Apart from the special one-o events, Caf Church o ers a warm welcome and a drink to all ages every riday morning. Come for a chat and treat yourself to one of Andrew’s delicious breakfasts or a piece of Jan’s traditional bread pudding. There is an added attraction on the rst riday in every month when a variety of craft stalls appear laden with lots of attractive treasures. Happily, our relaxing lunchtime music recitals are returning this month and can be enjoyed on the 2 ednesday of every month thereafter. e hope you will support St Mary’s whenever you can and enjoy the company of others at the same time. *************************

David Hoyle (Donations)davidhoyle 67 gmail.com O Emma leming-Ovenso ce stmaryshadleigh.co.uk 0 473 824 87 Church ebsitehttps: stmaryshadleigh.co.uk

Polstead Gardening Club

Our Spring season of meetings is starting in ebruary and we have some very interesting speakers lined up: Tuesday 11 February at 7.30pm: Snowdrops with Marc McHearne from Beth Chatto’s Gardens

Tuesday 18 March at 7.30 pm: Growing from Seeds with Peter Miller from Kings Seeds, Kelvedon e look forward to seeing you at the above events. All meetings will be at Polstead Village Hall on The Green in Polstead (CO6 5AL). ree to members. Non-members are welcome £5 (cash or cheque please). Entrance includes a drink and nibbles. Membership Subscriptions are due in ebruary - Single Membership £20, Joint Membership £35. ueries to gardeningclubpolstead yahoo.com.

NURSERY OPEN DAY

SATURDAY 15TH MARCH 2025 10:00AM –12:15PM

Rotary Review

Hadleigh’s very own ather Christmas set out with his oat once again to tour the streets of the town. The weather was generally kind and Hadleigh residents, especially the children, welcomed him enthusiastically and with great generosity. otary extends a massive THANK YOU to everyone who donated. The House to House brought in £ 5 6. , two days at Morrisons Store produced £650.5 with donations of £ 65 bringing the nal total up to £2332.50. This beat last year’s record result by about £20. All monies will go to local charities including Surviving inter in Hadleigh, 5th Hadleigh St Mary’s Guides, Hadleigh Elderly Peoples elfare Committee, the Ansell Centre Memories cafe, Elmsett & Alham Community Shop and Hadleigh irst esponders. urther donations will be announced in the coming months.

Of course this event does not just happen and as Hadleigh otary Club is so small it does rely on a number of friends of otary to help with the collections and members would like to recognise and thank profusely the following:-

irstly, Steve Grimsey for the second year in succession donned the red robes and beard throughout the collection period. Everyone was so pleased to see you again, Steve Towing duties,as always, were shared by Gary Hambling, Steve Blake and Graham Parker Club President whilst collectors were Harry ilkinson, Claire Coster, Simon and Kerry Carter, on Jenkins, Sam oodward, obert inch, Paul irman with Tamsin and John illiamson assisted by members Glenn Abbassi, Ian Burne, Sue Clark and our President. George yatt also helped with ferrying collectors from place to place and some general maintenance. Many, many thanks to all of you inally the Club is grateful to obert inch and Plant Parts Ltd for housing the oat during the collecting period, to Martin Pratt and family for keeping the oat at their farm for the rest of the year and to Press Gang for ensuring that the Santa out t is in pristine condition for next Christmas.

A Christmas co ee morning took place at the home of the Club President. There were mince pies and cake to go with the co ee and again everyone enjoyed themselves – Many thanks Graham and Jo for hosting this.

Moving on to the New Year, the club’s traditional Champagne Brunch took place at the George Hintlesham as usual. Members and partners enjoyed the hospitality of the hosts and a big thank you goes to all the sta for looking after us so well.

It is hoped to hold more events this year but it will depend on how much help the club can nd to supplement the small membership and it would be great if help turned in to new membership.

Churches Together in Hadleigh – Praying for Hadleigh

The people of Churches Together in Hadleigh are committed to praying for our town. Over the course of each year we plan to pray for every street in Hadleigh. During ebruary we will be praying for the following streets:-

C 2 ebruary:- oodthorpe Close & Cottesford Close.

C ebruary:- Yeoman Crescent, Gaell Crescent & Tayler Close.

C 6 ebruary: - Yeoman ay, ousies Close & Schoorl Close.

C 23 ebruary:- Tayler oad.

If you know people who live in these streets, we would be very pleased if you also would pray for them. If you live on one of the streets being covered during a particular week and would welcome prayer, please get in touch.

Hadleigh Baptist Church - pastorchristodd hadleighbaptist.org.uk

Hadleigh URC - Barbara Robinson - 828352 - barobi 506 gmail.com

St Joseph’s RC Church - Anna McCrae - 82304 - annamccrae btinternet.com

St Mary’s CoE - Jessica Janas - 82267 - jessicanevard btinternet.com

Community Indoor Craft Market

In 2024 we held 0 events including some new ideas – some were successful and some we won’t be repeating because they didn’t seem to be as popular.

o o oc c

Jenny’s jewellery • Carol’s scented candles • Sharon’s cards and glass

Dale’s 3D printing & resin crafts • Mick’s wonderful wooden items

Amy’s beautiful hand-drawn cards

Alison’s amazing gifts from Uganda

Julia’s Spotlight textile items • Sabrina’s Tropics range

Sue’s plants • Jan’s Jams

o o m o o om m m

Philippa and Ali • Winnie Ward • Jackie & Jim Sefton

o o PCO Johnson and the TWAM team

Overall I was able to send £ ,000.00 to support Cancer esearch UK, so a huge thankyou to all who supported us.

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The Hadleigh Historian

Issue 86 (February – March 2025)

A new occasional series is introduced by Mark Lawrence concerning buildings that were formerly public houses in Benton Street beginning with ‘ The King’s Arms or The Old Monkey’. Mark has already brought us accounts of wartime heroism, orld ar II’s rst A casualty and the history of his home and its associated malting house, so this new series follows on with the thorough research that we have come to expect behind his writings. New to the pages of The Hadleigh Historian is Colin Botwright who, after a busy working life, has returned to the place of his birth. He has consulted many sources of information in order to trace his family history, which has so many branches as his grandfather had two wives and sixteen children. In ‘Tracing a Botwright family in Hadleigh’. Colin follows his own direct line back 250 years to the mid- 8th century.

At the 2024 John Bloom eld Memorial Lecture for the riends of St Mary’s Church Hadleigh, Mark Bailey spoke on ‘Coping with a Global Pandemic and Climate Change in Su olk and Hadleigh, 300- 500’, which was much appreciated by the audience as there were many comparisons with events occurring in the world today. My report entitled ‘Professor Mark Bailey identi es a medieval Su olk commuter’ follows a consequence of the Black Death of 34 , the eventual breakdown of serfdom in England. One individual, Austin Crembell was highlighted by the speaker as the medieval Su olk commuter, who spent a period of his perambulations living in Hadleigh.

Members of Hadleigh Local Studies orkshop are currently researching the biographies of those people memorialised in St Mary’s Church, one such person being ‘John Gaell: rst mayor of Hadleigh’. Since 57 , the Chief Inhabitants has aspired to corporate status, which would give legitimacy to their governance of the town, which was eventually achieved in 6 8. Eight men became aldermen of the borough from who John was selected as mayor. hen he died in 642, his son George put up a memorial on one of the columns in the nave but by the mid- th century, such plaques were thought to dis gure the building so it was moved to the north-aisle wall.

I have always been keen on sharing my research – hence this magazine and now The Old Hadleigh Picture Show, in association with The King Guthrum Group, gives me the opportunity to spread the word about Hadleigh’s history. There are to be two new shows held at the Ansell Centre in the Market Place on riday 2 March and riday May at 7.30pm. The rst will look at almost everything between the High Street and the river (with a few excursions) and the second will feature the turnings o High Street to the east.

Hadleigh Walkers

Our walk on Saturday 8 ebruary will be a circular one of 0 miles starting at Somersham. e will leave from the Duke of Marlborough at .30 am and proceed on a clockwise direction via Derrick Hill, Crow Hall, Cha nch ood, Lt Blakenham Hall and Somersham Park. The distance of the entire route is around 0 miles and we should be back in Hadleigh around .30 pm.

e aim to maintain a not-too-demanding 2.5 mph (4 km hr). alkers should be aware that any weather is possible so strong shoes or preferably walking boots should be worn as the ground will be muddy or rough in places. Everyone is welcome, including well-behaved dogs. It may be of interest to know that The Duke of Marlborough pub serves breakfast from 8.30 am on Saturdays. Of course they will also be open for refeshments when returning from the walk As usual, route maps can be requested from the website.

Above the Parapet

oc In previous editions of this publication, I have discussed devolution proposals which, if agreed would give more powers and funding to Su olk. Late last year the previous government’s deal was scrapped and replaced by Labour’s English Devolution hite Paper on 6th December 2024. This gave greater clarity on the future direction of their policy which represents the biggest change to local government in 50 years. The proposed reforms include restructuring councils in two-tier areas like Su olk by shifting from district, borough, and county councils to unitary authorities led by a directly elected Mayor (likely covering Su olk and Norfolk). Unfortunately, I received notice of these proposals too late to make last month’s HCN editorial deadline. The Minister for Local Government stated that the Government’s longterm vision is for simpler structures which make it much clearer for residents who they should look to on local issues, with fewer politicians able to focus on the delivery of services. They believe that local government reorganisation, alongside devolution over a large strategic geography, can drive economic growth whilst delivering optimal public services. The government argues that unitary councils can deliver better outcomes for residents and save money that can be reinvested in public services. The Mayor would have powers over strategic policy areas like transport infrastructure, health improvement and blue light services, but covering a larger geography.

Su olk County Council (SCC) was requested to submit an expression of interest by 0th January if we wished to be part of the fast-tracked Devolution Priority Programme (DPP). An extraordinary meeting of the Council was held on th January when all councillors were given an opportunity to have their say before the nal decision was made by Cabinet. The motion put forward was for making: A clear commitment to delivering both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe and that the 2025 county council elections might be postponed. This latter point is controversial, however it is the Government’s policy and timetable, and only they can decide on elections. The council voted in favour of this motion applying to be part of the government’s DPP, which would see Mayors elected in May 2026. I supported these changes as they create an opportunity to streamline local government, empower joined-up decision making, save taxpayers money and ensure councils are resistant to future economic challenges. During the debate, I gave an example of multi-tier interaction where we need three separate councils (county district borough) to install, enforce, and manage on-street parking restrictions. I reminded the council that we have previously seen a slow move towards unitary authorities with the forming of larger district councils of East and est Su olk. And I pointed out that both Babergh and Mid Su olk had moved out their respective areas and collocated their o ces to Endeavour House; toward the centre of mass, in Ipswich. e should know by the end of January whether Su olk and Norfolk are on the DPP, and whether the County Council elections will go ahead this coming May. If they don’t the existing county council will continue to sit until unitary council elections are held in 2027.

o c o I endeavour to hold my surgery on the third Saturday of the month with the next one at am on Saturday 5th ebruary 2025 in the anti-room of the oyal British Legion Club, George Street. Contact me at: mick.fraser su olk.gov.uk 07 3 55 25 or acebook: mickfraser4hadleigh.

News from your Babergh Councillors

o m o o e rather jumped the gun in our last piece by talking about County Council elections in May. Shortly after sending our column to this publication in December, it was announced that the government is going to replace all district and county councils in England with unitary councils and regional mayors. Town and parish councils will remain as they are. Although we knew changes were coming, we didn’t think the elections would be cancelled and we will still only know for certain by the end of January.

Babergh are working with all the other councils across Norfolk and Su olk to establish how best to deliver devolution and ensure the best outcomes for residents.

Shortly before Christmas Babergh District Council Leader Cllr Deborah Saw, joined district, borough and county council leaders across both counties in con rming to the Minister of State for Local Government their personal support for Norfolk and Su olk being part of the Devolution Priority Programme – to ensure that there is an East Anglian Mayoral voice as soon as is practicable. There is likely to be a Mayor of Norfolk and Su olk, but this is yet to be con rmed.

Su olk County Council has voted in favour of applying to be part of the government’s Devolution Priority Programme - a fast-track process with additional support, which would see Mayors for selected regions elected in May 2026. e should know whether Su olk and Norfolk are on the Devolution Priority Programme, and whether the County Council elections will go ahead this coming May by the end of January. If they don’t the existing county council will continue to sit until unitary council elections are held in 2027.

The government intends to send Babergh an ‘invitation’ setting out their criteria for designing the size, principles and geography of new unitary councils by the end of January. They will be asking all two-tier councils, that’s those areas with district and county councils, to work together to develop such unitary proposals.

Cllr. Saw and other leaders have already had many meetings to discuss possible scenarios for the boundaries of unitary councils but need to wait for these government criteria before making any rm decisions. e know that they will be required to provide their initial thoughts to the government in March and then nal proposals by either May or Autumn 2025, depending on whether or not Su olk is on the priority programme.

The government is planning to introduce the new unitary councils in two phases. The rst councils would be implemented in April 2027 and the remainder in April 2028. So, if Su olk is part of the priority programme there would be unitary council elections in 2027, if not it would be in 2028, and existing District Councillors would have to serve an extra year.

The planning application from Lidl for a supermarket at the top of Lady Lane is going to be considered by the Planning Committee, rather than by o cers alone, because the planning team thought it too controversial. All three Hadleigh District Councillors sit on the Planning Committee and will remain open minded on this issue. e are willing to listen to resident’s views but cannot express an opinion as to whether we favour the development or not.

oc Cllr. Simon Dowling has a limited amount left in his councillor budget for locality awards, which must be spent by the end of March. If you would like to apply for funding towards equipment or activities for your community or volunteer group, please get in touch with him.

Jane Carruthers

Simon Dowling

Making Sense of Fruit Trees

As I sit here making plans to transform my bare garden (and by bare, I mean the uneven sea of grass the landscape contractors presented us with when we moved into our new house last year), my mind drifts to fruit trees. I have always loved the exciting wait for juicy fruits, from watching the bees pollinate the newly opened owers, to seeing the little fruitlets swell and ultimately change colour. I think every garden deserves a fruit tree, for there is nothing like the excitement of harvesting and eating your very own ripe fruit

In the UK, the most commonly cultivated fruit trees can be separated into stone fruit and pome (or core) fruit. The rst one’s name says it all, fruit that has a stone inside like peaches, apricots, plums or damsons – these bene t from pruning right after the harvesting period around late Summer, when the weather is dry and mild (although some years that might prove di cult to wait for under our British weather ). This is to avoid the silver leaf disease infecting or spreading through the cuts made while pruning, as the spores of this fungal disease actively spread during the winter months. Pome fruit are your apples, pears and quinces and these trees bene t from being pruned two times a year: once in summer and another in winter. Around July, it’s bene cial to restrict the growth of the new shoots so the tree can redirect its energy to the fruits instead of growing out of reach (it also helps to control pest populations, aka aphids, as they like to concentrate on the juicy, tender tips). This can be done by pruning all new growth in half. Then, in winter, you should give your trees a proper prune, taking out any damaged or diseased wood and pruning to encourage the development of fruit spurs (the swollen buds that will develop into owers and consequently into fruits). This is done by pruning all growth back to one or two leaf buds from the branch’s base. Of course, this is all simple enough (is it? ) if we’re dealing with a young or well-managed mature tree – it can all become a bit more complex otherwise. And don’t get me started on cordons, espaliers and fan-trained trees – that’s a whole di erent game But if you have no clue what to do with your fruit trees or are too afraid to make that rst cut, hold your secateurs –now is the perfect time to give a professional a call for some advice. o co c c m c o

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Hadleigh Community Forum 54

o The Chair welcomed everyone Accepted

None

PC Niall Johnson provided a full report for the meeting, the details of which will be in his regular column in the Hadleigh Community News. Post Meeting Note: which I am sure is echoed by the whole Community Forum: made to the safety of the Hadleigh Community. He is a most loved person in the community We can’t praise him enough. He has made Hadleigh Community Forum and other community meetings, he listens and attends to people’s concerns, he knows who people are really is the epitome of what a local police representative should be and we all feel happier and safer since he has been active in Hadleigh. I thought you might enjoy receiving a positive message. Just don’t take Niall away from us !”

The Christmas season was a success, with youngsters enjoying wreath making, decorating the building and the tree, kindly donated by James Buckle’s farm. Long-term planning is underway to expand the range of services on o er and to make more public use of the premises in the High Street alongside exploring opportunities to expand support for young people across the Babergh district.

On Thursday 30 January Porch Project will host, at its 28a High Street centre, the Hadleigh Youth Networking Meeting from 2 noon – pm. The aim is to foster information-sharing and discussions around local youth groups. Email Jackie Kirk if you would like to attend: assistant hadleightowncouncil.gov.uk

oo c o o

Discussions are ongoing with the EA. Our MP James Cartlidge is aware of the situation and H LAG hope to meet with him in the near future.

Administrative matters and forward planning are the main focus at this time.

o m c o m

If you want to see where you are losing (or retaining) heat from your home, book a session with the thermal imaging camera – available until the end of March – through heatenergy gmx.co.uk . A series of talks have been booked starting with 27 eb at 7.30pm with ild East – the East Anglian nature recovery movement. Then 27 March at 7.30pm with Su olk ildlife Trust on eco-acoustics, The Song of the Soil, by Helen Bynum and 0 April at 7.30pm with a talk by Tony Juniper CBE, Chair of Natural England. Venues for all three to be con rmed. Information on HEAT’s website or email hadleigh.heat hotmail.com

e expect to be able to display our aculty Notice (for 28 days) early in January and thereafter receive our Sealed aculty by the end of ebruary. ork has almost nished on the southeast wall with just a

top coat now needed. Discussions on our forthcoming exploratory archaeological digs are underway both for inside the church and the area where we hope to site the new extension. e have an opportunity to re-apply to become a Demonstrator Church which will open up hugely necessary funding channels for us and look forward to being able to apply to become a Silver Eco Church once the new heat light system is in.

A report was given to the meeting, the full version of which can be found in the PPG’s monthly column in the Hadleigh Community News.

The main focus is on planning the year ahead. Please remember to inform Jane or Stuart of any events you have coming up (as far ahead as you like) so as to avoid tra c accidents. Contact snowdonjane hotmail.co.uk

unding: A variety of community group and capital grant funding opportunities are available and assistance with external grants can also be given. or full details on all grants, and any questions, contact the Grants Team bmsdcgrants baberghmidsu olk.gov.uk

Be ell Bus: or health & wellbeing support- no appointment needed. Venues TBC – check The BDC website. Dates: 5 eb, 4 June, 6 Aug, 8 Oct, 3 Dec and 4 Jan 2026. etail Site: The application is due to go before the BDC Planning Committee.

Devolution: Discussions are still underway in the Government and information will be fed down as it becomes available. County, borough and district councils will cease, being replaced by unitary councils and Mayors. Town Councils will not be closed. The Government plans to introduce these in two phases: rst phase in April 2027 and the remainder in April 2028.

Car Parking charges came into e ect on 3 January with immediate i i problems which meant most charging stations were not working. or full information on which car park charges how much (they are not all the same) and what the few exemptions are, go to BDC’s website. The Overview & Scrutiny Panel hope to meet in July to ascertain how the new system is working. Both the Ansell Centre and Together Tuesday wanted to thank BDC for their support through this process.

Grants Budget 24 25 still has £5,525.33 remaining until 3 March 2025.

Mayor’s Charity undraiser – this year for Girl Guides and Sea Scouts, a uiz in the Grand Hall starting at 7.30pm on riday 28 ebruary. Teams of up to six and £5 each. or tickets, email Jackie Kirk: assistant hadleightowncouncil.gov.uk or 0 473 823 884.

Hadleigh Old School has two upcoming shows: 3 March 7pm. The Search for Cedric Morris’ Irises by Sarah Cook, the Horticulturalist Detective and her plantsman husband, Jim Marshall. Cost £ 2 inc a drink. Tickets from The Little Ginger Bee shop in the High Street. 22 March 7.30pm. Sophia – a new play by Hannah Kumari, performed by The Eastern Angles. Based on real life story of Sophia Duleep Singh, Princess and Goddaughter to ueen Victoria. Exiled with her father to Su olk, she became a su ragette and Indian revolutionary. Tickets from https: easternangles.co.uk

John Cunningham brought to the attention of the meeting a letter he has had published in the EADT concerning the waste of water in public toilets. He mentioned that Toppes eld Bridge has nally been repaired but there is still a huge issue with the road surface at the junction of Duke Street High Street.

The Old Hadleigh Picture Show. ollowing the huge success of last year’s show, two more dates have been added with new content. 2 March and May, both at the Ansell Centre, 7.30pm. Tickets £5 each from Avis & The Idler.

Stuart Service is again running in the London Marathon. His fund raiser is on 2 March with the ever-popular Drag Bingo Evening with Charlie Hyde. ull details next month.

Bates ells solicitors reminded everyone that they will be in the Library on a Tuesday with morning appointment slots and an afternoon drop-in session. 0am – 4pm. These sessions should gauge interest in their opening a branch in Hadleigh. The meeting closed at 5.20pm

NEXT MEETING: Tuesday ebruary 2025 at 4: 5 pm at Hadleigh Pool and Leisure. Chair: Very ev’d Jo Delfgou

Letter from Layham www.layham.org

St Mary’s C of E Primary School

“Children

“Children

“The teaching of reading is of high quality”

“Adults provide strong pastoral support and care”

“Children are highly motivated”

“Pupils

“Pupils are proud of their school”

o c

Below are the main matters discussed at the Parish Council meeting of ednesday 5 ebruary 2025

c o m No members of the public were present. However, on behalf of parishioners, Cllr Curran expressed concern about the frequent Benton Street closures and lack of coordination – eg the recent Benton Street closure had coincided with that of Shelley oad. Cllr Hall said this issue had also been raised by other parish councils and she would raise it with Highways.

c o c The revised National Planning Policy ramework (NPP ) had been published in December and a new Planning and Infrastructure bill was expected later in 2025. As a result of the revised NPP , Babergh’s Local Plan would have to be revisited. ith regard to the parking fees introduced in Hadleigh on 3 January, Cllr Dunn felt that parking fees should be the same for both long and short stay parking. Cllr ard con rmed that Magdalen oad car park was now long stay, and the car park next to the old Barclays building was short stay.

However, Cllr Thickpenny pointed out that the old signage in Magdalen oad was still in place, directing motorists to di erent areas for long and short stay parking. Parking was free for people visiting the health centre and leisure centre, or schools. Babergh’s Cabinet was due to consider a 2. % increase to its share of council tax bills, in the light of a potential £0. m budget gap over the next ve years. The increase in NI contributions announced by the Chancellor would have a signi cant impact; the compensation had been cut, and did not cover contractors. o o c In response to a comment concerning the decision by SCC to put the county forward for the government’s devolution and reorganisation programme, it was felt that devolution was a given as local government reorganisation was in the Chancellor’s report last autumn.

eferring to the cancellation of the May elections, Cllr Hall con rmed that the government would run the consultation process and there would be no referenda re the creation of mayors. ith reference to renewable energy, it was noted that the Norwich to Tilbury project was to link sub-stations and was not about increasing capacity.

om Cllr Curran con rmed that the process of downloading data now appeared to be working properly; he would continue to monitor this. The SID at the Marquis end of the village had been lowered to make it easier to access.

o oo ollowing a preliminary discussion, the Clerk would gather more information on Neighbourhood Plans to bring to the ebruary meeting. evisiting the Parish Plan remained an option.

o ollowing complaints about vehicles parking opposite the entrance to Brett Green, two parishioners had asked the

ST ANDREW’S CHURCH LAYHAM

In the Benefice of Hadleigh, Layham and Shelley Services for February: Sunday2 February9.15am:Morning Worship Sunday9 February 9.15am:Sung Eucharist

Sunday16 February9.15am:Morning Worship Sunday23February9.15am: Joint ‘Layham with Shelley’ Eucharist at St Andrew’s Morning Prayer is also every Wednesday at 8.30am The church isopen daily,and you are very welcome to visit.

Bug Club is BACK! -Sunday February 2nd, normal time of 3.00 –4.30pm!Join Glenda and the gang at St Andrew’s Church for their first adventure of 2025. Please book your child’s place by contacting Glenda at glendahall@ymail.com

If there is anything you wish to discuss, please do contact Fr Jo on 01473 822218

Parish Council to look into the possibility of double yellow lines along Mill Lane. The Clerk would follow up with Highways.

m

The winners of the January draw were:

£25 Ticket No Strutt

£ 5 Ticket No 64 Hambling oc m

e meet from 0 am to 2 pm at Layham Village Hall on rst and third Mondays of the month. There is a small charge of £2 for hall hire. Everyone is welcome. You do not have to be a resident of Layham to attend. Come to hear an interesting talk, share refreshments and a chat and take part in a quiz. e are a small, friendly group and we welcome new members.

c New Year was marked by David Jacobs from Ukraine Aid, who gave a moving, inspirational talk. Through an illustrated presentation David introduced us to some situations in Ukraine near and beyond the frontline where he transports aid. Shattered buildings, broken roads, (often mined) and people living in makeshift shelters were depicted along with many smiling faces of the people David and his co-workers have helped.

David spoke with great enthusiasm and humility about the humanitarian aid he delivers to Ukraine. He explained that he has huge support from some local companies and many individuals who donate money and or essentials. After 3 journeys to deliver much needed aid to soldiers and civilians he has made many rm friendships. David described how his faith has sustained him through some scary scenarios. He thanked those from the village and social club members who have donated to the charity.

The picture is of David Jacobs (on the left) at the village of his grandmother’s birth with a local Ukrainian friend. David is planning his next journey and if you would like to support Ukraine Aid you can contact David on: 07500 53 0 or donate to his ‘Just Giving’ page by using the code link above.

Award winning photographer and naturalist Bill Baston will give an illustrated talk entitled, ‘Birds of the Brett Valley and Beyond’ Chloe Locke from St Elizabeth Hospice will talk about the work of the much-needed charity.

Layham Events Group (LEG) has launched a new round of grant funding. Local groups and organisations can apply for grants of up to £250 to support projects and activities that will directly bene t the community of Layham. o

Web: www.gjwattsandson.com Email: richard@gjwattsandson.com

nn o o

a reati e pro ess e ploring ollage te tiles wor art an water olours c m

omm n oom

Enjoy a calm and creative afternoon in good company.

Conta t to reser e our pla e

SECOND SATURDAY

EVENTS 2025

Elmsett & Aldham Village Hall, IP7 6PA Co ee Mornings 0- 2pm Craft airs 0am – pm

8th March – Community Co ee Morning

2th April – Easter Craft Market EE hunt

0th May – Community Co ee Morning

4th June – Indoor Craft Market

2th July – Community Co ee Morning

Mindful Makers

Mindful Makers welcomed the new year in creatively with a Vision Board-Making Session. 8 attendees enjoyed an afternoon of calm, colourful company. Intentions were set for the year ahead, loaded wa es were served and everyone enjoyed the opportunity to explore di erent creative mediums.

The next session will take place on Saturday st March at U C Community oom from 2 - 5 pm. As we welcome Spring everyone will have the opportunity to make an individual Positivity Planner. This will be a series of cards created and designed to act as a gentle reminder to live in the moment and with the intention to motivate, encourage and calm on challenging days.

Places are limited so make sure you secure your place soon.

e look forward to meeting you soon.

c n mon n

Save The Date!

The Brett Valley Collective comprises of a group of like-minded creatives who have written and performed their own plays since 20 irst up was O ce Clippings, followed swiftly by Village Hall Matters and in 2023 they successfully staged their rst murder mystery, The Art of Murder.

Going back to their comedy roots, Save the Date invites us to pull up a chair and take a place at the table in the ctional Italian estaurant - Pasta Paradiso. It centres around two very quirky waitresses and four couples all in very di erent stages of their relationships.

th August – Community Co ee Morning T AM

3th September – Garage Sale around the village

th October – Indoor Craft Market

8th November – Indoor Craft Market

3th December – Xmas Community Craft Market.

Raising money for the new Elmsett & Aldham Community Shop and Cancer Research UK

Look out for more details of each event in your Village Magazine or on Facebook

Patricia and Michael are on a blind date after making contact on a dating app, will they hit it o ? Cheryl and Colin have been married longer than they care to remember, do those little di erences really make their marriage work? Paula and Steve got together later in life, but how much do they actually know about each other? And nally Philip and ory on date number two, is the age gap too wide, do they have enough in common to make it to date number 3?

Nothing appears to be straightforward and the path to true love doesn’t always run smooth unning for 3 nights from Thursday 20th – Saturday 22 ebruary, (just a week after Valentine’s Day) this could make the perfect date night or make you glad you are single Come and join us at the United eform Church in the Market Place, Hadleigh. The show starts at 7:30 pm. Previous shows have sold out so please pop along to The Little Ginger Bee in the High Street for tickets at your earliest convenience.

Tickets are priced at £8.50. This Year the recipients of BVC’s fundraising e orts will be The Ansell Centre, which is a much loved and valued community provision, from which many di erent inter generational projects run. Also being supported this time, St Mary’s Pop-Up, which provides free food for anyone and children’s activities twice a month. ood, connection and relationships are very much at the heart of these grassroots projects, just as they are in this latest production.

So please Save the Date for “Save the Date” where a very warm welcome awaits you in Pasta Paradiso.

o c

Hadleigh and Boxford Patient

Particpation

Group (PPG)

o o oc o Need a doctor when the Health Centre is closed, including weekends? Call for advice and details of your nearest ‘out of hours’ duty doctor.

n m n n m In 2025 all GP Practices nationally are contractually required to adopt digital consultations to improve patient access to services. On 2 January ’25 the Hadleigh Boxford Group Practice introduced Anima, a secure and easy to use online system to help patients get the care they need more quickly and conveniently.

n m Anima seamlessly and con dentially integrates with your medical record bringing improvements to how you request appointments and how our sta assess your condition.

Anima allows our team to continue to improve access times by helping us to direct you to the most appropriate care for your medical needs. This ensures we make use of our limited resources in the most safe and e cient way. All appointments will continue to be o ered according to the clinical urgency and need. By this triage system, it means that patients will manage more equitably and e ectively, connecting our patients e ciently to the right person for the right service.

o o o Patients can register with Anima via the surgery website, by using your NHS app login details or create your own unique Anima username and password. At the moment each patient needs their own email address. A shared address will not be accepted. Do not worry if you do not have access to a computer or the internet or you are unable to register yourself , if you telephone the surgery a care navigator will complete the form on your behalf. o n m on o n on nc n o m n n m

co n m o n m com

n n All requests for an urgent on the day appointment, a routine GP appointment, home visit or a mediation review can be submitted online. Appointments for nurses and blood tests etc. can still be arranged over the telephone.

Although the Practice appreciates change can feel unsettling, especially for those less familiar with technology, as more patients use Anima it will reduce demand on the phone lines, making contact easier for all. This is a massive undertaking and there may be some teething problems as the Practice implements the changes. Please be patient during this time.

n o n If you have to use the Babergh’s Toppes eld Car Park when you have a Health Centre appointment you can register your car inside the Practice and have 2 hours free parking. The relevant machine is inside the Practice near the medical memorabilia cabinets. This only applies to patients visiting the Practice for an appointment or medication. Blue badge holders do not have to pay but must clearly display their badge.

o c c 0 473 822 6

o o also online www. .nhs.uk www.nhs.uk nhs-app

c c n www.hadleighhealth.co.uk opening-hours www.hadleighhealth.co.uk

c oo www.facebook.com Hadleigh-BoxfordGroup-Practice 02 5 2746 062

n m n www.hadleighhealth.co.uk anima or www.animahealth.com patients

o Jan Devey deveys btinterenet.com 0 473 8270 or 0788 7 8

Hadleigh Crime Review

I need to alert you all to an increase in incidents of fraud a ecting the residents of Hadleigh and the surrounding area. Put simply, fraud is where someone is tricked out of money by another person. I am sure most of us have received scam calls, texts or emails attempting this. People are being called on the phone and the caller pretends to be a police o cer from Su olk Police and asks them to withdraw money. The scam can include a claim that their bank account has been compromised and or that they want the victim to work alongside police. A person then attends their address in an attempt to collect cash. If a fraud is in progress and someone has just turned up at an address or is expected to turn up, call immediately. Local police can complete any immediate actions necessary to try to safeguard the person targeted, help prevent loss and potentially catch the suspect attending the address in those crucial early stages. But if a fraud is long over and no one is in any further danger, all frauds should be reported to Action raud by calling 0300 23 2040 or online at www.actionfraud.police.uk. Action raud assess each report and determine what actions any local police force across the country need to complete and request this work, they can also look for patterns and trigger police action in relation to fraud as well. If you get a suspected fraud call that you do not fall for and the phone number is displayed, send a text to 7726 with the phone number, your provider should then look to investigate the origin of the call and arrange to block or ban the sender if it is found to be malicious. The same goes for scam texts, forward the text to 7726 for the same process. You can report scam emails and websites to the email address report phishing.gov.uk (screenshots of texts can also be sent there). You can also report online scam adverts to the Advertising Standards Authority, by selecting the ‘Make a complaint’ section on their website www.asa.org.uk. By reporting you reduce the amount of scam contact you get, you also make yourself a harder target for scammers and it protects others from cyber crime online. According to the National Cyber Security Centre website (as of November 2024) 25 thousand phone numbers used by scammers have been removed as a result of the 7726 text service and 202 thousand website scams were removed due to reports.

The best way to protect against fraud is to be immediately suspicious and never con rm or pass personal details over the phone. Police would never be asking someone to take cash out of their account for safe keeping or to assist with an investigation. The scammer preys on peoples politeness and trust, so please do not be afraid to challenge someone robustly and stand your ground. If you want to con rm you are talking to a police o cer, take the persons details and then call 0 , explain the circumstances to the call taker and ask to be put through to that o cer (if they exist). If the o cers name exists within Su olk Police, there is still a chance the fraudster could simply be using that name, make sure you have properly hung up from the person before you call 0 , as the suspect can sometimes hold the line open and pretend to be a police operator and in turn pretend to pass you through to a police o cer.

Over the last seven and a half week period, Hadleigh residents have su ered these additional o ences. x criminal damage, x attempted criminal damage, x burglary to a shed, x attempted burglary to a garage, x theft of a motor vehicle, x theft from motor vehicle, x Possession of Class B, x possession of Class A, x taking a motor vehicle without consent, 25x non crime incidents including adult and children safeguarding referrals and domestic incidents, x public order, 2x sexual assault, 4x thefts, 2x breach of restraining order, 20x assaults, 2x anti-social behaviour reports. n

Hadleigh Town Council

Full Council Meeting

c m m n oom o n c

n Councillors Bayliss, Beggerow, Elliott, Gower, Howlett, Loftus, McLeod, Miller, Minns, Monks (Chair) and Shearly-Sanders.

n n nc Town Clerk and 3 members of the public (2 via oom)

com The Chair welcomed everyone and advised that the Council, members of the public and press may record lm or broadcast the meeting, when the press and public are not lawfully excluded. Any member of the public who attends the meeting is advised that the Town Council cannot control 3rd party recording. The Town Council will record the meeting.

o o Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Taylor, ilson and right and Babergh District Councillor Dowling and County Councillor raser.

o o nc Proposed by Councillor Beggerow, seconded by Councillor Gower the absences of Councillors Taylor, ilson and right were approved. Vote or, 0 Against, 0 Abstain

c on o n Councillor Monks declared a non-registrable interest in HTC24.276 as Hadleigh Guides are her nominated charity. Councillor McLeod and Loftus declared an other-registrable interest in HTC24.28 as they are trustees of the Aldham Common.

n on There was no consideration of dispensations.

n c o Proposed by Councillor McLeod, seconded by Councillor Beggerow the minutes of Thursday 2 st November 2024 were approved. Vote or, 0 Against, 0 Abstain

o The reports from Su olk County Council & Babergh District Council ard Councillors were noted.

Councillor Carruthers read her report and mentioned the Banking Hub.

c o m One member of the public spoke about the tenancy management of Cemetery Lodge.

PC Johnson asked The Mayor to mention burglaries which are taking place in the local area.

n nc m n Proposed by Councillor Beggerow, seconded by Councillor Gower, the schedule of invoices was noted and payments over £5,000 that have not previously been agreed were approved. In alignment with the adopted inancial egulations, all payments under £ ,000 are approved by the O, as are items between £ ,000 and £5,000 with clearance of the Chairman of the Council or Chairman of the appropriate committee. Vote or, 0 Against, 0 Abstain

n nc o cco n Proposed by Councillor Beggerow, seconded by Councillor Gower to agree to open a Metro Bank Business Instant Access Deposit Account paying 0.85% interest for short-term savings.

Vote or, 0 Against, 0 Abstain

Councillor Monks left the room at 7. 3pm. Councillor Loftus took over the Chair.

n c on Proposed by Councillor McLeod, seconded by Councillor Beggerow a new motion was proposed ‘Under Section 37 of the Local Government Act to agree to award £ ,500 to Hadleigh Guides towards the cost of their trip to the rst orld Centre ‘The Chalet’ in Switzerland in August 2025. After a vote the above motion was agreed.

Vote 0 or, 0 Against, 0 Abstain

Proposed by Councillor McLeod, seconded by Councillor Beggerow, the above motion was agreed.

Vote 0 or, 0 Against, 0 Abstain

Councillor Monks returned to the room at 7.20pm.

n c on m c oo After a discussion regarding the grant application of £740 to St Mary’s Primary School for tree care and orest School enhancement nobody proposed the agenda item.

n on o m The Grant Evaluation form from Visit Hadleigh was noted.

n on o m omm n n The Grant Evaluation form from Hadleigh Community Gardeners was noted.

m o n nc n m n Proposed by Councillor McLeod, seconded by Councillor Shearly-Sanders, it was agreed to defer this item for further information.

Vote or, 0 Against, 0 Abstain

Councillor Loftus and McLeod left the room at 7.36pm m ommon Proposed by Councillor Gower, seconded by Councillor Shearly-Sanders it was agreed to elect Councillor McLeod as nominative Trustee for Aldham Common Charity.

Vote or, 0 Against, 0 Abstain

Councillor Loftus and McLeod returned to the room at 7.38pm. Meeting was suspended at 7.3 pm Meeting reconvened at 7.43pm n m on on on Proposed by Councillor McLeod, seconded by Councillor Gower, response to The Law Society’s burial and cremation consultation was agreed subject to consideration of matters raised. Vote or, 0 Against, 0 Abstain

n Thanks were given to the Open Spaces O cer for her work on the consultation responses.

o o n The next scheduled meeting will be on 6th January 2025.

The meeting closed at 7.53pm.

Extraordinary Full Council Meeting

Wendy Brame, Town Clerk

c m m n oom o n c n

n Councillors Gower, Howlett, Loftus (Chair), Miller, ShearlySanders and Taylor n n nc Town Clerk.

com The Chair welcomed everyone and advised that the Council, members of the public and press may record lm or broadcast the meeting, when the press and public are not lawfully excluded. Any member of the public who attends the meeting is advised that the Town Council cannot control 3rd party recording. The Town Council will record the meeting.

o

o Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bayliss, Beggerow, Elliott, McLeod, Minns, Monks, ilson and right.

o o nc Proposed by Councillor Gower, seconded by Councillor Shearly-Sanders the absence of Councillors Bayliss, Beggerow, Elliott, McLeod, Minns, Monks, ilson and right was approved. Vote 6 or, 0 Against, 0 Abstain

c on o n There were no Members’ declarations of pecuniary, other registrable and non-registrable interests

n on There was no consideration of dispensations.

c o m Two members of the public spoke about the management of the Cemetery Lodge tenancy.

m o n nc n m n Proposed by Councillor Loftus, seconded by Councillor Gower it was agreed that rost & Partners will manage the tenancy at Cemetery Lodge at a monthly cost of 0% ( VAT) of monthly rent and a one-o nder’s fee of 50% ( VAT) of monthly rent. Vote 5 or, 0 Against, Abstain

o o n The meeting closed at 0. 5am.

Wendy Brame, Town Clerk

Hadleigh Evening WI

January was a relatively quiet month. Viv organised a meal for the Lunch Bunch (second Thursday) at the Belstead Brook which was a very welcome return for the 5 members able to go. This month she plans lunch at The Brewers Arms on the 3th. Maggie was able to organize a pop-up amble last month along the ailway alk and afterwards at The Cobblers. This month the Amblers ( rst ednesday) will meet at Kersey Mill. Bookworms (fourth Thursday) have been reading Michelle Obama’s book The Light e Carry over the two month break. On the 27th Loraine has arranged for us to meet to discuss the book and we will start a new thriller The People Next Door by Tony Parsons. Petra elham spoke about her life at the January evening meeting (third Tuesday).

The I is very much more than “jam and Jerusalem”. Among other things we are a pressure group, annually choosing a subject of concern about which we lobby Parliament. These subjects are chosen from a long list open to every I to submit and boiled down nationally to four or ve ‘ esolutions’. Every member has the opportunity to vote from this year’s four, which are Let’s Talk About Incontinence - government to explore the true extent of the problem and improve services; Bystanders can be Lifesavers - increase training and access to de brillators; Join the epair evolution - promote repair and recycling of clothes and textiles, Eliminate Land ll of Medication Packaging e.g. blister packs, boxes, etc. The meeting when voting took place for which esolution we would support was held after this article was prepared, so will let you know result next month.

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 8 ebruary when we will welcome Thomas Atherton from Hunnaballs talking about the changing face of funerals. e meet on the third Tuesday at 7.30pm in the Seminar oom of the Library. If you would like to come for a ‘taster’ contact the secretary Glenn Abbassi on 07870 3 240 or the President, Sheila ebb on 0 473 827554 and we will look out for you.

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Letters to the Editor to the Editor

Dear Editor,

In the British Isles almost all places have drinkable tap water which is liberally used for ushing of toilets also and washing hands after use of the facilities. The extent to which water is used in most toilets is often far more than necessary.

In Hadleigh, ushes in the public toilet use the same quantity of water, no matter what use the toilet has been used and the quantity and time of ow of warm or hot water used for hand washing of hands is round about 30 seconds, which is far more than is necessary. Public toilets in the Buttermarket area of shops in Ipswich have handwashing facilities whose use is no more than 0 percent of the quantity of water used in Hadleigh for handwashing, which is quite su cient in my view for the purpose.

I do believe the amount of water used in our public toilets in Hadleigh does need to be considered and adjusted to avoid unnecessary waste which occurs at present. Certainly the authority who are involved with Hadleigh’s public toilets as the car park near to the bus station in Hadleigh, should be requested to adjust the water ows provided to the toilets and washing hands facility to more reasonable amounts.

Even in our own homes the water used to ush our toilets could well be adjusted so that used to ush after urination is far less than if the toilet has been used for purposes other than urination.

It may be necessary for us to request persons who deal with plumbing to deal with the changes needed to our equipment to make alterations to reduce the water provided but in view of our increase in population such work appears to be needed to reduce the water we need for our use.

John Cunningham

Dear Editor,

e would like to thank again everyone who came along to The Old Hadleigh Picture Show illustrated talks by local historian Sue Andrews last year. The talks were put on by The Hadleigh Historian magazine in association with the King Guthrum Group. Because of their popularity, we will be running two more talks in the series, with all-new content, when Sue will tell more about the history of Hadleigh through old photographs. The dates are riday 2 March and riday May, both at 7.30pm at the Ansell Centre. Tickets are £5 per talk, available from Avis newsagents, the Little Ginger Bee shop, and the Idler bookshop. Both the previous talks were sold out, so we suggest buying tickets early to guarantee a place.

Best regards, Huw Roberts (Chair, King Guthrum Group)

Hadleigh Society

rom humble beginnings as the son of a local butcher, Thomas olsey, Ipswich’s greatest son became churchman, patron of the arts and England’s leading statesman in his service to King Henry VIII over 4 years.

In his talk, Cardinal olsey – The Untold Story, Dr Phil oberts, history lecturer and author, explains how, thanks to olsey, his Lord Chancellor and friend, the King played a greater role in European politic than had been seen for over a century.

olsey had extraordinary diplomatic and administrative skills –helping him to ful l governmental roles equivalent to modern-day Prime Minister, Home Secretary, oreign Secretary and all the other positions of o ce

“You cannot understand Wolsey without Henry, but you cannot understand Henry without Wolsey,” says Dr Roberts. m n oom c c n

The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru

There has been considerable coverage in recent weeks, both in the press and on ITV news, about a documentary called The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru.

The poignant lm, directed by ang Li, sheds light on a forgotten chapter of orld ar II. In October 42, the Lisbon Maru (a Japanese transport ship secretly carrying over ,800 British prisoners of war) was torpedoed o the coast of China by an American submarine unaware of its human cargo.

Through rare archival footage, survivor testimonies, and expert interviews, the documentary uncovers the harrowing journey of the prisoners as the ship began to sink, leaving them trapped below deck. The lm also highlights local Chinese shermen who risked their lives to rescue as many prisoners as they could.

Many men from the Su olk, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk egiments found themselves PO s in the hands of the Japanese army - amongst them my father. I felt this lm would be of special appeal to their families or indeed anyone with an interest in this, often forgotten, period of history. Thanks to the lm’s UK distributor, O ton & illisham Village Hall have been granted permission to screen the lm at our village hall on riday, April , 2025. e will be raising funds for the Lisbon Maru Memorial Association. Tickets are £5, and may be booked via ticketsource.co.uk (search O ton & illisham Village Hall) or from James Crickmore on 07 00 266 45.

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Ebony’s Blog

Life at The Shelley Centre

atching a iding for the Disabled session you may think all the horse has to do is walk round quietly and that it isn’t too physically demanding for them. This is far from the reality They have to be able to stand square and as still as a rock while up to four people stand around them to mount one of our physically disabled riders. The horse may have to cope with wheelchairs and crutches nearby and having two people walking alongside whilst in use. It may have to cope with sudden noises or unexpected movements and walk freely and balanced even if the rider on top is far from balanced. They also need to be calm to handle and get on with other horses in close proximity, as well as being happy to be alone. All this makes you realise that our DA horses are very special.

Of course, we have to have a range of ponies and horses of di erent sizes to suit our child and adult riders. Many of the horses are not as young as they once were, having been with us for several years. or this reason they have regular visits from a specialist horse chiropracter and a massage therapist to keep them t and comfortable. The farrier comes to visit all the ponies every six weeks and we have vets available at short notice if any of the horses show signs of being unwell.

Our youngest horse, Ghost, is undergoing training and an introduction into DA work. irstly he was lead out to get used to tra c and other sights; then ridden out with other ponies, then introduced to working in the arena with all the equipment we use for our session and nally ridden in a session by one of our calmer more able riders. He is doing very well and will gradually be used more as appropriate.

All this costs money and if you would like to support us, our rst fundraising event of the year is Cash Bingo on ebruary, 7-7.30pm at Hadleigh ootball Club. £5 per ticket. Must be prebooked by contacting fundraisingshelleyrda gmail.com.

com c oo n on

Hadleigh and District Flower Club

The December meeting, which now seems a long time ago was enjoyed by many members and friends. Drinks and mince pies were served and the beautiful arrangements by Jane and Janet gave us much to look forward to for Christmas. They are very popular with our club and always gives us a fun evening.

Next month the committee will be demonstrating, which is always good to watch. e welcome anyone that wishes to come along and enjoy the evening with us. As usual it will be at the U C at 7.30 pm on Tuesday . ebruary. e wish all members and friends a very happy and healthy new year and look forward to seeing you in ebruary.

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Ghost in the centre getting used to being ridden out with other ponies and coping with distractions such as the dog.

Second Saturday Events

Elmsett & Aldham 2025

As you will see from our schedule of planned events, this year we are raising money to support the opening and running of our new village shop. The Community Shop co ee mornings will be held in the village hall from 0- 2 on March 8, May 0, July 2 and August th. At these events you will be warmly welcomed to join us for homemade refreshments and catch up with the latest development and o ers in the shop. If you have any ideas or items you have made and would like to sell to raise money for the shop, please get in touch. e will also be holding Indoor Craft Markets on April, 4 June, October, 8th November and 3 December – to continue our support for Cancer esearch UK, where we will continue to serve homemade refreshments but also have amazing hand-made gifts for you to peruse, from local artisan crafters. At all the events we will continue to collect for the “Toiletries amnesty” as well as recycle batteries and “Jan’s Jams” jars. On 3th September we are planning another Garage Sale around Elmsett village so please look out for more details in your monthly news magazine.

Jan King 07712424901

Pauline, Tina and Sue (Second Saturday committee)

Hadleigh U3A

Our next monthly meeting will be on Monday 0 ebruary, 2.30pm at the United eformed Church in Hadleigh. This month we have oger Hance with a talk entitled, ‘ ildlife through the Seasons’.

If you are retired or semi-retired and would like to know more about the u3a and the events we run please feel free to come along to the talk, pick up some information and meet us all. Or contact us through our website at https: hadleigh-su olk.u3asite.uk

HADLEIGH UNITED REFORMED CHURCH

A Church at the Heart of the Community!

On February 9 th at 2.30pm we are holding a special service of worship to celebrate becoming part of the Ipswich and East Suffolk Pastoratefollowed by fellowship and refreshments. All are welcome!

All other Sunday worship is 10.30am and midweek prayers are 10.30am on Wednesday, followed by refreshments.

French’s Care Haven

Hello to our readers, I hope as always you have all been keeping well.

A date for your diary: riday 28 ebruary 7pm at The leece in Boxford for a curry night, £ 6pp veg and meat choice, desserts included. To book your table for a good night with tasty food, Please contact Sharon at: renchs. 00club gmail.com or call her on: 07 05 40 . If you are single that’s ne you can join us on a table. Pictured this month is George who is 4yrs old and in Year 0 at Hadleigh High School, he has just nished his 0 weeks with us doing his Duke of Edinburgh awards. George helped with maintenance and general all round jobs at the rescue. In the photo with George is Brian, who is 82 years old and a great help to us as a volunteer. Teens can do their awards with us and choose to either help with maintenance and odd jobs or work with our rescued animals. So if you have a teenager in your family that would like to do their awards with us, let their high school know and then contact us.

Our Christmas ra e went well and we reached our target this year of tickets sold, we had some great prizes and would like to thank some of the companies who gave the prizes to us. They are: Stoke by Nayland Golf and Spa, iverhill Spa, Perrywoods, Go Banana’s, Jimmy’s arm, Adidas Noble tattoo, Elsinorevet physio and Old Joe’s Adventure golf. In the other photo is Coco our dear little boy who can be a cheeky monkey. Coco came to us in 20 2 as a 3 year old who was no longer wanted by his owner and was going to be unnecessarily put to sleep. eason being they said he had a heart murmur and could not be ridden so was of no use. I had his heart checked at our vets and they said there was not a problem. Coco has had 3 happy years with us and come to many events when we had a charity stand and at our care farm he was hacked out, which he enjoyed and also worked with vulnerable children and adults.

or all our readers, please consider making a personal donation to us if you can. Your help will keep us going in our time of nancial struggle, and would be very much appreciated by our team and of course our dear rescued animals. Also contact me if you would like any information about becoming part of our small team, caring for our lovely horses and donkeys, by either helping hands on with our animals or with our undraising.

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Hadleigh

Hares

The winter sees the Hares running predominately in the Su olk inter Cross Country League. Our second xture on December 2024 took us to Sutton Heath near oodbridge. It was a bleak, drizzly day, but mild for the time of year. It was quite a treat to run on sandy tracks and paths instead of mud, but there were massive puddles to contend with while pigs watched us along the way. Aden Bell (3 :37) nished overall in 8th place. Close behind him came Stuart Price (3 :3 ). Samatha Theobald (38:5 ) was 8th female to cross the nish line. Completing the team Steve Cox, Paul Lacy, Steve Hunt, Elaine Turner, yan McNeill, Neil Holloway, Nathalie Hooper, Stuart Hunt, iona Holland, achel Bodsworth, Joanne Sargent and Geraldine Suckling. A fabulous turn out for the day.

2025 kicked o with the Cross Country Championships held at Horseheath acecourse, near Haverhill. It was questionable as to whether it would go ahead with the threat of snow overnight. As it turned out the snow was sparse, but getting to the venue proved more challenging with oods along the country lanes. The course proved to be very tough with lots of mud and challenging hills, but fortunately runners didn’t have to get wet feet going through the splash e had a small, but strong team of Hares attending. Aden Bell and yan McNeill ran the longer men’s course of 0km and iona Holland, Vicky Tapp, Ellie Langridge Brown and Nathalie Hooper ran 8km. Aden made it look easy and nished 6th with a fabulous time of 35:25. Vicky stormed round the course with a great time of 36:3 with Ellie not far behind.

At the end of the day Hares came away with two trophies. Congratulations to iona who came 2nd in the V65 age group and Nathalie who nished st in the V55 age group.

Sunday 2 January and a nice local venue for the cross country. Stowmarket Striders hosted the third xture at Haughley Park. A beautiful setting taking us through the woods with a technical hilly section along the route. The below zero temperatures added to the beauty with the woods resembling Narnia. This meant that the mud had frozen solid and careful footing was essential. This didn’t seem to deter Aden and Stuart Price who made easy work of the course with Aden nishing in th place. ell done to the rest of the team, Paul Lacey, Neil Holloway, Elaine Turner, Crystal Murray, Nikki Vince, Nathalie Hooper, Jo Sargent, Sarah atkins, Kay Oxford and iona Holland who enjoyed the well deserved tea and cakes afterwards. ith three more xtures to go, Hadleigh Hares are doing well and with the points accrued to date, are in the middle of the results board. ell done to all o o o o n

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