Brantham bugle aug:sept 2016 by Joanne King

ISSUE 128 // AUG/SEPT 2016 // FREE

Also in this issue

Community Choir More singers wanted

Good Neighbour Scheme 29th Sept - Volunteer Recruitment

For All Your Electrical Needs

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The Brantham Bugle

Contents 5 From the Editor 8 Parish Council News 10 Historic Roses 12 Bugle Letters & News 14 BGNS Community Cafe 17 Constable Country Medical Practice 19 Good Neighbour Scheme 20 Over 60’s 22 Brantham Community Choir 24 Alastair McCraw & Harriet Steer, District Councillor The Editor: JOANNE KING 37 Cedar Close, Brantham, Manningtree, Essex. CO11 1TQ Telephone: 07526 118 663 Email: editor@branthambugle.co.uk The Printer: JUNIPER HOUSE OF PRINT Telephone: 01206 230884 Email: richard@jhprint.co.uk

27 Brooklands Primary School 29 Scout & Guide Group 30 St Michael’s Church 32 Probus 33 Holy Family Catholic Church 35 Brantham Methodist Church

Cover picture courtesy of Apple Allen

37 The Women’s Institute

Disclaimer

39 BATS

This publication was produced by the Brantham Bugle. The production costs were met in full by the advertising the publication contains. The Brantham Bugle do not make any recommendations as to the fitness of the advertisers appearing in this publication to carry out their services and no recommendations should be deemed to have been made. This edition of the Brantham Bugle has been produced in good faith and we regret any errors, omissions/ misinterpretations that may have crept in. Artwork and or Plates originated for use in this publication remain the property of the Brantham Bugle and must not be reproduced without their written permission.

41 U3A 42 Community Information 44 Poetry Corner 45 Local Transport 46 Community Information 48 Community Sport & Entertainment 49 RSPB 50 Advertising Rates & Copy Guidelines

The Brantham

Brantham Cricket Club are looking to build on their remarkable success in 2015. We are one of the most inexpensive clubs in the area to play for and prioritise enjoyment of the game. We welcome players of all abilities and experience levels and are looking to bolster their membership levels.

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Editorial

editor from the

Phewww it’s hot, as I get this edition together it is 32c outside and 27c at my desk. Hopefully summer is here to stay this time. I’ve cracked out the flip flops and hopefully they will be the only footwear I need until September! When this edition arrives on your doorstep, the children will be on holiday for the summer and hopefully you are enjoying a well earned break? Brantham and the surrounding areas are a little quiet over the summer and it would seem most groups have August off and start back in September.

Brantham Good Neighbour scheme will still be running though and are looking for more volunteers - why not go along on the 29th September and find out how you can help others living locally. If you need a little more activity in your life then the cricket club may be for you, see their advert on the facing page for more information. However if you are looking to stretch your vocal cords instead of your hamstrings then maybe joining a choir could be for you. The Brantham Community Choir are looking for more singers - particuarly men.

Thank you too all that sent in photographs for the front cover, they really are appreciated. The picture on this edition called to me as it was soooooo cute! If you’re a keen photographer and have some photos of around the village you would be willing to either have appear on our cover or on the facebook page. Send them into editor@ branthambugle.co.uk

Joanne King Volunteer Editor

The Brantham

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Parish Council News

PARISH COUNCIL NEWS AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016

Well, summer is well and truly here. I hope you have all been enjoying the long-anticipated sunshine – I know I have been! Parish Council work does not stop over the summer period however, so here is a little bit about what we have been up to:

Gravel Pit Lane Play area

I am pleased to be able to let you know that the majority of the project to update the play area at Gravel Pit Lane has now been completed, and the new equipment looks great. For all those of you with children why not head to the new area over the summer and try it out. Thanks to Councillor Clare Phillips and the whole Recreation Sub-Committee for their hard work on this project.

Development at the Industrial Site

As you may already know at the Babergh District Council planning meeting on 18 May 2016 BDC Councillors voted by 8

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9 votes to 5 to approve the Outline Planning application that had been submitted by St Francis Group. The Parish Council will continue to update you on the process and next stages at their Parish Council meetings and check our website and FB page for more information.

Network Rail Crossing Reduction Strategy

You may be aware from details in the press about Network Rail’s plans to review level crossings across Suffolk. Network Rail is reviewing 31 level crossings (a mixture of private and public level crossings) in Suffolk on the Great Eastern Main Line and on the line between Ipswich and Cambridge. Network Rail have stated that this review is being undertaken to: Improve safety (by removing the point where people come into contact with trains); improve reliability of train services; and reduce operating and

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maintenance costs. Two crossings in Brantham are affected; Brantham High Bridge and the Sea Wall crossing by the Factory site. Network Rail’s review of the level crossings will involve extensive consultation with a range of stakeholders including members of the public, local councillors and user groups. Network Rail has produced a number of options for each level crossing, for the consultation. The options (which could include closing the level crossing through diversion, downgrading, or maintaining the level crossing as it is currently) will be tested through the public consultation. The next round of public consultations will take place in September to consult on the final proposals. Network Rail will then apply to the Secretary of State for Transport, under the Transport Works Act. For more information

about how you can be involved in contributing to the next round of consultation please come along to the next Parish Council meeting, keep up to date on our Facebook page, or get in touch with me directly.

Brantham Village Community Emergency Plan

Councillor Chris Elliot hosted a very successful event to launch the Brantham Community Emergency Plan on 20 June 2016, with presentations from Chris himself, Liz Dunnett (Parish Council Chair) and Sue Herne from Suffolk County Council. Chris is now looking for volunteers to be part of this plan; if you would like to get involved (in any way) then please do contact me. This is a community effort and we need support to ensure that we can provide an organised response in the event of an emergency. Regular training and workshop opportunities are provided by the Joint Emergency Planning Unit of Suffolk Council.

Brantham Box Office Film Nights

The Brantham Film nights are continuing to run on the third Wednesday of every month, however there will be no showing in August to account for holidays. Our next screening will therefore be on Wednesday 21 September 2016, doors open at 7pm, film starts at 7.30pm. The film is yet to be announced.

Parish Council Contributions

Since the last edition of the Bugle the Parish Council has agreed the following donations to local groups: July 2016: Brantham Methodist Church (support for grass cutting) - £80.00

Parish Council Surgeries

My monthly Parish Council surgeries continue on the second Wednesday of every month at Bakes and Blossoms Café, Acacia Court. It has been great to meet with many of you to discuss your concerns and comments. However, there will not be a surgery in August Please mention the

and so my next Parish Council surgeries will be held on: Wednesday 14 September 2016, 10am – 12pm. I look forward to seeing you there!

Planning and Finance Committee meetings The Planning and Finance Committees meet on the fourth Wednesday of every month Proposed dates for the next meetings are: Wednesday 24 August 2016 and Wednesday 28 September 2016. Meetings start at 7.30pm at Brantham Village Hall and members of the public are welcome to attend. However, if no plans have been received during the month the Planning Committee will not meet so please check on the Parish Council notice board prior to the day of the meeting.

Parish Council meetings

Parish Council meetings are normally held on the 1st Wednesday of every month starting at 7.30pm at Brantham Village Hall. The date of the next Parish Council meeting is 07 September 2016, 7.30pm. when replying to advertisers

Finally, please remember that there is lots of information about Brantham and the Parish Council on the village website at www.onesuffolk. brantham.net and on our facebook page www. facebook.com/BranthamParishCouncil.

If you would like to get in touch with me directly you can do so by emailing me on branthamparishclerk@ yahoo.co.uk, write to me at 15 Palfrey Heights, Brantham, CO11 1SE or you can telephone me on 07702 490212.

Regards,

Sarah Keys Parish Clerk

Roses are my favourite flower. I love their scent, their colours and the wide variety of old and new roses. Nowadays one is spoilt for choice. Most of all I love the old fashioned roses,the albas, the damask, the moss roses, the china roses, I delight in them all. I first became interested in old roses when I came across a series of booklets by Peter Beales. He, of course, was a Norfolk man, who fell in love with old roses and had a nursery at Attleborough and although he is no longer alive, the nursery continues today. Two years ago when I bought a bare root rose, I found a small leaflet enclosed. This was from the Historic Rose Group and included a membership form. The group exists to help members to grow and enjoy roses from the past, to conserve and research their history and to stimulate an interest in older roses. Members exchange and share knowledge, ideas and love of the rose with other enthusiasts worldwide. A small journal is published twice a year and there are exclusive tours of outstanding rose gardens both home and abroad. 10

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There are also conferences with a wide range of speakers on all aspects of the history and cultivation of the rose. They also exhibit at major RHS shows. I have now been on two holidays in the uk with the group visiting rose gardens and thoroughly enjoyed them, and of course I came home with some new roses! If you would like to know more about the Historic Rose Group you can find their website at www.historicroses.org. Membership costs ÂŁ15 a year and it is well worth it.

Sue Grant

Essex Youth Chamber Choir

directed by Simon Warne accompanied by Simon Harvey

Sunday 28th August 2016 2.30pm St Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s East Bergholt Church Admission is free! A varied programme including music by Britten, Ireland, Bob Chilcott, Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson Contact details Beverley Lockyer 03330 139361, Jenni Thomson 03330 139362 Email: ensembles@essex.gov.uk Please mention the

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Bugle News & Letters

BUGLE NEWS & LETTERS

BRANTHAM’S ANNUAL MEGA CHARITY GARAGE SALE Ronnie and Yvonne would like to say a big Thank You to everyone in the village who supported us with donations and contributions and helped make our latest and last Garage sale that we will organise, a huge success. Over the last 13 years your support has been invaluable and each year we have done better, this year being no exception as to-date we have just topped £7000 with a bit more still to come, well up on last year’s total. With the BBQ people and WI refreshments, the two Churches, garages open and the Village Hall tables, our publicity person got lots of people to Brantham from near and far. Mother Nature was kind to us, not too hot all day then rain coming later just after 1 o’clock. We would like to thank our helpers, printers, those who loaned their garages for storage, or made donations 12

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of items for sale and tombolas. Well done everyone. The money raised will be split with half going to St Elizabeth Hospice (the Carla Dawson Tribute Fund), the other half will be divided between The Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Woolverstone Wish at the Ipswich Hospital Cancer Unit and Marie Curie, with smaller donations going to The Nepal Children’s Trust and the Brantham Village Hall Brick Appeal. This brings our grand total collected to over £43,000. Once again, we are pleased to have donated all the leftover items to Acorn Village at Mistley, who made several trips to clear out our garages. Thank you so much. Ronnie Dawson & Yvonne Amoss - Brooklands Road, Brantham

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Thursday 25th August 1pm to 3pm Thursday 29th September 10am to 12 noon Brantham Leisure Centre Meet up with friends for coffee, cake and a chat! For transport 0754 135 9036 14

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Constable Country Medical Practice Patient Participation Group and Patient Feedback Over the last year there have been many changes at the practice. In addition to changes in the partnership and other staff, we have also changed our appointment system. Some changes take a while to have an impact on how the practice is perceived as some patients only occasionally have a need to visit the practice. However, we hope that our policy of always offering a same day face-to-face or telephone appointment is reassuring and patients understand they can contacts us at any time of the day if they need access to a clinician. We want to continue to improve the service we offer and our interaction with patients is key to helping us understand what works well and where we can improve. I thought it may be useful to summarise how you can improved your interaction with the practice: Most importantly, please ensure we have up to date contact details for you, including home and

mobile telephone numbers and email address. You can update these via our website (click on â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;update contact detailsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on the home page) or by filling in a form available from reception. This will enable us to send appointment confirmations, notifications of test results and other important information we feel you should be aware of. Note that your details are strictly confidential and will only be used for practice purposes. We are further developing our website to ensure that information you need is available. It contains PPG minutes and contact details, news items including regular practice updates, information on our appointment system, and the facilities to register as a new patient and provide feedback. Our aim is to improve the website over the coming months to ensure it contains up to date and useful information. We will also be introducing a twitter feed to inform patients of incidents, such as power cuts, or events such as flu clinics.

The PPG has been operating for over a year now and we are lucky to have such an active PPG. We meet monthly and discuss the day to day operation of the practice, new developments and any problems which come to their attention. Contact details can be found on the website and they welcome feedback on how the practice is performing. The PPG have provided feedback cards for patient use and collection boxes at Capel and EB, and these are reviewed regularly. We also have Friends and Family Test feedback cards available, and patients can provide feedback via our website and on NHS Choices. We welcome all feedback, though we hope patients will tell us when they have had a good experience, not just when they have experienced a problem. Training Days - The practice will be closed from 1pm for staff training: 15 September & 12 October.

Pete Keeble Practice Manager The Brantham

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Website: Mobilefhp.com Caring for your feet in the comfort of your own home Services available for: · Routine foot and nail care · Nail diseases and deformities · Diabetic foot care · Corns and hard skin · Athletes’ feet and verrucas For an appointment please phone: Home: 01255 676104 Mobile: 07976 968255 Registered Member of the British Association of Foot Health Professionals

Good Neighbour Scheme

Brantham Good Neighbour Scheme The volunteers in the scheme continue to make a big difference to the folks in the local community as we have completed 79 requests for transport and other various jobs over the last few months. Along with our usual monthly coffee mornings which will be on August 25th and September 29th 2016 we will be running an evening excursion for supper in a pub somewhere beside the river Deben, on Wednesday 17th August and a shopping trip on 9th September, therefore anyone interested please come along to see us at the coffee morning. As we are continuing to make a difference to our residents within the community we need to ensure that our team of volunteers are not overstretched, therefore we would like to invite anyone from Brantham who would be thinking of becoming a volunteer and come along to our open evening on Thursday 29th September time 7.00pm at Brantham Leisure Centre. You can then meet us all for a natter and chatter, along with a tea or coffee and a bite to eat of course, and perhaps look to team up with us to swell our ranks. These are just some of the services we offer:Transport for residents to the Doctors, Dentist, Clinics or Hospital

appointments. Organise trips out for the day. A Natter and a Chatter over the phone. Collect shopping for those who canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t easily get out, or take you shopping and collect prescriptions or pensions. Information about help or benefits are available or sign post you in the right direction and help fill out forms. One-off house or garden tidy, including some more specialist tasks if we can assist such as mending the fence or the garden gate. Help with pets if residents are incapacitated or in hospital. We run a community CafĂŠ for residents to meet and greet and chat with friends once a month at the Brantham Leisure Centre 10 am- 12 noon on the third Thursday of each month which would be 25th August and 29th September. To contact us for services or to find out more about our open evening if you would like to become a volunteer, please call us on 0754 135 9036. In the meantime have a great summer to all our residents of Brantham, from all of us at the Good Neighbour Scheme.

Regards Vic Saunders (Secretary) The Brantham

Over 60’s

Brantham Over 60’s On the 24th May, we were treated to a talk on “The Ottomans”. Mrs Jennifer Gibbs has given us many talks about her life, since she visited Turkey on a holiday and fell in love with it.. She married a Turkish man, started a B and B and now lives partly in Turkey and partly in Suffolk. This time her talk was about the history of Turkey and the Ottoman Empire, which was to say the least, an eye opener. The battles and invasions and the domestic life. The Sultans had four wives, many children with them and the hundreds of concubines in the harems. They built huge castles to house all the wives, concubines and children, not to mention all the servants, eunuchs and the servant’s families and children. Altogether totaled thousands. A very interesting talk. On the 31st another domestic afternoon, that is - our speaker was our very own Secretary, Mrs. Jean Lace, who gave us a very good talk about A 20

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Day to Remember in her life, which really started at the end of the nineteenth century and finished on a day in 1994. On the 14th June Canine Partner. Wheelchair bound Mr. Barry O’Connell, accompanied by his canine partner, Guy, showed us how his very clever dog helps him to manage his life, by helping him to dress, picking up and fetching things, among many other helpful jobs. It was a wonderful eye opener to think that a dog could be trained to do all these things and to make Mr. O’Connell’s life a bit easier. 21st June Members all enjoyed

a strawberry cream tea and a quiz. Pauline was thanked for doing the shopping and most of the work, also for laying on the quiz. Two members were thanked for making the scones and a scrumptious afternoon was had by all. 28th June Pat South paid her annual visit to us and made three beautiful flower arrangements, which she donated to the raffle. Three lucky members went home very happy. She also entertained with her usual chit chat about every subject under the sun. We always enjoy her visits and I’m sure she has been

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY August 16th Ploughman’s lunch followed by Bring and Buy September 13th “Colchester Castle” - Ranger Ms. Yasmine Somers 20th Quiz 27th “Norwegian Coastal Voyage” Mr. Chris. Parfitt October 11th The Rise and Fall of the “Colchester Good Time Girls” (1855-1895) - Dr. Jane Pearson. 18th Bingo 25th “When the Clock Strikes Twelve” - Mrs. Barbara Faulkner

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Over 60’s Contd... booked for next year. 12th July Mrs. Vivienne Wiggins came to tell us about “Beacon House” in Colchester, which is a Christian charity and run as a shelter for the homeless and destitute. She told us of her work as manager, and how the homeless come for food, clothing and somewhere to sleep. Mrs. Wiggins gave an insight into her work and the kind of things that happen there. Many come for a shower and some clean clothes,

also of course something to eat. Freed prisoners who have nowhere to go, are welcomed, until they can get somewhere to live and a new start. Just by sitting them down to a meal together, helps them to integrate into society and become able to get their lives back. Teenagers, who have left home for different reasons,and have nowhere to go,are helped by “Beacon House”. The Shelter is run by volunteers and more are needed. It is helped by donations of food from

supermarkets’ generosity, also clothing. Meetings are on Tuesday afternoons 2.304.30, at the Brantham Leisure Centre. Visitors are always welcome, and new members even more welcome. For more details contact Mrs. Jean Lace on 01206 396242

Shirley Halliday

BRANTHAM COMMUNITY CHOIR Do you sing in the bath? Would you like to sing with others (not in your bathroom!)? This was the idea Jackie Heywood had about three years ago when she wrote about starting a choir in Brantham. Things have moved on, we now have a band of singers, who get together once a fortnight at the Methodist Church to enjoy themselves singing in unison (in theory). We even sing from sheet music (many just use it for the words). Although some of the lines and various shaped notes begin to make sense after a time! Some people are even asking us to sing!! We would like a few more voices to join us, especially male voices, but more female voices would also be very welcome. Why not contact Jackie (392261) to find out about the next rehearsal and give us a try? We have been singing songs from the musicals, patriotic songs for the Queen’s birthday celebrations and the choir members will soon be deciding what we should be tackling next; more modern songs seem to be favourite. Also we have some Scottish songs in our repertoire for Burn’s Night. Later in the year we will be practising Christmas Carols again so that we can go carolling at local events and the local pubs.

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Report to Parishes

Report to Parishes Alton Ward Alastair McCraw & Harriet Steer DEVOLUTION FOR SUFFOLK (& NORFOLK?) If you’ve been following this in the papers you may have seen that all the Councils in Suffolk have voted to remain in the process for now but four in Norfolk have dropped out. With one of those being Norwich itself, it’s difficult to see how this can be made to work. Norwich and Ipswich had been specifically targeted for housing investment and I would imagine more changes will be required. The whole process has been rushed through to meet an Election deadline of putting a Mayor in place from next May. That rush has left some important matters like democracy, clarity, practicality and need unexamined. The recent Chilcot report describes what happens (much more dangerously in that case) when these points are not properly considered. It’s also possible that the whole idea will be reconsidered in the light of larger concerns and a leadership change at Westminster. Alternatively though, a Consultation 24

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Exercise will take place starting now and the matter forced through for a final decision from those councils still involved in October. That consultation may be taking the form of a Survey from a Polling Company, so if you’re one of those contacted I’d suggest paying close attention to the wording of the questions. Tricksy, as somebody once said.

Planning permission for it, problem with a Planning Application that a neighbour has made, Street Sign with wrong name on it in wrong place, Need for Residents Parking sign, Problem with Business Rates, changes made to Discretionary Housing benefit, help with rehousing and waiting list for housing, visiting local businesses (not just pubs), radio interview on Planning WHAT DOES A COUN& Housing policy at CILLOR DO? : PART 1 6.15am!, speaking at WARD & PARISHES Planning Committee as I can only speak for Ward member on specific myself here as we often applications, dealing have different responwith arrival of travellers, sibilities in Council as a dealing with clean up whole but in the Wards of travellers, fly tipping there should be a lot of incidents, Radio and TV common ground. Person- interviews on Strategic ally, I think the Ward is Planning Applicathe best bit of the job and tion, attending village where we can see some functions (although real results sometimes. I might be anyway), Taking recent months as responding to a flash an example, then this is flood (boy, has it rained a very rough list of the this year!), Japanese sort of thing we might be Knotweed report, long doing or dealing with. grass obscuring highway, Problem with an hedges & branches Extension and getting covering footpaths or

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roadway, rats causing problems and just going around keeping my eyes and ears open. There are limits to what we can do, but trying is always a start. Every month I report to the Parish Council meetings on relevant Babergh activity and act as a liason and often an interpreter, a link over common concerns. We need to have a clear idea of the aims and objectives of both Babergh and the Parishes and act as a bridge between them.

So there are phone calls, emails and meetings where needed and you try to tie things together. I don’t do surgeries as such. I’m here anyway, at the end of a phone, so I’ve taken to a roughly weekly ride around the village pubs, usually on a Sunday afternoon. Anybody who wants to can say hello or ask about something. I’m on a blue Claud Butler racing bike and there might be coloured socks as well. Feel free to come over and chat anytime.

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Brooklands Primary School cooking up mud pies in the kitchen to stretching out and swimming a length of the outdoor pool. It is inspiring to see our children trying all these new things. Over the next few week our Falcons will be ticking off many of their remaining ’50 things to do before you leave Brooklands’. From eating something they have grown to visiting the science museum in London; performing on stage in the Year 5 and Year 6 performance to listening to live music at the Brooklands music festival; undertaking their Bikeability training to identifying some dreams for the future. Our Ducklings meanwhile, will be starting to tick things off their list as they head off to visit the beach as part of being a Beach School; kicking some new goals on our football pitch and enjoying a fun picnic lunch with their parents in the woodland; posting letters at the village Post Office to discovering things as they pond dip;

Our Anti-bullying Ambassadors have worked hard to create an Anti-Bullying Charter, policy and procedures. In addition to raising awareness across the school through activities such as our Anti-Bullying week and I am delighted to be able to report that Brooklands has achieved the BIG Award in recognition for excellence in bullying intervention. A big congratulations to all those that have helped gain this award. We know that Parents want their children to become a reader and every teacher wants their pupils to make the jump from learning to read to loving to read. To help us achieve this aim, we have recently purchased a large collection of dyslexia friendly books. They are all specifically written to help dyslexia readers enjoy reading. The books are interesting whilst being

relevant to their age. One of my annual pleasures at school is purchasing new resources and encouraging our children to learn good writing skills from some of the amazing new books available each year. I am pleased to report that we have recently purchased a wide selection of exciting new fiction books for Year 6. Inspired by our Beach School status, this year our children will be naming their classes after sealife creatures. We are delighted to welcome some new teachers to Team Brooklands. Lily Loveday and Stephen Hawthorne are both Newly Qualified Teachers. Across the school Brooklands likes to recognise and reward good behaviour and over the years we have established a number of effective ways of doing this including “Sparkly Green” to our school “Raffle” where our children delight in applauding these achievements. This year our Early Years The Brantham

Brooklands Primary School Contd....

and Year 4 children and their parents have been trialing Class DoJo to help recognise good behaviour and keep parents informed on their child’s participation, behaviour and teamwork. It has proved so successful that from September we will be rolling Class DoJo out across the school and I will be letting you know more about this soon.

parental engagement and we are thrilled to be working towards this standard.

As part of our efforts to work towards identifying further ways in which we can further improve our partnership involvement with parents, Brooklands is currently working towards the Leading Parent Partnership Award (LPPA). The LPPA is a national award that provides a framework through which schools can deliver effective

Our children have been really enjoying their outdoor swimming pool. They are benefiting greatly from Rose Cross’s help and guidance. As a Level 2 Qualifiied Swimming Instructor, Rose has been supporting our teachers by the pool to help develop our children’s swimming skills.

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I could not fail to be delighted with this year’s phonics screening tests in Year 1 when I saw that our results revealed that we achieved 20% higher than last years national figure with a total of 97% of children reaching the expected standard.

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I am delighted to announce that Brooklands has been awarded the BIG Award for excellence in bullying intervention. Adrienne Katz, Co-Director of BIG remarked on the school’s strong and clear antibullying strategy and our ability to use innovative ideas, pupil participation and an emphasis on equality. We are proud to include this mark among our awards and reflect how important what it represents to all of us at Brooklands. Information on how Brooklands manages Bullying is available on our website along with our AntiBullying Charter.

Christine Davy Headteacher

1st Brantham Scout & Guide Group

Brantham Scout & Guide Group 80th Birthday Celebration Launch of `Project 2017’ In 2017 Brantham Scouts and Guides Group celebrates being at the heart of the community for 80yrs. We will be marking this achievement in a BIG way by launching `Project 2017’ which will see the development of a new specially designed building in Factory Lane for use by our young Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and District Explorers and also for wider community use, for now and generations to come. There’s lots to do for this exciting project to come about; fundraising; grant applications; keeping people informed, so we need more people to get involved to help. You don’t have to have a connection with the Group, just a willingness to get involved as part of our friendly team. So please consider offering to help, do as little or as much as you like. Julie Price Chairman Tel 298341 jpricebergholt99@gmail.com

Leader Contact Details Rainbows & Guides Debbie 299586 1st Brownies Ruth 07932 636343 2nd Brownies Sue 395101 Beavers Lin 01255 871059 Cub Scouts Ruth 393076 Scouts Charlie 01255 487252

Relaxed and Friendly Mondays During Term Time 09:30 - 11:30 Brantham Village Hall

£1.50 per family including a well earned cuppa for grown ups and a healthy snack for the kids. Come and join us and meet other local mummies, daddies, grandparents & carers. Every third Monday of the month we are joined by the Hadleigh Health Visitors for your local Baby Clinic. Contact Charlotte on 07858 891217 for more information Please mention the

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St Michael’s Church What a mess! The banner along the wall saying “Your racist vote has….!” left me feeling more desolate than I have been in years. I was grateful it wasn’t up for very long. By the time this magazine is published who knows what will have happened in our political system where party leaders are now falling left and right and, if the papers are to be believed, skullduggery and conspiracy are rife. By publication date Paddington Bear clutching a red top bottle of marmalade may have taken on the leadership of the Labour Party. Speaking as a migrant, who came to this country to escape the awful violence of my own, I am feeling extremely unsettled. My family are here on Dutch passports and contributing hugely to the medical profession, educational system and economy of the country. They are, in short, doing their bit. I am now a British citizen and proud to be so, but what will happen to them once the dust has settled and

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Benefice Website: www.eastbergholtchurch.co.uk or www.ConstableCountryChurches.co.uk

Rambling Rector Brexit takes effect? In this deanery if repatriation were to be enforced there would be three benefices without Rectors! Our History teacher was a passionate believer in democracy. “Look at parliament in London, “she used to say, “if you want to see good democratic practice.” One of the principles of democracy is that the people are given the chance to speak and if they do so in a clear majority, that is the will of the people. Of course the weakness of the system is evident when the will of the people is not a clear majority. Then things become muddled and difficult. However, the referendum result was clear and

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we all, like it or not, have to get on with it. Without name calling and finger wagging, which is very damaging to communities and individuals. It was perfectly possible for a person to vote Leave on economic grounds without being racist. And to vote Remain without approving of all things Brussels. The apostle Paul spent much of his time writing to churches that were disagreeing with one another. To the Galatians he wrote, “Now that Christ Jesus has come, we are no longer imprisoned but are children of God through faith. We are clothed with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is

no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. “

There will be a special service at St Mary’s East Bergholt celebrating the work of Guide Dogs for the Blind at 15:00 on the 16th October.

God give us the grace to make this spiritual reality a practical reality in the way that we behave to one another. The Lord be with you

Rev Steph

All dogs welcome, whether guide dogs or not!

revstephvdt@googlemail.com

Tel 392646

SERVICES AT ST MICHAEL’S UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED AUGUST Sun 7

Holiday Rota 11:00

Benefice Communion

Sun 14 Trinity 12