Village survey letter

Please find below the letter sent to every household asking residents to choose how we spend a large grant from BDC

please note that the voting paper is not displayed here. If you have not received your copy please let us know.

Dear Residents,

During the  Covid lockdowns our village hall had to close down. A great deal of  money time and effort has gone into making the inside of the hall a wonderful space for parties and keep fit classes and it’s closure meant we lost an important revenue stream together  with a unique social space for our community.  Braintree District Council recognised that village halls are the leisure centres for communities such as ours. They tailored government grants towards allowing parishes to claim financial support. These grants were not means tested and were split into support  and re-start funds. We were awarded £18850 in total.

There are no rules attached to the spending of this grant, but Councillors hope that it could be spent in the spirit of re-starting after the pandemic, plus making a permanent change in some way for the benefit of us all. Do we spend it on one major project, or split it up into smaller sections ? We need your help!

We have included a simple  voting sheet with our ideas listed and we would ask you please to choose your favourites. There is also a section for your ideas. Many of you may ask that we tidy up the exterior of the hall, but as the developer will be churning everything up around the whole site, spending  money there will be a total waste. Some of our ideas may seem aspirational rather than achievable, but there is always  the possibility of using part of our grant as match funding towards a larger grant from another funder. If we have a plethora of new ideas we will canvass the village again as we truly wish to have a village wide consensus.

The hall is opening up again with Pilates returning  and possibly yoga classes being held on a Tuesday lunch time. Parties are being booked  and hirings are looking healthy. 

A new initiative will see a village market being held on the third Saturday morning of the month, starting on September 18^th from 9am to midday inside and around the village hall. Fresh meat, bakery, pies , ready meals, cheese, chutneys, honey, soaps, candles and gift  stalls are already booked with plenty more coming along. A caterer will be on site cooking breakfasts which will be served in the gazebo by the side of  the hall. A lovely event for our village.

We would like  to re-start a Friends of the Meadows group, holding regular working parties to tackle maintenance,  (with home made cakes and tea at the finish )and possibly informal social events on site making good use of the barbecue and pavilion. If you would like to be involved please circle yes on the voting sheet.

We also need to set up a working party to plan and  organise events for the  Platinum Jubilee in June 2022. This is a wonderful opportunity for the whole community to come together.  Can you help ? Do you have an idea for a celebratory event? Let us know by completing the back of the voting form.

We have already been asked by the Royal Pageantmaster  to take part in the chain of beacons by  lighting our beacon on the Meadows. Beacon lighting has always been a lovely event at sunset and we hope we can continue that next year. But we do need your help, so please get involved.

We look forward to hearing your ideas and choices.

With best wishes from all members of the Council.

Jane Taylor (chair).         07521312778.         Jane.taylor5@icloud.com