PARISH COUNCIL MEETING – 15th January 2015
The first meeting of 2015 took place on 15 January.

Playing field – It was reported that the field is recovering well from the wet bonfire night.

Highways - The state of the roads within the parish is a continuing problem with a number of potholes and drainage problems which will be reported. Please remember that anyone can report in highway matters to Essex County Council on their website at www.essex.gov.uk/reportahighwayproblem

Fingerpost signs – You have probably seen that the fingerpost signs in the parish are also in a poor state of repair. We are going to make an application to the Local Highways Panel for these signs to be repaired or replaced.

Missing roadsign, Church Road – Dog walkers will have seen that the dog waste bin and the signpost it was attached to mysteriously disappeared before Christmas. Despite it being reinstated once it has again vanished. Braintree District Council has replaced the dog bin on the opposite side of the road and ECC Highways will be notified of the missing sign.

Christmas lights competition – After a tour of the parish just before Christmas our judge decided that the Arthurs family at Chapel End Way were the winners and our prize will shortly be on its way to them. Well done to them.

Community Initiatives Fund –As reported previously the Parish Council made an application for grant funding from this fund and I am pleased to say were successful in securing a grant of £9,000. This will be spent on the pavilion roof which needs replacing, new window shutters, some grass protection mesh and the addition of some picnic tables. It is planned for work to start in the spring.

Village Sign – Martyn has had a proposed design from the sign company. After a slight alteration was suggested and agreed upon the design is now finalised.

Stambourne Silver Link – The Silver Link have sent in their thanks for an enjoyable Christmas lunch with the grant they receive.

Children’s Christmas Party – The Children’s party was held early in January and here is the organisers’ report on it –

“Thank you once again for donating the money to put on the Stambourne Christmas party for all the children in the village. The party was held on Saturday the 3rd of January and 16 children attended to join in the fun with our resident children's entertainer Paul Pleasant. 
I would like to give a big thank you to all the parents/ grandparents & families who brought Christmas party food & made sandwiches, this is always very much appreciated!
A great time was had by all and the children of Stambourne would like to say thank you to the parish council for their kind and generous gesture! Happy new year and kind regards.
Lesley Scollay & Janine Playle (Organisers) PS. We do our best to invite all of the children in Stambourne, but if there is any child in the village who does not receive an invitation we would like to know please, so we can include them for future events”

Thank you to Lesley and Janine for organising this event.

Budgets for the year 2015/16 – As reported in the previous newsletter the Parish Council has to agree its budgets for the next financial year. In November we were waiting for confirmation of the amount of localism grant it would receive from Braintree District Council. We have now been advised that this amount will be £1,303, a decrease of 15.4% on last year. This results in an increase in the Parish Council’s precept despite the Parish itself keeping nearly all of its budgets at the current year’s levels.

The next meeting will take place on Thursday 19 March 2015 at 7.30pm in the village hall.

Debbie Hilliard
Parish Clerk
Tel: 01440 785629
Email: Debbie.hilliard@duffields.co.uk




ST. PETER & ST. THOMAS BECKET PARISH CHURCHThe Candlelit Carol Service on 21st December was a great success with a congregation of 84 plus children and one dog, Spot, who behaved with great sense and decorum. The large choir of the Stambourne Singers led us through the Carols and sang their unaccompanied Anthems beautifully.

We would like to thank David Starr, our organist, Cath for the flower arrangements and Oscar and Jane for the Christmas tree. The mulled wine and mince pies were consumed with relish.

The Christmas Day Service taken by Joan Redmond was well attended with more in the congregation than we have seen for many years.

Joan has agreed to take the first Service of each month at 11.15am. We are very grateful as this will help us to keep a regular, if now
changed, pattern of Services in the church. There will be Services on the first, second and fourth Sundays of each month. No Service on the third Sunday.
Everyone is welcome at all the Services and we gather afterwards for coffee, tea and biscuits in the Norman tower. Newcomers to the village are welcome and will find out about the many facets of life and advantages of living at Stambourne. These range from builders, plumbers and gardeners to computing and mechanical skills, as well as riding horses, dog walks and childcare.

If anyone needs to discuss spiritual care or problems the Vicar, the Rev Barbara Hume will be happy to help (tel: 01787 237138).

The Church Wardens are also easily contacted by telephone. Their numbers are on the Church notice board and here.

Richard Day
Tel: 01440 785580

Val Kerrison
Tel: 01440 785752
Church Wardens




SERVICES
FEBRUARY-APRIL 2015

1st February Holy Communion by extension, Joan Redmond, 11.15am
8th February Holy Communion, the Vicar, 9.30am
15th February No Service
22nd February Holy Communion, the Vicar, 9.30am

1st March Holy Communion by extension, Joan Redmond, 11.15am
8th March Holy Communion, the Vicar, 9.30am
15th March No Service
22nd March Morning Prayer, Ministry Team, 9.30am
29th March Palm Sunday Benefice Service at Tilbury Juxta Clare, 10am

5th April Easter Sunday, Holy Communion by extension
Joan Redmond, 11.15am (see flyer to follow)
12th April Holy Communion, the Vicar, 9.30am
19th April No Service
26th April Holy Communion, the Vicar, 9.30am






STAMBOURNE FETE

The Fete will be on Sunday 28th June starting at 12:00 

We need more helpers and the next meeting will be on the 24th Feb, at The Brambles, Chapel End Way starting at 7pm.

So if people would like to help please come along and for more information please contact me (Vanessa) on 01440 785122 or email nessyoung@btinternet.com



STAMBOURNE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH Adrian BurrFrom the chapel

First two words of thanks.
We sent off 114 shoe boxes at the end of October filled with lots of presents.  These were packed and sorted by volunteers from the chapel and village, so thank you to everyone who contributed.
Secondly, we have filled 8 sand bags with crushed aluminium cans and raised around £100 - so thanks for the support of so many people around the village.  we are most grateful for your help.
If you buy aluminium drink cans (some are steel - please check with a magnet!) we are always pleased to receive the empties and crush them..  please leave them in plastic bags, behind the chapel by the dustbins.

We are pleased to start the new year with news that we continue to seek out ways of supporting the community and helping in any activities we can.  Last year our band played for the fete and we provided first aid cover for the bonfire (as well as lots of pushing power to get people out of the mud!).  We have started this year with a film evening and hope to repeat this in the autumn.  But we are looking to find ways to help out wherever we can.  We are a small fellowship but with a heart to help and support people as they go through lifes' ups and downs.  When Jesus was on earth he befriended people and helped them in their walk by teaching them about life from the teachings in the Old Testament of the Bible (and it was already between 500 and 2500 years old even then!)

In our land today we have food banks and support services for those who are in need, and it makes me sad to think such things are necessary in this day and age. These services cause us to think about what it means to be poor and in need.

Sometimes our poverty is financial, but sometimes its a poverty of interests and friends, other times it’s a poverty of spirit.

Being financially poor is difficult, but there are people who will give advice to help people through that poverty and we have support services such as foodbanks to help.  Being deprived, by age, infirmity, illness, or our own motivation, of activity and interests is so much more difficult to find a way out of and certainly a poverty of friends is most difficult to work out how to resolve. However there are services that can provide some help, but these are limited. In our village Silver Link and Ladies Fellowship both offer ways of helping people find friendship and interests. 

Poverty of spirit is so much more difficult to understand.  It is about our willingness to love and to give and reach out to others.  It is about our understanding that when we give it is so much more important than when we seek to get.

Many of us will have sung "Make me a channel of your peace" at school or in Sunday School or a church.  This song talks about wanting to give so more than wanting to receive, "Being of generous spirit", as Charles Dickens puts it in Great Expectations and in the Christmas Stories. We see in some of the financially poorest nations that this generosity is not in short supply.  People often help each other and give generously and it is good to see that this is true in Stambourne too. Many seek to help rather than receive help. 

Many give generously rather than seeking to receive. Many look after their neighbours and friends.  And we all need that support, that help and that generosity of spirit from time to time. 
May we all seek these things.

Adrian Burr
Minister, Stambourne Chapel

DIARY
Every SUNDAYS at 10:45am 1st Sunday - Communion with Traditional Hymns

2nd and 3rd Sundays - Mixed worship 4th Sunday - led by REACH worship band and followed by a light meal

Tuesdays 10-12 Coffee and a Chat. Just drop in! 7:30pm Band Practice

Wednesday 7pm Prayer meeting and Bible study

EVENTS

21st February     Car Wash  10am until 12am - just bring you car along for an external wash!
28th March         Easter themed Craft Day 10am to 3pm
3 April                 Good Friday Service 10am
5th April              Easter Sunday Celebration 10:45am

REACH Community Projects - Haverhill

REACH Community Projects is a Haverhill based charitable group that supports local people through difficult times. Originally set up a debt counselling project in 2005 we now run a number of projects to support local families in and around Haverhill. Projects include Haverhill Foodbank, the Furniture Bank and a Starter Pack project that helps people starting out after a period of homelessness or other unexpected crisis.

There are many ways to support our work as follows:

Starter Pack items:
We are always on the lookout for new or good quality duvets & pillows, pots, pans, frying pans, microwave safe containers.

Furniture items: (can be collected)
Bedroom furniture
White goods
Microwave ovens

Food items:
Non-perishable food items such as tinned foods, (meat, vegetables, fruit, potatoes),
cartons, ( long life milk, fruit juice, teas, coffees, sugar, etc)

If you can spare a couple of hours, why not volunteer?

If you can help in any way, please contact us on 01440 712950 or drop in to the REACH Resource Centre on the Clements Estate in Haverhill (Leiston Road, CB9 8JN) from 2-5pm, Monday to Friday. www.reachhaverhill.org.uk

Ann Merrigan
Operations Manager


COUNTY BROADBAND

County Broadband have now installed their network in some parts of the village and are therefore inviting customers along Chapel End Way, Cornish Hall End Road, and Mill Road to take the service. Residents on these roads who gave their email addresses during the survey phase should have received an email from them.

They are also continuing the application to use the church, and are also looking at a couple of options to get Dyers End, Finchingfield Rd, Church road, Wesley End Rd, and Yeldham Rd connected as well which will hopefully be agreed in the next few weeks.

If people want to register for connection they can do so online at www.countybroadband.co.uk  and entering their postcode into the postcode checker.

STEEPLE BUMPSTEAD COMMUNITY FIRST RESPONDER GROUP

A reminder that maps have been produced for the local first responder group to enable paramedics to locate properties in Stambourne quickly in the event of being called out.

These maps contain house names or numbers and can be seen in the village hall to make sure the details are correct.



DIARY DATES


Items for the next Newsletter by 17th March Steve Platt Tel : 07767 357016 Email : me@stephenplatt.com