Parish Website

Keep up to date with Parish news on needhampc.org.uk 

Parish Council

The next meeting of Needham Parish Council will be on Monday 19th November at 7:30pm

Armistice Centenary

The specially commissioned beacon was lit by Mrs Ellen White, a veteran of the Second World War, at 7:00pm on Sunday 11 November to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War. The lighting of the beacon was preceded by a talk by Stephen Poulter on the 12 Needham men who died as a result of WW1, a lantern lit walk to the grave of one of the victims and a service of remembrance in St Peter’s Church. A longer report of the event will feature in the next issue of the Needham Link.

Remembrance Day

Sunday 11 November

5:30pm - Presentation in the church about the Needham men who gave their lives in WW1

6:00pm - Remembrance Service in the church followed by a lantern lit walk to the grave of Arthur John Shanks

7:00pm - Lighting of the Beacon, followed by soup & rolls in the Village Hall

Centenary of WW1

You may have noticed a new addition in the grounds of the Village Hall. This is the beacon to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ending of the First World War.

There will be a special ceremony on Sunday 11 November. The details are as follows:

5:30pm - Presentation in the church about the Needham men who gave their lives in WW1

6:00pm - Remembrance Service in the church followed by a lantern lit walk to the grave of 

                 Arthur John Shanks

7:00pm - Lighting of the Beacon, followed by soup & rolls in the Village Hall

SOS

My little boy is very upset his chicken has escaped? Would everybody please keep an eye out for one of my chickens as we are missing one in Needham it's the black one with brown flecks at the front of the picture, thank you x
Melanie Jones

Needham Parish Council

The next meeting of Needham Parish Council has been rescheduled for Monday 8 October at 7:30pm

Hedgehogs

This baby hedgehog (Tinkerbell) was found in a garden in Needham.  It didn't look very well and was attracting a few flies.  Mel from Brockdish came to the rescue and has taken her back to her Hedgehog Refuge and hopefully Tinkerbell will soon be well and big enough to fend for herself. 

If you find a sick or baby hedgehog please contact Mel who has the expertise to nurse them back to health or if you would like to give a home to a hedgehog please contact Mel on  01379 669174 or 07990 745741 

Facebook - https://m.facebook.com/hoggies123/?locale2=en_GB#_=_

Child car seats

Free information and advice on child car seat fitting in the CO-OP cark park on Tuesday 14th August. 40% child car seats have fitting issues so getting yours checked makes sense.

Needham Village BBQ

Not long until the Village BBQ!

Sunday 12 August

From 1pm

Needham Coronation Village Hall

Live Music

Bouncy Castle

Face Painting

Tombola

Raffle

Plenty of food available & a bar with drinks for all tastes

Help!

Needham Village Annual BBQ

Sunday 12 August

From 1pm

Needham Coronation Village Hall

Live Music

Bouncy Castle

Face Painting

Tombola

Raffle

Plenty of food available & a bar with drinks for all tastes

Photos

Technical difficulties mean that there are no accompanying photographs with the latest edition.

Needham Village Link

July/August 2018

www.facebook.NeedhamLink

@needham_link

Doing the Needham Walk

Slightly thunderous clouds were in the sky so I decided to take my jacket. I had no need of it for, as you can see from the picture above, the sun shone brightly. A goodly crowd of 18 people joined Stephen Poulter at The Red Lion for the beginning of Needham Heritage Walk (first public event of the Needham and Brockdish Heritage Project). 

As a Brockdishite (Brockdishian?) I have both walked and cycled through Needham village, but I confess, mainly I drive through. I have never done so much noticing - helped, of course, by our expert guide. Not only was my attention drawn to the true nature of some of Needham's ancient buildings hiding behind brick and later additions, but, until the walk, at least one village house has barely rippled the surface of my awareness. At one stage I felt as if I was walking through Needham past and present at the same time -  perhaps I should have worn a sun hat!

There was so much to see that we ran out of time and all agreed on a follow-up walk to view the central and eastern side of the village.  

                  

  Tim Brook

Needham Walk Part 2 takes place 11am on Sunday 8th July leaving from the Red Lion Car Park. £4.00. All welcome

Editorial

Well, it looks like summer has arrived in all its glory – blue skies, sun and lots of pollen! My sympathies go to the many hay fever sufferers, but I am told that if you eat local honey (made with local pollen) it can give you an immunity to it – worth a try.

As you will see from the newsletter, there’s a lot going on this summer: the highlight for the village will be our annual BBQ at the Village Hall on 12th August: it provides a wonderful opportunity to meet other villagers and enjoy the food and entertainment. The Red Lion is also hosting a number of events from a Spanish Night to an Hawaiian Beach Party which includes an authentic sandy beach! The Needham and Brockdish Heritage Centre was officially opened by the Bishop of Norwich on Saturday 23rd June and they have a line up of presentations and exhibitions that celebrate the history of our area. I joined one of their walks around the village and was amazed to learn that Needham has some 23 listed buildings – no wonder there has to be a second part to the walk on 8th July to cover the eastern part of the village! I hope that you enjoy reading the remarkable story of the Pope’s intervention in the early 15th century to ensure that the residents of the parish were served by a chaplain.

The Needham Action Group are making excellent progress in creating our village green, although they will be praying for rain over the next few weeks in order to realise their dream.

I’ve also included in the newsletter details of local people who have contributed so much to the village over many years and have fascinating stories to tell.

Any contributions for the next edition of the Link (Sept – Oct) will be welcome and should meet the deadline of Friday 17th August.

Alan Jeffery

Needham Parish Council

Annual Meeting: 14 May 2018

The Parish Council is now employing a contractor to maintain local footpaths. 

At present these are; the path that leads from the High Road to the bottom of Mill Lane, the Loke that leads down to the river opposite the Mill and the area of river bank around the bench at the bottom of Mill Lane.  In the past these have become impassable due to the growth of nettles and undergrowth. We hope that residents will enjoy being able to access these paths so please let the Parish Council know if you find this action helpful and we will consider what other areas should be maintained.

This initiative is amongst a large amount achieved by the Parish Council in the last year. This includes acquiring a half share with Brockdish Parish Council of the Speed Awareness machine, meeting with Saffron Housing Association to discuss new homes in the village and forming a sub-committee with Needham Action Group to assist in the creation of a community space for the enjoyment of the village.  A lease is now being drawn up for the area behind the Village Hall that has already been drilled with grass seed. 

We have also created a Parish Council web site: needhampc.org.uk.  Minutes and agendas will be published on the site as well as news of events at the Village Hall.   We do not generally use email to contact residents.  However, a change in the law requires us to obtain your consent to be able to hold your contact details.  If you wish to be on a circulation list for information, such as agendas, a consent form will be posted on the web site.  However, if you are a Parish Councillor, Committee Member or volunteer we do not need this consent.

The Parish Council is here to promote the interests of Needham residents. There is currently a vacancy on Parish Council.  We meet once every two months on a Monday evening so it does not occupy a great deal of time.  If you are interested in joining as a Parish Councillor please contact me.  Our next meeting is at 7.30 on Monday 23 July.

                                                                          

Andrew Major, Chairman

                                                     andrewmajor@mac.com 01379 852958

We are pleased to report that Mrs White is recovering from her hip replacement operation and we all send her our best wishes for a complete recovery. 

Friends of St Peter's Church

The AGM of the Friends of the Village Hall

was held on 16 April when the management

committee was re-elected.  The good news

is that there is an increasing demand to

hire the Hall that is considered to have the best size and amenities in the district.  As a result the Hall’s finances are healthy.  The meeting also resolved to support the efforts of NAG in creating an amenity area behind the Hall.

The meeting agreed there are two priorities for the next twelve months.  Firstly, a programme of refurbishment should take place commencing with internal redecoration.  Secondly, and more critically, new committee members are needed to help with the running of the Hall.  Currently we are reliant on committee members who do not live in the village, so it is important that village residents take a greater role in the running of the Hall. 

It was agreed that the Village Summer Barbeque is to be held on Sunday 12th August starting at 1.00pm.  If you would like to help, join the Friends when we meet in the Hall Annex on Monday 30 July at 7.30 to finalise the plans. 

St Peter's Church

Church Services

1st July          Morning Prayer 11.00am

8th July          Morning Prayer   9.30am

15th July        Morning Prayer 11.00am

22nd July       Holy Communion  9.30am

29th July        At Billingford Holy Communion 10.30am

5th August     Morning Prayer 11.00am   

12th August   Morning Prayer  9.30am

19th August   Morning Prayer 11.00am

26th August   Holy Communion 9.30am

Contacts:

Rector: Revd Nigel Tuffnell - 01379 308905

Email: rector@7churches.org.uk

Website - www.7churches.org.uk

Facebook - www.facebook.com/7churches.org.uk

Administration - 01379 851148

Email admin@7churches.org.uk

Church News

The wall at the front of the Church has now been repaired and we are just waiting for a date for the Church pathway to be resurfaced.

The PCC would like to say a Big Thank You to Lenny Whymark for volunteering for a number of years in keeping the church yard all neat and tidy, unfortunately Lenny has had to give up due to personal reasons. So once again - Thank You, Lenny. 

    

Gill Powell

Needham Action Group

A green field at last!

Have you seen it? Although there is much work still

to be done, with a little imagination...and a lot of

mowing, our Village Green stands before us – at

last, Needham has a green field for the community!

Seeded in May after a very dry spell, the grass has slowly but surely taken, and although it is still fragile, work can resume to preen and tidy it, preparing it for mowing, mowing, mowing, and (fingers crossed) rain, rain, rain!

Meanwhile we must remove the large stones and flints from the surface to make it possible to mow. Our great thanks go to those who have already made a start on this task: both the kind passers-by who have taken a few moments out of their day to gather rocks into a mound or pull up weeds ready for removal; and the amazing gang of locals who gathered for a ‘stone picking party’ last Friday afternoon. Fuelled by elderflower presse and sweet treats, we made some excellent progress together, and felt truly inspired by the team spirit and the willingness to get involved: our great thanks go out to all those who came and participated in what was a very enjoyable community afternoon. Transforming this field is a huge task and every little bit of help makes an enormous difference.

Garden Work Party Saturday 14th July at 2pm 

And finally...the moment we have all been waiting for: a name! Thank you to all of you who got in touch to make your vote.  With votes still to come in, we have decided to hold a ballot at the village barbeque. Please look out for it and cast your vote on the day to have your say! The names are as follows (with two late entries added in):

The Village Green, Gnarly Green, The Glade, The Needham Nook, Needham Playing Field, Needham Village Garden