HISTORY RE CORD ER 'S REPO RT F OR THE VILLA GE OF HAW ST EA D MAY 20 10

The H isto ry Rec order's repor t covers the tw elve months f rom 1 st May 200 9 to 31 st April 2 010 and is prepared a s part of the Parish C ouncil's c ommitment t o the Local History Co unci l. Copies of this docume nt will , in due course , be s ent to the Re source Centre in Ipswi ch and t o the Bu ry Recorder 's Office . Co pies of the Hawstea d Journ al and th e Benef ice St . Edmund Way Maga zine ar e als o lodged with the Reco rds Offi ce .

PARISH COUNCIL

The Ann ual Gene ral Me eting of the Par ish Cou ncil w as held on Th ur sda y 21 st May 2009 in t he village hall , with the se ven Parish councilors and the Parish Clerk , Marilyn B otto mley p rese nt . Previously there ha d b een a lively d iscussion at the annua l Pari sh Mee tin g conce rning the screening an d positioning o f the bott le b ank . The Chairman agr eed to dis cus s the matt ers at co min g m onthl y Parish Council meet ings .

Comment w as als o m ade about t he ratificati on an d publ icat io n of m in ute s in advance of th e AGM . In th e AGM itself, the chairman r evie wed th e w ork under taken by t he Counci l over the pre vi ous yea r a nd outlined are as o f co ncern for the coming y ea r, incl ud ing the p ar king in Ro ad and Bu ll L ane , where a b rok en drain was c au sing prob lems. In the a ut umn, concerns were raise d about over -flow parking on th e roa d at well attended villag e ha ll function s. T he local police offic er g ave a sh ort pr es entatio n, re port ing that a ne w serge ant and a new insp ector had been appointe d, based at Cla re. From the f loor, com ments w ere made on t he spe ed of traff ic through the village a nd th e use o f mi ni four wh ee l quad bikes on the road and also , seve ral c omplaints w ere made o n the cond ition o f the roads .

Repres entatives from St. Edmun ds bury Boro ugh Cou nci l spo ke of their wo rk in th e area s of transport and planning. The Bor ough Counci l a nnounce d its in tent io n t o open ne w offic es at West Suf folk House as a one stop f or al l servi ce s to th e area . During t he y ear , a review of the s cho ols lo oked at the viabili ty of a two tier syst em . The B oundar y C om missi on is mo vin g slowly forward wit h i ts deliber ations for the r e-organis atio n o f l oca l go vernment in the co unty. The option ha s been e lim inated and the one Suffol k optio n with a unita ry aut hor ity for b eing proposed . The par lia mentar y boundary h as bee n r edra wn such t hat H awstead is now included in the West Suffo lk s eat , tran sfer red fro m Bury S t. Edm und s. Th ere was a genera l electi on o n May 6th 2010 , with the Vi llag e Hall u sed a s a pol ling stati on .

A proposal fo r a Haw stead v illa ge e mergen cy p lan w as circulate d o n 13 th July 200 9 and i n October this was follo wed up by a lette r and quest ionn aire . Con tra ctors were giv en the go ah ead to deal with rabbits and mole s on the village gr een an d the con dit ion o f the Millen niu m F ield became a cause for concern d ur ing the yea r. By th e autumn , th e qu est ion o f the s iti ng of the bottl e bank was r esolved . Its colour no w became ca use of cont ro versy.

Followin g a resigna tion i n Apri l 20 10 , a vaca ncy fo r a Par ish Coun ci lor h as ar isen . On Friday 31st July, th e co unci l t arred and g ritted Churc h Road , Pinf ord End . I n A ugu st, Whepstead Road surface wa s gr itted . In No vemb er, Angl ia W ater work ed on th e dr aina ge pr obl em at the Pinford End junction o f Bu ll La ne and Chur ch Road . M any p otho les ap pea red in loca l ro ads after the winter.

VILLAGE H ALL

Local p roduce sales outside vill age hall starte d o n the 1 3th June a nd continued on the 2 nd and 4 th Saturdays o f the month u ntil the e nd of Sep te mb er, 2009 .

The installatio n of a ph one li ne and broadban d pac kage for the Village Hall fro m the Vil lage Connect Scheme was announce d in June . Six I BM compute rs and mo ni tors w ere do nated b y a village resident.

Cream teas were availab le o n th e vill ag e gree n on Sunda y 5th July.

The villa ge green was cut f or ha y on 20 th June 2009 and Barry Couls on, w ith his tractor/di gger , was clearin g brambles f rom the villa ge green cor ner opposite the bottom of the junctio n of Whepst ead Road on 11 th August 200 9. A w ork ing par ty was organized for Se pt embe r 2009 to clear rag wort and on S aturda y 6th Mar ch to clear scrub aroun d the village gree n. Furth er vi llage green mainte nance wor k was carried out by a local contractor. In November, footpaths up to the woods were cleared.

Th e vi llage Fl ower Sho w an d Fete was held on Sunday 6th September.

The village lottery, which played a part in the funding to build the hall, was wound up in November after raising over £4000.

The Christ mas l unch fo r v illage pens ioners was given o n Thursday 1 7th Dec ember 12.30 . A Chris tm as tree was put up outside the hall for the first time in many years and another was placed inside the hall.

Burns Nigh t was ce lebrated with a s upper in the v illage ha ll on Saturda y 23 rd Ja nuary 2 01 0.

CHURCH BENEFICE

The Rev Martin Thrower held his last service in the Benefice at on 31 st May 2009 and left to take up a new appointment as Rector of Hadleigh. The Rev Annette Shannon as Assistant Curate assumed his duties in the Benefice. The Reverend Simon Hill, the Rural Dean for Lavenham Deanery, wrote in December that the vacancy at St. Edmunds Way, which did not attract any applications when advertised a couple of months ago, will be re-advertised nationally in January. The Benefice continued to be in interregnum until April 2010 when the Rural Dean wrote in the Newsletter and on the website that “I am delighted to announce that the Reverend Jane Buckles has accepted the Bishop of St. Edmundsb ury and Ips wi ch invitati on to be incum ben t of S t Edm un d Way Benefice . Ja yne wi ll be mo ving from Wa les with he r h usban d De rek to La wsh all in the summe r; the date of her induction will be announced i n d ue course. " A detailed record o f all gra ves in Haw stead ch ur chyard is b ein g prepa red b y T on y H ill man and Angela Rushen . Th e e xercise is being und ertaken becau se th e c hurc hyard i s likel y to be closed for an y ne w burials in the com ing yea r. In fut ure , all buria ls w ill be in t he churc hyar d extension . A space for interment of cremated rema ins wi ll be set asid e in the old church yard.

The death of Syl vi a Miller (for many yea rs sec retary of the Commun ity Counc il) occurred on 6 th July 2009 , and a funeral ser vice was held on Mond ay 20 th Ju ly . Ma ude Co rnw ell died on 16 th Ju ly 20 09 ; her fu neral s er vi ce was in Hawstead Church on 30 th July 2009 . Alth ou gh not stri ct ly w ithin the time scale o f t his repo rt, the death of one-time Com munity Coun cil secre tary an d lon g-tim e vil lag e res ident, Stell a Wo odham -Smith , on 12 th May 2010 a t Pi nford End Nu rsing H ome is n oted here .

Highlights of th e y ear in t he Be nefice at Ha wst ead include t he "Talent Chall enge ", w hereb y parishioners were g iv en the tas k of con verting £5 into a s m uch a s p ossib le. For e xample , on Fr ida y 12 th June, crea m t eas w ere prepare d at Chur ch F armhous e an d rais ed £150 . Cli ve Paine gave an ev ening le cture in al l Sain ts Churc h Haw stead on 26 th June , telling its story and pointing out it s features u nde r th e auspices of the Suffo lk Histo ric Chur che s Tr ust .

On Saturday 4 th July , 2009 , i n t he Cathedral in Bury, ou r cu rate , An nette Shannon , wa s ordained to the priesthood. He r f irst c ommu ni on was on Sun da y t he 5 th at Hawst ead . Hawstead All Sa ints was again inc luded in th e Suffo lk Historic C hurc hes C ycle Ride on S aturday , Sep tember 12th. Oc tober 3rd saw the 1 5 mil e annual sponsored walk arou nd the be nefice churches. Harvest supper was held o n Sa turd ay 1 0th Octo ber i n the villag e hall .

A conce rt of ca rols was giv en by the Aqua rius Si nge rs i n Hawste ad Chur ch on Su nda y, 13 th De cembe r. A “Nati vit y in t he Barn” eve nt was held on Chr istmas Eve at 4pm at Hawstead Plac e, with the perm iss ion of Ruper t B rown; arou nd 25 0 peo ple atte nded and a colle cti on rais ed £ 366 .23 for St . Nichol as Hosp ice and the Spe cial Bab y Ca re Unit at West Suffolk Hospital .

The annual Ch urch Meet ing w as h eld in th e Vi lla ge H all on P al m S unday , 21 st March a t 12.4 5pm, foll owed by a Bri ng and S har e lunch . A w ee k la ter, a L ent lu nch wa s held in th e village hall on Sunda y 28th Mar ch.

An organist is required for leading the congregation in sung services at Hawstead.

WEATHER

On 7 th June 2009, there was a violent thunderstorm with lightening that caused a power cut at about 6.20pm. We were on the edge of a violent storm north of Sudbury that caused a whirlwind and a severe hailstorm.

A heat-wave occu rr ed from Jun e 28 th to Jul y 5 th with temper ature s exce eding 26 degrees C. The follo wi ng 3 we eks of Jul y gave p lentiful r ai n w ith tem peratur es cl os e to nor mal . Augu st w as dry and warm – not a “ba rbe qu e summe r”. O ctober w as a dr y mont h with a s ligh t ai r frost on 18th. Nov em ber w as the w ettest mo nt h of the year . The fir st 10 days of Dece mbe r were mi ld a nd wet an d the fir st sno w fell on 16 th . Over C hri stmas a tha w se t in but by 2 8th it was col d agai n and re mained so un til M arch. In M arc h 20 09 , news c irculated in the vill age that new t enants w ould be moving in to the pub and conseque nt ly , tenant Richard Ree d to ok ov er th e pu b lea se on 7 th April 2009. In due c our se , The Metcalfe Arm s hel d a Fami ly Fun d ay on 31 st May 2009 and liv e music on 5th Jun e with Iri e J Class ic Soul.

Ho wever, in S eptemb er an announc eme nt w as made th at that th er e will b e n ew faces ru nni ng th e pub , and afte r the win ter , in F ebruary 2010 , th e Jo urnal repor te d n ews fr om the M etc alfe Arm s with new la ndla dy and la ndlord , Sam and Darren .

At the South Suffo lk Sh ow, hel d a t Am pto n Ra ceco urse n ear Ingh am, on Sun day 10 th May 2009 , Andrew Bro wn wo n 5 prizes for heifers c ows and bulls . The Abe rdeen An gu s ca ttle entered by Andrew B rown at th e Rutlan d Co unty Show on 6 th June 20 09 a nd in th e Edenbr idg e a nd Oxted Sho w on August 30 th 200 9 w on more prize s.

Pinford End Nursing Ho me held their 2 1st anniv ersa ry summer fete on Satu rda y 27th Ju ne , fr om 2 to 5pm . The re was afterno on t ea, a chamber or chest ra, b ric-a-bra c stall , tombola and fa ce painting , raffles a nd competi tions .

Fine gardeni ng w ea the r has b ee n tempting th iev es to s tea l po wer tools and mach ine ry from sheds , (reported the B ury Fr ee P re ss on t he 28th August 2009 ). A chain sa w, lawnmo wer , hedge tr im mer and leaf blo wer were s tolen from an insec ure she d at The Pou nd . Su ffolk poli ce ren ewed th eir appeal for informatio n f ol lo wi ng a s pate of r oad s ign th ef ts.

On the e vening of 25th August 2010 , Jane Holli da y, 54 , fro m H awstea d co mpleted her Three Fear s Challenge for the Bu ry St Edmunds-based St . Nicho las Hospic e, when she ha ndl ed an enorm ous Chi le an Rose Tarantula . He r last t ask was f aci ng her f ear of spi de rs .

The West S uf fol k Wh eelers and Triat hlon Cycl ing Club held a hil l c limb time tri al at P inford End on 3 rd September 200 9. The winner w on b y 3 se cond s in a to tal time of 2 min. 41 sec . over 2 ascents of the hill .

A woma n w as tak en to hospi tal on Sunda y 11th Oc tober 2009 af te r being freed from the wrec kage of her ca r. Fire fight er s worked for n early an hour u si ng hydraulic cutting eq uipment to fr ee th e woma n a fter her ca r, a gre en V aux ha ll Corsa , crash ed into a fe nce in Church Roa d, Ha wst ead just bef or e 10.15 pm . Three fir e cre ws, incl uding a n emer gency rescue te nd er were call ed to the scen e from Bury just after 10 .30 pm . Th e road was closed for a tim e w hile the e merg ency s ervices worked at the s ce ne. No ot he r v ehi cl e was in volved . A po lic e sp ok eswoma n sai d th ere were tw o ca sua lti es wh o s uffe red m inor inju ri es. One pe rso n was tak en to We st Suff ol k Hosp ital for treatment .

There was a bur st wate r main a t Park Lan e Cotta ges at about 4.1 5 am on 2 1st Oct ob er 2 009 , resulting in no wate r su pply to P inford End . Wa ter Engineers repaire d the l eak and r e-conn ected the s uppl y at 10 am .

In the autum n, it w as annou nced th at public phon e boxes in Suffolk face the ax e, inc luding th e o ne at Pinf ord End (w hich o nly coll ect ed 87 pence i n the last yea r). BT was l ook ing t o scrap 5 3 ph one boo ths. St. Edmundsbur y Boro ugh C ou ncil consulte d with r es ide nts unt il November 25 an d noti fied BT of i ts findi ng s o n Ja nua ry 2 nd 2010. Th e Par ish Coun cil agree d in Novem be r t o th e remov al of the phone , and to co nsider an altern ati ve u se a nd pos iti on for th e b oot h i ts elf.

Fire fig hte rs t ackl ed a chim ney f ire a t Th e Gree n, H awst ea d ea rly on 3rd De cemb er 20 09 . One fire crew from Bur y St. Edmun ds d ealt with th e in cident f ol lowi ng a cal l sh ort ly be fore m idda y.

The Bo xing D ay Hunt was he ld b y the Suffo lk Hunt , w hich set out fr om Hawstead P lace . Master of the Hun t, Jam es Aldous, said about 1000 peop le atte nd ed th e hun t on foot to w atch 60 or s o rider s. "We were conce rned ab out th e weath er, bu t i t s eems it was alr igh t, thoug h a bit trick y on the r oads ."

Ov er night snow quickly cleared to provide p erf ect c ondi tions f or runners in the Mus cular Dystrophy Bur y 20 and 10 mi le ra ces on Saturday 23 rd Jan uar y 2010 . Th e co urse left Now ton Pa rk befor e sna kin g through Pi nf ord End , Whe pst ea d, Hawstea d, and ba ck to the park.

Af ter the Cheltenham Ra cing F estival , thre e t ravellers' ca rav an s were parked on th e vill age green , by t he b rook . Aft er a few d ays, e nquiries we re mad e if t hey we re pr epar ed t o contrib ute an ar ticle to the Hawstead Jour na l. They de clined and mo ved on 18 th March , 2010.

From April 9th the 14th, 2010, th ere was an exh ibit ion called "An Ar tists' View ", disp laying ar t a nd ar chitectu ral dra wi ng s by B il l Crockford and Tracey Waghorn , held in the Edm und Gall ery, next to the Cathed ral .

For the third succes siv e year , tra diti onal May Day cel ebra ti ons w ere held on Sat urday , May 1st 2010 , at 5.15am on the co rn er of the v illage green at the end of Bells Lane , outside Fyletts Manor Cottage s, w ith the Gr een Drag on Morris men . Breakf ast followed , kindly hosted by Andy and Fran Ever shed .

The Parish Council website had an average of 141 hits per month during the year.

S1 , Edmundsb ury Borough C ou ncil decided on 7 planning applications for the parish o f Ha wstead fo r the year 01 May 2 009 to 30 April 2010.

The co uncil tax for Hawstead ho uses was i nc reased b y 2.0% comp ared to la st y ear . Thi s was made up of an inc rea se of 2 .4% t o Suffolk County C ounc il, a 1 .9% increase to St. Edmundsb ury Borough Council an d an increa se of 3.0% to the Suff olk Police Auth ority. Th e Pa rish Counci l precept was down b y 9.8% com pared to l as t yea r.

Fi nally , as reco rded by the La nd Reg ist ry, in the year 1 st May 2009 to 3 0 April 2010, 1 house was sold in po st code IP29 5NR , 1 in 5NJ , and 1 in 5NU .

Kare n Cald well Haws tead Histor y Recorder May 2010