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Produced by Sedgefield Development Partnership: Company No: 4312745 Charity No: 1100906 Insert Sedgefield News logo By the villagers for the villagers of Sedgefield, Bradbury & Mordon April 2004 The Town Council’s Sedgefield News had already March - see p.12 - but the occasion Annual Meeting was held received comment about the Parish prompted another letter to us, posing on March 15th and the 40 or so Hall before the meeting on the 15th the question: citizens, councillors and officials who attended, participated in some Is the Parish Hall for sale to the highest bidder? vigorous exchanges. Inspector Neill gave the police ‘The Town Council meets the the group has been wound up - no report, Cllr. Ken Manton reported people’ meeting on March 15th formal report back to us prior to this for the County and Peter Hinde would seem to indicate that it is. - and the issue passed back to the spoke for the New Parish Hall There were only a few members of Town Council. Matters had got as Development Group. the public who turned up to air the far as architects plans and a model Several other reports were printed old hoary chestnuts of crime in for a site next to Ceddesfeld Hall but and handed out at the meeting - as Sedgefield, the dangers of the A689 we have not seen these. How about junction and the gypsies. a display in the library? had been requested at the previous year’s meeting - but the effect was The meeting should have been I asked a councillor why this had not that people had little time to digest packed with people wanting to find been presented to the village and he them so there was no discussion of out the fate of the Parish Hall. I had said no decisions had been taken them. The Annual Report and the been patiently waiting to find out the yet. However, the Town Council Sedgefield Extra carried more results of the years of deliberation Annual Report Summary and the information, but unfortunately and investigation of the options to be Mayor’s Report, made available at arrived at many houses after the formally presented to the village. that meeting which I had not read at 15th. Nonetheless, those present After all, about 200 people had this juncture, make it clear that the found plenty to debate. turned up to the meeting which set Town Council wishes to sell the There were strong feelings about up the group to do this. Parish Hall site (which has lots of travellers and the road junction, but I ignored rumours, expecting to be nearby parking) and build adjacent the main arguments focussed on the presented with facts in due course. to Ceddesfeld Hall, reducing the car future of the Parish Hall. At Monday’s meeting I found that parking there and creating competition for that which is left. Peter Hinde, last Chairman of the New Parish Hall Development Group, Whilst I am not against greater has given us an account of its workings. There is much more than we public usage of Ceddesfeld Hall have space for here, but these brief notes may help. A fuller account will and the grounds, I am against follow next month, with a discussion of the crucial matter of funding. selling off yet another publicly Two years ago the Town Council’s work on renewing the Parish Hall had owned site in Sedgefield. produced a recommendation that the Hall should be replaced on the present This is short-sighted. Sedgefield site. That was the result of the work of several professional teams and it was will expand, whether we want it endorsed by public consultation. or not, and will need more public Some time after the Public meeting in February 2002 the New Parish Hall space, not less. Development Group (NPHDG) decided to commission work on an extension Are we content to let our partly to Ceddesfeld Hall with a view to providing a comparable report to that unelected Town Council do as they already available on the Parish Hall, to enable them to see if it offered a better wish? Let us at least call for a solution. So the same design team (architects, engineers & quantity surveyors) reasoned presentation of their plans. were commissioned, and to make the comparisons easier, they were asked to If any-one wishes to let me know meet the same accommodation requirements. Last September they presented what they think about this, they can their conclusions in the form of plans and a model of a contemporary design e-mail me at: intended to contrast with, but complement, Ceddesfeld Hall, built between the [email protected] Hall and South View. However they also had continued bottom right, page 5 Helen Clifford-Brown 2 Sedgefield News Laura makes a start in Africa 21 year-old Laura Barron, who has lived in Sedgefield all her life, is taking a year out to do voluntary work in Tanzania with Students Partnership Worldwide (SPW), a youth focused charity - running an 8 month Health Education and Community Resource programme, along with eight other volunteers from England working together with local partners. Laura was a pupil at Carmel RC Technology College before going on to Northumbria University. Last year she gained a degree in Politics and Sociology. Laura wrote to Vera Thompson at the beginning of March and we thank Vera for sharing her letter with us. Dear Vera Year 7 back home, though they’re a Well I made it. I’m sitting on my bit older, around 14 to 16, as many doorstep at 6.30pm on a drizzly of them have taken time off school Tuesday after school. We finished to help at home. They were really training in Iringa (the Southern well behaved and attentive and I was Highlands capital town) last week almost impressed with my and moved to our villages last wonderful teaching abilities – except Monday, so we’ve been here a week that is for my inability to write on a now and I’m starting to feel a little blackboard legibly! understanding of the more settled. I am also now in a I’m finding the school day quite problems/dangers they face now and better position to give you my first difficult at the moment. We start at in the future. In addition there is a thoughts on what we all came to 7.30 and go right through until variety of awareness-raising Tanzania to do. 3.30pm with only a 20 minute break activities including seminars and life Mwajuma (my Tanzanian partner) at 10.30. There isn’t a lunch break based festivals. The first of these is and I spent the first few days which means that by 2pm I feel like International Women’s Day on the th acclimatising and setting up our I’m going to die after not being able 8 March, which isn’t that far off Youth Development Centre (YDC). to drag myself out of bed early and we haven’t been told yet exactly This is a room in the school grounds enough to make some breakfast. what they want us to do - could be where there are ‘youth friendly’ Having said that, even if I did the fun. resources and magazines, where the only thing to cook is uji, which is a The work is so important down here. students can come and learn as well bit like porridge but made with flour SPW has been working here for as talk to us about any problems or and not exactly a local delicacy. some ten years now and is really questions they may have. Life here is very slow which I’m having an impact on the lives of Itengule Secondary School is quite also finding it difficult to adjust to. young people in Tanzania and other small with currently only about 300 Nobody takes much notice of time - rural communities throughout students but the teachers keep telling things happen when they happen, Africa. I can’t tell you how grateful I me that there will be more as they which is actually really nice but am to everyone in Sedgefield who haven’t all arrived yet. I find this terribly difficult to get used to, helped me to take part. rather odd as the school year began especially when there is only one Thanks for everything and I’ll write in January but it’s not uncommon bus a day out of the village and no more after International Women’s for the children to remain at home one really knows what time it Day, providing it goes well of with their families in order to help leaves. course. with the farming. In a way it’s quite The area is beautiful and so peaceful Much love, Laura good because it eases us into the and all the people have been very Students Partnership Worldwide teaching more gently. friendly and welcoming. Obviously started work in Tanzania ,one of the So we started teaching yesterday, things are very different at the countries most affected by the HIV / after I had recovered from my first moment but I can see through it and AIDS crisis, in 1992. Now our largest (hopefully not of many) stomach I really think that once I get used to African programme, it sends over 100 upsets - not recommended in the things and day to day life I’ll be volunteers every year. middle of a very dark night with no A lack of awareness amongst young comfortable here and will hopefully people is compounded by gender electricity and ‘limited sanitation’.