EAST SUFFOLK TRAVEL ASSOCIATION HEADLINE NEWS SUMMER 2021 OUR ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Will Take Place in the Market Hall in S
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EAST SUFFOLK TRAVEL ASSOCIATION HEADLINE NEWS SUMMER 2021 OUR ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING will take place in the Market Hall in Saxmundham (next to the Bell Hotel) starting at 2.15pm on Saturday 3rd July. This meeting is for ESTA members only and as our capacity may be limited in order to comply with government Covid rules, you must please contact our Secretary (preferably by e-mail) in advance. We will then contact you before the meeting to confirm there is space available for you, allocated in order of date of request. This will be our first AGM since 2019 and we shall need to cover some formalities from 2020 as well as the full agenda for this year. OUR NEXT PUBLIC meeting will be on Saturday 30th October in the Parcels Office Exhibition Space at Lowestoft railway station commencing at 2pm. Our guest speaker will be Mr Andrew Goodrum of Greater Anglia – more details of this meeting will be in our autumn edition of this newsletter due out in early September. A NEW AND INNOVATIVE public transport service KATCH! has now started to operate linking Wickham Market Station with the town and with Framlingham for travel on demand. You can find out more from the journey planner at www.suffolkonboard.com and you can book a journey up to one hour in advance by phoning 01728554455. The ESTA Chairman travelled on the service on its first operating day and reported a soundless journey in a comfortable 8 seater vehicle. The single fare is £7, cash: no card, no bus pass! THE LONDON THROUGH SERVICE from the East Suffolk Line featured in our 10 point statement sent on 24th May to Greater Anglia management and local politicians. We must not forget that this was a condition, not a request, in the current franchise agreement and although Covid may have changed a few things, it should not deter from this commitment being brought to fruition. IN THE MEDIA our Vice Chairman was quoted in the East Anglian Daily Times concerning construction trains to the proposed Sizewell C site and a few days previously our Chairman was interviewed on East Suffolk One radio partly concerning the creation of Great British Railways: at first sight there are some points to be welcomed, such as ticketing and the flexibility for commuters, but also many questions to be answered. BUCKENHAM AND Brampton were request stops for the Wherry Line and East Suffolk Line respectively. Now, if the timetable shows the train as calling there, it will stop. It is no longer Greater Anglia policy to have ‘request stops’. DISCOVERY DAYS out in Suffolk are being featured at two exhibitions mounted by the Community Rail Partnership. One will be on 10th July in the Parcels Office Exhibition Space at Lowestoft Station; the other in Gallery Two at Ipswich Town Hall on a date still to be confirmed. Both will run from 10am to 4pm – ESTA members will be helping. THE EAST/WEST RAIL LINK between Cambridge and Oxford is now becoming at last a reality. For East Suffolk residents and visitors the journey between our area and Oxford, Milton Keynes and Bedford entails a roundabout journey via either Peterborough or London, or via Cambridge then bus services. So ESTA has responded to the public consultation on this project stressing several points of importance to future travellers on these routes. ON THE BUSES the sashes have gone from the seats of First Eastern Counties but social distancing must still be observed as far as possible. Colour coding of their fleet continues to roll out with ‘Ipswich Reds’ and ‘Coastal Reds’ competing with the blue livery of the ‘Coastal Clipper’ services from Southwold right up to Martham, encouraging you to ‘cruise the sunshine coast’! THE NEW BRIDGE at Great Yarmouth could eventually lead to faster bus timings on the route to and from Lowestoft and when the new Lowestoft bridge over Lake Lothing eventually transpires, then this might well lead to some modification of bus services in and around the town. THE ESTA CHRISTMAS LUNCH is confirmed for Saturday 11th December in Halesworth at the Angel Hotel Find out more about our work via www.eastsuffolktravel.org.uk You can join us for £7 per year – contact through our Membership Secretary at 5 Digby Close, Martlesham Heath, Ipswich IP5 3UD. 08/06/2021 .