Wickham Bishops Parish Magazine September 2020

Produced by St Bartholomew’s Church www.churchinwickhambishops.org.uk

Church Services for September

We are glad to be able to welcome worshippers to a 10.30 am service in St. Bartholomew’s Church adding to our weekly provision of an online service on FaceBook Live. Numbers for this service will be limited to 36 taking into account required social distancing. Sunday orders of service are posted on the parish website https://www.churchinwickhambishops.org.uk/ Both St Nicholas’ and St Bartholomew’s Churches are open daily during daylight hours for private individual prayer.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO WEAR A FACE COVERING IN CHURCH

SUNDAY 6 Trinity 13 10.30 am Service of Holy Communion in St Bartholomew’s also on FaceBook Live

SUNDAY 13 Trinity 14 10.30 am Service of Holy Communion in St Bartholomew’s also on FaceBook Live SUNDAY 20 Trinity 15 9.00 am Service of Holy Communion (Book of Common Prayer) in St Nicholas’. Phone 07960558587 to book. (Numbers limited to 18) 10.30 am Sunday Praise Service in St Bartholomew’s also on FaceBook Live followed by Holy Communion in the Church SUNDAY 27 Trinity 16 10.30 am Service of Holy Communion in St Bartholomew’s also on FaceBook Live WEDNESDAYs 10.00 am Service of Holy Communion in St Bartholomew’s also on FaceBook Live FRIDAYs 10.15 am Zoom Prayers (please email [email protected] if you wish to be part of this so that we can send you the link)

Parish Register

Baptisms Evelyn Elizabeth Burridge 23rd August at St Nicholas’ Marriages None

Funerals Richard John Banwell (84) 10th August at Chelmsford Crematorium

Parish Contacts

Revd Hilary The Rectory, 1 Church Road, 01621 892867 Le Sève Wickham Bishops CM8 3LA Hilary’s day off Priest in Charge [email protected] is Friday.

Revd Derek Clark The Leas Farm 01245 380627 Wickham Bishops Road Associate Priest Hatfield Peverel 07860 235778 CM3 2JL

Barry Cousins 3 Harvey Road 01621 891355 Great Totham CM9 8QA Churchwarden [email protected] Graham Wingrove 8 Arbour Lane 07398 025442 Wickham Bishops Churchwarden CM8 3NS

Peter Bates 10 Church Green 01621 893173 Wickham Bishops Magazine Editor [email protected] Kath Adkins [email protected] 01621 891143

Church Hall Bookings

Letter from Reverend Hilary

In these past months since March, our village has come alive with walkers, joggers and cyclists. Conversations about well-being, mental and physical, have prominently featured in our news as we learn of the impacts of obesity on our immunity to Covid 19 and isolation on our sense of self. Now as the days shorten and get cooler some of us are considering how to manage ourselves in the coming months. A keen walker, novice cyclist, jogger and occasional gym user (for swimming and yoga classes), I have over the years contemplated the relationship between body and soul. We live in a culture that inherited from Plato (Athenian philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece) the idea that the self is identified with the soul: that your body is merely a vessel for your soul; that emotions are relatively unimportant, compared to the good of contemplation. In finding this view inadequate I am not alone. It identifies each of us with an impersonal intellect, relegating our emotions and bodies to mere impediments. As Sir Ken Robinson (influential author, speaker, expert on education, education reform, creativity and innovation who died on 21st August 2020) pointed out in a 2006 TED talk, “As children grow up we start to educate them progressively from the waist up, and then we focus on their heads…’ But, he points out with characteristic wit, “We are not brains on a stick; we are embodied…Our physical condition, how we relate to ourselves physically, is of fundamental importance in our sense of self.’ The more I read about our hormones, brain function, sleep patterns and what and when we eat, the more I am persuaded of this. Experience tells me the physical activities I engage in can integrate the mind, the body and emotions. Daily walks become a mini-pilgrimage of reflection and prayer. Team sports, physical activity - or, for that matter acting on the stage, or playing a musical instrument - enable us to realise our bodily existence in a fully human way. Perhaps that is why the live music gifted to those attending private individual prayer in St Bartholomew’s has been so rewarding. ‘An ox may be able to lift more than a man, but it can never sing in a choir or play in a football team’ (Michael Withey a school teacher in Cambridge, teaching Classics.) … continued on the next page

In our area we have multiple gyms and exercise classes. If able, I encourage you to use them. We are hopefully also experiencing increased provision of live music not least in our worship. Whatever these next few months bring us, I leave you with these words:

‘Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul’. (3 John 1:2)

A note from June Banwell … My husband Richard died at home on Monday July 20th. He was a familiar and well known figure in Wickham Bishops. He chatted to many people when he collected his daily paper from One Stop. He also collected the Farleigh Collecting tin to count the money and send it to the hospice. He did this for 20 years collecting from various places including Tiptree Jam factory, the Jazz Club and the Snooker Club. He collected in the region of £40,000. Alison Stevens, Chief Executive, wrote to him, and I quote “Thank you. It is really because you care that we can”. The team certainly made the last few weeks of Richard’s life as comfortable as they could. Other quotes from local condolence cards included, “what a lovely man who always had a cheery word to all”, “he was a caring man who had a wicked sense of humour!”, “He certainly liked to tease all and sundry!” He was an extremely keen gardener and particularly liked to grow vegetables. These were distributed to various people round the village. He was a member of Probus and The Wine Club. This is just reminiscing. A constant comment was “he will be missed”.

Polly Wheaton Writes … I would like to thank those kind folk who, during the ‘lockdown’ have phoned me, shopped, delivered home baking, plants and online information, for my edification. I am most grateful. Discovering the inspired variety of scarecrows in May and June was a great joy. Village life is alive and working. Polly

Re-opening our churches, re-decorating the chancel at St Bartholomew’s and thanks for the provision of eight weeks of live music during the summer. In the parish we are blessed with two marvellous places of worship – St Bartholomew’s Wickham Bishops and St. Nicholas’ Little Braxted. As guidelines have eased over the past two months given the national Covid-19 Lockdown, we are now opening our churches daily for private individual prayer mindful that we retain social distancing, sanitise our hands, register for track and trace and for gathered worship face coverings need to be worn. Numbers for gathered worship at St Bartholomew’s is limited to 36. For St Nicholas’ we are keeping to 18 for the time being and a booking needs to be made by phoning 07960558587. For services of baptism, weddings and funerals numbers permitted to attend remains 30 and below. With contractors booked to redecorate the Chancel at St. Bartholomew’s Church from September 28th until 11th December 2020, any services in St Bartholomew’s during that time will take place in the church hall and a booking system will need to be in place – initially for Harvest on 4th October 2020 (Text 07910 109396 to book for the Harvest Service). There will be more on this in the next magazine. For the time being, online services will remain at 10.30am on FB Live. It has been wonderful to welcome online people who previously were not coming into our buildings for services and yet, from home, have found a new community and focus for prayer and reflection. Given the provision of live music provided by Paul Strong, Lucia Carnell and Anne Bellet for a series of eight weeks over July and August, we cannot but respond with thanks. Dozens of people from across the village, of faith or non, have over these weeks been coming to enjoy the reflective space of St Bartholomew’s enhanced by their gifts of music making. Please continue to pray for your church as it seeks to balance the desire to re- open its buildings and to keep people safe whilst at the same time maintaining the on-line presence built up in recent months.

The One Stop Shop in Wickham Bishops is the drop-off point for your donations of food items. These can be placed in the Foodbank box within the shop.

Thank you for your continuing support during the Coronavirus crisis. We are very thankful for any support you can give. Foodbanks within the Trussell Trust network have seen an 89% increase across our network. By continuing to support us with your donations you are continuing to support those most in need.

We currently need:

Food Items: Other Essentials:

 Custard (tinned or packet) • Toothbrushes  Sponge puddings • Shampoo  Rice pudding  Instant mashed potato Please no baked beans, cereals and biscuits as we have very full stocks of these items! Please note: We often ask for small packs - larger packs do not fit in our boxes and make it difficult for our clients to carry home. Also, we are unable (for hygiene reasons) to split larger sizes or catering packs. We are grateful for your donations to the Braintree Area foodbank. However, we can only accept donations of freshly-bought, unopened and undamaged goods which are still well within their “use by” date (no less than 6 months). We cannot use items which do not meet these requirements, and the donation is wasted.

Thank you.

From the Parish Council … There was no general meeting of the Parish Council during August, but an online Planning Committee meeting as held on the 14th. The minutes of the meeting can be found at www.wickhambishopsparishcouncil.org Some residents have asked why the children’s playground (which is owned by the BHSA, not the Parish Council) is still not open. This is not due to COVID; however a recent inspection revealed that two of the upright timbers on the large swings, and three of the ‘stepping posts’ are showing signs of rot and need to be replaced. Contractors hope to complete the work in early September. The next general meeting of the Council is scheduled to be held, once again online, on Tuesday 1st September at 7.30 pm and will be available for residents to view on YouTube. Please check our website for the latest details and agenda. Councillors may be contacted individually, or via the Parish Clerk on 07542 190176, or by email [email protected]

Fraud Alert … Essex Police have given details of several scams being used by criminals in an attempt to obtain money by fraud. Car buying scam. In Colchester, three individuals viewed a car for sale and whilst two of them distracted the owner, the third is believed to have poured oil into the cooling water. A short test-drive revealed the ’fault’ and the scammers then requested a large discount because of the ’fault’. Messages on Instagram are offering ’investment opportunities’ that are fake. Whilst most investment scams target older, more wealthy people, this one targets younger people by offering smaller investments. The ’Moonpig’ greetings card site has recently had data stolen. Users are recommended to check their account and change their password. Never reveal your password or one-time-passcode to anyone else, never respond to an unsolicited email or phone call and stay smart. More information can be found at https://www.essex.police.uk/befraudsmart

SPEEDING

A number of residents have expressed concern about the increase in vehicles speeding through the village now that many people have returned to work with the easing of the lockdown provisions. The problem roads seem not to be the usual ones (Witham Road, The Street, Maypole Road) but also Church Road (both ends) and Blacksmiths Lane. The Community Speedwatch (CSW) volunteers were stood down at the beginning of the lockdown (the roads were very quiet anyway) and it was only at the beginning of August that the administrators were considering how best to resume CSW throughout the county. One of the issues that Essex Police have is in the processing and sending of the warning letters sent to vehicle keepers; the need to prioritise the actions necessary arising from police enforcement with reduced staff numbers understandably has meant that CSW letters could not be processed. It is understood that trials are taking place to enable a modified resumption of CSW and hopefully the Wickham Bishops volunteers will be seen at our various sites in the not too distant future. In the meantime, Essex Police have undertaken some spot checks in the village. In addition, Maldon’s Community Protection Team (CPT) have resumed their enforcement activity using the police’s TruCam system, so that any drivers caught by this system will face exactly the same enforcement action as if police had caught them. In three hours in each month, 22 vehicles were recorded by the CPT in May, 14 were recorded in June and 16 in July. If you have any queries about this, please contact [email protected]

August 2020 Ian Wardrop

Back words …

Hello and welcome to the fifth online issue of the Parish Magazine. We hope that we are able to return to the printed version from next month, providing that there is no deterioration in the coronavirus situation.

I will be emailing all of the regular contributors, though I appreciate that many of the village’s social groups still feel unable to meet, so there will be few reports to include. My colleague, John, will also be busily contacting advertisers, old and new.

In the meantime, I hope that you enjoy reading this very ‘slimmed- down’ version of the magazine and “thank you” for your patience in sticking with us.

Best Wishes

P.S. The front cover photograph shows colchicum flowers growing in our own garden. These are sometimes referred to as ‘Autumn Crocuses’ and confused with the similar looking Saffron Crocus. However, colchicums are poisonous and should never be eaten.

Items for the October 2020 magazine, which we hope to be a printed magazine, should be submitted to the editor by Thursday 10th September 2020 Please send items by email if possible to: [email protected] or place in an envelope marked ‘Parish Magazine’ and deliver to 10 Church Green, Wickham Bishops Priority goes to church events and information connected with Wickham Bishops.

© Wickham Bishops & Little Braxted Parochial Church Council (PCC) Published by the PCC of St Bartholomew Wickham Bishops and St Nicholas Little Braxted. The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the PCC nor can the Church guarantee the credentials or performance of any of the advertisers within this publication.

Business Directory

If I included the usual display advertisements, the size of the file to download would be prohibitively large, so I have prepared the text only business directory listed below. Business owners can rest assured that their advertisements will still be included for a full twelve months from whenever we are able to produce printed copies again. In the meantime, I hope that this is an acceptable alternative. I have included the business name under the type of business listed in the usual index and given one telephone number and either a website address or an email address.

Business type and name Phone No. Website or email address

Animals Wag and Go Walkies 07377 065110 [email protected]

Appliances C J Appliances 01245 225472 Domestic Appliance Repairs 01621 773709

Beauty Aquarius Hair 01621 892888 Rebecca 01621 892547 The Mulberry Spa 01621 891924 www.themulberryspa.co.uk

Building & Maintenance AMC Woodfinishers 01787 212252 www.amcwoodfinishers.co.uk Essex Kitchens & Bedrooms 01621 893491 www.ekb.direct J & J Windows & Doors 01621 788123 www.jjwindowsdoors.co.uk Joe Murrell Windows & Doors 01621 891716 Masterworx Joinery 01621 332371 www.masterworxjoinery.co.uk M H Property Maintenance 07712 671616 [email protected] M R Home Improvements 0800 303 2982 www.mrhomeimprovements.co.uk

Business type and name Phone No. Website or email address

Building & Maintenance cont. NB Contracts Ltd 01621 834680 www.nbcontracts.co.uk R A Lee Builders 01621 892503 [email protected] TMS Roofing 01621 815604 Wise Maintenance 07804 490684

Carers Helping Hands 01245 768718 www.helpinghands.co.uk Moulsham Residential 01245 350750 [email protected]

Computers General Geek 0800 133 7514 www.generalgeek.co.uk PC Care Essex 01621 893290 www.pccareessex.co.uk PC Doctor Operations Ltd 01621 891064 www.pcdoctoroperations.co.uk PC Help Essex 01245 381256 www.pchelpessex.co.uk

Electrical Services Electric King 01621 928315 Harry Cooper 07840 036886 Sigma Electrical 01621 892267 www.sigmaelectrical.org.uk MW Parsley 07810 391588

Estate Agents Church and Hawes 01621 893141 www.churchandhawes.com

Finance Avenlea Accounting 01245 790443 Jonathan Clark 01621 892324

Florists Brown's Blooms and Balloons 01621 892315 www.brownsbloomsandballoons.co.uk Floral Expressions 01376 500611 www.floral-expressions.co.uk

Business type and name Phone No. Website or email address

Food & Drink Upsons Farm Shop 01245 380274 www.upsonscountrystore.co.uk

Funeral Services A G Smith 01621 854293 www.agsmithfunerals.co.uk East of England Coop 01621 834970 www.eastofengland.coop/funerals Hunnaball of Witham 01376 573691 www.hunnaball.co.uk Richards Funeral Service 01376 513114 www.dignityfuneral.co.uk

Gardens A P Groundcare Machinery 01621 850905 www.apgroundcare.com Denmark Garden Services 07546 599871 [email protected] East Anglian Landscape 07811 800800 www.eastanglianfencing.co.uk Hughes & Son 01621 892789 James Andrew Landscaping 01621 767818 www.jamesandrewlandscaping.co.uk Lady Gardener 07443 035443 [email protected] Olivers Nurseries 01376 513239 www.oliversnurseries.co.uk Perrywood Nursery www.perrywood.co.uk

Health & Fitness Dee Witherspoon 01245 697748 www.baddowparktherapies.co.uk Lauren Northfield 01621 892404 [email protected] Massage For Movement 07778 370488 [email protected] The Physio Rooms 07584 670898 www.thephysiorooms.net Wickham Bishops Health Foods 01621 890004 www.wickhambishopshealthfoods.co.uk

Heating & Plumbing Billericay Fuel Services 01268 710310 www.bfsfuelservices.uk Blackwater Fuels Ltd 01621 868868 www.blackwaterfuels.co.uk BPA Kennedy Plumbing 01621 890039 Matthew Clark 07852 207743 Plumbing - Harry Cooper 07840 036886 Wickham Bishops Woodlands 07753 452085 www.wickhambishopswoodlands.co.uk

Business type and name Phone No. Website or email address

Home Bright and Beautiful 01376 319556 www.brightandbeautifulhome.com Dawn’s Home Help 01621 860428 [email protected] Careclean Carpet Cleaning 01621 769012 Mantsbrite Systems Ltd 01621 853003 [email protected] Powerdean Cleaning Services 01621 473727 www.powerdean.co.uk Pressing Needs Ironing 07970 642606 [email protected] Simon Houlding Upholstery 01621 859484 www.simonhoulding.co.uk Wild Things Pest Control 07771 356731 [email protected]

Motoring & Travel Markham & Smith 01376 520351 [email protected] Wenway Solutions - Private Hire 01245 380370 www.wenwaysolutions.co.uk

Painting & Decorating Colin Goodchild Decorating 07979 710517 www.colingoodchilddecorating.co.uk Deborah Cannom 01621 850927 [email protected] Finishing Touch 01621 819109 L Johnson Decorator 01621 891674 Paul Clary Painter & Decorator 01621 868355 [email protected] RC Martin Painting & Decorating 01621 817530 Square Foot Redecoration 01621 815078 [email protected]

Solicitors Mitchell Plampin Partnership 01621 852566 www.mppsolicitors.co.uk

Tuition June Cook Piano Lessons 01621 894947 Lucia Carnell (Cello & Violin) 01621 893076 Schoolserve Tuition 01376 502561 www.schoolserve.info