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Post by rosegriffintwidell on Jul 14, 2015 17:08:01 GMT
Certainly not to start with (if we are able to buy it). At the moment there is a blanket tree protection order over the woods so no trees can be cut down - so that means no thinning out.
We have looked around with Basildon Council and the Wilderness Foundation and neither thinks that much needs to be done. However, there are some hanging branches I think we ought to get down. Let's wait and see if we buy it and then think about getting rid of the hanging branches.
We can then take further advice from the experts as to whether thinning out is necessary - which will require changes to the tree protection orders.
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Post by rosegriffintwidell on Jul 14, 2015 17:02:10 GMT
It maybe! I'll speak to Jo Cullen. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
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Post by rosegriffintwidell on Jun 29, 2015 6:24:09 GMT
What a game that was? We wrote to 3 insurance companies asking for quotes. None replied. We then contacted the company which insured the Wilderness Trust but it appears that they only offered some sort of blanket insurance cover.
Eventually Stephen Metcalfe put us in touch with the Corporation of London, who put us in touch with the Epping Forest Management, who put us in touch with the Farmers Union and the Small Woods Association (SWA). The SWA put us in touch with two separate potential insurers - one has come back (The Beech Tree) with a comprehensive quote to suit our needs and we are waiting to hear from the other (Royal Arbour Products).
Basic public liability insurance is £154 but rises to £174 if any volunteers are likely to use chain saws - not nearly such an horrendous quote as we were expecting
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Post by rosegriffintwidell on Jun 29, 2015 6:18:14 GMT
Public Liability has now been sorted out.
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Post by rosegriffintwidell on Jun 29, 2015 6:15:47 GMT
Basildon Heritage has asked us to help update the list of Significant Buildings and Assets.
Can you add to the list below or write a few paragraphs about one of the items listed. If so contact Rose via this Forum or ChairResidentsAssociaton@com or contact the Heritage Centre direct - based in the Green Centre of Wat Tyler.
Interested in Local History - why not join U3A's local history group?
Significant Interested Buildings/Monuments/sites Bowers Gifford Rectory (well documented in Doris Dove’s book for W.I) Blacksmiths, Dunton Road, Laindon Laindon War Memorial Laindon Jubilee Fountain, High Road, Laindon Watch House Farm, Wash Road, Laindon The Old Fortune of War, Wash Road, Laindon Laindon Railway Station Victorian Post Box, Laindon Common Winston Club, High Road Laindon Laindon Park School, Laindon Langdon Hills School, High Road, Langdon Hills Old School House, Langdon Hills Dry Street memorial Church – One Tree Hill, Langdon Hills Noak Bridge Christian Centre, Wash Road, Laindon Little Chalvedon Hall, Bowers Gifford Page Woods, Bowers Gifford (Rose Griffin to write some notes) The Crown, Langdon Hills Climax, Langdon Hills Ann Boleyn Mansions Pitsea Tudor mansions, Pitsea The Barge, Vange (Elaine Horwood writing some notes) St Basils Church, Vange Gordon Hall, Vange Tin Tabernacle, Bells Hill, Vange War Memorial, Clayhill Road, Vange Vange Primary School Vange Old Bowers Gifford Church, Church Road, Bowers Gifford – St. Margaret’s Church Bowers Hall, Church Road, Bowers Gifford (not sure of age of current building but it is noted in mediaeval records) The Old All Saints Church (now Greek Orthodox) North Benfleet Hall Road, North Benfleet Benbow Club (given to people of BG&NB by Mrs. Westlake) The Old Rectory, School Lane, North Benfleet 16th Century Cottage and also a 17th Century Cottage (not sure of names), Harrow Road, North Benfleet The Old Harrows (speak to Bet Gilkes daughter) Pump Cottage The Old School House, School Lane, North Benfleet (as recorded in Elsie Norman’s book) What about Bradfields Farm (not sure of age of current Farm but in the Doomsday Book it is described as Bird Fields Farm – must be of some significance) Tiffayne’s Farm, Burnt Mills Road What about Reddington’s (needs research stands on site of old Blacksmiths) Pill boxes - at various locations - Jackaman’s Farm (1), Little Chalvedon Hall (1 or 2?) North Benfleet Farm (1?) Pill boxes on Bowers Hall land, Church Road? The Gun (not sure about age of fabric of building but site of the pub since 18th century Gun Hill Church, Bowers Gifford Old School House, London Road, Bowers Gifford 17th Century Walnut Cottage, Gun Hill, London Road, Bowers Gifford (covered by Ann Horton and historian) 19th Century Bull Farm Cottages, London Road, Bowers Gifford The Bull, London Road, Bowers Gifford Bull Farm, London Road, Bowers Gifford. Pitsea War Memorial Great Chalvedon Hall, Rectory Road, Pitsea Brackendale Hall, Pitsea Mount (covered in Christopher Harold’s Book) St. Michael’s Church (what’s left) (covered in Christopher Harold’s Book) Cromwell Manor, Pitsea Wat Tyler Country Park.
Mile Stone corner of London Road Wickford (Listed Grade 11) Mile stone, Crays Hill Mile stone, High Road North, Laindon Onion Water Tower, Cranes Farm Road Nevendon Bushes (ancient woodlands?) – suggest you speak to Steve Prewer The Old Rectory, Dunton (is this in the borough of Basildon)
Little Burstead War Memorial Nevendon Old School (Daphne Payne and Beryl Hannah to write a few notes) 8 King George V (1 located at Luncies Road , Basildon - where are the other 7???) 8 King George VI Post Boxes (1 located at Great Burstead - where are the other 7???)
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Post by rosegriffintwidell on Jun 27, 2015 11:27:53 GMT
A lady has reported a man trying to break into her car whilst she was parked outside the corner shop Friday 27th June. When she came out of the shop and asked the man what he was doing he told her that he thought the car was for sale. He was a black man, aged around 50 and wearing several gold necklaces. He offered her a cash sum for her that was worth double the price (the car was not for sale). As they argued he was joined by a white man who had parked his van further down the road who tried to confirm his friends story that they thought the car was for sale. They later drove off in the van. The matter has been reported to the police
I just wanted to remind everyone that something similar happened in Westlake Avenue last October when someone found a man looking at her car which was parked on her driveway. When she asked the man what he was doing he said that he was interested in buying the car (the car wasn't for sale). Again this was a black man who was with two white men. The other two men were seen going in and out of driveways.
Remember to lock your car when you leave it unattended - even if it is for just a short time. Please do not leave valuables in your car.
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Post by rosegriffintwidell on Jun 26, 2015 13:41:47 GMT
Basildon Heritage are trying to locate the 8 7 King George V and 8 7 King George VI post boxes allocated to Basildon Borough.
If you are out and about please take the time to look at post boxes and read the inscription to see in which monarch's reign they were installed. If you spot one of the missing 16 then please let us know or contact Basildon Heritage, situated in the Green Centre at Wat Tyler Country Park.
Basildon Heritage think that they post boxes are probably located in rural areas rather than in towns.
Two have been found by Lynn Mott, one of U3A members - a King George V in Luncies Road in Basildon (just where Basildon Heritage did not expect to find one!) and a King George V1 in Great Burstead. Well spotted, Lynne!
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Post by rosegriffintwidell on Jun 6, 2015 17:07:28 GMT
Please would the person who wrote to me last week, please note that the Residents Association cannot be used as an intermediary for reporting benefit fraud.
You can report a fraud on line by inputting the details on the government website at www.gov.uk/report-benefit-fraud
or, if you wish to remain anonymous you can dial the free phone number 0800 854 440
With regard to Basildon Council matters please see my post giving contact details of ward councillors if you believe that Basildon Council officers are not dealing with the matter raised efficiently.
The final matter you raised is outside of the Residents Association control. However, I did copy that part of your letter to the person concerned and that person subsequently contacted the police to evidence that no fraud had taken place. The matter is now being dealt with.
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Post by rosegriffintwidell on May 31, 2015 11:51:16 GMT
So far all the consultation documents sent back have been in favour of the Residents Association's community bid for Page Woods except for one. Very wisely one person queried public liability and asked who would be responsible if an accident occurred on the site. A few other people may be asking the same question. We are currently looking at public liability insurance and whether or not is needed.
We only tied the current vendor down to a price and time line for completion on 10th April. We could not put in a grant application until this was agreed in writing. The next step was the public consultation which again had to be completed before the grant application goes in this coming week. One of the things we have to look at is public liability insurance. At the moment we are still waiting for quotations and information. We are getting so much conflicting advice that I feel we need to take legal advice or seek help from a public body with experience of woodland. On Friday 29th May Stephen Metcalfe walked around the woods with us and advised us to contact the Corporation of London as they manage Epping Forest. We are also visiting the Wilderness Trust offices to speak to their management team when a date can be arranged. They own a small woodland near Chelmsford so must have the same issue.
it's been suggested that as long as we put up a notice saying that people enter at their own risk that we have no liability but we are by no means certain of this and is something we need to check.
What we do know is that the wood will be managed by Trustees ( a minimum of three). We are not going to sort out the public liability insurance/trust deed before the grant application goes in. We do not want to spend several hundreds of pounds on solicitor fees if our application is not successful. So at the moment it is a "chicken and egg situation". However, please be assured that we will sort out the public liability issue before the completion date (assuming our bid is successful) of mid August.
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Post by rosegriffintwidell on May 26, 2015 13:33:11 GMT
Thanks, Leah. That would be absolutely great.
Daphne is collecting all gifts. but as per thread above she would prefer to take them the week before the event.
I hope the event is well attended.
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Post by rosegriffintwidell on May 25, 2015 7:25:51 GMT
Thanks a trillion for the pledges.
Well, a local couple who have moved in together now have 2 of everything so have offered us the duplicates for a boot sale or the table top sale on 18th July. Please see the general board and watch the Events Section of the website which may not have been updated yet. We are still trying to arrange some Events.
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Post by rosegriffintwidell on May 23, 2015 14:46:07 GMT
Join Daphne, Joan, Pauline, Beryl and the rest of the girls who did such a superb job at the parish fete café for a Coffee Morning and Table Top Sale Saturday 18th July 134, Pound Lane 10 a.m. - 1.00 p.m.
As well as making cakes they are busy knitting and stitching fun items to be sold/raffled on the day All profits to the Residents Association If you have any good quality donations for raffle/ Table Top Sale etc. please take them to 134 Pound Lane the week preceding 18th July. Thank you for your support. Any left overs from the table top will go to a car boot sale.
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Post by rosegriffintwidell on May 23, 2015 14:38:53 GMT
A couple who are bringing two households together have a surplus of stuff (2 of everything). They have kindly offered the duplicates to us for Daphne's Coffee Morning on 18th July (yet to go on the Events Section of the Website) or for a boot sale in aid of the Residents Association.
There will be too much for the coffee morning. Is there anyone who would care to give a hand with a boot sale? I am willing to help but my small car would be unsuitable to take everything there.
There are also 2 white settees which might be exchanged for a donation
ChairResidentsAssociation@outlook.com
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Post by rosegriffintwidell on May 23, 2015 14:30:53 GMT
We only started the ball rolling in April when the current owners agreed a price in writing.
As of this morning the value of pledges is more like £5k. We have asked the parish for a donation and hope to hear about this by the end of the week.
The 1st June is the date we have to get our grant application in by. We need to include in that application the number of consultation forms we get back NOT whether we have sufficient donations to complete the purchase although we do need to show that we are fundraising. We are still chasing up responses to the consultation.
The completion date will be mid August and if we have not raised the balance by then we are hoping that we will get sufficient people to put in interest free loans until we can fundraise for the balance.
More fundraising events will be on the website soon. Many thanks for your offer of help.
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Post by rosegriffintwidell on May 19, 2015 16:44:42 GMT
I'm afraid I don't know why the Echo used an old photo. We sent the photo which is currently on the website and twitter.
We are not collecting money. We are asking for pledges. If we collect money for a specific purpose i.e. to buy Page Woods then we must return any money collected if the bid is not successful. To date £4000 has been pledged by 70 households but £1000 of this is from just one family.
Unfortunately, the envelopes we put through letter boxes in late April/early May were thrown away by many households. A quick survey found that 5 out of 8 households said that they did not receive the consultation documents. We were told that if we put a blank envelope through the door that the households would have thrown it away believing that it was either election related or an advert.
We now need to go back to the households who have not responded (for consultation purposes rather than donations) to make sure that they are aware of what is going on.
Do you fancy lending a hand?
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