Post by JEM on Oct 27, 2019 3:02:03 GMT
Jan 26th 2013 saw the first of periodical Free Fish and Chip Suppers on with a slides Show and Quiz for Members of the Darts and Bingo Clubs. We started the first week of the new year with a large hole in the road replacing a broken sewage pipe with a tanker pumping the sewage off, and we had running water down the road from Christmas eve to January from a burst water main New external and hallway/staircase lighting was installed. Followed quickly by the installation of Stairlifts. 19 of us travelled to the RHS Gardens at Wisely arranged by Joyce Lyddiate at No 37. ECC resurfaced the road. A small Project Team demolished the old shed and created a new patio garden next to the Common Room designed by Ms Anna Stanton. Our last gas fire was removed.
2014 saw the introduction of the new electric hand driers.. We collected for Ben the Cleaner. We had a pancake supper. New Common Room lights were installed. Chains were removed from doors. Homesight visited the Common Room providing on site optician cover. We had a Chinese supper. We had a Beetle Drive. We held our last Children in Need support event. Regular Quiz Nights continued .Tony did another outside Tombola event in support of MacMillan nurses. Some of us were involved in Operation Christmas Child. Jan and her team laid on another excellent annual; Christmas tide Luncheon.
2015 brought CCTV Cameras on site. Some of our resident cars were scratched, Darts Club petered out Comfort Plus brought special chairs, buggies, and beds and demonstrated them. The first UDC Sheltered Housing Forum was held here. Members of the UDC Regulatory panel called here doing their survey. Higher level ovens began to be fitted and new Monoxide alarms, fuseboxes and wet room lights were installed. New street lamps were installed, The Community Room was redecorated, recarpeted, refurnished,& reopened on November 20th. John came to the end of 15 years as a member of the Tenants Forum..and was elected for 2 more years. We had a good Christmas Luncheon, Eileen Smith died. Joan Searle moved to The Meadows Nursing Home at Haverhill, Eleven of us, a record, gathered for the transition of the years party.
2016 Len Chapman who did a lot for us up to 10 years ago moved to The Meadows Nursing Home at Haverhill, where he died in April. Comfort Plus gave us another demonstration. The following died:- Jean Start, George Bassett, Ivy Swan , and Kathy Bateman who had been here the longest since 1963 when she came as a child with her parents. Her father being a Council employee. Our Action Team of volunteers had the rose bed replanted as the bushes had died, with shrubs funded from our Genera Fund, celebrating the Queens 90th birthday, and the Action team have also planted new plants in the Patio Garden. In March and May Quizzes were arranged The Bingo Club had another Half Yearly Supper. In August we celebrated the 100th Birthday of resident Elsie Bard and celebrated the Queen 90th Birthday with a strawberry Cream Tea. Our former Deputy Chair Joyce Lyddiate moved, and further residents died, James Todd, Cindy Jones, Edna Pearson. and Barry Wrankmore. John Haggerwood at No 26 was the first person here to introduce plastic grass to his garden. The last 21 of our commemorative hymn books not used here since 2005 were despatched to a mission in Malawi. Jan our Chair person moved out in October to her new bungalow pending her retirement in March 2017. 36 of us gathered for our Christmas Luncheon, entertained by Beanie £95 was raised by the Christmas Raffle. 12 of us gathered for the annual Transitional Party Dec 31st – Jan1st with a Quiz, Pass the Parcel, Putting the Tail on the Donkey, Singing Dancing, Auld Lang Syne and far too much food.
A NEW CHAPTER BEGAN.
In 2017 we marked the New Year with the arrival of the Community Room Computer and printer on which since February we are attempting to load the coloured master editions of FAN, and we can get access to the internet including our own personal email accounts, and FACEBOOK and through that SAFFRON WALDEN BLAST FROM THE PAST group which has over 3,000 members and on which we put Four Acres news visual reports from time to time. 5 people asked Nicole for introductory instructions in using the machine As it was set up when we turned it online we were faced with a News Service from THE DAILY MAIL. Not everyone likes the DAILY MAIL but we don't have to read it we go to the top line of the page and highlight THE DAILY MAIL line of print and delete it and type in FACEBOOK, or our email server, or Google, or whatever other web sure we need, and click the end of that space. We must not insert into the machine our own passwords because if we do, no one else can gain access into it.
COMFORT PLUS LTD came in February to demonstrate their chairs and bed and other machines with some sales success. Jan staged her last Quiz with home made Chicken and Vegetable Soup
On March 2nd we held our first AGM for 3 years attended by 21 residents, and elected David Miles of Number 8 as our new CHAIR replacing Jan Cousins John was re-elected Coordinator [ the new title that covers his roles of Secretary, Treasurer, Archivist, Editor of FAN, and Bingo Caller and some other tasks. ] We agreed to Jan Larouche getting our supplies, and we acknowledged various other people who serve us regularly. We agreed to try out a Beetle Drive organised by Pat at No 25, and Jan at No 32 which took place successfully in May, and to have more Quizzes organised by Kate and Ian Thomson, and to book Mr Beanie for our Christmas event though that may be a buffet rather than the cooked meals of recent years, and book Mike to come over and run Play Your Cards Right, in the autumn, to hold a Picnic Lunch on the Patio on June 2nd, and a Strawberry Tea in July. We agreed to close down our deposit account and open a new account with a cheque book facility, 2 signatories, 2 debit cards, Online banking and an overdraft facility, although we have never had an overdraft these 50 years or more. We agreed to try Table Games Afternoons, on the first and third Friday afternoons monthly, 2pm - 5pm, with tea and coffee and biscuits as for other groups for 30p, and that is catching on, 14 having tried it out so far, We agreed to a Christmas Social, and another end of the year Transitional Party. In March too we said farewell to Janice Cousins [ Jan ] our Chair for 17 years and to begin with a resident Warden and then a mobile Warden but still resident among us. We made a collection raising enough for £200 worth of Gift vouchers from Homebase and Argos for getting things for her new garden and a bouquet of flowers. We arranged a special cake and a buffet meal . The following week Fergus and Nicole organised a Reception in the Community Room for UDC Housing Services staff and Four Acres & Newcroft Residents to say farewell again and make a presentation. At this we learned that Karl Lewellyn would replace Jan, which we were delighted with. On her final day here March 31st Jan held open house from Noon until 4pm for anyone who would like to drop in, and quite a few did, and we had some of her Date cake again. .
Numbers attending Bingo rose in April. Our All Groups Free Chip supper with various food was successful in late June commemorating Brexit Day 2016 We also had another Beetle Drive and a Mid Summer Quiz on St Albans Day in June. James Taylor of ECC Fire Service Harlow came to talk to us about Fire prevention and UDC Policy for that Work began to create the old boiler house into a place to store and recharge motorised mobility scooters and should be completed next year. Wiltshire Farm Foods gave us a demonstration presentation in August with freebies. At Michaelmas in September when we had our Autumn Equinox Quiz and also observed our EMERALD ANNIVERSARY – 55 years a reminder that in 5 years time we will celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Four Acres for which we set aside £200 a year from our fund raising events. In October we observed the 500th Anniversary of Reformation Day - with a well attended Quiz. In November Mike Coppins came with his PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT which was well attended. We said farewell to Elsie Bard who at 101 has moved to Hatherley House. Angie Greneski with James our Community police officer visited on Dec 7th to introduce the KEEP SAFE Scheme fobs.. The Decorations went up for our Excellent Buffet with Beany on Dec 8th when we had an hour if music and dancing when 17 joined in the dancing led by Karl Llwellyn and we drew our Christmas Raffle. We finished the hear with our 3rd annual Transitional Party on Dec 31 into Jan. 1. 2018. Late December and mid February was marked by snow falls.
So in 2018 Florence Todd moved to Thaxted and died in 2019 and Laraine Connolly died,from whose estate we gained a new Christmas Tree. Audrey Start from Whiteshot Way life and soul of any party and greatly loved where she lived, and as a member of our Bingo Club passed away. Sadly missed. We had further “Play Your Cards Right” evenings with Mike Coppins, Beetle Drives organised by Pat and Quizzes organised by Kate, and began the Scrabble Group led by John Ellis The old boiler room was changed into a place to park and recharge the batteries of mobile scooters. We celebrated Four Acres's Emerald Anniversary ] [ 55 ] with Cake & Coffee, and Tombola arranged by Tony and Pauline at No 25. We had an arranged visit one Thursday of 2 lovely greyhounds. We had a Quiz on Wulfric's Day Feb 20.The Opticians came again. John Maddams was re-elected to the Tenants Forum for his 10th 2 year session, and joined by Jan Cousins. We had an AGM attended by 16 and increased the price of Tea and Coffee from 30p to 50p, and elected Kate Thomson as our official Welcomer,
Some of us had Smart Meters fitted, We had new flat front door locks installed. We put out tins for smokers using the seats on the patio and many of us put our nuts, seed, food and water for the birds and food for the hedgehogs. We had 4 garden refuse bins put on site. We had 2 more Bingo & Cards Group Suppers. We said farewell by death to another Bingo Club member Eileen Diggons and to Grace Mead who followed the motto OTHERS BEFORE SELF and was quite a character full of good humour and encouragement. During her closing illness she participated in the Sewing Group at her home. Armchair Exercises were cancelled during the winter. There was a driving accident on our loop road and the driver sustained considerable injury. One of our bungalows was burgled. Some of us went on Richmond Coach outings to Hunstanton and Canterbury. Another group attended the Circus on the Common. We celebrated Christmas with the THREE'S COMPANY music group and a buffet organised by ASHDON CATERING, 21 households took part on our annual Celebration of Light during the Advent to New Year period, the Menorahs in the Community Room were all removed as they don't have electrical clearance for equipment in a community facility under Health and Safety regulations. We ended the year with our annual TRANSITIONAL PARTY.
Then in 2019. We continued the programme of Quizzes, Suppers, Beetle Drives, Play Your Cards Right, etc, We began selling home made crafted greeting cards for St Clare Hospice. The reception for Olga Moore's death included a display of photographs over boards on 3 tables, and gifts to her friends of jewellery. We celebrated the lives of our departed friends June Graves and Edie Joskow with another photo display. Kathleen Mitchell known to us as Hazel, departed aged 99. In July we had a Coffee Morning in support of the Middle East aid charity EMBRACE to assist Syrian refuges and Bob at No 6 and Kate at No 34 beautified the triangular bed on the approach to the mobile scooter room. Several of us went off on cruises or visits to the Med, and others went on Richmond's Coach tours to Brighton, Southwold, Whitstable and Broadstairs. As the autumn got under way we had another Quiz and Beetle Drive and Play Your Cards Right, and visits from the Fire Service and Police with new Presentations, and planned for another Christmas celebration with an Ashdon Catering Buffet and Three's Company. Then with 2020 beckoning with another Quiz booked for January, and a Beetle Drive in February we also had bulbs planted ready for Spring. The next Bingo Club Free Supper was booked for Feb 8th 2020 with 3 free rounds of Bingo and a free raffle. But putting the flags out for Brexit we had to keep postponing.
2014 saw the introduction of the new electric hand driers.. We collected for Ben the Cleaner. We had a pancake supper. New Common Room lights were installed. Chains were removed from doors. Homesight visited the Common Room providing on site optician cover. We had a Chinese supper. We had a Beetle Drive. We held our last Children in Need support event. Regular Quiz Nights continued .Tony did another outside Tombola event in support of MacMillan nurses. Some of us were involved in Operation Christmas Child. Jan and her team laid on another excellent annual; Christmas tide Luncheon.
2015 brought CCTV Cameras on site. Some of our resident cars were scratched, Darts Club petered out Comfort Plus brought special chairs, buggies, and beds and demonstrated them. The first UDC Sheltered Housing Forum was held here. Members of the UDC Regulatory panel called here doing their survey. Higher level ovens began to be fitted and new Monoxide alarms, fuseboxes and wet room lights were installed. New street lamps were installed, The Community Room was redecorated, recarpeted, refurnished,& reopened on November 20th. John came to the end of 15 years as a member of the Tenants Forum..and was elected for 2 more years. We had a good Christmas Luncheon, Eileen Smith died. Joan Searle moved to The Meadows Nursing Home at Haverhill, Eleven of us, a record, gathered for the transition of the years party.
2016 Len Chapman who did a lot for us up to 10 years ago moved to The Meadows Nursing Home at Haverhill, where he died in April. Comfort Plus gave us another demonstration. The following died:- Jean Start, George Bassett, Ivy Swan , and Kathy Bateman who had been here the longest since 1963 when she came as a child with her parents. Her father being a Council employee. Our Action Team of volunteers had the rose bed replanted as the bushes had died, with shrubs funded from our Genera Fund, celebrating the Queens 90th birthday, and the Action team have also planted new plants in the Patio Garden. In March and May Quizzes were arranged The Bingo Club had another Half Yearly Supper. In August we celebrated the 100th Birthday of resident Elsie Bard and celebrated the Queen 90th Birthday with a strawberry Cream Tea. Our former Deputy Chair Joyce Lyddiate moved, and further residents died, James Todd, Cindy Jones, Edna Pearson. and Barry Wrankmore. John Haggerwood at No 26 was the first person here to introduce plastic grass to his garden. The last 21 of our commemorative hymn books not used here since 2005 were despatched to a mission in Malawi. Jan our Chair person moved out in October to her new bungalow pending her retirement in March 2017. 36 of us gathered for our Christmas Luncheon, entertained by Beanie £95 was raised by the Christmas Raffle. 12 of us gathered for the annual Transitional Party Dec 31st – Jan1st with a Quiz, Pass the Parcel, Putting the Tail on the Donkey, Singing Dancing, Auld Lang Syne and far too much food.
A NEW CHAPTER BEGAN.
In 2017 we marked the New Year with the arrival of the Community Room Computer and printer on which since February we are attempting to load the coloured master editions of FAN, and we can get access to the internet including our own personal email accounts, and FACEBOOK and through that SAFFRON WALDEN BLAST FROM THE PAST group which has over 3,000 members and on which we put Four Acres news visual reports from time to time. 5 people asked Nicole for introductory instructions in using the machine As it was set up when we turned it online we were faced with a News Service from THE DAILY MAIL. Not everyone likes the DAILY MAIL but we don't have to read it we go to the top line of the page and highlight THE DAILY MAIL line of print and delete it and type in FACEBOOK, or our email server, or Google, or whatever other web sure we need, and click the end of that space. We must not insert into the machine our own passwords because if we do, no one else can gain access into it.
COMFORT PLUS LTD came in February to demonstrate their chairs and bed and other machines with some sales success. Jan staged her last Quiz with home made Chicken and Vegetable Soup
On March 2nd we held our first AGM for 3 years attended by 21 residents, and elected David Miles of Number 8 as our new CHAIR replacing Jan Cousins John was re-elected Coordinator [ the new title that covers his roles of Secretary, Treasurer, Archivist, Editor of FAN, and Bingo Caller and some other tasks. ] We agreed to Jan Larouche getting our supplies, and we acknowledged various other people who serve us regularly. We agreed to try out a Beetle Drive organised by Pat at No 25, and Jan at No 32 which took place successfully in May, and to have more Quizzes organised by Kate and Ian Thomson, and to book Mr Beanie for our Christmas event though that may be a buffet rather than the cooked meals of recent years, and book Mike to come over and run Play Your Cards Right, in the autumn, to hold a Picnic Lunch on the Patio on June 2nd, and a Strawberry Tea in July. We agreed to close down our deposit account and open a new account with a cheque book facility, 2 signatories, 2 debit cards, Online banking and an overdraft facility, although we have never had an overdraft these 50 years or more. We agreed to try Table Games Afternoons, on the first and third Friday afternoons monthly, 2pm - 5pm, with tea and coffee and biscuits as for other groups for 30p, and that is catching on, 14 having tried it out so far, We agreed to a Christmas Social, and another end of the year Transitional Party. In March too we said farewell to Janice Cousins [ Jan ] our Chair for 17 years and to begin with a resident Warden and then a mobile Warden but still resident among us. We made a collection raising enough for £200 worth of Gift vouchers from Homebase and Argos for getting things for her new garden and a bouquet of flowers. We arranged a special cake and a buffet meal . The following week Fergus and Nicole organised a Reception in the Community Room for UDC Housing Services staff and Four Acres & Newcroft Residents to say farewell again and make a presentation. At this we learned that Karl Lewellyn would replace Jan, which we were delighted with. On her final day here March 31st Jan held open house from Noon until 4pm for anyone who would like to drop in, and quite a few did, and we had some of her Date cake again. .
Numbers attending Bingo rose in April. Our All Groups Free Chip supper with various food was successful in late June commemorating Brexit Day 2016 We also had another Beetle Drive and a Mid Summer Quiz on St Albans Day in June. James Taylor of ECC Fire Service Harlow came to talk to us about Fire prevention and UDC Policy for that Work began to create the old boiler house into a place to store and recharge motorised mobility scooters and should be completed next year. Wiltshire Farm Foods gave us a demonstration presentation in August with freebies. At Michaelmas in September when we had our Autumn Equinox Quiz and also observed our EMERALD ANNIVERSARY – 55 years a reminder that in 5 years time we will celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Four Acres for which we set aside £200 a year from our fund raising events. In October we observed the 500th Anniversary of Reformation Day - with a well attended Quiz. In November Mike Coppins came with his PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT which was well attended. We said farewell to Elsie Bard who at 101 has moved to Hatherley House. Angie Greneski with James our Community police officer visited on Dec 7th to introduce the KEEP SAFE Scheme fobs.. The Decorations went up for our Excellent Buffet with Beany on Dec 8th when we had an hour if music and dancing when 17 joined in the dancing led by Karl Llwellyn and we drew our Christmas Raffle. We finished the hear with our 3rd annual Transitional Party on Dec 31 into Jan. 1. 2018. Late December and mid February was marked by snow falls.
So in 2018 Florence Todd moved to Thaxted and died in 2019 and Laraine Connolly died,from whose estate we gained a new Christmas Tree. Audrey Start from Whiteshot Way life and soul of any party and greatly loved where she lived, and as a member of our Bingo Club passed away. Sadly missed. We had further “Play Your Cards Right” evenings with Mike Coppins, Beetle Drives organised by Pat and Quizzes organised by Kate, and began the Scrabble Group led by John Ellis The old boiler room was changed into a place to park and recharge the batteries of mobile scooters. We celebrated Four Acres's Emerald Anniversary ] [ 55 ] with Cake & Coffee, and Tombola arranged by Tony and Pauline at No 25. We had an arranged visit one Thursday of 2 lovely greyhounds. We had a Quiz on Wulfric's Day Feb 20.The Opticians came again. John Maddams was re-elected to the Tenants Forum for his 10th 2 year session, and joined by Jan Cousins. We had an AGM attended by 16 and increased the price of Tea and Coffee from 30p to 50p, and elected Kate Thomson as our official Welcomer,
Some of us had Smart Meters fitted, We had new flat front door locks installed. We put out tins for smokers using the seats on the patio and many of us put our nuts, seed, food and water for the birds and food for the hedgehogs. We had 4 garden refuse bins put on site. We had 2 more Bingo & Cards Group Suppers. We said farewell by death to another Bingo Club member Eileen Diggons and to Grace Mead who followed the motto OTHERS BEFORE SELF and was quite a character full of good humour and encouragement. During her closing illness she participated in the Sewing Group at her home. Armchair Exercises were cancelled during the winter. There was a driving accident on our loop road and the driver sustained considerable injury. One of our bungalows was burgled. Some of us went on Richmond Coach outings to Hunstanton and Canterbury. Another group attended the Circus on the Common. We celebrated Christmas with the THREE'S COMPANY music group and a buffet organised by ASHDON CATERING, 21 households took part on our annual Celebration of Light during the Advent to New Year period, the Menorahs in the Community Room were all removed as they don't have electrical clearance for equipment in a community facility under Health and Safety regulations. We ended the year with our annual TRANSITIONAL PARTY.
Then in 2019. We continued the programme of Quizzes, Suppers, Beetle Drives, Play Your Cards Right, etc, We began selling home made crafted greeting cards for St Clare Hospice. The reception for Olga Moore's death included a display of photographs over boards on 3 tables, and gifts to her friends of jewellery. We celebrated the lives of our departed friends June Graves and Edie Joskow with another photo display. Kathleen Mitchell known to us as Hazel, departed aged 99. In July we had a Coffee Morning in support of the Middle East aid charity EMBRACE to assist Syrian refuges and Bob at No 6 and Kate at No 34 beautified the triangular bed on the approach to the mobile scooter room. Several of us went off on cruises or visits to the Med, and others went on Richmond's Coach tours to Brighton, Southwold, Whitstable and Broadstairs. As the autumn got under way we had another Quiz and Beetle Drive and Play Your Cards Right, and visits from the Fire Service and Police with new Presentations, and planned for another Christmas celebration with an Ashdon Catering Buffet and Three's Company. Then with 2020 beckoning with another Quiz booked for January, and a Beetle Drive in February we also had bulbs planted ready for Spring. The next Bingo Club Free Supper was booked for Feb 8th 2020 with 3 free rounds of Bingo and a free raffle. But putting the flags out for Brexit we had to keep postponing.