Councillor B Taylor, Website working party

Chairman, reported that it has combined its home

page enabling access to

both business and tour-ism websites.

Councillor N Elliott, Chairman of the Tourism

Working Party, reported on the Tourist Informa-

tion Point; town maps and poster boards; the

tourism website and Bec-

cles railway station.

Councillor H Taylor

Chairman of the Emer-gency Plan Working Party

reported on this now disbanded group initiated

by the Mayor after the flooding last year, stating

that in any future emer-

gency steps can be taken to ensure rapid expedi-

ency of aid where needed.

Reports were received from the Allotments As-

sociation, Beccles Twin-ning group, WW1 Com-

memoration Working

Party, Beccles Business & Tourism Association, Bec-

cles Police, Waveney Dis-trict Council and Suffolk

County Council.

Many questions were

raised by the public re-questing further informa-

tion on the Fen Charity

and why questions posed by the public at town

council meetings are not recorded in the minutes.

The Annual Town Meet-ing was held on Tuesday

29th April 2014 in the Council Chambers to

which all residents of

Beccles were invited. At the meeting were eleven

members of the elector-ate along with thirteen

town councillors. Taking the minutes of the meet-

ing was Mrs Claire Boyne, Town Clerk and

also attending was PCSO

J Quantrill, Suffolk Police.

The Mayor was the first

to give her report thank-ing her fellow councillors

and the Clerks for all their hard work, commit-

ment and support during her first term as Mayor.

She had a very busy year

with over 100 invitations from organisations etc,

and met regularly with the four market town

leaders.

Councillor G Catch-

pole reported on the Environment & Estates

Working Party mention-

ing last years’ inclement weather when trees were

lost and also mainte-nance to ditches/dykes

and the repair of sluice gates linking to the town

main drain. Suffolk Wild-life Trust inspected the

Common and were

pleased with how the council managed it con-

sidering the usage by the community.

Rabbit control is still on-going but damage con-

tinues to the surface.

Councillor B Woodruff reported that the Finance

Committee had set up a sub-committee to review

the council’s financial

regulations and standing orders due to amend-

ments through the Local-ism Bill. The committee

recommended a £10,000 contribution towards the

resurfacing of the car park at Common Lane

South along with contin-

ued support of £4,500 for the Tourist Information

Point’s Co-ordinator for 2014. The committee

met last October and discussed the budget and

precept for 2014/15.

Councillor B Woodruff

continued with a report

from the Assets and Leases Working Party

and advised of several leases being undertaken.

Councillor B Taylor, Planning Chairman, gave

a short report on deci-sions made on received

planning applications

during the year.

Councillor D Peck,

Pride in Beccles Chair-man, reported on the

activities of this group regarding works at Kil-

brack; installation of me-morial seating; flower

towers; installation of

bins and works to Ravensmere gardens.

Councillor G Catch-pole gave a short report

on the Friday Market which is now being run

by the Town Council.

T H E C H A R T E R

A N N U A L T O W N M E E T I N G

B E C C L E S T O W N C O U N C I L

I n s i de th i s i s s ue :

Fusion Theatre New Mayor Waste Less/Save More Beccles Museum—HELP

2

Helping Hands Hangar Dance Hospice Fund Beccles Festival

3

FUN RUN for EACH UK Power Networks Councillor’s Contact Details

4

J UN E 2 0 1 4

Is s u e 32

PLEASE NOTE:

The draft min-

utes of the

Annual Town

Meeting, along

with full re-

ports, can be

found on the

town council’s

w e b s i t e

www.beccles.info

TWO TIMES A LADY!

B E C C L E S AN D D I S TR I C T M US E U M

The Mayor announced her Appeal for 2014/15. To raise funds and profile the Waveney Stardust II boat for the dis-abled, giving access to the River Waveney. The main fund ing however is for Beccles Community Arts (BCA) to install a Community Stage on Beccles Quay. They have been working towards this by holding the Harvest Moon Free Music Festi-val event at Beccles Quay an-nually for the past six years on the second Saturday in August. They had come to a standstill over the reluctance by Wave-ney District Council to deliver the small piece of land required and nearly gave up, but upon hearing that Beccles Town Council is to take over part of the Quay area, the opportunity was too good to miss. BCA were extremely grateful to hear this news and in the future it is hoped to turn this part of the Quay into a much-needed park facility for the community.

The Town Council held their Mayor Making on Tuesday 20th May when Councillor Mrs Caro-line Topping was voted in to serve a second Term of Office as Mayor of Beccles. Councillor Topping was a very popular Mayor last year, and when invited to serve another year she was more than happy to continue in the role, with assis-tance from her new Deputy, Councillor Hugh Taylor. It’s not that often that a Mayor is re-elected to serve a consecutive term of office, the last being Councillor Pearl Elizabeth Tay-lor, 1960/62, who was Beccles’ first lady mayor in the days when Beccles was a Borough Council. The ceremony included exchanges of Mayor Cadet Badges from one Airforce Ca-det, Sgt Kieran Dennington to an Army Cadet, namely Cpl Toby Currie, (Mayor’s Cadets are picked by their own officers for this position). The Mayor didn’t have to change her robes

and carried straight through, introducing the new Sergeant –at-Mace, Mr John Rogers and giving her acceptance speech. (The former Sergeant-at-Mace Fred Davey retired on 31st December 2013 after four years service.) This is the first official event John has carried out. The new Deputy Mayor, Councillor Hugh Taylor, was sworn in and gave a short speech of acceptance.

Mayor’s Appeal 2013/14

The Mayor then spoke on the previous year’s engagements, thanking those who helped her during that time. She advised that the Mayor’s Appeal during this last year for the 2nd Bec-cles Sea Scouts was approach-ing £19,000 but hoped £20,000 would be the final sum, which would go a long way to achiev-ing the changes this unit needed for the next 100 years.

Mayor’s Appeal 2014/15

WASTE LESS AND SAVE MORE

throws away around £700 worth of food per year,

but composting can change this. The A-Z

Guide gives tips for waste

reduction, including better portioning, storage and

menu suggestions for left-overs.

The A-Z of Recycling can be found by going

to

http:/www.greensuffolk.org/

recycling/a-z-of-recycling/

A new campaign for 2014, the Suffolk Waste Partner-

ship, are urging residents to ‘Waste Less and Save

More’. To assist in this a

new A-Z of Recycling has been launched to save

resident’s money. In 2013 the taxpayer paid £3.5

million to dispose of recy-cable items to landfill and

residents in Suffolk spent £500,000 for the disposal

of textiles to landfill. By

using the A-Z Guide, householders can see that

there are many ways to reuse clothing and other

textiles through many out-lets including Household

Waste Recycling Centres

and councils’ kerb-side t e x t i l e s c o l l e c t i o n

schemes. It can also help householders to reduce

their food waste, as esti-mated cost of this in Suf-

folk was over £3.9 million in 2013, sending nearly

44,000 tones of food

waste to landfill. The av-erage UK household

THE DATE FOR THIS VIEWING WILL BE

PUBLISHED IN THE

LOCAL PAPERS

MUSEUM NOTICE BOARD AND

THE SEPTEMBER

‘CHARTER’

CALLING ALL

PUPILS WHO

ATTENDED

LEMAN HOUSE

PNEU SCHOOL

People who attended this school and had the pleasure of being taught by the late Miss Pagan in the 50s-60s-70s, will be invited later this Sum-mer to view in the re-gion of over forty photo-graphs taken personally by the late Miss Pagan at the school.

T H E C H A R T E R P a g e 2

CALLING ALL PUPILS

WHO ATTENDED

LEMAN HOUSE PNEU

BECCLES MUSEUM

FORMERLY LEMAN HOUSE

PNEU SCHOOL

Fusion Musical Theatre is a

unique, family-run mobile thea-tre company based in the Wave-

ney Valley. Actively encouraging under 13s (but we encourage

6-12 year olds too) with little or no performance experience, by

using music and drama to build confidence, self-esteem and

valuable life skills. Fusion pro-

duces three musicals annually and has a free entry policy for

access to all. We have close links to various charities and

have raised over £2,000 for the Bulgarian Orphans Fund

through these productions. Fu-sion rehearsals are held in sev-

eral primary schools in the

Waveney Valley and on Satur-days in Beccles. Workshops are

offered for adults in the work-place and community groups

upon request.

If you are interested in joining us for our next production, or

for further information, please v i e w o u r w e b s i t e

www.fusionmusicaltheatre.co.uk or phone/text 07958 978530

FUSION THEATRE

B EC C LES F EST IVA L

This group continues to support local charities and have donated over £100 to Friends of James Paget, £355 for the Mayor’s Ap-peal 2013/14 and earlier in the year, held a reunion for the Suf-folk Regiment attended by over 30 people. Their AGM is held on Thursday 12th June at 5.30pm at Beales Coffee Shop, where you can find out more about their work for businesses and the community.

Once again the Beccles Festi-val is being staged over a weekend in June from 27th to 29th. 27th - Music for Harp, Lute and Voice and Hungate Church, 7.30pm. 28th — the under 25s Waveney Young Musicians at 7.30pm from the Sir John Leman High School and on 29th the Festival Cho-rus from 7.30pm at St Michael’s Church. Tickets and info? Go to becclesfestival.co.uk

Beccles Open Gardens (BOGs) is taking place on Sat-urday 5th July (during ‘Charter Weekend) centered on the Beccles Museum Garden. For more information beccle-sog.blogspot.com Want to be i n v o l v e d ? b e c c l e -sog@gmail.com

Beccles Lorry Watch: to help spot lorries breaking the weight restrictions become an ob-s e r ve r . l o r r y w a t c h b e c -

cles@gmail.com

H E L P I N G H AN D S H I T £ 2 0 ,0 0 0 M I L E S T O N E

Gary Johnson explained:

‘Beccles Helping Hands is a group that exists as a social club for raising funds for individuals, local groups and organisations who have difficulty raising their own funds for spe-cific purposes in Beccles and surrounding villages. We provide a ‘helping hand’ for people who are trying to help themselves, so we were delighted to support Linda in her time of need. We hope that the scooter will give her the independence she de-serves and we wish her all the best for the future.’

After ten years of Ghost Walks, History Walks and

other fund raising events, Beccles Helping Hands

reached a significant mile-

stone when total dona-tions passed £20,000 after

receiving a letter for help from Linda Ward. Linda is

known as the ‘Queen’ of the Beccles Red Hat La-

dies Group, and she is used to raising money for

special causes for others

herself.

However, after returning

home from Sheffield Spi-nal Unit four months after

having an Epidural Hema-toma removed from her

spine, Linda found herself in need of assistance to

regain some independ-ence.

Linda said ‘I have started to regain some sensation in my legs, but I still can’t move them, so have had to rely on my neighbour and good friend Margaret to push me in the heavy manual wheelchair pro-vided by the hospital, so we can’t go far from my house.’

On hearing her story, the

Beccles Helping Hands group were delighted to

fund a ‘Boot Scooter’ for Linda, which is both light

and compact enough to fit into Margaret’s car.

Helping Hands Chairman,

S T AL W AR T S OR G AN IS E T HE 2 5 T H H AN G AR D ANCE I N AI D O F H O S P I CE CARE

Care, which then merged with St Elizabeth Hospice

in 2011. Ken Woodgate said ‘The Hangar Dance is always a night to remem-ber, and this year will be no exception as we reach the milestone of our 25th event. St Elizabeth Hos-pice is a fantastic charity which is already support-ing people in Waveney and Gt Yarmouth. We hope to raise thousands of pounds to reach out to more patients.’

A dedicated couple of fundraisers are organising

their 25th 1940s inspired Hangar Dance in Beccles

in aid of local hospice

care. Ken and Sue Wood-gate of Lowestoft are or-

ganising the event at the original T2 hangars on

Ellough Airfield in aid of St Elizabeth Hospice, which

provides day care and in-patient beds for people in

Waveney and Gt Yar-

mouth. The Hangar Dance will be held over two

nights at Ellough Airfield, Beccles on FRIDAY 27TH

and SATURDAY 28TH JUNE 2014. Most people

dress up in 1940s war-

time costumes, and there will be period music from

the SUPER SWING BIG BAND. There will also be

military vehicles, a Lindy Hop display and refresh-

ments. Mr & Mrs Wood-gate were part of a group

which launched the

dances fourteen years ago in aid of Waveney Hospice

P a g e 3 I s s u e 3 2

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT KEN AND SUE WOODGATE ON 01502 511944 Last year ‘s event raised £8,000! CAN IT BE BEATEN?

Beccles Helping Hands

Vice-Chairman Nigel Bar-tram and Michele Johnson,

Treasurer with Linda Ward aboard her new lightweight

scooter

HARVEST MOON 7TH FREE

MUSIC

FESTIVAL

SATURDAY 9TH AUGUST

2014

NOON TILL DUSK

BECCLES QUAY

BOGs and LORRY WATCH BECCLES TRADERS

sick or with a disability, blind or visually impaired,

or deaf, have young ba-bies, or live in nursing or

residential homes for the

elderly. We help by calling you if bad weather is ap-

proaching which may cause a power cut, and

supply a phone number to call if power is cut. We

can provide a generator or book you into a hotel and

keep you updated via text

or a call, or may ask the Red Cross to visit your

home offering extra sup-port. Know of anyone?

Email to

psr@ukpowernetworks.co.uk

(or online to)

www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/

priority

UK POWER NETWORKS

Who do you call if there is a power cut?

UK Power Networks owns and maintains electricity

cables and lines across

London and the South East and East of England,

making sure your lights stay on. Power cuts can

be caused by bad weather, when severe

winds cause damage to overhead power lines or

wind-borne debris and

trees falling on power lines; water, if it gets un-

derground and into cables and people working on

lines can all cause dam-age.

We work hard on preven-tion methods including

t r e e - t r i m m i ng p r o -

grammes, flood defence measures and provision of

plans of where electricity cables are sited, along

with training of other com-

panies’ staff. Overall we spend £600 million to

maintain and replace power lines every year.

For vulnerable customers we understand that extra

support is needed and offer priority assistance,

and if we know where you

are, we can help.

A list called the Priority

Services Register holds thousands of customers

who would feel particularly vulnerable during a power

cut. To apply you must be dependent on medical

equipment, chronically

Town Hall

The Walk

BECCLES

NR34 9AJ

Open: 9am-1pm Mon-Fri

Phone: 01502 712109

FAX: 01502 716166

E mail: admin@beccles.info

B E C C L E S T O W N C O U N C I L

COUNCILLOR’S CONTACT DETAILS

COUNCILLOR /WARD ADDRESS TELEPHONE

CENTRE

HARRIS, J D 26 Hungate, Beccles NR34 9TT 01502 717237

SCOTT, C J 3 Firfield Close, Beccles NR34 9YE 01502 710304

THWAITES, A 20 South Road, Beccles NR34 9NY 01502 714161

WOODRUFF, B 13 Meadow Gardens, Beccles NR34 9PA 01502 713053

COMMON

BUBB, Mrs S The Round House, Ballygate, Beccles NR34 9NA 01502 713314

FOULGER, S P R ‘Rosy Dawn’, 4 Ellough Road, Beccles NR34 7AE 01502 710370

WAREHAM, E K Cottage Farmhouse, Beccles Road, Raveningham 01508 548733

Norwich NR14 6NW

ELLIOTT, Mrs N 2 Old Hall, Barsham, Beccles NR348HB 01502 714661

RIGBOURNE

CATCHPOLE, G 32 Coney Hill, Beccles NR34 7AZ 01502 712103

PECK, D W 8 Waveney Road, Beccles NR34 9NW 01502 712627

TAYLOR, H 25 Northgate, Beccles NR34 9AS 01502 471532

(DEPUTY MAYOR)

TOPPING, MRS C (MAYOR) 7 Rigbourne Hill, Beccles NR34 9JG 01502 717276

DARBY

BEE, B 46 Clerk’s Piece, Beccles NR34 7BG 01502 712812

HAYNES, MRS M 63a Kemp’s Lane, Beccles NR34 9XB 01502 714093

RICHARDSON, D 11 Old College Close, Ballygate, Beccles 01502 716616

NR34 9LY

TAYLOR, B 2 Fairfax Court, Beccles NR34 9XG 01502 713307

Fusion Members at

their last production

Join the most colourful FUN

RUN you will ever be part of! Get showered with clouds of

coloured powder as you dash around our 5km course. Sign

up today and be part of the first Colour Dash in Suffolk!

Entry £20 for adults and £10 for

kids £175 for a team of 10 adults—Family £45—2 adults, 2

children or 1 adult and 3 children. You can be a Colour Pirate for £10

(+ EACH T Shirt) ready to shower participants with paint as they

pass each kilometre. NICE!

Sign up at :

www.treehousecolourdash/eventbrite.co.uk

(East Anglian Children’s Hos-pices—The Tree House)