Little Waldingfield Flower Festival coming soon

Little Waldingfield

FLOWER FESTIVAL

ST. LAWRENCE CHURCH

(On B1115 Sudbury to Stowmarket Road)

Theme:  ‘Count Your Blessings’

 

Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 September 2017

10am – 6pm both days

Free Admission -Donations welcome
Refreshments in the Church

Stalls    Tombola    Raffle

Songs of Praise, Sunday 6.30 p.m.

  

I understand that in addition to the attractions above there will be an art and crafts exhibition in the Parish Rooms.

Like Jazz or folk music? Just the evening for you

A CONCERT BY

LANDERMASON

Thursday 8 June

at 7.30pm

St. Lawrence Church

Little Waldingfield

Northumbrian based song-writing duo LANDERMASON are

Fiona Lander (vocals, piano, whistles, saxophones, clarinet, recorder) and Paul Mason (guitar, vocals).  Together they have developed a unique sound which combines both traditional and contemporary folk with jazz and other styles.

TICKETS £10

Nancy Roser (01787) 882897

M 07792 299618

Vicky Nicholls (01787) 249741

or at the door

Bar and Raffle

“Lander showed impressive command of multiple instruments, whilst Mason’s jazz-tinged folk guitar playing was exceptional.”

Edinburgh Fringe

An uncertain future for the Swan

The Swan Inn in Little Waldingfield, pictured above, faces an uncertain future as its owners of several years have declared bankrupcy.

The pub is still open and meals are available.  The Receiver has put in a management team and it is understood that it is the intention to sell the pub, hopefully as a going concern.

This is not the first time that this business has been in trouble, and I attach under the White Swan Tab above an article that gives the history by local writer and broadcaster, Brian Tora, who lives next door to the pleasant and atmospheric village inn.

Concert by St Edmundsbury Male Voice Choir

Thanks to our Little Waldingfield Senior Correspondent, Andy Sheppard, for sending photos of last week's very successful concert in aid of St Lawrence's Church.  The St Edmundsbury Male Voice Choir sang an eclectic selection of songs from round the world to high acclaim from the large audience.  One of the choir's members, John Sparkes, who lives in the village, sponsored the event, and at the same time fulfilled a long term ambition to stage a concert in Little Waldingfield.

It is clear that the evening was hugely enjoyable.  Moreover a much needed £1500 was raised for the church fabric fund.

The outstanding beauty and grace of St Lawrence's can be seen from the photo below, taken from the altar steps.

Little Waldingfield Flower Festival

The floral displays at the flower festival held in St Lawrence's church, Little Waldingfield over the weekend were up to the usual high standard.

The theme this year was childhood games.  Pictures recording the event can be seen below.

Porch arrangement by Audrey Ewen

'Water play' display in the font

Many cups of tea etc. were served over the two day event.

Broadband alert for Little Waldingfield

A message from the Better Broadband Team

We have upgraded to give fibre broadband in:

 

Little Waldingfield (Fibre to the Premises)

 

This serves premises with postcodes beginning:

 

CO10 0

CO10 9

 

-Please note that not all premises in the postcodes above are guaranteed to be served by this new cabinet; please check with your internet service provider.
-For overall progress and detailed coverage, visit the website

 

Take-up of new broadband services is key to the success of our programme.  You can  now inform local residents and businesses in this area that they can contact their Internet Service Provider to see what kind of packages they could benefit from and we will provide you with some material which you could use to do this.

Please pass the message on!

 

Regards, Suffolk Better Broadband Programme Team

broadband@suffolk.gov.uk

Bus Route 112

I have had some information about the Bus Service 112 which makes a return journey every Tuesday and Thursday from Hadleigh, through Kersey, Semer, Bildeston, Chelsworth, Monks Eleigh, Brent Eleigh, Milden, Little Waldingfield, Great Waldingfield and finishing in Sudbury.  This is a service that is sponsored by Suffolk County Council.

Concerns had been expressed that this service was to be discontinued.  In response to a request for information the following comments have been recieved:
The 112 bus service which operates on Tuesday and Thursday was initially contracted for one year and I can confirm that we have recently extended the contract with Suffolk Norse for a further period securing the service until May 2016. Whilst the patronage has been variable the overall performance of the contract is such that we were happy to extend the contract. We do not plan to change the timetable or days of operation.

In addition the available budget allocated for passenger transport has remained virtually unchanged. Although this does mean that the department has to absorb any inflationary pressures the work being undertaken elsewhere in the county means that we are confident that (barring any major changes) no service reductions will be necessary.

This is good news, but one thing that residents should note is the comment that 'patronage has been variable'.  When considering a trip to Sudbury do think about taking the bus!  This could be a real use it or lose it situation bearing in mind the need to make continuing 'savings' from County Council budgets.

Musical evening at St Lawrence's Church

 We managed to put the election firmly behind us last weekend by attending a first rate musical evening at St Lawrence’s Church organised by the Little Waldingfield History Society.

An audience of around 120 people enjoyed a varied and eclectic programme of works from Bach, Morricone, Paganini. Vivaldi and Albeniz.  All pieces were attractive and played with a high level of professional polish.  The high spots of the evening were the two well-known Bach concertos, one for two violins and the other for oboe and violin.  These are pieces that take no prisoners and both were executed with precision and style.

The ensemble was brought together by Little Waldingfield resident and trustee of the LWHS Gillian Harritt.  She is an accomplished violinist who was a member of the orchestra of the Royal Opera House for many years.  Other members of the group, oboist Emma Jane Willan, guitarist Jad Azkoul, violinist Julian Azkoul , all first rate professionals, have close family connections with Gill.  Also  joining the ensemble was our favourite keyboard player from Chilton, the ever urbane and accomplished Patrick Friend, and the cellist Nick Parry.

It was remarkable to be able to hear music making of such a high professional standard so close to home.  Proceedings were helped along immeasurably by the excellent acoustic in the very beautiful St Lawrence’s Church, a venue that is remarkably free of the reverberations and echoes experienced elsewhere.  Concert promoters take note!

Proceeds from the event went towards the maintenance of this wonderful Grade 1 listed church, which dates from the 13^th Century.  An appeal to raise funds to pay for extensive renovation works has recently been launched.

Gill Harritt with Jed Azkoul