Recorder's Report 2007

DEBDEN’S RECORDER's REPORT Jan – Dec 2007

The village activities over the last twelve months have revolved around some brand new topics, like the town twinning with the Nepalese village of Tang Ting, and some old ones like the application for funding to build a new village hall, together with some very pressing issues such as finding a replacement for the outgoing Rector Andrew Gair who had left the village in the Autumn of 2006 and the urgency of installing a CCTV system to protect the safety of the community shop helpers.

In February a meeting was held at Carver Barracks attended by residents from Debden, Debden Green, Wimbish and a group pf Gurkhas to discuss the opportunity of town twinning with the village of Tang Ting in the Nepalese mountains. This project was the brainchild of Tina Knight, Chairman of the Parish Council and District Councillor, and the twinning idea was greeted with enthusiasm. Captain Gau Gurung gave a talk about Tang Ting and colourful images of the people and their village of sturdy, traditional two-storey buildings surrounded by terraced fields on a mountain side in the Himalayas, really brought a feeling of Nepal to carver Barracks for an evening.

The Town Twinning Ceremony took place on Saturday May 12th 2007 and was attended by the Ambassador of Nepal, His Excellency Dipendra Nahadur Bista who was overwhelmed by the good will he could see all around and was particularly impressed by the School Children’s displays.

The latest chapter in the project to build a new village hall consisted in the waiting for the response to the submission of an application for funding from the Big Lottery Fund that had been sent in November 2006. As part of the Stage 1 Application assessment the Trustees of Debden Memorial Hall were contacted in the middle of January by the Grants Officer and were questioned about their ability to deliver the project, their approach to equality, how they ascertained what the community needed, what kind pf facilities they would expect to deliver, how much support there was in the village for the project etc.

If Stage 1 application were approved then the Trustees would be invited to submit a Stage 2 application. Sadly, in June the Trustees received the disappointing news that the Big Lottery Fund had rejected their application because, among other reasons:

“ Unfortunately, the competition for our funds and the need to ensure that a good range of projects was funded meant that the committee decided not to offer you a grant”. So the search goes on.

After much correspondence and liaison with the Bishop of Colchester, the search for a new priest in charge of the United Benefice of Debden and Wimbish came to a successful conclusion with the appointment of the Rev Hilary Davy who was licensed to take up her duties on Tuesday December 11^th at 7.45pm in Wimbish Church. The pastoral care of Carver Barracks would be taken over by the Saffron Walden team.

Debden’s Village shop celebrated its 25^th anniversary on September 1^st with two bands, a tombola and a Casino, a bar for liquid refreshment and four large tables groaning with an amazing variety of food. The shop was started by a group of volunteers in January 1982 and it was the first “Community Shop” to be created in Essex owned and run by the village. It is remarkable that 25 years on the shop is still going from strength to strength offering the village a very good shopping facility and a sub Post Office. However, modern day security issues caught up with the shop early in 2007 when one Saturday morning a telephone call requesting information regarding CCTV equipment was received at the shop with the caller claiming to be from the police, a statement that turned out to be untrue. The Essex police were informed and expressed their concern. Subsequent discussions between the shop committee and the parish council led to an immediate decision to install CCTV at the village shop.Eventually the necessary equipment was donated and installed within two weeks by Sygma Security Systems of Pampisford.

Like many villages all over the country Debden has its share of people leaving the village and newcomers moving in. A new initiative called “First Friday Debden Club” was started early in the year by the editors of the Parish Magazine to make it easy for newcomers to meet their neighbours and make new friends. On the first Friday of each month at 8.30pm in one of the two pubs in turn, one of the editors would ensure that newcomers who made themselves known to them would be introduced to as many people as possible. This initiative started off with mixed results, but, by the end of the year, it was quite popular, was revamped and renamed “The Debden Second Friday Club”!

Elisabeth Blackie

Debden Local History Recorder