The Hadleigh SocietyOct 2009
Newsletter Index Up Feb 2009 Oct 2009

 

If you want to see the newsletter in printed format here's a PDF version

Next Meeting: Members’ Evening

At 8pm on Wednesday 21st October in Hadleigh Old Town Hall. We turn the tables and offer you the chance to be the presenter. Any reminiscences you have about Hadleigh would be of interest to us all. You might want to talk about characters who are no longer with us, the trades they engaged in, or buildings that have changed.

Free to members of the Society; for others there is a charge of £2.

“Ten things you didn’t know about the Guildhall”

Saturday 24th October from 1.30 – 5.30pm

Come and discover the varied history of this beautiful grade 1 listed building in a family friendly History day. Tudors, Smugglers, Victorians, Edwardians, 1930's and 1940's displays.

Refreshments available.

Contributions of £2 a family most welcome on the door.

Not all parts of the building are suitable for buggies, you may be asked to park them on the day.

There is also a Forties dance in the evening in the grand hall tickets (limited numbers) available on the day for £7.

The Hadleigh Traffic Working party meeting

by Nina Sherwood, who represents the Hadleigh Society on the Traffic Working Party

I admit that I am also there to draw the Working Party’s attention to the speed of the traffic using Angel Street with an aim to find an effective way to reduce the speed and other dangerous driving that residents complain of. I have received positive support from both the Police and Suffolk County Council, who have promised to carry out speed surveys and speed awareness intervention in the next month or so, once radar guns have been calibrated.

When I spoke with many of the residents, they also complained of damage to their property by people returning home after a late night in the town centre. Nearly everyone I spoke to had a story of damage to vehicles or their homes. The Police were very understanding and at pains to communicate the actions they take to lessen this issue.  Unfortunately very few people notify the Police of damage, which means that their crime figures show far less need for extra staff than is really needed. The message from them is that EVERY incident should be reported, which would give them higher priority for staff and money to provide for example, a CCTV camera near the Eight Bells.

Other points arising from the Traffic Working Party meeting include:

·         Re-painting road signs; Magdalen Road for example is illegible.

·         New roads on the ‘Army Estate’ to be adopted by the Council

·         ‘Snags’ in the new Magdalen Road 20 mph area to be rectified.

·         20 mph and 30 mph signage in the Magdalen Road area to be reviewed and altered where necessary

·         Station Road, near the school  is on the waiting list to become a “20’s Plenty” zone

·         The Police cannot enforce a 20 mph speed limit as the existing legislation only identifies 30 mph as a legal speed limit.

·         Certain corners around the town have been identified as danger spots for accidents. White lines are planned to be painted to prevent parking too close to these junctions.

·         Parking in Church Road is an issue and double yellow lines are to be reviewed here.

Residents in Benton Street have for some time been raising issues around the traffic using the road. The first set of issues concerns danger to pedestrians: from speeding cars, from cars mounting the pavement where traffic jams occur, and at the very narrow stretch of pavement near the old Hadleigh Builders yard.

The other issue concerns very large vehicles trying to use the very narrow road. The signage is confusing, incorrect and not a deterrent to lorries, who are (presumably) following their Sat Navs’ instructions to points North.

The Benton Street representatives are frustrated by the slow speed of progress in these matters, often hampered by lack of budget. Money has recently been allocated to support work to sort out the signage, carry out surveys and draw up plans for widening the pavement where it is very narrow.


AGM, 2009

The Treasurer reported that in order to maintain the standard of talks, at the next AGM we will have to consider raising the subscription.

The History Group’s work on the Dean’s Diary culminated in a successful presentation in December 2008. If you missed that you might like to watch out for a repeat presentation to the Friends of St Mary’s Church, but no date has yet been set. The next topic of research is Hadleigh Traders of the 19th Century. Transcriptions of the trade directories, newspaper advertisements, parish magazines, census returns and local memoirs are being incorporated as well as traders’ bills or vouchers. The Group will be delving into the Hadleigh Archives, hopefully to discover some interesting invoices, but any local information concerning the Traders of the past would be appreciated. 

In his report, the Chairman, John Bloomfield welcomed ideas for future talks. He thanked Jan Byrne (in her absence) for her hard work over many years.  She has stood down from the Executive Committee. 

The following were elected for the coming year:

Chair :             John Bloomfield

Vice Chair :     Graham Panton

Secretary :        Steve Sherwood

Treasurer :       Chris Drake

Members :

Margaret Woods (Membership Secretary )
Sue Angland
Nina Sherwood
Roy O’Shaughnessy
Hattie Bawden
Gerald Tryon.

(Since then Roy O’Shaughnessy has resigned from the Committee.)

Under Any Other Business the matter of using the Guildroom for meetings was raised. This is more accessible for disabled members but the furniture has to be moved by those who rent it. It is smaller and less comfortable than the Old Town Hall room currently used.