Welcome to the first edition of Little Baddow ‘Lockdown News’. As you will understand it is not possible to publish and deliver the monthly Little Baddow News during Lockdown so St Mary’s Church and the United Reformed Church (the Chapel) have decided to produce a monthly newsletter to keep everyone in touch as best we can.

As you know, both the Parish Church and the Chapel are closed until further notice and it would appear that this may continue for several months. If you have any questions or comments please get in touch with Revd. Jacqui Jones, Church-wardens, Christine Fowler or the Elders (contact details at the end of the newsletter).
Do get in touch with the Churchwardens if you have an article you would like to publish or if you have any general comments or questions. We hope that you find this issue both informative and enjoyable.
Many thanks to the contributors.
Peter Martin, Churchwarden, Retiring

Graham Lennard , Churchwarden

John Wheeldon, Churchwarden Elect

Andy Coppell, Elder

You can download a PDF copy here to print off and read at your leisure

‘Don’t take yourself too seriously’, was the parting comment of a friend who had rung up at the end of the day. I was grateful for the closing remark. The pandemic however awful, seemed to fit well with the lead up to Easter, but beyond that, it requires a bit more thinking through.
I have been impressed with many who have adjusted with grace and gusto to the situation in which we still find ourselves. First the spectacular coordination of our local parish councils, doctors and brilliant volunteers in both Little Baddow and Danbury to provide a service for those who find they can’t or mustn’t go out. This preempted and rolled out even before the sudden lockdown: all done by local people with local knowledge and a track record of tactful care. There has been an impressive voluntary care group in Little Baddow for years so the experience was already tried and tested. Then came the lovely homemade rainbows – especially ones children have made.
I have to use my imagination when wondering how Little Baddow applauds keyworkers on a Thursday – I suspect with chutzpa and style! I find it a bit of a challenge on the edge of the A414 but the dog goes ballistic with barking at the saucepans and makes up for both of us.
There is much energy and commitment that is shining through especially when families have gone through most appalling frights with loved ones ill and in hospital and worse. When I go to the crematorium the staff are brilliant, however distressing the circumstances and the funeral directors and bearers I meet are considerate and caring, not only to the little knot of mourners but also to the likes of myself. It does truly feel as if we are all in this together.
One way of not taking yourself too seriously perhaps would be to make an effort to be a bit more flamboyant, safe within the seclusion of your own home! I love the examples I have seen of families or couples dressing up and depicting a famous painting. But what I now lack in imagination and effort the dog makes up for in spades. She suddenly appeared two nights ago in my bedroom with an enormous black plastic flowerpot which she proceeded to attack. This evening I heard a thud from the other room and found the Concise Oxford Dictionary on its way into the garden. Clearly living with me has become so boring a manky flowerpot found in the bushes will be for one demanding canine the stand out moment of the day!
Having spent the best part of a week, on and off, not being able to write a suitably poignant and pitch perfect poem for our time, I realise now that even if I managed it, I suspect it would prove beyond any doubt the sure fire evidence of taking myself too seriously!
So instead, for all of you who did not see it, on the next page is a poem published last week, inspired by a phone call, as mother and daughter came together to share a common beautiful sight which only one could see. Imtiaz Dharker wrote it while she looked out over London . The marooned city had finally stopped its eternal building and the streets and the stations were becalmed. ‘That was the day it suddenly came home to many mothers what this meant, this strange waiting time without their children. I could hear the phone calls all over the world, people separated and searching for words of hope and consolation to give each other. The words my daughter gave me were about kindnesses and some-thing we had both been waiting for: the cherry trees blossoming in the parks and streets of London’.

Cranes Lean In
Cranes lean in, waiting for an all-clear
that will not come.
Forehead pressed to glass,
phone at my ear, I learn
to sail on your voice
over a sadness of building sites,
past Kings Cross, St Pancras,
to the place where you are.
You say nothing
is too far, mothers
will find their daughters,
strangers will be neighbours,
even saviours
will have names.
You are all flame
in a red dress.
Petals brush past my face.
You say at last
the cherry blossom
has arrived
as if that is what
we were really waiting for.

 

Imtiaz Dharker

Near the top of Church Road stand two churches, St Mary’s Parish Church and the United Reformed Church commonly called The Chapel on the corner of Chapel Lane.
St Mary’s has been there for at least 900 years and is a typically beautiful village Parish Church. At the back is a well- maintained lawn and well-kept grave yard giving superb views into the surrounding country-side. It is a place of peace and tranquillity where one can sit, rest, reflect and pray. It is well worth a visit. The interior of the church is also peaceful with some interesting features. Two wall paintings one of the Devil painted around 1170 and the other of St Christopher carrying the Christ Child across the water, dated from 1370. Even if you are not interested in history or religion, this church is open to all and stands for hospitality and friendship.
Closely linked in a Covenant relationship with St Mary’s is the Chapel, built in 1707. Here there is a managed wild garden with an internment area and ancient graves. A children’s play area is at the rear of the Chapel and a more modern History Centre behind an ancient cart lodge has archives of the history of Little Baddow and holds regular exhibitions.
This too is a place of calmness and peace. Sit on the bench close to the entrance of the Chapel and listen for the sounds of the countryside. The gentle clip clop of horses along Chapel Lane add to the flavour. An occasional car passing along the road is the only thing that will cut through the silence.
Little Baddow is blessed with woods, shady lanes, and a sense of peace and tranquillity. With a small population, Little Baddow has a sense of cohesiveness, which can be impossible in larger conurbations.
So in this time of trial, which will pass, we should give thanks for our village, and our churches, and when better times come, seek to preserve more fully all that is good as people continue to work together when normality returns.
Christine Fowler (Little Baddow Chapel)

St Mary’s received fantastic unexpected news at the beginning of April when we were informed that the church was to be the beneficiary of around £40,000 from the Dowley Family Trust in memory of Bill and Margaret who were longstanding church members, and Marc their son who was an enthusiastic member of the Churchyard Gang.
It came with a request that:
£15,000 be given to charity of which £5,000 should go to the Children’s Society Essex Drug and Alcohol
Service and £10,000 to be distributed at the PCC’s discretion
£10,000 be placed in a designated fund for churchyard equipment in light of Marc’s involvement
£15,000 for unrestricted use
St Mary’s PCC was very happy to support these wishes from this very generous donation. We felt that during the
current crisis the Church should be supporting and helping the local community and we had already been discussing
donating £10,000 from church funds. It was therefore agreed that we should match the Dowley donation to charity with an additional £10,000 from our church funds and give it to local charities who were responding to the problems caused by the Corona virus. An additional £5,000 would be reserved from church funds for future specific needs related to the Corona virus within Little Baddow.
These payments are now being made to the following local charities:
£10,000 to the Essex Community Foundation for the Essex Coronavirus Response and Recovery Programme which is paid as grants to local charities
£7,000 to Farleigh Hospice
£5,000 to the Children’s Society for the Essex Drug and Alcohol Service
£2,000 to CHESS
£1,000 to Chelmsford Foodbank in addition to the £200 per month for six months St Mary’s had already agreed.
Foodbanks
Foodbanks, including our local one in Chelmsford, are doing sterling work in meeting an almost overwhelming need at this present time and donations, money or foodstuffs are very gratefully received. If you would like to help this very worthy cause, the details are below:
Next deliveries from Little Baddow will be on 11th and 25th May. Food donations may be left in the porches of either Cock Farm, North Hill or Sandpit Cottage, Holybread Lane, but please make sure that they are in place no later than the day before ie. 10th and 24th May
You can donate online by credit or debit card on our secure online donation page (give.net).
Alternatively, please make cheques payable to: “Chelmsford Foodbank” and send to:
Foodbank Office
P O Box 9174
Chelmsford
CM1 9AE
Please include a completed Gift Aid Form if possible

This is the information that was posted on the Danbury Community Hub Facebook page:-
‘I am part of the South-Essex Group of the national band of volunteers making PPE for front line workers in the NHS and care-homes, including gowns, scrubs, scrubs caps and bags. Currently there is a shortage of fabric to purchase because of the huge demand at this time, so whilst waiting for deliveries, we are using poly-cotton duvet covers and pillowcases, both patterned and plain (except plain white). If anyone in the Danbury area has any in the back of the linen cupboard they would be prepared to donate, please message me to arrange pick-up or delivery, and we would be very grateful on behalf of the brave workers who are so poorly equipped. There is also a fund-raising page for the Essex Group where already over £3000 has been raised to purchase fabric where every donation is greatly appreciated.’
Tracey Scriven
Sew 4 Essex Care Staff
https://www.gofundme.com/f/sew-4-frontline-staff?utm_source=messenger&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1&fbclid=IwAR05ubErZzCgutlN5nfFJIDLrJpdgEpqZFdknR1wYmT9kKXKXMuyt2_xaYY

The Community Care Group and Little Baddow Council have joined forces to co-ordinate and launch a dedicated help-line (Tel: 0300 0120 215) to provide assistance to the vulnerable and shielding in the Parish. Luckily in Little Baddow there was already a network in place called “Link Helpers” (each Link Helper looks after a preset street or number of houses). The Link Helpers mobilised and gathered contact details of every house in the village, whether residents were in the vulnerable category and if they could help or assist their neighbours.
Whilst the data was being gathered the Parish Council authorised funds to cover the dedicated phone line and the printing of leaflets and coloured cards. A local graphic designer created the leaflet free of charge. These were printed and distributed to every house in the village and the Helpline went active on the 27th March (no mean feat given it was announced on the 20th March).
How it works
We have a team of dedicated volunteers who man the phone lines from 9am to 5pm 7 days a week. Outside these hours you can leave a message which is emailed in the form of a voice recording to our central email address where we can quickly deal with the request.
In our first few weeks we dealt with over 50 requests (prescription pick up, shopping requests etc) the number of re-quests has started to ease off as the Chelmsford City Council helpline and other services have been launched. If you are self-isolating or in the vulnerable category please do not hesitate to call us on 0300 0120 215 for assistance.

Alan Roche

“As your county councillor, I have as always been pleased to help residents on issues during lock-down, including blue card renewal, mental health support and (of course) highways. As Cabinet Member for Health & Adult Social Care, I have been immensely busy on a wide range of issues – many of them painful. However, this does leave me very well placed to know what is going on and if you think I can give any guidance or advice, please don’t hesitate to call me on 01245 465108 or to email me at cllr.john.spence@essex.gov.uk”

We have of course had to cancel the Open Gardens event due to be held on Saturday 23 May due to the COVID-19 crisis. This is very disappointing particularly as the event has been running in Little Baddow for over 30 years and this is the first time it has been cancelled.
However our thanks to Keith Bonsor who has suggested that we could have a “virtual” event, so that is what the Open Gardens Committee has decided to do. We have invited all those who have opened their gardens in the past to take photographs or videos of their gardens during April and May. Keith will then turn them in to a “video collage” which we will launch on Saturday 23 May.
The Open Gardens Committee is very excited about this idea as we will all be able to enjoy some wonderful gardens – albeit at a “social distance” !
We’re delighted that lots of our regular gardeners have already committed to joining in, but there is room for more. If you haven’t opened your garden before, but think you might like to join in this venture please do get in touch by calling Lynda Ferguson on 01245 222575 or emailing – address: lynda.ferguson@lyndaf.co.uk.
This is not essentially a fundraising event but we will be asking people who view the video, if they wish, to make a donation to the Essex Coronavirus Response and Recovery Fund. This Fund is being managed by the Essex Community Foundation supported by the National Emergency Trust, whose Patron is the Duke of Cambridge, and the British Red Cross. All the funds raised will go to charities in Essex that are supporting people affected by the coronavirus crisis.

St Mary’s
Priest in Charge: The Revd. Canon Jacqui Jones 01245 223140 ebbaafter@gmail.com
Jacqui’s day off: Wednesday

Churchwardens: Graham Lennard 01245 224717 graham.lennard.3000@gmail.com

Peter Martin H. 01245 223624, M. 07850 027548 petermartin2@btinternet.com

Churchwarden elect: John Wheeldon 01245 22135 johnwheeldon@fishermen.co.uk

The Chapel

Minister Revd. Christine Fowler 01279 814809 fowlerchristine864@gmail.com

Contacts Andy Coppell 01245 224896 andy.coppell@btinternet.com

Brenda Hooson 01245 222836

Parish of English Martyrs, Danbury with Holy Trinity, South Woodham Ferrers

Priest Canon Peter Connor 01245 324138 danbury@dioceseofbrentwood.org