Have your say!
Welcome to the Sounding Board for the Coddenham Parish community.
The website, stakeholders and sponsors are all about developing communication and engagement across our Parish and beyond.
- You can comment on any of the News Items on this site on their respective pages, but If you have a general opinion, suggestion, concern or just need some help, please use the comment box here and HAVE YOUR SAY.
- You don’t have to be a resident ( we welcome visitors), but we want to hear about things that affect Coddenham please!
- All comments are subject to moderation and will be published within one working day.
We look forward to hearing from you!
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Village Contacts
If you can offer help, require support or know someone who needs help, please email support@coddenham-parish.uk. Alternatively, please telephone 01449 760313 and if necessary, leave a message. You can also send us a message via the contact page
Hello to all Coddenham residents.We are thinking of using the Suffolk together scheme for solar panel installation.
Can those of you who have solar panels tell us your opinion of them ( apart from the obvious green benefits).
Your experiences will help us to decide.Thank you.
Hi there, we were going back and doing a bit of housekeeping. Did you get the information you wanted?
The Coddenham Centre Trustees have had some experience. Although we imagine your installation is ( hopefully ) finished!
What’s your best selling, locally supplied product in the Shop?
In the spirit of keeping things relevant, while working to promote and acknowledge the efforts of the whole community…
What’s with the Parish Councils website Current Issues?… Why does Coddenham have multiple/numerous websites? It sounds like there are hundreds of the blessed things…when there are in fact only 2. What’s the problem with that? it is perfectly normal for any town or village to have a website separate from the local Parish Council site.The article even signs of by saying…”This should not be an issue as both sites should be seen as complimentary”. So why is it still a ‘current issue’? This is news from over a year ago, and simply appears to be throw negativity at a great community effort. Surely the PC needs to stay current and back community efforts? Even if they don’t endorse them?
On that point – there are many groups within Coddenham all doing their best to serve the community, which is clear to see from the huge amount of information on this (Coddenham-parish.uk) website. Why is none of this ‘current’ activity mentioned by the Parish Council? which by its own remit, with its ‘Community Engagement Strategy’ should have ‘a comprehensive summary of the facilities and organisations available within the area’.
Thank you for your comment. As this concerns our local Parish Council, we have passed it their chairman, who may wish to comment direct. Regards Coddenham-Parish.uk
Thank you very much, I’ve commented though this community website in the hope you can pass it on.
Great to see the PC acknowledge the good work done by all members of the community. With a quote from the PC ‘Current Issues!’…..The good news is that the CCRG website has done an excellent job at bringing together many of the local community groups under one single website, and the Parish Council has done an excellent job in upgrading its website, ensuring a better service to parishioners than our previous version and at a lower cost to the taxpayers in our Parish.’
So, after being a ‘current issue’ for more than a year now – why is having two websites for the area STILL a ‘current issue’ – this isn’t ‘current’ by a long stretch of the imagination. The only current thing about this is the fact the comment and article date were renewed. Come on PC – if this item isn’t in the minutes for PC meetings then it is NOT a current issue. Kindly put it to bed, drop it from current issues and please focus the actual current issues for Coddenham Parish.
Alan, thank you for your feedback. I am the vice-chair of the Parish Council and we have reviewed your comments and agreed that this issue, as well as some others in our “Current Issues” section, is no longer current. We have now moved these issues into an archive and now the “Current Issues” section reflects the main issues the Parish Council are dealing with.
Just a quick thank you to all the photographers who have contributed to this community website. In particular Georgie Kerr – your regular contributions are much appreciated.
I see a lot of Dave Bickers motorcycling archive films pop up on the Coddenham Facebook page. Would he be a suitable subject for a bit of recent history and an article in the History Club section?
Just to wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year to everyone in Coddenham!
I’d also like to thank all those who have helped support the community, both materially and emotionally, during a very difficult period, especially the Community Shop, the Coddenham Centre, the Day Foundation, the Gardemau Trust and St Mary’s Church. It shows how much can be achieved when the village pulls together.
Let’s hope 2021 is a much better year in all respects.
Have a great Christmas!
Great to see such a helpful, active and supportive community. Best wishes to all for Christmas and the New Year
Paul Taylor
Byte Design
Coddenham-Parish.uk Web Design and Management
Both Madge and I wish everyone in Coddenham a very happy (if somewhat isolated) Christmas with our hopes that in 2021 we will all find ourselves less at risk from Coronavirus and able to resume the community meetings and events we have valued.
I would very much like to wish everyone a careful and safe Christmas and hope that we can all then look forward to a Happier New Year! Kind regards, Rowena XXX
Thank you Rowena and to Julian for all the community communication help again this year – its been even more important for us all!
With all Good Wishes for Christmas and a Safe(r) New Year to everyone, our customers, volunteers and supporters.
THANKYOU!
The Trustees and Staff – The Coddenham Centre
Angela and I wish everyone in Coddenham a merry Christmas and all the best for 2021.Keep safe,keep well.
Wishing everyone in Coddenham a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year, I have really missed coming to Coddenham during Lockdown and really hope to see more of you in the New Year.
Merry Christmas to everyone in Coddenham!
A very merry Christmas to everyone in Coddenham, such a lovely, caring village to live in.
We Wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year!
“Post Office” Scam
A couple of days ago I had an email message from an agency purporting to be the Post Office. I was suspicious since such agencies do not address me as John. There was also a grammatical mistake – not necessarily a sign of fake messages these days.
However the request was for £1 to cover inadequate stamps on a package addressed to me. The last time a genuine error with stamps occurred the charge was £3.90 – exorbitant I thought but likely. This was cheap at half the price so I deleted it. There has since been a message that someone was tricked into revealing his bank details and only just managed to cancel everything before his account was cleaned out.
Be warned: there is always a “Post Office” scam at this time of year. Don’t plat Santa Claus to crooks.
Thankyou for your comment Ernest.
I would like to take this opportunity to say how touched I have been – since resigning from the parish council after 33 years – by all the personal messages which I have received, together with a card and gifts from a number of well-wishers thanking me for my service to the community. It has been an honour for me to have worked to improve both the facilities and environment of the parish. Notable achievements of the parish council during this time have been:
I have been privileged to have worked with many visionary councillors over the years, including Bernard Baker, the late Michael West and Helen Wyles. Dozens of people saw how the parish council could be instrumental in stimulating community projects and encouraging wider community involvement to run, maintain and improve facilities. The parish council has worked closely with management groups and huge number of individuals to run the community centre, churchyard, Broomhill and allotments. I always felt that establishing working groups of parish councillors and encouraging the involvement of enthusiastic volunteers to tackle tasks was the best way. These working groups and individuals have carried out work that would have cost tens of thousands of pounds if contractors had been used. I can’t name everyone individually as the list would run to several pages, but I truly believe that all the voluntary work over the years significantly helped to foster the tremendous community spirit that makes Coddenham such a special place to live.
A number of people have asked why I have resigned from the council and I made a personal statement at the September meeting detailing my reasons. I don’t wish to dwell on the details now but suffice to say that over the last few years council meetings had become increasingly unpleasant with considerable amounts of disrespect shown by councillors to each other and council employees. It also became apparent that the majority view of the role of the council in the community was very much at odds with mine. I felt that the emphasis was no longer on public service to the community, but had shifted to the self-interest of individual members. Therefore, I no longer wanted to be associated with council decisions and stances that I did not support.
I am pleased that the Community Centre and recreation ground are now in the safe hands of a newly formed charity. However, the Community Centre Charity is dependent upon an annual grant from the parish council to help meet its running costs. I fear that the council may seek to reduce the annual grant to a level where the community centre may no longer be able to function adequately. I would urge everyone who cares about the community centre and recreation ground (including the children’s play equipment) to lobby the council to ensure that it makes an adequate grant to the Coddenham Centre Charity when setting the budget for next year.
There are now several vacancies on the parish council and I hope that some community minded people will choose to fill those positions and change the council’s focus back to serving and working with the community rather than ignoring it.
My many thanks to all the hard-working councillors who have supported me over my time as chairman and particularly during the last few difficult years. I would like to single out Isabel Burgess for special thanks as she has been so hardworking as vice chair and head of ‘HR’ for the council for many years, quietly getting on with the jobs that needed to be done. Isabel also resigned from the council in September.
I wish everyone in Coddenham well.
Donald
For Information Only – Statement Mr. Donald Burton.
A response by the Coddenham Parish Council to Mr Burton’s recent resignation can be found at their independent site; https://www.coddenhampc.org.uk/
It’s not only the speed of traffic in the village but also the pollution when traffic is halted, especially in the lower part of the High St, engines idling while they wait for the road to clear.
Why is there a white line, opposite the club, going down the High St? What do they mean? In the past cars were not parking here but now there are generally one or two cars and/or vans at all times. This is dangerous for drivers (including the local bus) turning right into School Road as they have to position themselves beyond the middle of the road before they can see if there is any oncoming traffic coming around the bend from Church Rd. At times when the club is busy there are cars parked right down and round the corner onto Church Road. Even on the corner itself!
From my experience of trying to have traffic calming or safety measures introduced elsewhere I suspect the last word in Lesley’s comment is the one that applies. Safety was measured by number of fatalities in those days and probably is so still. My observation in Church Road is that all vehicles increase speed on turning into the village; I have seen the same happen as cars (in particular) round Crown Corner into Church Road. In bad weather, when speeds should be reduced, vehicles seem to go faster. The three accidents at Coddenham Bridge – particularly the most recent – are attributable to speed.
Apart from this there have been incidents of heavy lorries ignoring the sign to take Rectory Road through Hemingstone. Equally there has been no attempt, as promised, to ensure the A140-A1120 route is followed when the Orwell Bridge is closed.
Coddenham offers a ten mile reduction in distance for vehicles between A14 and A12, as I know from driving both routes.
Planning proposals before Parliament include the possibility of residents closing their roads to rat-run traffic. How lovely if it could include us rather than dwellers in suburbs.
Lesley.
This is precisely the place to share views such as as this, pertinent to the community of Coddenham.
Thank you
I am sorry if this is not the place to air this comment, but I don’t know where else to raise my concerns. I was at my cottage (Providence) again for a long weekend now I have been released from “lockdown” and witnessed the traffic chaos along the High Street. It was mayhem the road was blocked by lorries for about a hour, there was an accident as soon as vehicles started to move, a parked car looked as if it was written off! the Police were called. What is going on?. I have been in the village now for 15 years and have never seen the traffic situation as bad as it is this year, my neighbours car has been hit and it was off road and mine was scratched. I tried nearly 10 years ago with David Hudson to campaign against Lorries going through the village without success and road calming. What is wrong with the County Council!!!!!??? it is such a lovely village and it’s being ruined by traffic. In all the North Bedfordshire villages there are average speed cameras and restrictive measures on traffic with not as nearly as much traffic going through them. What can we do ? I will back any proposal to help sort this situation out before someone gets killed!
We had a very good B1078 Group with first David Hudson and then Tom Boles as Chair, but after this the group virtually folded. Myself and Sue seem to be the only people who report lorry contraventions to Trading Standards via their specific form, but this only results in a warning! As a Parish Councillor now, together with Cllr John Peecock, we are aiming to resurrect some sort of protest group to try to make SCC listen to our complaints. Please do keep a log of vehicles damaged etc – recently David Harfitt’s house was damaged and we have photos of this. I have numerous photos of contraventions, and records of traffic offences. I shall make a point of speaking to John and will let you know the outcome and the way we intend to go forward. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We were aware of the incident you talk about and the subsequent damage to vehicles. Just another statistic at present I am afraid.
Thanks John, on behalf of everyone involved.
Given the popularity and overall safe conduct, we are considering another in September!
Best regards
Congratulations to the organisers and stall holders involved in the Bric-a-Brac table top sale. It was an opportunity for the village and its neighbours to meet for the first time since lockdown as well as offering some bargains on one side and income on the other. Also welcome were the charities that took part. I hope they found the event useful and profitable.
We have missed social gatherings this summer so let us hope more of this kind will be possible in future.