Welcome to the fourth (February/March 2007) issue of Great Baddow Online Newsletter

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Introduction

For newcomers to the site, this newsletter is circulated bi-monthly to registered members and friends, to supplement information on the site itself. Please forward to colleagues and other interested individuals in order to publicise the site.

Web statistics

Last month I stated that a report would be provided in this issue describing statistics on site use. The site has now existed for a year, and descriptive statistics are available for the last 4 months of 2006. Data collection will now continue on a permament basis. A detailed analysis which includes a number of graphics charts, has already been published on the website and readers with an interest in the topic should read that analysis.

One example table from the analysis shows the visitors and page views made for each of the last four months of 2006 and the total over 4 months.

Over the next year it would be good to slowly increase the number of visitors. There is scope to encourage this providing we can generate ongoing useful information, so please browse the site and encourage others not only to browse, but also provide content!

Site survey

Because of the interest shown in the site from places as diverse as Cleethorpes and Leidschendam (really - see the statistics!), I have loaded a survey onto the site accessible from the front page. This attempts to determine directly from visitors what use they make of the site, including:

• Place of residence
• How accessed
• Visit frequency
• Most useful feature
• Least useful feature
• Ease of use
• Menu/pages viewed
• Additional conten
• Suggestion for improvement
• Willingness to support

News about events and village organisations

We continue to publicise events and activitites of local clubs and societies. The concert by 'Winston the singing farmer' in December was very successful and enjoyed byall those who participated. The event made a profit of £518 which will go towards expenses for "It's Show Time" on Sunday 19 August, the annual fundraiser for Little Havens.

The archives of the local historical society have been extended and the index and spreadsheet updated. Unfortunately, the initial interest in meetings has not been sustained although a small group of individuals is still considering the production of an interactive cd about the village.

The United Reformed Church has commenced providing extracts from its monthly newsletter on the Churches page.

Travel information

The new bus station in Chelmsford became operational in January and it will be interesting to see whether the concerns expressed by both the professional drivers and the Council will continue. Having observed the site in use, the space available for turning does look rather tight.

First bus has withdrawn the number 35 route from Chelmsford to Southend (via Great Baddow) and the route has been taken over by Stansted Transit (ST). I personally do not approve of the change, as the vehicles used by ST appears to be a mix of vehicles from various sources, in a number of liveries. They seem older vehicles and definitely not to the same standard as the previous First vehicles.

If you agree, make sure your views are conveyed to the Council. I have already complained about the fact that there is no interchangeability of tickets, but although I received a courteous explanation, it was explained in 'political speak', stating reasons why shared ticketing was not allowed under competition laws.

If you are over 60 (as I now am!), at least make sure you obtain a bus pass which offers free travel after 9am on all services in Essex.

Incidentally, on Friday evening, 19th January, an evening journey on route 35 at around 1730 pulled into the BP service station on Baddow Road to take on fuel. Is this the first  time when a bus load of passengers has been treated to such an excursion?

Advertisements

In the last newsletter, I stated an intention to reorganise the advertisements. This has been done and I hope is beneficial for all those who support the site. The original set of links to individual pages has been removed and a single page created consisting of all the advertisements in 'run on' sequence in typical 'classified' style. Personally I think it is an improvement but please let me know your views. The invitation to advertise on the site remains so encourage other small businesses or individuals to advertise on the site.

Additional links

One useful minor change is the creation of additional 'useful links ' to a couple of local school websites, Baddow Hall Junior School and Woodcraft Nursery School.

Other local sites of interest

This site does not cover all news about Great Baddow and we try to avoid repetition of information online elsewhere, except for news of events. Visitors may like to visit other sites which cover topics concerning GreatBaddow.

Great Baddow Parish Council

This site provides news and describes the work of our local parish council. Information is available about our councillors and other useful local information including an online version of the parish magazine, Great Baddow Times,

Baddow Life

This magazine is published by the local Anglican team ministry and provides a Christian perspective on news and features of interest about the village.

Local businesses

Several local companies operate their own websites. Two examples are the data broking company PS&A and Gerrardo's restaurant.

Membership on the site

Most recipients of this newsletter are receiving it because they have registered with the site as members. However, how many of you are aware that the members' area provides the facility to provide and share information about yourselves. To do so:

• Log in. To do this use the login link at the top right corner of the home page or use the login boxes at the bottom left of the home page. Enter your name and password in the login boxes bottom left on home page. (If you do not know your registered  user name, go to the members area  i.e http://www.greatbaddowonline.co.uk/Members/   and enter part of your name in the search box and do a search; if you do not recall your password, you can request it to be sent to you).
• The top menu bar will change and show some extra tabs including one named "My folder". If you click this you will be taken to a dedicated personal folder in which you can insert content which you are willing to share with the general public.
• A default home page should be available; Click on the edit tab in order to edit it.
• To create personal content you need to name it; hence name should be the name used in hyperlinks for reference; For the moment, leave the default name index.html unchanged and insert or edit the title- title should be the title of the page when it is displayed, and description should be a short summary about the object. In the body text type either html or structured text to add content.
• Indicate the text type (structured or html) at bottom of page and click on the save button.

Your content is now loaded and should be visible when logged out! Anyone having a problem please contact me - if you wish to see examples visit chrish or simon.  Of course, please only enter data which conforms to site editorial and use policies, and content which you are happy for the general public to see.

News about the web manager

I have operated this site over the past 12 months in addition to my professional position as an e-media manager of a very much larger (by comparison!) website within the NHS. I shall be leaving my present post at end March 2007 in order to develop skills in new areas, at the same time broadening the content of this site. If anyone has an interest in my background a summary cv is available in the members' area of the site (see above), and I shall be willing to provide advice and help to both amateurs and professionals requiring support.

Unsubscribe - Please stop emailed copies of this newsletter

Because so many of us receive junk email, if on receiving this or any other issue you do not wish to receive any further editions, please accept my apologies; to stop future issues mailed to you, simply email me with the subject line “stop e-newsletter”, and I will delete you from the mailing list. If you have read the newsletter online and would like to receive it by email, please email me with the subject line entry “start e-newsletter”.

Chris Harvey
Site manager
1 February 2007

Email Chris Harvey