Welcome to the sixth (May 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.

If you are a recent newcomer to the site, welcome - your readership is appreciated.

Membership

The encouragement given both on the site and within previous editions of this newsletter to join the site as a member has had some unfortunate results. 

Firstly, bona fide users who join as members are not in general taking the opportunity to publicise any information about themselves on the site on a personal home page. This is at present the only additional benefit of membership so do take the opportunity to do so if you wish, although I respect those individuals who do not want to do so on grounds of privacy. 

The second, adverse impact has been that an individual or individuals unknown to me is/are routinely creating new members using names and overseas email addresses without any demonstrable, genuine interest in the site.

Requests to the registered email address for these individuals have either been ignored,  'bounced' as invalid, or not accepted.   As a result I have decided that self-registration ('join' function) will be disabled with immediate effect and future registration for membership will be by emailed request to myself, when I will be able to validate the request and email address for authenticity.

Please note that existing members who have a valid email address will be able to continue to log in as usual. However, any remaining members with an invalid email address or who do not respond to a request for information will be removed within the next 2 weeks!

Site statistics

In a previous edition, I provided information about visitors during the quarter September - December 2006. I repeat the information below, and include similar information for the period January - March 2007. This shows that use of the site is increasing slowly; in addition I can now monitor the access made to specific pages and determine the most and least accessed areas of the site which should be useful to influence ongoing development.

Last month I promised increased functionality including more images and an index to local businesses and services. Although nothing new is yet implemented, changes are in hand and will be introduced over time. Now that I have partially retired I should have more time for site development, and I am in process of  taking additional photographs around the village to use and make the site more interesting, and help break up text. 

In follow up to last month, the local group of enthusiasts has met again and decided to press ahead with a pilot project to research and publish information on 3 of our local buildings of historical interest.   More information will be provided as the project proceeds. 

Charity support

I was approached this month with a request to publicise the Great Baddow Charity Races taking place on Sunday, 20 May, and was willing to both publicise the event and also to provide a link to the charity's own website.

Regular users of this site will know that last year and this, we are also promoting local support for events associated with the Thundersley Little Havens Children's Hospice  for which one of our members provides support.

As a site associated with the local community, we will always consider, and subject to a few minor policy constraints, in general be willing to publicise any local charity's events. As always there is no charge for advertisements or promotion via this site.

Vineyards road resurfacing

As this issue was published, the road resurfacing in the Vineyards has just been completed and appears to be a long overdue improvement to the conditions and potholes which existed for some time. I wonder if anyone else agrees with me that in general, the road surfaces in the Great Baddow area  are poor and several roads need a new top coat as a minimum.  Examples are around the Maltings and Baddow Road between the Blue Lion and Chelmerton Avenue.

On a recent visit to Norfolk, we observed that roads in North Essex around Braintree, and beyond in Suffolk and Norfolk, even minor roads; were maintained in much better condition. I guess it reflects the level of funding available by councils for road maintenance, although there are probably other additional issues, such as volume and weight of traffic.

Comments about the proposed relocation of the main post office in Chelmsford are already noted on the site. One further observation is the way in which core services are being redefined and redeveloped in a manner which imposes suffering on the more vulnerable members of society such as the elderly, infirm or handicapped. Society seems to becoming more divided, favouring the more mobile and affluent sectors, and neglecting the needs of the aged, the weak or the poor.  I could go on but won't!

As previously stated, if you have news, publicity or would simply like to write an article for publication on the site, please do so - the site is for the local community.  Offers of help, comments or items for publication are always appreciated and I will try to publish as much as possible, with minimal editorial control.

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 May 2007

Email Chris Harvey