News Archive

Grants of up to £250 are now available for organisations and residents planning Diamond Jubilee, Olympic and Harlow 65^th birthday events.

Harlow Council is offering the money to groups of residents, community and voluntary organisations who want to mark these special occasions. The grant can be used to cover the cost of the following:

• Purchase of equipment and/or materials.
• Administrative costs (paper, postage, ink cartridges, IT equipment) and production of publicity.
• Event activities, entertainment and music.

A copy of the full criteria and an application form which can be submitted online can be found at www.harlow.gov.uk/news/campaigns/street_parties-1.aspx. The deadline for applications is 31 October 2012 and events must be held before the end of 2012.

For 2012, the Council set up a £20,000 Diamond Jubilee and Harlow 65^th birthday fund. The Council has agreed to provide some funding for the Heart for Harlow Party in the Park event which will take place from 4pm – 8pm in Harlow Town Park on Monday 4 June 2012. The event will include the lighting of a beacon to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The Council will also be helping to decorate local celebrations with 60 “party in the bag kits” to give away to residents. Each bag contains a mix of Union Jack-decorated items designed to dress a street, community centre or garden and contains:

• 16 Union Jack plates,
• 16 Union Jack cups,
• 16 Union Jack napkins,
• 1 red paper table cover,
• Union Jack bunting,
• 20 Balloons in red, white and blue and curling ribbon.

The Council will be holding a free draw to allocate the boxes. Residents can enter by emailing their name and the details of their planned celebrations to harlows65@harlow.gov.uk by Monday 21 May 2012.

Lynn Seward, Head of Community & Customer Services, said: “This year the town is 65, it’s the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympic Games take place in London. These are three huge occasions and we are doing what we can to make sure 2012 is a year of celebration for Harlow. Times are tight so we want to help groups and organisations celebrate by providing a one-off small grant.”

Guidance for residents organising local celebrations can be found at www.harlow.gov.uk/news/campaigns/street_parties-1.aspx. Street parties and similar small scale events organised by residents do not need licences. Residents are being encouraged to let the Council know about their plans so it can provide advice and guidance if necessary.

For more information on grants please contact Christine Selby on 01279 446192 or email christine.selby@harlow.gov.uk

St Clare Hospice supported by nine local solicitors' firms is urging local people to consider making a Will during Make a Will Month.

Nine firms in 14 offices across the hospice's catchment area are taking part in the initiative in May.

Adams Harrison (Saffron Walden), Tees (Saffron Walden and Bishop's Stortford), Breezeplus, Heckford Norton, Foort Tayler (Great Dunmow), Wade & Davies, (Great Dunmow), Harris Cuffaro & Nichols (Old Harlow), Foskett Marr Gadsby & Head (Loughton and Epping) and Whiskers (Epping and Harlow) have kindly agreed to take part by writing standard wills free of charge, asking only that the person considers making a donation to St Clare.

The suggested donation is £100 for a simple Will or £150 for a pair of mirror Wills.

BISHOP'S STORTFORD, SAFFRON WALDEN, DUNMOW AREAS: Nicola Havers, Assistant Solicitor with Tees Solicitors, said: "Tees Solicitors are delighted to once again be supporting St Clare Hospice with their very worthwhile Make aWill Month scheme.

"We would encourage you to please contact us in order to take up this fantastic opportunity to get your affairs in order whilst donating to charity.We had a very good response last year and would like to try and better this in order to beat the level of donations raised last time."

EPPING, HARLOW AREAS: Gerry Smith, of Whiskers Solicitors, said: "Whiskers solicitors have always been enthusiatic supporters of St Clare Hospice who provide outstanding support to the local community and are delighted to take part in this year's campaign."

SAFFRON WALDEN AREA: Seema Solanki, of Heckford Norton Solicitors, said: "Heckford Norton are delighted to participate in Make a Will month.

"The campaign encourages people to come forward to make a Will whilst supporting a charity at the same time.

"We feel this scheme is valuable in the local community as everyone benefits: people have peace of mind with the assurance of having a solicitor preparing their Will, the charity benefits from the donations and support given to them and the solicitors are introduced to new clients.

"Heckford Norton is a friendly local law firm who will be pleased to assist all new clients."

DUNMOW AREA: Michael Chapman, of Wade & Davies solicitors, said: "We are keen to support the hospice as we take the same holistic approach to our clients and consider not only the contents but all the other implications of a Will and are therefore happy to support the hospice in Make A Will Month."

Tony Smith, Trust and Legacy Officer at St Clare Hospice, said "This is a terrific opportunity. It really is staggering to think that one in seven of us has not made a will.

"Making a Will is a vital issue for everyone and this scheme also helps people contribute to the local community in a meaningful and practical way. "We are immensely grateful to all the solicitors who are giving their valuable time and expertise to help us."

For more complicated Wills or those requiring specialist advice a fee is agreed in advance.

The St Clare Hospice Make a Will Month scheme operates throughout the month of May.

For full information on making a will during Make a Will Month contact Tony Smith on 01279 773756, email: tony.smith@stclarehospice.org.uk or visithttp://www.stclarehospice.org.uk/legacy where you can view details of local participating solicitors and go direct to their websites to make an appointment.

You can also view a list of questions which you may want to consider before your appointment

Six of Harlow’s most popular sculptures are to appear in a new piece of art which will showcase Harlow to the rest of the county.

The six sculptures* – the Henry Moore Family Group, Donkey, Solo Flight, Energise, Pisces and Boar – have been recreated in miniature form by local Gatehouse arts artist Amanda Westbury. The sculptures along with five** others will be placed inside a giant glass bead as part of the Sparks Will Fly Festival which takes place in May 2012.

The six sculptures were chosen after the public were asked to vote for their favourite back in January 2012***.

The giant glass bead was launched this afternoon (Tuesday 17 April 2012) at the new Gatehouse Arts location at the old JJB Sports shop (upstairs Harvey Centre). The bead will be on display there before taking up residence at the Civic Centre and making visits to other locations including the GPCA, Staple Tye Library, St Andrews Methodist Church (The Stow), St Paul’s Church (Town Centre) and other places in the build up to Sparks Will Fly.

Councillor Mike Garnett, Chairman of Harlow Council, said: “The town has a fascinating and unique public sculpture collection which we are extremely proud of. This is what makes Harlow different to many other towns. The residents of Harlow have voted for their favourites pieces and these will feature in the town‘s latest piece of art which will go on display across the town and then to a special event at Hylands Park in July where thousands of people are expected to attend. After which the artwork will tour Essex before returning to Harlow.”

Sparks Will Fly in Harlow takes place on Sunday 27 May in Market Square and is the finale of the Harlow Festival – a month long festival of the best in arts and culture. The event will celebrate all that is great about Harlow and showcases artistic, cultural and sporting talents as well as offering plenty of opportunity for audience participation in workshops and taster sessions, live music, dance and performances. The event takes place between 11am and 6pm with a mass procession around the town centre departing from West Gate at 1pm. The glass bead and miniature versions of Harlow Sculptures will be presented to Boreas Zephyr (a giant from across the universe) around 1.30pm as he travels across the county collecting giant glass beads that will enable him to take part in the ‘Glass Bead Game’ at the Hylands Park event.

Sparks Will Fly has been awarded the official Inspire Mark in recognition that is inspired by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is a countywide event culminating in a finale for 10,000 people at Hylands Park in Chelmsford on the 6^th July which is part of the London 2012 festival and the date that the Olympic Torch arrives in Essex.

For more information on Sparks Will Fly please visit www.sparkswillfly.org.uk or follow the event on Twitter #sparkswillfly2012.

In early April 2012 Harlow Foodbank has fed over 5,000 people in crisis with emergency food since it opened in April 2009.  It has also collected over 23 tonnes of donated food from the community and distributed 22.5 tonnes, through its referral system working in partnership with 42 front-line care professionals. The foodbank now feeds and average of 201 people each month (129 adults & 72 children) and referrals this year have increased by 30% in comparision to the same period last year.

The foodbank collects donated food from its partners in Harlow and the surrounding area, who include 72 churches, 38 schools, 3 supermarkets (ASDA, Sainsbury's & Tesco's) and many individual people across the town.  Great Parndon Parish and LOKnSTORE in Harlow provide FREE storage space for all of the donated food.  St Paul's Church in Harlow Town Centre provides a central location for the foodbank satellite service, based in the Upper Room, and Harlow Salvation Army provides ocer for the foodbank service on Wednesdays at their Tendering Road location.  The foodbank has a team of 59 local volunteers working at their warehouse, satellite cetre and with supermarket collections.

The main reasons for people using the foodbank are:  Benefit delay, Low income, Homelessness, Benefit Cuts, Refused Crisis Loan, Debt, Unemployment, Domestic Violence, Sickness and Delayed Wages.  Over 60% of referrals to the foodbank are due to some form of benefit change or delay.

Gary Knott, Director of Community Services says: 'We have been overwhelmed by the support we have received from the local community, who have really got behind the foodbank project and provided us with enough donated food this year to feed all the people in crisis who are referred to us.  We would also like to thank our community partners and volunteers who work so closely with us, which is invaluable.  We know from current projections that many people will use our service this year, so we would continue to ask for food donations to ensure we meet this growing need in Harlow.'

APPEAL - Harlow Foodbank would like to work in partnership with a local Harlow-based community-focused business who could provide warehouse space for the project, so if anyone can help please ring the MRCT office on 01279 724515

Further information.

• People wishing to donate food to the Harlow Foodbank should contact Gary Knott or Joshua Asir on 01279 724515
• Foodbanks actively involve the local community in helping those in crisis in their midst.
• Clients are referred to Harlow foodbank by frontline care professionals who are best positioned to identify people in crises.  Care professionals issue their client with a foodbank voucher which can be redeemed for three days of emergency food.
• Foodbanks also provide signposting to agencies that are able to help provide longer term solutions to any problems, for example, debt counselling.
• Clients are referred to foodbanks for a huge variety of reasons, including: redundancy, benefit delay, unemployment, illness,debt, an unexpected bill, or bereavement.  Most people who use the foodbank are not homeless.
• Harlow falls into the top 30% of most deprived authorities in England.
• 22.45% of children in Harlow are living below the poverty line.
• For more information visit:  www.mrct.org.uk/foodbank
• Harlow Foodbank can be found on Facebook & Twitter @harlowfoodbank
  

Imogen Bedford is pictured with St Clare Hospice's fundraising administrator Laura Herring

A girl has raised £70 for St Clare Hospice after she asked for donations instead of presents for her ninth birthday.

Imogen Bedford, from North Weald, wrote a message about wanting to raise money for the charity on the invitations to her birthday party which was held at the Harlow Bowl.

Imogen said: "I'd got a lot of presents already and so I thought it would be nice to give money to the charity.

"I would really like to give a big thank you to all the parents who donated the money which I gave to the hospice."

Imogen took the money to the Hastingwood-based charity this week, and was given a tour of the facilities – and given two knitted Easter chicks which have been on sale in the hospice reception.

Imogen's father, Nigel, said: "Imogen really enjoyed handing the money in at the hospice. She had a relative who was being cared for in a hospice in Southend and so she knew the work that hospices do."

After giving her money to the hospice, Imogen still had some birthday money to spend on herself – after her dad gave her £30 as a special treat.

Imogen's fundraising for St Clare is not the first time she has raised money for charity.

At her school, St John Fisher School in Loughton, she came up with an idea to sell cup cakes for charity – a suggestion which raised money for Shelter.

Lynn Seward, Harlow Council’s Head of Community & Customer Services, said: “Over the holiday period four uniformed officers from the Council’s Community Safety Team supported by other staff are stepping up patrols where children play and we are working closely with Essex Police to share intelligence. The Council works closely with other organisations to raise awareness of safety issues for children. We recently run the Crucial Crew event, attended by over 500 children, which included sessions on stranger danger.”

Police in Harlow are issuing a warning to parents that there have been several suspicious incidents in the Harlow area where children have been approached by two men not known to them.

In the latest incident, which police are treating as attempted abduction, a group of young children were playing in the garden of a property in Broomfield, Harlow on April 1  around 3.50pm, when a man got out of a white transit style van and held the arm of a five-year-old girl. He let go of the girl’s arm when her older sister arrived on the scene.

Please click this link to see the full story on the Essex Police website

WITH the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and London 2012 fast approaching, Harlow Council has published guidance to help residents organise street parties and events to mark these occasions with a minimum of fuss.

The guidance, which can be found at here  makes it clear that most events do not need licences or health and safety assessments. Street parties and similar small scale events organised by residents do not need licences and there will be no charges for road closures*. Residents are being encouraged to let the Council know about their plans so it can provide advice and guidance if necessary.

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee weekend is 2 to 5 June 2012 and the Olympic Games are held in August and September 2012.

The Council will be supporting local celebrations with 60 "party in the bag kits" to give away to residents. Each bag contains a mix of Union Jack-decorated items designed to dress a street, community centre or garden and contains:

• 16 Union Jack plates,
• 16 Union Jack cups,
• 16 Union Jack napkins,
• 1 red paper table cover,
• Union Jack bunting,
• 20 Balloons in red, white and blue and curling ribbon.

Due to likely demand, the Council will be holding a free draw in May to allocate the boxes. Residents can enter by emailing their name and the details of their planned celebrations to harlows65@harlow.gov.uk by Friday 25 May 2012.

Councillor Joel Charles, Portfolio Holder for Community & Citizenship, said: "The Queen's Diamond Jubilee and Olympics Games are both fantastic opportunities for Harlow to celebrate and they both fall in the year our town celebrates its 65^th birthday. We are aware that residents are starting to make plans to celebrate these occasions. My colleagues and I want to help by cutting red tape and paperwork to make it as simple as possible for residents to do so. Harlow is known for its community spirit and enterprising people. I look forward to hearing about the different ways that people plan to mark these historic occasions across the town."