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Crime Updates
Crime updates for May
See the latest updates on crime incidents affecting Wickhambrook and the surrounding areas...
Wanted/For Sale
Take a look at all the items we have for sale and see if you can find yourself a bargain. You can also post requests for items you are looking for. It's free and we have sold lots of items over the years from cars to sofas!
For Sale 2 bikes excellent condition and 2 pairs of curtains like new - bargains!
Resources
PDF Files
You will need the Adobe Reader to view some documents on the website. You can download it for FREE from the Adobe Website
I'm Philippa Taylor and I'm BBC Radio Suffolk's West Suffolk producer. It's my job to search out stories that will be of interest to the county - so if there's an issue that's got you talking in Wickhambrook - then contact me. You can email me - philippa.taylor@bbc.co.uk - or ring me on 01359 271865.
Did you know that each day we broadcast a What's On diary for charity and community events too? Just give us ten days notice in writing - with contact details and useful information like wheelchair accessibility - and your event will be advertised free of charge. Phone our receptionists on 01473 250000 if you'd like to know more or check out our Suffolk website.
website last updated 15 March, 2013
Wickhambrook Memorial Social Centre (MSC)
The Memorial Social Centre (MSC) is at the heart of Wickhambrook and provides a venue for many of the clubs and societies to hold their meetings and events. The Centre is made up of a Foyer, The Dulcie Smith Room which has two snooker tables, the Main Hall with a stage, a Club Room with a bar, Pavilion with bar together with toilet and kitchen facilities. The local football pitch, play area, tennis courts, bowls green, skatepark and recreation ground are all located near to the MSC.
With the Wickhambrook W.I. Hall located on the opposite side of the car park, Wickhambrook has excellent facilities for the many events that take place throughout the year.
Our bar service provider is The Greyhound Pub.
The MSC is available for hire for weddings, dances, private parties, etc. There is ample parking available.
Only parts of the Hall are used for our regular events and so please feel free to enquire of the Booking Manager whether arrangements can be made to accommodate your function.
Events and News
Saturday 23rd March
12.30 – 1.45 in the Pavilion
Join the Wickhambrook MSC commitee…
For the 1st Wickfeast
An opportunity to enjoy some food together and chat about future community events you would like to see held at the MSC.
Funded by Suffolk Acre
£1 for BBQ sausage in a bun with face painting and Easter crafts for the Children.
Followed by WI Easter egg hunt and refreshments at 2pm.
The Booking Diary of Events is updated regularly and a copy is also displayed on the Hall noticeboard.
The Farmers Market Café
Volunteers run the Centre Café alongside the farmers market as an added attraction and as a fund-raiser for the MSC. It all makes for a jolly Sunday morning where many regulars 'meet and greet' after a browse-around and over a 30p café-cuppa and oft-times a hot or cold snack. We encourage customers to bring samples and food they've purchased in the market into the café to sit and consume, and enjoy a cuppa therewith. So it's all very friendly and worth a visit.
The Wizard of Oz
Saturday 14 December 2013
Save the date ... The Panto is back in Wickhambrook. 6pm at the MSC, all tickets £8.00.
MSC Location : CB8 8XR
View Wickhambrook Memorial Social Centre in a larger map
Our Committee
All bookings and correspondence (in the first instance) should be sent to the MSC Bookings Manager
The main committee is as follows:
| Chairman | Becky Baldwin |
| Vice-Chairman | Donna Farmer |
| Treasurer | Barbara Merritt |
| Secretary | Sandy Wood |
| Booking Managers | Clare Hager |
| Vicki Rees | |
| Hall Managers | Vince Harvey |
| Sean Brown |
MSC Information and Documents
All MSC Booking Diary entries are now displayed on the hall Notice Board and updated almost daily.
All bookings and correspondence (in the first instance) should be sent to the MSC Bookings Manager.
You may use this Booking Form to make your reservations.
Please view the Conditions of Hire and Hire Agreement. before making your reservation.
MSC Bookings - Each time it is updated the listing of the MSC booking diary is emailed to committee members and to both regular and casual hirers so that they can check that their hirings are correctly noted and to see what future dates are available. If anyone would like to be included in these emailings, please send an email with 'diary dates' in the subject line, to the MSC Bookings Manager
Documents for Hirers of the Hall
- Hirers Timesheet
- Hirers Timesheet Notes
The Memorial Social Centre Constitution
Updated October 2012
View Constitution
See our latest Project List for improvements and works scheduled to be undertaken on the MSC.
Dogs are now permitted on the recreation field, provided they are kept under close control (on a lead) and are not taken onto the grassed sports and play area. Please keep to the perimeter of the field.
MSC photos
FIND US AGAIN
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MSC Regular Events and Bookings
Letter from the Chair
I expect you are wondering what the new Wickhambrook MSC committee have been up to in their meetings since being appointed at the end of last year? We haven’t just been sitting around chatting!
We’ve been working closely with Suffolk Acre and Suffolk County Council to ensure we are all up to speed with correct protocol, training and procedures.
We have updated risk assessments, files and been through a Village hall health inspection.
We have secured funding for regular community events where we can eat together on regular occasions to be called Wickfeasts! Our first event is on the 23rd of March and we’d love to see some of you there to share ideas of how we can get our hall buzzing with monthly community events.
We are pursuing other avenues of funding for further hall upgrades and are creating a website for the Wickhambrook MSC that will engage villagers of all ages, keeping you up to date with bookings and events.
We have briefly looked at the Scene and wonder if there are any articles you most enjoy? And if there are other articles that you would like to see included? Do let us know!
We have booked up a travelling Panto for 14th December. (‘Oh no you haven’t Oh yes we have!’) The pupils from Wickhambrook school have voted for the Wizard of Oz which we are all very excited about.
We are working towards a more joined up approach of planning events along with other community groups. For example in March we will be repairing the beech hedging alongside the MSC car park with help from Beavers and Cubs , funded by the woodland Trust. Do let us know if you have any ideas of how your group could work with us.
….and finally, we have been getting to know each other and are working well as a team!
Speak to you all soon
See you around
Best wishes
Becky Baldwin – Chair
PS – I’d love to have an illustrated cartoon chair to go with my letter if any children in the village would like to draw me one ( or design it on a computer) I can include it in my next letter in the scene, I’m sure I could find a prize for the best one!
Recycling Facilities
A polite request from the Memorial Social Centre management committee.
"If you find any of the recycling bins full, or nearly full, it would help prevent a mess of fly-tipping around them if you could please report the fact using the telephone numbers below. If it's reported several times, they don't mind."
PAPER RECYCLING
('AYLESFORD-NEWSPRINT')
01622 796000
TETRAPAK RECYCLING
('VIRIDOR')
01953 499990
BOTTLE BANKS
('WRG - Glass')
01842 762934
The History of the MSC
It all began on 27th November 1944. A public meeting was called, the venue unknown, the W.I. Hall perhaps. The instigator of this meeting was William Underwood ably assisted by Leonard Harbutt. It was decided that a village hall was needed and that it should be called the MEMORIAL Hall in memory of those that had died in the First World War and for those still giving their lives in the Second. The aid of the Suffolk Rural Community Council was sought. A second meeting was held on the 22nd January 1945, a committee was formed and the planning of the Memorial Hall began. Unfortunately there are no members of that committee alive today.
A further meeting chose the site, the corner of the recreation ground, it also chose the format of the committee. It was decided that every organisation in the village should be represented on it; this with slight adjustment still exists today. Fundraising began and grants were obtained. It took five years to raise the funds and construct the building. It was formally opened on 13th April 1951 by its Chairman Mr Griffiths Woollard. They were obviously not superstitious! We can be proud of their achievements.
Since those early days much has changed. The Hall and Recreation Ground Committees have amalgamated to become the Memorial Social Centre.
However all was not easy in the early sixties monetary crisis loomed and there was talk of ‘putting the hall on rates’ or even closing it and using it as a barn to store corn.
The Community Council was formed in 1966 with the intention of saving the building, modernising and extending it. Once again the fundraising began and grants were obtained. The building as it is seen today is the end result. It gained a refurbished kitchen, a clubroom, a snooker room and a front foyer with modern toilets. It was formally opened in May 1972 by Mrs Eldon Griffiths the wife of the local Member of Parliament.
The pavilion at the rear of the building was added at a later stage, being built mostly by the local football club assisted by other sports clubs.
The Memorial Social Centre is part of an excellent leisure complex which comprises a tennis court, and a bowling green together with a Teen Project Skate/BMX/Sports Park and a children’s play area.
Wickhambrook has some of the best recreational facilities in the area and the village hall is second to none.
We can be proud of our Memorial Social Centre and thank those far sighted villages who, in 1944 during the dark days of the war decided that Wickhambrook should remember its fallen heroes with a living reminder of their deeds. Let us hope the complex continues to thrive and to serve future generations a fitting memorial to those who gave their lives for our freedom.