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No. 8 October 2000
The submission for a Heritage grant under the National Lottery reported in the last Newsletter has been thwarted over the past year by the organisations responsible for the Naze not being prepared to support the bid. Support had been promised by Tendring District Council but when after the Society had spent many months preparing the bid which needed their input the support was withdrawn. Without the support of Tendring District Council and Environmental Agency we cannot proceed. Environmental Agency wish to wait and assess the effectiveness of the recent sand and gravel recharge of the northern end of the beach. Tendring District Council wish to await the results of a recently awarded ,000 research project into soft-cliff erosion. In the meantime we have lost the opportunity of the 25% matched funding required for a lottery bid being set against monies already spent on the beach re-charge and Tendring District Council's maintenance work at the Tower Groyne. Now to find the required ,000 or so will be difficult if not impossible. It is very disappointing that by the reluctance of Tendring District Council and Environmental Agency to be pro-active a wonderful opportunity has been missed.
This is the second occasion in the last 10 years when the Council have had the opportunity of saving the Naze and have failed the public they serve. On the first occasion the finance for an approved scheme was re-directed by Councillors to the building of a multi-storey car park in Clacton-on-Sea which was mis-designed costing rate payers dearly and has turned out to be a white elephant. On this occasion the finance was presented to the Council on a plate and they still will not save the Naze.
The public for whom we are trying to save the Naze are urged to write to their MP's, or even the PM, and demand action.
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The Society had to vacate its shop premises near the Co-op in High Street during the year but were fortunate, due to the goodwill of Woolworth's, to acquire the use of the shop next but one to, and owned by Woolworth's. Woolworth's patronage is much appreciated and this contribution to the welfare of the Walton community is worthy of note. The impressive shop sign was kindly done free of charge by Peter Chumley, a local signwriter. and Partially Sighted The Society is to submit a proposal to the Council to create a Nature Trail around the Naze suitable for the disabled and partially sighted as well as the general public. The trail would be paid for by the Society from funds kindly denoted by your good selves and would have information boards and benches at various points of interest around the trail. Mike Todd has designed the trail in association with the Institute for the Blind and various experts on the needs of the disabled. It is proposed to use environmentally friendly natural materials in its construction. |
The Society helped researchers in formulating the composition of an Anglia TV programme `Far and Wide' featuring the Naze. The Society fielded Mike Todd(nature walk), Tom Walters(on history), and `Winkle'(trip on the backwaters). They all featured well in this interesting half hour nature programme. |
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It was reported in the last Newsletter that on hearing of the Society's intention to move a Praise plaque from the cliffs edge to a safer spot on the Naze the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary of Darmstadt-Eberstadt, Germany donated a second plaque which has been imbedded into the stone plinth and re-sited by Jan Nichols, a local builder. A re-dedication service took place at the end of September with Sister Glory and The Rev Neville Platten officiating. Around 30 people attended including the Mayor of Walton. 
The Society's secretary, Judy O'Connor, organised participation at the six Car Boot Sales held in the new Walton Millennium square this summer. This, together with monies from the table top on the Bathhouse meadow in Carnival week, which again the Society supported, resulted in adding a further to the society's funds which now stand at over 000. Our `Flag Day' held on Saturday 26th August raised the sum of . Our thanks go to the residents of Walton and visitors. The Society again participated in the Walton Carnival. Our float, constructed again by John Taplin-Willis, depicted the Naze Tower falling down the cliff! Our table top on the bathhouse meadow was supported by our newly acquired caravan. |
In its quest for a caravan to act as a mobile Information Centre, the society were kindly donated one by Mr & Mrs Robertson of Colchester. Our thanks to them for such a generous gift. It was intended to have the caravan for most of the summer on the Naze itself as there is much interest in the Naze from the 50,000 or so visitors there each year. However Tendring District Council leisure committee turned down our application giving reasons which appear to be excuses for again not supporting the Naze. However at the end of August after further pleas we were permitted to have it there at weekends for a trial period. This has been extremely successful due to Mike Todd (who does the Naze walks) manning it. He has talked with dozens of interested people each day and sold many of the Societies information packs on the ecology of the Naze. Just to the North of the Cafe and toilet block at the Naze on the closely mown area a series of ridges and furrows can be seen. The furrows are approximately five to six metres apart. Over the years there has been much discussion as to whether these are part of the Victorian drainage system or a mediaeval open field. Recently Bristol University's department of Engineering were doing some test boreholes on a totally unrelated matter and luckily two of the boreholes were placed on the furrows. If they had been Victorian land drains one would have found evidence of clay pipes of gravel infill but neither of these were found, so therefore it is quite likely that the ridges and furrows are part of a lost mediaeval open field system. Another reason to save the Naze and save our inheritance. The Society helped promote `Winkle' with his immensely successful nature boat trips around the Walton backwaters behind the Naze. To promote awareness and preservation of this beautiful area forms part of the Societies terms of reference agreed with the Charity Commissioners. The area features in several books including Arthur J Ransome's `Swallows and Amazons'. |