The ColchesterGuide Blog

Colchester Gears up for Summer

2010-07-29T16:49:00.006+01:00

Some of the Events going on in Colchester this Summer.
Many are FREE to attend so ideal if the children are getting bored during the holidays!

28th July - Wicked Wednesday
Lots of FREE activities and entertainment for children in Hollytree Meadows, Lower Castle Park.
Ticklish Allsorts Children's Entertainers 10.30am and 1.30pm
Punch & Judy Show 11.30am and 2.30pm
Face Painting 10.00am until 4.00pm
Sport in the Park 11.00am until 2.00pm

30th July - Eurovision Pop Party
Music from the original UK Eorovision Song Contest winners Bucks Fizz and Brotherhood of Man, plus X Factor finalist Stacey
Solomon and a special tribute to ABBA. Culminating in a spectacular firework display. In the Lower Castle Park.
Event Time: 7.30pm until 10.30pm
Buy tickets in advance at a discounted rate from Colchester Visitor Centre, online at http:\\www.colchesterconcerts.com or pay at the gate on the night.

31st July - Motown Boogie Night
Featuring Hot Cholocate, a spectacular Motown Boogie Night and tribute to Tina Turner.
Event Time: 7.15pm until 10.30pm
Buy tickets in advance at a discounted rate from Colchester Visitor Centre, online at http:\\www.colchesterconcerts.com or pay at the gate on the night.

1st August - Abbeygate Concert Band
Free concert at the Uppper Castle Park Bandstand
3.00pm until 5.00pm

4th August - Wicked Wednesday
Lots of FREE activities and entertainment for children in Hollytree Meadows, Lower Castle Park.
Face Painting 10.00am until 4.00pm
Punch & Judy Show 11.30am and 2.30pm
Sport in the Park 11.00am until 2.00pm
Bob Bob Jobbins Art Workshop 10.30am and 4.30pm

7th August - Colne Endeavour
Free concert at the Uppper Castle Park Bandstand
3.00pm until 5.00pm

8th August - Tilbury Band
Free concert at the Uppper Castle Park Bandstand
3.00pm until 5.00pm

11th August - Wicked Wednesday
Lots of FREE activities and entertainment for children in Hollytree Meadows, Lower Castle Park.
Face Painting 10.00am until 4.00pm
Punch & Judy Show 11.30am and 2.30pm
Sport in the Park 11.00am until 2.00pm
Wildlife Workshop 10.30am and 3.30pm

15th August - A Ranger's Way
Join a Park Ranger for a FREE informal walk around Castle Park and get an insight into a day in the life of a Park Ranger. Find out about the rich mix of history, plants & wildlife within the park. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
2.00pm until 3.00pm - Meet at the Castle Bridge

15th August - Serendipity
Free concert at the Uppper Castle Park Bandstand
3.00pm until 5.00pm

18th August - Wicked Wednesday
Lots of FREE activities and entertainment for children in Hollytree Meadows, Lower Castle Park.
Face Painting 10.00am until 4.00pm
Punch & Judy Show 11.30am and 2.30pm
Sport in the Park 11.00am until 2.00pm
Herb Wellies (bring an old pair of boots) 11.00am until 3.00pm

18th August - Colchester Cricket Festival
Come and watch first class country cricket at the picturesque Castle Park Cricket Ground.
18th - 21st August Essex v Somerset
Match time 11.00am until 6.00pm

22nd August Essex v Derbyshire
More information available at http://www.essexcricket.org.uk/

22nd August - The Lady Killers New Orleans Jazz Band
Free concert at the Uppper Castle Park Bandstand
3.00pm until 5.00pm

25th August - Wicked Wednesday
Lots of FREE activities and entertainment for children in Hollytree Meadows, Lower Castle Park.
Face Painting 10.00am until 4.00pm
Punch & Judy Show 11.30am and 2.30pm
Sport in the Park 11.00am until 2.00pm
Wildlife Workshop 10.30am until 3.30pm

29th August - The Wanderin' Soles
Free concert at the Uppper Castle Park Bandstand
3.00pm until 5.00pm

4th September - Colchester Oyster Festival
A FREE day of family entertainment, music, food & crafts in Upper Castle Park
11.00am until 8.00pm

5th September - The Band of the Parachute Regiment
Free concert at the Uppper Castle Park Bandstand
3.00pm until 5.00pm

12th September - Vintage Vehicle Show
Organised by Colchester Lions Club to benefit local charities. Vintage, hotrod, classic and American cars & motorbikes, children's rides, stalls and refreshments in Lower Castle Park.
11.00am until 6.00pm

12th September - Presence
Free concert at the Uppper Castle Park Bandstand
3.00pm until 5.00pm

18th September - Colchester Free Festival
One day music and arts festival in Castle Park and around the town centre
11.00am until 7.00pm

19th September - Stowmarker Concert Band
Free concert at the Uppper Castle Park Bandstand
3.00pm until 5.00pm

26th September - The Ipswich and Norwich Co-Op Band
Free concert at the Uppper Castle Park Bandstand
3.00pm until 5.00pm

5th November - King Coel's Kittens Firework Display
Colchester's biggest annual firework display with be held in Uppper Castle Park
6.00pm until 8.30pm

15th December - Castle Open Evening and Christmas Market
Visit Colchester Castle for Free, visit Santa, have some mulled wine & mince pies and visit a Christmas Market complete with snow!
3.00pm until 9.00pm

WW2: A Civilian in the Second World War

2009-09-22T09:13:00.003+01:00

Thanks to Dr Catherine Pearson, Secretary of the Museums and Galleries History Group for bringing to my attention the fact that a fascinating site exists that gives an insight into the day to day life of a Colchester man during World War II.

The address for the blog is: http://wwar2homefront.blogspot.com and it shows extracts from Eric J Rudsdale's diaries of life on the home front in Britain during the Second World War.

Eric Rudsdale (1910-1951) had kept a diary from the age of ten but the war years would prove to be his most prolific period of journal-keeping. Today his diaries provide a fascinating eye-witness account of what life was like in Colchester during the Second World War.

Catherine has edited Rudsdale's wartime journals and is publishing extracts from them on the blog to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of the Second World War. Each extract is posted exactly 70 years after it was first written, so the reader can follow events through the eyes of a witness to the war providing a unique opportunity to relive the events of the wartime home front in Colchester as they happened.

Permission to publish the extracts has kindly been granted by members of Eric Rudsdale's family and Essex Record Office.

New ideas to promote Colchester abound.

2009-07-02T19:30:00.002+01:00

It seems that suddenly the news is full of ideas to promote Colchester to the world and encourage visitors to the town. The success of the ITV4 Cycle Tour series held in the town recently seems to have aroused renewed interest in the idea of closing off the town centre roads to traffic and creating a pedestrian-only zone. I'm sure this could be good for Colchester if handled correctly - but if we get it wrong chaos will ensue! Personally I'd like to see the town centre shops, cafes & restaurants being encouraged to stay open later into the evenings and can envisage a continental cafe-culture atmosphere in the town centre. However the effect on the traffic flow around the town needs to be carefully planned and monitored and the council be ready to change things quickly if there appear to be problems - from past experience not something I have much faith in their ability to do. One thing that could be changed immediately to improve the traffic flow is to modify the hours the bus lane at North Station road is in use - is it really neccessary to have this enforced 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, forcing traffic to take a pointless detour along Colne Bank Avenue?

The council have also announced plans to reduce the cost of car parking in the council controlled car parks. For a long time many people have felt that Colchester is losing out to nearby towns such as Ipswich and Chelmsford because they offer cheaper or more convenient options for shoppers and visitors. At last it seems we in Colchester have recognised that the high cost of parking means we are in danger of killing the golden goose and have reacted to encourage visitors to the town. The plan is for car parks around the town to each promote a different scheme: Shop for shoppers, Enjoy for night-time visitors, Discover for tourists and Work for workers. These new charges are being introduced at the Britannia, Priory Street, Vineyard, St Botolph’s, St Mary’s and St John’s car parks.

Another fresh idea being promoted is the Town Voucher scheme. This is a new free discount voucher scheme for Colchester aiming to encourage local businesess and by offering discounts to shoppers in the town. Sounds like a great idea and if it can get enough support from local traders it could help to generate more business for the town. You can visit the site at www.townvoucher.com.

Let's hope these ideas prove to be a success, we see less empty shops around the town centre in future and we attract lots of new visitors to our town.

The King of Pop is dead - Michael Jackson RIP

2009-06-26T08:32:00.003+01:00

I went to bed at around 11.30pm last night, switched on the TV in the bedroom and began to flick through the channels. When I got to the BBC News channels I was greeted by the sight of people outside the UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles and the ticker-tape banner across the bottom saying that Michael Jackson had died. I felt a bit like I did on that Sunday morning when I first heard about Princess Diana's death - stunned and in disbelief.

To be honest I was never a huge fan of MJ before the Thriller album was released - I thought some of his music was OK but as a teenager at the time I would never go out and spend my hard earned money on it. Then Thriller was released - and WOW! Not only the most fantastic album (every track was good enough to be a single in it's own right), but the video was ground-breaking and awesome as was the choreography. And at that moment I was a convert.

Sadly he never managed to hit those heights again - but then if you achieve perfection I guess it's hard to improve on that. But as someone growing up in the 1980's you couldn't fail to be affected by the music of MJ - love it or hate it. It's also easy to get drawn into the debate about the allegations concerning his childhood, private life & the recent abuse case but none of us will probably ever know how much of this was true.

All I know sitting here this morning is that the world has lost an amazing, incredible talent - and a small part of my childhood feels like it has died. RIP Michael.

ITV4 Tour Series comes to town - good or bad?

2009-06-22T13:02:00.002+01:00

Hello and welcome to my first attempt at a ColchesterGuide Blog!

So did you go or watch it on TV? The ITV4 Tour Series came to Colchester on Thursday June 18th and caused quite a debate - the main reason being the decision to close off the town centre to traffic from 9.30am until midnight for the day. But was it worth it?

My own personal experience was that on the morning of the race (admittedly before 9.30am) I noticed virtually no difference and in the evening traffic conditions were quite busy but no worse that some evenings I've encountered on a 'normal' weekday. However I do know of some people who were greatly inconvenienced by the decision and furious at the decision to close off the town for the TV cameras and some of the town centre businesses actually closed early or for the whole day due to anticipated disruption.

So overall what do you all think - was the extra profile it gave Colchester worth the pain? Did the businesses that gained from the event being held outweigh those that lost out?

My own personal view is that events like this can only bring benefit to a town like Colchester which is looking to enhance it's reputation as a tourist centre. Yes there was some pain involved but looking longer term (and especially bearing in mind that the Olympics comes to Britain in 2012) surely the benefits the town gains by hosting a high-profile event such as this can only be a good thing. If there is one town naturally suited to a continental cafe culture with shops and restaurants open into the late evening then surely it is Colchester and we should be doing all that we possibly can to ensure we promote it as such.