Saturday 18th February
10.30-11.30am

Visiting story teller Mike Dodsworth will be helping children and their families generate new stories. This free event is aimed at children between 7 and 11 years of age.

Spaces are limited so booking will be essential. For further information and to book your place please contact Hockley Library on 01702 203558

Ellie will be at Great Wakering Library on Thursday 16th February at 2pm.

Children and their parents are welcome to hear Ellie read extracts from the book and hear about her experience of writing for children. 

For more information contact the Library on 01702 219438.

Every year, dogs around the County help raise thousands of pounds for Headway Essex, the charity that supports those living with a brain injury and their families and carers.

There is a prize for raising the most sponsorship and rosettes to win in the fun dog show. All participating pooches will be awarded a personalised full colour Dogathon Certificate and some doggy treats.

Entrants must register in advance. For more information call 01206 547616 or you can download a registration form from www.headwayessex.org.uk

Rayleigh, Rochford & Castle Point (RRCP) Talking Newspapers for the Blind has been given nearly £1,000 from Rochford Housing’s Maureen’s Gift funding scheme.  The money will go towards buying new equipment, helping the charity’s volunteers support even more blind and partially-sighted residents across the District.

Talking Newspapers is one of a handful of community groups across Rochford to benefit from Maureen’s Gift.  Set up in 2009, the scheme supports charities, resident groups and voluntary organisations in need of funds to help deliver activities within the local community.

Formerly known as the Rochford Community Chest Fund, the funding pot was re-named Maureen’s Gift last year in memory of local community champion and former Rochford Housing board member, Maureen Vince. 

Janet Berry, treasurer of RRCP Talking Newspapers and one of the charity’s 30 volunteers, said: “It is relatively easy for people with sight problems to access national and international news, but it’s often difficult for them to keep up to date with local news.

“The funds will enable us to buy a machine capable of copying 12 USB sticks at once in a very short time.  These are then sent out to all our listeners.

“What makes the donation even more special is that Maureen Vince was a supporter of the charity – this is a very fitting way to remember her.”

Emma Keegan, managing director of Rochford Housing, added: “Being able to help this kind of project is exactly what Maureen’s Gift was set up for.  A relatively small amount of money can make a real difference and in this case ensure those with sight difficulties can keep abreast of what’s going on locally.”

With the application process open until 30th March 2012, Rochford Housing has set aside £5,000 for projects across the district. 

To apply or find out more, contact the Rochford Housing office quoting Maureen’s Gift on either 0300 123 3514 or 0800 012 1991.  Alternatively, email contactus@sanctuary-housing.co.uk.

The Council has to find efficiencies of nearly £1m over the next 12 months. This follows on from the £1.4m of efficiencies we were asked to find in 2011-12, representing a 20 per cent cut in our entire budget.

Every Councillor has been involved in finding efficiencies that will not adversely affect the front line services our residents rely on.

Among the plans that were approved were:

- That the 2012/13 Council Tax for Rochford District Council remains unchanged at £201.15 for a Band D property.
- That a detailed design and timetable for a Pet Memorial Park in Cherry Orchard Jubilee Country Park is formulated by April.
- That the Council introduces improvements to the layout of Hockley Woods car park and introduces a set of specific charges for Hockley Woods car park and the Freight House car park to discourage commuter parking.
- That the budget for the cost of the Pest Control Service is reduced by £14,000 as it appears residents are happy to go to our contractor directly.
- That the budget for the Summer Swim Scheme is removed, but the Council will still continue to hold all its other holiday activities as usual, as well as Wild Woods Day, the Rayleigh Arts Festival and the Rochford Art Trail.

The Council also agreed to invest in our Economic Development Team to further help local businesses that rely on our support and assistance during these severe trading conditions as well as invest in our Planning Enforcement Services, in response to increasing demand.

Following the meeting, the Leader of Rochford District Council, Councillor Terry Cutmore, said: “I’m pleased to say that, thanks to the sound financial management the Council have shown, we have been able to achieve these efficiencies in a measured and fair way.

All Councillors from every party have discussed at length the various proposals and I think there is broad consensus on many of the issues.

We wanted to be as fair as possible, while at the same time maintain the high levels of frontline services that our residents expect.

In the last 12 months alone Rochford has been named as the top recycling authority in England according to DEFRA figures, our Revenues and Benefits Team have retained their prestigious Customer Service Excellence Award and the Council has become one of only a few organisations to have achieved the prestigious Investors in People Gold standard. These are just a few of the things we have excelled at to help make a difference to our community.

We pride ourselves on consistently achieving high standards and we think that, as a Council, this budget not only helps our hard-pressed residents and businesses in the short-term with a freeze on Council Tax increases, but also looks to the future by planning long-term initiatives such as the Pet Memorial Park in Cherry Orchard Jubilee Country Park to benefit our community in the future.”

This email is a scam and a hoax. It has no connection whatsoever with the National Statistician, the 2011 Census or the Office for National Statistics.

We believe the links in the email could download malware to any computer where the user clicks on the links. This could put your personal data, including financial information, at risk.

Anyone receiving this, or similar emails, should delete them, not open any links and certainly not provide any information.

For more information on how to protect yourself from this type of threat, please see www.getsafeonline.org

If you wish to, please report receipt of any such suspicious emails to www.actionfraud.org.uk

ONS takes the protection of personal census information extremely seriously. Collection of census data was completed last year and no further requests will be forthcoming from the Office for National Statistics relating to the 2011 Census.

February is National Heart Month and the library will have healthy eating displays to celebrate the event.

Sat 28th Jan – Sat 4th Feb – National Story Telling Week
Look out for displays of new stock for children this week and have a go at the ‘missing words’ story sheet

Sat 4th – National Libraries Day
10am-12noon
Join in at the library to celebrate library services, enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and find out what they can offer.

Feb 14th- top2toe health
10am-12noon
A representative will be available, demonstrating ways to be healthier

Sat 18th – Daddy Cool
11-1145am
Celebrate with a birthday party activity session

Tues 28th – Dial UK
10.30-1.30pm
Disability information and advice for disabled people

Rochford’s Active Plus Games project has been given the accolade by the London 2012 Inspire programme which recognises innovative and exceptional projects that are directly inspired by the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Active Plus Games aim to encourage residents in both the Rochford District and Castle Point areas who are aged 50 plus to take part in sport and physical activity, by providing them with a voucher allowing them to take part in five activities completely free of charge.

Already more than 150 people have signed up and can use their vouchers for a variety of activities including swimming at Clements Hall, playing tennis at The Deanes Sports Centre or a Fit for Life session in Hullbridge or Great Wakering.

Anyone aged 50 plus who lives in either the Rochford District or the Castle Point Borough is welcome to join in and can get more information by calling Sports Development Officer, Mark Aldous on 01702 318121 or by email mark.aldous@rochford.gov.uk

The Active Plus Games are a partnership between activerochford, activecastlepoint and Essex County Council’s 2012 Legacy Team.

It’s the fifth project Rochford District Council is involved with which has earned the Inspire Mark. Last year, the Council’s Dreams and Memories project, which recorded local people’s Olympic and Paralympic memories and hopes for 2012 for use in a national archive, also gained recognition. Walking Your Way to the Games, Sparks Will Fly and SX Urban Games have also gained the accolade.

Rochford District Council’s Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Tourism, Heritage, the Arts, Culture and Business, Councillor Keith Gordon, said: “It’s a privilege for another Rochford District Council project to have gained this level of recognition. With the Olympics only months away we want to involve as many people in our community as possible in the projects we are working on to promote the Games.

If you are over 50 years old and live in either the Rochford District or Castle Point Borough and want to get involved then please don’t hesitate to get in touch, we look forward to hearing from you and getting more people involved in the Active Plus Games.”

We are currently working to ensure that all sporting fixtures played on Council pitches and sports grounds go ahead as normal on Saturday and Sunday.

To this end we are asking for all clubs who are due to play sports on Council pitches this weekend to get in touch with us as soon as possible to confirm their bookings.

You can contact our Customer Services Team on 01702 318111 or email customerservices@rochford.gov.uk and we can help you from there.

We want to make it easier for you to hold these sorts of local events, without having to plough through mountains of forms and red tape. So we have produced this simple step by step guide to how to hold a community event in your local area. It includes one simple form for you to use to let your local authority know about your plans, so you can get on with the real work of organising a fun event.

Your guide to organising a street party – a document from Department of Communities and Local Government (Word 3mb)