UNITED REFORMED CHURCH, BURNHAM-ON-CROUCH (From Maldon and Burnham Standard)

UNITED REFORMED CHURCH, BURNHAM-ON-CROUCH

9:20am Thursday 10th April 2008 in Burnham

The members of the Women's Guild were out in force last Wednesday to welcome Peter Parker from Essex Air Ambulance, who gave a most comprehensive report of the many lifesaving flights of this special service since it was launched on June 14, 1998.

He gave various examples of incidents they had been called out to, ranging from road accidents, and expressed the importance of wearing seat belts, to riding accidents and heart attacks, sometimes necessitating landing in open country and on golf courses.

Costs, he said, were in excess of £1,000 per mission, and funding is entirely from public donations and incentives such as Essex Air Ambulance Flight for Life Lottery.

Their charity shop in Burnham, run by volunteers, is also very successful. Peter had brought along various items for sale and did good business.

He was thanked by Ann Wasson for his interesting inside information about the invaluable work of the Essex Air Ambulance.

BROWNIES

The 1st Burnham-on-Crouch Brownies returned their minipots of care daffodils to Brownies this week and raised £100 for the charity which care for people with cancer in their own homes. Well done girls

QUIZ NIGHT

Burnham-on-Crouch Bereavement Support Group is holding a quiz night at the Carnival Hall, Burnham-on-Crouch, Saturday April 19.

Doors open 7pm. Quiz starts 7.30pm £3.50 per person. Tables of up to eight people. Bring your own drinks and nibbles. All profits to Burnham Baptist Church

JUMBLE SALE

St Cuthbert's Church is holding a Jumble Sale at its church hall, Western Road, from 10.30am on Saturday, April 12, admission 20p, proceeds to charity.

BURNHAM-ON-CROUCH SENIOR MEN'S FORUM

At the meeting on March 27, the last of the winter programme, Mike Gibson gave a talk entitled Down Cornish Way. He displayed photographs, taken by his great, great, great grandfather, of shipwrecks along the Cornish coast, some dating back to the 1800s when photography had only just begun.

The next meeting will be on the October 2. New members will be welcome.

BRIDGE

The winners of the duplicate bridge session held on Thursday March 27 at the Crouch Yacht Club were Simon Timmis and Colin Kelly with 64.25 per cent and in second place was the partnership of Roy Walton and Daphne Kerr with 56.6 per cent.

U3A

The April meeting of the Burnham U3A was held on Thursday 3 at the Ramblers Football Club.

This month's speaker was Barry Denny, who is a trading standards officer (formerly Weights and Measures).

Although they still deal with the checking of weights and measures in retail premises their remit has grown over time.

They are instrumental in organising no cold calling' zones in areas where there are people who are particularly vulnerable to confidence tricksters. They check toys from abroad to make sure they are safe for use in this country and cosmetics from America to ensure they do not contain harmful ingredients.

They attend bootsales to ascertain if stallholders are selling counterfeit goods which, surprisingly, are not just videos and CDs but toothpaste, aspirin and Dettol!

Barry tested the audience to see how much they knew about consumer law - the answer was about 50 per cent of the questions asked, not a very high score. He took questions from the floor at the end of his talk and left some very useful leaflets for those who were interested. Marion Watson gave the vote of thanks.

Peter Giles talked about his walking group and described some of the walks they have tackled since they reconvened last October.

Brian Whitehead then spoke about the bird watching group, who would still benefit from more members. They travel around the county for their birdwatching and will be visiting both Fingringhoe and Minsmere in the near future.

The chairman, Beth Greaves, moved on to the notices and reminded members that the AGM is to be held on the June 6, when the new officers and committee will be announced. The last day for nomination papers to go to the secretary, Thelma Benfield, is April 21.