At the recent July parish council meeting the following planning applications were discussed: the parish council gave their support to an erection of a shed at 79 Brook Road and side and rear extentions to 36 Strawberry Lane.

It was noted that Maldon District Council had approved an application for the conversion of a garage to form a bedroom at 18 Hawthorn Road.

Councillors Mr French and Mr Tungatt had had a recent site meeting with a member of the Essex County Council Highways department to discuss further speed limit signs in D'Arcy Road and Brook Road.

It had been reported that the postbox at the site of the old village hall was concealed by an overgrown tree, the resident at the adjacent property would be asked to cut back the tree. This has now been done.

The parish councillors congratulated the organisers of the recent very successful village fete.

The next meeting of the parish council will be held on Monday, August 20 at 8pm in the village hall.

Members of the public are most welcome to attend.

COUNTRY & WESTERN DANCE

The next Country & Western dance to be held in the village hall will be on Saturday, August 25, with dancing to Haydn's Country.

Tickets are priced at £5.50 per person and are available by telephoning 01261 816641 or 01245 491252. It is advisable to book in advance as these dance evenings are very popular.

Doors to the hall will open at 7pm with dancing taking place 8- 11.30pm. Line dancing and freestyle dancing also take place and there is always a good raffle. Please take along your own food and drinks.

AUCTION

Chris and Nigel's next auction will be held at Longfields, Plains Road, Great Totham on Sunday, August 26, starting promptly at 10am.

If you have any lots for the auction or any other enquiries please telephone them on 01621 892717.

Please note that no lots can be taken in on the day.

GARDEN WASTE

Dispose of all your garden waste every Saturday, either from Knights Close between 9.45-9.55 or from the village hall car park between 10- 10.15am.

This service is strictly for garden rubbish only, please do not leave waste of any kind at either site at any other time.

BINGO

Come along to the village hall every wednesday evening and enjoy a game of bingo.

There are always plenty of good cash prizes available. A flyer game is played and also a game where one lucky person can win a bottle of wine.

At half time, refreshments are available and a raffle held. Bingo starts promptly at 8pm.

Books cost £2 each, and you can have as many books as you wish.

Flyer game is £1 extra.

All funds raised from these very popular bingo sessions go towards the maintenance and improvement of the village hall. We look forward to seeing you and new faces are always very welcome.

ON THE WEB

Tolleshunt Knights parish council have now set up a website for the village, it is www.tolleshuntknightsparish.co.uk.

If you have access to the internet you can see information on the history of the village along with photographs.

Please note that there is also a section for societies and events whereby village organisations can put up details of their society/project/forthcoming events. This is free of charge.

All you need to do to get your information on the website is to email Russell Porter on russelleosia@aol.com.

Please note that the minutes of all parish council meetings will also be posted on the website from now on.

In due course there will also be links with Maldon District Council and Five Lakes.

PERFORMING ARTS CLUB

Rachel Wooldridge, professional choreographer and teacher, is starting a performing arts club in the Tolleshunt Knights village hall.

These classes began on Tuesday, July 24 and will run through the school summer holidays until August 28 from 12.45-3.45pm. From Tuesday, September 4 the classes will revert to after school hours from 3.45-6.45pm. If you are interested and would like further details please telephone Rachel on 07793 708097.

QUIZ NITE

The village hall management committee are holding a quiz night on Saturday, August 18. Quiz starts at 7.30m. Please take along your own food and drink.

AID 2 AFRICA

Please keep up your donations of adult and children's clothing and shoes, bedding and soft toys coming in as they are always so urgently needed.

We now also require all your unwanted items of cutlery, crockery, pots, pans and kitchen utensils for an orphanage that is soon to be opened in Lesotho.

You can either leave your items at 13 Barnhall Road at any time or take them along to the village hall on Wednesday evenings between 7- 8pm.

There are very many poor villages in Lesotho and the winters there are surprisingly very cold, so they need everything you can spare.

This is an on-going concern and items are always wanted. About four or five times a year large containers are packed by volunteers and dispatched to Africa with all your donations.