See our month on month 2016 year review for Dunmow.
January: - Essex County Fire and Rescue Service announced county-wide restructuring plans, which set out proposals for Dunmow fire station to change from being day-crewed to having 24-hour on-call firefighters. - Plans were unveiled to open a new Stansted primary school, called St Mary’s, on St John’s Road. The Broadcast covered its opening in September, when 30 new pupils had just arrived. - Takeley woman Charlotte Hirst thanked friends for her 104th birthday party, where she was given an 104-piece rose bouquet by friends in the Takeley Sports and Social Club.
February: - More than 670 parking fines were issued in Dunmow in a month, and shop keepers were so angry about the “draconian” steps taken by the North Essex Parking Partnership that MP Sir Alan Haselhurst became involved in the dispute. - Signatures racked up in Finchingfield as part of a petition to stop Essex County Council widening the bridge through the village. Two weeks later, the Broadcast reported a “victory” – the council agreed not to widen the bridge, but to install another crossing over the pond, just for pedestrians. The parish council and residents are still fighting against this plan, arguing it will ruin the picturesque view.
March: - Jaymey IcIvor, 17, started his own florists in White Roding. In September this year, he moved his thriving business temporarily online while he finds different premises for his business. - Graham Butland, leader of Braintree District Council, said a prison should be built on the former RAF base at Weathersfield, rather than using the site for more housing. He also claimed living next to a prison was the safest place to be.
April: - Contamac, a company originally from Dunmow, received a Queen’s Award for Innovation, for creating a breathable silicone hydrogel material for speciality lenses. - An “absurd” Saffron Walden to Dunmow bus timetable change, which only gave shoppers eight minutes in town to run errands, was reversed two weeks after it had been on the front page.
May: - Maddi Thurgood, a former pupil of Helena Romanes School in Dunmow, who has two degenerative illnesses, launched a fundraising appeal for £300,000 she needed for a life-saving operation. Within two weeks, the community had come together and already raised £60,000. Maddi’s quest to find a cure continues.
June: - Guards at the HSBC in Dunmow were robbed with a sawn-off shotgun in broad daylight. Two men were charged in connection with the crime in November this year. - Children from Takeley Primary School made miniature gardens to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday – each class chose one that was displayed at the flower festival at the Holy Trinity Church in the village.
July: - Two friends, Sophie Whitaker and Megan Clark, from Great Notley and High Easter, appeared on television with Dermot O’Leary on a show called The Getaway Car. They were flown to Cape Town in South Africa to film. - It was announced that Canon Ivy Crawford, the priest of five parishes of Broxted and Chickney, Duton Hill, Tilty and Great and Little Easton was retiring. She said she was going to find out what weekends were all about. - People had fun staggering around a course at the annual Finchingfield Three-legged Race. John Mason Wood and George Simmons won the grown-up race. Lara and Aimee, and Liam and Seb won the children’s races. - The Flitch Trials were back, presided over by Judge Dave Monk, BBC Radio Essex presenter. The lucky couple from Dunmow were Mohammed Mizan Sabur and Emma Marcus – they won a flitch ham.
August: - Louise Poulton, owner of Gallery in the Park in Dunmow, raised more than £1,000 for the neo-natal unit in Broomfield hospital after her grandson was born eight weeks early. - Toby Fairclough, a Dunmow board-game lover, sets up a fundraising page to get his own fishing game, Fishy Tactics, in the shops. - Students from across the country celebrated their GCSE and A-level results – with many schools in Dunmow achieving record results.
September: - Dunmow Town Council mayor, Milan Milovanovik, dramatically resigns after a vote of no confidence was passed in a meeting while he was speaking. Danielle Frost is elected the new mayor soon afterwards. - Little Easton attracted crowds in The Countess of Warwick show, with nearly 3,000 visitors who came to enjoy live music and a hog roast. - Celebrity cricketer Alistair Cook, England captain, played with the Dunmow Wind Band at a charity gig for the David Randell Foundation. He was “excellent” at the saxophone. - Dunmow Carnival is bigger and better than ever, raising £1,500 for three charities – the Dunmow Cricket Club, Kids Inspire, and Dunmow Blind and Housebound Social Club. Around 10,000 people came to enjoy the day.
October: - Coffee and cake were sold all over the country in aid of Macmillan, with The Cafe in the Alley, by Sweetland’s Butchers in Dunmow High Street, raising more than £1,500 and a sale at Great Dunmow Primary raising more than £350. - The draft Uttlesford Local Plan, is presented to the press for publication but then rapidly pulled a day later. Lots of confusion followed, and a new draft plan is expected to be published in the New Year.
November: - A spectacular fireworks display on the Dunmow Recreation Ground attracted an unprecedented number of people – between 5,000 and 6,000. Next year, the Dunmow Round Table promised it will be more prepared and will ensure less queueing times. - A selfless nine-year-old, Maddison, decided to take action and raise money for homeless people by running a stall at Dunmow Primary School’s Christmas Fair. - Karate Kids from Dunmow Kyokushinkai Karate Club – Georgia and Chloe Slocombe, 15 and 10, and Fynn Clements, 10 – won trophies when they travelled to Barcelona to compete in the International Rengokai Kata tournament.
December: - A hero milkman filled with Christmas spirit reunited a lost cockapoo with their owners, after tracking him down at 4am. In a similar incident, another milkman found a lost passport and traced who it belonged to on Facebook. - Both the Dunmow Christmas lights switch-on and the Dunmow Christmas market were a roaring success, attracting 4,500 visitors combined. At the switch-on, Santa was a special guest and there was yuletide fun on an ice-rink. The market was packed all day it was on, and there were performances from The Beaux Beatz and 33RPM. - A phenomenal figure skating 12-year-old from Dunmow, Jasmine Cressey, won the British Championships in her age group. She hopes to make it to the Olympics in 2022.
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