Facilities

HO Hoxne Playing Field Pavilion. Tel: 01379 668186

HO St Edmunds Hall (Village Hall).  Tel: 01379 668434

info One of the hubs of village life, the village hall plays regular host to plays, musicians and other cultural eventsas well as being available for meetings and other community events. The Parish Council owns both the Village hall and the playing field pavilion properties, though the Council has no direct day-to-day responsibility for them - they are the public trustee. In both cases Management committees are appointed to run finance and maintain the properties. The Management committees are autonomous of the Parish Council are elected every year in September.

The running of the Village Hall is by committee which consists of five elected members and 12 members appointed from village clubs societies and affiliated groups. Contact details for the Village Hall Management Committee are as follows

 

Name	Role	Contact		Name	Role	Contact
John Bourne		01379 668203		Richard Jenkins	Treasurer, Bar Committee Member	01379 668333
John Brawn	Fire Safety Offider	01379 668352		Kate Leith	Bookings clerk	01379 668641
Shirley Day		01379 668353		Cathie McGregor		01379 668434
David Evans	Fire Safety Officer	01379 668477		Carole Smith	Chairman	01379 668210
Sue Hubbard	Secretary	07876 794565		Ken Wrighton		01379 668632
Maurice Hurry	Bar Committee Member	01379 668712

_A Music workshop in the Village Hall (May 2008)

_________________________________________________________________________________
Special interest groups

Hoxne Garden and Social Club

The club has around 100 members who meet every month in the Village Hall. There is an annual program of illustrated lectures, normally on gardening subjects, but supplemented by speakers on other aspects of East Anglian life and history. There is a Christmas supper with entertainment of a local flavour, and in the summer a garden party is organised, usually hosted by a member. There is also a day out to an East Anglian destination of interest. In August, there is a light hearted Annual Produce and Flower Show. Finally in a packed program, there is a monthly ramble ending in a local hostelry for a convivial lunch.

New members are always welcome.  Contact the Chairman Nigel Bradford on 01379 668551 or Vice Chairman Margaret Richardson on 01379 668615.

Hoxne Phoenix Group

Meetings are held monthly, every second Tuesday of the month in St Edmunds Village Hall. Visitors are very welcome, and are asked to make a small contribution to attend.
 
Please contact their President Mrs Vivienne Bradford on 01379 668551 or Secretary Mrs Doreen Weller on 01379 668291.

Mother and Toddler Group

Mother and Toddler sessions run every Wednesday morning from 10.00 am -12 noon (term time) in St Edmunds Village Hall and are open to babies, toddlers and their parents and carers from Hoxne and surrounding villages.  If you are at home with a young child, the sessions give you the chance to meet other mothers (and fathers of course) and have a coffee and chat.  The children can also enjoy a range of new toys, play in a large, clean space and mix with other children and enjoy a snack. Feel free to turn up at the Village Hall or call Jules on 668088 for more information.  Toddler group also joins in with pre-school outings and events and is an excellent way to prepare your child for attending pre-schoo.

Hoxne Theatre Club

Regular theatre trips have been operated from the village for 20 years!  Trips are organised to theatres in Ipswich, Norwich, Bury SE and the End of the Pier Show in Cromer, plus the now famous Thursford Christmas Spectacular. There is also an annual visit to a London theatre, usually in March, and this is always a popular event. For more information, please contact Nigel or Vivienne Bradford on 01379 668551 or Doreen Weller on 01379 668291.

Bowls Club

The Bowls Club is a small friendly club, with a playing membership of around 20. They compete in two local leagues, which they have won on many occasions. They have a bar for your liquid refreshment and are always looking for new members. The membership fee is £12.00. If you would like to join please contact Carol Bond, Chairperson, on 01379 668131 or Maurice Hurry, Club Captain on 01379 668712.

Create Film Society

Create is a non-profit making organization, dedicated to making films with young people. They not only make films, they screen them on a big cinema-style screen.

The project started life as a touring cinema back in 2000.  Create screened critically acclaimed films using a 16mm projector onto a home made screen. When the Suffolk Digital network began, they switched to digital equipment.

The idea of making films to show on the the big screen was realized in 2005, with the community project: The Iliad. In 2005 and early 2006 Create made a number of other films, an animation project and a series of short inter-related films based on the seven deadly sins, called Mr Black's Big Day Out. 2006 marked a departure for the group - the Acorn project involving young single Mums in the Thetford area. An animated film called Skin 2 Skin was the product.

Click here to check out Create's website and find out more.


Hoxne Cycling Club

Information awaited.

Red Feather Club

Horham Airfield served as a base for the US Air Force during WWII. The Red Feather Club was the officers' club, where they socialised, relaxed and held parties. Part of this is preserved, including some murals painted during the War.  The aim of the project, which has received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, is to improve conditions for the preservation of these murals and provide covered space for exhibitions and events by restoring two of the Nissen huts which once stood on the site.

The group, known as the The 95th Bomb Group Heritage Association, are erecting signs and information boards for visitors, producing a leaflet and a schools pack, recording local people's and ex-servicemen's stories and personal experiences and encouraging greater local interest in the site generally.

The site is presently open by arrangement during the summer and at public open days during the year. We are hoping to publish an interview with a member of the Association soon.

RoughCast Theatre Company


The Roughcast Theatre Company was formed five years ago to present  "challenging" plays in the Waveney Valley and further afield. The focus is always on the drama and props and furniture used are minimal. They have actors from throughout the areas they cover. Two nights of plays by local writers are planned at the end of April, and in July they will be touring A Servant of Two Masters by Goldoni (eleven performances). In the autumn they will be presenting Hedda Gabler, by Henrik Ibsen, at venues which will include Hoxne where they have always received excellent support.

The picture shows actor Mark Fimbow as Hamlet. Mark also appeared in the recent performance of Saved- click here for a review.

For further details and information about the Company, contact Chairman David Green on 01379 855101 or  click here for their website.

Back to the top
___________________________________________________________________________________
Schools

HO  St Edmunds Preschool,  Oak Hill, Hoxne, IP21 5AR T el: 01379 668732   
Contact: Julie Sullivan

info The Preschool offers facilities for children aged 2-5 years, its operating hours in school term times being: Mon 9:30-3:00pm, Tues 9:30-1:00pm, Wed 9:30-1:00pm (Parent & Toddler session 10:00-12:00pm), Thurs 9:30-1:00pm (Pyramids Playbus session 1:00-3:00pm), Fri 9:30-1:00pm.  A holiday club is also available.

Click  here for the preschool's own website.


HO St.Edmunds Primary School , Heckfield Green, Hoxne IP21 5AD.    Tel: 01379 668283      Contact: Michael Fordham (Headteacher)


info From a recent OFSTED report (4 July 2005): "Good leadership and management by the headteacher, staff and governing body ensure that pupils achieve well in most subjects. Teaching is good overall and successfully promotes in all pupils good attitudes and behaviour and very good relationships with others. The school gives good value for money".











Click here for the school's own website.

Back to the top
___________________________________________________________________________________
Sports teams

Hoxne AFC
 
The club, sponsored by Claret Civil Engineering, is administered by Fiona Chapman. Her husband Paul has managed the first eleven since 2002/2003 in succession to the late David Muttitt.  David’s son Daniel is the current manager of the second eleven who have been operating since 2001/2002 winning division 6 in 2003/2004.  
 
Arguably their best result to date must be the defeat of former senior side Bramford United 2 – 1, in December 2003, when only a division 4 team. 

The above information is extracted from the  Suffolk & Ipswich League website.

Back to the top
___________________________________________________________________________________
HO Brakey Wood - A wood of our own

Brakey Wood is a 15 acre deciduous wood, planted in 1999 and 2000 as a result of a very successful Millennium partnership between Hoxne Village and the Woodland Trust. The wood is open at all times, with access from the small car park off Wittons Lane near Chickering Beck, and by public footpaths from Cross Street and Low Street.

How it started.  The Project was initiated in 1997 by the Parish Council in conjunction with the Woodland Trust who had achieved a £5 Million Lottery grant to promote the creation of 200 woods nationwide as Community woodlands, (also known as ‘Woods on your Doorstep’). Finding a suitable site available for purchase took several months. However by September 1998 details had been agreed and a Public Launch Meeting was held to start the fundraising required.

The total cost of Brakey Wood including purchase, planting, fencing and ongoing management was £95,000,of which the Parish had to find £17,790 within seven weeks. This seemed a very tall order, but by now the project had attracted tremendous support. Pledge forms were delivered throughout the village and to local contacts and businesses,and by the target date 122 pledge forms had been returned, which together with a grant of £5,000 from Mid Suffolk District Council, achieved the target with some to spare and enabled the project to proceed.

The name.  Of the names suggested, Brakey Wood was chosen as the name as three of the five small fields making up the site shown on the 1841 tithe map were called Brakey Hill Meadow, Hither Brakey Hill and Further Brakey Hill. Brakey refers to bracken which still grows along the edge of Wittons Lane.

The trees. The first Tree Planting Day was held appropriately on St Edmunds Day the 29th November 1999, when many volunteers, young and old, including the children from Hoxne Primary School, together planted several hundred trees. Altogether 11,000 mixed broadleaved trees were then planted mainly by contractors. The majority are oak and ash on the drier ground, with willow and alder nearer the stream and smaller amounts of hazel, hornbeam, small leaved lime, field maple, hawthorn and blackthorn.

The features. Six Sequoia (Giant Redwood) trees, although not native, have been planted as a feature to continue an earlier fashion, as shown by the two large specimens in the churchyard, now about 150 years old and as tall as the church. Six native black poplars, a very rare tree sometimes found in Suffolk, were obtained as cuttings taken from a local clone bank and planted recently in the damper areas. It is intended to maintain part of the site is maintained as a meadow to encourage wild flowers with an appropriate management regime.

A recent addition to the wood is the The Hoxne Man (pictured), a 10ft high hand carved oak figure complete with spear and flint hand-axe was installed in 2003 and has become a firm favourite especially with children. The Hoxne Man stands proudly at the end of the Hearts of Oak sculpture trail which also comprises an impressive giant head in Eye and a fine bench in Syleham. The sculptures were fabricated by local artists Ben Platt-Mills and Ray Brooks from designs produced at community workshops throughout Mid Suffolk.

Ongoing management.  The rides are cut and the fences maintained by the Woodland Trust’s contractors. There is now however increasing scope for local folk to assist in the long-term management including some coppicing, clearing undergrowth and opening up a few more paths. A programme of work parties has recently started and volunteers are very welcome. (Tim Craven 20 February 2006. Photograph © Margaret Richardson)
___________________________________________________________________________________