An attempt to remedy this myself and my dear wife chalked our names up for a Walking Tour through the excellent Visit Colchester interweb site.

Our tour guide, Anne, was superb. I doubt there could have been a finer way to look afresh at buildings and roads I’ve walked along for years.

Below are some of my favourite facts from our walk this morning. No doubt some of them may be familiar to many, but they’re enjoyable nonetheless:

Camulodunum is not a ‘Roman’ name, its an adaptation of the original name for the town, Camulodunon. The name comes from Camulus, the God of War of the Trinovantes, who were the ‘original’ inhabitants of Sunny Colch.

Colchester was probably one of the first places in the UK to encounter an Elephant. The Roman Emperor Claudius brought them ashore when he originally laid siege and conquerered the town in AD 43

@firstsite / The VAF / Golden Goose / Bronze Banana is one of the finest buildings our town has to offer.

The lovely shops towards the top of Eld Lane which look like houses were originally houses. Alms Houses.

West and East Stockwell Street get their name from a well at their bottom which provided water for livestock to drink whilst being driven to market.

The tiny door way you can see on Holy Trinity Church from Trinity Street is called the ‘Devil’s Door.’ It was built so that the devil, unleashed by the cries of child being baptised, wouldn’t be able to open its wings and escape.

The narrow, terracotta bricks you see on many of Colchester’s oldest buildings are actually Roman Bricks, which are similar in size and shape to a small paving slab. As the town grew they were ‘recycled’ for new building projects.

The building currently housing Superdry in Culver Square used to be the town library, and was requisitioned in the Second World War. The entire Culver Square precinct was built on top of the Roman Barracks, and remnants of Boudica’s famous ramapage were found in the form of charred earth when building started.

The Arts Centre lost the top of its tower when it was shelled in the Civil War. An unfortunate chap named ‘One Eyed Gunner Thompson’ and his ‘egg shaped cannon’ were also lost, one of the possible origins of the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme.

Balkerne Gate is so named after it was Balked (filled in) once the Romans left.

The parade of shops at the top of the High Street are housed in the old Fire Station. The entire outside of the building is made of iron, just to make sure it couldn’t be burnt down…

The building which currently houses Pizza Express used to be an agricultural showroom in the 19th Century, hence the huge glass windows.

The Dutch Quarter should actually be called the Flemish Quarter. Most of the weavers who came to Colchester weren’t from Holland, they were from Belgium.

Jumbo is still very beautiful, even from close up. This was the closest I’d ever gotten to it, and catching sight of it as I pull into North Station will be even sweeter having been close up to the old thing.

The Town Hall Tower is called the Victoria Tower and is topped by a statue of St. Helena, facing in the direction of Jerusalem. The ravens sat around her are a symbol of the Hythe Port, and the figures around the middle of the tower symbolise the main sources of prosperity for Colch, agriculture, the military and fishing.

The most exciting find for me on the whole tour was St. Martins, the church found along West Stockwell Street. The Church looks tiny from the outside but is deliciously peaceful and rather large inside. One of the most interesting features was a ‘squint,’a portal cut through the wall so that the poorer members of the congregation could see the action.

The tours run most weekends and ours took slightly longer than the 90 minutes (we were a chatty bunch). You can find out more and book at Visit Colcheser. Get yourself along when you can, it’ll leave you with a feeling that you’ve scratched a bit deeper into the surface of our little old town.

Oli blogs at obilog. You can follow him on twitter @oli.

He is a very nice man.

And so the news is now out: Kath Wood is to leave her role as the Director of @firstsite at the end of June. Where there once stood an empty hole in the ground in Sunny Colch, there now stands a similar vacuum for a new firstsite Director to be recruited.

If anyone with anywhere near the vision put in place by Kath for the cultural regeneration of Colchester can be found, firstsite will continue to silence the critics and continue to play a major role in the development of our community.

Eighteen years in the job is quite a commitment to promoting art in Colchester. With firstsite succeeding in the incredibly ambitious plans to open a visual arts facility for the region last year, now seems like the right time for Kath to personally move on to her next challenge.

The immediate future for Kath is to work on some charity projects. Once these are complete, she won’t be short on offers to help bring the passion for community cohesion through artistic involvement that she has delivered to Sunny Colch.

Oh, how we shall miss her.

Antony Gormley, Louise Bourgeois and Yoko Ono [blimey] may not be everyone’s idea of satisfying art, but then the medium was never meant to leave you feeling as though you have just watched The Sound of Music.

Exhibiting world-class artists in their respective fields has been just one of the benefits that Kath Wood has brought to the people of Britain’s Oldest Recorded.

Commenting on her decision, Kath said:

“I am very privileged to have had the opportunity to work on this amazing project, and hugely grateful to everyone who has given their support along the way. Having reached this milestone, I feel that this is the perfect time to hand over to a new leader for the next phase of firstsite.”

Let’s look in a little more details about the achievements of Kath during her eighteen-year period in developing an artistic community and economy in Colchester. A good starting point would be to look at the Golden Goose itself.

Clouded in controversy, buzzing with inspiration – the cold, hard non-artistic figures tell you what a success firstsite has been so far for the town. In the first six months of opening, 80% of the projected annual target of 150,000 visitors have already passed through the doors of the Golden Goose.

But you can’t always quantify art, dahhhling.

Throughout her time in Colchester, Kath has been a firm believer in the town being able to develop and celebrate its own identity. It would have been far too easy to build Little Tate Britain here in Britain’s Oldest Recorded.

Education, community arts, workshops – even the touring firstsite double decker bus that delivered art workshops to the surrounds of Sunny Colch – all have helped to spread an understanding of what can be achieved with a little community collaboration.

The harsh critics have been silenced. It is quite a quest to turn up for work each day knowing that there is a prominent letter writing campaign in the local newspaper against your organisation, coming straight form the quill of the town’s MP.

Even during those darkest moments when the economy collapsed and firstsite became a scapegoat for all that is wrong with western civilisation, Kath pressed on to make sure that Colchester would have its own unique artistic identity in which to help regenerate the town.

In short, a legacy has been built for something quite special. The physical building of firstsite is going nowhere; the role of the next Director is how to build upon Kath’s achievements, and keep on bringing the local community along to share and learn from the experience.

firstsite was always about community – Kath understood this perfectly, hence the support for local artists alongside worldwide superstars, The creative kick given to the workers coming out of @15QueenStreet is another tremendous contribution.

Sadly the Golden Goose can no longer keep on giving us Kath Wood. The building just may benefit from a fresh face, but none of it would have been possible without the passion for delivering a new legacy for Sunny Colch as seen through the vision of Kath.

Not an impossible role to fill, but one that is going to be crucial for the future of firstsite.

Are we up to the challenge, Colchester?

Much like the composition of the new cabinet, it’s same as it ever was, Comrades.

Don’t expect Jumbo to become a DisneyLand themed homage to the magnificence of the Victorian engineering feat of water storage overnight.

Phew.

The money ‘aint there, and the will power in the new administration is slightly lacking as well.

Nope, it’s all about balancing the books for the LibLab coalition. Business as usual, especially so with the cuts coming down from central government reducing the funding further for what our friends from Colchester borough Council can realistically hope to achieve around the town.

The LibLab coalition is more pragmatic than progressive. Which might sound like some wishy washy Third Way [URGH] pitch from some bonkers QUANGO, but basically it means keep the good ship Sunny Colch afloat, pay the necessary attention to the safe keeping of the crown jewels, and don’t go privatising Leisure World.

It’s all set out in the budget that was passed back in February. Not a lot will change over the course of the next two years, assuming that the coalition (or leadership…) doesn’t collapse.

Let’s start with the basics; let’s start with the old / new bus station.

Blimey.

Being a compromise, and being that the LibDems are involved, the coalition solution will continue. Despite the calls from Sir Bob of Sunny Colch for the town to have “the world’s first art themed bus station” [seriously] – it looks like the Osborne Street bus station [kinda] will become a reality.

Trials up at the Community Stadium last year proved to be just about functional. Space is tight, both on the ground at Osborne Street, and elsewhere in the town to host a bus station that Britain’s Oldest Recorded can be proud of.

People of Colchester: LOVE YOUR BUS STATION.

Or something.

It’s either that, or lose it completely.

Not so much on the busses, but kicking around the same particular patch of town is the Vineyard development. The LibLab coalition will press ahead for this to still happen. It is one of the rare hyperlocal issues in the town where local funding is not the issue.

Big business wants to back the development, and if Corporate Shopping Malls ‘R Us want to colonise the town – and create jobs, let us not forget – then not even a compromise of a LibLab cabinet is going to stop the ever-marching roll of retail.

The Colchester Conservatives of course wanted something bigger and better. ‘Aint that always the case, Comrades? But Vineyard should happen – assuming the Euro doesn’t bankrupt half of the Western world.

But if you still want to go shopping along a stretch that can still proudly boast a number of Colchester hyperlocal traders, how’s about a stroll down the High Street, guys and girls?

Ur-ur-ur… as Sir Jimmy would have once muttered.

The pedestrianisation of Colchester High Street (which we know isn’t really a pedestrianisation…) was something that was in the February LibLab budget, and so it will also be followed through with the old / new administration.

Support here comes from slightly higher up the political food chain in Essex County Council. There has been a recent change in the portfolio holder for Highways in Chelmsford. Cllr Tracey Chapman (talk about a Fast Car, etc) has been replaced by Cllr Derrick Louis.

There is no suggestion that Cllr Louis will take a different route [aha!] with the pedestrianisation being rolled out to keep all but busses, taxis and cyclists away from the High Street.

Peering over the High Street (and indeed all over Sunny Colch) is Jumbo. We’ve blogged before about how this is the red elephant in Britain’s Oldest Recorded, scandalously allowed to slowly rot away; a reminder of a proud past of innovation and style, and not just a red pile of bricks doing not a great deal right now.

Don’t expect this to change over the next two years.

The will and the capital was there for change from the private sector; it seems that the political will from the LibLab coalition and the Planning Committee couldn’t support this project.

Stalemate.

Such a shame.

Regeneration will continue elsewhere, most notably down towards St Botolph’s and the Cultural Quarter [yeah, yeah.] Once again, the speed and scale of this might have to be reigned in, given the collapse of this minor little monetary thing called capitalism.

It’s basically a clean book for any culturally aware developer that wants to make some dosh out of the regeneration of this particular hyperlocal patch. If you are a hotel chain that can leverage into your plans buzzwords such as “culture, legacy and sustainability,” it is unlikely that you will face little opposition from the LibLab cabinet.

firstsite will remain the centrepiece driving all of this, although *shhh* a blog post just waiting for the embargo to be lifted suggests something of a major change is about to head the way of the Golden Goose. Coroner Young, the new cabinet member for Culture, is going to be a busy chap over the coming weeks.

Likewise for his Labour party cabinet colleague, Cllr Tina Dopson, now wearing the portfolio hat of Housing.

Um, good luck, Madam.

She Fought the Greenstead Uprising, and She Won, could be the theme tune for the CBC Housing department.

Which means that having pledged to close Joyce Brooks House, then this rather nasty political act now needs to be carried out. It’s gonna get messy – those legal documents will be firing back and forth between the High Court and the CBC Housing Department.

Meanwhile, housing elsewhere looks like it will continue to rise, especially so down by the muddy banks of the Colne. As the ACE Colchester ’86 – ’12 video project has proven, the stretch from around The Mooors out towards the Hythe is now almost unrecognisable from 26 years ago; it’s almost unrecognisable from five years ago, to be honest.

With private planning applications for new student accommodation on the site of the old ColDock awaiting the new Planning Committee, Colchester’s proud industrial past looks like finally being purged from our hyperlocal landscape.

Plus don’t forget Mile End and the 3,000 or so new homes that are crucial to the CBC North Colchester Urban Expansion Supplementary Planning Document [sexy, sexy.]

Here be homes – they’re gonna happen. It’s just the pace, style and scope of change that the new LibLab coalition will have to decide upon.

It all seems to have thankfully gone rather quiet on the Sunny Colch / Tendring border standoff between CBC and our nearby neighbours over at TDC. The plans to redevelop the Tendring land around the Greenstead appear to have stalled.

For now…

Up the road on campus and of course the University of Essex will continue to expand. This was always the case dating right back to those lofty 1960′s educational ambitions – it’s just that the 70′s and 80′s sorta got in the way of the mass expansion that we are now seeing.

The complete redevelopment of any green land around Wivenhoe Park and the surrounds would be rolled out by whatever administration is in place at the Town Hall. The power of the University within the town is now immense.

Planning applications seemingly aren’t treated in the same manner in which private business applications are scutinised. Strange, seeing as though the University is a money making machine that churns out future world leaders at the other end of the production line.

The Knowledge Gateway, the multi-tier car park compromise – both will press ahead, irrespective of the new cabinet over the course of the next two years.

Other hyperlocal issues that the new cabinet will have to contend with include putting in place park ‘n ride (which seems secure, given the recent external funding) and coming to grips with the Leisure World and Museums budget.

Sadly leisure and pleasure is not always a high priority when there are more pressing frontline service issues to look after.

And so optimism ahead for the new cabinet and the next two years?

Democracy has spoken in Sunny Colch, and democracy came back with the answer of we rather like what you are doing in our town – please press ahead.

It comes back to The Chronic’s mantra of not everything is perfect, but this ‘aint a bad little place to live. The cultural regeneration is a vision that towns of a similar size would sell off their assets for in order to be able to achieve. Taking the will of the people along with the project will be a different matter.

All we need now is a steady ship, and a steady leadership.

Oh, hang on…

Chronic EXCLSUIVE [yeah, yeah] coming up…

If you deter your gaze for just one moment from staring lovingly into the eyes of your loved one / wife swap partner, you should just about be able to see a very faint white puff of smoke emanating from the peak of Colchester Town Hall.

Yep, Comrades – exactly two weeks since the results of the Colchester Borough Council local election were announced, it now seems that we finally have a cabinet in place to sit around the top table.

Which is just as well, seeing as though the incoming Mr Mayor wants to get all made up in front of his esteemed colleagues come next week.

And so eyes right (or should that be left? Or even third Way?) and we can see that… it’s the same as it ever was.

Sort of.

Colchester Borough Council will be run by a LibLab coalition for the next two years, with a little (a much reduced little) support from the Independent Highwoods group. The status quo of five LibDem cabinet members, two Labour members and one form the Highwoods groups has been juggled slightly.

Talk about splitting the atom – the Highwoods portfolio responsibility has been reduced to just a half a capacity. Here at the Chronic and we’re hoping that only half of the allowance will be paid out for this input.

The job share half will be taken on board by the LibDems. Which seems sort of weird – wasn’t it the local Labour party that emerged as the only party with a gain, having spectacularly taken the Wivenhoe Quay seat from the Conservatives?

It was expected that the local Labour group would have more clout in the new Colchester coalition. The Chronic ‘understands’ [ha, ha] that the two weeks of negotiations were incredibly tough. The coalition almost came apart before it even started. The party with more power around the top table always likes to play the blame game.

As for names? It’s not quite a deckchairs on the Sunny Colch Titanic situation, but Coroner Young of the Labour party will take the Culture and Community Safety portfolio. We hear that there’s something rather urgent regarding @firstsite about to hit his In-tray…

Back in the Labour stronghold of St Andrew’s and Cllr Tina’s Dopson’s reward for fighting off the Greenstead Spring uprising is to be given the Housing portfolio.

Although the St Andrew’s ward wasn’t contested entirely on the housing issue, the challenge from the ‘independent…’ Bobby Hunt was based around the local Labour party supporting the closure of Joyce Brooks House.

With the electorate of St Andrew’s backing Cllr Dopson, it seems the right move to allow the Labour group to have a say on the future of housing, whatever the agenda might be…

Elsewhere around the cabinet table and expect the same old faces – apart from the replacement for Cllr Nick Barlow, who took the decision to step down. Transparency, Comrades, ‘n all that – we still haven’t got the chuffers which LibDem member will replace Cllr Barlow.

And so job’s a good ‘un for the next two years?

Ah…

Don’t rule out an imminent party leadership challenge, Comrades.

But from which particular political colour…?

Back to the loved one / wife swap partner. As you were.

What does it take to make the Halfords Tour Series in Sunny Colch such a success?

Apart from the semi-pro cycling teams, apart from the goodwill of the local traders, apart from the thousands of Sunny Colch folk that come out to celebrate cycling, it also takes… the community to come along and lend a hand.

The call has gone out from our friends at Colchester Borough Council to step forward and volunteer any time that they may be available to lend a hand on the 7th June when the criterium rolls into Sunny Colch.

The race itself is the centrepiece of the celebrations, but a whole day of cycling related activity is planned for Castle Park in the lead up to the big boys (and girls) burning around Britain’s Oldest Recorded.

Andy Winmill, one of the team members helping to co-ordinate the Tour Series explains:

“A key feature of the Colchester round is the Community Event in Castle Park before the evening races. The day also forms part of Colchester’s 2012 Year of Celebration. We are seeking volunteers as ambassadors for Colchester and contribute to the delivery of another fantastic event.”

Specific role are required, such as community event marshals, transport marshals and event runners. No specific skills are required, apart a passion for helping to make the Halfords Tour Series in Colchester a tremendous success once again.

Colchester is rather good at stepping forward as a community to offer assistance whenever these grand scale events are staged in the town centre. The Tour Series, the Carnival, the Free Festival – all reply on this local participation. It is one of the reasons that Sunny Colch picked up the Spirit of the Tour award last summer.

A little bit of co-operation is once again required if we are to repeat this success.

You can contact Andy via email if you wish to help out.

Chapeau!

Well…

The number of parking spaces has been reduced.

By two.

Yep – from 779 in the original application that was pulled from the agenda last month at the last moment, to 777.

On yer bike, etc.

Oh ye cycling sustainability cynic. There’s actually a little more meat in the re-submitted application that has given the Boundary Road multi-deck carbuncle the green light. Dig a little deeper, scratch a little more in a touchy feely way, and you can see how planning matters are all a matter of compromise.

Well, almost nearly all…

There’s the small matter of £250k heading the way of Wivenhoe, via University Section 106 funding from the Knowledge Gateway. The locals will get a much needed cycle path between the town’s Fire Station and the University, under the proviso that the car park gets the Planning Committee’s seal of approval.

A positive move, for sure, but one wonders what is the need for a cycle path, now that the University is making it oh so very easy to park your car on campus?

Cllr Julie Young of St Andrew’s ward helped to broker the deal, and is keen to take the credit for the back scratching compromise:

“This is excellent for Wivenhoe, the cycle link has been wanted for so long, hopefully consent will be given for the car park and the money will be released, this is something I brokered between planning and the University.”

Sure, cycle paths need to be paid for, and when you are a local authority that is facing up to implementing cuts from the top down, sadly cycling is very low down on the agenda. But building a car park as the means to an end to providing cycling provision is like saying vote LibDem so that you don’t get the Tory bogeyman.

Oh, hang on…

It doesn’t tackle the core of the problem, namely the increasing number of cars on the road around the campus, something that the University is doing little to address. This is a view that is shared by Wivenhoe Town Council.

In a scathing submission to the apolitical planning officers, WTC argued:

“It will affect an overload on traffic routes, produce congestion on roads and have the effect of a reduction in the University’s support of the use of buses, which in term may cause a very good public transport system to be reduced, or even lost.

The proposal encourages car use. The University should instead be promoting cycling, as per their 1995 strategy in which their future plans were to reduce dependency on car usage by promoting cycling and installing a railway halt.

The proposal does not explain how the building of the car park will enhance sustainable transport.”

And so that will be a NO from WTC, then.

Objections have also been received from Colchester Cycling Campaign, C-Bus and the Wivenhoe Society – y’know, the kind of groups that you would want to have on board if you were trying to promote bicycling within the borough.

The esteemed members of the CBC Planning Committee will be meeting on 24th June, 6pm at the Town Hall to make a decision on the application. Bicycle lock up provision is available along the High Street.

Disclaimer: The Chronic is rather keen on bicycling.

You don’t say.

Chapeau!

#ridecolchester, blah blah blah, but probably not around Boundary Road, once this behemoth of a carbuncle in praise of the car industry is built.

Oh – a bit of balance: the University is staging a Green Fair on campus on Thursday. Car parking might be a bit of an issue, Comrades.

In Hyperlocal Sunny Colch Odd-toed Ungulate News: Emily the rhino is up the duff.

Hurrah!

Yep, the rather charming big beast of a lady from Colchester Zoo is expecting the pitter, patter of odd-toed little feat. In true crap journo style, we’re not exactly sure when, and to be honest, we’re a little weary of suggesting that Emily already looks a little preggers around the gills, such is the size of her already impressive body weight.

The rather charming image above of Emily came via the good @rickyboleto, a CBBC Newsround reporter. Such a positive, uplifting hard news story for Britain’s Oldest Recorded justifies the BBC licence fee alone.

Think of all the further CBBC Newsround updates as Emily enters into labour, and then parades for the world’s press with her little darling right here in Sunny Colch. A definite coup for both the town and the zoo.

Colchester: the Home of Impregnated rhinos.

Don’t fancy yours much…

Female rhinos reach their sexual maturity [stop sniggering] at around 6-7 years of age. Can’t you tell that we’ve been reading Wikipedia?

Courtship is apparently a difficult affair.

Arf.

Never mind the length – feel the rhino love. Which is also a line that The Chronic once used at Liquid late one Friday night. We also made the headlines news, but not with a happy, happy odd-toed Ungulate impregnation angle.

We wish Emily the rhino a pleasant pregnancy. We also wish the staff at Colchester Zoo an easy ride. Dealing with a demanding rhino that is up the duff ‘aint gonna be an easy ride.

Name suggestions?

Some say that Sir Bob has rhino skin…

A new display has just been put in place at This One Wall, the public art space in Colchester that runs between @15QueenStreet and @firstsite. It is no coincidence that our friends from firstsite are also about to unveil their third season – where This One Wall leads, firstsite follows…

Or something.

We’ve blogged before at The Chronic all about This One Wall. Basically it is a back alley owned by Colchester Borough Council that isn’t very sexy. Which could be something of a problem when you are trying to sell the economic benefits that the Cultural Quarter regeneration [yeah, yeah] will bring to the town.

Step forward local organisation The Creative Coop. With the aim of helping to sustain local creative projects, and to kick-start the regeneration of the town, the wall was handed over to the local group with the remit of making it a little sexier.

Local artist Matt Keeling was the first exhibitor, and now Colchester based illustrator Rob Lock has helped to curate This One Wall with some Sumi Ink illustrations.

Sumi what, you say?

Sumi Ink – it’s an art form that has its relatively new roots in LA, with an ethos of collaboration and being a social, shared activity. Sounds perfect for this particular hyperlocal patch of the town.

Rob has been organising monthly Sumi Ink clubs right here in Colchester. The informal network meets on the last Friday of each month at 15 Queen Street. No greater artistic talent is required, simply an understanding of working with one another to create a shared piece of art work.

Some of the results are quite stunning.

With This One Wall also having a remit to try and capture Colchester memories from 1800 – 2000, the work currently being displayed by the Sumi Ink artists has a definite nod and a wink to Britain’s Oldest Recorded.

Look closely and you will see Jumbo; there’ even a reference to the old bus station, plus The Chronic was quite sure that a Sumi Ink representation of Sir Bob of Sunny Colch could also be found within all of the scribbling’s.

Blimey.

If you want to take part in the Colchester Sumi Ink club, then making contact with 15 Queen Street would be a good starting point. This is an open offer to anyone that wants to collaborate once a month on this rather unique form of artwork.

If you feel that you are able to exhibit any Colchester based artwork that has a Memories theme that would work, you can also contact This One Wall over here [um, it's not a real walking, talking, emailing physical wall, donchaknow...]

Many thanks to Rob for being so helpful in explaining more about the Sunny Colch Sumi Ink scene.

ALL RISE FOR MADAM MAYOR

Actually, it will be Mr Mayor when Colchester Borough Council next reconvenes for the first Full Council meeting on 23rd May, following the last round of local elections that took place two weeks ago.

Yep – it’s the Queen’s Speech moment for Sunny Colch, aka as Mayor Making. Councillor Christopher Arnold will become the esteemed Mr Mayor for the next civic year, taking over the fine work carried out by the current Madam Mayor, Cllr Helen Chuah.

It’s a tough act to follow. Madam Mayor has ruled with an iron fist and a flirty smile, both within, and outside of the council chamber. More than one councillor has referenced Madam Mayor to The Chronic off the record as “Her Loveliness.”

Awww.

There is still something quite saintly about the esteem in which the role model of the Mayor of Colchester is seen. Sure, it’s just a title – but the battle-weary political bruisers come up with a consensus opinion on who to appoint, knowing that fair play needs to be observed.

Madam Mayor hasn’t met her match over the past twelve months, not holding back from the very uncivic responsibility of basically telling any libelous Have Your Say public speakers to shut it, once they cross the line of un-civilised debate.

But before we get to Cllr Arnold getting to bling himself up as the Mayor of the Borough, we need to sit through Mayor Making and all the pomp and pageantry that it presents.

To the Moot Hall! …will be the calling cry come the morning of the 23rd May. You know that you are in for something slightly special [steady] when you are summoned to the symbolic home of the political elite [ha, ha] here in Sunny Colch.

And what the chuffers is the 10:30am scheduled start to the meeting all about, Comrades? Some of us have, um, hyperlocal blog posts to batch out before breakfast, dontchaknow.

The agenda items read: the election of the new Mayor and Deputy [formality] and then the meat and two veg of the morning with the formal declaration of a new CBC cabinet, as well as the political composition of the various regulatory committees [not such a formality.]

Ah yes – about that new CBC cabinet composition…

With no clear winner, and with only one seat changing (Blue to Red) – how are those coalition talks getting on at the Town Hall?

Well…

A week is a long time in local politics. You can forgive us for thinking that a fortnight is something of a life sentence for any hyperlocal blogger who is sniffing around and trying to flush out the meat on the bone.

Urgh.

We’re hearing that it’s same as it ever was in terms of the make up of the new administration – a LibLab cabinet with the Highwoods Independents. The tally count at cabinet should comprise of the same status quo of five LibDems, two Labour and the one Independent.

As for the Portfolio Holder replacing the good Cllr Nick Barlow?

Oooh… we really couldn’t say. Because we really don’t know.

But we understand that it is a female LibDem councillor that is stepping up to the top table of the cabinet.

The Chronic will of course be in attendance on the morning of Mayor Making on 23rd May. Suited and booted, clean-shaven and on best behaviour – and that’s just some of the female councillors sitting in the chamber.

Arf.

You may remember how on an innocent April day back in 1986, TheWurn2 – or Paul as he is perhaps better known – set out on a drive around our town with an old Sony 8 video camera bolted down to the dashboard.

Resurrected and uploaded to the modern interweb some twenty-six years later, the response has been so overwhelming that TheWurn2 decided to loving restage the Sunny Colch drive by, retracing his exact same route, on the exact same day some twenty-six years later.

To contain all the online excitement, the new content is being uploaded one by one. This gives the user the chance to fully understand and put into some context the changing social nature of Sunny Colch, being played out right in front of us.

And so having delighted all with a 2012 drive by through the town centre itself, TheWurn2 heads out east and goes in search of Rowhedge and Fingringhoe for Part II of the Sunny Colch sequel project.

The strapline for this hyperlocal North Essex blockbuster waiting to happen could read: Here be houses and roundabouts.

Catchy, Comrades.

The drive up the Whitehall Road shows that Sunny Colch was a little… Sunnier back in the day. Rose tinted windscreens, ‘n all that.

Where the old gas board once stood is of course now Bannatynes. It must cost a fortune in utility bills to heat that pool…

The drive out to Fingringhoe is fascinating. With the 2012 upload also showing a compare and contrast in the corner, you can map out tree by tree and the relatively slow progress of Mother Nature as the journey takes us out of the town.

Looking across the muddy banks of the river Colne at Rowhedge, you get a fleeting glance at the extent of the development across the water in Wivenhoe. With a parallel development still being planned for the old Rowhedge docks, this footage highlights the impact of housing in our communities.

The Whalebone in Fingringhoe remains more or less unchanged – the great surprise is to see an old red telephone box appearing in 2012, but not back in 1986.

Mmm… a tardis?

Once again, the 2012 uploads have been lovingly edited. What started off as a spur of the moment April drive out in 1986 has now become something much more significant. This is a genuine labour of love – producing content for the modern interweb is no fly by night operation – trust us, Comrades…

Many, many thanks once again to TheWurn2 for sharing these recordings. It remains a truly fascinating hyperlocal project with continued social value, both now, and for years to come in Sunny Colch.

Coming up in Part III: Mersea Road, Lexden and Prettygate.

Don’t mention property prices…