As part of my constituency rounds the other day, I was up in Willingale talking to members of the Parish Council, the Village Hall Committee and some of the St Andrew’s Church bellringers.
Willingale has a wonderful community spirit, and I was extremely impressed to see the calendar of village events for the year, with the two churches, the village hall, and the sports club all working together to ensure dates for quizzes, celebrations and fundraisers did not clash. For a village with no shop and no pub, there is certainly never a shortage of things to do.
We discussed fundraising opportunities and grant-finding activities for the various groups in the village and I will be working with the Parish Council and Village Hall Committee to identify what assistance may be available.
My final visit of the evening, and one which I have been trying to do since before the pandemic, was to join the Willingale bellringers in the cramped confines of the bell-tower to see them practise under the tutelage of Tower Captain, Gemma Couchman, and Ian Kerwin, the Master of the North West Essex Association of Change Ringers.
Willingale villagers are very proud of their bells and bell tower, which they restored themselves, and now run them on an ingenious computer system which means in the tower they can hear the sounds the bells would make, but the bells are muffled so outside all you hear is a gently clicking. I’m told this is because so many bellringers want to visit and try the bells out, the villagers would never get a quiet evening. If you want to see what’s on in Willingale visit https://willingalevillage.uk/events/
