Award winning magazine

In 2000 the Dragon was thrilled to win two awards in competitions for village magazines. We were one of only eight runners-up to the winner in the Country Living competition which attracted 250 entries from across the country. On a more local level we gained a highly-commended certificate in the contest run by the Rural Community Council of Essex.

What are we trying to do?

The Dragon aims to give all village organisations and individuals a channel of communication. Many clubs and other organisations contribute regular reports and the letter page allows readers to express their views to a village-wide audience. The Dragon carries church news and the monthly letter from the vicar as well as the church calendar and village diary of forthcoming events. The Parish Council contribute a summary of their meetings and details of planning applications. The village school publish their news and examples of their pupil’s work. Each August we publish a village directory of useful names and telephone numbers.

The Dragon also aims to be a readable and interesting village journal. In the past year we have run series of articles on local footpath walks, village history, interviews with local residents and places of interest to visit. There are occasional contributions from readers on, for example, their holiday experiences. A new series in 2001 looks at the nuts and bolts of researching family history.

The Committee

The Dragon is run by a committee of villagers.  Angela Tucker is responsible for finance and Helen Pimblett and Eric Dent organise the advertising.  Jerry Platt looks after distribution and William Coleby contributes the church news.  The editor is Liz Griffith-Jones and associate editors are  Ros Heywood and Wendy Hogg.

Want to contact us?

The best way to contact the Dragon is to e-mail Liz Griffith-Jones on Lizgj@aol.com. Are you an ex-Henhamite living somewhere far across the world or even elsewhere in this country? Why not get in touch and tell us about your new life? Would you like to receive copies of the Dragon? If you e-mail Liz we will provide you with a quote.

Back to a standard size issue this month after the extra large editions of the last few months. This is partly due to the lack of articles from the shop and Tennis Club, both of whom thought they didn't have enough to say this time. No doubt they will be back next month.

Quite a bit of space is given over to our latest threat - the proposed eco-settlement at NE Elsenham, as the government are calling it. Our two district councillors both lead the way in protesting and the editorial asks whether any other village has suffered such a series of blows - the proposal for a new town on our borders (twice), the proposal for a new runway and the loss of our post office. A triple whammy.

The Henham Dads Football Club are looking forward to their autumn visit to Dublin. Apparently there is still room if anyone else fancies the trip. Jo Jeffery tells us about the invasion of the harlequin ladybird in her Garden Society article. She doubts that she will be rooting round her garden to eradicate the invader. Sheena continues to be enthusiastic about her bellringing activities, looking forward to an intensive three day course.

I am taking a 2 month break from editorial duties and will enjoy reading the June issue edited by Wendy Hogg and the July edition which Ros Heywood is putting together. My thanks to both of them.