Christmas Party Time At Baddow Club

December 2014
Children enjoy a Christmas party at the Great Baddow Millennium Centre with entertainer 'Skittleman'.

Great Baddow Darts Team Crowned 'Best In The World'

November 2014
                                             (Dave Heelis, 53, landlord of the Blue Lion)

The Blue Lion pub darts team were crowned 'the world's best darts team' when they won the 2014 Punch Darts Classic at Blackpool's Winter Garden.

The team, from the pub in Tabors Hill Great Baddow, triumphed over 1,100 other pubs in this prestigious contest beating The Avenue in Durham 6 - 1 in the final.

                                        (The team collect their winners cheque for £2500)

West Ham Legends At Baddow Club

September 2014
 Brian Dear, Helen Sullivan (centre manager) and Tony Cottee

A 'West Ham Legends' charity evening was held at the Great Baddow Community Centre on Sept 3rd.The event was a sell-out with all 150 tickets sold.

Ex-West Ham footballers Brian Dear, Tony Cottee, Alan Devonshire and Julian Dicks provided the entertainment as guest speakers. There was also an auction of football memorbilia with all proceeds going to a hospital charity.

Barclays Bank Closes

June 2014
Barclays Bank in The Vineyards, Great Baddow will close its doors for the last time on June 20, 2014.

As part of Barclays Bank restructure and widespread staff redundancies, customers will now be forced to go to their nearest branch in Chelmsford City centre.

Great Baddow Beer Festival Success

May 2014
The Great Baddow Beer Festival held at the Baddow Club over the bank holiday weekend proved to be a great success.

Blessed with some wonderfully warm and sunny weather guests were able to enjoy a variety of 12 different real ales, 3 ciders and access to the members bar with a selection of more beers, lagers and soft drinks. Hot food was also available.

On the Saturday night free entertainment was provided with rock and pop duo 'Pulse'. During the afternoons guest were able to enjoy watching the cricket in Baddow rec. For more information on events at the club go to: www.facebook.com/baddowclub



May Bank Holiday Beer Festival

May 2014
 (Ian Gallagher - the UK's No.1 Sinatra tribute act - played recently at the Baddow Club)

Great Baddow Club will be holding a beer festival from May 3rd - 5th. There will be a choice of 12 beers and 3 ciders. From Greene King there will be Old Golden Hen, IPA Reserve, London Glory, Ale Fresco, Old Hoppy Hen and Golden Beach.

From The Mighty Oak Brewery there will be Oscar Wilde, Nine91 and Pentagram. Also on offer will be Slipstream (Roundtower brewery), Dark Horse (Maldon Brewing Co.) and Dengie IPA (Wibblers brewery). Food will be available on all 3 days.

Great Baddow Beer Festival

April 2014
The Great Baddow Millennium Community Centre will be staging The Great Baddow Beer Festival during the May bank holiday weekend from 3rd - 5th May 2014. 'The Baddow Club' is located in the recreation ground off Baddow Road. For details visit www.facebook.com/baddowclub.

There will be 12 real ales on offer plus ciders and these will include ales from the Greene King, the Wibblers, the Round Tower, the Crouch Vale and the Mighty Oak breweries.

As well as fine ales there will be hot food available each day. The event is open to all and guests will also be able to look around the facilities at the community centre including free entry to the members bar. On the Saturday evening there will be music entertainment in the members bar.

Opening times for The Great Baddow Beer Festival are as follows:
Saturday 3rd May: 12 noon - 11pm
Sunday 4th May: 12 noon - 10.30pm
Monday 5th May: 12 noon - 3pm.

Hundreds Gather For Funeral Of Kailen Spreadbury

March 2014
Hundreds gathered at St Mary's Church, Great Baddow on Wednesday March 19th for the funeral of Kailen Spreadbury. After the service the many hundreds followed a bagpipe player and two horse drawn carriages which carried the coffin to the Lawn Cemetery where Kailen was buried.

Kailen, aged 20, was killed in a car accident in Great Baddow on March 1st. His 18 year old fiancee Charley Wassell, released from hospital, and their 9 month old son Freddie both attended.




Great Baddow Man Killed In Car Accident

March 2014
 (Kailen pictured with fiancee Charlotte and son Freddie)

Kailen Spreadbury, aged 20, was tragically killed in a car accident on the A1114 Essex Yeomanry Way, Great Baddow on Saturday March 1st. He was pronouced dead at the scene at 1pm.

His partner Charlotte was flown to The Royal London Hospital by air ambulance and remains in a serious condition. Their 9 month old son, Freddie, who was also involved in the collision, was released from hospital unharmed.

Kailen, the son of Warren and Karen Spreadbury, attended Baddow Hall School and Great Baddow High School and was scouted to play football for West Ham FC from the age of six. He later had a spell in the Chelsea youth team and also played for Chelmsford City Colts before settling to play for his local team Great Baddow FC at the age of 16.

Kailen was a hugely popular young man and devoted father. RIP Kailen.

Blue Lion Pub Up For Sale

February 2014
The lease for the Blue Lion pub in Tabors Hill, Great Baddow is up for sale. The pub is owned by Punch Taverns and has been run by current landlords Dave and Ann Heelis for 8 years.

The Punch Taverns website states that the new tenants will be required to pay 'ingoings' of £76,550. On top of that the rent is £35,506 per annum.

Rumour has it that the Blue Lion will be transformed into another Indian restaurant -  the 3rd for the village.

Wash Out For Football At Baddow Rec

February 2014
Many parts of the UK have had their wettest January since records began over 250 years ago with parts of the west country such as Somerset suffering severe flooding. Whilst Great Baddow has not benn affected as badly, the rainfall has still been significant.

The football pitches at Great Baddow recreation ground (photo above) have been waterlogged for several weeks now with not a ball kicked since mid December 2013.

Top Marks For Baddow Establishments

January 2014

The Essex Chronicle has just published the food hygiene ratings for businesses throughout Chelmsford. The ratings are judged from a top mark of 5 down to zero. A large number of popular Chelmsford restaurants scored a lowly 1 including the Empire Chinese in Springfield Road.

Several Great Baddow restaurants scored the top mark of 5 including the Great Baddow Millennium Centre (photo above) www.facebook.com/BaddowClub, Pontands Park Hotel, Russells Restaurant, the White Horse pub, New Orientel House (chinese in Vineyards) and Baddow Tandoori.

All ratings can be found at the Food Standards Agency website.