Launch Of New Great Baddow Website

January 2011



by Maurice Crockard

As many of you will know, the Great Baddow On-line website ceases being "on-line" this week.

Chris Harvey has spent 5 years putting together the information on that site and Chris has now passed the baton on to myself and David Haddington, who have recently launched a new site at www.inGreatBaddow.co.uk incorporating much of Chris's web content.

This new site aims to provide locals with a one-stop shop for information about local businesses, organisations, history, news and events. Since most of the information is collected piecemeal from local sources, there are bound to be gaps. If you'd like to help plug these gaps, I would like to hear from you (email: maurice@ingreatbaddow.co.uk). If you are a small business based in Great Baddow, then you can have a mention if you tell us. We will even set up a micro web-site, or even just a single page, for you and promote it for a very nominal sum. Such site sponsors, get a front page mention on the site for a part of the year to help promote their business even more and a web address (URL) of the form
e.g. www.ingreatbaddow.co.uk/alittlebazaar

The development of the Local History section is on-going and would benefit from your input. Old photographs showing buildings that have been demolished are especially welcome, as are any items about local notable families. Well, actually, anything that's historical and interesting about the village or its inhabitants will be gratefully accepted.

If you spot any glaring gaps in the information available, just let us know.

Rising Fuel Prices

January 2011

The country has been hit with extortionate fuel prices with petrol at £129.9 a litre and diesel £133.9 a litre. They are set to increase even more in April 2011.

The 'Jones of Chelmsford' garage in Baddow Road was formerly owned by the Jones brothers who sold the business in 2010.

The BP garage, also in Baddow Road, has recently been revamped.


Kings Head Pub Re-Opens

December 2010


The Kings Head pub in Maldon Road, Great Baddow re-opened on 22nd December 2010. The pub had been closed since the beginning of November.

Great Baddow Hit By More Snow

December 2010

On the afternoon of Saturday 18th December more snow arrived in Great Baddow causing terrible driving conditions. Most of the UK was affected in the same way with widespread traffic disruption including the closure of Gatwick and Heathrow airports.



Baddow Road


Blue Lion pub

The Vineyards


Maldon Road

Christmas Carols At The Vineyards

December 2010


Great Baddow celebrated Christmas at the Vineyards when over a hundred parishioners braved a cold, damp night to sing carols with the Salvation Army band. 

This event was organised by the fellowship of St Mary's Church and was supported by the Vineyards owners, the Co-op supermarket and the card shop (Congratulations). The Co-op kindly provided mince pies for everyone as they sang. Even Father Christmas put in an appearance!

The evening was a great success and provided a wonderful Christmas atmosphere. Let’s hope it can become an annual event on the Great Baddow calendar.

(Apologies for the quality of the photograph)

Great Baddow Hit By Snow

December 2010


The first snow of the winter arrived earlier than expected. Great Baddow residents awoke on the morning of 30th November 2010 to discover that there had been considerable overnight snow.


This was the scene in the park.



Local radio advised people to stay at home unless it was absolutely necessary to go out. Roads were treacherous, pavements icy and dangerous.


Fortunately, the buses were still running.


New Furniture At The Great Baddow Millennium Centre

November 2010


The Great Baddow Millennium Centre (better known as the Baddow Club) recently purchased new furniture for the bar area. The club is a members only club situated in the recreation ground. It is particularly popular with sports fans. Football, cricket and other major sporting events are often screened on the club's two TVs.

There are also two large function rooms that are hired regularly for weddings, parties and other social gatherings.