A production line of stickle bricks helped to give students a taste of life in the business world.
A week of activities including The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den-style challenges are lined up at Castle Manor Business and Enterprise College and Samuel Ward Academy as part of Global Enterprise Week.
The events are being supported by Haverhill Chamber of Commerce.
Sarah Howard, its chairman, said: “The future economic prosperity of the town will be in the hands of generations of youngsters to come from our outstanding colleges.
“We want to help them nurture their entrepreneurial spirit by providing them with real opportunities to put what they are taught in class into practice in real life.”
Year 7 students from Castle Manor and Samuel Ward took part in a challenge to create the most efficient production line out of stickle bricks.
Two years ago Laura Turner weighed 26 stone and faced the prospect of an early death, leaving her two young children without a mother.
Now the 31-year-old single mum has more than halved her weight and found a new lease of life, thanks to a gastric bypass operation.
She is convinced the operation saved her life and now wants to help others by increasing awareness and help find funding for the surgery.
Laura lives at Bellings Road, Haverhill, with daughters Shanelle, 12, and Chelsea, 7, and now weighs around 12 stone.
However, after having more than a metre of intestine removed in the operation in 2009, her stomach is now drastically reduced in size and she will never be able to eat normally again.
Laura said: “People think it is an easy option, but it isn’t, it is absolutely a last resort. I am extremely grateful for having my operation and I am sure I would not still be here now without it. I still feel fat and hideous, because I have masses of excess skin and I will have to take medication for the rest of my life. I am not complaining though, I am just glad to be alive.
“I was morbidly obese and at my biggest struggled with even the simplest of tasks. I was suffering from sleep apnoea and my chin was so big I could not breathe properly. When I was big, I was invisible, people dropped doors in my face, and people would openly laugh and point at me. Now people actually speak to me, because I am a socially acceptable size, I suppose.
“I did not just eat junk food, but it was the amount of food I was eating that was the problem. I always felt hungry.
“Healthy eating and exercise is definitely the key to maintaining a healthy weight, but in certain extreme circumstances when people are morbidly obese, I feel weight loss surgery should be easier to get funded. You seem to have to wait until you get bigger and sicker, which must cost the NHS more in the end.”
Before the operation Laura would eat large meals with plenty of snacks and fizzy drinks. In the lead-up to the operation she had to go on a liquid diet and then afterwards she had to start again, like a baby just starting on solids.
Now she eats small meals, fewer snacks and does not touch fizzy drinks.
Laura’s first point of call was her GP and she would encourage others to start there and also to visit the Weight Loss Surgery Friends Facebook group run by Angela and Robert Matthews.
She is also willing to offer help to anyone who emails her at: turner_laura1@sky.com.
Plans for a huge research park development which could create up to 1,000 jobs are being recommended for approval by planners – despite strong objections from residents.
St Edmundsbury Borough Council is holding a site inspection followed by a special meeting in Haverhill next Thursday, November 24, to determine applications by Carisbrooke Investments for the 30-acre gateway site at the western entrance to the town.
Plans include a business/research park, 60-bed hotel, pub and creche, and up to 150 houses, including 10 per cent affordable homes.
The site has been zoned for many years for a prestige ‘hi-tech’ development and previous applications for housing have been refused. However, earlier this year the council approved a masterplan for the site, which includes an element of housing and other uses to make the scheme financially viable.
The proposals for the Hanchett End site, adjacent to the town’s Spirit of Enterprise roundabout, include up to 450,000sq ft of research and business space, which if approved before Christmas could result in the infrastructure and new buildings being built by the end of next year.
Approval is recommended, subject to a number of conditions, including up to £500,000 to be paid to Suffolk County Council towards the cost of services such as education and highways improvements. A travel plan is included which requires bus service improvements, cycleways and footpaths to the town centre to discourage car journeys to the site.
Cambridgeshire County Council raised concerns about increased traffic on the A1307 and requested that the development contribute to road safety improvements. However, Suffolk County Council’s highways department pointed out that most journeys to and from the site would be in the opposite direction to that where congestion occurred on the road.
The report said: “The A1307 will be able to cope with the additional traffic generated and the additional traffic is unlikely to have a significant impact on the safety of the road.”
The economic development department said: “Assuming planning permission is granted, it will provide a realistic alternative for companies who want the kudos of being on a Cambridge science park without the high cost.”
Letters of objection were received from 16 neighbours, who were concerned that the buffer zone between the development and their homes was inadequate, and that three-, four- and five-storey buildings would be too high, out of character and result in a loss of privacy and amenity to existing residents.
They also said there was a risk that the business units will not be delivered, and feared loss of existing hedge along A1307 to accommodate the footpath improvements as a loss of a visual/noise and security barrier.
They said: “Residential development has been refused previously on this site and should not be allowed now.
“The existing road network cannot accommodate the additional traffic movements/demands and the proposed access is too close to the existing Spirit of Enterprise roundabout. The development will result in traffic congestion and highway safety issues.”
In recommending approval, the report concluded: “The masterplan sets out the vision for the Haverhill Research Park: to create an impressive gateway development to Haverhill comprising a high-quality business/research park within an attractive, well-landscaped environment, incorporating landmark buildings of high architectural quality.
“In addition, approximately one-third of the site will be used to provide a compatible mix of other higher value commercial and residential uses to help offset the significant infrastructure costs and ground remodeling works needed to successfully develop the site.
“The Traffic Impact Assessment indicates that the A1307 will be able to cope with the additional traffic generated and the additional traffic is unlikely to have a significant impact on the safety of the road.”
Haverhill’s Remembrance Day parade on Sunday (November 13) was led by current MP Matthew Hancock and former MP Richard Spring – who now sits in the House of Lords as Baron Risby of Haverhill.
The parade, which grows bigger each year, was attended by the Royal British Legion mens and womens sections, the Ex-Servicemen’s Club, Red Cross, Sea Scouts, Girl Guides, Rotary Club, Townswomen’s Guild, Fire Service, Police, Royal Marines and Royal Naval Association, the RAF Association, air and army cadets, the Women’s Institute, as well as wives and widows of servicemen killed or injured and members of the public.
The parade marched down the High Street to the war memorial in the Withersfield Road cemetery, where a service was conducted by the Rev Ian Finn before the wreaths were laid. It then returned to the town centre, taking the salute outside the council offices before arriving at St Mary’s Church for a service.
For more, see Thursday’s Weekly News.
A fire in a ground floor flat is being investigated as arson.
Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident, which took place at a property on Strasbourg Square, Haverhill, on Tuesday, November 8 at 9.55am.
A fire had been started in a bedroom at the ground floor, single-storey bedsit flat, under a double bed. Damage was caused to the bed covers and the bed itself, but no-one was hurt in the incident.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or saw any suspicious activity in the area prior to or after the incident, should contact DC Michael Chapman in CID on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
Haverhill could become home to one of only two pilot schemes in the country testing the new concept of “community budgeting” in a bid to cut red tape and get things done.
At Tuesday night’s (November 
meeting of Haverhill Town Council it was agreed to submit a bid to the Government to stage a pilot scheme.
Gordon Mussett, Haverhill town clerk, said the town council’s bid was fully supported by Suffolk County Council and St Edmundsbury Borough Council, and was being made on behalf of the whole of Haverhill.
He added: “It is a bit like the One Haverhill, where everyone brings their money and their people to the table and you end up with a more joined-up service, which is possibly cheaper to run.
“Because the borough and county councils have to work on a countywide basis, they cannot change their policies to suit what resident in the town want.
“For example, at the steps on the Chalkstone estate, near the shops, the handrails are broken and damaged and one is missing. I rang St Edmundsbury, who said they were not responsible because they had transferred the steps to Havebury (Housing). When I spoke to Havebury they said they did not know anything about the handrails. Six months on and they are still broken. We reported broken handrails on the Clements estate in May and they are still the same.”
Mr Mussett said the deadline for applications is November 18, and he was not aware of any other council making a similar bid. An announcement of successful bids will be made on December 16.
“Six different organisations cut grass in Haverhill with different contractors and for different prices. If there was just one contract and one gang mower cut all the grass it would be cheaper and people would know who to complain to if the grass was not cut,” he explained.
“Another area is youth services. Our residents say they have 50 kids outside their houses and they want something done about it. The county council says it only works with targeted groups, which the residents don’t understand. People just want their grass cut or services provided, they don’t really care who does it. If there was more flexibility you could respond to local needs.
“We already have the One Haverhill group in the town and a lot of partnership projects already going on, and this would be an extension of that.”
Police have issued an e-fit image after a robbery in Haverhill.
Suffolk Police are appealing for witnesses to a robbery that took place in Withersfield Road on Sunday, October 30.
It occurred near to the junction of Western Avenue and was opposite an army cadet hut. It took place between 12.15am and 12.25am when the victim, a 22-year-old man, was approached by a man and asked for money. The victim declined, but a short while later the offender caught up with him and this time demanded money.
Again the victim refused, then offender grabbed him and the two were involved in a brief scuffle. The victim managed to flee the scene and made his way home – he was shaken and uninjured. No property was taken from the victim.
It is thought a taxi driver driving a black Vectra-type vehicle, who had stopped nearby just prior to the robbery, may have seen the incident and officers would like to speak this man as a possible witness.
The offender is described as a white male, of muscular build, over 6 ft tall and in his 20s. He was wearing a short sleeved, slim fit dark shirt, dark jeans and dark shoes.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or has knowledge of it should contact PCSO Nicola Amey at Newmarket Police Station on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
A teenage girl was assaulted by a hooded man.
The 13-year-old victim was walking home from an after-school dance class along a pathway behind Caernarvon Walk in Haverhill when the man jumped in front of her.
He grabbed her forearm and tried to trip her up, but the girl managed to fight him off and ran home.
Suffolk Police said the victim was left “shaken but unhurt” by the incident.
The attacker was white, in his late 20s, 5ft 9in tall and of average build.
He had a scar on the back of his left hand and chapped skin on his right cheek, while he was wearing a black zipped hoodie and black Nike trainers.
Anyone with information should call 101 and ask for Pc Robert Bunton at Haverhill police station or ring Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.
Haverhill’s Remembrance Day parade will be led by current MP Matthew Hancock and former MP Richard Spring, who now sits in the House of Lords as Baron Risby of Haverhill.
The parade will assemble at the car park behind Haverhill Arts Centre on Sunday (November 13) at 1.30pm and march off down the High Street at 2.15pm. It will stop at the Lower Downs Slade council offices for two minutes at about 2.30pm, and those who cannot walk as far are welcome to join it there.
A service will be conducted by the Rev Ian Finn before the wreaths are laid, then the parade will return to the town centre, taking the salute outside the council offices before arriving at St Mary’s Church for a service at 3.15pm.
In Kedington, a church parade will assemble at the Barnardiston Arms pub at 10.30am on Sunday, with members of the Kedington and District Royal British Legion branch and Women’s Section, supported by representatives of youth and other organisations in the village.
The parade will process along Silver Street, West End Lane and Mill Road, to arrive at the church in time for a short service led by the Rev Derek Hollis, including the Act of Remembrance. The two minutes’ silence will be observed, with wreathes being laid on the war memorial by representative of the various organisations present. The Last Post and Reveille will be sounded by Rod Gibson, followed by a church service conducted by the Rev Derek Hollis.
In Clare, the annual service of remembrance will be held at the parish church on Sunday at 3pm. The parade will start at the Ex-Serviceman’s Club at 2.45pm sharp, led by the Bury Boys Brigade. This year it will also include the re-dedication of the war memorial, with 245 guests attending, including the mayor of Clare’s twin town, Chatillon-sur-Indre in France.
Meanwhile, two linked events in the town centre last Saturday (November 5) helped swell the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.
A coffee morning was organised by the Haverhill RBL at the library with Alan Brockbank, RBL county welfare officer, on hand to give advice about the help available from the Legion to ex-members of the services. There were also displays featuring the brave young men named on the town’s war memorial.
A military vehicle and re-enactment soldier on the market square caused much interest and focused shoppers’ thoughts on the Poppy Appeal.
For those who missed it there will be another military vehicle this Saturday (November 12) from 9am-1pm on the Market Square.
When her sweet-natured husband Steve started showing drastic character changes, it never occurred to Gloria Double that he could be suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Steve was just 56 when he was diagnosed with the condition, after losing his job and having his wife start divorce proceedings. But now Gloria says he is largely back to the “lovely man” he was before thanks to the help he has received.
The couple, from Kedington, are backing a Department of Health campaign urging people to seek an early diagnosis from their doctor if a loved one is displaying the early symptoms of dementia.
Gloria first noticed the change in Steve’s behaviour seven years ago. He had always been a gentle, sweet-natured man, calm and placid most of the time, rarely upset about anything. But he started to become increasingly snappy and impatient, even aggressive at times.
She said: “He’d tell lies to try to cover up things he’d done and get cross with me when I asked him about it. Once he’d obviously dropped a vase and mended it, but when I found it and asked him how it happened he said he didn’t know what I was talking about. I began to doubt myself.” Eventually things got so bad between them that Gloria filed for divorce and Steve moved out.
Things went from bad to worse for Steve. He had worked as a paint-sprayer in a vehicle workshop since the age of 16 but his bosses noticed that he’d start on a car and then seem to forget what he was doing halfway through. After he lost his job it really set the alarm bells ringing, and although they were separated, Gloria finally persuaded him to go to his GP.
She said: “It was January 2008 and there was snow on the ground but he’d turned up for his appointment in a T-shirt. The doctor gave him a memory test and when he was asked what season it was, he replied ‘summer’.”
Steve was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s and referred to Adden-brooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where he was put on a special drugs regime which Gloria is convinced has helped him to retain his long-term memory.
He was also able to move into a small bungalow owned by a housing association Havebury Housing, in the same village as Gloria and close to his daughter and grandchildren. Age UK Suffolk assigned him a social worker, Louise Diss. Sensors have been installed to remind Steve to switch everything off in the kitchen and to turn up his heating when it gets too cold. Others on the front and back door warn his carers if he leaves the bungalow unexpectedly or late at night. Steve is looked after by carers for five days a week and at weekends his family takes over.
Gloria’s advice to others in her situation is not to ignore the signs. She said: “It never occurred to me that Steve could be suffering from Alzheimer’s – I didn’t think he was old enough. But if your loved one starts to change beyond all recognition, there could be a medical reason for it, so do go to see your GP. Help is out there – you really don’t have to suffer on your own.”