The History of the BW Village Facebook

The Facebook page started out life called "The Friends of Belchamp Walter" in July 2013.

The village, the world and the village hall all had consequences due to Covid. Activities were curtailed and there was some nonsense relating to offering support for those that were "locked-in". 2020 saw such an attempt. The iniative was supposed to be using Facebook. In the opionion of this website this was not well done.

I believe that it was renamed "BelchampWalterVillage" sometime in 2022.

The renaming could have been the result of the realisation that things were not going as well as they could. It could also have been due to the fact that other "administators" were involved in the running of the Facebook.

In addition, a website was created by a Village Hall Committee member as he was not happy using Facebook. In truth, the Facebook was the Village Hall website, except that that name had allready been taken.

The author of this website (tempusfugit.me.uk) was told that the BelchampWalterVillageHall Facebook was automatically generated. This was bullshit!

Top

What the BelchampWalterVillage Facebook page intro says:

We've created this page for villagers to share what’s happening locally, receive updates & news from the Village Hall Commitee and Parish Council, see upcoming local events, and post photos and experiences of life in our beautiful Belchamp Walter.

Who are We? There was also no involvement of the Parish Council on the creation of the Facebook.

The Covid Intiative - 28 March 2020

This was supposed to have been "tagged on" to the efforts in the other Belchamps - it wasn't.

In fact, there were residents of the village that used the service that were neither vulnerble or "locked-in". A request for a purchase from Waitrose for blueberries and Charley Brigham ready-meals was hardly urgent.

Change of Admin

Due to the fact that the person who setup the Facebook, threw her toys, there were a couple of additions to the posting to the Facebook. The first was more interested in setting up a table tennis team and the other was initially "keen" but became disenchanted when Covid rules were not followed at a Christmas Party event.

Joe Blake - the footballer from 1905

One of the first posts on the blog was a rather random post about Joe Blake

John Joseph Blake (1882 – 23 February 1931) was an English footballer who played as an outside-forward for Southampton in the early part of the twentieth century.

Football career:
Blake was born in Belchamp Walter, near Sudbury and played his youth football with the Church of England Young Men's Society before moving to London to train as a draughtsman. Whilst in London he played as an amateur for Ilford and Tottenham Hotspur (in their Western League side).

This suggests to me that the intention of the Facebook was to present a History of the Village. This would also be supported by the intention of the originator of the Facebook of a history of the village in the church October 2019 (post 4 Oct 2019 - see below)

Memory Lane

This was an attempt to showcase the history of the village and was presented in the church in October 2019. The exibition included photocopies of articles found on the Internet (mainly Foxearth History), items found in the Essex Archive and an original portfolio of Manoral Records from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The text from the Facebook Post:

Whay's in a name? We tell the history of Belchamp Walter through the buildings and the poeple who lived in them. Any Deals, Chatters, Firmins, Wrights or Twitchetts - you may well find an unknown story or a long lost ancestor - come along and find out! Open through out October.

The text from the image on the Facebook Post:

A walk down memory Lane in belchamp Walter

A display of bygone Life in thew village throughout photographs, documents, and newspaper articles mapping the village's history over the decades.

Come, look and marvel! The display will be in St. Mary's, Belchamp Walter from 5th October for the entire month of October. The church is open to visitors every day, make sure you don't miss it!

The Facebook was intended to promote events at the Village Hall even though the author was not a committee member (at the time). It has been speculated that the orgin of the Facebook was a PCC initative as the author was a member of the PCC at the time.

The treasurer of the Village Hall Committee is possibly responsible for the (first) Facebook profile in the name of the Village Hall. Access to this profile was lost to a lack of communication between the two parishoners. (The original Chair and the current Treasurer)

The History of the BW Village Facebook

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