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Visitor Numbers
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Daily average Jan
2007
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144
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Daily average June
2007
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273
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Monthly average
Jan 2007
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4494
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Monthly average
June 2007
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8197
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The site was conceived in
November 2001 with just two topics namely, the river and railway. Later
in 2003, Mount Bures was incorporated and so it became a Three Parish web
site.
It also hopefully answered some of
the most common questions from residents who had moved away, such as "Is
the railway still running ?"
It would seem our local residents have moved away to all parts of the earth,
New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, USA, Canada etc.
It was also very disconcerting
to see how the village was changing over the years with the loss of many
historical buildings, the Maltings, Tannery etc. Although there are many
photographs around in personal collections, nobody had assembled all this
information for easy free access. The technology of the Internet seemed
to be the ideal way of answering enquiries and documenting the village
history for all to see.
The site only concerns itself with historical facts from approx 1900 to
the present day, so it does not encroach on the work of the Local History
Society.
However , due to it`s phenomenal expansion, the Mount Bures information
was transferred in November 2006 to its own dedicated domain at "www.mount-bures.co.uk"
The site has expanded to list over 75 subjects, amounting to 200+ pages
covering the two parishes of Bures Hamlet and Bures St Mary.
Since starting, the site has been updated literally hundreds of times
as new or revised information arrives. For example, the One Bell PH page
has been revised and rewritten at least ten times !
The entire site has been re-launched with a new format on five separate
occasions.
Today (Sept 2007) it is estimated that well over 2,500+ hours of work
have gone into this site. Just researching the "War" years in
the village, runs into several hundred hours. Amazingly, six years since
its conception the flow of information coming into the site never seems
to diminish.
Work is carried out on the site daily, checking incoming messages, posting
news and when time permits, visiting people and places around the area
to seek out and verify new information.
On a normal day, 2 or 3 e-mail's are dealt with on diverse subjects such
as:-
finding accommodation and venues for social functions,
Parish Council contacts,
trying to contact long lost relations or friends, (regrettably denied**)
supplying information (not personal) for newspaper and magazine articles,
research about rural life from academics (Liverpool & Essex University
for example)
research for TV series.
contact point for visitors or new residents seeking information on clubs
and societies,
suggestions for new web page topics etc etc.
finding out when a particular event is planned, Jazz, Open Gardens, Flower
Festival for instance
route planning for visitors to Bures
Rail information, parking, times, fares etc.
cooperation with other local village web sites offering support
We of course, have the
normal selection of oddball requests (link)
**Sadly
we can no longer undertake genealogy requests. These requests if
allowed, would make up the vast majority of incoming emails and the research
work would take precedence over everything else.
Please use the on-line Forum page, this invariably
will bring you an answer
The "Dept of Education and Skills" funded the running of the
web site up to September 2004.
"Bures-online"
won a Regional Award in 2003/4 competing against other organisations throughout
Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.
The largest number (98%) of those visitors to the site, come from outside
the village.
Both Bures St. Mary and Bures Hamlet now support the web site and publish
their respective "Minutes" bimonthly.
Bures-online has been
featured in the Halstead Gazette, Evening Gazette, East Anglian Daily
Times, Suffolk Free Press and many other local colour magazines.
During the Spring of 2006, one of the researchers Alan Beales carried
out work for an independent television company for the popular TV series,
"Who do you think you are"
Barbara Windsor was the subject of this program.
This uncovered
links with John Constable (the artist) and property the Constable family
owned in Bures Hamlet and Mount Bures.
We are always actively seeking sponsorship in order to keep this site
up and running. Although you view these pages without charge, nothing
in this world is really free.
The high overheads, steadily increase each year as the site gets more
demanding in size.
Lastly
don't forget this is a Community Web Site, run by the community for the
enjoyment of those who visit the site. The information has come from literally
hundreds of people who have taken the time to submit their memories
and wish to record village
life for others to enjoy reading.
Because some stories may be decades old it is not always possible to verify
every single fact, but we do our very best.
It is not the product of one single person, but
from a collection of interested parties,
5th September 2007
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