Nicky and David Ogden have lived at Fair Rig, Lt. Thurlow Green, for the past seventeen years. At first they lived in London, coming here for weekends. They have two children, Thomas and Lucy. Lucy is at Thurlow School and Thomas at Culford in Bury St. Edmunds. Nicky was born in London, David in Manchester, Tom in London and Lucy in Newmarket.
David works as a free-lance musician, mostly in London, and Nicky teaches music both locally and at a school in SaVron Walden.
The family uses the local facilities for leisure pursuits, tennis, cricket and football and the play equipment at Gt. Thurlow recreation ground. They all cycle locally and swim at Haverhill pool and the Thurlow school pool in the summer.
Thurlow provides them with peace and quiet and a feeling of security in the countryside. There are good facilities for children in the village and good shops nearby, providing you have a car. There is not too much traffic on the Green.
Poor public transport, fast moving traffic through the village and unknown chemicals used in crop spraying are the negative aspects of life here.
Nicky and David have seen many changes since moving here: an increase in traffic and some new building, particularly recently; fewer wild birds and pheasants. They feel the nature of the village is changing with the move to renting houses. When they first came, those who didn’t work on the estate had lived here for many years and there was little change in population at all. At that time it was easy to get to know people at all levels of society. But there is still a good feeling in the community, and Tom has lots of friends here, in spite of going to school in Bury St. Edmunds.
They both feel there has been a decline in church activities. The children used to be part of the congregation and used the vicarage for activity mornings. David and Nicky used to play their instruments in the church services.
Nicky and David have taken a major part in providing village concerts, both with their friends and the village children. They have organised two “Thurlow Reviews”, and raised funds with their Easter Concerts.