Issue No. 155 incorporating The Wayland News and Attleborough & District News March 2010

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FREE! A Free newspaper supporting Mid-Norfolk communities

News that the Ministry of Defence

has declared the airfield at RAF

Watton surplus to the requirements

of the Defence Training Estate has

raised fears that the site could end up

in the hands of housing developers

and bring thousands more new

homes to the area in the long term.

Speaking about the airfield an MOD

spokesman said:

“The site is surplus to the

requirements of the Defence

Training Estate and the MOD is

considering its suitability for any

wider military requirement.

“If no MOD requirement is

identified, the site will be placed on

the Register of Surplus Public Sector

Land held by Department for

Communities and local Government

enabling another public body to

purchase the site at market value. In

parallel to this, the site will be

considered for any requirement to

offer the site back to the former

owner under the Crichel Down

rules.”

The Crichel Down rules are non-

statutory guidance which requires

that all surplus land acquired by, or

under threat of, compulsion is

offered back to former owners or

their successors. The airfield was

originally farmland that was

acquired for the construction of RAF

Watton around 1936/37, therefore

according to the guidance, attempts

will be made to trace the successors

of the original owners who will, in

effect have first refusal on the land.

The spokesman continued “Only if

these processes have been completed

with no buyer identified will the site

be placed on the open market.”

The airfield is an area of

approximately 500 acres and as

agricultural land would be worth

about £3m, but with even part of as

development land, its value could

rocket to more than £200m

Breckland Council Chairman, John

Rogers, said: “The site is outside the

Local Development Framework

boundary and will not be developed

in the immediate future; of course

one cannot say what might happen in

the long term.”

Continued on page 2

Thousands

more homes

for Griston?

Pupils of Year 3, Caston Primary School present Watton Rotary Club President Richard Akister £763 raised to help

victims in Haiti. Watton Rotary will use the money in support of the “Shelter Box Appeal” Full story on page 3

Attleborough & District Horticultural Society The Society meets monthly at Attleborough Junior School, Besthorpe

Road, Attleborough on the third Wednesday in the month at 7.30pm.

Guest speakers cover a wide range of topics mostly, but not exclusively,

linked to horticulture. In addition the society runs both Spring and

Autumn Shows and a Rose and Sweet Pea Show in June.

Guests and new members are always very welcome to come along and

enjoy the talks in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. The March

meeting takes place on 17th March and the speaker is Len Speller who

will be presenting "Images of Japan".

Picture Supplied

Mid-Norfolk Times Page 2 News

Shop in comfort at Watton Country Market At the time of writing it takes some

imagination to envisage what our stalls

will look like by the end of March. While

small amounts of winter vegetables have

been coming in throughout February by

the end of March our plant producers will

be back with a wide range of goods to

entice you. If the weather is kind early

spring vegetables will be arriving too.

Our usual array of baked goods, jams,

preserves, honey, and fresh eggs are

available every week, while our crafters

continue to delight with their very

reasonably priced hand made goods:

knitwear, jewellery, greetings cards and

turned wood items and toys. The Market is

open in the front hall of the Watton

Christian Community Centre (next door to

the Methodist Church) every Wednesday

from 8.30 to 11.30 a.m. From 9 a.m. to 12

noon the Methodist ladies serve coffee in

the rear hall. So why not come and shop in

comfort and then enjoy a coffee without

even leaving the building? We are happy to

keep your purchases under our counter

while you enjoy your coffee and many of

our regular customers take advantage of this

service, especially during the plant season.

Free support and advice from

Total Health Pharmacy

• Nicotine Replacement Therapies

• Free consultation with NHS Cignificant

Smoking Advisor

• Reflexology and Homeopathy Special Offers

• Quit packs from www.nosmokingday.org.uk

Plus

FREE Carbon Monoxide

reading to test

your lungs

Visit us today and

stop smoking for good.

Images supplied with permission from No Smoking day

14 Gregor Shanks Way, Watton Tel : 01953 881157

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

Mon to Fri 8am to 11pm Sat & Sun 8am to 8.30pm

Wed 10 March 2010

Continued from page 1

One opportunity that might present itself

in years to come is the “eco town”

concept which is being explored at

Rackheath near Norwich. The idea is to

create new sustainable developments,

designed to the highest environmental

standards.

Speaking about the news, local estate

agent Tim Mullenger said “What is

needed is planned development with the

infrastructure to support it.

“At the moment we have piecemeal

development with roads and other

facilities lagging behind residential

growth when in reality they should

happen first.

“A prime example is the roundabout on

the Norwich Road. That should have

been in place long before any of the

houses on Blenheim Grange were built.

Mr Mullenger continued “If developed, I

would like to see a carefully designed

plan that included a road from near the

Flying Fish in Carbrooke to Barn Ruche

Corner with access into Blenheim Grange

and the Lovell Gardens area. “This would

take much of the pressure off the top end

of town at rush hour and lead to a more

pleasant environment and improved

business opportunities in the High Street.

There are plans in conjunction with

Sustrans to construct a Lottery funded

cycleway and footpath from Griston to

Watton along the southern boundary of

the airfield, but progress has been slow

due to restrictions and conditions being

imposed by the MOD because of the

proximity of the cycleway to the airfield.

The People‟s Lottery fund awarded the

money to complete the scheme over a

year ago, but there is a very real danger

that delays caused the MOD could lead to

the loss of the money.

Mr Rogers, who is District and County

Councillor for Griston and Carbrooke, the

two parishes most likely to be affected by

any sale said “It is frustrating that the

Ministry of Defence are insisting on high

grade fencing alongside the proposed

Griston to Watton Cycleway to keep

people out of the airfield”

“This requirement has increased the cost

of the project considerably and caused

substantial delay and yet, if it is no longer

to be used as part of the training area,

would appear to be completely

unnecessary.”

The disposal of the airfield will

undoubtedly mean that 611 Volunteer

Gliding Squadron, featured in this paper a

few months ago, will have to find a new

home although it not expected that the

future of 864 (Watton ) Squadron ATC

will be affected.

Thousands more homes for Griston?

Reaching out We are fortunate to

live in a society that

enjoys a diverse

cultural base. And for

some time we have

wanted to reach out

to the migrant

communities and include some of their

news and views in the paper.

With the help of Tina Cruz (pictured),

who originally comes from Portugal, in

this issue (centre page) of the Mid-

Norfolk Times is the first of what I

hope will become regular news items

from her community. To help our

regular readers we will endeavour to

publish the piece in both languages.

If you have contacts with, or are part of

a migrant community, why not get in

touch and let everyone know what is

happening in your society and what

problems and issues you face.

Reaching Out (Portuguese) Temos sorte de viver numa sociedade

que goza de uma ampla base cultural. E

há algum tempo que queríamo-nos fazer

chegar às comunidades imigrantes e

incluir algumas das suas notícias e

opiniões no nosso jornal.

Com a ajuda de Tina Cruz, que é

originária de Portugal, nesta edição da

Mid-Norfolk Times é a primeira do que

espero que venham a tornar-se notícias

regulares da sua comunidade. Para ajudar

os nossos leitores regulares faremos o

possível para publicar a peça em ambas

as línguas.

Se você tem contatos com, ou faz parte

de uma comunidade de imigrantes,

porque não entrar em contato e deixar

que todos saibam o que está a acontecer

em sua sociedade e quais os problemas e

as questões que você enfrenta.

tina.wattonfamilysupport@live.co.uk

Reaching Out (Polish) Mamy szczęście żyć w społeczeństwie,

które cieszy się różne kultury bazy. A

od pewnego czasu chcieliśmy dotrzeć

do społeczności migrantów i obejmują

część swoich wiadomości i opinie na

papierze.

Dzięki Tina Cruz, która pochodzi z

Portugalii, w tym numerze Mid-

Norfolk Times pierwsze, co mam

nadzieję, że będzie regularnie

Wiadomości ze swojej społeczności.

Ab y p o mó c n aszym s t a ł ych

c z y t e l n i k ó w p o s t a r a m y s i ę

opublikować kawałek w obu językach.

Jeśli masz kontakty z, lub są częścią

społeczności imigrantów, dlaczego by

nie wziąć w kontakcie i niech każdy

wie, co się dzieje w społeczeństwie i

jakie problemy i zagadnienia, jakie

możesz napotkać.

Marathon training for local pharmacist

Geoff Ray is going well as he prepares

for The 2010 Virgin London Marathon

on Sunday 25th April

Despite vowing never to run the London

Marathon again after 2006 ,Geoff is

steadily working towards his goal of raising

£2,000 in aid of the East Anglian Air

Ambulance (Registered charity number

1083876) which receives no government or

lottery funding and relies upon fundraising

to provide a vital emergency service to our

rural area 365 days a year

Training in all weathers Geoff is aiming to

finish in a respectable time and is putting in

several days training a week. Following a

structured running programme, he is

combining long runs with shorter interval

training to build up his strength and

stamina. Says Geoff “I‟m trying to be

sensible and not overdo the training and so

far it is going well. People keep asking me

what time I will finish in but I‟m more

focused on just finishing!”

To support Geoff and help him to reach

his target, sponsorship or donations can

be made at Total Health Pharmacy, 14

Gregor Shanks Way, Watton (opposite

the Watton Medical Practice) or by

visiting www.justgiving.com/geoffray

For more information about The East

Anglian Air Ambulance contact them on

0845 066 9999 or check out

www.eaaa.org.uk

Making good progress for Marathon

West Norfolk Aviation Society The West Norfolk Aviation Society met on 2nd February for their

AGM, Chairman Rod Rumsby in his report reviewed the activities of

the past year and thanked the committee for their efforts in maintaining

the viability of the society, and looked forward to a varied programme

of speakers and visits in the coming year. He concluded by thanking the

membership for their continuing support.

The treasurer reported that the Society‟s finances where in a healthy

state, even after investing in a number of items for the Societies use, and

that the subscription will remain at £10 pa.

Secretary David Allen reported that membership had remained roughly

the same in recent years, but urged the necessity to see the level

increase. The meeting continued with Part 2 The true story of the B-17

bomber “Memphis Belle”. Next meeting Tuesday 2nd March 7.30pm at

Methwold Social Club when the speaker will be Dick Russell on

“Victor Inflight Refuelling” . Guests and new members welcomed, for

more details, phone:01842 879210

Wayland Radio 107.3 FM Do you have an event or regular meeting you would like to advertise?

Wayland Radio is keen to promote the many and varied events which take place in our

community and this service is FREE.

All you need to do is either email sue@waylandradio.com or write to Wayland Radio,

The Stables, Swaffham Road, Ashill, Thetford, Norfolk IP25 7BT giving full details of

the event and your contact details. Please give at least seven days notice and we‟ll do

our best to put your event in our What‟s on Diary. Let Wayland Radio help you to

make a difference in your community. www.waylandradio.com

News Mid-Norfolk Times Page 3

Any student of the 20th and 21st

centuries would admit that the world

has changed incredibly, but to have

witnessed those changes first hand is

equally amazing, a feat that

centenarian Bessie Gibb of Crows

Farm, Stow Bedon can now lay claim

to.

Bessie was born in Sporle near

Swaffham on the 12th January 1910

and recently celebrated her

landmark 100th birthday with the

traditional tele-message from HM

Queen Elizabeth II. Until the age of

96 Mrs Gibb lived in her bungalow

in Watton and was a keen gardener

well into her 90‟s!

Some of her earliest memories

centre on her childhood growing up

in Sporle. She clearly remembers,

at the age of 3, how The Street in

Sporle was so flooded that the

water level reached to a man‟s

waist as he waded down the road.

Residents of Swaffham will smile

to learn that Mrs Gibb also recalls a

time when the market town boasted

a vehicular population of three!

Of course transportation in the early

1900‟s was very much more sedate.

Her daily three mile walk to and

from school was occasionally aided

by a ride on the local rag and bone

cart or a farmers wagon,

though she particularly

remembers one particular walk

home from school.

“It was on my way home during

World War I when I looked up

and saw what I thought was a

German Zeppelin overhead. I

was sure they were here to

bomb us and became really

upset. Fortunately, a local lady

comforted me and pointed out

that it was actually a British

airship!”

World War II took Mrs Gibb

away from Norfolk for a while

as her husband worked in

airfield construction with John

Laing but soon returned to the

county of her birth. When asked

what the most impressive

invention was in her mind, she

said “Electricity! Although I

didn‟t have it in any of the

homes I lived in until 1953.”

With two children, six grand-

children and nine great grand-

children there is certainly no

shortage of people to share her

memories with, and her secret?

Apparently the glass of sherry

before bed is a must!

Report by Nigel Kerr

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Bessie makes her Century Watton Rotary Roundup As we went to press last month we

w e r e h u r r i e d l y m a k i n g

arrangements and obtaining licences

for street collections to raise cash

for the ShelterBox Trust in order to

help boost the numbers of boxes full

of tents and essential living

equipment being sent to the

earthquake stricken people of Haiti.

The result was a superb response

from the good folk of Watton and

Wayland. Assisted in our task by

our sister club, Inner Wheel, the

street collection on the Wednesday

morning realised £1469.30 and the

following Saturday morning our

collecting boxes weighed in at

£1185.82. It did help that on both

occasions we had a ShelterBox tent

and contents on display in the centre

of town – people could see precisely

what their donations were paying

for.

The following week, our President,

Richard Akister, was invited to St

Peter & St Paul primary school,

Carbrooke, to receive a cheque for

£650. The children had been

fundraising for ShelterBox ever

since we had demonstrated one in

the school‟s assembly hall last

November. They more than

exceeded their target and they are

still fundraising! We then received

the cost of a ShelterBox (£490) from

St Mary‟s Church and a generous

local resident gave us money for a

complete box. Inner Wheel matched

another private donation to make up

a box, and at their January meeting,

the local branch of the National

Farmers Union raised £502.30 for

the ShelterBox Trust via Watton

Rotary.

With news of the Haiti disaster,

Class 3 of Caston Primary School

remembered the ShelterBox

demonstration we did in the school

last year and they quickly arranged

and organised fundraising events,

determined to raise enough for a

ShelterBox. They actually raised

£753 and, made up with other

receipts we have had, we will be

pleased to see that 2 ShelterBoxes

go to Haiti in the name of Caston

School. The picture on the front

page shows President Richard with

Class 3 after receiving the

magnificent cheque on 12th

February.

Within a few days of the earthquake

1,930 ShelterBoxes had arrived in

Haiti; within a month 10.000 have

been sent from ShelterBox Trust

depots all around the World. 1,000s

more are needed. Altogether, some

13 ShelterBoxes have been funded

through Watton Rotary - that's

shelter and essential equipment for

130 homeless persons. It‟s a small

part of the total but it all adds up, so

Thank You One and All.

Meanwhile, our regular activities,

social, fundraising and a bit of

both continue. A „bit of both‟

happens on March 12th, when we

are having another “Jazz at the

Queens Hall” concert featuring

DixieMix. Tickets are available

from Adcocks on the Watton High

Street and remain at £10 incl a

light supper. Don‟t miss it!

Members enjoyed Dulcie Lofting's

demonstration at February's meeting in Old

Buckenham Village Hall. Her title - In the

Beginning - embraced both traditional and

modern designs and demonstrated her love

of foliage as well as flowers which

included roses, anemones, lilies and green

chrysanthemums.

Red dominated the competition table for a

Valentines arrangement entitled Hearts and

Flowers. The New Hands class was won by

Margaret Smith and the Old Hands class by

Patricia Barton who was also awarded the

Christine Hewson trophy for best exhibit.

The next meeting will be the AGM and will

be held on Thursday 11 March starting at

2pm at Old Buckenham Village Hall. There

will also be a mini-demonstration and quiz.

The competition title is „Tulips from

Amsterdam‟ and a trophy will be awarded to

the best exhibit including spring flowers.

There will also be a bring-and-buy stalls

for yellow and Spring items.

Visitors will be very welcome. Further

details from Pat on 01953 457305 or Sally

01953 788712.

News from Old Buckenham Blog

http://oldbuckenham.blogspot.com/

Breckland Flower and Garden Club

SS Peter & Paul C.E.V.C. School Carbrooke Just after we got back to school

from our Christmas holiday we

had a very strange happening in

our playground. We got to

school to find something had

built a nest and laid very large

eggs in it. We had the police

come and tape it off with a scene

of crime investigation tent and

two scientists came to tell us

about the nest and to see if they

could identify the eggs. Since

then some of the eggs have

„hatched‟.

On Monday 8th February all of

the key stage 2 children, teachers

and some very brave parents

went (very early) off to London.

They visited the Natural History

Museum to see if they could

discover anymore about the nest

and what could have made it.

They saw all sorts of dinosaurs

and they all have their own ideas

as to the identity of the nest

maker. Also while they were in

London they visited the National

Portrait Gallery which caused

much discussion. The coach also

took them site seeing around

some well known sites. A good

day was had by all and everyone

came home safely.

By the time you read this our

year 5 and 6 will be on their Holt

Residential weekend where I am

sure they will be having a

fantastic time. Also in March we

have the Hockham football and

netball tournament and our

Friends meeting is on 25th

March at 7.30.

If you would like to know more

about our nest please go to our

website where there is a full

story with photographs. http://

www.schooltest.2upltd.co.uk/

news.html

Picture Supplied

Mid-Norfolk Times Page 4 Advertising

Cook Wanted

for Lime Tree Walk every Tuesday

Please contact Alice on 01953 880928

Or June on 07743 283 032 “Thunder in February, Frost in

April”! Oh say it ain‟t so! The

garden is in recovery, and

beginning to look better. Nice heads

on the Calabrese, the Swiss Chard

has come on a treat, and the onions

are really growing. I pulled some

small green ones today for lunch,

and they are so sweet. Snails took

every last cauliflower and Brussels

sprouts plant. The strawberries have

surprised me – they are doing well,

and came through the big freeze

unscathed. They are of the ever-

bearing type, and have been

producing and throwing out runners

for well over a year now. Herbs for

the kitchen at this time include

ro semary, par s l ey, c i lan t ro ,

oregano, various kinds of mint,

arugula, sorrel, and my faithful bay

tree. Not so lucky this winter was

the lemon grass, but I managed to

pick some and freeze it before the

mother plant succumbed to the

cold. We have now passed the

recommended planting time for

spinach and “English” Peas, but

most of the cabbage family can be

planted through March. March is

really a major planting month,

when the cucumbers, tomatoes,

celery, sweet corn, green beans,

lima beans, pinto beans, and

summer and winter

squash all go in the

ground (with suitable

p o r t a b l e f r o s t

protection available,

of course, since it

t h u n d e r e d i n

February!)

Bluebirds have been

scouting for potential

nesting places for the

past couple of

months. As a new

member of the Texas

Bluebird Society I

recently learned an

interesting trick to

attract them to the

garden. They are

c a v i t y n e s t e r s ,

needing a ready-built

home to move into,

hence the popularity of specially

designed nesting boxes. As they

swoop around the neighbourhoods

looking for a home, they are readily

attracted to a black “bullseye”

target painted on the roof of the box

and will likely check it out, and

return with their mate to move in

and raise a family. The air is

coming alive with birdsong and

even though it is still colder than

usual, there is a feeling of spring.

The Earth-Kind Landscaping method

is very popular here now. Developed

b y Texas A&M Un ivers i t y

horticulturists (just up the road from

where I live), it uses research-proven

techniques to provide maximum

garden and landscape enjoyment

while preserving and protecting the

environment. The objective of Earth-

Kind Landscaping is to combine the

best of organic and traditional

gardening and landscaping principles

to create a horticultural system based

on real world effectiveness and

environmental responsibility. Earth-

Kind Landscaping encourages

landscape water conservation,

landscaping for energy conservation,

reduction of landscape wastes

entering landfills, and reduction of

fertilizer and pesticide use. The

program started out with roses, and is

now branching out into vegetables,

shrubs, and trees, to ensure that plants

of all types are available for all the

diverse climates of Texas, and

eventually, the whole USA. With all

this interest in gardening in Texas,

the majority of people still want what

they perceive as an “English Cottage

Garden”!

Pictured is an Eastern Bluebird –

photo from Wiki-commons

Tomato – Tomayto Gardening in Navasota, Texas with Helen Quin

Easter Bingo in aid Teenage Cancer Trust An Easter Bingo night is to be held

in aid of The Teenage Cancer Trust

In memory of Christopher Earp, on

Friday 26th March at Wells Cole

Community Centre, Saham Toney.

Doors open 7pm and eyes down at

7.30pm with excellent prizes to be

won. There will be a Raffle and

Refreshments.

The Teenage Cancer Trust is a

Registered Charity working with

Ad d en b ro o k es Ho sp i t a l i n

Cambridge to build a £2 million

specialised 10 bed unit dedicated to

caring for 13 to 24 year olds

undergoing treatment for cancer.

Currently teenagers aged 16 years

and over have to be treated on adult

wards with older patients. This unit

will include a combination of in-

patient, out-patient and day care

beds. It will be equipped with the

latest technology and will also

incorporate a kitchen to help teens

prepare their own food. £1 million

needs to be raised locally; TCT has

contributed the remaining funds

needed for this unit.

Please come and support this sixth

fundraising Bingo being held in

memory of Christopher Earp who

sadly lost his battle in February 2006.

Registered Charity No. 1062559

News Mid-Norfolk Times Page 5

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

14 Gregor Shanks Way, Watton,

Opposite the Doctors surgery • Tel : 01953 881157

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for all occasions

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WOMEN’S WORLD DAY OF PRAYER ‘Let Everything That Has Breath Praise God’

A Service prepared by Christian Women of Cameroon on Friday 5th March, at 2.30pm

at St Mary’s Church, Watton All Welcome - Men, Women and Young People

Swaffham Museum was reopened on

February 13th by Norfolk raconteur

Keith Skipper, ready for a new

season with brand new displays

including a 2010 special exhibition

entitled “Collectors and Collecting”.

This exhibition celebrates famous

and some, not so famous, collectors

from the Swaffham area and their

passion for all manner of items from

fossils to butterflies, sea shells to

orange wrappers and typewriters to

farm implements. Also represented

are collectors of wild flowers, coins,

medals, badges and glass

Visitors to the museum will also be

able to listen to Monique Slaven

describe her amazing collection of

metal detector finds on their new

Audio Presentat ion, visi t a

reorganised Local History Room

with a wealth of information and

archives on Swaffham and the

surrounding villages and view a new

selection of figurines from the

Symonds Collection

For those who have not seen it before

there is a fabulous display of ancient

Egyptian tomb artefacts on loan from

the British Museum, some dating

back 4,000 years.

With the newly conserved Swaffham

Town Armour dating from the reign

of Charles l on display (right) and a

well stocked gift shop the museum

makes for a great family visit.

For more information and opening

times visit

www.swaffhammuseum.co.uk

or telephone 01760 721 230

Swaffham Museum reopened

Unwanted Christmas presents can

pose an awkward problem for

thousands of people at this time of

year. Now a Norfolk entrepreneur

has come up with a way to get rid of

those unwanted items on the internet

– and with a minimum of hassle.

Breckland‟s first eBay drop-off store

allows people who are too busy - or

too baffled by the internet - to bring

in their goods and have them sold by

a professional for a commission.

Former IT Director, David Riches,

37, got the idea for “The Selling

Shop” whilst working in America,

where drop-off stores have proved a

massive hit.

"I have always been a massive eBay

fan, selling our end of life IT

equipment on line, as well as

purchasing items to kit out new

business ventures. However, it is

very time consuming to do, and

unless you know what you are doing,

it‟s very easy to get it wrong”

He added: "There is a big market for

this. People who just can't be

bothered with the hassle of dealing

with it all, packaging the goods up

and so on, want a company like ours

- as do older people who are not

comfortable using the internet. It

also a great way for Businesses to dip

a toe into the world of online sales or

to test our a new product line”

One month ago, The Selling Shop

opened its doors on Thetford Road

Business Park, just behind Barn

Ruche, near Watton. Local buyers

can go to the shop to view the goods

before putting in a bid, while people

from further afield can check out

pictures and a description on eBay.

Chris Talbot, Of Talbot Tyres

recently asked The Selling Shop to

sell some surplus agricultural tyres

for him. Mr Talbot said “These tyres

had been lying around for a few

months and were taking up

c o n s id e r a b l e s p a c e in m y

workshop. I asked The Selling Shop

if they thought they could help and

within 7 days they were sold. It

definitely took a lot of the hassle out

of things for me, especially when I

had so much else on."

David is already planning to launch a

franchise of his company, and hopes

to have another two stores up and

running in the first half of next year.

He said: "We have watched what

other companies in America have

done and have taken the most

successful parts. I want to roll out my

franchise across Norfolk over the

next year or so."

He added: "There has been research

that has shown that goods sold

through eBay trading assistants,

which we qualify as, sell for around

40 per cent more, because we know

how to present items and people trust

where they are buying from."

The Selling Shop can be contacted at

Unit 4, Thetford Road Business Park,

Watton, via telephone on 01953

889159 or via their website at

www.thesellingshop.co.uk

Lights, Camera, Auction! eBay store opens in Breckland

St. John Passion at Thetford At the invitation of Canon Bob Baker, Thetford

Singers will be performing Handel`s St. John

Passion at 7.30 on Palm Sunday, 28th March in St.

Cuthbert`s Church, Thetford. Although less well

known than the ever popular and much longer

Bach version, this work is a most attractive

alternative and worth hearing at least once!

On this occasion Thetford Singers will be under

the direction of Dr Alan Howard who joined the

choir last year to sing tenor as relaxation from

his day job at U.E.A. where he teaches music

and conducts. The part of the Evangelist will be

sung by local tenor Paul Harrison, and other

soloists will be drawn from the choir. Ed Sutton

who was M.D. 3 years ago has accepted an

invitation to play the organ accompaniment.

No tickets are required for this performance

which lasts just over an hour and will be

followed by refreshments

Calling Mums and Dads, Nans and Grandads

Do you know a youngster in the Watton area who deserves recognition for

their dedication but somehow never seems to receive it?

At this year‟s Reception, Watton‟s Mayor and Council Chairman, Margaret

Holmes, would like to present an award to a young Watton person who meets

the above criteria. Whether they have overcome a disability to make the best

of life, shown special care for a brother, sister or parent or perhaps have shown

bravery beyond their years, Margaret would like to know.

If you know someone deserving of just such an award please contact the Town

Clerk, Jacqui Seal, on 01953 881709 and she will tell you what you need to know.

Picture Supplied

Salt Bins U Turn As reported last month in the Mid-Norfolk

Times, Watton Town Council decided to defer

action to purchase and place salt bins at strategic

points in Watton, partly because they did not

represent “value for money”, and partly because

of their vulnerability to damage by vandals.

But following the publicity, the Council have now

decided to purchase five salt bins at approximately

£130 each and that Norfolk County Council

Highways be asked if they could be placed in the

vicinity of St Marys Church, the slope at the

doctor's surgery, near the entrance to Nelson

Court, in South Road supporting both alleyways

and the clinic at George Trollope Road or to the

rear of Chaston Place.

Norfolk County Council had previously

suggested that should the Town Council might

wish to purchase the bins for the town as a 'self-

help facility' and to place them in locations

where difficulties are likely to be experienced by

locals. Residents and passing motorists are able

to spread salt on the carriageway and footway

within the locality of the bins should they

experience difficulties. The salt will be

replenished by the local authority but the

spreading of the salt by local residents and others

is carried out at their own risk.

Mid-Norfolk Times Page 6 News

The Ovington Crower Dear Sah

Well ole Granfer wos rite agin, he

allus say “If‟n things dunt alta sune,

tha‟ll stay as tha are” an sure enuf, ter

ole snow come back fer anutha goo at

stoppin us gitten tha ole sugar beet

up. We hent got orl onnem up this

year an ent likely tu eether. Reckon

we shall hafter tun the bullocks out

onnem. Ole Horry he say “I‟m a

gooin to hev sum o them beet” I say

“Whoy” he say “Thet‟ll mek sum

good ole wine.” Well I‟ll tell yu

tergither, thet boy Horry‟s wine is

suffin strong, his ole bare‟s sorta

rough, but thet wine‟ll tek the tar

offen a barn door. Mind yu thet du

keep the cold owt, but yu dasnt corff

for a day or so arta hevin a glass or

tu.

I see tha boy Julian hev put in his

pearper a bit abowt tha daft signs on

tha Ovinton bends, I did see they hent

a flashin no more, I bet thas thet boy

Jimma wos stopped em workin, he‟s

allus messin abowt with lectrickery

an I did see his Grans cottage wus lit

up suffin brite tha larst week or tu.

I sed I wus goin tu tell yu how to git

yer taters in, but I reckon we orta

hang on fer a bit, thas wholly cowld n

wet fer tha time o year n tha‟ll ony

rot iffen yu set em jus yit.

Tha missus an me went fer a little

walk down Redhill lane when tha

frorst wus on the ground, cos thas

allus suffin wet along thar, cor blast

hent thet bin clawed up, thas orl gret

ole cooms n ruts. Tha missus fanged

hold a me, an booth onnus ware all of

a lummox. Thet looked tu me like tha

Army hed bin a havin thar manoovers

alonga thar wi thar tanks. Thas a reel

shame cos thet was allus a tidy walk

alonga the lane, thars allus sum

ickeny wos spilin it fer other folk.

My missus she say “ Dew yu teark

me hoom afore I jam on suffin sharp”

She fare to be a bit bumble-footed, so

we hatter goo tha long way rownd

parst them Redhill Mobil;e Hooms.

Thars bin some chearnges on thet ole

site oova tha years, I „member when

thet was all huts fer the RAF boys,

they warnt nun tu pleased to be living

thar from wot they said, bit parky by

orl accounts. Arta thet they took

some o tha ole huts down, sum

onnem drawed up in a fare few

gardens, in fact boy Vic still hev one

as I recall. Then tha put some

caravans on the concrete bits, ony

this time the RAF boys hed thar

famly‟s livin alonga them.

I hed an ole meart called “Chalky”

lived in one, we hed sarved tergither

in Malaya doin Nashnal Sarvice, ony

he stayed in. We hed a bit of a war

gooin on owt thar but thet neva got in

tha pearpers them days. Any way,

pore ole Chalky he took orf to

Norridge one day and wen he cum

hoom his caravan had fell afire. He

lorst evry thing. We put him up and

he sune got his cackle back. Orften

wonder ware he ended up. Corse now

thet ole site is orl tricolated up and

thet do look a piktur. Arta lookin

round thar we took orf along tha

Dereham Rood, mind yu thet warnt a

lotta fun a traipsin down thet ole

rood, thar ent a path, an them ole

mootas fare tu hull thar selfs along.

Thet dint get a lot warmer an we wus

frawn time we got hoom, an we wus

fare clammed n‟all. My missus she

Say “Dew yu want sum o my ceark? I

got sum left oova from Chrismas” I

reckoned thet wos an offa I coont

refuse, I knowed she hev put half a

bottle of rum in it, I yarmed a gret ole

slice o thet, n thet fare to put me in a

rare chip-up.

Well, tergither, I shall hatta goo and

shut my ole cocks up afore I git the

law on me fer mearkin a din.

Dew yu keep a‟troshin n fare ye well

tergither. Boy Sid

Members of the Garden Club were

treated to a wonderful display of

snowdrops of all shapes and sizes,

brought along by the February guest

speaker, Trevor Harrison. Trevor, who

is the owner of Creake Plant Centre,

joined us to give a very interesting talk

on Hellebores and other unusual plants.

In the course of this talk, we

discovered that snowdrop enthusiasts

are called "galanthophiles" and some

of the most enthusiastic collectors pay

large sums for unusual varieties of this

delightful early spring bulb. We

learned that e-bay is a good source for

these plants, and that a lengthy process

known as “scaling” will produce many

new plants.

As well as the lovely display of

snowdrops, Trevor showed us

examples of Hellebores, such as the

Lenten Rose, Helleborus Niger,

Helleborus foetidus, and so on. He

explained that the reason for the

popularity of this plant is its long

flowering, at a time when the garden is

sorely lacking in colour. In addition, he

discussed and displayed various winter

flowering shrubs such as Daphnes,

Mahonia and Acacias, which grow

happily along the Norfolk coast. The

talk livened up a cold and snowy

afternoon and members thoroughly

enjoyed the informative discussion.

John Vincent gave details of outings

planned for 2010, including a trip to

Holt on the 12th May, and a visit to

Scotsdale Nursery and Garden Centre,

the latter combined with the

opportunity to see Ely Cathedral if

members wish to do so. John also

outlined a Vegetable Show between

members, to take place on the 26th

August – further details of all the above

nearer the time.

Next talk will be on Thursday 18th

March by Anne and John Bridge, and

will cover the topic of Springtime in

Holland. This promises to be a very

colourful talk, so don‟t forget to put it

in your diary!

Ashill Garden Club Notes

Doreen raises a laugh Much laughter was heard in the cosy

Granary Theatre in Wells-next-the -

Sea as Doreen Reed read a selection

of her amusing stories and poems.

She entertained the audience with

humorous tales of events ranging

from her attempt at pole dancing to a

thong for granny.

Doreen‟s show “Stacks of Smiles”

raised £148.67p for the R.N.L.I.

S.O.S. Fundraising Day. She said it

was a team effort, the staff of the

Granary theatre played a big part in

making the afternoon a success

News Mid-Norfolk Times Page 7

SAHAM W.I. JUMBLE SALE SATURDAY, 20 MARCH 10-12 Noon

Wells Cole Community Centre, Bell Lane, Saham Toney Clothes, Bric-a-Brac, Toys, Books, Tea, Coffee

Entrance 30p Proceeds to Saham W.I. Jumble can be collected by telephoning 01953 884880

Hockham villagers pledge help to Haiti

Hockham villagers have pledged the

proceeds from their screening of „Slumdog

Millionaire‟ to help the people of Haiti,

rather than using the funds raised to help

with the refurbishment of the village hall as

originally planned.

The showing of „Slumdog Millionaire‟ at

Great Hockham Village Hall on Friday 5th

February was the first of 9 films to be

shown around the district as part of

Breckland Council‟s first rural film festival.

Villagers raised money for the Haiti appeal

through ticket and refreshment sales and

local businessman Don Lear, the „Bhaji

Man‟, donated authentic Eastern homemade

dishes to help boost funds.

Chris Garrod, a member of Hockham

Village Hall Committee who acted as

projectionist on the night, explained why

villagers had decided to put the money

raised towards the Haiti appeal;

“We all feel for the desperate plight of the

people of Haiti many of whom have lost

everything in the devastation. The Village

Hall Committee discussed this and it was a

unanimous decision to give the money

raised to help the people of Haiti. We plan

to show more films in the village, so there

will be other opportunities to raise funds for

the village hall later in the year”.

„Slumdog Millionaire‟, the first film of the

„Breckland Film Festival‟ was officially

opened by local author Louis de Bernières

who is a patron of Creative Arts East and a

firm supporter of the rural arts.

Breckland Council Executive Member for

Communities and Benefits, Theresa Hewett

was delighted at the turn-out to the event;

“Residents have told us they would like to

be able to enjoy good quality films at

nearby local venues. The fantastic turn out

tonight confirms that there really is a

demand for films shown at rural locations.

This evening was a sellout.

Screenings were organised and run by local

voluntary film promoters who were

recruited last year through workshops in the

early stages of the project. Funded by

Breckland Council and delivered by

Creative Arts East, the workshops provided

specialist training that gave promoters both

expertise and the confidence to organise

and stage their own film events. Films for

the festival have been provided to rural

venues at subsidised rates through Creative

Arts East „Village Screen‟ initiative.

If you are interested in becoming a local

promoter, contact Alice Morelli at Creative

Arts East on 01953 713390 or

alice@creativeartseast.co.uk

9 year old Emily and James Hewett together with (left to right) Theresa Hewett, Breckland Council Executive Member for Communities and Benefits, Louis de Bernières, Salena Dawson

All change at the Chamber ―Here Come The Girls‖

At the Wayland Chamber of Commerce

AGM held on the 17th February 2010

change was afoot. Richard Crabtree stood

down as Chair. He had served the position

for the requisite two years and the

constitution dictated a new Chair was

required. Further, Jo Myers retired as vice

chair and committee member. A new

command was imminent.

Richard Crabtree proposed Salena Dawson

for new chair which was promptly

seconded. Salena Dawson has been a

committee member for the past year and

had already been identified as an

enthusiastic voice of local business. She

had secured full refunds for local

businesses that were mis-sold advertising.

Salena has been a driving force to secure

art work in the windows of vacant

properties on the High Street to make it

looking a more inviting and wanting.

These will be placed shortly; she also

suggested and initiated Free Quarterly

Breakfast Meetings to commence on the

26th April. Oh and she was also the verbal

one regarding the Chamber website, which

is now up for an overhaul and due for

launch later on in the year.

Upon taking her position at the helm of the

Chamber it was Salena‟s first duty was to

secure a second in command. This came in

the form of Janina Dingwall who rose to

the challenge and then immediately put

herself forward to help with the Breakfast

Forum Sub Committee. The Committee

was also adorned with new member‟s one

such being Bulgarian Born, Tanya Petkova,

supporting home/village businesses.

Controversially Salena secured the first

increase in membership fees for 15 years.

The fee in January 2011 will increase by £2

to £27 pa. “We, the Chamber are the voice

of local business” said Salena “We need to

be proactive and make sure that we are

acting in the best interest of business; to

this we need to provide more service to the

business community, promote local

business, and be information gatherers so

Wayland businesses know who to contact

for training, grants and business support.

By the end of this year the Chamber is

going to have provided a new professional

website, which will be informative, provide

a feedback mechanism and promote local

businesses through the online directory.

We will hold a quarterly breakfast event,

where a person from each member business

can enjoy a bacon roll or Danish pastry for

free whilst learning about other Wayland

Businesses and being informed what is

available to help their business succeed.

We will continue to work in partnership

with local organisations to ensure the best

for all Wayland Businesses; whether it is a

home/industrial or High Street. With the

changes coming this year, the increase in

membership will certainly be seen as value

for money”.

And what of Salena Dawson, how does she

feel about her new role “I feel like I have

been given the command of Starship

Enterprise; boldly taking the Wayland

Chamber of Commerce and its members to

places it has never been before. I have a

wonderful and knowledgeable crew. Let

the Journey begin”.

Your Job Search Thoughts from a Career Coach

If you are buying a second-hand car, you

may want to know enough about it's

history to be be reassured that it will be

reliable, but you really don't need to

know every journey it made for each of

it's previous owners. What really interests

you is whether it will serve you well in

the future.

So if an employer is buying you as an

experienced person, is a detailed history

of everything you have done for previous

employers more important than whether

you will be likeable, reliable and

focussed on business benefits?

Does your CV simply list what you did in

the past, or does it say 'I will serve you

well in the future'?

David Bridge is a Career Coach with

M a y f a i r C o a c h i n g P r a c t i c e

www.mayfaircp.com 01379 650045

Picture Supplied

Mid-Norfolk Times Page 8 News

Supporters of the Watton Festival

will be pleased to know that at the

General Meeting held on the 27th

January, 2010 at the Crown Hotel it

was decided that the Festivals should

continue and the next would be in

October, 2011.

The Chairman, John Kerr, reported

on the activities of the Committee in

2008/2009 and their work in

preparing for the last Festival

completed in October. Difficult

decisions had to be made regarding

the performances to make up the

varied programme. The first decision

was that we would no longer hold an

event on the last Sunday but would

concentrate on a big finish on the

second Saturday and also expand the

„static events‟. The finale with the

Big Band Sound produced by Chris

Smith and His String of Pearls

Orchestra and the „Big Picture‟ art

project both proved to be great

successes. John made mention of the

Good Old Days and the Junior

Startime to start the week and spoke

of the opportunity given to aspiring

performers of tomorrow. Music,

Drama, Literature, Children‟s events

and Comedy all played their part in

the week„s activities and he made

special mention of the success of the

Friday evening comedy show with

Winston the Singing Farmer,

especially as it was always difficult

to arrange a comedy event to suit

everyone. He thanked the Committee

members and partners, Friends and

Sponsors, the Queens Hall staff, the

Tourist Information Centre, Janet

Lundie for the Web Site, the

businesses in the catchment area and

the local media for their support.

Finally, John thanked everyone who

had bought more tickets than ever

before and he hoped they agreed that

the Committee‟s aim to produce the

best Festival ever had been achieved,

The Treasurer, Derek Smith, gave

detailed information regarding

Income and Expenditure for the

previous two years. Ticket sales

had increased and thanks were

expressed for the help given by the

Tourist Information Centre staff

and the fact that their new venue

had not affected sales. We now had

106 Friends of the Festival whose

support we greatly appreciated.

Performers for the week had cost a

little over £6,500 and with a strong

financial position to carry forward

it was hoped that the more

expensive quality acts available

could be afforded. Mention was

made of the other events during the

week with particular emphasis on

the money earner, The Good Old

Days. Over 400 people had seen

the two home produced shows and

the profit of over £1,500 gave a

good start to the week. Spending on

publicity, advertising, posters etc

had increased but the costs had

been contained and carefully

controlled. There was little point in

spending large sums of money in

areas much further afield for little

or no reward, which made the

support of Julian and the Mid-

Norfolk Times all the more

i m p o r t a n t . M o r e f i n a n c i a l

information about individual events

was available on request. Thanks

were again expressed to our

Sponsors (particularly Breckland

Council and the Rotary Club) and

the Festival Friends and also

Heather Graham, one of our

Committee members, who, with the

help of Rapide Printers had

produced a Programme to be proud

of.

At this stage of the meeting, Mr Roy

Ivory, the Deputy Mayor, took the

Chair for the purposes of electing a

new Committee. He expressed the

importance of the Festival in the

activities in the town and that it

should not be forgotten that no other

Organisation could bring to the town

the quality acts that were enjoyed in

October as the aim of the Festival

was the appreciation of the arts

without emphasis on making money.

He went on to say how much he had

enjoyed the Festival and wished the

Committee every success for the

future. The following officers were

re-elected: Chairman, John Kerr;

Vice Chairman, Brenda Davis;

Treasurer, Derek Smith; and

Secretary, Judy Kerr. The out-going

Committee was re-elected with the

exception of Ken Davis who was

stepping down. Wendy Collins,

Andrew Barwood and Karen

Barwood were elected as new

Committee members. The other

Commit tee members wo uld,

therefore, be Heather Graham, John

& June Garratt, Jenny Mann, Graham

Langford, Roy & Pam Challand,

Brian Newton- Cox and Margaret

Denempont. Appreciation was

expressed for the work put in by Ken

Davis over many years particularly

for the Good Old Days performances

and there was a spontaneous round of

applause from the Committee and

Friends.

A few views were expressed about

publicity and the direction the

Festival should be taking in future

but the view of the meeting was that

the Committee could deal with all

that and more when they meet in

March for their first Meeting to

commence work on Watton Festival

2011. However, if you have any

suggestions, criticisms, advice, views

or whatever concerning the Festival

activities the Committee would like

to hear from you. Please contact any

the officers detailed below.

If you have any interest in and

concern for all aspects of the arts in

Watton and District you are warmly

invited to be a Friend of Watton

Festival. The Annual Subscription is

£5 per person and in return for your

support you will not only help to

maintain the high standards achieved

in the past but you will also receive:-

Priority Booking for all Festival

Events; An Invitation to the Launch

Party; Your name listed in the

F e s t i v a l P r o g r a m m e ; A

Complimentary Festival Programme;

Invitation to Social Events; A right to

vote at General Meetings nominating

Officers and Committee Members.

For further information about the

Friends please contact:

Derek Smith, Friends‟ Secretary 39

Dereham Road Watton IP25 6ER

Tel: 01953 884044; Email :

Derek@frenzymail.co.uk

Chairman & Secretary: John & Judy

Kerr 01953 882613; Vice Chairman:

Brenda Davis 01953 881792

Treasurer: Derek Smith 01953

884044

Web Site: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/

wattonarts

COUGHTREY BDK Ltd.

01953 881243

Unit 2, Coughtrey Industrial Estate

Church Road, Griston. IP25 6QB

Fitted Kitchens

Bathrooms

Internal Doors

Free Quotations &

Full Planning Service

Attention All

Gardeners! Improve your soil, keep weeds

down and keep moisture in with

Sterilized Mushroom

Compost

The ideal mulch and

soil improver

Only £1.40 per Bag Delivered free (min 5 bags)

Watton area

01953 881969

R.S. Plumbing & Heating

All your plumbing and heating needs

Boiler Servicing, Installations and General Plumbing All work undertaken.

CORGI Registered

Telephone 01953 883829 07836 267 419

HARMONY QUILTING

A Professional Machine Quilting Service

!!! You do the patchwork !!! I do the quilting

For Quilting Wadding & Backing Prices

www.harmonyquilting.co.uk

Tel: 01953 882484

Watton Festival

All interested visitors are

welcome to our special open

evening on 23rd March at 7.15

in the Christian Community

Centre, High Street, Watton.

Sew and So‟s from Bungay will

be giving a brief update on the

Charity work they do for the

orphanage in Thailand and

bringing quantities of their

latest fabrics to sell ,sewers be

prepared to spend money.

There will also be a visit from

Norfolk coordinators of Project

Linus to talk about the work

done by this charity for

traumatised and sick children

and young people, further

details of which can be found at

www.projectlinusuk.org.uk

We will be handing over quilts

made by the group and

outlining further projects for

which we would welcome

donations of Fat Quarters of

cotton fabrics. There will be a

small charge for refreshments

to cover costs and a box for

donations to these worthwhile

causes.

In addition on 8th March there will

be a whole day pre-booked

appliqué workshop led by the well

known tutor and author of several

books on the subject, Shirley

Bloomfield. Details of this will be

reported in the next issue and no

doubt samples of work inspired by

this event will appear in our July

exhibition. Details of our activities

can be found on our Blog

including instructions on how to

post comments at: http://

htsqgroup.blogspot.com or ring

Jane on 01953 884215 or Sue on

01362 822536

Charity and Temptation

Our March meeting will be held on

Thursday 18th at 7.30pm in the

Village Hall. Our Speker will be

Mr B Wade and his subject is

G r o w i n g a n d S h o w i n g

Delphiniums. There will be the

usual offerings of refreshments,

raffle and Geoff's Tips. All are

welcome.

Fur ther to our p revious

announcement about our trip to

Barnsdale, I can now confirm that

the price will be £19.50 per head

and the coach will leave the Village

Hall at 8.30am on Thursday 8th

July. Tickets are available and for

more information or to book please

contact: Marianne Kilmartin 01362

820744 or Belinda Ashman 0362

821442

This should be a wonderful trip to

the gardens of the late, great Geoff

Hamilton. Please join us for a

memorable day out.

Bradenham & District Horticultural Society

We had a short but sweet

A.G.M, at our February

meeting. The committee will

remain the same they will also

take turns to chair and introduce

the meetings.

As it was our 3rd birthday

celebration chocolate cake and a

'Sweetly Named Quiz' was

enjoyed by all.

Gill Buckley whose subject will

be 'A Surprise in Life' will be

our speaker in March. Hopefully

our Lady Mayor will also be

able to pop in for a chat and

'cupppa'

At our April meeting Yvonne

Harrold will talk to us about her

life as a 'Jenny Lind Junior' both

these meetings are held on the

first Tuesday in the month at the

Watton Christian Community

Centre at 2 pm.

As we now have a fabulous new

sound system we guarantee that you

will be able to hear our speakers !

Looking forward to seeing you

all.

Wayland Happy Circle AGM

Watton Ballroom

Dancing

Association

Queen’s Hall, Watton

8 to 11.00 Admission £3.00

Saturday March 6th

Saturday April 3rd

Mike 01953 882799

News Mid-Norfolk Times Page 9

Unpaid Council Tax is a problem

faced by all Local Authorities, and

the cost can have a detrimental

effect on future council tax bills for

everyone. The Anglia Revenues

Partnership (ARP) is working to

recoup £384,844 of unpaid council

tax by enlisting the help of bailiffs

in a crackdown on debtors.

Officers from ARP, a partnership of

3 local Authorities comprising

Breckland, East Cambridgeshire

and Forest Heath District Councils,

say that almost 600 people will be

targeted for debt collection. These

are residents who have ignored 4 or

more requests to make payment or

to contact the Council and discuss

ways to meet their outstanding debt.

As a first step, bailiffs have been

appointed and have written to those

residents with money still owing.

ARP officers are urging anyone

who has received a letter to contact

the bailiff immediately and arrange

payment prior to the new council

tax bills being issued. Following a

visit from a bailiff, if the debtors do

not make arrangements to pay, their

goods or property will be seized and

sold at auction to help recoup their

unpaid council tax.

Theresa Hewett, Breckland

Council Executive Member

for Communities and

Benefits said -

“This action will only be

taken against a small

number of residents who

are deliberately avoiding

payment. The money

raised through council tax

helps pay for services for

the whole community so

it is fair everyone has to

contribute. People in

g e n u i n e f i n a n c i a l

difficulty can talk to ARP

officers to find out about discounts,

exemptions and other sources of

advice”.

Anyone who has received a

s u m m o n s c o n c e r n i n g a n

outstanding balance but has not yet

been contacted by a bailiff, should

contact Breckland Counci l

immediately on 01362 656871 if

t h e y h a v e n o t ye t ma d e

arrangements to pay. Otherwise, the

debt will be passed to the bailiff and

extra costs in addition to the

outstanding debt will be incurred.

call Mike Barrett at Clean-Tech

For a FREE no obligation quotation

Telephone 01485 609 223 Tea, Coffee and Red Wine stains removed totally 100%

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CARPETS, 3 PIECE SUITES

& LEATHER FURNITURE Safely and Professionally Cleaned

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Tel : 01953 886860

Gift Vouchers Available

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Democracy is no joke

Pupils at five schools in Breckland

have been having fun while learning

about democracy.

A series of democracy workshops run

by Breckland Council saw children

voting for their favourite joke,

exercising their democratic right over

what should be served up for lunch

and discussing various topics in mini

committees. Breckland councillors

also talked to the youngsters about

their roles and presentations were

given on the origins of democracy

and the voting system.

Lynda Turner, Executive Support

Member for Communities, said:

“Democracy is a fundamental part of

our society and with the forthcoming

election we hope these workshops

have gone some way to helping

young people understand what is

going on.

“It was wonderful to see the children

so enthusiastic and hopefully this has

helped sew seeds that could see some

of them become politicians

themselves in the future.”

The sessions, which took place in

mid February, were held at Banham

Community Primary, Thompson

Primary, Brisley Church of England

Voluntary Aided Primary, Mundford

Voluntary Controlled Primary and

Yaxham Church of England Primary.

They were aimed at educating

youngsters about democracy in a fun

and interactive way.

In one activity youngsters had to

listen to four jokes with the joke

tellers then going to the four

corners of the room and the

children voting by going and

standing next to the person who had

told their favourite. Another

activity saw them voting on

whether they wanted jacket potato

and cottage pie for lunch in place of

their normal menu.

Matthew Williams, Deputy Head at

Banham Primary School, said: “I

thought the morning was a useful tool

as children's perspective about voting

is influenced by TV programmes so it

was a good idea to show them the

origins and 'real' why we vote.”

(From left) Amber Chase, Rosie Bales, Charlie Wright and Adam Thacker vote for their choices at Yaxham Primary School

Picture Supplied

Prize Bingo Evening Thursday 1st April

Doors open 6.45pm Eyes Down 7.30pm start

At Great Ellingham Recreation Centre

In aid of Great Ellingham Primary School

Charity Number 1043484

Richmond Park Golf Club

Junior Section Golf Academy Lessons

Saturdays 1.30 to 2.30

£3 per session Lessons taken by Golf Professional

Keith Capindale-Scott

New members always welcome

For further details contact

Richmond Park Golf Club

01953 881 803

Breckland Council & Anglia Revenues Partnership tackles unpaid council tax

Mid-Norfolk Times Page 10 News

Watton Library will be closed on

Monday 22nd March, re-opening on

Monday 29th March. We will be

having some exciting changes to the

library with the introduction of self

service machines, a new service

desk and carpet throughout. The

new desk will be in a different

position, creating more space for

books and seating. Our friendly

staff will be on hand to help you

use the self service machines and to

talk about some of the great new

books we have in stock. We will be

stocking Xbox 360 console games

as well as Wii and DS Lite for hire

as well as the latest DVDs.

During the closure you can still use

your library card at any Norfolk

library or mobile library as well as

renewing your books online or via

our customer service centre on:

0844 800 8006. We will have a

special system in place so that no

items will be due for renewal at

Watton while we are closed.

We have an exciting range of free

children's activities during school

holidays. Our next event is Go Wild

in the Library, stories and wildlife

crafts for children and their parents/

carers on Monday 12th April at

2pm. We also have Internet taster

sessions for adults throughout the

year; look out for posters in the

library or details in your Mid-

Norfolk Times.

Details of our opening times, events

and services are available on our

website:

www.library.norfolk.gov.uk

You can even apply for your library

card online, as well as reserving

items or renewing your books.

Gill, Jayne and the team look

forward to welcoming you back or

maybe saying hello for the first

time at the end of March.

March. Comes in like a lion and

goes out like a lamb, so they say.

They may even be right but I think

we shall all be playing catch up as

January was a wash-out (or should

that be white-out?) and the first

half of February cold, wet, windy

with yet more snow and sleet. Not

encouraging.. For those lucky

enough to have a frost-free or

heated greenhouse and/or a

propagator seeds can already have

been sown but now is a good time

to start, even on a windowsill.

With luck these determined to

grow little brown things won‟t put

on so much growth they are

screaming to be let out into the soil

before said soil is warm enough to

plant them. Then there‟s a frost

forecast! Get some fleece ready.

It‟s not pleasant rushing out at

dusk to cover young plants but

better that than waking up to find

your hard work a soggy brown

mess.

Grass will have started to grow so

may well need mowing in March.

Some years first mowing is in

February but this was an unlikely

prospect. If it‟s growing make sure

it‟s not waterlogged as mowing wet

grass can be disastrous. Set the

blades on the mower as high as

possible for the first few cuts. When

we finally get some warm weather

the grass will really go for it.

March is a good time, before the

season really gets under way, to

consider a bit of construction.

Raised beds generally enable you

to create high quality areas of

deep topsoil if your soil is poor.

Those with heavy clay soils

really appreciate the difference it

makes having a raised bed with

good compost to grow in. I have

some built from kits, not being

too competent in the carpentry

department. Some people use

railway sleepers. These look

g o o d b u t h a v e a f e w

disadvantages - they‟re heavy

and need to be lined if they are

second hand from the railway as

they are pretty much impregnated

with oil and chemicals. The kits

on the other hand can either be

moved, altered or even taken out

if needed.

Another big benefit of raised bed

growing is that you can look after

your beds one at a time. It's daunting

looking at a plot full of weeds but

when you can handle it a bed at a

time, things don't seem so hard. It‟s

even easier if you restrict the width

of the beds to four feet maximum as

there‟s no need to tread on the soil -

the middle can be reached from both

sides. The kits I have come in metre

lengths, so a bed one metre wide and

two long isn‟t too far to walk in

either direction.. Once the beds are

full of topsoil or compost they are

very easy to maintain as a light

forking over is all the „digging‟

necessary. Good if you have a bad

back! The common feeling is that

raised beds are used for vegetable

growing. They can be filled with

flowers as well or, indeed, a mixture.

This brings me on to companion

planting. I think I touched on this in

the autumn, but as we are now into

seed sowing this is a better time to

go into a little more detail.

Asked about companion planting

and most of us will say,

„marigolds with tomatoes for

controlling whitefly‟. After that

we‟re a bit stuck. It came as a

surprise to me that there are lots

of books on this subject and

having bought a slim volume I

was amazed to find out the

diversity of plants that benefit

each other. As well as marigolds,

tomatoes benefit from asparagus,

celery, parsley, basil, carrots,

chives, foxgloves, garlic and

sweet corn. Nasturtiums benefit

apples, cabbages, cauliflowers,

broccoli, brussels sprouts,

kohlrabi, turnips, radishes,

cucumbers and courgettes.

Orange nasturtiums repel aphids

and growing up apple trees will

control the spread of woolly

aphid. It doesn‟t say if the

flowers will keep the woolly

aphids off in the first place which

would be more useful. These

flowers also protect against

whitefly in the greenhouse. They

secrete a mustard oil (which

accounts for the flavour if you

eat the leaves) that insects like,

hence the protection for the

cabbage family. I suppose this

would be a kind of sacrifice plant

i n t h e s e c i r c u m s t a n c e s .

Amazingly nettles are beneficial.

They are rich in iron and

nitrogen, excreting these as well

as silica, formic acid and protein,

giving strength and flavour to

nearby crops and protection from

aphids black fly and mildew.

Nettles are particularly good for

potatoes and horseradish. It

appears they do this best in the

potato patch, which could make

harvesting interesting, and near

to horseradish. Most of the

beneficial flowers are annuals, so

sowing now under cover at the

same time as crop seeds is a good

idea. The most beneficial shrub

seems to be Southernwood/Lads‟

love/Artemisia. I have grown this

for some 20 years, the original

cutting taken from an old shrub

in an aunt‟s garden, purely for its

beautifully scented leaves. I now

have more respect for it as it

repels fruit fly and mosquito. It

roots easily from cuttings and

benefits from a hard-ish prune,

the prunings being the cuttings!

As well as good companions there

are also bad ones. Fruit trees don‟t

like grass, presumably because the

grass will rob all the moisture and

nutrients from the soil. The pea

and bean family don‟t get along

with the onion family and

carnations and hyacinths kill each

other. This is odd as they flower at

such different times of the year, so

presumably it‟s something to do

with the roots and bulbs. For those

trying the ornamental kitchen

garden approach, don‟t plant

potatoes with sunflowers or

cauliflowers with strawberries and

strawberries don‟t go with gladioli

either.

Companion planting is a fascinating

subject and one worth looking at.

DY-FIT FOR LIFE EXERCISE TO MUSIC CLASSES

Watton Sports Centre, Dereham Road. All the sessions are designed to promote stamina, strength and flexibility whilst taking into account

the fitness level and ability of participants.

General Aerobics Mondays 7pm An hour long, as energetic as you wish!**

Nifty Fifties Fridays 11am A challenging workout for

"recycled teenagers"**

Gentle Option Fridays 10am 40 minutes duration, no floorwork. Problems such as

arthritis and joint replacement are taken into account.

** Please bring a mat for floorwork

For further details, please contact

Diane Cuthbert

01953 850275 RSA/YMCA Qualified Teacher

Classes held during term-time

80 Brandon Road, Watton.

Tel: 01953 882752

The Hare & Barrel Hotel

Originally an old manor house dating back to 1806, we offer 16 en-suite bedrooms, 10 of which have been converted from

the old Coach House Stables

‘Noted for Good Food’

Extensive Bar & Restaurant Menu bookings advisable at all times

A relaxing Conservatory ~ Beer Garden Patio ~ Bar ~ Restaurant

Games Room ~ Car Park ~ Courtyard

Try our Traditional Sunday Lunch

Discounts for large bookings always negotiable

Children Always Welcome

In your garden with Lotta Potts Councillor Surgeries Watton Town Councillors will be

holding a Councillors Surgery on the

Saturday 6th March at the Surge. Any

Member of the public wishing to

speak to a Councillor will be able to

voice their views from 10am to 2 pm.

Watton & Wayland Visitor Centre The Annual General Meeting of the

Wayland Tourism Association will

take place at 11.30am in the Visitor

Centre, Wayland House, on Tuesday

9th March. Only full members -

accommodation providers and Centre

Staff Volunteers - receive written

notification but anyone involved in

the hospitality industry or otherwise

who is interested in the tourism

industry is welcome to come along –

space is limited so please let the

Administrator know.

The Visitor Centre will open for the

Season on Good Friday 2nd April

(mornings only) and will open fully

from 9th April (10am to 4pm Monday

to Friday, and to 1pm Saturdays). The

first Dragonfly Centre Exhibition of

the year, the Spring Art Exhibition, is

scheduled for 10th - 17th April.

Occasionally, the Centre is required

for meetings. On such occasions, the

external „Open‟ boards will not be

evident and Partnership staff in

Reception (front door) will do their

best to respond to enquiries.

We will be pleased to hear from

anyone interested in volunteering to

help in the visitor centre – no

experience is necessary, just a bit of

common sense and an enquiring

mind. Interested? Do contact me:

Martin Anscombe, Administrator

(01953 884224.

50/50 Pudding Evening

In aid of Big C Cancer Charity and 2nd Watton Rainbows

on Friday 5th March at 7.30pm

At Broom Hall Hotel, Richmond Road, Saham Toney

Tickets £4.00 (refreshments and bar

available) from Jo on 01953 880112 Kellie

on 01842 754339

or Broom Hall Hotel on 01953 882125

Twinning AGM Watton Twinning Association will

be holding their AGM on

Thursday March 4th in the Green

Room at the Queens Hall, Watton.

The meeting will start at 8pm and

is open to the public. After the

meeting there will be refreshments

of Cheese & Wine available. We

would like to welcome anyone

who is interested in joining

Twinning to come along and see

what the association has to offer.

Exciting Changes at Watton Library

Coffee at the Queens Hall 9.30am to 11.30am

Farmers Market Day-

Saturday March 6th

News Mid-Norfolk Times Page 11

Since starting in early

January we have held

successful meetings with

both Wayland Cubs and the

Scouts. The Cubs have done

a variety of activities

including making their own

rope and learning to tie

knots with their piece of

rope. This was followed by

„edible knotting‟ Great fun

was had tying reef knots

with liquorice boot-laces.

The Cubs had to show a

Leader a perfect reef knot

before they were allowed to

eat it. Akela, Jo Ashford,

commented „This method

seemed to produce some

great efforts by the Cubs to

produce perfect knots.‟

The Scouts have also had a very

successful term. Activities have

included building bridges out of straws,

that had to support a weight! An

evening was also spent planning a

Night Hike to take place over half term.

The Scouts had to plan the route and

the equipment necessary for a

successful hike including the essentials

such as hot dogs and hot chocolate to

finish off the evening!

With a couple of camps already

planned, Wayland Scout Group is

looking forward to an exciting new

term. If anyone is interested in joining

please contact Paul Cutts on 01953

884243 or email

waylandscouts@googlemail.com

This month sees the introduction of an

ongoing series featured around all

aspects of financial planning and the

value of seeking independent expert

advice.

Many people think that financial advice

is only required by the very rich.

However everyone can benefit from it.

Not only can it hep you to protect and

build your assets, it can help you make

the most of your investments and help

secure you and your family‟s long term

future.

No 1: To protect your family There

are a lot of people trying to sell you

insurance of one type or another but an

adviser can tell you wish one is actually

worth buying. They will assess your

position and guide you through the best

options to protect yourself and your

family – regardless of whether you are

single, married, have children or they

have long left home. Whatever your

needs, an adviser can help ensure

personal tragedy does not turn into

financial crisis.

No 2: To help plan your spending –

and saving To secure your long-term

future, you need to build some assets,

initially to get you through the rainy

days and then to pay for holidays and

luxuries.

Step one is to plan your spending so

that you begin to save – and steep two

is to plan that saving so that you can

build your wealth as efficiently as

possible regardless of whether you

currently have £10 or £10,000, a

financial adviser will look at your

situation and find the best starting point

for you.

No 3: To help you plan for

retirement Once you have sorted out

your short-term saving needs, you can

then start thinking about the long-term

– and most people these days realise

they cannot rely on the State for more

than the absolute basics. However,

planning for retirement is a complex

business and there are many different

options available.

Pensions have come a long way in

terms of flexibility and transparency in

recent years and now offer a wide

range of investment options. A

financial adviser will not only help sift

through the many rules and product

options but also help construct a

portfolio to maximise you long term

prospects.

No 4: To secure your house The

Mortgage market was complicated

enough already, with its discounts and

variables, AERs and caps, indemnities

and early redemption fees. Then the

credit crunch hit and things have got

even worse. However, buying a house

is still one of the most expensive

decisions we make and the vast

majority of us need a mortgage.

A financial adviser could save you

thousands, particularly at times like

this. Not only can they seek out the best

rates, they can help you assess sensible

levels of borrowing, make the most of

your deposit and might also find

lenders who would otherwise not be

available to you.

No 5: To help meet your investment

goals As you progress through life, you

begin to build your assets and your

income begins to increase. You then

start considering how you can enhance

your position rather than simply

consolidate it. This could mean

anything from looking to retire early

through to paying school fees for

private schools or investing in overseas

property. However your dreams

evolve, a financial adviser can help

assess what is realistically possible –

and put the best plan in place to help

you achieve it.

No 6: To find the right combination

of assets Investment is as much about

protecting the potential downsides as it

is about targeting maximum growth.

High returns are often associated with

high risk – and not everyone is happy if

their investment falls by a third or more

overnight.

A financial adviser will make a detailed

assessment of your attitude to risk

before making any recommendations

They will also ensure you don‟t put all

your eggs in one basket by helping you

to diversify not only across assets

classes but also across accounts,

individual funds and product providers.

No 7: To obtain an objective

assessment Every new product or

investment opportunity is accompanies

by hype, proclaiming it is the best ever

– but that does not mean it is right for

you. Investors the world over have

been and will continue to be caught out

by market bubbles or high charges

because they don‟t take a step back. A

financial adviser knows how products

and assets work in different markets

and can outline the downsides for you

as well as the benefits.

Between you, you can then make a

more informed decision about what

hype you can believe – and what

products your really need

to avoid.

No 8: To save money

Once your risk and

investment assessments

are complete, the next step

is to look at tax and even

the most basic overview of

your position could help. It

may simply mean using

ISAs or a pension plan to

benefit from Government

incentives or it cold mean

choosing growth assets

over income to use capital

gains allowances rather

than pay income tax.

Alternatively, for more

complicated arrangements,

it might mean moving

assets to your spouse or

children to make full use

o f th ei r p er son al

allowances.

A financial adviser will

always have your tax

position in mind when

making recommendations

and can help point you in

the right direction even in

complicated situations.

No 9: To keep you on

track Even when you

have every product you

need taken care of and

your investments are set

up and running to plan,

someone needs to keep an

eye on them in case

changes in markers or

abnormal event push them

off course.

You can ask a financial

adviser to do this

monitoring work for you.

They can assess the

performance of individual investments

against their peers, ensure that your

asset allocation does not get distorted

as markets move and also help you

consolidate gains as the dates of your

ultimate goals approach.

No 10: For peace of mind Money is a

complicated subject and there are many

things you need to think about to

protect it and make the most of it.

Markets are volatile and the media is

prone to exaggeration of both the risks

and the rewards.

Employing a good financial adviser

can take the emphasis away from

you and move it not the hands of an

expert. Whether you need general,

practical advice or a specialist with

dedicated expertise, the money you

invest in taking advice could be

paid back many times over in the

long term.

10 Reasons to use an Independent Financial Adviser

Wayland Cubs and Scouts

On Friday 5th March over 3 million

people worldwide will be praying

and worshipping together during an

annual day of prayer, using a

service prepared by Christian

women in Cameroon.

Emma Wilcock, president of the

National Committee of the

Women‟s World Day of Prayer

Movement, said:

'This is always an exciting day as a

great wave of prayer sweeps the

world, beginning when the first

service is held in the Queen Salote

Girls‟ School in Tonga and

continuing around the world until

the final service takes place, some

35 hours later, in neighbouring

Western Samoa. By then the day

will have been celebrated in over

170 countries and over 5,000

services will have been held in

England, Wales and Northern

Ireland.‟

The Republic of Cameroon is said to

be „Africa in miniature‟. It is a

country of great cultural diversity

with more than 240 ethnic groups

and languages. The constitution

promotes equality between men and

women but traditional rights and

attitudes discriminate against women

in many areas of life. However giant

steps have been taken towards

assuring women‟s rights and women

are involved in the struggle for

peace, justice and integrity.

Cameroon faces many challenges

as its people seek to move forward

into a modern age without losing

their distinctive characteristics. But

at all times, in all circumstances,

Cameroonians are able to praise

God with joy and exuberance and

the service reflects this.

Although organised and led by

women, this is essentially a day of

prayer for everybody as we

demonstrate our solidarity with our

sisters and brothers in other

countries and all are welcome to

attend at St. Mary‟s Church,

Watton on Friday 5th March at

2.30pm The speaker will be Mrs

Angela Pye. The event will be

followed by refreshments

Women‟s World Day Of Prayer

Mid-Norfolk Times Page 12 News

Mais uma vez se realizou este

evento especial. Longe do Pais e da

Familia muitos de nos refugiamo-

nos nas amizades que acabamos por

construir. Nao substituindo a

familia os amigos sao uma mais

valia, a quando de amizades

sinceras e sem intereses.

Todos os anos fazemos questao de

nos reunirmos para dar as boas

vindas ao novo ano e desejarmos

entre nos proprios um Feliz Ano

Novo.Este ano um pouco mais

tarde ,derivado ao mau tempo no

passado mes de Janeiro.

Desta vez com a precenca de17

adultos e 17 criancas ,foi uma tarde

espectacular cheia de alegria e

muito movimento. Desde ja

agradeco a presenca e colaboracao

de todos os que participaram, pois

todos contribuiram para que se

podesse realizar.

Agradecer tambem a disponiblidade

do Project Rainbow em apoiar esta

fantastica tarde de convivio, pois

nos ultimos encontros ficamos

restritos ao tempo, pois num

restaurante o tempo `e negocio. Este

ano tivemos esse factor a nosso

favor pois tempo foi o que nao nos

faltou, acabando a festa por

terminar quase as 22.00 horas. Foi

realmente maravilhoso.

Espero sinceramente que possamos

de futuro fazer outos iguais ou

melhores e com a presenca de mais

participantes. Muito Obrigado.

For our English readers the story

above translates approximately as

follows . . .

One again the Portuguese friends

from the community on Watton came

together to celebrate the New Year.

Life away from family can be

difficult but is made easier by the

friendships made locally.

This year‟s celebration was a bit later

than usual because of the bad weather

in January, which forced us to move

the day. With 17 adults and 17

children attending, it was a fantastic

and moving afternoon.

We would like to say “Thank You” to

Project Rainbow for allow us to use

the Surge. Thank you as well for all

the support given by all those

attending the event We hope we can

make it even better next time!

Encontro de Amigos Portugueses de Watton

As our regular meeting place is

unavailable, Watton Evening W.I.‟s

meeting on Thursday 11th March

will be at 7.30 pm. in the Church

Room at St. Mary‟s Church,

Watton. Our speaker will be Mrs

Jean McClean who is going to tell

us all about the Church and its‟

history. Ladies, if this will interest

you please do come along and join

us, you will be very welcome.

In February our speaker was Frank

Lambert who gave us a slide show

on East Anglian Gardens and more.

I‟m sure you all know there are so

many beautiful gardens around for

us to visit, and Frank gave us just a

taster of some of them.

At the beginning of February we

had a most enjoyable evening at the

Theatre Royal in Norwich where

we saw the Norfolk and Norwich

Operatic Society‟s production of

„The P roducers‟ . This was

hilarious, we laughed so much we

almost cried.

Then on 5th February a number of

us supported the Mayor‟s Supper

Dance at the Queen‟s Hall. This

was an excellent evening. For the

price of £15 each we had a

wonderful evening of fun, food and

dance (or jig about in my case!).

Thanks to Margaret Holmes, our

Mayor, (and all her helpers) for

putting on such a splendid evening.

If you missed either of these events

you certainly missed out.

For our meeting on 8th April we

will be back in our usual meeting

place - 7.30 pm in Watton Christian

Community Centre when Linda

Kerr will tell us about the

Redwings Horse Sanctuary.

Meeting are held on the 2nd

Thursday of the month and any

lady interested in finding out more

about our WI can just pop along as

a guest. To keep you up to date on

our meetings we do have a notice

board in Watton High Street on the

wall to the left of Smith‟s

(Fashions) shop window.

For information you can ring either

Pat on 01953 882275 or Barbara on

01953 882595

W.I. in St Mary‟s Church Room Breckland residents are being

called upon to roll up their sleeves

and lend a hand as the Pride in

Breckland team organise a

community blitz. The big clean up

will take place over a seven-week

period starting on March 1st and

aims to help reduce anti-social

behaviour and improve the

environment.

We all know that spotting rubbish

as you walk past a local beauty

spot, children's playground, or even

on the street can make your heart

sink. Rubbish and fly tipping ruin

the picturesque look and feel of this

beautiful district, and as a result,

the Pride in Breckland campaign

was launched to return Breckland to

its usual glory.

Pride in Breckland Co-ordinator

Richard Wills said: “Breckland is

one of the safest places to live,

however graffiti, fly tipping and

other environmental anti-social

behaviour can often make people

feel unsafe.

“But by working together and

taking positive action, we really can

make a difference to the area in

which we live and improve the

quality of life in Breckland.”

By organising a clean-up event you

will not only be helping to keep the

district clean, you will also be

contributing positively to your local

community. Whether you are

picking up litter, cleaning up

graffiti or planting a tree, we want

to hear about your Community

Cleanup efforts.

The Breckland Blitz long cleaning

spree will go above and beyond

routine maintenance work, as teams

will be removing graffiti, litter, fly

tipping, overgrown vegetation and

environmental eyesores. Volunteers

will be provided with all the

equipment they need and will be

joined by the Council‟s Pride in

Breckland and Street Scene teams.

L a s t y e a r n e i g h b o u r s a n d

community-spirited youngsters

gave up their free time to pick up

litter and clear away rubbish in

Charles Close and the recreational

ground in Toftwood. Residents

started off with a mass litter pick

clearing unwanted and unsightly

items from around the close before

planting a selection of spring bulbs

in their front gardens.

During the one day event, more

than 12 bags of rubbish was

collected through litter picking, two

sofas, a TV set, three mattresses,

one microwave and two fridge-

freezers were taken away by

Breckland Council‟s Environmental

Services team who were on hand to

advise residents on reducing their

waste and recycling more.

E x e c u t i v e m e m b e r f o r

Communities, Cllr Theresa Hewett,

said: “This is a great opportunity to

clean up our communities. It‟s very

encouraging to see so many local

people willing to give their own

time to help keep their areas tidy.

Their hard work, and that of the

council officers, will really make a

huge difference to Breckland.

“The council is committed to

keeping communities clean and

safe, and the efforts being made in

this big clean-up show the lengths

to which we will go to keep things

looking tidy.”

If you would like to volunteer for the

Breckland Blitz Community Clean

Up or tell us what you‟re doing to

clean up your area, please call

Richard Wills on 01362 656870

or by email on:

richard.wills@breckland.gov.uk

Join the Breckland Blitz

News Mid-Norfolk Times Page 13

Breckland Cats Protection 01842 810018 Phillip and his brother Bob are almost identical brothers and are still looking for a

loving home. They are about 8 months old, vaccinated, neutered and micro chipped.

Philip and Bob are friendly, playful boys who have a lot of love to give to someone

who can provide them with their home comforts. Zoe found herself homeless when

her owner was evicted and she is a very loving cat. She is friends with everyone and

purrs as soon as she sees you. She has had all the special care lavished on her that

Cats Protection cats get. Could you offer this lovely girl a permanent, caring home.

32 - 34 High Street, Watton Tel: 01953 881248

email: sales@adcockselectrical.co.uk

call in and we’ll be happy to explain what

you may need

Old Buckenham Village Shop Special Offer

There is a special promotion going on at the Old Buckenham Village

Shop throughout March. If you purchase goods from the shop costing

over £40 (excluding the post office, cigarettes, lottery and Paypoint) in

one transaction then you will be entitled to claim a bottle of Italian

wine (worth £5). So do your shopping locally and you can be

rewarded. Just check out the details with Nathan.

At Attleborough High School last Saturday,

students and staff, friends, family and

members of the local community joined Head

teacher Mr Neil McShane, and Lead Teacher

for Environment, Mr Joel Rodker to plant 200

trees on the school site. The trees were won in

a recent tree-dressing competition run by

Breckland Council.

By planting these trees, a selection including

Silver Birch, Rowan, Wild Pear, Blackthorn,

Hawthorn and Crab Apple, the team of

volunteers hoped to improve the landscape,

encourage more wildlife to the site and help

the school off-set their carbon emissions. In a

day of digging and planting these trees,

sustained by some light refreshments provided

by staff, the team enjoyed the chance to meet

other members of the Attleborough

community. Some of the helpers brought their

own tools and all set about the task with

enthusiasm and energy, excited that they could

make a difference to their local environment

that would be enjoyed by generations to come.

Mr Rodker commented: "It was great to see so

many people turn out and we were fortunate to

have good weather. We planted a mixture of

native woodland trees around our playing

field, between buildings and along a fence.

Everyone felt very proud of the contribution

they were making to the improvement of their

school and the community.”

Attleborough High School‟s Headteacher Mr

McShane commented: “This was a wonderful

occasion. This was a really clear way to make

our school more sustainable, to leave

something that students and the community

will enjoy for many years to come"

Attleborough High School Digs In

We held our February meeting on

Thursday 18th. Traditionally this is a

social evening for members and their

guests with a fish and chip supper and

entertainment of some kind, with

members judging the annual

competition. It was odd that our

previous social evening in December

was heralded by snow and so was this

one! At least this snow didn‟t stay and

we didn‟t have the power cuts. Our

members are a hardy lot and 41 people

attended. The fish and chips arrived

courtesy of Gary‟s Plaice in Watton,

and were very much appreciated.

Thank you to Gary‟s plaice and their

staff who delivered the right order, hot

and on time, quite a feat for the

quantity involved and the cold weather.

We were delighted with the mystery

pineapple fritter, placed at random in

one of the orders, which resulted in a

prize of a bottle of wine. What a

gracious supplier! After the fish and

chips we enjoyed a fast and furious

beetle drive. I was amazed at exactly

how fast and furious this innocuous

little game can be. The first prize for

the most points was won by Gina (I

love beetle drives) Sclater and the prize

for the lowest points went to Stephen

Knight. This month's competition was

for five crocus corms in a 3-½ inch pot.

The corms and pots were supplied by

the Society and to eliminate any

cheating only two people knew the

colour. Members held a secret ballot

and the winner was Pauline Rant with

2nd Geoff Twelftree, 3rd Vic Cossins

and joint Highly Commended Belinda

Ashworth and Peggy Twelftree.

Following the raffle we heard Geoff‟s

Tips for March which included: turn

and mulch beds with well-rotted

compost or manure, prune roses and

buddleja and enjoy the catch-up nature

will provide after the cold and wet early

spring that has held most bulbs back.

There should be a spectacular show.

We hope. Marianne Kilmartin

Publicity Officer 01362 820744

Bradenham & District Horticultural Society

Looking back at Old Buckenham

The East Anglian Film Archive evening is on Saturday 13th March in the Village Hall. An exhibition of old

photographs and documents will be on show from 7pm and films will begin at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £5 and are

available from Old Buckenham Stores or by ringing 01953 860692. There will be refreshments and a raffle with

any monies raised going towards the upkeep of the village hall.

Mid-Norfolk Times Page 14 News

Our February meeting was a

business meeting where the

following officers were elected for

the coming Inner Wheel year.

President - Beryl Brannan,

Immediate Past President and

Extension Officer - Helen

Glibbery, 1st Vice President -

Stella Leonard, 2nd Vice President

- Jenny Simons, Secretary - Brenda

Davis, Treasurer - Heather

Hewson, Overseas Service - Jill

Beech, Club Correspondent - Jenny

Simons, committee members - Ann

Akister, Pam Challand, Mary

Riches and Val Semlyen.

Fourteen members had enjoyed a

meal at the Windmill at Necton,

feeling we needed a bit of cheering

up from the winter weather.

Several of our members had braved

the cold to help with the Rotary street

collection for shelter boxes to send to

the people of Haiti. We used some of

the money we had already raised at

our various fundraising functions,

combined with money from the

collection and donations by some

very generous local

people and we were

able to send enough for

two boxes plus an extra

£145 towards another.

The boxes cost £490

and provide a tent and

supplies for 10-12

people. No doubt most

of you saw the one that

was erected on Chaston

Place at the time of the

collection. As of now, I

understand that the total

sent from Watton stands

at 13, which is a

wonderful achievement

for such a worthwhile cause. Some

have been bought by individuals and

some by schools and groups.

Our Valentine Barn Dance with

Shinanikins was enjoyed by all,

though we had room for a few more

dancers, so if you fancy taking to the

floor, our next one is on 1st October.

Despite the smaller numbers we still

raised £290 for our charity fund so a

very healthy, fun way of raising

money!

By the time you read this, our next

lunchtime concert will have been and

gone, but all is not lost as we are

having yet another on 24th March.

For just £5 you can enjoy Pamela

Warren, (Dame Clara Butt in the

Good Olde Days), Ken Davis and

Patrick Monk, singing a variety of

songs from Music Hall to opera,

Flanders and Swann to Gilbert and

Sullivan and folk songs, with Brenda

Davis providing the spoken word.

All this, as well as a large roll and

salad at the Queen's Hall as usual -

12noon - 2pm. Tickets available at

Mullengers or phone 01953 881792.

All profits will be given to charity so

read our articles each month to see

where it goes.

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Following last year‟s flooding

one of the Players and her

partner were forced to

temporari ly decamp to

alternative accommodation in

a neighbouring village. Whilst

there, they came across a

horse who was in a very sorry

state. Clearly not well cared

for they began to look after

him and slowly gain his trust.

Eventually the owner passed

the horse over to them and

PACT animal and wildlife

sanctuary subsequently kindly

agreed to home him for his

lifetime. Touched by Harry‟s

(as he is now known) story,

the Players decided to make a

financial contribution to

PACT and along with money

raised by the society‟s

“Friends” recently presented a

cheque to PACT for £150.

George from PACT is

pictured receiving the cheque

from the Player‟s former

chairman Jenny Mann.

Harry the Horse‟s PACT with the Players

Projects which support and

strengthen local communities

throughout the district have just

weeks to apply for their share of a

special pot of funding. The cash is

available through the „Your

Partnership Your Decision‟

initiative which will be delivered

by the Breckland Partnership.

As part of the Breckland

P a r t n e r s h i p ‟ s c o n t i n u i n g

commitment to Participatory

Budgeting, where local people are

asked to decide how public money

is spent, £25,000 worth of funding

is now being made available.

The funding pot is being split

equally so that each of the five

Breckland market towns and their

surrounding villages get £5,000

and projects which apply must

prove they meet the local priorities

set for that area.

They are:

Attleborough – Bringing people

together

Dereham – Bringing people/

businesses together, creating a

cleaner and greener community.

Swaffham – Supporting local

community projects

Thetford – Community building

projects

Watton – Bringing communities

t o ge th e r , b r in g in g ru ra l

businesses together, creating a

cleaner, greener community.

Through the Breckland Partnership

local people will play their part in

choosing who gets the cash.

William Nunn, Chairman of the

Breckland Partnership said: “This is

a great opportunity for local people

to have a real say in how council

funding is spent in their towns

through the Breckland Partnership.

“This money could make a big

difference to so many of the

projects groups who are currently

working to make a significant

contribution to our communities.”

All community projects which

meet the local priorities above are

invited to apply for funding.

Application forms and guidance

notes are available on the

Breckland Council website,

w w w . b r e c k l a n d . g o v . u k /

your_partnership_your_decision.

Alternatively, contact Breckland

Council on 01362 656870.

Application forms must be returned

to the appropriate co-ordinator for

your area by 12th March for the

Watton area, and 8th March for all

other areas. Contact details for area

co-ordinators are given on the

application form.

£25,000 up for grabs by groups across Breckland

Great Hockham Gardening Club Annual Dinner on Saturday,

January 30th: at Park Farm Hotel,

Hethersett, Was a great success

and a superb meal was enjoyed by

30 of our members and guests.

The ladies were all pleased to find

a lovely rose and heather corsage

next to their plates to wear during

the evening (and there was a

heather one for Jack Caitens, who

usually wears his kilt but

chickened out this year as the

weather was so dire!) At the end

of the evening 3 lucky winners

won a bottle of wine with a

secretly placed ticket under their

chairs. Our Chairman, Matt

thanked Annie for arranging the

evening, and Jill and Jane for

making the corsages, and Jane for

the table quiz.

Snowdrop walk to Walsingham

Abbey on Valentine‟s Day: Had to

be postponed as the snowdrops

were not out sufficiently. We re-

arranged this for Sunday 28th

February and I will report on this

next issue.

WEDNESDAY 10th FEBRUARY:

Yet another snowy night and our

speaker, Anne Etheridge tried her

best to get to us from Diss but had

to turn back. We were unaware of

this until her email the next day.

Undaunted Jane nipped next door

and produced a Valentines quiz

which we all enjoyed doing. We

had 5 teams and 3 were evenly

matched after 50 questions all with

romance in mind. After a tie-break

round of finding as many words as

possible from VALENTINE‟S

DAY the „Hockham Lady Lovers

were knocked out and the „Caston

Cupids‟ and the „Too tired to

Care‟ team were pronounced the

winners, both with 50 words! A

fun evening despite the setbacks.

Jill de Ruyter won the Best Flower

competition, Lois Gill second and

Shona Levy was third.

Our next meeting is on

WEDNESDAY 10th MARCH:

NICK BAILEY, „365 DAYS OF

FLOWERS‟.

To be held in the Village Hall.

Hopefully the bad weather will be

behind us and his talk will cheer

us all with inspiring ideas for

colour in the garden as Spring

arrives at last. We would love to

see a large turnout so please come

along.

Doors open at 7.45pm and we get

started by 8pm. There are

refreshments, a raffle and a fun

flower competition.

Free to members, £2.50 guests.

For more information look us up

on our website:

www.greathockhamgardeningclub.

org.uk.

Or ring me on the number below.

We are a very active, friendly

club, always keen to increase our

membership and now is a great

time to join.

If anyone would like a lift to

meetings please give me a call.

Jane Dalton (Secretary) 01953

498694

Inner Wheel Club of Watton

WATTON BEREAVEMENT

SUPPORT GROUP

Wednesday 3rd March 2.00pm Meeting at Watton

CCC, Speaker Ann Durrant

– A Walk through Watton 50

years ago. Monday 15th March 12.30pm for 1.00pm Lunch

at Griston Waggon &

Horses

News Mid-Norfolk Times Page 15

Prayer of the Heart Activities at Watton Methodist Church Comprising Christian

Meditation, Bi Monthly Worship and Bi monthly Spiritual Book

Group. For those seeking reflective prayer, mid week worship with a

more reflective and contemporary feel and those who enjoy exploring

their faith by reading spiritual books old and new.

Christian Meditation 7.45pm in the Vestry

Mondays 1st and 15th March Monday Evening

Worship Monday 22nd March

My name is Jan MacKenzie and I am

opening a centre on Wednesday 10th

March, In remembrance of my

husband Colin MacKenzie- (Noble).

You are invited to the open day,

starting from 10am going on till

10pm

at 13b High Street Watton Norfolk

This Centre aims to offer a range of

activates including; training for both

p e r s o n a l & p r o f e s s i o n a l

development, plus community based

activities. Support will also be

offered to people needing advice in

their lives. There will also be

educational training for anyone with

concerns ranging from anger

management to a lack of self

confidence. The Centre will be a

place of support for many people.

There will be an outreach team

working from the building and other

health and professional links that can

be accessed.

The centre will be running courses

by approved trainers from Barnabas

T r a i n i n g I n t e r n a t i o n a l , a n

organization affiliated to the

Association of Christian Counsellors

(ACC). These courses will give

people who are interested in

becoming professional Christian

counsellors a qualification.

Positive Impact Training Services

will be running courses from the

building. All trainers have a Teachers

qualification.

There will be an age limit on the

training services of 18+, however, we

will run courses in drug and alcohol

awareness and self esteem etc -

training for people over the ages of

14 on specific days with parental

permission.

I am Christian and there will staff to

spend time with anyone who is

looking for answers spiritually; there

is a link to a local church who is

involved in this centre.

At the moment we have 3 large

rooms. But will expand in time to

offer many more services

Room 1-- will be used for training

courses.

Room 2-- will be used for group

work and a place to express yourself

by using Art.

Room 3-- will be a place to have a

coffee or tea at a small fee (till fully

funded) to look at the centre or to

have advice or guidance if needed,

somewhere just to chat with friendly

volunteers.

This charity is being raised due to the

sudden death of my husband Colin

MacKenzie, who died in March

2009.

Colin was born in Scotland and

lived in Galashiels in the borders of

Scotland and came from a large

family. When he was adopted he

was brought to England to live with

a family in Norfolk. Colin was a

troubled young man and he could

not settle. He longed for Scotland

deep inside his heart, but had to cut

himself off emotionally when he

was young to survive the pain of

the loss of his family, especially his

older sister Moira and younger

brother Andrew who remained at

home in Scotland with their

mother .

The full story of Colin‟s life will

be available on the day.

May his life and his story help

many others to

come to a place

where, unlike

Colin, they may

decide to face

the truth of their

past and call for

help sooner. Jan

M a c k e n z i e

Masc. (A.D.C)

Cert Ed

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Now taking Mothers Day Bookings! Sunday March 14th 3 course menu £14.95

Tel 01953 483 360

On Thursday 11th February 2nd

Watton (RAF) Brownies welcomed

Mr. Lee of The Golden Lantern,

Watton to help learn about China and

try some Chinese food.

Mr Lee also joined the girls in playing

a game of Lame Chicken, which is a

traditional game which the Chinese

Brownies play.

The pack are celebrating the

Centenary this year and the Adventure

100 is the Centenary Challenge,

where the Brownies participate in

different activities to gain points

which will total 100, which we are

working towards. A very big thank

you to Mr. Lee.

Thinking day is where the girls think

about Brownies/ Guides in other

countries from around the world. The

2nd Watton (RAF) Brownies are

thinking about Brownies in China,

which also coincides with the Chinese

New Year of the Tiger.

We meet every Thursday evening in

term time at 6.15- 7.45pm, at the

Blenheim Centre, Teddar Close,

Watton. If you are interested in

helping or have a daughter who would

like to attend please contact Margaret

on 01953 882992.

Norfolk Wildlife Trust

To ask a question about the Norfolk’s Wildlife please call the Norfolk Wildlife Information Service. Wildline 01603 598333 9am to 5pm Mon - Fri.

E-mail wild@norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk Website http://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/naturalconnections

Further details and Membership enquiries 01953 498467 Tuesday 16 March 7.45pm a demonstration – Hand Made products by Willow Craftsman, Rob King followed by refreshments and raffle. Venue: Watton Christian Community Centre, High Street, Watton. Cost £1.50 members and £2.00 non-members for NWT funds.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON TEAS Hosted by St. Mary’s Church

Sun 21st March Watton Christian Community

Centre 2.30pm until 4pm All welcome - please

come along and bring family and friends

Brownies think of China for Thinking Day Livewire concert Are you a "Livewire" fan? This versatile local

touring company will be giving a Concert

entitled "The Rhythm of Life" on Saturday 27

March, 7.30 p.m. at Watton Methodist Church.

Their varied repertoire includes songs from the

shows, operetta, opera, sacred and classic songs

- something for everyone! Tickets are £5 each

and can be obtained from Adcocks at 32 High

Street, Watton or by telephoning Pam Wilkins

on 01760 440643. Proceeds will be split on a

50/50 basis between Livewire and Watton

Methodist Church. Do come, we are sure you

will not be disappointed.

The Colin Mackenzie Centre

It was a well attended meeting

in February for the Old

Buckenham Social and Wine

Circle. Their speaker in the

Church Rooms was Cliff Amos

who came to tell his audience all

about the Attleborough Heritage

Group – how it started and how

it now has premises that are

open for visitors each Thursday

from 9.30am to 3.30pm. These

premises are what used to be the

bar of the old Station Hotel in

Attleborough (or in more recent

times Cliff‟s own front room).

The Heritage Group organises

public meetings on various local

history subjects and is often

c o n s u l t e d b y p e o p l e

investigating their family

history.

As part of his talk he also

showed photographs of Old

Buckenham and Attleborough in

earlier days. There was plenty of

feedback from the audience who

recognised images from their

own childhoods and told stories

of the mischief that they had got

up to then.The Social and Wine

Circle will be meeting again on

Thursday 11 March when John

Lee will be giving an illustrated

talk on the architecture of the

seaside. This talk will start at

7.45pm in the Church Rooms at

Old Buckenham and is open to

anyone who wants to come

along.

News from Old Buckenham

Blog

oldbuckenham.blogspot.com/

Friends, wine and heritage at Old Buckenham

Mid-Norfolk Times Page 16 News

By Chris O‘Connor

Australia has woken to a new kind of

menace, fear. While we all live with

some kind of dread Australia has for

as long as I can remember always

been a nation that reaches out to other

people. However this illusion was

shattered recently when an 18-year-

old university student was ignored for

30 minutes when she fainted in the

centre of a major capital city after

donating blood.

It made me think that if we have sunk

that low then people need to rethink

their attitudes, get over their fears and

become more compassionate or

society will spiral into dark times.

And then I realised that in recent

years I too have become a victim of

fear. I live in Adelaide one of the

most progressive and tolerant cities in

Australia. However, there is no way

that I will walk down our major

streets after dark; if I hear somebody

behind me I quicken my pace and I

no longer look somebody in the eye –

eye contact is perilous. My fear stems

from two major incidents in my life.

The first was some years back when I

was on a train travelling home. A

group of not particularly pleasant

youths got on board and looked

myself and another passenger over.

Suddenly they attacked the other

passenger and left him bleeding and

minus his wallet. Why I was spared I

have no idea but it terrified me. The

other incident was when I was

working as a nurse and watched a

mother of two bleed out and die in

the emergency room because of a

knife attack. The fear in her face and

reality that she was dying haunt me

to this day.

The young university student, who

did not want to be identified,

collapsed to the pavement outside a

crowded Perth department store as

she was walking to the train station,

but received no offers of help from

the hundreds of people who walked

past.

Her distraught girlfriend, who was

with her, called her parents but it took

them 30 minutes to arrive in peak-

hour traffic.

The young woman was described by

her family as slightly built, well-

dressed and kind. Her mother, Betsy,

said she was appalled by the

"collective non-responsibility" shown

by people walking past.

"There seems to have been a basic

assumption that she was drunk or on

drugs. The community needs to

realise that not all kids are on drugs.

My daughter was giving blood to help

others."

What is disturbing about the whole

incident is that anyone would be

t reated so cal lously, but a

combination of fear and selfishness

seems to have kept people away.

Perhaps I am naive but my fear (if we

don't change) is that we will become

more anxious and more fearful as a

society. Will we then be left in the

dreadful situation that if something

happens no one is going to come to

our aid?

One senior cleric who was shocked

by the whole affair suggested that

"People are paralysed by prudence

and the fear related to it……we need

to reflect on what is going on inside

ourselves and ask

w h y w e a r e

frightened of stopping

to help a young

woman in this

situation. I don't

know what she looks

like, but heavens to

Betsy she's just been off giving blood

to someone, she can't have appeared

all that frightening."

I know there are valid reasons for

people to be scared in a violent world

and that we need to be ever vigilant,

to be careful (I long ago stopped

picking up hitchhikers), but there is

no excuse for doing nothing.

One person told me that people are

worried that if they get involved, the

situation can turn on them.

In a world inundated with mobile

phones surely it's not hard to call

people to let them know someone is

in distress.

There is no doubt fear stops people

from being kind and they have to

keep it under control but surely there

is a time to care.

Australia has always prided itself on

what it calls „mateship‟, a term honed

in the horror of two world wars; we

are generous when it comes to giving

to charity and by and large we care

for our elderly but an increase in

crime seems to have made us more

wary.

Ironically a recent poll in Australia

indicated that mateship and personal

safety were greater priorities than

money, good looks, health and family

values.

For people aged 15 to 25 years,

mateship, safety and democracy are

their most "Australian" and important

concerns.

Survey participants were asked to

compare a number of categories and

rate them based on how Australian

the categories were, from their own

and other perspectives.

Of the young people surveyed those

who emphasised safety as an

Australian characteristic and those

who perceived their own benefits to

be in line with other Australians'

beliefs, had higher “ worth and pride

in being Australian,".

Half of the respondents were aged

between 15 and 25.

The results of a similarly Australian-

esque survey conducted by a major

news journal magazine also

illustrated how mateship is valued

in this nation.

This survey showed support for

mateship and loyalty was near the

top of the list of "true Australian

values", it also found most

Aust ra l ians regarded ja i l

sentences as "too lenient".

Perhaps what we say in surveys

and what we act out in real life is

not quite true to form. It will be a

sad day for Australia when the

crude oafish louts take over and

people can no longer help

somebody who has fallen in the

street.

coconnor@adam.com.au

Thank you to all the wonderful

customers at Coop Watton who so

generously – and without any arm

twisting – generously gave not only

their smalls but their larges too in aid

of SSAFA 125.

This all happened on Saturday 13

February. We were lucky with the

weather and lucky with the generosity

of everyone who came to look at our

stall. And any children who ventured

by were also lucky when they got a

free goodie bag!

SSAFA FH has been looking after

serving and ex serving members of the

Forces and their families for 125 years.

The aim is go in and help and to stay

until the job is done even if that takes a

lifetime. Your donations on Saturday

will stay in Norfolk to help members of

all three services and their families

where there is a need.

If you missed us this time, you can catch

us on a street collection when the

weather is warmer! and we can persuade

our Chairman to sit in a bath of custard?

Or you can contact the Norwich Office

for details of how to make a donation or

to remember us in your will.

If you need help or you know of

someone who needs help – and that

could even be your mum or your dad –

then give us a ring on 01603 403322

A BIG SSAFA125 Thank You

Tracy and Dylan Short, Jenny Mann and Chris Rowe, Secretary SSAFA FH Norfolk

From the Rev Geoff Garrett

St Mary‘s Church, Watton

Psalm 23 has been a staple of

people‟s faith and worship since even

before the time of Christ – centuries

before! It is still a favourite Bible

text for many people today and it is

one of mine. I never tire of reading it

or hearing it. It is perfect for all

occasions and reminds us that

whatever the occasion and however

we may feel God is always around to

lend a hand and be a shepherd to us,

loving, comforting, protecting,

guiding and providing both here and

now in this life – but also beyond

life.

As a prayer of thanksgiving it

reinforces our need of total

dependence on God and covers all

aspects of our life. As a plea for

forgiveness, reconciliation and

restoration it is helpful. As a song of

praise it raises our souls to new

heights of adoration. The various

tunes can be used to reflect different

specific occasions. One tune being

made popular as the theme tune for

the Vicar of Dibley.

The words of Psalm 23 during times

of sadness and loneliness bring

comfort and we are reminded that we

are not alone. They can help in our

everyday lives, soothing in times of

difficulty and hostility and recalling

times of refreshment and tranquillity.

As we read them they can bring relief

and inspiration.

The 23rd Psalm is more than just a

pretty passage of scripture; it‟s a

reminder of who we are and whose

we are, of where we‟ve been and

where we‟re going. I hope you‟ll

read it often. Commit it to memory,

if you can. Let it remind you of the

love of God which enfolds you, the

peace of Christ which surrounds you,

and the power and presence of the

Holy Spirit within you which

promises to give you victory over sin

and death, now and forever more.

Thought for the Month

Letter from Australia

ROGER TURNER 07759 948 830 01953 881 382

Massage Treatments

Swedish Massage and Hot Stone Massage

Appointments available at

BROOM HALL Country Hotel

Saham Toney Your Local Three Star Hotel

Telephone: 01953 882125 www.broomhallhotel.co.uk

News Mid-Norfolk Times Page 17

Question – Where can I buy an

umbrella that can be attached to a

wheelchair?

Answer – There are several

companies which offer wheelchair

umbrella‟s one of which is

Mobility Smart a company in

Lancashire. The umbrella is

secured to the wheelchair side and

folds down when not needed. The

price, ex. Delivery is £25.02. For

further details call 0800 567 7222

or go to their website at:

www.mobilitysmart.cc, where they

also have other aids and equipment

for sale.

Question - I live alone and I have

not been able to get out to pay my

bills in the recent cold weather. I

am a little worried that my

electricity and gas will be cut off. I

have phoned the companies but

have not been able to get through.

Can they cut me off?

Answer - Energy companies are

sympathetic to people who are

unable to pay their bills and do not

want to cut any person off in the

cold weather that we are currently

having. You should however keep

trying to contact them to explain

your situation. If you continue to

find that you cannot get in touch

with them, you could ring your

local Social Services office or your

local Age Concern and explain

your situation and ask them to

contact the companies concerned

on your behalf. They will need

your customer number and other

details so make sure you have your

bills to hand when you call them.

Question - "What is NHS

continuing healthcare?"

Answer - NHS continuing health

care is care which is arranged and

paid for by the NHS for people

outside of a hospital situation who

have healthcare needs. The setting

"outside of a hospital" can mean in

your own home or in a residential

care home. NHS continuing

healthcare is free.

Eligibili ty is based on the

healthcare need that a person may

have and in relation to that need an

assessment of care will be made by

a multidisciplinary team made up

of two or more health and social

care professionals. The result of

this assessment will decide whether

a person is entitled to receive the

care.

Question - During her younger

years my Mother used to make rag

rugs. Her memory is now poor but

she remembers making them and I

would like to encourage her to try

and make one again. Do you know

if it is possible to buy a kit or the

equipment needed?"

Answer -You can buy a kit from a

company in Manchester called Fred

Aldous Ltd, 37 Lever Street,

Manchester M1 1LW UK. Tel:

0161 236 4224. Website is at

www.fredaldous.co.uk

Question - My father is over eighty

and I believe he is entitled to some

state benefits but he is a very private

man and will not let me have any

access to his income, savings, etc. Is

there any way he can find out for

himself if he is entitled to any

financial benefits, as he would be

happy to talk to strangers!

Answer - It is estimated that 5

million pounds in benefits are not

claimed by elderly people every

year and it is therefore worth older

people making enquiries as to

whether they have a claim. Age

Concern have a service where they

have a calculator online, which is

free to use and you will be able to

see if you should have been

receiving a benefit. If a person does

not have access to the internet, call

the local branch of Age Concern

who will help. Phone number in

local telephone book. Website:

www.ageconcern.org.uk

Information supplied by Able

Community Care, 01603 764567

By Adrian Goldring of

Greenland Houchen Pomeroy in

Watton Whilst the recent snowy weather was

quite picturesque and thousands of

children (and their parents!) enjoyed

days off from school sledging down

slopes and having snowball fights, the

long wintry conditions have caused

problems for some and injuries for

others.

For those of you who may have been

injured in a car accident or perhaps

fallen over through no fault of your

own, it may be that you can make a

claim for compensation but this will

depend on the circumstances of the

particular incident.

If you are a passenger in a car and are

injured as a result of the driver losing

control on a slippery surface, you are

likely to succeed in bringing a claim as

the driver is responsible for driving in a

safe manner.

However, if you slip over on an

unsalted path or road you are unlikely

to succeed as private individuals and

local authorities do not necessarily have

an obligation to clear all paths.

The freezing temperatures also affect

the condition of our roads – as no doubt

many of you have noticed – creating

potholes and uneven surfaces. If you or

your car is damaged by driving into one

of these potholes, you may have a

claim depending on when the Council

was notified of the problem.

All personal injury claims must be

brought within 3 years of the date of

the incident but it is best to seek advice

as soon as possible. Take photos of the

area where the accident occurred and

photos of the injuries you sustained.

Keep receipts for all your expenditure

such as prescriptions as these can

usually be reclaimed and make a note

of mileage or bus fares if visits to your

doctor or hospital are necessary.

We have a personal injury

specialist, Siân Carrel, who

visits our Watton office on a

regular basis. If you would

like to make an appointment to see

her for an informal chat, please

telephone 01953 882864 or call in to

40 High Street, Watton.

BROOM HALL Country Hotel

Saham Toney Your Local Three Star Hotel

Wednesdays Steak Night Sirloin or Rump with chips £10.00

Fridays Pie & Mash Night Pastry Pie & Mash with Dessert £9.95

New Ivy Room for Bar Meals

Monday to Saturday 6.30 – 8.30 Tuesday to Saturday 12.00 – 2.00

01953 882125 www.broomhallhotel.co.uk

Accident or negligence?

Useful Q and A‟s

We held a Coffee & Chat meeting

in February, some of our members

attended with their partners. As

this was an open meeting, it

enabled us to discuss items and

have more input from our

members that time does not allow

for when we have speakers.

Also after the meeting we had our

post - Christmas lunch at Necton,

to which members and partners

were invited and which was kindly

arranged by one of our committee

members and her husband. Despite

the weather, 27 of the group were

at the lunch and enjoyed a

wonderful two course meal and

Ann & Clive were warmly thanked

and asked when another lunch

could be arranged! Even though

Rod and John were accompanied

by their wives, they still behaved

as normal! (What more can be

said!)

Our March meeting will be on the

8th. Our speaker will be Rachael

Tussington, PCSO, from the

Watton Safer Neighbourhood

Team. The meeting will start at

10.15 am and will be at the

Pentecostal Church, Old Dereham

Road, Watton, to whom we are

grateful for the use of their

facilities.

For more information of the

meeting or any other queries,

please phone Helen 01953 884713,

leave a message and I will get back

to you as soon as I can.

Diabetes UK

There are times when you are faced

with problems and a little extra

help, information and advice is

needed. Quite a few people have

access to the internet either at home

or through friends or the local

Lib ra r y. C i t i zen s ‟ Ad vice

recognises that the internet can be a

good source of information,

although you do need to know and

trust the source of that information.

That is why Citizens‟ Advice offers

a n o n - l i n e s e r v i c e a t

www.adviceguide.org.uk . The

front page of the site will help you

negotiate your way through to the

section you need. There is also a

search facility if you can‟t find an

immediate link to the subject area

on which you need information.

You will also find links to a variety

of factsheets, which can be

downloaded and printed, in a

number of different languages.

As an illustration, we can follow

through an enquiry on one of the

current subjects on which we get

asked for advice - Money

Management - and see how the

system can be used for self help. If

we click on this subject on the left

hand menu we can follow the link

through to the relevant page. This

has further links to different aspects

of Money Management including

Help with Debts, Mortgage

Problems, Debts and Court Action

and Borrowing Money.

On the right hand side of the page

you will see a link to on-line tools.

One of these offers sample letters,

which can be used when writing to

your creditors. All you need to do is

follow the advice and fill in the

relevant details.

Having got your letters ready, you

can go back to on-line tools and

click the link to the budgeting tool.

This is an on-line calculator which

enables you to set out in detail all

your income and expenditure and

then work out what you have

available for your creditors for non-

priority debts. There are full

instructions and help for you to use

this tool. At the end you will have a

full financial statement to use in

reaching an agreement for

repayment with your creditors. It

does show creditors that you are

serious about trying to manage your

debts.

Getting back to the front page of

adviceguide, another useful source

of information is in the Benefits

section. In this part, as with many

others, there are further links to

other relevant websites. In this case

follow the link is to the Directgov

website at www.direct.gov.uk .

The Department for Work and

Pensions has produced an online

guide which can help you check if

you qualify for certain benefits. It

covers the main benefits including:

Attendance Allowance, Carer's

Allowance, Child Benefit, Child

Tax Credit, Council Tax Benefit,

Disability Living Allowance,

Housing Benefit, Income Support,

Jobseeker's Allowance

There is also a selection of

factsheets with particularly useful

ones on the Child and Working Tax

Credits system and the Employment

and Support Allowance. It can be

useful to read through these before

making any contact with the Tax

Credit people or the Jobcentre Plus

offices so that you can focus your

questions and ensure that you get

the information that you need for

your circumstances. It also enables

you to be aware of the information

you will need to supply which, in

turn, should also enable the

HMR&C and DWP staff to help

deal with your enquiry more

effectively and quickly.

R e me mb e r , h o we v er , t h a t

whichever route you choose the

trained advisers at Citizens‟ Advice

Bureaux – who are all volunteers -

are still there to help if you need

them. They have a wealth of

experience and access to a first

class information system to use to

give you information and advice on

how you can take action on your

problem.

Remember, problems rarely solve

themselves and certainly do not

improve with age – get information

and advice!!

Using the Citizens‟ Advice – Adviceguide System

HJC Ltd Motor Engineers

Servicing & MOT preparation to all makes of

modern cars & light commercials

Tyres, Exhausts, & Batteries supplied and fitted

Courtesy cars available

Ask for Steve at: 5 Linmore Court

Threxton Rd Industrial Estate Watton

Tel: 01953 889924

Mid-Norfolk Times Page 18 Comment & Letters

By and large, every penny of tax,

whether paid to central government,

county, district or parish council, is hard

earned.

Whether paid by a soldier in

Afghanistan; risking life and limb to

keep our country safe, or the driver of a

gritting lorry working in the most

difficult conditions in the middle of the

night to make the roads a little less

slippery in the morning, the money is

not easily come by!

So to discover that the people in control

of spending taxes, discharge their duty

with scant regard for those who put so

much effort into earning the money in

the first place, is irritating to say the

least. The abuse by MPs of their self

designed expenses system is, perhaps,

the most extreme example to come to

light in recent years.

If we are being honest, most of us will

admit to having worked the system to

our own advantage at one time or

another; but some of the examples that

have come to light recently defy

imagination.

Forget duck houses and moat cleaning.

I can almost applaud the humour and

creativity there. No, I am thinking of

the claims involving “house flipping”.

This is the practice of maximising your

expenses claim by deliberately

misstating which of your residences is

your main one and which one you

currently living in.

To my mind, that practice is tantamount

to premeditated fraud, and I am

astonished that the “investigations” did

not take more MPs to task over it.

The point is this however, if we had

known what was being done with our

money, we would have never allowed it

to happen the first place. Like everyone

else, I put my trust in Parliament to

govern and make decisions based on

what was best for society, not what

would give MPs the greatest personal

financial gain.

And trust is at the heart of the issue.

Citizens working day in, day out, to

earn the money to pay their taxes,

delegate the power to govern and

spend on their behalf trusting that the

authorities will do their best with it.

They do not have the time to attend

meetings and oversee the process

themselves; they TRUST the system.

But that trust has been broken so

many times now.

Citizens must have oversight of

government and, if decisions are

made which are wrong, then those

responsible must be called to account

for it by the people in whose name

they govern.

Last month I highlighted discussions by

Watton Town Council regarding the

flashing speed signs being proposed for

some of our roads; local residents and

taxpayers are now informed of what is

being done and have the chance to

make their own views known to

councillors whether or not they agree

with what I think and write.

One councillor, who was especially

irritated by my report and editorial

accused me, in a public meeting, of

trying to “conduct Council by Press”.

A charge I emphatically deny.

In all things dear reader, my intent is to

inform you about what is being done in

your name, by those who have been

given the trust to spend your money to

best effect.

And whatever the subject, if an MP or

a County, District, Town or Parish

Councillor feels in the least

uncomfortable you knowing what they

plan to do, or, are doing in your name

or on your behalf, then you really do

need to know about it. And perhaps the representatives

concerned should re-examine their

reasons for suggesting whatever it is in

the first place?

So stand by for another piece of

uncomfortable information . . .

Those signs at Ovington; it does seem

that my assertion that they don‟t work

half the time was based on an

incorrect assumption. In a statement

from Norfolk County Council I was

told “The chevrons there will only

activate if you are travelling around

the bends too quickly. The fact that

you have not been 'flashed' means

you have been travelling at the

correct speed, so well done for that!

“All solar powered signs are fitted

with batteries so that they work 24/7,

clearly in a country like ours it would

be foolish to rely on the sun shining -

and we don't.”

But remember they have been switched

off? Do you know why?

Those flashing chevrons, erected at

considerable expense by the Highways

Department of Norfolk County Council

have been switched off because they do

not “currently meet the Department for

Transport's regulations”

(NCC‟s words)!

You really couldn‟t make it up!

> > > julian@midnorfolktimes.com

On your PVCu Replacement Windows, Doors and Sunlounges. Plus!We have no pushy sales reps, all appointments are undertaken by

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Norwich Road, Watton, Thetford, Norfolk. IP25 6HW Tel: (01953) 881343 Fax:(01953) 882923

e-mail: sales@bobsmobiles.co.uk

You couldn‟t make it up!

Letters to the Editor Signs of the Times (1) With reference to the article in last

month‟s Times “Signs of the

Times”, we of Ovington would

concur with the points you made

concerning the overpriced and

mostly ineffective signs through

our famous bypass - sorry, bends.

It might interest you to know that

the appearance of these signs came

as something of a surprise to the

residents and indeed the Parish

Council of Ovington, who were not

consulted prior to their installation.

Not that the authority responsible

for those abominations would have

taken on board any suggestions or

recommendations that our Council

might have offered. The Council

d i d h o w e v e r r e c e i v e

correspondence informing them of

the decision to turn off the solar

powered illuminates.

On the plus side, we are informed,

there has been a reduction in

“reportable” accidents through the

bends during the time the signs

were operational. We find this hard

to believe, as one only has to drive

slowly through the bends to see the

remains of plastic parts that

proliferate on modern cars littering

the verges, and witness the gaps

that are constantly being made in

the hedges bordering the road.

There is nothing wrong with bends

anyway, just the folks who drive

through them at less than sensible

speeds and consider overtaking at

the same time a fun thing to do!!!

What really incensed the Parish

council was the reported cost of

the entire installation, in the

region of £45,000. Money, which

we believe, could have been more

sensibly directed towards

providing a footpath along the

A1075 between Ovington Cross

Roads and Watton. Something

Ovington as a whole has been

campaigning for for years and

where, but for the Grace of God

and nimbleness of pedestrians,

there has always been a greater

likelihood of a serious accident,

walkers and cyclists being far

more vulnerable in that exposed

situation than vehicle drivers.

Yours Truly Rod Rumsby

(Ovington Parish Council)

Signs of the Times (2) After reading your comments

(“sign of the times”) in the Mid-

Norfolk Times I would like to add

my two pence worth to the speed

sign debate. When you hear that the

local council has spent £100,000

renovating a tiny toilet block, are

you really surprised that they want

to waste a paltry few thousand on

some very classy flashing signs?

The council probably feel that

Watton residents, being in the

majority both colloquial and slow

by nature, would be fascinated by

the flashing lights – seeing them as

some sort of entertainment:

Norfolk‟s answer to the lights in

Oxford Street London.

Once we get the new signs (I am

sure it will happen) perhaps we can

have some celebrity come and

switch them on? Watton town

council obviously have very deep

pockets so how about Sir Cliff

Richards, or Dame Vera Lynn? A

few war songs always go down

well with the residents of Watton.

I personally can‟t wait for the new

signs to be installed; it will turn

Watton into a real metropolis, think

of them as a status symbol – don‟t

confuse them with road safety or

try and relate them to anything

confusing like facts and figures.

We ageing residents need these

signs, whey should young people

have all the fun?

P.S. If the council ever run out of

ideas on what to waste our money

on, I would be happy to help out.

(See reference above: Dame Vera

or Sir Cliff).

David Walker (aged 63 & ¼),

Watton.

Down Under Day May I, through your columns,

thank the people of Watton and

district for their support of „Do

Down Under Day‟ an event

organised by members of the

Methodist Church on January

16th. This was sponsored by

Waitrose (Swaffham) and Tesco

and The Co-Op (Watton) so no

actual charge needed to be made

for any part of the occasion.

Donations were invited and,

thanks to the many good-hearted

people who attended, an amazing

total of £700 has been sent to the

Meningitis Research Foundation

in memory of Caroline Neave.

Thank you to all who contributed in

any way, Lesley Cowling

(Organiser)

Ovington Crower Dear Sid, I look forward every

mumf to your bit in the Nawfok

Times even tho I find it ard to read,

cummin from the East End like.

Yor spellin aint up to much iver!

Anyway me ol china, keep up them

there harticalls

cos they makes me and muwer

smile. Gawd bless ya! From Arfer

(An ammers supporter)

Pantomime and Supper Dance The Watton Pantomime Group

presented Show White at the

Queens Hall, Watton at the end of

January and very good it was with

mostly youngsters acting in it. The

music and dance scenes most

colourful and precise and the back

drops most effective. Thanks to

Stephanie Easter and Laura

Stevens. Thanks also to all 28

members of the cast and all that

made Snow White a really great

pantomime. Well done.

Friday, 5 February 2010 at the

Queens Hall, Watton a successful

Supper Dance was held for

charities. The Dance was organised

by Margaret Holmes, the Town

Mayor and her many helpers. There

was also a very good raffle, must

add the supper was great with a

wonderful dessert. Dancing was to

the lively swing band, Heaving

Cleavage. Thanks to everyone also,

the bar staff. Doug Wickwar

>> Ooops!

Church times and Puzzles Mid-Norfolk Times Page 19

Scribble Pad

WATTON CHURCHES TOGETHER SERVICE CALENDAR FOR MARCH 2010

St. Mary‘s Church, Watton 1st, 3rd & 4th Wednesday at 9.30am Holy Communion

2nd Wednesday Morning Worship

Church Office opens Tues, Wed & Thurs 9am-1pm

Tel: 01953 881252 margaret@churchadm.freeserve.co.uk

www.stmaryswatton.org

Sun 7th 8.00am Holy Communion

10.00am Holy Communion

Sun 14th Mothering Sunday

8.00am Holy Communion

10.00am Holy Communion

Sun 21st 8.00am Holy Communion

10.00am Holy Communion

Sun 28th Palm Sunday

8.00am Holy Communion

10.00am All Age Worship

6.30pm Choral Evensong

Watton Methodist Church

Every Wednesday the Church is open for quiet reflection and

prayer between 10am & 12 Noon

It’s your quiet place. At 10.30 there is a half-hour Midweek

Service in the Large Vestry led by the Minister or a Church

Member. www.wattonmethodist.btik.com

Sun 7th 10.45am Mrs Elizabeth Wright

6.30pm Mr Richard Hompstead

Sun 14th Mothering Sunday

10.45am Mrs Janet Roebuck

6.30pm Mr Alan Warby

Sun 21st 10.45am Rev Barbara Winner Holy Communion

6.30pm Rev Andrew King

Sun 28th 10.45am Mrs Judith Semmons

6.30pm Rev Brian Eagle Holy Communion

Roman Catholic Community Each Sat 5.30pm Mass at Watton Methodist Church

Pentecostal Church, Dereham Road, Watton There is a Noah's Ark Sunday and King's Kids for children

during the morning services

Sun 7th Alpha Countdown - 6

10.30am Family Service

6.30pm No Service

Sun 14th Alpha Countdown - 5

10.30am „1 - 2 - One – My Experience‟

6.30pm Team Training

Sun 21st Alpha Countdown - 4

10.30am „1 - 2 - One - His Message‟

6.30pm Team Training

Sun 28th Alpha Countdown - 3

10.30am Easter Egg Hunt Service

6.30pm Prayer Service

St. Nicholas‘ Church, Ashill Sun 7th 9.30am Lay Led Morning Worship

Sun 14th Mothering Sunday

9.30am Morning Worship

Sun 21st 9.30am All Age Worship

Sun 28th Palm Sunday

9.30am Holy Communion

Tues 30th 7.30pm Holy Communion

St. George‘s Church, Saham Toney Sun 14th Mothering Sunday

11.00am Morning Worship

Sun 21st 11.00am All Age Worship

Sun 28th Palm Sunday

11.00am Holy Communion

S.S. Peter & Paul‘s Church, Carbrooke Sun 7th 10.30am Benefice Service of Holy Communion

Sun 14th Mothering Sunday

10.30am All Age Worship

Sun 21st 10.30am Holy Communion

Sun 28th Palm Sunday

10.30am Methodist Service

Wed 31st 7.30pm Holy Communion

St John the Evangelist Church, Ovington Thursdays at 8.00am Said Holy Communion

Sun 14th Mothering Sunday

9.30am Holy Communion

Sun 28th Palm Sunday

9.30am Lay Led All Age Worship

Mon 29th 7.30pm Holy Communion

Breckles, Caston, Great Hockham, Griston, Merton, Stow Bedon, Thompson

Worship Calendar: March 2010

Sunday 7th March (Third Sunday Of Lent)

10:20 am Sunday Club Griston

(ages 4-11, „Manorcourt‟ Day Centre, Manor Rd)

10:30 am United Holy Communion Griston

Sunday 7th March (Third Sunday of Lent)

10:20 am Sunday Club Griston

(ages 4-11, „Manorcourt‟ Day Centre, Manor Rd)

10:30 am United Holy Communion Griston

Mothering Sunday—14th March (Fourth Sunday of Lent)

9:00 am Mothering Sunday All-Age Service Merton

10:30 am Holy Communion Stow Bedon

Mothering Sunday theme. Posies for mums. Sermon suitable for

children. Refreshments.

3:00 pm Mothering Sunday Family Service Thompson

Passion Sunday—21st March (Fifth Sunday of Lent)

9:00 am Matins (BCP) Gt. Hockham

10:30 am United Holy Communion Thompson

Thursday 25th March (The Annunciation of Our Lord to the

Blessed Virgin Mary)

7:00 pm Holy Communion Gt. Hockham

Palm Sunday - Sunday 28th March (Sixth Sunday of Lent)

9:00 am Holy Communion (BCP) Merton

10:30 am United Holy Communion Breckles

Holy Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday—29th To 31st March

7:00 pm Compline Gt. Hockham

Maundy Thursday - 1st April

7:00 pm Commemoration of Institution of the Lord‟s

Supper (Holy Communion) Gt. Hockham

Good Friday - 2nd April

12-3:00 pm Stations of the Cross: Seven Churches Pilgrimage

12:00 Thompson, 12:20 Merton, 12:40 Griston, 13:00 Bring your

packed lunch to the Rectory; 13:45 Caston; 14:05 Stow Bedon;

14:25 Breckles; 14:45 Great Hockham

2-3:00 pm Hour of Meditation Gt. Hockham

Holy Saturday - 3rd April

8:00 pm Service of light on the Eve of Easter Breckles

Easter Sunday - 4th April

9:00 am Holy Communion (BCP) Merton

10:30 am United Holy Communion Caston

For all our parishes… ‗The WAY‘ Youth Group (ages 11+)

Sundays 7th & 21st March 7-8:00 pm, Rectory

Pram Services: Wednesdays, 10:15 am Caston School Hall. (31st March at Chase Farm, Caston; 7th

April no service) For parents or carers with children aged 0-5

Enquiries: The Revd. Bob Nichols: Tel.: (01953) 483222;

Email: revbobnichols@gmail.com

Across

7 You'll need to move softly to catch one (6) 8 In blue they would be eligible to get married (6) 9 Tibetan religious teacher (4) 10 Western hemisphere (3,5) 11 Race had been a spoof! (7) 13 Disease-causing bacterium (5) 15 Secret store (5) 17 Need to get it done quickly (7) 20 Get it off the Internet (8) 21 They were Enid's Famous bunch (4) 22 Attractive metal perhaps? (6) 23 VAT in Oct is a gambol! (6)

Down 1 Pathos can used as a fertiliser (6) 2 Lady's Finger (4) 3 Taking this will end "in decay" (7) 4 Tin Tin's dog (5) 5 On its way out (8) 6 Race around obstacles (6) 12 Brings to mind an ant snore (8) 14 Red Coat fashion from 1930's (3,4) 16 Between the neck and the diaphragm (6) 18 Large cave (6) 19 Treasure that sounds like a baby's shoe (5) 21 Plus 21 across makes ten (4)

PUZZLE CORNER

£10 PRIZE CROSSWORD

Would you like to win a £10 Adcocks Voucher to spend? Simply

complete the crossword on the right and drop it in to The Wayland

News bin at (or post it to) Adcocks, 32 High Street, Watton,

Norfolk. IP25 6AE before the paper deadline. All correct entries

will be put into a draw and the winner will receive a £10 Adcocks

voucher to spend. In the event of any dispute the decision of the

Editor will be final. The clues are a mix of cryptic, and easy with

one or two anagrams thrown in just to make it more interesting!

The correct solution will be published in the next issue.

LAST MONTH’S PUZZLE Here is the answer to last month‟s crossword puzzle and

the winner of the £10 prize was Mrs Adams of Langmere

Road, Watton.

This month‟s Sudoko has been held over because of a lack

of space.

All Saints Church, Threxton Mothering Sunday Service

14th March at 10am

Mid-Norfolk Times Page 20 News

SALEC TRAVEL LTD Saturday 13 March Bury St. Edmunds 9.30am & 3pm return Adult & Child £5

Saturday 27 March Saffron Walden 9am & 4pm return Adult £10 Child £5 Sunday 4 April Easter Mystery 10am Adult £18 Child £15

Thursday 15 April Fakenham 9.30am & 1.30pm return Adult & Child £5 Thursday 15 April Foster & Allen at King's Lynn Adult £26

Friday 16 April Isla Grant at Hunstanton Adult £23 Saturday 17 April Oxford 8am & 4pm return Adult £20 Child £15

Sunday 18 April Dominic Kirwin at Hunstanton Adult £27 Sat 24 April Aylsham. Train to Wroxham 9.30am & 4pm rtn Adult £15 Child £12

Monday 26 April Daniel O'Donnell at Ipswich (we are awaiting to hear if we have been successful in getting tickets for this show) Saturday 5 June Johnny Marks Showboat Adult £28

Saturday 17 July Country Company Showboat Adult £28 Saturday 14 August 50's & 60's evening with Cardy & Coke Adult £28

Saturday 28/Monday 30 August BBQ Cruise evening Adult £24

Holidays 2010 (Please ring for Itineraries) Friday 9 – Sunday 11 April Brighton Weekend

16 – 19 April Country and Western Break Sunday 30 May – Saturday 5 June Lake District

Friday 23 – Tuesday 27 July Isle of Wight Friday 10 – Sunday 12 September Emmerdale Weekend

Friday 26 – Monday 29 November Turkey & Tinsel at Folkestone

2010 Brochure Out Now! For more details please phone:

01953 881159 PRIVATE COACH & MINIBUS HIRE ALSO AVAILIBLE

EDWARDS OF WATTON

WATTON’S SPECIALIST NEWSAGENT

"Pick & Mix Sweets" now

available in store

We are also pleased to offer News Deliveries 7

days a week in the following areas Griston,

Northacre, Caston, Stow Bedon, Breccles, Great

Hockham, East Wretham, Larling, Snetterton,

Shropham and Mount Pleasant

50 High Street, Watton. Tel: 881234

Established in Watton for four generations

MOTs £35.00 VEHICLES FROM V 99 ONWARDS. £40 FOR OLDER VEHICLES

IVAN CHUBBOCK GARAGE SERVICES

SHIPDHAM

Tel: 01362 820416

The firm favourites from Watton’s ‘The Good Old Days’ are now available to

entertain. A gentlemen's group singing humorous songs.

To discuss contact Ken Davis on 01953 881792

With the grim month of

February coming to an end, I

personally hope that I can stop

coating my children in as many

layers of clothes, waterproofs

and wellies as they can carry,

because it does make the trip to

school so much more fun if we

are not cold and wet when we

get there. But the pupils have

been having great fun getting

wet every Friday when they are

bussed to Thetford Leisure

Centre for their weekly swim.

Rocklands School is very

fortunate this year to be able to

offer swimming lessons to all

of their pupils and there has

been much progress in

confidence and ability in all age

groups.

Children from Class 1 are very

proud to have had their poems

chosen to be published in Little

Poets from the East and

Midlands. Work was chosen on

the basis of perception,

imagination, expression and

good use of language, well

done to all those from Year 1

and 2. We are also delighted to

welcome two new pupils to our

reception class. Our Class 1

teacher is inspiring pupils and

enthusing them to work

together. An advantage of

shared year groups is the

inspiration and support which

older pupils are able to give to

younger ones.

Music lessons continue apace.

We are very lucky to be able to

offer lessons in recorder,

clarinet, piano and guitar. We

are in need of instruments. If

you have any instruments in

good condition and are willing

to donate them to the school we

would be most happy.

All our pupils are very lucky to

be introduced to foreign

languages from the first day in

school; Class one are learning

German and pupils in other

years are being introduced to

French, Spanish, Italian and

Russian. We are also very

lucky that a parent has kindly

offered to run a Chinese club

once a week; this is the

language of the future and

pupils in all years are being

instructed in songs, phrases and

script in Cantonese. Rocklands

School also played host to a

celebration of the Chinese New

Year. A special assembly took

place, with the pupils

attempting the traditional lion

dance to celebrate the

forthcoming Year of the Lion.

To increase awareness among

the pupils of the importance

and value of energy

conservation the children of

Class 3 have been energy

monitoring over the first two

months of this year, and many

unnecessary lights, heaters and

computers have been turned

off. To enable the school to

benefit from an energy grant,

our pupils must now raise £150.

All children plan to achieve this

by a sponsored health and

fitness scheme, whereby they

are sponsored on the number of

laps of the playground they do

during breaktimes. 20 laps of

the playground equals one mile.

We will have some of the fittest

and most energy aware children

in our village.

For further information about

school activities, student

projects and the opportunity to

keep up to date with events,

visit our website: http://

www.rocklands.norfolk.sch.uk

Visit the Parent page for school

term dates, and the calendar for

information and school events

throughout the year.

Rockland Community Primary School

By Frank Wilder

Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell

was a worried man. Following

a successful career he had just

taken part in the capture of

Gibraltar and was returning

home with his small fleet of

five ships in thick fog. Unsure

of his position he summoned all

his navigators together to try to

fix his position and plot a

course for the English Channel

and Portsmouth. Latitude was

easily established but there was

no means of determining

longitude other than by dead

reckoning, a method which was

dependent on so many factors

that it was virtually useless.

Consensus placed the small

fleet safely west of the Ile

d'Ouessant (Ushant) an island

outpost of the Brittany

Peninsular but unfortunately

they were much further west

and as they continued their

voyage ran straight on to the

rocks of the Scilly Isles. The

flagship, The Association,

struck first and sank within

minutes, drowning all hands.

Two more ships, Eagle and

Romney, were unable to avoid

the danger and went down like

stones. In all four of the five

ships were lost and only 2 men

were washed ashore alive. One

of them was Sir Cloudesley

Shovell and as he staggered

ashore, totally exhausted, a

local woman combing the

beach found him and coveting

the very fine emerald ring on

his finger, killed him and stole

it. The body of Sir Cloudesley

was recovered and buried in

Westminster Abbey. Three

decades later, on her deathbed,

the woman confessed to the

crime to her priest and

produced the ring.

This disaster precipitated the

Longitude Act of 1714,

offering a prize of £20,000 for a

reliable means of establishing

Longitude at sea but it was

another 45 years before John

Harrison produced his portable

chronometer which was both

accurate and reliable and

eventually won him the coveted

prize.

Sir Cloudesley Shovell was

born in the tiny village of

Cockthorpe and baptised in the

church of St. Andrew and All

Saints. Another famous

admiral, Sir John Narborough,

was also born in Cockthorpe

and yet another in nearby

Blakeney – Sir Christopher

Myngs. And, of course, the

most famous of them all,

Admiral Lord Nelson was born

in Burnham Thorpe, just a few

miles away. Quite a record for

North Norfolk but not

surprising since the sea was

only a mile or so away and a

magnet for adventurous young

lads seeking a career in the

Royal Navy.

For many years All Saints was

neglected and forlorn but was

spared further decay and

neglect through the excellent

work of the Norfolk Churches

Trust in whose care the little

church is now placed. The

tower dates from about

1300AD as does the south aisle

and the thatched roof of the

nave was replaced by slates in

the 15th century. The steep

pitch of the original roof may

be seen on the west wall of the

tower. It is noticeable that there

are no windows on the north

side of the nave, the side facing

the sea. The interior has a

lovely rustic atmosphere and

adding to the character, has real

candelabra, there being no

electricity here. A fine 15th

century St. Christopher wall

painting was uncovered in 1990

and a lovely old knobbly bench

end has a carved date of 1649

although it is in fact late 15th

century.

A large Jacobean tomb chest in

the south aisle is to Sir James

Calthorpe, Lord of the Manor

and High Sheriff of Norwich,

d1615. An alabaster and marble

mural monument to Sir James

and his wife Barbara on the east

wall of the aisle is worthy of

note because of its somewhat

unusual inscription.

TO GOD AND POSTERITY

In assured hope of a joyful

resurrection resteth here ye

bodyes of Sir James Calthorpe

knight, and Dame Barbara his

wife, daughter to John Bacon of

Hesset Esq; by her he had 8

sons and 6 daughters, in whose

severall marriages and issue

the ancient glory of ye name

and family (Resting then chiefly

and almost solely in himself)

did reflorish and is dilatated

into many of the best houses in

this county. He was buried the

16th day of June Ano Dni 1615

and of his age 67, the said

Dame Barbara surviving him

and much comforted with the

sight of 193 of her children and

their offspring, at the age of 86

years exchanged this life for a

better upon the 3rd day of

November Ano Dni 1639.

Behold children are the

inheritance of the lord and the

fruit of the womb his reward.

Psa.127.V.3.

Dame Barbara must have found

birthdays and Christmas

somewhat expensive!

The Historic Parish Churches of Norfolk

A very sincere thank you to

everyone who supported my

fundraising Supper Dance, in aid

of the two charities I am

supporting, the Wayland Hall

Luncheon Club and the

Thursday Club. Cleaving

Heavages added to the success

of the evening with their

excellent music and risqué

entertainment.

Grateful thanks to helpers from

the two clubs for their support in

food preparation and assistance

during the evening. Thank you

Pam, Laura, Gay and Sue. Our

Town Clerk Jackie Seal and her

husband Graham gave great

support on the day and deserve a

putty medal! I am pleased to

say that we made over £500

profit on the night and cheques

to both the organisations will be

presented to them at my Civic

Reception. Margaret Holmes

Mayor of Watton Town Council

Thanks for your support

Entries are invited for an

exhibition of photographs of

Norfolk at the Dragonfly

Gallery, Wayland House,

Watton, from June 26th –

July 3rd. What can be

entered? Any photograph

taken in the county of

Norfolk that celebrates its

landscape, buildings, events,

flora and fauna etc.

Photographs may be in colour

or black and white, should be

framed and should have been

taken fairly recently.

Anyone wishing to submit

their photographs for

inclusion in the Magic of

Norfolk exhibition should

contact

Susan Hollingworth 01953

8 8 0 2 0 5 o r e m a i l

susan@wayland.org.uk for an

entry form. The deadline for

entries is May 21st

The Magic of Norfolk

News Mid-Norfolk Times Page 21

Now In Our 6th

Successful Year

The Right „Plaice‟ to get the best!

THE WATTON PLAICE 9 Middle Street, Watton

Frying on Tuesday to Saturday from 11.30am to 1.45pm and 4.30pm to 8.00pm

Closed Sunday and Monday “Gone fishing!”

Don’t forget our Thursday Lunchtime Delivery Service for the Housebound and Elderly only.

There is no charge for delivery - you pay only the normal take-away prices.

Plaice your order before

11am on a Thursday

WET FISH available from 9am daily

Telephone 01953 882 401

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ou

Karen Bales ACCA MAAT Bsc (Hons)

Telephone 01953 884019

118 Norwich Road, Watton, Thetford, Norfolk. IP25 6DU

Email: balesbrowneaccountancy@yahoo.co.uk

Accounts preparation for Sole traders, Limited Companies and Partnerships

Personal, Limited Company, and Partnership Tax Returns Book-keeping PAYE VAT Returns

Bales Browne Accountancy Services Limited

Petrified of Your Computer? You don’t need to be!

Ring Lesley Horn For 1 to 1 beginner’s support in your own home

Friendly, patient and knowledgeable help with using your computer to find things on the Internet, email your family &

friends, “Listen Again” on the BBC® iPlayer® and do your shopping without leaving your home

01953 881 885

School meal prices frozen Families in Norfolk are to see no

increase in the price they pay for

school meals, for the second

successive year after Norfolk County

Council decided to fix the price of

school meals at £2 for primary

schools and £2.05 for junior schools.

The news comes as Norse Group, a

trading arm of Norfolk County

Council, reports an increase in take-up

of school meals over the last year.

Norse delivers the vast majority of

school meals to Norfolk's schools and

has seen a 5% increase in sales of

lunches over the past 12 months. On

average more than 20,000 pupils have

a school meal each day in the county.

Tony Williams, Norfolk County

Councillor with responsibility for

Commercial Services and Director on

the Board of the Norse Group of

companies, said: “We know many

families in the county are finding

times hard at the moment and we have

fixed our school meal prices to try to

ensure take-up doesn‟t drop off as

families look for ways to save cash.

“Our school meals are healthy and

nutritious and enjoyed by thousands

of pupils every day. They are also

fantastic value for money and

follow strict standards, which mean

parents can be confident that their

children are enjoying a healthy and

tasty lunch."The decision to freeze

the price of our meals comes at the

same time as we set the lowest ever

council tax increase in the county,

highlighting our commitment to

support Norfolk families in these

difficult financial times."

Norfolk County Council did see a

drop in school meal uptake following

Jamie Oliver‟s campaign in 2005 and

the introduction of new Government

standards in 2006, despite already

serving healthy meals with fresh

ingredients.

Uptake has now started to increase

again, with Norse working to keep its

menus as creative as possible.

I have always thought that the only way for

me to be able to enjoy my life to the full,

would be to finish school, go to college,

volunteer abroad and then go to university.

Having now got to the stage where I am

about to finish college and being in the

interview process of getting a place at

university, I decided it was time to do

something worthwhile and book a month

abroad in Zambia to help underprivileged

people in a country still very much

dominated by poverty.

My name is Lisa and I am an 18 year old

student at City College Norwich in my final

year of studying Health Studies. This year I

will be going to university to study as either

a nurse or a doctor. Being a student, I am

struggling to fully fund the cost of this trip

and need as much help as possible. I think

that Zambia is the perfect place for me to

gain more experience with both healthcare

and childcare but more importantly aiding in

the recovery of the health and educational

inequalities that other people experience.

In a continuous epidemic of HIV/AIDS and

suffering severe unemployment with a rapid

population growth rate which the country

cannot economically keep up with, Zambia

has no education guarantee and a health

service which many struggle to afford.

64% of Zambians earn less than 75p per day

which is partly the reason why they have

such a high child death rate of nearly 1 in

every 5 before the age of 5, because although

public health costs very little, many struggle

to afford basic health care.

The life expectancy of Zambians is 37 years

old which is due to regular natural disasters,

the HIV/AIDS epidemic of which 30,000 are

born positive every year and poor health

care, education and wage.

During my month in Zambia I will be doing

four projects which are aimed directly at

helping those affected by poverty. I will be

working with children, teaching them in

lessons and in sports which I hope will

benefit them with learning English and

myself with learning a little Zambian so that

I can communicate easier with other people

throughout the projects. I will be working in

an out-patients wing, helping to comfort

both families and the patient and enabling

me to gain a little bit of knowledge on a

health care system not as advanced as ours,

before I start university. I will also be

working in a residential care home for the

elderly many of who have lost their families

to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Finally I will be

working as part of a team with other

volunteers and locals to build homes for

those who have little or no shelter.

In Zambia, children need to buy (or provide

themselves with) a school uniform and all of

their stationary and if they are unable to do

this, they may struggle to gain a basic

education. Many children cannot go to

school because they are suffering with HIV/

AIDS (a total of 20% or 630,000 in total that

suffer from this) or because they are looking

after their elders or their younger siblings

and taking on the role of a carer. It is thought

that 800,000 children are not in education

due to this.

40% of children do receive „state educational

support‟, however it still does not leave

education entirely free of costs, which again

means that some children will never receive

an education. For children that are lucky

enough to receive an education; the school

buildings are lacking in basic facilities and

are often very cramped and overcrowded.

During my time in Zambia, I am hoping that

I will be able to make a difference to many

lives. I believe that this is a very worthwhile

and beneficial cause but, to be able to

embark on this project, I need to raise almost

£3000 which will directly benefit the

Zambian locals.

In order to raise the funds I will be holding

jumble/cake sales and raffles in the early part

of the summer and a „Quiz „n‟ Chip night‟

on April the 10th at Wells Cole Community

Centre in Saham Toney.

Any sponsorship, whether by individuals,

companies or charities, would be gratefully

appreciated. If you would like to help with

this very beneficial cause but would prefer

not to give money you could still help with

raffle prizes or by joining the quiz.

If you would like any more information,

please do not hesitate to contact me on

07823778362

I hope to hear from some of you soon.

Thank you. Lisa Moxham

Lisa needs your support

Players‟ AGM The Annual General Meeting of

the Wayland Players took place on

Tuesday 9th February. The new

committee for the forthcoming

year was duly elected as follows:

Chairman/Publicity: David Taylor;

Vice Chairman: Graham Mitchell;

S e cr e t a r y : M el an i e S wi f t ;

Treasurer: Jo Taylor; Friends

Secret ary: Denet t e Taylor ;

Member: Jenny Mann;

Jenny Mann, who was stepping

down as an officer, was sincerely

thanked by the entire group for her

tremendous contribution to the

society during her 17 years as

Player‟s chairman. The Player‟s

next production will be J.B.

Priestley‟s “An Inspector Calls”

and will run from 15th-17th April

at The Queen‟s Hall.

We asked our members how much they

knew about their cameras. Surprisingly, or

maybe not, the answer came back as very

little. If you‟re going to be able to take good

photographs you won‟t get very far if you

keep the camera on automatic all of the time.

Automatic is a sort of average which is fine

if you want to take the average holiday snap

but if you want to be a little more creative,

and you can, even with a small compact

camera, then you need to be a little more

adventurous. A camera can bring out the

artist in you even though you might be

hopeless with a paintbrush, a camera can do

amazing things for your creative side.

So the club has embarked upon a series of

training sessions where the relationship

between shutter speed, aperture and ISO

(how sensitive the sensor or film is to light)

is fully explained. After this members are

then able to try out their new skills on

exhibits set up in Caston Village Hall where

it all takes place. We still do courses on

PhotoShop CS and on PhotoShop Elements

and we run portrait courses as well but this

camera course is really back to basics and

has proved incredibly popular. So much so

that where we had planned to run this on one

evening, such was the demand that we‟ve

had to expand it to a second evening and

there will be more.

Unlike some other clubs in the area we are

keen to help our members understand their

cameras and understand the software that is

available for them. All with the intention of

upholding our strap-line “Together we can

take better pictures”.

If you would like to know more as well as

exactly where we are, you can find out about

us by visiting our web site

www.castoncameraclub.co.uk or just Google

Caston Camera – we fill the page!

Now, if all that has whetted your appetite

that‟s great but such is our popularity that we

now have space for only a few more

additional members after which we will have

to implement a waiting list. If you‟re

interested, you will need to get in touch

fairly quickly or be disappointed. Oh, and by

the way this is not an all-male preserve.

Nearly half our members are women.

Caston Camera Club

CAR BOOT & CRAFTS

Sat 17th April 9.00am St Mary’s Church Car Park, Watton

Contact 01953 882936 Car Boots £4.00

No Need to Book

Picture Supplied

Mid-Norfolk Times Page 22 News

The Annual General Meeting of the

Watton &District U3A will be held

on Thursday 25th March 2010 at

2.00pm at the Christian Community

Centre High Street Watton. All

members are requested to attend.

Nominations for the Management

C o m m i t t e e

should be sent

to the secretary in writing and

indicate the Nominee proposed

position and be seconded. Closing

date for nominations is March 15th.

The visit to the Battle of Britain

Memorial Flight at RAF Coningsby

returning via Springfield Gardens at

Spalding on Friday 23rd April is now

full but names can added to a

cancellation list (telephone

01953889951).

The speaker at the meeting on

Thursday 22nd April will be Yvonne

Harold “Little Cressingham School

in Victorian Times.” The

Membership Secretary can be

contacted on 01953 881109.

FINE BOOKS

BOUGHT AND SOLD

BOOKS J.C. & Applestore Gallery

Telephone/Fax 01953 883488 55 High Street, Watton

For quality out of print books, Fine Bindings and Collectable Editions. New Books including local and children’s classics.

Visit the Applestore Gallery on the first floor, exhibiting the Paintings of Kevin Robinson and his complete range of East Anglian prints including Watton and Wymondham.

Caston Village Hall The Street, Caston. NR17 1DD

The Village Hall is available for short and long term hiring. Hire it for an hour or two

to practice dancing, play table tennis (equipment supplied), darts or carpet bowls (equipment available) or maybe

for your children’s party.

Very Reasonable Rates Contact Stephanie on

01953 488 495 or email steadfast2@btinternet.com

By Sharon Gibbons, BSc (Hons)

Osteopathy Occasionally a history of trauma, unresolved

back pain or postural problems can make

pregnancy a very uncomfortable experience.

Osteopathic treatment can help prepare the

body for pregnancy by removing any

restrictions and improving function of the

spine, pelvis, diaphragm and posture, all

crucially important in pregnancy.

Pregnancy significantly affects posture by

shifting the centre of gravity forward

therefore accentuating the lateral curves in

the spine. Along with this there are many

hormonal changes; one active hormone in

particular is relaxin. This circulates

throughout the body and relaxes the

ligaments to allow expansion of the pelvis to

facilitate delivery of the child‟s head.

Consequently, this hormone affects the

whole body and where the ligaments would

normally be strong and supportive, during

pregnancy this changes and the relaxin can

soften the tissues throughout therefore

leaving the whole body vulnerable to strains,

pain and discomfort.

As the uterus expands, along with the change

in spinal dynamics, the diaphragm (main

breathing muscle) and the lower ribs can

become restricted. Osteopathic treatment can

help in maintaining good rib and diaphragm

mechanics. This in turn will improve lung

function and respiration.

Because of the change in posture, reducing

restrictions within the ribs and upper spine

area will also allow better and even more

expansion of the abdominal cavity as the

uterus grows. This treatment will also allow

the expansion of the uterus to occur in a

midline position which helps reduce

compression on all other organs that may

cause symptoms such as heart burn and

swollen ankles.

Tension within the pelvis or diaphragm area

can increase resistance to the return of

venous blood to the heart from the lower half

of the body. This can cause or aggravate

varicose veins in the legs and hemorrhoids.

Osteopathic treatment to release tension in

the pelvis and diaphragm regions is helpful

in the prevention and treatment of these

conditions.

Labour is a very stressful experience both

physically and mentally. New mothers in

particular can find caring for a child

extremely demanding. Osteopaths are very

aware that after the birth of a child the body

not only has to recover from the effects of

the changes it made to accommodate a

pregnancy and the birth, but also has to cope

with the unaccustomed postures that are

involved with caring for a new child. New

activities such as leaning over a cot, nursing,

lifting car seats and rocking a child to sleep

can place enormous strains on the back.

Unresolved childbirth stresses in the mother

can contribute to ongoing back problems,

period problems, stress incontinence,

constipation, headache and more.

Osteopathic treatment can help the mother

return to normal both, physically and

mentally, after the birth by releasing strains

from both pregnancy and labour. This allows

her to relax and enjoy her new baby.

Sharon is based at Watton Sports Centre and

Oasis Norwich for further information

telephone 01953 884732 or visit her new

website at www.sgoclinics.biz

Osteopathy and Pregnancy

For several years a Friendship Club

has been held at Watton

Pentecostal Church, at the top of

Harvey Street. And little did they

realise when they first went along

in October 2008, but for Trevor

Rose and Joyce Ford, friendship

quickly led to romance.

They met at the Friendship Club,

but their relationship really

blossomed when Joyce and another

Club member Rose, had booked

themselves on a coach trip to the

sea-side. At the last minute Rose

was feeling unwell and not able to

go, so Trevor went in her place. On

the trip Joyce became unwell! The

next day, after the Sunday morning

church service, Trevor visited her

with flowers and a card.

Much of their courtship has been

spent holidaying. Before they met

Joyce would collect holiday

coupons, but not use them. With a

little help from Trevor they‟ve had

several holidays together in the Isle

of Wight, Weston Super-Mare and

California (Norfolk).

Then the happy couple began an

Alpha Course together. The Alpha

Course is a ten week introduction

to, and explanation of Christianity.

It begins each week with a meal,

followed by a quiz, talks and a

discussion time. An important part

of the course is the Holy Spirit

Weekend or Away-Day held mid-

way. The last one was held at the

Pound Green Hotel in Shipdham,

attended by a dozen people. During

the day Trevor proposed, and of

course Joyce accepted. The

wedding is planned for 19th June at

the church where they first met.

The Friendship Club meets every

Friday in the church building

between 10 and 12 a.m. You can

ring Terrie on 01953 881358 for

more information or better still

why not come along, meet and

make new friends. You‟ll be made

very welcome, especially by Mr &

Mrs Rose!

Friendship Club Lives Up To Its Name!

Watton University of the Third Age (U3A)

Finding care in Norfolk is made a little easier A free publication has been launched

to help people in Norfolk understand

the care services that are available to

them. The Care Services Directory for

Norfolk 2010 is packed with useful

information, including listings of care

providers for residential care or care in

your own home.

It includes guidance on paying for

care and what financial assistance is

available from the government. There

are also details about Norfolk‟s

emergency and out-of-hours services

and lists the kind of technology

available to allow people to continue

living in their own homes for longer.

The publication is a result of a

partnership between Norfolk County

Council, NHS Norfolk and publishers

Care Choices Ltd.

Councillor David Harwood, cabinet

member for Adult Social Services,

said: “We understand that searching

for social care can seem like a

daunting experience, particularly if

you‟ve never had to do it before.

Norfolk County Council Adult Social

Services is dedicated to making this

process as simple and as

straightforward as possible. And this

directory is an extremely useful

publication and resource for anyone

looking for care in Norfolk.”

Sheila Childerhouse, Chair of NHS

Norfolk, said: “We have made a

public commitment in our five year

strategy “Bold and Ambitious” to

deliver fair and equal access for all

service users and encourage choice.

The Care Services Directory helps

inform members of the public to make

the right choices.”

Robert Chamberlain, publisher of

the directory, said: “When choosing

care you should be armed with the

most up-to-date information to help

you decide which kind of care is

most suitable, who will provide it

and how it is to be funded. The Care

Services Directory for Norfolk is an

invaluable source of information for

anyone considering longer-term

care.”

Care Choices also operate a free

public information service which

provides a shortlist of care homes that

match the personal preferences of

individual care seekers.

A helpline offers more detailed

information about care providers,

relating to staffing ratios and

training qualifications as well as

answering specific questions such as

whether a home allows pets or there

is a no smoking policy. The free

service helpline is 0800 38 92 077.

To receive a free copy of the Care

Services Directory for Norfolk

2010 call Norfolk County Council

Adult Social Services on 0344 800

8014. It's also available as an e-

book by going to

www.carechoices.co.uk/e_books/

norfolk.html. There is also a

spoken word option available

through the Care Choices website.

News Mid-Norfolk Times Page 23

GREENLAND

HOUCHEN

POMEROY SOLICITORS

Home Information Packs

Conveyancing

Commercial leases

Landlord and tenant

Matrimonial, Children and

Family

Wills, Trusts and Probate

Employment

Civil litigation & Personal Injury

If you are looking for friendly, confidential advice of a legal kind, please contact us:

40 High Street Watton

01953 882864

Think Legal - Think Local

C Almond PLASTERINGC Almond PLASTERING

All aspects of Plastering, Coving, Render and Floor Screeds

Fast Reliable Service

Over 20 years experience

For a Free Quote Call

01953 881533 or 07801 849 137

Has Your PC Slipped a Disc? Netted a virus? Mouse trapped and wont work now?

For all manner of computer repairs and support Call Julian Horn on 01953 881885 “Silver Surfer” support a speciality!

Relationship difficulties Bereavement Stress

Bullying/Abuse Addictions Depression

SANCTUARY COUNSELLING SERVICE WATTON

It’s good to talk! Counselling can help if you’re struggling to cope with:

Sanctuary offers a confidential low-cost counselling service with professionally trained counsellors, who work on a short-term or long-term basis. Call us on 01953 880922 to arrange an appointment. Appointments are available 6 – 9pm Tuesdays and 9.30am – 1pm Wednesdays. Sanctuary Counselling Service is part of River Ministries (Norfolk), registered charity number 1054419

DEREHAM & DISTRICT

CAT ADOPTION CENTRE

Hoe Road, Longham, Dereham NR19 2RP

Rehoming Cats and Providing Advice & Help With Neutering

OPEN 7 Days a Week 11am to 3pm

Telephone . . .

01362 687 919

When a few members of my family meet

it‟s not long before the „Do you

remember‟ starts up. Such an instance

recently occurred and I thought it would

be a good idea to get some of these

family „Gems‟ recorded, rather than have

them lost in the mists of time.

Only recently have I confessed to an

incident that happened when I was about

eight years old. I had gone along to a

neighbour‟s garden to play with my

friend, Joan. Having come across an old

spectacle frame in a drawer I decided to

adopt a new look. Joan‟s mother came

out to the garden, looked at me and said

“Edie, I didn‟t know you wore glasses.”

“Oh yes” says I, “the doctor said I have

to wear them.”

“But there is no glass in them”.

“I know, but I still need to wear them for

my eyesight.”

I imagine that lady went indoors again

with a wry smile.

It would have been around that time I

decided to push the top from a scent

bottle up my nose! After several attempts

to shift it, Mum called on Ma Taylor,

next door. That good lady had me sitting

on her doorstep with a piece of paper

containing pepper until I sneezed the

darned thing down again.

Our son provided us with a good deal of

gems, my favourite being when it was

my birthday. I was gently chiding him

and his sister for not having given me a

birthday card. They both looked abashed

until Christopher, (never lost for an

excuse) after some thought explained,

“Well. We couldn‟t get one with your

age on it.”

My sister, two years younger than me, so

that I had to be the „responsible‟ one, got

us both into trouble when she sold her

new prayer book to another child for a

ha‟penny. It cost our mum double that to

get it back.

I recall a neighbour calling with her two

children who were in a fix, hoping our

Ma could sort it. They had been playing

with chewing gum and both had their

ears firmly fixed to their shoulders.

On another occasion our fluffy cat

habitually slept on the ledge at the back

of the mangle rollers. Mum turned the

handle without checking and the poor cat

set up a terrible howl. The same mangle

caused me some trouble when I tried to

flatten some plasticine, (remember how

horrible that stuff smelt?) through the

rollers.

Every Wednesday evening in the Summer

Tina, our daughter, attended an open-air

prayer meeting for children. One week I

completely forgot about it until I was

bathing the baby ready for bed. I quickly

stopped what I was doing to see her across

and on her way to the park at the end of our

road. A few minutes later there was a

furious rattling of the letter-box and I

opened the door to a tearful little girl

sobbing, “They started without me!” I put

the baby in his pram and took her to the

park myself. She did get a lovely child‟s

bible for full attendance, at the end of the

season, which I think she still has.

For the first three years of Christopher‟s

schooling he sat in the front row of the

class so that it wasn‟t until he moved up

and was placed in the back row it was

discovered he was very short sighted. He

was kitted out with the usual National

Insurance spectacles and on his first day

wearing them at school I thought his

teacher did a good thing by standing him

out front facing the class and asking,

“Does anyone NOT like Christopher‟s

new glasses?” Consequently he did not

have to endure the usual taunts.

It was in this more senior class that he

reported one day that the „hard sums‟

they were learning were called „Vulgar

actions‟!

I always made sure the children had a

clean handkerchief each day, especially

as we were exhorted by „Coughs and

sneezes spread diseases – use your

handkerchief‟ on every billboard. Drying

my son after his bath he sneezed and

without thinking I said „Hankey‟. He

looked at me in despair and stated „I

haven‟t got a pocket in my skin, have I?‟

I must say that nowadays when I witness

anyone in the bus, shop or wherever

sneeze and spreading their germs, I have

to stop myself from shouting „Tissue!.

Family Gems By Edith Pleasance

Watton businesses have given a

great start to Richmond Park

Junior Golfers. Richmond Park

have created a Junior Academy

thanks to resident professional -

Keith Capindale-Scott and a

Junior Committee completely

filled with parents of the

Academy.

The Junior organisers are Keith

and Richard Symonds with

Tracy Symonds and Claire

Bambridge – Junior Secretaries.

The Juniors played their first

competition of the year on

Wednesday 17th February, there

were four prizes on offer as well

as a special Girls prize on the

day. The winner on the day was

James Noble with a fantastic net

score of 52 Stableford points

winning by just 9 points. Second

was George Symonds with 43

p o i n t s , t h i r d w a s J a c k

Bambridge with 36 points and

fourth was Mitchell McCormack

with 30 points. In the girls

section of the competition

Emma Bambridge beat Rebekka

Vansittart by just 1 point.

Winner of Nearest to the Pin

was C l ive S mi th ( Ju n io r

Captain)

We would like to give a big

thanks to our main sponsors of

Wayland Garage and Total

Health Pharmacy and also our

other sponsors of Adcocks,

Watton Plaice, The Dutch

Flower Parade, Mullengers,

Simon Long Removals and P.

Bond Roofing Contractor,

without their help we could

not have had such a great

p l a t fo r m t o h e l p a n d

encourage Junior Golf at our

Club.

Without the support of both

our sponsors and the owners

of Richmond Park - The

Jessup family we are sure to

have a great year. We have

some great prospects all of

which are eager to learn and

improve. Keith‟s coaching is

s e c o n d t o n o n e ; h i s

knowledge of the game of

golf is remarkable. He

teaches with very modern

techniques and knows of

many drills that the children

can practice, this can only be

good for their game. Being a

family man himself his

rapport with the children is

the best we have seen and we

look forward to seeing their

progress.

Pictured top are Emma Bambridge beat Rebekka Vansittart with Junior Captain Clive Smith and below are James Noble and Clive.

Richmond Park Golf Club – Junior Section

The severe weather abated just enough to allow completion of our Winter League which

required each entrant to play a maximum of

six rounds by the end of January. - 1st place - Roy Fleming, 2nd place - David Packard, 3rd

place - Glyn Long. Over 30 players entered

this competition and the top 16 players will now contest the knock - out phase.

The January weekly Stableford winners were

Phil Barrall, David Adcock, Tony Bonner, David Palmer.

Richmond Park Seniors Cook Wanted

for Lime Tree Walk every Tuesday

Please contact Alice on 01953 880928

Or June on 07743 283 032

Mid-Norfolk Times Page 24 News

EVENTS DIARY ACC = Ashill Community Centre, Hale Road, Ashill; Watton CCC =

Watton Christian Community Centre; Wells CCC = Wells Cole Community Centre, Saham

March Fri 12th Dixie Mix Jazz at the Queens Hall - See ad

Tues 16th 7.45pm - 9.30pm NWT presentation Hand Made Willow

Products Watton CCC. See ad

Wed 24th Lunchtime Concert Queen's Hall, Watton 12 Noon to 2pm

Tickets £5 from Mullengers (See IW article)

April Thurs 1st Prize Bingo at Gt Ellingham Recreation Centre See Ad

Tues 20th 7.45pm - 9.30pm NWT Group review of the year and talk

by NWT Director Brenda Joyce. Watton CCC

Written estimates always provided Memorials supplied

Personal supervision Pre-Paid Funeral Plans available

Arrangements may be discussed in the privacy of your own home

Tel: (01760) 440269 (24 hrs) Established over 60 years

FUNERAL DIRECTORS SERVING WATTON & DISTRICT

W.C. LITTLEPROUD & SON of BRADENHAM

‘A genuine, family owned & run business

offering a caring, traditional & affordable service’

H. BRETT & SON Monumental Masons ~ Craftsmen in Stone

Call for our Brochure or

Visit our SHOWROOM and WORKSHOPS

Home visits can be arranged

also Fireplaces, House Names etc.

75 NORWICH ROAD, WATTON,

NORFOLK, IP25 6DH Tel: 01953 881501

The Watton Society Programme – February 2009 to March 2010

7.45 p.m. at the Watton Christian Community Centre Wednesday, March 17th Tim Lidstone-Scott - Norfolk Footpaths, including the Peddars Way Wednesday, April 21st Watton Christian Community Centre 7.45 p.m. Robert Maidstone - Woodland Wonderland. Judy Wednesday, May 19th Visit to Azsu Alpacas near Shipdham For more information on the Watton Society and a programme to December 2010 telephone Judy Kerr 01953 882613 or email johnkerr36@yahoo.com.

MID-NORFOLK TIMES The deadline for the April issue will be 12

Noon on the 16th March Page space is allocated strictly on a first come, first served

basis. Deadline is the latest date and time that copy will be

considered for inclusion. Arrival of copy before deadline does

not guarantee inclusion, if you wish to be certain your entry

gets to print then please make sure it arrives in plenty of time.

If you are submitting on paper you MUST sign and include

your contact details with each item. If you do not, the item

will NOT be published.

You can contact Julian by ringing (01953) 858908. You can

write to 32 High Street, Watton IP25 6AE Or you can leave

copy in the bin at Adcocks, 32 High Street, Watton.

The e-mail address is julian@midnorfolktimes.com

All views expressed in the Mid-Norfolk Times are those of

the contributors and not the publishers. While every care

and effort has been taken to ensure accuracy the publisher

cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions.

This issue of the Mid-Norfolk Times was published by: Julian Horn, 32 High Street, Watton IP25 6AE and printed

through www.quotemeprint.com 0845 1300 667

Attleborough High School has celebrated a

double sporting success this winter thanks

to the efforts of the school‟s Year 7 boys‟

football team. The Attleborough lads were

proud winners of the Breckland

Partnership Games Schools‟ 7 a-side

tournament held at Wymondham college

recently, where their talent and team effort

shone through.

„The competition for schoolboys who lack

the opportunity to play regular sport was

seen as a great chance by the Attleborough

PE dept to „showcase some of the talent

amongst Y7‟, said Mr Crome, Head of PE.

Indeed young players such as Ross Coaker

and Alex Smart took full advantage of the

occasion to demonstrate their skills with

some fine performances in the

Attleborough midfield. Star of the

tournament was Aaron Bradley who

controlled every game with his accurate

passing and all round effort; he was ably

supported by Ben Willingham who

worked tirelessly up front for the crows.

The final against Methwold resulted in a 2-

1 win which gave Captain Thomas

Godden the chance to pick up the winners‟

medals.

This win then meant that Attleborough

represented the Breckland area in the

County finals at UEA the following week.

There the team continued to acquit

themselves well as they came runners up

out of the 8 strongest sides in the county.

The boys were faced with the daunting

prospect of 7 matches in 3 hours and they

struggled to find their rhythm in the first

game; eventually going down to the

tournament winners Broadland. After that

they rattled off 3 wins and 3 draws to

move clearly into second place. On this

occasion it was the defence which secured

success as Attleborough kept 6 consecutive

clean sheets thanks to the defensive efforts

of Sam Plummer, Liam Potter, William

Rutland and Captain Godden.

Headmaster Mr McShane said he was

„delighted with the success of the team and

more importantly with their behaviour.

They conducted themselves impeccably

throughout two gruelling cold days and

still achieved great success for themselves

and the school.

They are a credit to all at Attleborough.‟

Attleborough winners

Back row L - R Ben Willingham, William Rutland, Mr Crome, Liam Potter, Sam Plummer Front Row L-R Alex Smart, Ross Coaker, Aaron Bradley, Thomas Godden (Captain)

Due to the inclement weather, not

much golf has been played by the

ladies of Richmond Park this year.

However, here are the results of the

two competitions that were played.

Rotation Stableford: 1st Barbara

Coverdale, Carol Marshall, Dilys

Gibbs 30 pts; 2nd Anne Bell, Julie

Ellis, Geraldine Rowarth 27 pts

February Stableford: Division 1 Karen

Ralph 42 pts; Division 2 Anne Long

38 pts; Division 3 Dorothy Stephenson

32 pts

The winner of the LGU medal for 2009

is Julie Ellis. (This is awarded to the

player with the best 4 medal cards

throughout the year.) Julie now goes

on to play in the regional final at

Swaffham Golf Club later in the year.

Richmond Park Golf Club - Ladies Section