And did those feet in ancient times?

The shoes of Norwich
Old Buckenham WI’s speaker for their October meeting was Barbara Miller who gave a fascinating talk and slide show about the history of footwear from the earliest times to the present day. She illustrated her talk by showing us that even in prehistoric times man always wore a primitive form of foot covering made of animal skin stuffed with moss grass. Early man learnt the ability to treat leather so making it more supple to work with and to wear. The Greeks wore sandals and the Romans wore what we now call “flipflops”. Shoe fashions evolved over the years and it was not until Elizabethan times that shoes were made with a left and a right foot. Until then shoes were made in exactly the same shape with no difference between the left and the right. In France, Marie Antoinette led the fashion in having shaped heels for the first time.
There had been a flourishing shoe trade in Norwich and this of course no longer exists. In l792 a James Smith (a local leather merchant) conceived the idea of making up stocks of boots of different sizes, rather than each customer giving an order he could now select from stock. Other prominent names in the Norwich shoe industry were James Southwell, David Soman, Henry Sexton, Henry Holmes and George White of Norvic. In the 1970’s almost every High Street had a Norvic shop.
For various reasons, the Norwich shoe industry fell into decline and at the present time only Start-rite and Van Dal have a presence in the city. These brands of shoes are no longer made in Norwich - they merely have a marketing and sales role in the city. Barbara Miller was thanked for her excellent talk by Barbara Stone.
The October meeting was the 42nd anniversary of the formation of Old Buckenham WI and the event was celebrated with a glass of wine and a slice of cake made and decorated by fellow member, Jean Wade.
Barbara Ives then gave a report on the recent Autumn Council Meeting that she had attended, with all the relevant information about what is happening in the county. She was pleased to inform the members that Old Buckenham WI had won a prize for their entry in the county Food Waste campaign.
Members were reminded about the forthcoming Flower Festival in Quidenham Church from Friday 4 to Monday 7 December in memory of past member, Rosemary Leeder.
Susan Hunter congratulated the team which had won the recent Village Quiz. She also said that the WI had been pleased to take part in the recent Village Garage Sale. Members were also brought up-to-date on the planned village hall kitchen refurbishment.

Plenty of November events

Diary dates for November

Sunday 1 Wargames club, Village Hall, 2.30pm to 6pm
Monday 2 Monday Mardle, Church Rooms, 2.15pm to 4.15pm
Tuesday 3 Coffee and chat, Church Rooms, 10.30am to 12 noon
Wednesday 4 Women's Fellowship, Methodist Chapel, 2.30pm
Thursday 5 Parish Council, Village Hall, 7.30pm
Thursday 5 Flower Club trip to Cambridge
Friday 6 Crib Drive, Village Hall, 7.30pm
Sunday 8 Remembrance service at war memorial, 2.30pm
Monday 9 Whist drive, Church Rooms, 2pm
Wednesday 11 Luncheon Club, Village Hall, 10am to 2pm
Wednesday 11 Masque of the Red Death, High School, 7.30pm
Thursday 12 Breckland Flower and Garden Club, Village Hall, 2pm
Thursday 12 Social and Wine Circle, Church Rooms, 7.45pm
Friday 13 Netgamers, Village Hall, 7pm to 9pm
Friday 13 Masque of the Red Death, High School, 7.30pm
Saturday 14 Masque of the Red Death, High School, 3.30pm and 7.30pm
Sunday 15 Wargames club, Village Hall, 2.30pm to 6pm
Monday 16 Monday Mardle, Church Rooms, 2.15pm to 4.15pm
Wednesday 18 Request Songs of Praise, Methodist Chapel, 7.30pm
Friday 20 Mobile Police Station outside village shop, 9am to 10.30am
Saturday 21 Family portraits, Memorial Room, Village Hall, from 10am
Saturday 21 Christmas bingo, Church Rooms, 2.30pm
Wednesday 25 Luncheon Club outing
Thursday 26 Women's Institute, Village Hall, 7.30pm
Monday 30 Monday Mardle, Church Rooms, 2.15pm to 4.15pm

Unexpected lump

Concrete problem at play area

Removing this unexpected find is not proving to be child's play.

Red Death to hit local school

Masque of the Red Death
The stories of Edgar Allen Poe have been tingling spines and chilling the blood for over 100 years. They have formed the basis of cinema and theatre works and even inspired at least three rock albums.
After seeing the sell-out stage production at London’?s Battersea Arts Centre last year, Head of Performing Arts at Old Buckenham High School, Hugh Lynch, together with Head of Music Tom Hilton, set out to bring Poe’s story ‘Masque of the Red Death to the stage of the High School – this time, though, as a musical.
Hugh and Tom have already devised musicals for the school but ‘Masque’ is their most ambitious project yet. Poe’s original story is a mere five pages long; from it, the team have created a two-hour show with scares and songs. The basic plot concerns a feast thrown by an Italian Prince at his castle, he and his friends celebrating while death stalks the surrounding area in the form of a plague known as ‘The Red Death’.
All in all, the show will be unlike anything OBHS has attempted before. Why not go along to one of the performances?
Wednesday 11 November at 7.30 pm. (preview). Tickets £3 on the door.
Friday 13 November at 7.30 pm, Saturday 14 November at 3.30 pm and 7.30pm. Tickets £5 in advance and £6 on the door.
Get your tickets from the High School, just ring 01953 860233.

Good news for village hall

Council says yes

A member of the Old Buckenham Village Hall Management Committee has done a short report on the Breckland District Council meeting held today [27th October 2009] at Dereham.

Item 4 of agenda: Breckland Council Grant Funding.
Bullet points:
The Chairman welcomed the representation from Old Buckenham which included ladies from organisations within Old Buckenham, desperate to see the kitchen in the Village Hall extended to allow additional membership and improved catering.
The District Councillor, Adrian Joel spoke of the need for the necessary work to be carried out, in addition to the application under the Breckland match funding scheme for grant funding amounting to £10,000.
The Chairman of the meeting congratulated the community of Old Buckenham in raising a third of the cost of the extension and refurbishment and, from the chair, recommended to Members that the application to be granted which was unanimously supported. A grant of £10,000 or 29% of total project cost, whichever is the lower, was approved. The estimated cost of the project is £34,979.
The financial support of the Big Lottery, Norfolk Foundation, Old Buckenham Parish Council, Old Buckenham Trust 2000, and Six villages Newsletter, together with Village Hall funds will now finances the project 100%, with work commencing in February next year.
The Committee of the Village Hall appreciate the support of the community, who overwhelmingly backed the project in the Village Action Plan of 2002. The involvement and support of our Member of Parliament, Christopher Fraser, has been an inspiration.

Another newsletter to read

Get your copy

The November issue is out and about now. You should be able to pick up a copy from the village shop, the two village pubs, All Saints Church and the Clinic on the Green.

And two of these locations can be seen in the photo on the front cover...

Preparing the ground

Digging for victory?

It has been a case of clearing the surface of the play area so that it can be prepared ready for grass seed to be sown this autumn. Volunteers have been hard at work these last few days.

Now in the store cupboard

Primary School Harvest Festival
The members of Old Buckenham Luncheon Club would like to say a sincere thank you to the pupils, parents and staff of the Primary School for their generous contribution of the items received at the school's recent Harvest Festival service. This gesture is very much appreciated by the members and the goods have been put in the Club's store cupboard for use in the coming months.

Looking at our past

About the archive evening
On Saturday 13 March 2010 a speaker from the East Anglian Film Archive has been booked for an event at the Village Hall. It is proposed to combine this with exhibitions in the Memorial Room at the Hall of photos and memorabilia of Old Buckenham and the surrounding area. If you or your village organisation would like to exhibit photos or papers then please contact Alison on 860692.
The proceeds from the evening will be divided between All Saints Church and the Village Hall.

And the results were...

Quiz comes alive again
There was plenty of friendly rivalry at the Village Hall on Friday 16 October when the village quiz was well supported with thirteen teams taking part. The Wobblers had won the right to provide the questions and the organisation on the night by being the winners of the last quiz.
There were eight rounds, each of ten questions, on a variety of subjects ranging from sport, the arts and, of course, pot luck. At half time the team from the village Social and Wine Circle (appropriately known as the “Winos”) had a narrow lead but had used their joker in the first round. The interval was spent working out cryptic clues to the names of various birds and then it was back to the quiz proper for four more rounds.
While the prizes were distributed from a rather large raffle, the organisers were working out the final scores. In the bird quiz the Winos were third, Maggie’s Mob were second and the team from All Saints Church won the small prizes awarded for this part of the evening’s entertainment.
The results were very close in the main quiz when the results were announced. A team with the name “Bowled Over” collected the booby prize but at the top only two points separated the top four teams. The Winos and the Harling Bucks had 62 points, POPPs were second with 63 points and the Women’s Institute team (Doris Monkhouse, Barbara Stone, Barbara Frost and Mary Nicholls) won with 64 points. This was an 'under-strength' WI team who managed to disobey their president’s instructions by winning the cup and also the privilege of running the next quiz in 2010.
There were a satisfying number of teams taking part (nearly twice as many as at the last village quiz) which made this a very pleasant evening and which hopefully also raised some useful funds for the Village Hall.

Conservation in the churchyard

Churchyard clearing and tidying
In 2008, Norfolk Wildlife Trust launched a scheme in partnership with the Norfolk Probation Service to provide free, practical help in churchyards. The aim of this scheme is to encourage churches to maintain and develop areas which are actively managed for conservation, and help to benefit wildlife.
Following a successful application, the Probation Service sent a number of workers who spent three weekends working in Old Buckenham churchyard. The work included clearing neglected areas, scrub and hedge cutting and removal of ivy from some of the tombs.
It is hoped that this work will now make access more approachable and easier for the many visitors to the church in tracing past relatives.

Visiting gardens

Breckland Flower and Garden Club

John and Ann Bridge brought their colourful slides to the October meeting of the Breckland Flower and Garden Club in Old Buckenham Village Hall. These had been taken at some of the many gardens they have visited, showing plants in bloom throughout the year. Ann also gave helpful flower arranging tips for competition work.
The October competition results were: New hands Janet Skidmore and Margaret Smith were placed equal first and Pat Barton won the Old Hands class and was also awarded the Barbara Fisher Trophy for the best modern exhibit.
The next meeting will be held at Old Buckenham Village Hall on Thursday 12 November starting at 2pm when Alan Smith will be getting members into the Christmas spirit with his demonstration 'Christmas Crackers'.
The competition is for a table ring using fresh flowers and foliage - additional decorations are optional.

Claimed by the sea

Our lost coastline
An insight into the erosion of the Norfolk coastline was given to the audience at the Old Buckenham Social and Wine Circle meeting in October. The speaker, Chris Weston, had entitled his talk “Claimed by the sea” and he started by pointing out that over the last 700 years some two miles of land has been lost all around the Norfolk coast. During certain tidal conditions it is still possible to see tree stumps and the remains of buildings that were once situated on the Norfolk mainland.
He took his audience around the coast from Hopton northwards to Blakeney pointing out where whole villages had disappeared into the sea. In particular he used slides to show the continuing situation at Happisburgh [see photo] where various houses had ended up falling on to the beach as the cliffs crumbled away. He also pointed out that there was no compensation if your property was lost to the sea and that you may even end up having to pay the local council to have the wreckage cleared up.
The subject and speaker for the next meeting on Thursday 12 November have changed. John Lee will be coming to talk about Marilyn Monroe, a subject that may persuade a few more villagers to come along and perhaps even get to the Church Rooms by 7.15pm to participate in the short AGM that will precede the talk.

Playground progress

Things are happening at the playground site.

An evening with...

A night of music and theatre

Old Buckenham Players produced a satisfying evening’s entertainment in September by performing two short one-act plays with a portion of music in between. It was all relatively light-hearted and seemed enjoyed by all – the actors, the technicians, front of house staff and, of course, the audience.
When Alan Ayckbourn writes about a council official visiting an illusionist’s house to find out why the council tax has not been paid, the play is sure to be full of black humour and have an ‘unexpected’ ending. ‘A Cut in the Rates’ was twenty-five enjoyable minutes of typical Ayckbourn twists and turns
The audience was then treated to two short sessions from “The Old Tossers” with the raffle sandwiched inbetween. The music, which ranged from the Scaffold to Neil Innes and on to Chas and Dave, was interspersed with what was called “hilarious piffle” by the three performers.
There was a longer play to finish off the evening. ‘The Virtuous Burglar’ by Dario Fo showed what can happen when a wife insists on ringing her husband when he is at work. As his work involved stealing from other peoples houses, the phone calls caused chaos when the house owner arrived home with his lover, other people arrive and everyone tries to lie their way out of the misunderstandings.
The Players will now be looking forward to doing something much more serious, their infamous pantomime is set to take place on Thursday 21, Friday 22 and Saturday23 January 2010.

More winners

Crib and numbers

The October Crib Drive in Old Buckenham village hall saw only three tables because several people were away on holiday. Nevertheless a great evening of intense friendly rivalry resulted in Harold Yates, Mary Parker and Jill Emms being the winners.
The numbers club draw for October also took place during the evening at the drive and the winners were Olive Fuller, Muriel Large, Barbara Gilmour, Monty Evison and P Large who all won £5 each while the £10 winners were the Carpet Bowls Club and Eddie McAnulty.

The things to do this month

Diary dates for October

Thursday 1 Parish Council, Village Hall, 7.30pm
Friday 2 Flu day at Attleborough Surgeries
Friday 2 Crib Drive, Village Hall, 7.30pm
Saturday 3 Roadside textile collection from 9am
Sunday 4 Wargames club, Village Hall, 2.30pm to 6pm
Monday 5 Monday Mardle, Church Rooms, 2.15pm to 4.15pm
Tuesday 6 Coffee and chat, Church Rooms, 10.30am to 12 noon
Wednesday 7 Women's Fellowship, Methodist Chapel, 2.30pm
Thursday 8 Breckland Flower and Garden Club, Village Hall, 2pm
Thursday 8 Social and Wine Circle, Church Rooms, 7.45pm
Friday 9 Netgamers, Village Hall, 7pm to 9pm
Saturday 10 Bingo, Church Rooms, 2.30pm
Monday 12 Whist drive, Church Rooms, 2pm
Wednesday 14 Luncheon Club, Village Hall, 10am to 2pm
Wednesday 14 Request Songs of Praise, Methodist Chapel, 7.30pm
Friday 16 Village Quiz, Village Hall, 7.30pm
Sunday 18 Wargames club, Village Hall, 2.30pm to 6pm
Monday 19 Monday Mardle, Church Rooms, 2.15pm to 4.15pm
Thursday 22 Women's Institute, Village Hall, 7.30pm
Friday 23 Mobile Police Station outside village shop, 9am to 10.30am
Wednesday 28 Luncheon Club, Village Hall, 10am to 2pm