Old Buckenham events in January

January events to put in your diary

Thursday 2   Parish Council, Village Hall, 7.30pm

Saturday 4   Village Cinema, Village Hall, 7.30pm

Sunday 5   Wargames Club, Village Hall, 2.30pm to 6pm

Monday 6   Monday Mardle, Church Rooms, 2.15pm to 4.15pm

Tuesday 7   Coffee and chat, Church Rooms, 10.30am to 12 noon

Thursday 9   Breckland Flower Club, Village Hall, 2pm

Thursday 9   Social and Wine Circle, Church Rooms, 7.45pm

Monday 13   Whist drive, Church Rooms, 2pm

Wednesday 15   Luncheon Club, Village Hall, 10am to 2pm

Wednesday 15   Songs of Praise, Methodist Chapel, 7.30pm

Monday 20   Monday Mardle, Church Rooms, 2.15pm to 4.15pm

Tuesday 21   Meeting about village fete, Village Hall, 7.30pm

Thursday 23   Women's Institute, Village Hall, 7.30pm

Friday 24   Quiz and Curry Night, Primary School, 7.15pm for 7.30pm

Sunday 26   New Year's Fly In, Old Buckenham Airfield

Wednesday 29   Luncheon Club, Village Hall, 10am to 2pm

Thursday 30   The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew, Village Hall, 7.30pm

Friday 31   The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew, Village Hall, 7.30pm

Cinema experience in Old Buckenham

See RED 2 in the village hall
Saturday 4 January is cinema night at the Village Hall. The screening of  RED 2 will start at 7.30pm and the bar will be open beforehand.
Remember, advance tickets are £4 (a 33% saving on the on-the-door price).
Buying tickets could not be easier. Either call 860866 or email boxofficeobvh@gmail.com giving your contact details and how many tickets you require and they will be delivered. Easier than internet shopping!
Please show your support by buying tickets now and coming along.

Start 2014 with your Old Buckenham newsletter

Another year about to start
This is what to look for if you want to pick up the January edition of the Old Buckenham village newsletter.

Primary School event in Old Buckenham

Spring cleaning yet?

Christmas wishes from Old Buckenham

Greetings to all our readers
The editor sends his best wishes to all those who look at these pages wherever they may be in the world.

Old Buckenham's hampers for the homeless

Festive cheer from High School
Every year for the last 25 years Old Buckenham High School students have organised hampers of food for St Martins Housing Trust in Norwich. This charitable trust provides accommodation for people who have been made homeless during the year to help them get back on their feet.
Each class at the High School collects donations of food from its students before decorating them up to enter into a competition. This year there were more donations than ever and the creativity of the students shone through. The winning hamper, produced by class 10T being a whole village scene made from packets of cereals on top of a raft filled with other food items.
Derek Player, General Manager of St Martins said that the food hamper donation from Old Buckenham High School has become a Christmas tradition and the effort that the pupils put into decorating the hampers has been terrific. The organisation will quickly re-cycle the donations to many of the people that who have been helped by the organistion this year.
As well as the students at the school, thanks go to Debbie Cawley for co-ordinating the effort and Mike Bartlett who campaigns tirelessly for various charitable causes, including the St Martins Trust.
This photo shows the Old Buckenham students surrounding headteacher, Aron Whiles (6th from left), Mike Bartlett and Debbie Cawley together with their decorated hampers.

Just click on this image to enlarge it
 

Old Buckenham collects for homeless

Generous shoppers, cheerful volunteers
Here are the members of the Old Buckenham 2000 Trust morning shift collecting money for St Martins Housing Trust on Sunday 22 December outside Attleborough Sainsbury’s.

Thanks to their sterling efforts, as well as that of  Sainsbury’s for allowing the collection at their premises and the generosity of their customers, a staggering amount of £1051 was collected. Hopefully this will help to make a small difference to those in need this Christmas.Well done everyone.

Old Buckenham precept for 2014/15

Future parish council budget and grants
These notes have been written by the blog editor from the minutes of the meeting.
Three members of the public came along to the Precept meeting held on Thursday 14 November. All parish councillors were present except for Akis Chrisovelides who had sent his apologies.
Declaration of interest of items on Agenda. Derek Smalley and Sarah Dye declared an interest in the grant application for Monday Mardle Group and Sarah Dye and John Frost declared an interest in the two grant applications for Parochial Church Council.
Budget proposal for financial year 2014/15. Tim Ing asked for councillors views on the overhead budget proposal put forward by the Responsible Finance Officer. Steve Milner asked for a budget figure for training for parish councillors and this was agreed at £131 for the year. Following information from Adrian Joel the reserve for future elections was reduced by £400. Salaries were reduced by £70. Hall hire was increased by £65 to £265 for the year. With these adjustments the overheads were set at £13,917.
Grant applications. Buckenham PreSchool Play Group. Tim Ing sought the views of the councillors and after discussion it was proposed by Adrian Joel and seconded by Jonathan Kemp that a grant of £350 be awarded, this was agreed unanimously.
Old Buckenham Rainbow Group. After discussion by councillors it was proposed by Jonathan Kemp and seconded by Carol Marshall that a grant of £250 be awarded, this was agreed unanimously.
Old Buckenham Monday Mardle. It was proposed by Paul Boggia and seconded by Carol Marshall that a grant of £100 be awarded, this was agreed with seven for and the two councillors who declared an interest abstaining.
Old Buckenham Parochial Church Council requested a grant of £2000 for work on the stained glass windows and maintenance of the church. Tim Ing sought the views of the councillors and after detailed discussions it was proposed by Jonathan Kemp and seconded by Carol Marshall that a grant of £2000 be awarded, this was agreed with six for, one against and the two councillors who declared an interest abstaining.
Old Buckenham Parochial Church Council asked for a grant of £1,000 for churchyard maintenance. Tim Ing again sought the views of the councillors and after detailed discussions it was proposed by Derek Smalley and seconded by Adrian Joel that a grant of £1,000 be awarded. This was agreed with six for, one against and the two councillors who had declared an interest abstaining.
With grants awarded totalling £3,700, it was agreed that the total precept for the financial year 2014/15 be set at £17,617.

Carol singing on Old Buckenham Green

Singing after supper
It was cold and dark but there was a good crowd who came along to join in with singing a selection of Christmas carols tonight. The event on the Green was organised by the Old Buckenham 2000 Trust as a thank you for all the support they have been given during 2013. There was free mulled wine and mince pies available to the singers who ranged in age from those in push chairs to many of pensionable age. One member of the New Buckenham Silver Band provided musical accompaniment and the Trust's chairman David Hannah acted as master of ceremonies.
Given the success of the event it may well be repeated again next year.

Growing buildings in Old Buckenham

It's building up
Where there were heaps of soil at the start of September there are now buildings rising up from the ground on the Cotman site by St Andrews Close. One block has got up to first floor level and there is plenty of activity on site.
The first picture below was taken on 5 September and the second one on 19 December.

Old Buckenham Luncheon Club

Twas the week before Christmas...
...so the members of Old Buckenham Luncheon Club were in a cheerful mood. The club caters for people in the surrounding area who are on their own at home. Volunteers provide a cooked meal every fortnight throughout the year and today was a chance to live it up a bit with special raffles, a chicken dinner and wine on the table at lunchtime
With Christmas hats provided for everyone it certainly was a lunchtime to remember.

Old Buckenham's own cinema

Coming to a screen near you

 

Old Buckenham Parish Council minutes for December

Notes on latest Parish Council meeting 
These notes have been written by the blog editor from the draft minutes and so may contain information that is amended at a later date.
 All members were present except Akis Chrisovelides and Paul Boggia who had sent their apologies.
Minutes of the Precept meeting held on Thursday 14 November. Under declaration of interest it should read Carol Marshall and not Sarah Dye. With this amendment they were signed as a true and accurate record of the meeting.
Matters arising from these minutes. None.
Minutes of November Parish Council meeting. These were signed as a true and accurate record of the meeting.
Matters arising from the minutes. Steve Milner reported he and Mrs Burton had written to the County Highways Department, the EDP, Radio Norfolk and Mrs S Webb regarding the school crossing on the B1077. The County Council engineer had responded, following a survey, and it was felt there were not enough people crossing the road to warrant a crossing.
At this time the matter has been taken up by Norfolk County Councillor Stephen Askew as requested by Parish Council at its November meeting. Stephen Askew was in talks with Highways to find a solution and various actions and costs were suggested. He will report back to the Parish Council. It was reported that potholes in Doe Lane had been repaired.
Future precept meetings. It was suggested that village groups who were seeking grants should be able to give a short presentation to the Parish Council at its September meeting prior to the October precept meeting if they wished. They could then give their reasoning behind their grant applications. This was agreed and the Parish Clerk will check standing orders to see if this was allowable.
Bullying and Harassment Policy. Deferred to January meeting.
Planning application. 3 Mill Cottages, Mill Road. Erect timber framed first floor rear extension.
Planning decisions received from Breckland. None received.
Adrian Joel attended the Roughlands Planning Inspector site meeting.
Chairman’s report. Sarah Dye has agreed to read a lesson at the Christmas Eve church service. The proposed move of the Chapel Road school is still under consultation and a further meeting of the steering group will meet again in late January and Tim Ing has been invited to join. He was glad to see moves are afoot to help children cross the B1077 to school and the Parish Council will support in anyway they can.
District Councillor’s report. Breckland Council are shortly going to offer WW1 heritage grants up to £500 for community projects which explore, share and conserve WW1 heritage. Breckland have also been holding an art trail in November and December throughout the district. This enabled local artists to display their work in public at Snetterton Brewery.
Parish Councillors’ reports. John Frost suggested planting poppies around the war memorial as a commemorative garden. Steve Milner said the village hall boiler and floor need repairing. A race night had been organised by the village hall and a film night will be held there on Saturday 4 January. Adrian Joel suggested naming the new road on new affordable housing development as Harry’s Loke. Tom Johnson suggested that the local police attend some Parish Council meetings, Derek Smalley will raise this matter at next SNAP meeting. Jonathan Kemp asked that a loan application by the Rainbow group be put on the January agenda. Dekek Smalley said the Mardle group’s Christmas lunch was well attended and enjoyed by everyone.
Highways. The road to Stacksford verges were only cut once, Highways engineer to sort out. The drainage pipework has been flushed out at Manor Corner and should hopefully now stop the flooding that has been happening there. Reflector marker posts at Manor Corner have been broken and need replacing.
The Green. Lorries, when turning onto B1077, are knocking down marker poles.

The next meeting of Old Buckenham Parish Council will take place on Thursday 2 January in the Village Hall at 7.30pm.

Old Buckenham Social and Wine Circle

Meet, drink, listen and enjoy

Many years ago, when everybody seemed to be producing homemade wine, Old Buckenham had its own Wine Circle who met regularly to try out each others wine and to have wine tasting competitions with other local groups. Eventually this 'craze' for home brewing faded away and the Wine Circle closed down.
Fifteeen years ago, however, it was reformed under the longer name of Old Buckenham Social and Wine Circle with more emphasis on the social side, meeting every month and with a very wide range of speakers. Wine was still drunk by many people coming to the meetings to listen to the talks but other participants were happy with non-alcoholic drinks. Virtually none of the present members are makers of homemade wine or beer.
Funded by a £1 'sub' for all those coming to each meeting and a regular raffle each time, the Social Circle aims to just provide an opportunity for villagers and other local people to meet, talk and hear about interesting subjects.
This year's AGM took place on Thursday 12 December in Old Buckenham Church Rooms. Alison Hannah agreed to be the chairperson with Alistair Monkhouse continuing as secretary/treasurer and Peter Warren and Ron Brewer as the two other committee members. The treasurer reported the there had been a small loss over the last twelve months but it was agreed that the subs would remain at £1 a meeting and that more effort would be put into getting new people to come along to the meetings. There was a wide-ranging series of talks organised for 2014 with subjects such as aerial photography, Colman's mustard, water towers and the local airfield included in the programme.
The AGM was followed by a social evening consisting of an entertaining quiz, some seasonal readings and a meal of fish and chips.
The first meeting of 2014 will be on the subject of cider and apple juice (possibly with samples to taste) and given by village resident Steven Fisher. All are welcome. Just come along to the Church Rooms at around 7.30pm on Thursday 9 January and the talk will start at 7.45pm.

An evening at Old Buckenham Races

From our racing correspondent
It was a crisp evening with a full programme of eight races, both on the flat and over the jumps. The crowd was small but enthusiastic, cheering on their favourites in the hope of getting some return on their carefully placed bets.
If you were lucky enough to have picked the winner the return on your £1 stake could be considerable. It could be £2, £5 or £10 back and if you had put your money on the winner of the last race, the Village Hall Accumulator, there was a prize of £25.
Those with no knowledge of horse racing seemed to be as lucky as those who had studied the form book. The well-stocked bar and festive refreshments helped to ensure a most pleasant evening for those who had braved the weather and come along for a special event.

Father Christmas at Old Buckenham Mill

Windmill has special visitor
Small children, accompanied  by their parents or grandparents, could be seen walking along Mill Road today and going into Old Buckenham Mill. The ground floor was all decorated and full of activities for children to do. There were also mince pies to eat and, for the grown ups, mulled wine to drink.

But the main attraction was up on the first floor. By climbing a steep wooden ladder you could get to Santa's grotto. When Father Christmas arrived at the Mill (by Post Office van of course as the reindeer are resting for their long journeys later this month) he climbed the ladder, not that easy for a rather portly gentleman of indeterminate age, and settled down to meet his visitors.
Appointments had been made and, at their scheduled time, the children too climbed up to have discussions on how good they had been and what might be on their Christmas wish list. Surprisingly Father Christmas had a small present for all of them in his sack so they all came back to the ground floor clutching their parcels.

Hurdy gurdy, bagpipes and recorders in Old Buckenham

Deck the halls
Malcolm and Elizabeth Ecclestone came to All Saints church, Old Buckenham, on Saturday 6 December to entertain an audience of local people with a jolly entertainment of words and music. They perform as Chanter's Jigge and bring together diverse styles of music and a very wide variety of instruments.

The evening's programme was mainly of folk carols interspersed by seasonal readings and with the audience encouraged to join in the choruses whenever possible. The sound of the two players was often enhanced with pre-recorded versions of them playing on another instrument so that they end up playing duets with themselves.
Mince pies and mulled wine were available at the half time break and the evening raised further funds for toward the repairs of the church fabric.

 

Christmas music at Old Buckenham chapel

All details on the poster