What you can do in the village next month

Diary dates for June

Monday 1 Monday Mardle, Church Rooms, 2.15pm to 4.15pm
Tuesday 2 Coffee and chat, Church Rooms, 10.30am to 12 noon
Wednesday 3 Women's Fellowship, Methodist Chapel, 2.30pm
Thursday 4 Parish Council, Village Hall, 7.30pm
Friday 5 Mobile Police Station outside village shop, 9am to 10.30am
Friday 5 Crib Drive, Village Hall, 7.30pm
Sunday 7 Wargames club, Village Hall, 2.30pm to 6pm
Monday 8 Whist drive, Church Rooms, 2pm
Wednesday 10 Luncheon Club, Village Hall, 10am to 2pm
Wednesday 10 Pre-school Open Event, 3.15pm to 4.30pm
Wednesday 10 Village Fete meeting, Memorial Room, 7.30pm
Thursday 11 Breckland Flower and Garden Club, Village Hall, 2pm
Thursday 11 Social and Wine Circle, Church Rooms, 7.45pm
Friday 12 Netgamers computer games, Village Hall, 7pm to 9pm
Monday 15 Monday Mardle, Church Rooms, 2.15pm to 4.15pm
Wednesday 17 Request Songs of Praise, Methodist Chapel, 7.30pm
Sunday 21 Wargames club, Village Hall, 2.30pm to 6pm
Wednesday 24 Luncheon Club, Village Hall, 10am to 2pm
Thursday 25 Women's Institute, Village Hall, 7.30pm
Friday 26 Child seat belt checks, Village Hall car park, from 8.45am
Friday 26 Netgamers computer games, Village Hall, 7pm to 9pm
Monday 29 Monday Mardle, Church Rooms, 2.15pm to 4.15pm

Pristine path

Safer walking along the B1077

The new path across the Green is finished and open for walkers. Give it a few months and it won't look so stark, the moles are already at work softening the edges.

Latest newsletter

June is here early.

The latest village newsletter is now available around the village.

Management and money

Village Hall news
There have been a couple of changes on the village hall management committee. Alison Frank has replaced Tony Freake as the All Saints PCC representative and Dawn Kerry is the new Scouts’ representative.
Although less people attended the gardening event this year, more than £300 was raised for Village Hall funds.

Bags for life

Environmental day in village
During the first week of May, Carol Marshall, parish councillor and member of Old Buckenham Village Environmental and Recycling Group, visited Old Buckenham High School with Adrian Joel, the District Councillor, and other members of Breckland Council, to launch Old Buckenham Environmental Day.
This will take place in the Village Hall on the morning of Saturday 18 July.
Pupils at the school have been invited to design the ‘Breckland Bag for Life’ and preliminary judging will take place on Wednesday 3 June by a panel of independent judges. The chosen designs will be displayed on Environmental Day for our community to judge. There will be a prize for the winner and possibly an environmental freebie gift for all those voting. The winning design will be incorporated on the Breckland Bag for Life and, when it is produced, the bag will be delivered to all Old Buckenham residents.
In addition to the involvement of Breckland District Council, Norfolk County Council will be taking part as well as other environmentally-orientated organisations. It is hoped that compost produced from the brown bin collections will be available for sale at reduced prices.
The incentive to all members of the community is that this event is all free, even admittance.
This event is considered a first, and hopefully will put recognition in the direction of Old Buckenham and its support for the environment. There will be an optional raffle during the morning to cover the cost of hiring the hall.
Please make sure that you book this date to support the youngsters at Old Buckenham High School and their interest in the environment.
Further details will be posted on the blog when they become available.

Visit the Pre-school

Pre-school Open Event

Buckenham Pre-school Group will be having an Open Event on Wednesday 10 June between 3.15pm and 4.30pm. The Pre-school, which is situated in the grounds of Old Buckenham Primary School, takes children from two years of age until primary school entry. Funding is available for eligible children.
If you want to know more then go along to meet the staff and find out more about this friendly Pre-school. You can telephone 07799 778806 during school hours or speak to the supervisor, Claire, on 01953 860244.

Permissive society in Old Buckenham

Habeas corpus
The newsletter editor went along to the second night of the latest production put on by the Old Buckenham Players. The following are his own personal comments on the evening’s entertainment, Alan Bennett’s ‘Habeas Corpus’.
This was a most delightful way to spend an evening. A play by one of the country’s best living playwrights performed by a group of local talented actors. It was a production of the highest standard that had the audience laughing out aloud throughout as the plot unfolded.
Technically the evening went without any obvious boobs. Well that’s not really true as there were several pairs forming an integral part of the plot. With one character unable to cope with his lack of height, another upset about being flat-chested, one hypochondriac and a fourth who was seriously depressed, it is a surprising funny play. Describing the plot is difficult. Alan Bennett is a high class writer who is able to describe things in words that this reviewer is unable to paraphrase without making it sound trite.
The housekeeper, Mrs Swabb, keeps the audience aware of what is going on with the Wicksteed family, Canon Throbbing, Lady Rumpers and her daughter Felicity, Sir Percy Shorter, Mr Shanks and Mr Purdue as they move on and off the stage. Most of the men lose their trousers at some time or another, without the action collapsing into farce, and the phrase “so this is what they mean by the permissive society” is regularly heard.
It would be inappropriate to pick out individual members of the cast – they all played their parts to a high standard and brought out the best in a wonderful script. The set was deliberately kept simple, again to allow the dialogue to speak for itself.

Now we can look forward to the autumn show of one act plays on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September.

Money for old books

Book sale
Thanks to all those who supported the book sale in the Church Rooms on Sunday 18 May, particularly those who assisted in the organising, and the Old Buckenham WI for providing the refreshment facilities. At the time of this post, something in the region of £350 was raised by the Village Environmental and Recycling Group for the village.

Decorating the tables

Breckland Flower and Garden Club
A busy afternoon was had by all members at the May meeting in the village hall creating a table decoration on a ring using tulips or roses, sticks, foliage and beads resulting in a very colourful display.
In the monthly competition, ‘petite - in or with a cup and saucer’, first in the new hands class was Janet Skidmore and first in old hands (and winner of the Betty Warburton trophy for best use of garden material) was Pat Wells.
The June meeting will be held at Old Buckenham Village Hall on Thursday 11 June starting at 2pm. The demonstrator will be David Wright whose title will be 'Summer Wedding' . The competition is for a white and green wedding table arrangement - with or without candle/s and the Renee Hambley Tropy will be awarded for the best use of colour.
If anyone would like to come on the Club's outing to Hyde Hall and Braintree (£10 for RHS members and £14.50 for non members) please contact Sheila on 01953 888710.
Visitors are always welcome to come to the meetings. Further details can be obtained from Pat on 01953 457305 or Sally on 01953 788712.

Money matters

More funds raised
The Spring Fair held on Saturday 9 May raised a total of £305 towards the cost of the Senior Citizens Christmas party. Thanks to all the helpers that gave their time to help at this event and also to those members of the public who came along and spent their money.
A further fund-raising event for the party will be a cream tea to be held on Saturday 11 July. More details will be given later.

High level talk raises money

Nepal Plus
The Village Hall in Old Buckenham was filled with around eighty people on Saturday 9 May who came to listen to David Hannah talk about his experiences on a trip to Nepal. His illustrated talk started off at Diss railway station and followed his journey to Kathmandu, the flight to Lukla, then trekking to Phortse via Namche Bazaar. While in Phortse he had been present at the formal opening of their new community centre, a building that had been masterminded by another Old Buckenham resident, Tony Freake. The final part of his journey from Phortse to Gokyo, way up into the Himalayas and to heights of over 5,500 metres, was where the effects of altitude sickness finally caught up with David and he was grateful to move down to the lower altitudes once more.
The main highlights of his trip included the friendliness of the Nepalese people, some exhilarating plane flights, the many precarious bridges he had to cross and the fortuitous meetings with people he had met while on a T’ai Chi course back in Wymondham. There were a number of people in the audience who had been to Nepal themselves and they enjoyed reliving memories of their visits to this amazing country.
The second half of the meeting involved an ‘auction of experiences’. There was strong bidding for some high speed laps around the Lotus test track at Hethel and for the pairs of tickets for various concerts at the High Lodge Centre in Thetford Forest as well as the other dozen items.
Thanks go to all the people who turned out to support the evening which resulted in a profit of £870 which will go towards the upkeep of All Saints Church in the village.

Fund raising Saturday

Parting with their money

Saturday in Old Buckenham was a day for raising money for two local good causes.

In the afternoon there was a Spring Fayre in the Church Rooms to provide some funds for the Senior Citizens Christmas lunch that will take place early in 2010. Many of the people who will enjoy the free lunch were there manning the stalls or spending their money to buy raffle tickets, plants, refreshments and bric-a-brac.

In the evening the Village Hall was filled with around eighty people who came to listen to David Hannah talk about his experiences on a trip to Nepal and to bid for items in an auction of 'experiences'. Initial calculations show that this event raised £870 which will go towards the upkeep of All Saints Church. A longer report will appear on the blog within the next few days.

Unfurling the banner

Celebration time

It was time for a bubbly celebration at Old Buckenham Stores when they received further recognition of their recent success in being voted the best independent village store in the whole of Breckland.

Becky Jefcoate, Economical Development Officer at Breckland District Council was there to pass over a specially-made banner to allow the shop to advertise its success to all those passing by. The Londis Regional Manager Jon Chapman was also there along with John Miller, Regional Director of Musgrave Retail Partners, to pass on their congratulations to Old Buckenham's village shop.

Adrian Joel, Old Buckenham's local councillor, helped the shop staff and some of their regular customers to show off the banner to the photographers and to open a suitable celebratory bottle of bubbly on this important occasion.

The top picture shows, from the left, John Miller (Musgrave Retail Partners), Doug Baker (customer), Venuka (from the shop), Adrian Joel (local councillor), Lavanya (from the shop) and Janet Moore (customer).

Celebrations

Now what was going on outside the village shop earlier today?

More details of this event will be on the blog tomorrow morning.

A new red coat

Pretty postbox

A new coat of red paint and the clematis in flower. Shame that the sun wasn't out on this picturesque post box in Ragmere Road, Old Buckenham.

Go and fetch it

May has arrived

It may be a few days late but the May issue is now available to pick up at the village shop, the Ox and Plough, the Gamekeeper and the Clinic on the Green. There are also a few copies at the Airfield.

Those lucky numbers

Crib and Numbers Club
The prizewinners of the crib drive held at the village hall in May were Mary Parker, Olive Fuller, Dave Livingstone, Muriel Large, Joyce Goodey and Jean Rush.
The Numbers Club winners were drawn at the drive and they were Stuart Barker, Adrian Brinded, Joyce Goodey, Tommy Mack, J Eagling, Jean Garwood and Den Packham.
It is still not too late to join the club for this year. Next month sees an extra prize of £25 being drawn so please do your little bit to help the Village Hall. It only costs £1 each month to belong. If you want to know more just contact any committee member or Jill on 01953 860551.

Bargains in books

Book this time and place

Whether you are interested in gardening, crafts, biography, travel, romance, recent best sellers, sport, or just books in general, you are sure to pick up a good read at a very keen price at the fifth VERG (Village Environment and Recycling Group) book sale on Sunday 17 May between 11am and 3.30pm in the Church Rooms. Children will have lots of old favourites to choose from as well, with space to browse. The WI will be on hand with light refreshments in an area set out for rest and chat and the raffle will provide chances to win, among other things, shopping tokens (and even a token for two tickets for a Norwich City home football match of your choice).The village hall kitchen refurbishment project needs plenty of money to give the village a kitchen fit for the beginning of the twenty- first century.

Thank you to all those who have or are donating books and hopefully many of you will pop in for a browse and to purchase a stock of books to last until the next sale. If you would like to come but find it difficult to get there please let VERG know (telephone 01953 452716, the same number for collection of books).

Royalty and the WI

WI goes to Sandringham
For their April meting, Old Buckenham WI had a visit from Mrs Watt (also known as Maureen Rispin from Sandringham). She told them of her visit to Sandringham in February 1919, at the invitation of Queen Mary. They had met before this at the first meeting of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes in Caxton Hall, London. Queen Mary had invited Mrs Watt, a Canadian from British Columbia, to come and speak to the ladies of Sandringham to tell them about the WI which was, of course, founded in Canada.
Mrs Watt looked very smart in her costume of jacket and full-length skirt, with a hat. She had been enchanted with her visit to Sandringham, being shown round the estate, the stud farm and seen the flock of Southdown sheep. The meeting was held in West Newton Village Hall, to which the Queen and the Princess Royal also came. By having the Queen take an active interest at Sandringham, Mrs Watt saw that this would do wonders for the WI movement nationally and internationally. Later she wrote an article about this inaugural meeting for the first edition of ‘Home and Country’. She said she had realised her childhood dream of meeting the Queen, not in a palace but in her more homely surroundings. At that meeting the Queen agreed to be President and 60 ladies became members.
Meetings followed a format which many WI members would recognise today – talks, plenty of time for social chat, and refreshments. From a Minute Book Mrs Watt read that there had been outings by charabanc to Norwich and Cromer, six hostesses were in charge of refreshments at meetings, a talk had been given by someone from the Brooke Bond tea company, and many people who worked on the estate and in the gardens were asked to talk about their lives . They also had time for games though musical chairs could present a problem if there was one chair left and one other member besides Her Majesty – history did not relate who won!
To end her talk Mrs Watt read the Alberta Creed which sets out very simply and clearly the WI ethos. Doris Monkhouse thanked Maureen Rispin for her most interesting and novel way of bringing early WI days to life.
Pride of place at this meeting was given to Old Buckenham’s Cator Cup entry which had won second place. This was a lovely reward for all the hard work that had gone into producing the exhibit entitled ‘Wild, Wild Women’. With third place last year, second this year, what about 2010? At the end of the meeting the annual draw for the Denman Bursary was taken and future meetings were planned for the ‘floral’ themed Garden Party on Saturday 6 June at Susan Hunter’s home and also planning for the Village fete later in the summer.
The next meeting will be the annual resolutions meeting held on Thursday 28 May and the competition will be for a pretty cup and saucer.The June Lynn Barrow will be talking about the language of flowers and the competition is for a posy of five flowers with foliage.