Lonely allotmenteer

Just start at the very beginning

(just click on the picture to see him more easily)

Looking forward to next month

Diary dates for November


Monday 1 Monday Mardle, Church Rooms, 2.15pm to 4.15pm

Tuesday 2 Coffee and chat, Church Rooms, 10.30am to 12 noon

Tuesday 2 Allotment Society meeting, Church Rooms, 7.30pm

Wednesday 3 Women's Fellowship, Methodist Chapel, 2.30pm

Thursday 4 Parish Council, Village Hall, 7.30pm

Friday 5 Crib drive, Village Hall, 7.30pm

Sunday 7 Wargames club, Village Hall, 2.30pm to 6pm

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

Thursday 11 Breckland Flower and Garden Club, Village Hall, 2pm

Thursday 11 Social and Wine Circle, Church Rooms, 7.15pm for AGM

Friday 12 'One Stop Bus' outside Village Shop, 10am to 12 noon

Friday 12 Netgamers, Village Hall, 7pm to 9pm

Saturday 13 November Market, Church Rooms, 11am to 2pm

Sunday 14 Remembrance service at war memorial on Green, 2.30pm

Monday 15 Monday Mardle, Church Rooms, 2.15pm to 4.15pm

Wednesday 17 Songs of Praise, Methodist Chapel, 7.30pm

Saturday 20 Action Plan consultation, Village hall, 10am to 12.30pm

Sunday 21 Wargames club, Village Hall, 2.30pm to 6pm

Wednesday 24 Luncheon Club outing

Thursday 25 Women's Institute, Village Hall, 7.30pm

Friday 26 St Martins talk, Village Hall, 7.30pm

Monday 29 Monday Mardle, Church Rooms, 2.15pm to 4.15pm

More local history

Church Rooms on fire

The history of local fire services was the subject of the talk at the October meeting of the Old Buckenham Social and Wine Circle. Cliff Amos from Attleborough was the speaker and he had first hand knowledge of the subject having been a member of the retained Attleborough Fire Service from 1967 to 2009.
Starting with the ‘Great Fire of Attleborough’ in 1595 (which virtually destroyed all the town centre) he went through the history including the insurance companies' fire marks, the manual fire pumps that were pulled to the fires, the first horse-drawn pump in 1830 and the fact that the fire pump was stored in the porch of St Mary’s Church during 1848. In 1905 there was a fire station in Queens Square, a steam (rather than manual) fire pump came into use in the 1920s and the fire station was in Eden Lane from 1922 to 1942 before moving to the High Street where it remained until 1960. The present fire station is now in Thieves Lane. The members of the retained fire service all work locally and all rush to the fire station when the call goes out. They attend about 250 incidents a year, about half of which are now traffic accidents.

The Social and Wine Circle’s next meeting is their AGM and this will start at 7.15pm on Thursday 11 November so that the talk (by Kate Hill) can start at the usual time of 7.45pm.

Driving home

Christmas musical

Rehearsals are underway at Old Buckenham High School for this year's major musical production, 'Driving Home for Christmas'.
The script for the show has been written by the school's Head of Performing Arts, Hugh Lynch. The show is chock-full of great Christmas songs, skilfully arranged by the Head of Music at the school, Tom Hilton. It tells the story of how Santa and his party grind to a halt on Christmas Eve at a motorway service station and enlist the help of Archie, a man heading home to be with his family on Christmas morning, in getting back on track. The show features a cast of over thirty students and a pit-band of over twenty musicians.
'Driving Home for Christmas' will be performed on Wednesday 8 December, Friday 10 December and Saturday 11 December at 7.30pm with a matinee on the Saturday at 3.30pm. Tickets will be available from the Office at the High School from early November - at the time of writing, the price has not been fixed.
The school would love to see as many people as possible at the show. Please support them.

Time to get digging

Plotting the plots
On Monday 25 October the allotment site in Old Buckenham will go 'live'. Michaelmas is one of the quarter days when farmers pay their rent so this seems an appropriate day to start. The plots have all been marked out (a whole plot does seem rather large) so perhaps there will be people digging from day one...

Learning something new

Crafty day
Over fifty ladies from neighbouring Women’s Institutes gathered at Old Buckenham Village Hall on Wednesday 20 October for a craft day organised by Old Buckenham WI. Local tutors gave the ladies the chance to try their hand at a craft that they had probably never tried before – there was patchwork, card making, beading, sugarcraft, watercolour painting and making Christmas lanterns.
By the end of the afternoon, fortified by a tasty light lunch, they had all produced something worthwhile to take home with them and many were determined to take their new-found skills to a more advanced level in future.

Tell the council what you think

A chance to comment

Breckland Council are producing an Area Action Plan to guide development in Attleborough and Snetterton Heath over the next 15 years and need the help of residents and communities in and around the town. The ‘Issues and Options’ consultation is a chance to have a say early on in the process of producing the Area Action Plan.
The area around Attleborough and Snetterton Heath is set to change over the coming years with potential plans for:

• at least 4,000 new homes within the Attleborough area by 2026 to the south of the town;
• the necessary supporting infrastructure;
• 1,500 to 2,000 net additional jobs in Attleborough by 2021 and the release some 10 hectares of land for employment;
• a new road from the A11 to the B1077 Bunns Bank to help ease congestion;
• and 20 hectares of new employment land at Snetterton Heath.

The consultation on these plans will be over 11 weeks and is due to start on Monday 15 November and finish on Friday 28 January 2011.

There will be an interactive copy of the draft Area Action Plan document on the Breckland website http://consult.breckland.gov.uk with over 60 questions on a range of topics and issues on the planned growth. A summary questionnaire will also be on-line focussing on the main questions on possible areas for development. Your comments can be sent on-line.

 Breckland Council has also organised a drop-in session for the rural parishes around Attleborough at Old Buckenham Village Hall on Saturday 20 November between 10am and 12.30pm. Officers will be on hand to answer questions, there will be display material and summary questionnaires will be available.

 

Another date for the diary

November Market
All Saints Church will be holding its traditional November Market in Old Buckenham Church Rooms on Saturday 13 November from 11am to 2pm. There will be the usual stalls - do come along and join in for a light lunch of soup, rolls and other goodies.
Additionally, a representative from the Energy Saving Trust will be present with an information stall.

Bargains everywhere

Garage sales galore
Just a few of the sales that took place in Old Buckenham yesterday, Sunday 17 October.

Seasonal entertainment

Breckland Flower and Garden Club

October's meeting was well attended to watch Alison Cushing's demonstration 'Seasonal'. Her love of roses showed through her designs as she blended them with shamrock chrysanthemums, gerberas, chinese lanterns, veronica and sunflowers. Most of her arrangements were modern although she closed the afternoon with a traditional triangle on a lovely raised container.
The competition for 'Autumn in a copper container - was won by Janet Skidmore (New Hands) and by Shirley Penfold (Old Hands) who also won the trophy for best exhibit.
The table show competition for three stems of autumn colour from the garden was also won by Shirley Penfold with some nerines.
The November meeting will take place at Old Buckenham Village Hall on Thursday 11 November at 2pm when Lisa Howard will demonstrate 'Enchanted Christmas' The competition title will be ‘Enchantment’ and the table show is for dried or preserved plant material.
Don't forget the following meeting will be on Thursday 9 December when there will be a workshop and afternoon tea (please bring a plate). The meeting will commence earlier at 1.30pm. More details will be available at the November meeting.
Visitors are always welcome - phone Sally on 01953 788712 or Pat on 01953 457305 for more information.

The brains of Old Buckenham

Village quiz
Eleven teams of four gathered in the village hall last night so that they could try to answer the sets of questions dreamed up by Old Buckenham Women's Institute. With eight rounds of ten questions each (and a joker to play on one chosen round) it would have been possible to score 90 points. In fact the winning team, the Wobblers, managed a credible 60 points to win. The bottom team scored 24 points so it would be unfair to mention them here.
A good time was had by all and the entry fees and a large raffle will also have raised useful funds for the village hall.

Believe it or not

Turned over
This is what the allotment site looked like yesterday. An area has now been ploughed and is expected to be harrowed before setting out of the plots starts next weekend.

All the parish news

October parish council meeting
These notes of the parish council meetings are prepared by the editor of the blog from the draft minutes and so may contain information that is amended later at the next month's meeting.
At the parish council meeting on Thursday 7 October there were three members of the public and also representatives of Cowan Consultancy. Apologies for non-attendance were received from Gerald Norton.
The minutes of the Parish Council meeting in September were signed as a true and accurate record of the meeting.
Matters arising from the minutes. Tom Johnson asked if it was known who owned the other 38 shares of the Green Right Proprietors. Tim Ing said no register was kept of the owners but he would raise the matter at the next Green Rights Proprietors’ meeting.
Shrublands and associated barns. Cowan Consulting, who had been retained to oversee the proposed development, gave a presentation on the matter. They were seeking the views of the Parish Council before submitting a planning application to Breckland Council. A site analysis was given plus they also considered the local employment opportunities the whole scheme would provide. The whole development will consist of four affordable houses, nine barn conversions and eight other housing units. A lagoon will be constructed to assist with rain water flowage and help sustain the wildlife in the area. An ecology report had been carried out to look at the existing wildlife and make provision for them on completion of the development. Councillors asked various questions on the whole proposal and Norman Cawston thanked Cowan Consulting for their presentation.
Planning applications. Cherry Tree House, Stacksford. Change of materials. No objections.
Green Working Party. The meeting was told that nothing could go forward until the present appeal being considered by the Green Rights Proprietors had been heard against the recent judgement made in the small claims court. Tim Ing said he had voted against the appeal going ahead and advised the Green right Proprietors that Parish Council would not contribute towards the appeal’s costs (but this could change depending on the legal position in regard to the Parish Council’s 1/39th share). It was proposed by Adrian Joel and seconded by Tom Johnson that a letter be sent confirming the Parish Council would not contribute towards the cost of the legal appeal currently being sanctioned by the Proprietors, this was agreed unanimously.
Allotments. Adrian Joel informed meeting that the official opening was on schedule for Monday 25 October. The Parish Clerk had sent out tenancy agreements and quite a few had been signed and returned. The Working Party would mark out the allotments during the week commencing Saturday 16 October. An Old Buckenham Allotments Society had been set up with Adrian Joel to chair the group. He asked for official recognition by the Parish Council, this was granted. A liaison group would also be set up to allow tenants of the allotments to raise any issues with the Parish Council and make recommendations to the Parish Council. This would be made up with three representatives of the Old Buckenham Allotments Society and three members of the Parish Council. Grants for the fencing and installation of a water supply were being sought at the present time. Fence costs would be approximately £900 to £1,200 and water supply costs have been quoted as £651.
Public meeting for Attleborough Development Plan. The meeting organised in September was well attended with 79 people attending. Adrian Joel said the presentation was well given and he also said that some Attleborough residents are currently organising a petition against the housing development.
District Councillor’s report. Breckland Officers will present the Attleborough and Snetterton Health Action Plan in Old Buckenham during November and will invite other villages to attend. Breckland have arranged a Golden Age Fair in East Harling on Wednesday 27 October to enable older members of the community to discover what opportunities there are to enable them to lead a more comfortable life. The Breckland Council “one stop bus” would be in the village on Friday 8 October and BBC Radio Norfolk were intending to do a live broadcast from the bus that morning.
Parish Councillors’ reports. Tim Ing said Old Buckenham was entered into the Pride of Norfolk Awards for 2010 and the village had won the class for villages between 1000 and 2500 people. A brass plaque had been presented which it is hoped would be put on the plinth of the village sign. He then raised the matter of the Special Council Meeting being held on Saturday 9 October and hoped as many parish councillors as possible would attend. Mike Craven Romain read out a letter offering two apple trees for the play area at no cost to the Parish Council and asked for councillors’ views. Various councillors raised concerns over the matter, especially over health and safety issues and thought it would be best to not have the trees. Mike Craven Romain will write and thank the person for the offer but decline. Adrian Joel said thecirculation folder is taking too long to go around as some invitations had expired before the folder had been completely circulated. He suggested laying out correspondence at Parish Council meetings. He then raised the questions of putting a CCTV camera at Church Rooms, this item will be put on November agenda. Tom Johnson thanked theParish Council for sending him on the Councillor’s Training course run by Norfolk Association of Local Councils which he found very good. He then asked if Councillors addresses and telephone number could be put on the circulation folder list, the Parish Clerk to arrange. Stephen Thorley said that due to work responsibilities he would have to resign from the Recreation Area working party Johnathan Kemp would replace him on the working party. Norman Cawston thanked Mike Craven Romain for getting the benches painted, Parish Clerk to write to the RHCC thanking them for their help in the matter. A letter had been received from Breckland regarding the dog bin outside Mayfield in Fen Street saying that it was difficult to empty and could the Parish Council resite the bin. Tim Ing said that refuse bins are collected by Breckland at this address with no problems and could not see why the dog bin caused problems. He would look into the matter. Derek Smalley raised the matter of refuse bins when emptied being left near the kerb in Cake Street which has resulted in some empty bins ending up in the road. The Parish Clerk will write to Serco on the matter. Norman Cawston said the lay-by at the shop needs to be repaired and asked for council’s permission to go ahead and do the work. Norman Cawston also asked all councillors for a £2 per head contribution for a wreath to go on the village war memorial on Remembrance Sunday.
Parish Clerk’s report. He had received a letter from the Village Hall thanking the Parish Council for their donation in respect of the village fete. There had also been a letter from the Breckland Chief Executive congratulating Old Buckenham on its 1st place prize in the Pride of Norfolk Community Award Scheme. A letter from Gerald Norton concerned the Parish Council funding the upkeep of war memorial in village. The Parish Council is to try to establish who owns the memorial. Adrian Joel raised the matter of holding a Parish Council Meeting on same day as local elections in 2011and the Parish Clerk will change the date to Thursday 12 May.
The Green. Nothing has happened on moving the brush from the Green and the Parish Clerk will contact Mike Read on the matter.

The next meeting of Old Buckenham Parish Council will be on Thursday 4 November in the Village Hall starting at 7.30pm.

Something special

Villagers have their say
There was a special Old Buckenham Parish Council meeting held on Saturday 9 October in the Village Hall.
Tim Ing was chairman for the meeting and welcomed the residents and thanked them for attending the meeting. There were 26 members of the public present as well as the parish councillors Adrian Joel, Derek Smalley, Stephen Thorley, Carol Marshall and the parish clerk James Watling.
Update by councillors on village projects. Carol Marshall said the Recreation Area had been in the pipeline for six years and that the project had not progressed as well as they had hoped. She said that the school with its new sports status would attract the major funding but the working party on the recreation area would still try to source other grants as the Parish Council hoped to install outside gym equipment on the area. Tim Ing said the play area had been a tremendous success with a £75,000 play area which the village had contributed £5,000. A resident suggested that the Parish Council go back to look at the Recreation Area and see how they could invigorate more interest in the project. Adrian Joel talked about the new allotments which were requested in April 2010. The Parish Council had set up a working party which had written to local land owners asking if they had land available for the project. The Parish Council had looked at four areas and decided the land at Ragmere Road was the most suitable. An agreement was reached with the land owner to lease some land. The owner has since made it more suitable for allotments of which 15 had been created and the official opening day is Monday 25 October. The Parish Council has donated a half plot free to the High School. This means that there was a half plot left available for anyone interested. Derek Smalley said he is a volunteer driver with the Community Car Scheme and that the whole scheme was undergoing changes in regulations. In the past year the scheme had achieved in fulfilling all car journeys requested.
Matters raised by residents. A resident raised the matter of the Green which he thought in the last ten years had deteriorated. Grass and trees were overgrown and the pond needed continual work done on it, not just on rare occasions. He also said the track across the green was a mess and the Green Right Proprietors had no money to deal with it. Mike Read of the Green Rights Proprietors gave a detailed explanation of the issues facing them including the on-going legal action against the Ox & Plough. He said once the issue was dealt with it is hoped that a management partnership could be created including the Parish Council for the future maintenance of the Green. He agreed the Green was in a bad state this year but they were trying very hard to resolve the issue with the person who has the hay rights. He finished with expressing his deep concerns on the forthcoming appeal against the judgement made in the small claims court against the Green Rights Proprietors. He said if the appeal was lost it could throw the whole management of the Green into total chaos. He then asked if residents had any questions. Various questions were asked and Mike Read replied to them. Concerns were expressed about the play area including anti-social behaviour by young persons including the consumption of alcohol, the police are aware of this problem. Concerns were also raised about parking by people using the play area which caused problems for the Church and nearby residents including the using of the Church Room’s toilet facilities. One resident raised the matter of the two apple trees which were offered free to plant in the play area. Tim Ing said the Parish Council had discussed the matter and, after safety concerns, had voted not to take up the offer. The matter of the churchyard maintenance was raised by the churchwarden. This work is mainly carried out by volunteers who were now getting older and so the work would soon have to be paid for. He asked if the Parish Council could assist with grants. Tim Ing said a lot of work had been carried out by Norman Cawston and other volunteers but that a grant request from the church was due to be considered at next week’s precept meeting. A resident raised the matter of the Parish Council’s accounts not being available at the Annual Parish meeting. The Parish Clerk said he would make a copy of the accounts available to be used on the village blog* but that residents of the village could view the full accounts at Parish Clerk’s home with prior notice. They would now also be available at each year’s Annual Parish meeting. The same resident raised the matter of more consultation and communication by the Parish Council which he thought was lacking. He then went on to raise the matter of the bollards outside the village shop which he claimed had affected the business of the shop. Tim Ing informed the meeting that Norman Cawston (as a resident and not as a parish councillor) had undertaken the repair work himself without charge at the request of the Green Right’s Proprietors. These bollards had now been replaced with others by Norfolk County Council. Other residents expressed the view that all parties should be working together for the sake of the village and make positive strides forward rather than keep looking back. Jill Emms gave an overview of the Village Hall including past refurbishments and ones that are planned for the near future including the car park resurfacing and improvements to the toilets. She also expressed concern that in the future the whole heating system, which in winter was not very effective, may have to be replaced. Two residents raised the matter of VAT on spending by the Village Hall and asked why the Parish Council did not claim the VAT back for them. The Parish Clerk explained the legal position on VAT and said that to make a claim for refund of VAT on any expenditure by the Village Hall would be illegal. A resident said that the Parish Council should make more efforts to involve younger people in the work of the Parish Council and Tim Ing said this would be discussed by the Council. Derek Smalley asked if it would be possible for contact to be made to people newly moving into the village. The Parish Clerk said he would arrange for a welcome pack used by another village to be obtained and then discussed by Parish Council.
Tim Ing again thanked everyone for attending and, as there were no further points that people wished to raise, he declared the meeting closed.

*these accounts were posted on the blog on Monday 11 October

Bargains throughout the village

Garage sales all over Old Buckenham
Next Sunday 17 October will see another opportunity to search for the bargains available in Old Buckenham. Over twenty garage sales will be taking place that day so you never know just what you may find.
Maps showing the sites of the individual sales will be available in the morning so you can arrange your route and make sure that you don't miss any of them out.

Lots of figures

Old Buckenham Parish Council accounts
There was a request at the open Parish Council meeting on Saturday 9 October that more details of the most recent approved annual accounts could be made more readily available to those in the village.
The various balance sheets are reproduced here.
Just click on the image to enlarge it to a more readable size.

Quizzing the parish council

Having your say
An audience of just over twenty came along on Saturday 9 October to hear an update from Old Buckenham Parish Council on their latest activities. This public meeting in the village hall was aimed at giving people in the village an opportunity to have their say outside of the formal parish council meetings so it was a shame that more people did not turn up.

The usual subjects such as the condition and management of the village Green provided some lively discussion. Some people also felt that the success of the revamped children’s playground was sometimes causing problems because of the number of cars parked outside the church and the neighbouring properties. An update was given on work going on to improve facilities at the village hall and the question of when VAT incurred on such projects could be reclaimed was given a good airing.

Tim Ing, vice-chairman of the parish council, had the responsibility of chairing this meeting and said that the points brought up would be taken back for discussion at the next parish council meeting in November. It is hoped to provide a fuller report on the meeting when the official minutes are made available.
A fuller report was posted on Wednesday 13 October

A quiz of notes

Musical knowledge

There may have been only seven teams but there was fierce competition between them at the ‘Pop quiz’ organised by the Friends of Old Buckenham High School on Friday 8 October. Hosted by Hugh Lynch, the quiz tested peoples’ knowledge from the sixties to the noughties. As some teams soon found out, it was necessary to have people with a wide range of ages to ensure a reasonable knowledge of the music that was popular over such a time span.
The winning team was in doubt until the final round when the Banham Hillbillies, helped by a subtle use of their joker, crept into first place just two points ahead of their nearest rivals.

Promoting the One Stop Bus

Reporting time
BBC Radio Norfolk reporter Kirsteen Thorne came to Old Buckenham this morning and did some recording on the Breckland Council 'One Stop Bus' that was parked on the Green near the village shop.
This vehicle is a mobile council office that comes here on the second Friday of each month.
Adrian Joel, the District Councillor, was one of those interviewed.
Kirsteen then went on with her recording eqipment to visit Old Buckenham High School.

More fundraising

Table Top Sale

The Table Top Sale held on Saturday 2 October raised £221 despite a rather poor turnout of people. Thanks go to all the helpers, the stallholders and those members of the public that did come along to support the event.
The money raised goes towards the cost of the Senior Citizens Christmas party.

Fireworks will be missing

No smoke, no fire

Sadly the 1st Old Buckenham Scout Group will not be holding their bonfire and fireworks evening around November 5th this year. For many years, this event was strongly supported by the local community and was a good source of fund raising for the Group.
However, in 2008 they had to cancel the event at very short notice because of heavy rain and flooding of the site and, in 2009, though there was a spectacular fireworks display, the numbers turning up meant that the event did not generate enough income to purchase fireworks for the following year.
The Scout Group aims to discuss this matter fully to see whether it can, and should, reinstate this event for 2011 - perhaps refreshed in format to some extent. Any ideas would be welcome.

Jack and his horses

Old Buckenham WI

Alison Downes came to the Old Buckenham WI’s September meeting and gave a most moving account of the life of her father Jack Juby. He was born at Reymerston in Norfolk in 1920 and from his boyhood until his death his passion for horses never waned. Jack’s reputation for his remarkable gift and ability to work with heavy horses spread far and wide. His particular favourites were his beloved Percherons.
In 2002 he received an MBE in the New Year’s Honours, ‘for services to heavy horses’. Near the end of his life in 2004 his daughter managed to tape a series of interviews of his memories of farming life when horses were still in common use on farms. She has since, with the help of Alan Downs published a book – My Life with Horses - The Story of Jack Juby MBE.
Alison brought photos of her father for all to look at, always with a horse and mostly with a collie dog at his heels.
Members were thanked for their help at both the Village Fete and the Produce Show, both of which were successful and enjoyable.
The next WI meeting is on Thursday 28 October in Old Buckenham Village Hall starting at 7.30pm. Jean Wade will be talking on ‘Sugarcraft for beginners’ and the competition will be for a four-line verse about either the tragedy or the triumph of making your first cake.

The effort was worthwhile

Recognition for Old Buckenham

The Pride in Norfolk Community Awards recognise and highlight the hard work and achievements of so many people in both town and country. The competition is sponsored by the Eastern Daily Press and organised by the Norfolk County Council. Other organisations involved are the Norfolk Rural Community Council, the Norfolk Federation of Women’s Institutes, the Norfolk Association of Local Councils and CPRE Norfolk.
Last year Old Buckenham entered this competition for the first time for many years and was delighted to be the runner up in the category for villages of between 1000 and 2500 inhabitants. This year they entered again and so the village representatives found themselves sitting in the council chamber at County Hall in Norwich wondering what 2010 would bring them.

Tony Tomkinson, chairman of Norfolk County Council welcomed the guests from the various communities, the honoured guests and the sponsors before the results were announced.

Anna Hill, who has been a presenter of BBC Radio 4's Farming Today for more than 10 years, returned for the sixth year to preside over the award ceremony. She had the job of announcing the winners and chatting to them when they came up to collect their award.
It was clear from the list of finalists that it would be either Wells-on-Sea or Old Buckenham that took first place in their category. It seemed ages before the magic words “and the winners are Old Buckenham” were heard and the realisation that the effort put into writing the entry submission and the enthusiasm when chatting to the judges on their visit to Old Buckenham had all been worthwhile. The newsletter editor was interviewed by Anna Hill and the EDP photographer lined up the representative villagers for the inevitable picture.
After all the awards had been announced there was a chance to meet and chat to people from other towns and villages while enjoying a pleasant buffet.
The next day there was a double spread on the event in the EDP and a chance to relive the evening and see just how embarrassing the photographs had turned out.