But twice now I've watched in some amazement as he's piloted a horse to victory in the annual amateur riders charity flat race at Fakenham racecourse.

Back in 2002, at the tender age of 64, he did the trick on his favourite point-to-pointer, Tap the Father, to beat the previous year's winner, Game Tufty, by a whisker. At the time in my report for the Lynn News I opened with the words: "Fairy tales can come true. Just ask Fred Farrow."

This year he did it again, perhaps to remind all the youngsters present that there was still plenty of life left in the old dog yet.

Now 70, Fred spreadeagled the field coming up the straight on Ballyowen, owned by his friend Stow Bridge butcher Jeff Sargeant, to take the one-and-a-half mile race by some three lengths. If this sends out any sort of message to the rest of us, surely it has to be that there are still challenges out there to be met and that age is no barrier to scaling the heights. And certainly no excuse for not having a go.

• Our Safer Neighbourhood Team is based at our police station in Norwich Road, currently led by Acting Sergeant Damon Money, alongside PC Andy Johnson and a number of Police Community Support Officers.

With the help of questionnaires and other feedback the team has identified three priority concerns: Anti-social behaviour, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights, when under-age drinking is also a problem; speeding around town centre roads in souped-up cars and on noisy motorbikes; and congregations of youngsters in car parks and outside the Tesco store, especially after dark.

A vital part of helping to deal with these and other problems is support from local residents and businesses. This can take many forms and part of the present initiative by the team is to seek increased voluntary help. You can make contact by phoning 0845 456 4567 or find out more by visiting www.safernorfolk.co.uk

• I mentioned the closure of Godfreys DIY store and the Stead and Simpson shoe shop last week. Now it's confirmed that the Discount Book and Jigsaw Company shop in Miller's Walk is shutting its doors. This is apparently due to increased overheads, particularly rent.

As we move towards the season when thousands of holidaymakers come, it's important that the main shopping streets and arcades are trading to capacity. While the overall picture remains fairly healthy, any empty windows tends to send out the wrong message.

It's more than three years since the former Currys store pulled down its shutters with no sign of new tenants despite a good position facing the market place. And the big building on Norwich Street which housed Fakenham Learning Centre has yet to attract any alternative clients. Let's hope there are more positive signals in the coming months.