On This Week: Looking back at King’s Lynn art centre drama and new Walpole playgroup as well as picture from 1992
In our weekly On This Week feature, we take a look back at what was hitting the headlines in 1987, as well as a picture from 1992…
On This Week: October 29 – November 4, 1987
Festival founder Ruth, Lady Fermoy, is reported to be extremely distressed by events which have led to the axing of the job of the current director of Lynn’s arts centre. Princess Di’s grandmother was at the crisis meeting when the Fermoy Centre’s trustees voted to create a new top post. Mr Alan Wilkinson, who has been director at the centre and of Lynn Festival since 1980, has been told that he can apply for the re-defined position. The festival founder, Lady Fermoy, had no comment to make to the Lynn News, but the trustees chairman, Sir Harry Tuzo, said he believed she was “extremely distressed”.
The Gaywood Clock area could see a start on its controversial road improvements scheme in early 1988. Norfolk County Council highways team are forecasting March as a likely starting date and they are currently involved in the final negotiations for buying up land they need for the scheme. The council’s original project fell through when the government put a block on vital compulsory purchase orders and the revised scheme has several potential improvements missing, but planners believe it will still help reduce traffic delays in the area.
Increased tension in the Persian Gulf is fuelling the fears of some West Norfolk families. Perhaps the most at risk is the husband of a Hunstanton woman – who has asked not be named – who is serving as chief officer on an American-flagged Kuwaiti tanker which travels in the warship-protected convoys. Fakenham couple Ken and Nancy Graham are also watching news bulletins to learn if all is well with their son Paul, who is with one of the Royal Navy ships. There have been several missile attacks and retaliatory actions by the United States and Iran after a missile strike on a US-owned tanker on October 16, which prompted the US to attack Iranian oil platforms three days later. This exchange took place amidst the broader Iran-Iraq War.
Walpole Area Playgroup is rapidly nearing its target of raising £10,000 for a new mobile classroom, boosted by £250 raised from an evening of roller skating at Walpole Highway Rollerdrome. It means the total raised is now £8,250 and it means the playgroup can now order the mobile classroom which will accommodate youngsters following the move from Walpole Methodist Chapel last December. About 200 people of all ages crammed into the Rollerdrome which had been borrowed by the fundraisers for the evening.
West Norfolk borough councillors have agreed to grant £2,000 towards the cost of running the security “spy” cameras on the North Lynn Industrial Estate to offset a £4,000 shortfall faced by businesses funding them. Members were told that higher than expected costs and a refusal to contribute by two businesses on the estate had caused the shortfall. Borough secretary, Mr Mike Burniston, said that cash help now would prevent more businesses pulling out of the successful surveillance operation.
Autumn fashions are proving just the ticket for Lynn’s Eastern Counties buses. Drivers have cast off their old jackets and trousers and are now sporting natty blue suits, pale blue shirts with red ties which have yellow and orange diagonal bands. Mr Bernard Davies, traffic superintendent for the Lynn depot, said it was all aimed at trying to create a new bus industry image for the Lynn area, as the new uniforms were smart and distinctive. Borough mayor, Mrs Iris Major, kept her eye on the latest fashions when she visited Jaeger in Lynn. She toured the warehouse with general manager Mr Bob Pannell before lunch and saw the office and computer centre after the break. The Hansa Road site is the main computer centre for the retail fashion division and the company’s main warehouse for men’s and women’s clothes. Jaeger has been in Lynn since the 1960s and employs 170 staff.
Swaffham’s newest snooker club, which has been officially opened by town mayor Jack Sampson, features 16 full-size international class Riley tables and will be open daily from 10am to midnight. Co-proprietors Eddie and Laureen Tann have converted Swaffham’s old abattoir on the corner of Cley and Whitsands Road turning it into a plush club complete with bar and satellite TV. Formerly owners of the Grange Hotel in Lynn, Eddie is also a qualified coach and a well-known snooker player in the Lynn area.