King's Lynn and West Norfolk Queen Mother tributes, Gaywood rare coin find, Grimston garage shuts, Narborough plans, Clenchwarton MBE, Heacham and Walpoles councils and South Lynn traffic-calming – 1985 & 2002 look-backs
Our nostalgia feature this week looks back to Aprils in 1985 and 2002...
These plucky members of Terrington Youth Club braved the cold to make a big splash in the sea at Hunstanton in April 1985. In all there were 16 youngsters and three adult organisers who took the plunge, spending eight minutes in the water – all to raise funds for their club.
“It was freezing,” admitted club leader Caroline Wakefield, who said the sponsored dip had made around £150. She said the youngsters would probably spend the money on a record player for use at their club in Sutton Road, Terrington St Clement. Photo: MLNF-852783
Silence fell on Lynn town centre on Tuesday [April 9] as stores and shoppers paid respect to the Queen Mother. Shops and cafes either closed their doors during the funeral service at Westminster Abbey or informed customers there would be two minutes’ silence at 11.30am. Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s Tesco’s Somerfield and Woolworths all shut shop from 10.30am to 1pm and staff at some stores were given the option of watching the ceremony at work or going home. Canon George Hall, rector of Sandringham, took part in the procession of the visiting clergy, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, at the funeral. He said it had been a “most inspiring day and a fitting celebration of her most wonderful life”.
A coin dating back to the reign of King John has been found by Gaywood pensioner Jack Jenkins in his garden. He was cutting some daffodils when he saw the coin and initially thought it was a 20p piece. Once he had washed it he realised it was an old coin and took it to the Norfolk Finds Identification and Recording Service at Gressenhall where a senior archaeologist said it dated back to 1204/1205 and was minted in Canterbury. However, it is thought it would be most unlikely the coin could be part of the legendary treasure lost to The Wash almost 800 years ago during King John’s ill-fated crossing from Lynn in October 1216.
A traditional family-run West Norfolk garage is closing at the end of the month, blaming increased Government legislation and hikes in fuel prices. Guy Corder, who owns Corders garage in Congham Road, Grimston, has run the business with his wife Sally for more than 30 years. He said he could not compete with supermarkets and bigger service stations, some of which were able to sell petrol at 2p per litre less than the wholesale price.
Plans are being made for a village appraisal at Narborough this summer which organisers hope will become a blueprint for action there. To help raise interest and to publicise the venture, a Village Awareness Day will be held in the Community Centre, with local organisations, clubs and businesses invited to attend. Breckland Council has given a £1,000 grant to help with printing and running expenses for the day.
West Norfolk Council has been told it will have to sell off its council houses – or face a massive £81 million bill to upgrade them to new “decent homes” standards. Councillors are to discuss the report from an independent consultant which rules out every option bar selling off the homes, known as stock transfer. But talk of selling the homes has come under fire from tenants’ representatives, who would have the final say on any plans to sell.
Clenchwarton farmer Nicholas Lane was honoured for his services to the community for the second time this year, at a parish assembly. In January, Mr Lane, a former West Norfolk deputy mayor, was awarded the MBE for more than 40 years’ service to the community, and now he has been crowned the village’s Citizen of the Year.
Heacham Parish Council members have expressed views that new homes should be made available to people from the village. Marcus Liddington said he would like to see an allocation system in place, similar to the one in Brancaster, where priority was given to local people. He asked the borough housing officer how many villagers had applied for houses in the development now under construction off Pound Lane. He was told there had been 112 applicants and of the 15 with the highest points just two were from the village. There were 24 applications from Heacham people among the remaining 97.
South Lynn hairdresser Barry Tice is calling for traffic-calming measures outside his Wisbech Road shop, after it was hit by a car for the ninth time in around four years. It was late at night when the car crashed into the front of the building and Mr Tice said: “I was putting my dogs to bed and thought a plane had crashed outside. The car was embedded in the shop front. I have no idea how much it will cost to repair, but it will run into thousands.”
Mass resignation was threatened at the recent Walpoles Parish Council meeting when members were told they must sign a declaration of interests. Under a new Government ruling, all parish councillors must provide details of private and personal interests which could affect their decisions as councillors. Some members were unhappy, pointing out they were volunteers and didn’t get paid.
