On This Week: Missing cats in Dersingham, new Hunstanton lifeboat in 2011 as well as new gun for Swaffham TA in 1992
In our weekly On This Week feature, we take a look back at what was hitting the headlines 14 years ago, as well as a picture from 1992…
On This Week: October 22 – 28, 2011
Building work has finally been completed on Snettisham Memorial Pavilion after an arduous five-year journey of fundraising and planning. There has been an extension to the pavilion to make space for grass cutting equipment, a new disabled toilet separate to the main toilets and also new toilets inside the nursery area. Anglia Log Cabins built the extension using the last remaining carrstone from Snettisham quarry, donated by Frimstone. Although plans were approved around five years ago there were many problems with fundraising. Donations made by the Memorial Hall committee and the Norfolk Community Foundation, of £5,000 each, enabled the project to start, with Lighthouse Electrics donating the electrical work involved.
With a shower of champagne and the good wishes of a large gathering, Norfolk’s newest lifeboat has been officially named. The sun-kissed ceremony at Hunstanton lifeboat station saw the Spirit of West Norfolk blessed and re-launched – but the £136,000 rescue craft, bought after a magnificent 16-month Lynn News campaign, has already seen action and saved lives. In one incident earlier this year, the lifeboat crew plucked an exhausted canoeist out of the water. There was a service of dedication led by the Rev Christopher Wood before two local VIPs, Melissa Darby and Gerry Tann, officially named the lifeboat and poured champagne over its bows.
A wonderful weekend of celebration at Magdalen Church saw the Bishop of Huntingdon visit to mark 50 years for Peter Gagen as a churchwarden. Bishop David arrived to preach at a special evensong. The bells were ringing as a thank-you by the team of young ringers, and more than 75 people, some from as far away as Colchester, made a special journey to be there. A brass plaque was presented to Mr Gagen, which will go on display in the church, and he also received a paperweight featuring Magdalen Church; the bishop also presented Mr Gagen with a certificate from the diocese.
A spate of disappearances has caused residents of Dersingham to question whether a catnapper may be on the loose. Residents of Tudor Way and Saxon Way in the village have had six young cats go missing in just over a year – and all the pets lived just a few doors apart. The homes of residents on both streets back onto 16 acres of pastureland, and that is where the latest cat to go missing was last seen. After being alerted by the cat owners, landowner Mr Mike Brannon searched the area and outbuildings with his staff, but there was no sight of the pets.
Five people were arrested and six police officers were injured during an illegal rave held in an isolated barn in a field off Wells Road, North Creake. Bottles and bricks were thrown at police officers as they tried to break up the rave during the early hours and while they arrested five young men aged between 17 and 23. The men were later released on police bail pending further investigations. A massive clear-up operation is needed after balloons and bottles were scattered across the land and neighbouring fields; sound equipment has been found hidden in a nearby hedge.
The Hollies Surgery is the new name for Downham Market Health Centre, the change in name being completed with the unveiling of a plaque by South West Norfolk MP Elizabeth Truss. The decision to change the name was taken after a change of management when Vida Healthcare took control of the Downham Centre in April this year. Vida also manages the day-to-day running of Gayton Road Health Centre in Lynn and the Carole Brown Health Centre in Dersingham.
Staff at the Wolferton Nature Reserve have recently welcomed their newest residents to the site – a group of eight Black Galloway cattle brought in from Newton Stewart in Scotland to graze the 163-hectare site near Sandringham. The cattle will graze the entire site freely and help farm the land. Ash Murray, warden at the reserve, said: “We will look at the possibility of introducing a bull in the future and getting a herd of up to 15 because this type of grazing cow can farm the land better than any piece of machinery.”
A war memorial for the villages of Eastmoor and Barton Bendish has been restored to its former glory. The memorial in the St Andrew’s churchyard in Barton Bendish had been leaning backwards and to the right for several years, sparking fears that it may collapse and be damaged beyond repair. More than £4,000 was spent to straighten it with funding through grants from Waste Recycling Environment Limited (WREN) and the Pennycross Trust.