On This Week: Taking a look back at Snettisham pub celebrations as well as the 2001 headlines in King’s Lynn, Grimston, Congham and Terrington St John
In our regular On This Week feature, we look back at what was making the headlines in 2001, as well as a picture from 1981…
On this week: May 1-7, 2001:
Wheelie bins will not be introduced in the rest of the borough until the existing problems are sorted out, West Norfolk Council has decided. So far, 27,000 households out of 63,000 in the borough have changed over to the new environmentally-friendly service. But during a heated debate at a full council meeting, members were told there were “horrendous problems” in North Lynn, which was “absolutely littered with rubbish” and there was a claim of big problems in South Lynn.
Councillors agreed that the second stage of the change from a bin bag collection service to wheelie bins would be put back to May 14 – and would not progress until the service was running smoothly and the helpline had cleared its backlog of complaints.
Lynn’s northern gateway is set to be transformed by a £10 million-plus development scheme for the former Anglia Canners site, off Edward Benefer Way. Outline planning permission has been given for new homes, stores and business units to be built on the 10-acre site which at present lies derelict apart from a few warehouses. Essex-based property company Turnstone has been talking with stores and businesses interested in moving onto the site called Benefer Park and has already agreed terms with some of them.
St Augustine’s Healthy Living Centre in North Lynn has been opened by the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Rev Graham Jones. The centre, in Columbia Way, aims to provide a holistic approach to health and well-being and will provide the people of North Lynn and North End with their own dedicated GP and primary health care service. St Augustine’s houses a child care centre and play area, community café, learning centre, computer centre with internet access, arts studio and a range of advice services.
Captain George Vancouver and Bishop Herbert de Losinga are being brought back to life by Lynn Town Guides this summer. The two are part of historic characters set to be resurrected for a special series of town walks. Town guides are currently rehearsing their roles, lines and having their costumes made up, with officials saying the aim of the tours was to bring more of Lynn’s colourful history to light. The living history walks are scheduled for three Wednesday evenings in August and one is September, with proceeds donated to preservation projects in Lynn.
The Duke of Edinburgh has contributed an oil painting of Wolferton mud flats to an art exhibition at St Botolph’s Church in Grimston. About 380 paintings from 76 West Norfolk artists will be on display and up for sale, with ten per cent of any sales going towards church funds. It is believed the Duke of Edinburgh’s oil painting has not been exhibited before in West Norfolk.
West Norfolk licensee Rob Boulter, of the Anvil at Congham, is convinced he saw a panther in a field behind his pub last week. He pointed it out to two customers and went outside to watch it at close range through a pair of binoculars. He said: “It was less than 100 yards away and looking through the binocular,s I could see the whiskers on its nose. It was pure black and more than a metre-and-a-half long from nose to tail. This sighting came at the same time as Norfolk was placed seventh in a national league table of big cat sightings.
Lynn Knights speedway team sensationally fell to a 75-0 league defeat away to Eastbourne following a row over the eligibility of a guest rider they wanted to use. The Eagles were awarded the meeting by referee Jim Lawrence and Lynn were fined the maximum £250 for refusing to ride. Because of injury to Lee Redmond, Lynn had brought in Danny Bird as a replacement, having been given clearance earlier in the week by the speedway authorities. On the day, however, the referee ruled that Lynn had been given the wrong information and Bird could not be used. Club boss Nigel Wagstaff said: “Sometimes we have to stand our ground.”
A new village hall for Terrington St John is a little closer after a consultation exercise in the village. Displays about other village halls across West Norfolk were put up at the scout hut in Old Church Road as several hundred of Terrington St John’s 835 villages turned up to pass on their suggestions. A new hall would replace the church hall, which was now looking like a “tired building that was run down”.
