October 2018 newsletter

13TH OCTOBER 2018

Notes from Sandringham Parish Council

The Parish Council met on 5th September, and six of the seven Councillors were present but this time there were no members of the public in attendance.

We discussed issues that were brought forward from our July meeting as well as new ones which had arisen between then and this most recent one. Brought forward from July in particular included the lack of bus service from King’s Lynn after 4pm during the week, which had not only highlighted the difficulty faced by people returning from work or college in town, but also visitors to, and those working at Sandringham, wishing to return home to Dersingham and beyond. We had taken this matter (and related issues about bus stops at Elizabeth Cottages in West Newton) to the County Council, and whilst they had raised the issues with the Lynx bus company, nothing had yet been resolved to our satisfaction. County Council officials have assured us that they will continue to make the case for a later bus from Lynn running through West Newton and Sandringham to Hunstanton.

We have been required to complete surveys for the Borough Council to indicate the extent of problems with dog fouling and general littering. We highlighted spots in West Newton where dog fouling is especially a problem, as well as the litter coming from the Cliff Edge and Scissor car parks in Wolferton. The Borough Council has asked anybody seeing waste that has been fly tipped to report it to their hotline phone number so that they can take action.

The Borough Council appears set to take back in-house the running of sports, leisure and entertainment facilities from the charity Alive Leisure. Meantime, we have completed a survey for Alive on the recreational and sports facilities in the parish. Separately, we have queried the fact that the much heralded placing of road names in the parish by the Borough has yet to be completed. The County Council is examining ways of improving safety on the A149 which passes through the parish. Their original intention had been to erect average speed cameras between Knights Hill and Heacham, but we and other parish councils expressed the view that speed alone was not the sole cause of the more serious accidents along the route. We are therefore pleased that the County has taken notice of this and is now looking at the bigger issue of road junction layout as well as speed and will present a changed plan sometime soon. We have asked that the layout of the junction with the B1439 Lynn Road, where right turning traffic going on to the A149 mostly wrongly uses the left side of the grass triangle at Butlers Cross be reviewed as part of this exercise. Sadly, there was yet another accident at the junction of the A149 with Folly Hill leading to Sandringham on Sunday 2nd September showing again the incidence of these accidents is at junctions and not necessarily related to speed. Finally, Councillors continued their discussions about whether we should raise a Precept (a small amount added to your Council Tax bill to enable us to fund our own local priorities), discussions which started at the July meeting. It was reported that there have been conversations taking place that may enable the Parish Council to continue to function, but without the need for such a tax, and that more information will hopefully be ready in time for the November meeting.

The next meeting of the parish council is being held at Wolferton Social Club at 6.30pm on Wednesday 7th November and all are very welcome to attend.

Commemorating the centenary of the end of World War 1 on 11th November 2018

The centenary of the end of hostilities in World War I is on 11th November this year, fittingly a Sunday. It means that the annual Remembrance Day services, in churches and at war memorials up and down the country, will take place on the actual day rather than the nearest Sunday. “The eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month” has taken a special place in the national psyche ever since the Act of Remembrance was introduced in 1919 or 1920. “We shall not forget them”, and in particular we don’t forget those of this parish who lost their lives in this and subsequent wars. The biggest single of men from here was of all but one of the hundred or so of E Company of the 5th Territorial Battalion of the Royal Norfolk regiment. All were men from the Sandringham Estate, who had grown up and worked together, led by the Captain, Frank Beck, who, in peacetime, was the King’s Agent. Their first experience of battle was on 12th August 1915, at Gallipoli, in the Dardanelles campaign, and having charged forward they were all lost without trace. The toll on the community must have been immense and it is right and proper that we remember them and their families at this time.

As elsewhere we shall commemorate the ending of World War I on Sunday 11th November. The day will start with a lone piper playing the classic retreat march “When the battle is o’er” outside Sandringham Church at 6am. There will be a Remembrance Day family service at Wolferton Church at 9.30am, and the Act of Remembrance at Sandringham this year will start at 10.50am. At 6.50pm – the exact time of the end of the war – there will be an Act of Remembrance outside Sandringham Church with a bugler playing the last post. This will be followed by the lighting of a beacon in the park as part of a national programme.

We are grateful to the Borough Council and Norfolk Community Foundation for the granting of a small fund to assist the preparation and holding of the events on this important day of Remembrance.

Wolferton village news

St Peter’s Church services are held at 9.30am on the second Sunday of each month, which are followed by coffee and biscuits, making it quite a social occasion which draws from adjacent parishes. Next services are on 13th October (Mattins), 11th November (family Remembrance Day service) and, to be confirmed, 9th December (carol service) – please see next Village Voice for confirmation. Holy Communion is held at 8am on 28th October and 25th November.

The Church Roof project group has made an application to the Norfolk Churches Trust and other funding bodies as it moves towards the start of the essential work to repair the roof to protect other vital timbers in the building. It has received, and gives thanks for, a really helpful significant contribution to the fund from a local charity event. This has given the fundraising a really good kickstart and other activities will start to follow later in the year and into next year. The Social Club remains an active centre for village activities and especially the popular folk club and prize bingo held there. The club is open Wednesday to Saturday evenings and Sunday lunchtimes and all are welcome.

Eyes down for Prize Bingo is at 7.30pm one Tuesday a month, on the following dates:

  • October 16th
  • November: 20th
  • December: 18th

The Wolf Folk Club meets at 8pm alternate Thursdays at the Club and advertises its “music on the wild side” and ‘singarounds’. Dates for the rest of the year are:

  • October: 11th, 25th
  • November: 8th, 22nd
  • December: 6th, 20th

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