Archive for April, 2010

Norfolk crafts and May traditions at Bircham Windmill

Friday, April 23rd, 2010
Bircham Windmill Sails in Position

Bircham Windmill Sails in Position

Photos by Elly Chalmers

Bircham Windmill’s sails have been renewed and are turning after lying dormant for three years.  In that time, the replacement of a rotting weather beam had to be orchestrated. Recently an on-site crane lifted and supported the heavy wind shaft while the old weather beam was removed and the new one placed securely into position.

Owner, Elly Chalmers said that the last time the weather beam had been replaced was in 1979 by her parents, Roger and Gina Wagg, who restored the mill having bought in it 1975 when the building was derelict.  Elly and her husband Steve now run this popular Norfolk tourist attraction which appeals to many young families who will be delighted to once again climb to the top of the windmill and see all the machinery working just as it has done for more than 160 years (although no wheat will be ground).

Bircham Windmill continues to bake fresh bread and cakes daily during the summer season which is now underway.  Bircham Windmill now also produces and sells its own feta and Wensleydale type cheeses from the milk produced by their flock of sheep which can be seen being milked at 2pm every day. The work was carried out by Lincolnshire millwrights, R.Thompson and Son.

Bolting Windmill Sails in Place

Bolting Windmill Sails in Place

This May Bank Holiday, Sunday 2nd and Monday 3rd of May, Bircham Windmill are holding their annual Craft Fair.    The fair and the Windmill attraction will be open from 10 am to 5 pm each day and it is FREE ENTRY to all the ground floor areas of this lovely, unspoilt attraction and of course FREE ENTRY to the Craft Fair itself.

On Sunday there is the Castaways singing  from 1pm and on Monday the annual, unusual Maypole dancing!  Sally North and choreographer, Rose Lowe have developed some more complicated dances.   The maypole will be whirling from about 1pm onwards and we are hoping for as many volunteers as possible for the dancing and the band.

The Windmill museum, tearoom, bakery, gift shop and cycle hire are all open as usual and well worth a visit.   Local photographs and paintings by Roger Jennings will be on display, and outside, for the children are guinea pigs, rabbits, sheep and ponies.   The bakery will be running flat out over the bank holiday weekend to provide bread, rolls, cakes and scones for visitors to buy, or sample in the tearooms.

For further details contact Elly Chalmers on 01485 578393  www.birchamwindmill.co.uk info@birchamwindmill.co.uk

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Heacham residents runs London Marathon for charity

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
Leesa Espley and Terry Clay following one of their Great Northern Runs

Leesa Espley and Terry Clay following one of their Great Northern Runs

Well known Heacham resident, Terry Clay (62) has been running for at least 13 yrs and entered many running events.

Terry has run the Great North Run no less than six times and thought it was about time he went for the marathon so he is running in this year’s London Marathon as he says “they don’t come any bigger than this”.  Terry is running alongside his good friend Leesa Espley who is running to raise funds for the RNLI whilst Terry will raise funds for Parkinson’s UK (the new name for the Parkinson’s Disease Society).  He hopes to complete the London Marathon in a very respectable 5 hours.

Terry would love to thank everyone who has sponsored him and he particularly appreciates the generosity of the people of Heacham over the years as they have helped him to raise more than £7.000.00 for his cause (including the amount raised for from this year’s London Marathon – to date around £2,000.00).

Although Terry is concerned that the weather looks set to be a little too warm for running he feels that he has waited long enough for some warm sunshine so will make the most of it and enjoy the run.

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Easter Pilgrimage in Heacham 2010

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

Posted by Rev Steve Davies – Vicar of the Church of St Mary the Virigin, Heacham

Heacham Easter Pilgrimage 2010

Heacham Easter Pilgrimage 2010

Around 50 people walked from the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Heacham to the Methodist Church on a (surprisingly) bright but cold Good Friday morning taking a wooden cross from the church.  This walk elicits memories of the very different walk that Jesus Christ was forced to make through the streets of Jerusalem 2000 years ago.  On that occasion the destination was a hill outside the city walls where executions were held.

On this Good Friday we recalled those events and bore witness to what God was doing today.  Our destination was different and no-one forced us to make the walk.  The events of long ago changed the world.  That might be beyond us but we can affect our world, and it was with that in mind the walkers and those who could not walk joined together at the Methodist church for a short service when we remembered the events of that friday long ago.  God became man – that is the Christmas story.  That man, through his suffering, shows us that no-one is so far away from God that God cannot touch them.  If the story of Jesus ended with the cross it would not be a Good Friday – the resurrection on the first Easter morning showed that this story does not end.

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Heacham Digital Camera Club looks back on 2009

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

By Viv Walker, Chairperson of Heacham Digital Camera Club

Fred Galley with top Photographs of the Year 2009

Fred Galley with top Photographs of the Year 2009

2009 was an eventful year for Heacham Digital Camera Club.  We exhibited our photographs locally several times during the year which was a great success as some of the club members sold framed photographs which really does give you a boost.

Heather Brown from Snettisham had a photograph chosen for The Wash Calender 2010 also, Heather and husband Trevor were asked to provide many of their photographs for Corgi News which obviously includes The Royal Family. Derek Dean from Hunstanton was runner up in West Norfolk in Bloom photography competition.  Alan Walker is having some of his photographs used in a book about the North Norfolk Coast and along with wife Viv have many photographs on the Lancashire Heeler website which were also used on the large screens at Crufts in March this year and many of their framed local photographs furnish the walls of Millbridge Nursing Home in Heacham.  Club members’ photographs are being used for websites which we are honoured to provide.  We have also been selling local scene cards, bookmarks, postcards and magnets.  Should anyone wish to enquire about these, just email us.

Stylus on a moving record by Michaela Dartford, HDCC

Stylus on a moving record by Michaela Dartford, HDCC

The camera club ran a Male V Female competition last year on ‘Movement’.  This was judged by Roy Williamson who is very well qualified in photography after many years as Lynn News Photographer, and what a lovely man………he chose the ladies as the winning team.  He only came in the room after the two batches of entries were laid out, so didn’t see which was which and wasn’t open to bribery either. All the ladies were so pleased, as normally it`s a man who wins photographer of the year so guess we have proved we are as good as the men when it comes to photography.

Just thought I would include in this article a picture with a difference, a stylus on a moving record, which was one of the winning team entries by Michaela Dartford.

Anyone wishing to join us or wanting more information on our fun nights at The Sandringham Club, West Newton can email: heachamdigitalcameraclub@yahoo.co.uk or call me, Viv on 07906 056019.

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Charity Bike Ride: Lands End to John O’Groats via Sandringham, Norfolk!

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
Current Park House Mini Bus with Phil Davies and a resident

Current Park House Mini Bus with Phil Davies and a resident

Phil Davies, a member of the Discover West Norfolk group, is seeking sponsorship for cycling over 1,000 miles from Lands End to John O’Groats this summer  in aid of Park House, the Leonard Cheshire Disability hotel located at Sandringham, near Kings Lynn.

Phil, part of the Pensthorpe bird reserve team in Norfolk, also works as a volunteer minibus driver for Park House, and is spearheading an appeal to raise £38,000 for a much-needed new minibus.  The bike ride will cover over 1,000 miles in 12 days at an average of 85 miles a day and will raise funds for Leonard Cheshire Disability, in memory of Phil’s dad, who was paralysed and wheelchair bound in a car accident. He used to visit Park House, the only Leonard Cheshire hotel for the disabled in the country, and Phil now works there once or twice a week as a volunteer, taking guests and their carers out in their (very old) minibus.

If you would like to follow Phil’s training and fundraising progress, you can visit his blog on http://www.lcdisability.org/eventsblog, or to sponsor him go to www.justgiving.com/PhilBobGerry-LEJOG.

So please give generously - these are tough rides and it’s a very worthwhile cause!

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Heacham Scarecrow Festival is on Sunday, 30 May 2010 – 2pm to 5pm

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
Entry in Heacham Scarecrow Festival 2009

Entry in Heacham Scarecrow Festival 2009

If you have never made a Scarecrow before, why not give it a go this year?  There is plenty going on at the wonderful Heacham Scarecrow Festival, but without your Scarecrow entries it would be nothing.  However rough and ready, large or small, all entries will be welcomed and could win a cash prize! If you have any questions on how to build one, or what to do with it when built, please contact Beth on 01485 572890.

If your organisation or club would like to run a stall and raise some money for your funds, please contact Beth for details.

If you would just like to visit the Heacham Scarecrow Festival for the fun of it, there will be a display of live entertainment by the Lavender Hill Mob.  If you have never seen them perform, please come and enjoy the show.  Stalls and refreshments will also be available.  In addition, the beautiful gardens at Millbridge Care Home in Lynn Road, Heacham are always worth a visit in the summer.

Whatever else you do this summer, don’t miss the fun of the Heacham Scarecrow Festival!

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Heacham Junior School receives Grand Slam award

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
Best Attendance Award for Grand Slam 2010 - Heacham Junior School

Heacham Junior School Awarded Best Attendance for Grand Slam 2010

Photos by Rob Topliss

Heacham Junior School received an award for best attendance at this year’s Grand Slam programme.  The awards were held in Hunstanton Town Hall and Hunstanton Mayor, Christine Earnshaw attended to congratulate the children.  The children had just completed a ten week Playing for Success (PfS) programme in the Grand Slam Learning Centre based at Premier Racquets & Fitness in Sedgeford.  Children from Blenheim Park, Flitcham, Sedgeford and Sandringham & West Newton Primary Schools  also took part in the programme and qualified for awards.

Adam Edwards, Grand Slam Centre Manager said: “This was our inaugural presentation event at the Town Hall with all five schools who have attended Grand Slam this term receiving their prizes at the same time. There was a positive response from children and parents to this grand event with over 170 people in attendance, including the Mayor who presented Sandringham & West Newton Primary with the Best Team Spirit and Heacham Junior Best Attendance awards.”

Mr Edwards went  on to explain that through the medium of tennis as a stimulus the children develop their literacy, numeracy, ICT, tennis and fundamental movement skills during nine three hour sessions after school.

Best Team Spirit Grand Slam Award 2010 - Sandringham & West Newton Primary

Sandringham & West Newton Primary - Best Team Spirit Award 2010

Their hard work culminated in this rewards ceremony with prizes for children making the best improvement in tennis, best sports person, school with the best attendance and school demonstrating the best team spirit throughout the programme. Mr Edwards suggested that the programme may even uncover the next Tim Henman or Andy Murray.

The Grand Slam is one of Norfolk County Council (NCC) Children’s Services Study Centres, which is part funded by the Council and the Department for Children, Schools and Families. With four other centres in Norwich City Football Club, North Walsham Rugby Club, King’s Lynn Stars Speedway and Cliff Park High School in Gorleston, Norfolk has an extensive field of Extended Services available to schools.

Since opening in September 2007 over four hundred children from nineteen different schools have attended our after school PfS programme. The centre also delivers courses in the daytime for schools and adult groups. A group of nine adults have just completed a free ten week ‘writing skills for beginners’ course delivered by NCC Adult Education.

With funding secured for another year the centre is looking to make this learning resource an invaluable part of the community that everybody can access.

For more details about the centre and courses available contact Adam Edwards on 01485 579385 or 07818 457223, email adam.edwards@norfolk.gov.uk or visit the Grand Slam website www.grandslamlearningcentre.co.uk.

Sedgeford Primary - Grand Slam Awards 2010

Sedgeford Primary - Grand Slam Awards 2010

Flitcham Primary - Grand Slam Awards 2010

Flitcham Primary - Grand Slam Awards 2010

Blenheim Park Primary - Grand Slam Awards 2010

Blenheim Park Primary - Grand Slam Awards 2010

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