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April 2004
I've just realised that it is the 10th April and I haven't done the newsletter! "What's your excuse this month?" I hear you ask. The answer is a preoccupation with a small database project which I volunteered to do for a friend which, like the website' has taken on the characteristics of Topsy. If only I'd known......
Thanks to the many of you who emailed your suggestions about obtaining additional free space for the website. It is much appreciated. I've decided, for the time being, to move all of the RAF Feltwell material to Feltwell.org.uk which is where Feltwell Today resides. Paul Whiteside who owns Feltwell.org.uk has given me access to 100Mb! I very generous offer and one which I intend to take up. So the long job of excising RAF Feltwell material from webs 1 and 2 will begin once this newsletter is finished. Oh Joy, Oh Rapture. As payback - Paul owns and runs Whiteside Computers in Thetford, PCs tailor-made to your requirements.
On the village front we are to get some new pavement lighting courtesy of the County Council to be erected alongside the Base on Long Lane and Blackdyke. The fact that there is not a pavement there seems not to enter into the equation! I suspect some of Uncle Sam's dollars and MOD weight has been brought to bear but the Parish Council are not complaining as we wont be paying. Talking of the PC, we are making slow but steady progress in our negotiations with a Housing Association about building some starter homes in the village. We've already had one person express an interest in buying/renting one and the location hasn't yet been decided! Unfortunately, even slower progress is being made on the issue of demolishing the Youth Centre. We had to have various bits of building material analysed for Asbestos and, guess what, some was found but in very small amounts. No doubt it will put up the cost of the project. Perhaps we should simply leave the demolition to the very tiny group of teenagers who, almost weekly now, break into the building or do other damage elsewhere in the village. And the traffic queue issue at the entrance to the Base on Wilton Road continues to rumble on. When compared with trying to get into Kings Lynn on a morning the problem is small but the danger of a nasty accident is very real. If you look at the photographs of the Wilton Road on site 3 you will see that this junction is situated at the top of a hill (a slight rise anywhere else in the country) and those caught in the queue (brought about by increased security post 9/11) but not going onto the Base are tempted to try to overtake. Unfortunately they cannot see what is leaving the village and, equally important, traffic leaving the Base cannot see the overtakers. I, myself, whilst leaving the village have been forced off the road and onto the verge a couple of times. It doesn't help that some of the American drivers coming off the Base are new to narrow British roads, however, realise that the overtakers are largely Brits in a hurry. As I said earlier, a recipe for disaster. On a more positive Anglo-American note, I'm trying to organise a 'Get to know cricket' event between the Cricket Club and the US service personnel for later in the summer. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Club will still be in existence as they have lost a number of members in the closed season.
You may recall that Feltwell residence Richard Hunt is running in the London Marathon on behalf of the charity SENSE. He hopes to raise £1500 and, at an incredibly well attended Quiz Night in March, he raised £520. Boy, did Sue and I panic when we arrived to do the Quiz! We'd only prepared, as usual, for ten teams and we had 16! I understand that at a recent Race Night held at The Chequers in excess of £600 was raised. Richard's wife, a very accomplished quilter, is raffling a magnificent quilt as part of the fund-raising. It has been wonderful to see the village rally round Richard. At the Quiz Night previous London Marathon runners from the village turned out in force and we all had to wear 'runners numbers'. Being the Quizmaster I got to wear a marshals fluorescent top. I've discovered I don't look good in lime green.
Membership has remained unchanged during the last month which has also been quiet on the email front so nothing to report which means that this is the end of April's newsletter
