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Written Records

December 2007

It has been some time since I last wrote which reflects the pace of life in the village and in the development of the website. Life ticks on at a generally leisurely pace now that I’ve left teaching and is punctuated by regular events such as the monthly Parish Council meetings and magazine deadlines although this November and December have been much busier what with charity meetings, carol concerts and quiz nights. Most of the Feltwell charities meet once a year to decide upon their annual Christmas handout, some of which are quite small but of great importance to the recipients. If you are interested in finding out more about the various Feltwell charities visit the Charity Commission website and type in Feltwell, Rawlins, De Moundeford. It’s a most fascinating place to spend some time and I’ve just found out that there are many more charities in Feltwell than I knew about including Feltwell School PTA and the WI.

Although changes to the website have been few and far between in recent months changes to the village certainly have not. The High Street has been completely resurfaced, not just top-dressed but a full surface shave and new tarmac job. Of course, when you take the surface off you remove all the white lines so when the white-lining team comes to put them back they have no idea of the layout of the junctions because nobody thought to make a drawing before the surface was removed. The junction outside the garage was extremely dangerous for several days as the road markings bore little relationship to the signage! I think we were very lucky we didn’t have a serious accident. All is now as it should be and I hope the Highways department has learned a lesson, but I doubt it. The development behind the old school is still proceeding; just what its completion date is I have no idea but photos will appear on the website eventually. The new housing behind the Doctors’ Surgery is going up a pace and the road will by named Upcher Close. The Upcher family owned East Hall on Lodge Road and Henry Edward Sparke Upcher was a Parish Councillor from 1910-1923. In addition several new houses have been built and the Mission Hall has been demolished in order to open up more building land. If any of you have photographs of the Mission Hall, inside or out, in its heyday please email me a copy. We had a spate of vandalism in Oct-Nov as a few bad apples in the latest generation of youngsters decided to flex their muscles. Hopefully the Police have now got this sorted but it has led to calls for CCTV to be installed on the playing field as part of the Parish Council’s playing field improvement initiative. And talking of the Parish Council, we are, at last, a full Council having gone for many months with several vacancies. Thanks to all those who have put themselves forward.

The Friends of St Mary’s continue to fund raise with gusto but still have a very long way to go. If you would like to buy a Feltwell keyring, coaster, lovely jute shopping bag or a St Mary tea towel please click here http://www.feltwell.co.uk/stmarys/ or get in touch with me. They all make great Christmas presents! Unfortunately the Play Group will also be doing some major fund-raising as the number of children attending has fallen in recent months so their income barely covers expenditure. I say, unfortunately, because nobody wants to see any village organization in financial trouble but also because they will both be competing for the same money.

I now own both Feltwell.net and Feltwell.org.uk. Both addresses take you to the same content at the moment but this may change. In addition, we are looking at a separate Parish Council website as the Council starts to move into the digital age! I knew I needed something to keep me busy!

Finally, we have a Feltwellian World Champion. Chrissie Wellington became WC Ironman earlier this year.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/content/articles/2007/10/20/sport_ironman_chrissiewellington_20071020_feature.shtml

And after this piece of good news all that remains is for me to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Until 2008…