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October 2006
We have a World Champion Feltwellian! Her name is Chrissie Wellington and what follows is the text of an article in October’s parish magazine.
"It feels amazing. It’s just my dream come true." With these words Feltwell-born Chrissie Wellington summed up her victory in the World Amateur Triathlon Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 2nd September 2006.
Chrissie, 29, who won her place in Team GB by qualifying ten weeks earlier in Shropshire went on to say, "The training over the last ten weeks has been intense. You do a lot of hard work and sometimes you doubt if it’s all going to be worth it but this is a vindication of everything."
Chrissie’s proud mum, Lin Wellington of Feltwell, explained that Chrissie had lived in the village up until she went to Birmingham University when she was 18 years old. "She has always been very keen on sport and entered the Speight Coast to Coast in January 2006 in New Zealand and also a Triathlon in Argentina in April 2006 before qualifying for the World Championships."
Chrissie had a fantastic race to win gold in the 25-29 age group by a massive 7 minutes and 19 second. She was also the first woman overall by an equally impressive 4 minutes 2 seconds. Her winning time was 2:17:32 2. There were
82 competitors in this group.
About her performance Chrissie said that she was, "Pretty disappointed with the swim but I knew I was strong on the bike so to do badly with the swim made me even more determined to go well on the bike."
me with the hills on the Lausanne course."
Chrissie works for Defra in London but has now decided to give up work and do triathlon on a professional basis. However, before embarking upon this career she is looking forward to a couple of weeks off.
A video interview of Chrissie after her victory can be seen at: http://www.britishtriathlon.org/news/video.php?video=chrissie_wellington
Well done, Chrissie!
Feltwellian John Edwards would like us all to know that he has just finished two Radio Four programmes for the Archive Hour which he narrates and writes. The first one, titled the Edwards Archive, is about the history of the cinema newsreel and, during the opening sequence, he mentions his teenage four times a week visits to the Feltwell Rex cinema during the late 40s/50s. The program also goes out on the World Service. The exact date for the R4 broadcast to follow but probably the last Saturday in Oct. The Archive Hour goes out every Saturday at 8pm.
The September web update (end of August) didn’t get done because my ISP messed up my Front Page Server Extensions and by the time the issue got sorted out I was back at work in my new job. I’m sure that things will settle down eventually and I hope that normal service will be resumed this month.
Following my mention of the Feltwell Frappr group we now have 12 members registered (It’s free).
Many of you may not know that Feltwell has a MOTTLERS group. This is a pre school group and it meets every Thursday morning between 10.00am and 12.00pm in the WI hall. It is open to all children from birth to five years. It gives the children a chance to mix with other children before they begin playschool or school. It also gives new mums the chance to meet and make new friends. As well as meeting every week they also take the children on outings during the year to, for example, Banham Zoo, Brancaster beach, etc. The children do craft sessions giving them the chance to play with glue, stickers, Playdough etc. The first session is free, then £1.50 per family thereafter. The group is entirely run by a wonderful group of volunteers. And MOTTLERS (for those who don’t know) is made from MOTHERS and TODDLERS. I just thought they deserved a mention.
And now for a little rewrite of Feltwell’s history, or is it? The following comes from Stephen Wordsworth.
"My link with Feltwell is some way back. William Henry Roberts, my great, great, great grandfather, was surgeon in the village in the early 18th century; indeed, A J Orange's article on 'Feltwell Doctors' on your site says he is the first one known. I can probably go back one further. William Henry Roberts's father, Howland Roberts (born 1764), is recorded as being a surgeon in Ticehurst, Sussex in 1785 (Ticehurst was the family home); and in Old Bond Street in 1787. Howland married a girl from Rotherhithe, Elizabeth Maynard, and their first son, William Henry Roberts, was born in Hackney in 1788. But their seven subsequent children were all baptised at Feltwell St Mary over the period 1790 - 1804, and I assume that Howland was supporting his family by continuing his profession in Feltwell during this time.
I have no idea why Howland Roberts moved to Feltwell. He was the youngest of ten children, seven of whom were boys, so he had to earn his keep somehow; and one of his older brothers was also a surgeon. But as far as I know there was no previous Norfolk connection. Nor do I know where or when he died. His son, William Henry Roberts, married (as AJO records) a local Feltwell girl, Jane Willett. Their seven children were all born in Feltwell. Their second child, Lucy Jane Roberts, married Matthew Parrington, then the curate of Feltwell in 1847, after which he resigned the curacy and moved away. My mother, Ruth, was born Ruth Parrington, being Matthew's great granddaughter."
What do you think? Should I rewrite the list of Feltwell Doctors?
Finally, here is a nice Feltwell connection from Sid and Pat Banks.
"My Wife and I met while serving in Flying Training, B Flight No 1 Squadron in 1950-52. I was an SAC Engine Mechanic Aircraft, she worked as a LAC Parachute Packer and Dinghy Radio Maintainer. Our Single names were Sidney (Sid) Banks and Patricia (Pat) Cooper. We married while I was still serving as a National Serviceman and lived at 44 Munsons Place at the home of Fred and Pat Young. We rented two rooms. Fred and Pat later moved to 9 Addison Close and we kept in touch until Fred passed away and Pat went to join her son in Canada. Our daughter Susan was born in 44 Munsons place in September 1952. Pat and I used to attend St Mary's Church each Sunday and walked for miles in the area. I joined the RAOB which used to meet in the village Pub (I forget the pub's name), the ceiling of which I had the job of cleaning of tobacco when I worked for the local builder after leaving the airforce. Pat and I tried to buy a smallholding that had a permanently erected London Prefab and a large chicken shed, a cow and three meadows. We also tried to buy a two storey Flint Cottage on the corner of Munsons Lane but at the time we could not get finance for either. If we had been able to get finance our family history would have been quite different.
We have lived in Canbarra, Australia, since 1955 and would dearly like to contact any one from the RAF, or the village, who might remember us.
Now there’s an invite to all our Australian Feltwellians.
