Saints Alive: Stanhoe and Barwick Newsletter

March 2009

Dates for your diary or calendar

5th March:

W.I. Meeting 2.30 pm in the village hall. Mary Cundy – Fairtrade Trading. New members always welcome. Just come along and meet us.

5th March:

Parish Council meeting in the Village Hall at 7 pm.

21st March:

Village quiz 8 pm in the village hall. More information below.

Thanks to Brian

For many years, Saints Alive has been compiled jointly by Yvonne Rawlins and Brian Smith. Since moving away from Stanhoe due to ill health, Brian has continued to perform this valuable task, but having reached a significant birthday, he decided that enough was enough, and stood down. The village owes Brian a sincere thank you for all his efforts in this regard, along with a great deal of other work which he did for the benefit of the community.

Village Quiz

It’s that time of year again! The quiz will take place in the village hall at 8 pm; tables of four or six at 50p per person. You could go home with the quiz cup which you hold for 1 year and there will also be a raffle with lots of prizes to be won. So do come along and join in the fun.

Farewell to Georgina goose

A long standing feature of our pond, Georgina the goose, died on 31st January. She lived happily among the ducks, and each year built her nest in the spring, although her unfertilised eggs never produced any goslings. She had been resident on the pond for some five years, leading a quiet life while one of her companions, George, became a media celebrity for his notoriety in threatening the postman!

Unlike the ducks, Georgina seldom strayed onto the road, so it is sadly ironic that she appears to have been killed by a passing motorist who, presumably, was unable to see a very large, white bird just beyond the windscreen.

Hedge Cutting

A number of us here have been dismayed by the sheer havoc created by the so-called hedger recently, especially in Bircham Road and Barwick Road. Rather than cut branches (which his equipment can do) he simply smashes them with his flail, leaving a scene of devastation which is a disaster both environmentally and in terms of habitat: presumably he is paid according to the distance he covers rather than the time he takes to cover it. Surely there is some official body which can insist that such operatives are properly trained? The large gaps in our hedges are a silent testimony to past years of bad maintenance.

Parish Council

Readers will recall that last spring the Parish Council applied for grants, available to villages with more than 10% holiday homes, and this enabled the pond to be tidied up and the path reopened. Grants are available again this year, and your suggestions are sought. Unfortunately, the final date for applications has been brought forward to 31st March, so your ideas are required before the Parish Annual Meeting.

Please contact the Clerk to the Parish Council – Peter Hallinan – on 518099.

Purfleet Trust

The PCC has decided to support the above trust in response to a request from the Deanery Synod. The Purfleet Trust was established 15 years ago to assist in the resettlement of homeless people in the King’s Lynn area, and has become the main source of help in the locality for families whom the Local Authority is unable to assist. The Purfleet Trust depends entirely on grants and donations for its work, but is also asking for our help in a more practical way. Those people who have been found accommodation often have little money to obtain food and kitchen basics. We are simply asked to provide donations of tinned food or cooking utensils.

Throughout Lent there will be a box at the back of the church where you can place any donations of food or cooking utensils. The PCC felt that many people in the village might like to support this very worthwhile charity, whether churchgoers or not. The church is open during daylight hours and all donations will be collected by the Trust.

Stanhoe’s first BMACCS prizewinner

At the recent “Burnham Market Car Scheme 100’s Club” AGM, the January draw allocated a prize of £25 to Sandy Brownjohn of Stanhoe. (The other prizewinners were from Titchwell and Burnham Market). Let’s hope the good luck keeps coming to the village now that we have had a prizewinner.

‘Sam’ – Speed Monitoring

The device which is operated by the police and is completely separate from our Community Speedwatch has been visiting Stanhoe, as was reported recently. Some statistics have now been received, which show that although average recordings look reasonable, individual figures are more worrying. In the Bircham Road 30 mph limit (other data not being available at present), not surprisingly the traffic approaching the device from the pond junction was generally slower, but there were still 5 vehicles per hour exceeding the 30 mph limit – the fastest speed recorded being 45 mph.

On the approach from the south, the highest recorded speed was 49 mph, and on one occasion, 30 out of the 33 vehicles which passed the device in the hour of monitoring were driving in excess of the 30 mph limit. The full statistics will be available to see at the parish annual meeting in April.