B LYTHBURGH P ARISH N EWS

Issue 52 www.onesuffolk.co.uk/blythburghPC May/July 2010

On the starting blocks for Olympic party

It is all systems go for Parish Council‟s London 2012 Olympic celebration on theRaise White aHart glass together to with Blythburgh pool and boules July 25 this year. Through the county council, tournaments.A new look annual The Hart parish will meeting also make will a be good held in Celebrating Blythburgh has been granted £400 startingthe village point hall for at guided7.30pm ri onver May bank 19. walks Please for its part in the county-wide Open escortedmake a real by Cliffeffort Waller to come. and TheAdam purpose Burrows is toand Weekend. Additional funding is coming from the boatensure rides parishioners on the river are provided fully aware by Naturalof what is parish council and Blythburgh Latitude Trust. England.going on and what is being done in their name. This year, all the parish groups have been invited The day, designed to appeal to young and old, Blythburghto mount a small Parish display Council of their has year‟s regretfully work. will feature a wide range of events held in Holy acceptedThere will the be resignations plenty of opportunity of Binny Lewis for informal and Trinity, The Priory gardens, The White Hart, the Robertdiscussions Benson. over Binny a glass was of thewine driving and light force bites Village Hall, the river and the river bank. The behindprovided the by Parish the parishCouncil‟s council. desire It isto ho improveped that day starts with a community service in Holy safetythis will on ensurethe A 12that and everybody around the in thevillage. parish Her has Trinity, which will also host an art exhibition by doggedan opportunity determination, to see whichand discuss earned just the what is Paul Bennett and an illustrated talk on the nicknameavailable toQueen them of in Speed, the year led whento the regular formation of history of Blythburgh by Alan Mackley. There Blythburghevents are Speedto be heldWatch in thein February village hall. last The year 2010 will also be guided tours of this historic church. (seeVillager Page of 7). the The Year council will be is delightedannounced th at thisshe is Nick and Susan Haward have kindly agreed that tomeeting. continue He in or her she role will as receive speed watcha £50 voucherco- to a number of activities can take place in their ordinator.spend in the Robert Village was Shop chair or of the the White planning Hart. sub - garden. There will be a barbecue – free to The entire parish is welcome. So please be parishioners on production of a family voucher athere. bouncy castle in the White Hart, together with distributed in July‟s Parish News – a live band, pool and boules tournaments. The Hart will also 1940s disco by the Jive Bunnies, and a pay bar make a good starting point for guided river bank provided by the White Hart. There will be timed walks escorted by wildlife experts Cliff Waller tours of the 12th century priory ruins and a and Adam Burrows with boat rides on the river number of stalls promoting local products in The provided by Natural England. Priory car park. The Village Hall will concentrate on indoor Goodbye and good luck sports - table tennis, pool, air hockey and carpet Blythburgh Parish Council has regretfully bowls. The hall will also show a video of Channel accepted the resignations of Binny Lewis and 4‟s Time Team excavation at the Priory and Robert Benson. Binny was the driving force display the best in a free-to-enter photographic behind Blythburgh Community Speed Watch. competition organised by (see Page 7). Robert was chair of the planning INSIDE professional photographer sub-committee and worked hard to ensure that Simon Barnes 3 and former Blythburgh the council‟s approach to planning applications Bystander 5 resident Nick Catling. Mrs Clapham 6 was clear and transparent. Steps are now being Speed Watch 7 The prize will be a day‟s taken to find replacements. Sonia Boggis 8 photographic course. Guides 9 Details will be published Binny and Robert are to continue as CSW and Prof John Allen 10 shortly. For younger Neighbourhood co-ordinators respectively. Character 11 visitors there will be a Daisy Bank 12 David Tytler Page 2 Issue 52

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Issue 52 Page 3 In praise of all those wonderful birds Simon Barnes, of The Times, welcomes sea eagles to the skies of Suffolk

I had been in Australia covering Andy Murray at enlightened times, but it still goes on. In 2008 the the Australian Open, and it was a long way to go RSPB received more than 200 reports of birds of for three sets of tennis. Paradoxically, I found prey being shot, poisoned or trapped: the tip of myself as high as a kite when I hit the ground, a the iceberg. Illegal and yet the crimes are combination of relief and a couple of pre-dawn frequently carried out by people who consider Bloody Marys, but all that wore off as we hit the themselves law-abiding. But don‟t look for A12 on the way back to Suffolk. rationality where birds of prey are concerned. I was passing into the nightmare doze of long- In my part of Suffolk, landowners have put up haul travel. But then a drama. Instantaneous, and large signs demanding SAY NO TO SEA EAGLES. played to an audience of one, like so many of the Er, why? The answer is because they‟ll eat babies, best wildlife moments. There, nonchalantly dogs and cats and they‟ll eat all the piglets from cruising the skyways, much more at home in the the free-range piggeries. The answer is because air than me, a creature of wonder. A buzzard. they‟re birds of prey, and that plays havoc with If you live to the west rather than the east, you‟ll human minds. be saying bah and pshaw and what‟s so great There are 400 pairs of white-tailed sea eagles in about that? Buzzards are a common daily site. Germany; somehow, life carries on. It is just I‟ve seen them on visits away from my eastern possible that the same thing may be true in East stronghold. Fine Anglia. After all, the eagles‟ favourite foods are birds: too cool to fish and carrion, and there is a process for flap, great raggedy dealing with compensation for loss of livestock. wings, and a shrill They are ancestral; British birds, the fourth- valley-filling voice. largest eagle in the world, and they have been I saw one the other successfully reintroduced to Scotland in a day just a couple of programme dating back to 1975. There are now miles from my place, 42 pairs of breeding birds in the country: we‟re mantling over not exactly overrun with them. Even so, they something dead, in have been the victims of illegal persecution. the time-honoured While many people are overjoyed at the idea of bird-of-prey fashion, giant eagles wheeling across the sky, others find Bunny, I bet: the thought disturbing. They feel like Red Riding buzzards are great Hood knocking on Granny‟s door. All predators scoffers of rabbits. This one had a white breast; touch something very deep in us: birds of prey fly buzzards are not supposed to have such things, past all the rational circuits in the brain. When but they are notoriously variable. birds of prey come up for discussion, we leave Buzzards are just beginning to be a fact of life our civilised selves behind. Some find a rich around Suffolk. When you see a buzzard out in atavistic delight; others find only fear and the East, you are entitled to walk with a spring in loathing. your step. It means something, you see. It means In Suffolk we have marsh harriers, birds that that buzzards are on the way back: all over the were once reduced to a single pair in the entire country, birds of prey are doing better than they country. Every harrier I see is an inspiration. The have been for years. harriers are here, the buzzards are on their way They were all hammered by DDT and other back, and now the big skies of Suffolk could poisons in their system in the 1950s and 1960s; welcome home the sea eagles. Bring „em on. and they have been shot and poisoned without This article is reproduced by kind permission mercy. This is illegal, of course, but plenty of people are prepared to break the law for the of The Times and Simon Barnes sake of birds of prey. We are in supposedly Page 4 Issue 52

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Issue 52 Page 5 AROUND THE VILLAGE Star of screen and cutting room floor Blythburgh‟s History Man, Alan Mackley, had his included two Saville daughters, is fanatical about five minutes of fame in The Restoration Man on the children‟s author‟s books and goes around Channel 4 at the end of April. He appeared looking at locations he used. Blythburgh alongside Scott Welch, owner and restorer of features in Sea Witch Comes Home published in Gate Lodge. Former heavyweight 1960 based on the 1953 floods. Malcolm Saville boxing champ Scott Welch has been filmed with was not the first or last author to use Brad Pitt. Shades of I danced with the man who Blythburgh in his books. Henry Rider Haggard danced with the girl who danced with the Prince of wrote Red Eve, a medieval romp about the Wales. Our hero thought the programme was daughter of Blythburgh Lords of the Manor, the one of the better ones in the series. But he Claverings, and P. D. James had her detective would wouldn‟t he. Adam Dalgleish spend some contemplative time He had as much work as unpaid consultant but in Holy Trinity before going off to investigate no screen time to show for it when the BBC numerous corpses littering the district. came to Holy Trinity earlier in April, filming Bystander is sorry to hear that Henrietta and from nine a.m. till after seven p.m. for one slot Richard Maslen are leaving Blythburgh for in a six-part series, Reading Churches, to be . We will miss this pair. Evidence of shown in the autumn on BBC4. The female their influence can be seen in the new bus director enthusiastically praised the presenter shelter on the south side of the A12, a direct for his first take then did it again, and again, and result of a suggestion from Richard. The Richard again... It took five takes just to get him to walk Maslen Memorial Bus Shelter? n and look up at the roof. (For the best bit of The concerns of Parish Councillor Robert the day read Daisy Bank, Page 12). Alan did get Benson that the new carports to be built in the Bystander hears that Alan was spotted grounds of The Priory could be converted into recently with his head in a book. tea rooms (although this is as likely as the site “Enjoying your read?” he was asked. being turned into a multi-screen cinema) “Not yet, I’m still looking for myself in sparked a thought in one parishioner who is the index.” now considering turning her disused garage into a tea room. lunch in the pub but the crew were so short of time they cut all the planned history bits – him. PS: According to the East Anglian, the helicopter will not be returning to Angel Lane, Holy Trinity was the star of the show earlier in as it has been leased out. the year when it played host to 70 members of Bystander The Malcolm Saville Society. The group, which

YOUR PARISH COUNCILLORS BLYTHBURGH ASSOCIATIONS Chair

David Tytler Carpet Bowls

01502 478521 Beryl Stringer [email protected] Horticultural Society Vice Chair/Chair finance sub- Jenny Allen 01502 478314 committee Neighbourhood Watch Ro Williams Rob Benson 01502 478047 Chair planning sub-committee Speed Watch Alan Mackley Binny Lewis 01502 478624 Councillors Village Hall Lucy Clapham, Cliff Walled Henrietta Maslen 01502 478551 Two vacancies Bookings 07850 140581 Parish Clerk Jim Boggis. 01502 478687 Page 6 Issue 52 MRS CLAPHAM INVESTIGATES Two of Blythburgh’s brightest stars Congratulations to two of Blythburgh‟s star Yet Auntie Phyllis, who always worked to pay turns who have both celebrated their ninetieth her modest way, tells me pensioners should stop birthdays this year - Margaret Marchant and Reg moaning - as they have never been better off. Watling. Free bus travel, health and dental care, a winter Our bracing air and beautiful scenery obviously fuel allowance and constant care and help from have a part to play in tending body and soul to a the state if needed. Only what she is entitled to, ripe old age, along with a measure of luck, but in my book, having - like most people of her age this pair also share something else - a decided - actually earned it. twinkle in the eye. Not to mention taking care of herself. Regular A strong constitution and a sound mind are walks, a sensible diet and a strong conviction wonderful things but, as in Reggie and Margaret‟s that you are responsible for your own well-being case, it often seems that a healthy sense of appear to be inbuilt when it comes to that humour, along with a constant curiosity about generation. life and your fellow man have a hell of a part to Reggie was introduced to me as ‟Reg the Veg‟ play in that constant ‟rage, rage against the dying more than 20 years ago because of his allotment. of the light‟ battle. Ha! Forget fitness videos, a I have an Auntie Phyllis ruddy great field was his daily (something I would work-out, chock-a-block with recommend to everybody) enough fruit and veg to keep who is of a similar age. She, half the village in fresh too, has that twinkle. produce. Something he did Like Margaret, she has never free-of-charge for many years, married - though not for the accepting the odd bottle of want of admirers - yet has a Scotch as a thank you now very worldly view of life and and then. One of my oldest all its goings on. There is boyfriends is our Reg. Another honestly nothing you could say soul who, behind that no- that would shock Phyllis (apart nonsense exterior, has a very from stories of cruelty) - she kind heart. may not have been there or got the T shirt but Always available if you‟re in trouble, a true you can bet she knows somebody who has. gentleman who, in my single days, would insist Maybe it‟s because their generation has seen so he walk me to my door from the pub although, much change that they are so easy to talk to. once or twice, I‟ve then turned round to walk him to his door. And what a flirt. When I Being a child of the „sixties, I grew up in a much introduced Reggie to Phyllis, both in their early more liberated society. It‟s almost impossible to eighties, well, those two pairs of blue Suffolk imagine being born in to the formal world of the eyes were twinkling so naughtily I almost felt I 20s, living through a world war, existing on should leave the room. rations, seeing the change from tea dances, big bands, through Elvis Presley and The Beatles to I know people, some of them in our village, with flower power, free love, to Heavy Metal and kids those same qualities that Margaret, Reggie and going to raves and taking weed-killer for a buzz. Phyllis have in spades: a kind heart, a lust for life and a sense of humour. Maybe they don‟t think that human rights mean teenagers should get pregnant in order to get Some of them are half their age, some twenty or free food and lodgings, and never do a days work so years younger but you have a feeling they will in their lives, courtesy of the tax-payer. Funny all live to be at least a hundred. Many Happy that - very old-fashioned. Returns.

Issue 52 Page 7 COMMUNITY SPEED WATCH

County follows Blythburgh’s example Blythburgh‟s pioneering Community Speed The response since the launch In Feb 2009 has Watch scheme (CSW), set up last year as a result been overwhelmingly in favour of the active role of the dogged determination of Blythburgh Parish we have been taking, and following on from our Councillor Binny Lewis, has been copied across success, several surrounding villages have now set the county. The East Anglian Daily Times and the up their own CSW Schemes. National police Evening Star both reported at the end of statistics show that an alarming 10 people die on April that Suffolk Police are hailing the scheme a Britain's roads each day and that the largest single success after 160 approved volunteers recorded factor contributing to these deaths is excessive nearly 500 speeding motorists in the county. A speed. Speed Watch co-ordinator Binny Lewis police spokesman said that on three occasions it says: “If CSW can reduce the number of people had been necessary to send out killed or seriously injured on Suffolk's final warnings to drivers who roads, then surely this is a step in the transgressed a second time. right direction.” The county now has nine CSW Between March 5 and April 22, the schemes, with eight more on the Blythburgh team completed 12 sessions way. Those in place include 37 of monitoring, resulting in the parishes and one neighbourhood registration numbers of 12 cars watch scheme funded from exceeding the 30mph limit being passed county council locality budgets, to Suffolk Police. The highest recorded sponsorship, grants or parishes. speed was 50mph by a driver on the Blythburgh residents formed A12 entering the 30mph restricted Suffolk's first Community Speed zone. During this period, volunteers Watch Scheme in February 2009, with the gave 24 hours of their time during the working assistance of the Safer Neighbourhood Team week and weekends to make Blythburgh‟s roads from Suffolk Police, in response to repeated safer. More volunteers are urgently needed to requests from villagers following several minor give one hour working in teams of two. For more road incidents and one major accident - all of information, please contact Binny Lewis, 01502 478624. which were caused by excessive speeding. The objective of CSW is not to catch motorists Picture: Speed Watch volunteer Ro Williams speeding; it is to secure a reduction in the undergoing police training. Picture Nick Butcher, number of drivers exceeding 30mph. Eastern Daily Press, Norwich.

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Page 8 Issue 52 SONIA BOGGIS introduces a new occasional series THOUGHTS FROM ABROAD New , New York, so good they Lift became elevator. Rubber became eraser. named it twice Jumper became sweater. Pissed meant I was New York was my home for the last four-and- angry rather than a little tipsy. Trunk was no half years and I thought I‟d share with you how I longer a piece of luggage but the boot of a car…. came to work in New York and some of the And so on and so forth. Endless amusement in fantastic experiences and memories I have most cases but more than a little embarrassing brought back to the UK. So how did I end up on the odd occasion, such as when I suggested working in New York? popping outside for a quick fag … ask me later. Picture a Friday afternoon in late April 2005: I am When I was apartment hunting (flat in London), I preparing to leave my office close to St Paul‟s discovered Cobble Hill. It turned out to be a Cathedral in Central London to catch a train fantastic and very real neighbourhood. Mom and home. The phone rings. It‟s a colleague who works for pop stores, great cafes and restaurants but, most the same investment bank and is based in New importantly, it is home to some of the most York. „Sorry to spring this on you,‟ he says, „but I interesting people I have met anywhere in the have an opening in New York that I would like world. I joined a wine class and through that you to consider. It is initially a two-year posting. started to meet local people, who embraced me You would be head of a team, working for me as one of their own and, in turn, introduced me but supporting the chairman and CEO. Can you to others. get back to me by Monday evening London time We have drunk wine and broken bread together. and let me know if you are interested.‟ There are those with whom I have enjoyed Well, conversations over the weekend with my theatre, jazz, classical music concerts and opera. family were interesting but given that the bottom New York‟s museums and galleries are some of line is that you only regret the things in life that the finest in the world and Friday night at the you don‟t do, I found myself, a few weeks later, on Metropolitan Museum is indescribably wonderful. a plane heading for New York. I took all my visitors there. I have also been fortunate to travel throughout We all have preconceived ideas and, more often America, a fabulous country, and found it as than not, they are wrong. That was my experience. diverse and interesting as the people living in it. The first thing I didn‟t expect to have problems Probably the thing I value most, and that will stay with was the language. Nobody told me that with me forever, is the friendship, camaraderie America and England are divided by a common and just thoroughly wonderful people I met In language but, believe me, that is often the case. New York and will be forever grateful to call On the subway (underground in London) all I friends. I went to the United States for two years wanted to do was get to WALL Street. Is that so and was privileged to spend four-and-half years difficult? It is if I think it is WALL Street and the living and working there. I have come back home person you are asking knows it as WAAAALLLL with friendships and memories that will last a life Street. time.

BLYTHBURGH LATITUDE TRUST The Blythburgh Latitude Trust makes grants to meet the individual needs of parishioners or to support local organisations and projects. Normally, grants will not exceed £200. Please make all applications to the honorary administrator, Jim Boggis, Marsh End, Church Road, (478687).

Issue 52 Page 9 SOUTHWOLD GUIDES

Leading the way – after 100 years In 1909, Robert Baden-Powell held his first Rally days: there is a report from the Southwold for Boy Scouts at Crystal Palace, London. Parish Magazine of a fortnight‟s camp that took Several groups of girls turned up and asked him place at Benacre in 1912. 1st Southwold for something for the girls, to which his Company carried on through the First World response was: “I‟ll think about it.” Less than a War with the Guides carrying out war work. year later the Girl Guide movement was The first Brownie Pack, for younger girls, was formed. set up in 1919 and, in1924, the first Ranger Unit So the actions of a few feisty girls were to lead was formed for older girls. Companies in to the establishment of the world‟s largest Wangford, and were organisation for girls and young women, a formed as part of Southwold District. movement that was to transcend the barriers of In the early days of the Second World War, background, race, nationality and faith. meetings continued to be held in spite of the Southwold was in the vanguard. A few ladies black-out. However, with the evacuation inland met in 1909 and decided to start a Company of all school children in 1940, the 1st Southwold Girl Guides. The company was registered in Guide Company and Brownie Pack had to be suspended, though 1st Reydon Guides carried on. 1st Southwold Guide Company was reopened in 1945 and the Brownies in 1950. Numbers soon rose to their pre-war levels. Late in the 1960s both the programme and the uniform of the Guides were changed to bring them up to date. In Southwold, major fundraising was embarked on to enable the old Guide Hut in Cautley Road to be replaced by a modern Guide Centre. This was opened in 1970, the Diamond Jubilee year of the Guide Association – and of 1st Southwold. GirlGuiding UK is the largest organisation in the country for girls and women. We are still a girl- only environment because that is what our members want – a place where they can be The founding ladies of Southwold Company themselves without external pressure, they can learn about leadership and take up roles – be June 1910 and the first enrolments took place in daft if they want – in a way they can‟t in a mixed July 1910 in the Town Hall. It was the first environment. Company in Suffolk and one of the first in the country, and is still going. The basics remain the same – we enjoy all sorts of outdoor activities, with camping still being the Southwold Guides are fortunate to have favourite, we serve the community, and above inherited a wonderful archive of material telling all we have fun! the story of its first 100 years and this is the basis for an exhibition in Southwold Museum To celebrate their centenary Southwold Guides this summer. will hold a Then and Now camp on Southwold Common on Saturday 19 June. Please join us It shows just how groundbreaking guiding was in between 11am and 6pm. the early days: the challenge for the next century is to keep that spirit alive. Camping was Jenny Allen an integral part of Guiding from the earliest

Page 10 Issue 52 VISIONS by JOHN ALLEN The horror that led to the Red Cross The Red Cross is so well known and taken for Swiss citizens its activities are truly international granted that perhaps we forget it was founded in in character. The Geneva Conventions are 1864 (my grandmother was three) and hence all famous as the source of international agreements the Napoleonic and other European battles for such matters as treatment of prisoners of before then were denied its support. It has war, the conditions for civilians in war, regulation become one of the greatest charitable for the treatment of wounded and sick in times organisations in the world and the manner of its of war, and similarly at sea. origin typifies the noblest kind of vision, initiated Its successes are too numerous to relate by one person and subsequently developed by completely but examples of the sheer magnitude the voluntary support from citizens of all kinds of their efforts are indicated by the forwarding of from all countries. 83,000 tons of supplies from 1941 to 1946 to Its founder was Henri Dunant (1828-1910) a civilian war victims, mostly women and children. Genevese philanthropist and banker, who had This material was valued at 340 million Swiss assisted with the founding of the YMCA. During francs. a business visit to Italy in 1859 he chanced upon The Red Cross symbol is derived from the Swiss the battlefield of Solférino. He was horrified by national flag which is a white symmetrical cross the sight of 40,000 dead and wounded, with little on a red background. This was interpreted in care or support. Assisted by volunteers he went Islamic countries as a Christian symbol leading to to aid the dying and rescue the living. His the equivalent organisations of the Red Crescent subsequent book about these experiences Un in Muslim countries and the Red Lion and Sun in Souvenir de Solférino of 1862 created a global Iran. sensation. As a sequel he suggested the But what happened to the founder, Henri formation of voluntary aid societies to act as Dunant? Unfortunately his business affairs failed helpers to the army medical services. These and he had to resign from the Red Cross in societies later became the Red Cross which was 1867. He lived in destitution in Paris, London and formally created in 1864. This was the first elsewhere and virtually disappeared from society. Geneva Convention. In 1890 he was discovered, returning to his It developed a comprehensive structure with relatives and was cared for by them and the three main bodies: The national Red Cross Empress Fyadorovna, living in comparative societies, The International Committee of the comfort until his death. What a sad episode for a Red Cross and The League of Red Cross unique person who had such a great vision Societies. Various tasks are undertaken by leading to a voluntary organisation which brought countries such as the UK‟s Relief Services and untold blessings to many millions of people. But the USA‟s Blood Supply Service. Although the 25 his efforts were recognised as he received the strong international committee is composed of Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. Latest planning decisions for the erection of two-storey side and single- The Parish Council raised no objections to an story rear extension, plus garage at 2, School application to build a rear conservatory at Cottages, Road. Permission has also Rushes Point, Dunwich Road, although the been given for the erection of a workshop and council said that the external finish should match four car ports in the grounds of The Priory, that of the painted rendering of the existing Priory Road. house. Planning permission has been granted

Issue 52 Page 11 BLYTHBURGH CHARACTERS Hugh de Cressy (d.1189)

Hugh who? You might well ask. This character, As a trusted royal servant he was given an important medieval administrator, reveals the important responsibilities in Normandy. He was closeness of the links between Blythburgh and appointed constable of the Tower of Rouen, sat the royal court in the 1100s. Hugh de Cressy in judgement with the ducal court and came from a Norman family which had been commanded royal forces on expeditions in granted lands in East Anglia and Surrey after the France. He is known to have divided his time 1066 conquest. He prospered and gained between England and France but it was in Rouen influence through service to a brother of King that he died. Henry II. Had he forgotten Blythburgh? Certainly not. It Then Hugh joined the royal court in 1170. His was Hugh de Cressy‟s patron‟s grandfather, King big break came through a marriage arranged by Henry I, who had granted Blythburgh Church to the King in1174 to Margaret de Chesney, heir to the Augustinians of to found Blythburgh, and also hereditary claimant to the Blythburgh Priory. As he lay dying, Hugh shrievalty of Norfolk and the custodianship of remembered Blythburgh Priory in a charter. He Norwich Castle. This placed Hugh among the granted lands in Walberswick to the priory, for wealthiest of the English barons. his own soul, the souls of his mother, father, The list of royal charters witnessed by Hugh de ancestors, and those of Henry II and his brother. Cressy, in England, Ireland and Normandy, But note the eminence of the witnesses to the shows the extent of his involvement with the charter: two archbishops and an earl. It is clear King‟s business. He supported Henry II during evidence of the respected position enjoyed by the war of 1173-4 against the King‟s rebellious Hugh de Cressy within the royal circle and an sons. He provisioned Norwich Castle against an indication of medieval Blythburgh‟s links with the attack by the Earl of Norfolk and fought at the Anglo-Norman kings of England. battle of Fornham. After the war he was active Alan Mackley in the development of the English judicial system.

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Page 12 Issue 52

Notes from Daisy Bank XL A few years ago a charity for the blind phoned handed into the police. It seems to me that the to ask if we would sell some raffle tickets. In world has been taken over with greed and not a amongst the paraphernalia they sent, was one of lot of altruism and care for other people. A those cardboard collection boxes. Putting one proposed high-speed link between Birmingham in the gallery it seemed to do well and soon and London is being muted that will ruin the life filled up. Then suddenly, the money started to of many communities in its path and lots of our disappear and eventually, disgusted with the wonderful English countryside. whole thing, we gave up and told the charity that Watching one of those house auction we would no longer be collecting for them. programmes the other day, seemingly quite a This year I decided to print and sell some cards nice polite and caring young man had bought a in the gallery – not everyone can afford to buy a wonderful house in the country costing several picture but can usually run to a card. Amazingly hundred thousand pounds. A barn in the back they sold well and, thinking that it would be would be converted and sold and two further more convenient if the purchaser didn‟t have to houses built in the rest of the garden. When contact me for change or to give me the money, that was done he and his family, several hundred I left an empty jam jar on the shelf and a five- thousands better off, would move on. To me he pound float in it. You can guess the rest. is no better, and probably worse than, the glue For several years now the church has been man. plagued with what they call the glue man, who, On a lighter note, the BBC making yet another with the use of a piece of string and some glue, documentary involving our wonderful church steals money from their collection box. I recently employed me to row up and down the despair. Am I looking through rose coloured river. Before launching the boat the director, spectacles when I look back to my own the cameraman the presenter and myself childhood? donned lifejackets provided by them. Handing As a little boy of maybe eight or nine, I somebody the painter (the rope not me) while I remember walking to church, finding a silver put my own life jacket on, it was obvious that sixpence outside a telephone box and handing it the word painter and its implications was not a in at the local police station before continuing familiar term to him because the next thing we my journey. The policeman on duty took my knew, the boat was drifting quite nicely up the name and address and more importantly, took river. My partner and Alan Mackley sitting on me seriously and showed no surprise. the bench next to the creek were amazed and amused to see the boat drift around the corner On one of my first trips to sea, I took a train to with seemingly nobody in it. Luckily it ended up Liverpool to join a ship and on my way lost my conveniently on what we call the beach and all wallet with £32 in it. When the ship arrived in was not lost. I dreaded the alternative, which Australia, I had a letter from home to say that would have meant your hero swimming after it – somebody had found the wallet on a train at not good at this time of year. Glasgow and that it and its contents had been Paul Bennett

REMINDER: Meet the village and find out what has happened in the last 12 months. Enjoy a glass of wine and a bite to eat at the annual village meeting in the village hall on Wednesday May 19 at 7.30pm. The next meeting of the Parish Council on Monday July 12 at 7.45. Raise concerns and questions at the Open Forum from 7.15pm.