Issue 210 Catfield News June 2021 Kingfisher Corner, Catfield Staithe June Notice Board The Catfield Crown is now open for inside service See page 23 for opening hours We would like to say thank you to all the hardy souls who have supported us these last weeks in the cold and windy weather. Gail and Scott The Mobile Library Service is now back. Check the website www.libraries.norfolk.gov.uk for the latest updates. On behalf of Catfield Church Council may we thank you for the amazing result of £1200 given on the Church Gift Day on April 23rd. We are very grateful. Judith Gardiner and Dr Keith Bacon, Church Wardens Fancy joining the Catfield News team, now is your chance. See page 6 for more information. There are still books and jigsaws available in Catfield Church porch for you to borrow. 2 A GREAT THANK YOU To all our neighbours and friends for their support after my husband’s horrific accident at home. A special thanks to Ryan and Matt our local builders who came to our rescue to finish our bathroom. The air ambulance and paramedic crews were fantastic. We will be forever in everyone’s debt; it truly restores your faith in people. Thanks again, Sue and Mick Catfield Court Back Lane I recently saw a flyer regarding parish elections (regarding Mrs Gardiner’s campaign) and there was mention of yet plans for further housing within our village. Does literally every inch of open space need to be built upon? It appears that the whole of Norfolk’s open spaces is being rapidly and dramatically built upon as to quickly be changing it from a quaint and peaceful county into a vast built up urban jungle! Norfolk is already struggling to provide sufficient services such as schools and medical services to the existing population let alone a dramatic increase. It just seems like madness and capitalism reigns supreme. It strikes me that countries such as Australia, Ireland and Canada don’t suffer the sort of housing crisis faced by England and so what is going on with our country? I do appreciate that the Parish Council influence probably doesn’t extent further than our parish or county but nevertheless for perspective I gave the bigger picture. And I know I’m not alone in my thoughts and opinions within our parish. Please no more houses in Catfield. Eddie 3 This year’s Annual Parish Meeting was held over Zoom on the 5th May. This is the meeting for any parishioner to ask questions of our parish council and to receive reports from various clubs and activities within the parish. There were twenty members of the public, nine of these were parish councillors, our County Councillor and one of our District Councillors in attendance Reports were received from: Chairman of Parish Council Parish Council Finances from the Clerk Poor’s Trust – Keith Bacon Village Hall - Jason Sexton Magazine - Steve Beckley Church – Keith Bacon Fishing Club - Jill Wickens School - Angie Johnson Pauline Grove-Jones - District Councillor Richard Price - County Councillor The Annual Parish Council Meeting was also held on the 5th May via Zoom. At this meeting Keith Bacon and Ray Read were nominated for Chairman and Keith Bacon was elected after a vote. Ray Read was elected unopposed as Vice Chairman. The result of the election for parish councillor held on the 6th May was: GARDINER Judith Norah 181 Elected HARRIS Jennifer Sharon Independent 167 Electorate 804 Ballot Papers Issued:357 Turnout: 44.40% The result of the election for parish councillor held on the 20th May was: Edwards Graham Charles 125 Elected Gardiner Judith Nora 27 Shearing Cora Jean 119 Electorate 805 Ballot Papers Issued 272 Turnout 21.9% We have asked the parish clerk for a full list of your parish councillors along with their contact details and will publish them next month. 4 The results of the County Council Election held on Thursday 6th May SOUTH SMALLBURGH DIVISION: PRICE, RICHARD (CON): 1,381 VARLEY, Adam (LD): 1,165 FILGATE, Anne (GRN): 198 GAYNOR-POWELL, Finola (LAB): 133 COPPACK, Nicholas (IND): 86 Total votes: 2,980 Turnout: 41.71% Dear Parishioner, I just want to thank all those that voted for me in the County Elections resulting in my winning again, with an increased majority, to continue serving you all. I have been both a District Councillor and now your County Councillor for 14 years and during those years have learnt much. My most important statement is that in those 14 years I have never asked anyone who has contacted me about their personal political beliefs, because I have been selected to represent you all. I am actively involved in several major projects and am excited that I have now a mandate to pursue them on your behalf. Please never hesitate to contact me if you need help and I can assure you that both myself and my good longstanding friend, Duncan Baker, our MP, will do everything possible to help and support you. Best Wishes Richard Cllr Richard Price Phone: 07880791258 Email: [email protected] 5 Come and join the Catfield News Team One of our members is moving away in the next few months so we are looking for a new member of the team. We have a monthly meeting, usually mid month, to discuss the content of the magazine. Although we have our core contributors the content can vary month to month as we try to include local news and highlight anything that may be of interest to our readers. Advertisers also come and go, so new ones need to be found. The magazine is created using Publisher. We have a standard layout we use but the final positioning of articles is not usually decided until we have received everything. Occasionally we have space to fill so have to be a bit creative. Once the magazine has been compiled it is Proof Read by the team. Proof reading comments are incorporated and the magazine information is delivered to the printers. Whilst COVID restrictions have been in place our meetings have been via Zoom, but we would normally meet in the Chairman’s house The printer delivers the printed magazines to a member of the team and they are bagged up into their delivery packs and these packs are dropped off to each of the distributors who pop the magazine through your letterbox. As you can see from the above there are a number of different jobs involved in the production of the magazine. If you think you might be interested email [email protected]. WANTED - Catfield News distributor We need someone to deliver magazines to Lea Road and to a few houses on New Road. If you are interested please email [email protected] 6 Chef’s Specials Coco-Berry-Nut Squares Ingredients 250g butter, softened 1 tsp vanilla essence Coconut Topping 275g caster sugar 50g plain flour 3 eggs 2 tbsp caster sugar 100g plain flour 40g butter 150g self-raising flour 15g flaked coconut, chopped coarsely 55g ground hazelnuts 150g frozen raspberries Method 1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease a deep 23cm (9inch) square cake tin lining the base with baking parchment. 2. Beat butter, essence and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until just combined between additions. 3. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Using a wooden spoon, stir in flours and ground hazelnuts. 4. Spread mixture evenly into prepared tin. 5. To make the coconut topping, combine the flour and sugar in a small bowl. Rub in the butter and then using a fork, stir in coconut. 6. Sprinkle the raspberries evenly over the cake mix then add the coconut topping. 7. Bake the cake for approximately 50 minutes. Stand cake for 5 minutes then turn onto wire rack; turn cake top-side up to cool. D.S. Tip: Stop a heavy mirror or picture frame from getting crooked and marking the wall by gluing erasers to the bottom corners of the frame. They will now hang straighter and not leave marks. 7 Nature Notes for June 2021 By J & C The cuckoo, with its unmistakeable call in springtime and its parasitic breeding behaviour, is one of our most fascinating summer migrants. According to the British Trust for Ornithology cuckoo numbers since the early 1980s have dropped by 65%. The decline of the cuckoo is not fully understood but one theory is it may be due in part to the decline in the small birds, such as dunnocks and reed warblers, it uses as hosts for its own eggs. The BTO cuckoo tracking project 24 Apr 2021. After five years and a staggering 50,000 miles, Suffolk Cuckoo PJ has once again returned from Africa to his breeding grounds in the King's Forest, Suffolk. He is the first of our tagged Cuckoos to survive five complete migrations with his tag still functioning. When we last updated you he was having a well deserved rest on the Isle of Wight, but despite the many attractions of that fine place, it couldn't keep him away from East Anglia for long. New updates received from PJ's tag at 07:30 yesterday morning (Friday 22nd April) showed that he had covered the final 223km (139 miles) from the Isle of Wight to Suffolk. Further updates since show him flying around his breeding grounds, less than five miles from us here at BTO HQ in Thetford. He will stay here until early July before beginning his journey back to Africa once again.