B LY T H BU RG H 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 Blythburgh 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 Suffolk 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 NEAL’S TAXI Airports, Local and Long Distance Friendly Reliable Service Tel: 01502 575 888 Mobile: 0899 011 383 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 The White Hart Inn The Village Shop Our restaurant boasts the best view USE IT OR LOSE IT around with a regularly changing Re-organised and re-stocked menu from our new Chef Peter Smith offering fresh local produce. If we haven’t got what you want, tell us and we will try to NEW SUMMER MENU get it for you. Spring lamb cutlets, fresh berry and Our aim is to meet your needs shallot relish and rosemary jus. Monday to Friday Braised sea bass, steamed mussels 7 am to 5 pm and creamy saffron sauce. Saturday and Sunday Balsamic roast pepper filled with 9 am to 5 pm leek risotto and wild rocket. Local fresh fruit and vegetables Succulent steaks from award Dry cleaning, laundry service, winning butchers Revett’s of mobile phone top ups.