KL Magazine May 2017

ISSN 2044–7965

ISSUE 80 MAY 2017 PRICELESS

magazine

WEST NORFOLK | NORTH NORFOLK | COASTAL

PICTURE: NATIONAL TRUST / JUSTIN MINNS

COVER IMAGE Sandringham House by Ian Ward

meet the team MANAGING DIRECTOR Laura Murray MANAGING EDITOR Eric Secker DESIGN TEAM Amy Phillips Lisa Tonroe PHOTOGRAPHY Ian Ward PROMOTION Nicola Back ADVERTISING Jessica Smith CONTRIBUTORS Clare Bee Stephanie Lewis Hilary Manners Richard Parr Paul Richards Sylvia Steele Wendy Warner Charlotte Wright

contact 18 Tuesday Market Place King’s Lynn PE30 1JW 01553 601201 info@klmagazine.co.uk KL magazine is published monthly by KL Publications Ltd. The magazine cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited submissions, manuscripts and photographs.

While every care is taken, prices and details are subject to change and KL magazine takes no responsibility for omissions or errors. We reserve the right to publish and edit any letters. All rights reserved.

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here’s nothing quite like the sight of some spring woodland carpeted in a masses of bluebells, but in Norfolk it’s something that we take for granted. Take the opportunity to visit Blickling Hall this month (see the picture above) and you’ll probably agree that the Common Bluebells is anything but ordinary. But not everyone is treated to this spectacular botanical display – it’s only found in northern Europe, and Britain alone contains more than half the worlds population of the delicate plants. Happily, some of the country’s best displays are in Norfolk, so don’t miss the opportunity to see them.

Another precious piece of Norfolk’s natural environment goes by the rather unassuming name of Rana Lessonae, but you won’t be seeing it for a little while yet. More commonly known as the northern pool frog, it was thought to have been extinct in the county for the last 20 years – but as it was thought to have been a foreign import anyway, no one was unduly concerned. Recent research, however, has identified the little creature as a true Norfolk native – and one of England's rarest amphibians is now coming home. It’s a fascinating story, and if you think the notion of a frog with a Norfolk accent is something we should have printed as an April Fool’s joke, you can read all about this true story on page 90.

We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for the weather to hold up over the coming weeks, as there’s plenty to look forward to as the heights of summer approach. Lovers of world class sport shouldn’t miss the thrilling Houghton International Horse Trials (see page 8), while fans of all things cultural will be spoilt for choice during the Norfolk & Norwich Festival (page 110).

And don’t give Downham Market a miss either (page 94) – to see how much fun a small market town can have when it works together.

Enjoy the magazine and we’ll see you again next month!

KL MAGAZINE

KLmagazine May 2017

Contents

MAY 2017

48

8

34 28 KLmagazine May 2017

110

6-13 WHAT’S ON This month’s diary of forthcoming events

64-72 FASHION Inspirational ideas from our local boutiques

8-10 A WEEKEND OF WORLD-CLASS SPORT The Houghton International Horse Trials

76-78 A LOCAL CHEESE TO BE PROUD OF The story behind the creation of Norfolk Dapple

14 KING’S LYNN CORN EXCHANGE Great shows and great activities for everyone

80-87 FOOD AND DRINK Reviews, recipes and recommendations

16-18 THE PLEASURES OF STAYCATIONS Discover the wonders and stories of Lynn

84 RESTAURANT REVIEW KL magazine visits The Daily Grind

22-24 A HISTORY IN MINIATURE The amazing wooden models of Fred Hall

88-90 NORFOLK’S KERMIT COMES HOME Meet the rare frog with a local accent

28-30 THE STORY OF THE WASH PORTS Paul Richards on the area’s trading past

94 YOU AND YOUR PETS With local vet Alex Dallas

34-36 A THING OF THE PAST? The uncertain future of Wisbech Museum

94-97 DISCOVER DOWNHAM MARKET Looking forward to a year of community events

40-42 TICKETS, PLEASE! Remembering the Marquis Bus Service

100-102 CELEBRATING 125 YEARS The secret behind the success of Aldiss

44 THEN & NOW The changing face of West Norfolk

106-108 LOUIS DE BERNIÈRES We talk to one of the UK’s best-loved authors

48-50 MAY IN THE GARDEN Expert help and advice with Wendy Warner

110-112 A WORLD OF CULTURE...

The Norfolk & Norwich Festival returns

56-60 A RHAPSODY IN BLUE The beauty of Blickling Hall’s bluebells

106 MICHAEL MIDDLETON Reasons to be grumpy...

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SUNDAY 23 JULY

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PRESENTED BY

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IN ASSOCIATION WITH LIVE NATION

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BARRY L HAWKINS Independent Auctioneer and Land Agent Auction Dates for May Wednesday 3rd & 17th Saturday 27th - Collective Machinery at Hilgay

www.barryhawkins.co.uk | 01366 387180 The Estate Office, 15 Lynn Road, Downham Market PE38 9NL

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KLmagazine May 2017

May Wednesday 17th

Thursday 4th

A TASTE OF THE EXCEPTIONAL Bakers and Larners of Holt, 8 Market Place, Holt NR25 6BW (6pm-9pm) Enjoy a celebration of local and International food & drink at the Bakers and Larners food fair covering all areas of the store’s multi award winning food hall and fine wine department. Visitors to the fair can expect a range of wares from suppliers near and far, and the opportunity to sample a wide range of food and drink. Featured suppliers confirmed for the event so far include: Anthony Rowcliffe Cheeses, Bouchard Burgundies, Calypso Coffee, Norfolk Durham Gin, Kendal-Jackson California Wines, Sandringham Apple Juice, Tenuta Marmorelle Pasta, Te Pā New Zealand Wines, Wildcraft Beers, Williams Chase Spirits & Liqueurs, Wilkin & Son and Winbirri Vineyards. Tickets are £5 each and includes all samples and a finger buffet. Tickets are available from www.bakersandlarners.co.uk, by telephone (01263 712244), or from the Bakers and Larners store.

Saturday 27th CREAKE ABBEY PLANT LOVERS' DAY Creake Abbey, Burnham Road, North Creake NR21 9LF (10am-4pm) Now in its tenth year, the 2017 Plant Lovers’ Day will welcome 34 specialist plant nurseries. A stunning array of flowers, shrubs and trees will be available for gardening enthusiasts from across the county to enjoy. Creake Abbey prides itself on finding high quality nurseries that offer a wide range of plants and specialisms at affordable prices. Entrance is £4 per adult and there is no charge for children under 16. Once again, profits from the day will go to Wells Community Hospital at Wells-next-the-Sea. Come and find your own corner of the Chelsea Flower Show in Norfolk! For more information visit the website: www.creakeabbey.co.uk/plant-lovers-day.

KLmagazine May 2017

FASHION SHOW Prince of Wales Suite, Fakenham Racecourse, Fakenham NR21 7NY (2.30pm for 3pm) Celebrate Fakenham’s fantastic independent retailers at an exciting fashion show at Fakenham Racecourse. Guests will be welcomed with a glass of prosecco (or non-alcoholic alternative) and canapés while they browse the displays by the retailers and chat to the shop owners. There will also be an opportunity to buy a raffle ticket or take part in a most unusual ‘lucky dip’. The Fashion show will begin at 4pm, culminating in a fabulous bridal finale. After the show, guests will be able to enjoy a cup of Fortnum & Mason’s finest tea or coffee together with delicious cakes and pastries. Participating retailers are: Brides of Norfolk, Fugli’s, GetSmart, Secrets, Splitz, Fakenham Foot Care and Through The Looking Glass Interiors will be presenting their stylish furniture and accessories. For more information and tickets call Gilly on 01328 864556 or by email: gillyfoortse@hotmail.co.uk. Tickets are £20 with proceeds going to the Friends of Cranmer House, an exceptional and much valued facility offering nursing, respite and day care, all under one roof.

Saturday 20th & Sunday 28th

MARRIOTT'S WAREHOUSE TRUST - MAY EVENTS Marriott’s Warehouse, South Quay, King's Lynn PE30 5DT Learn more from the Marriott’s Warehouse Trust with two excellent events this month. Hanse Day, will take place on Saturday 20th comprising of a performance by King's Lynn U3A music group (from 1-2pm), and "The Newport Medieval Ship: Why she came to Newport & never left" by Robert Kenny (2-3pm). There will also be a book launch of 'Six Essays in Hanseatic History' (3:30pm). Tickets are available from True's Yard Fisherfolk Museum. On Sunday 28th May at 2pm join Robin Stevenson and Dr Paul Richards for ‘Rocks of Lynn’, on a walk to discover Lynn's buildings and where the materials to create them came from. Tickets are £5 per person - places are limited so book to avoid disappointment. This walk starts at Marriott's Warehouse and the group will meet outside. To book contact Rebecca on 07582037301 or info@marriottswarehousetrust.co.uk.

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Where great holidays are only half the fun!

All Saturdays except where indicated.

Entertainment commences at 8.45pm.

27th May

LIZA McKENNY Powerful classic pop, classic ballads and Motown hits Sunday 28th May and 15th July

Looking forward to a summer of FREE entertainment at Snettisham Caravan Park nettisham Caravan Park has all the ingredients you could wish for from a holiday – a beautiful beachside setting, surrounded by outstanding coastal walks, lovely (and affordable) holiday homes, a neighbouring sailing club for learning new skills, and the friendly atmosphere created by John and Marilyn Roser.

In fact, although John’s family purchased the site some 30 years ago, Snettisham Caravan Park has been treating holidaymakers to unforgettable stays in West Norfolk since the 1960s.

But despite its popularity and fundraising efforts (the park has raised over £90,000 has been raised for local charities in the last 17 years) few people realise that Snettisham Caravan Park is

S

also a fabulous entertainment venue that’s open to everyone, including nonmembers and casual visitors.

Every summer, the onsite clubhouse hosts a range of talented acts performing music to suit everyone (see panel at right) – from classic rock to Motown, from Elvis tributes to swing, and from blues to modern pop. Fully licensed, with a special children’s area and a fantastic atmosphere, it’s a great place to spend your weekend evenings – especially as admission to the performances is entirely free.

“Members of the club really enjoy our musical acts,” says Marilyn, “but we’re also attracting people from all over West Norfolk looking for a family-friendly evening that’s always lively and always safe.”

And who knows – that enjoyable weekend may well pursuade you to stay at Snettisham Caravan Park a little longer!

Beach Road, Snettisham, Norfolk PE31 7RB Telephone: 01485 542499 Web: www.snettishamcaravanpark.com Email: enquiries@snettishamcaravanpark.com 12

LLOYD E MOON Glam rock, ballads and current pop 3rd June

BONDY Amazing local guitarist and vocalist 10th June

CAROL ANN Cher, Tina Turner and lots more...

17th June

THE MACHINE SHED BAND Blues, soul and rock n roll 24th June 5-4-3-2-1 A great male duo performing classic 1960s music 1st July MARCH JOSEF Modern pop, classics and ballads 8th July LAURA Powerful modern/classic vocalist 22nd July TONY G One of the best Elvis tributes around PLUS! COMING SOON! Amazing saxophonist MIKE FOX, brilliant rock band BEWLIDERED, and swing and blues with the KINGS OF SWING

KLmagazine May 2017

Coming soon...

Sunday 28th & Monday 29th

DERSINGHAM OPEN GARDENS AND ART TRAIL Various locations in Dersingham (11am-5pm) Open gardens with a twist: nearly twenty gardens are open to the public in this long-established event. As a bonus, around ten local artists open up both their studios and their gardens. Morning coffee, lunches and cream teas will be available in St Nicholas Church Hall (PE31 6GZ), where you can also buy your programme. Tickets are £5 (£4 in advance from Dersingham Post Office) and under 16s are free.

There will also be be stalls selling plants, asparagus, books and brica-brac in various gardens. Proceeds will go to the church and the new village centre. For more information on the event visit the website www.dersinghamopengardens.co.uk.

Sunday 28th

BARN DANCE The Great Barn, Manor Mews, Tattersett PE31 8RS (7:30pm-11pm) Get ready to stomp your feet and clap your hands for a great family night of fun at The Great Barn in Tattersett for a fun evening of live music and dancing. Compass Moon will be performing on the evening. They are a four piece Ceilidh and Barn Dance band playing Traditional Folk music from the British Isles and abroad. There will be a licensed bar on the evening serving drinks and light snacks. There will also be a raffle and tombola during the evening. The event is in aid of The Norfolk Hospice, Tapping House. For more information on the charity visit the website www.norfolkhospice.org.uk.

Coming soon...

Saturday 3rd June

Friday 9th – Saturday 17th June

SUMMER EXHIBITION BY REBECCA LLOYD The Artmonger Gallery, North Street, Burnham Market PE31 8HG Open daily from 10am-5pm Although many artists look to the Norfolk coast for inspiration, few capture its breathaking beauty quite as well as local artist Rebecca Lloyd. In 2013, Rebecca won the Pastel Society’s Buzzacott Award, presented to the best new artist not already a member of an Artistic Society – and her work has been much sought-after ever since.

Rebecca’s 5th summer exhibition with The Artmonger Gallery in Burnham Market will feature several of her large-scale pastel paintings of the local coast, but don’t leave your visit for too long – her shows have been known to sell out within three days. For more information and details of Rebecca’s work, please see the website at www.rebeccalloyd.co.uk.

KLmagazine May 2017

KING’S LYNN MALE VOICE CHOIR DIAMOND JUBILEE CONCERT St Nicholas’ Chapel, King’s Lynn PE30 1NH (7:30pm) The KLMVC has been a presence in the town and beyond for sixty years, making music, new friendships and creating an uplifting experience for both singers and audiences, while supporting many charitable causes. The choir’s exciting, extended repertoire includes contemporary and classical music ranging from Elvis, Josh Groban and Abba to traditional choral masterpieces. A number of events have been arranged to celebrate their 60th anniversary, including a Hanse Festival concert at All Saints’ church in King’s Lynn on Saturday 20th May together with the main event which will be a combined choirs’ concert at St Nicholas’ Chapel on Saturday 3rd June. Tickets can be purchased for £12 for adults and £6 for children from Geoffrey Collings & Co Estate Agents, True’s Yard Fisherfolk Museum, Artertons of King’s Lynn, Choir members and Alan Miller on 01553 828539. The choir is keen to attract more singers, patrons and friends. For more details see www.klmvc.org.uk or contact the Musical Director, Michael Hankinson 0757 251 3512. Alternatively pop along to Springwood High School on a Wednesday evening, 7pm to 9pm to sample a fun rehearsal.

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PICTURES: WWW.MUSKETEER.CO.UK

What’s On

ABOVE: Nicola Wilson (pictured here on Annie Clover) and Simon Grieve (pictured opposite riding Traveller Royale) are familiar visitors to the Houghton International Horse Trials, which take place in the glorious setting of Houghton Hall later this month

A stunning setting for a weekend of great sport What more could you want from a Bank Holiday weekend? A great day out for the family, local colour and world-class sport. Hilary Manners previews this year’s Houghton International Horse Trials...

I

n East Anglia, the Houghton International Horse Trials has become synonymous with the second Bank Holiday in May, and the event (which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year) is now firmly established in Norfolk’s calendar. It’s an event that has something for everyone; exhilarating sporting action, a stunning setting, entertainment for both the young and old, plus shopping at over 70 trade stands.

Last year’s debutant attraction, the Vintage Fair, is returning with more KLmagazine May 2017

hand-picked exhibitors offering a quirky and eclectic range of goods which showcase the very best in vintage clothing, tweeds, jewellery, bags, glassware, linens and homeware. A vintage tea room will be providing afternoon teas served on authentic vintage crockery and, new for this year, there’ll be a Food Market selling such delectables as jams and juices, chocolate and local beer.

Held in the magnificent grounds of Houghton Hall, one of the most outstanding venues within the sport of

eventing, the Horse Trials hosts not only the British leg of the FEI Nations Cup series (where teams from as far afield as Australia and New Zealand battle it out to top the leaderboard come the final event at Boekelo, Holland in October) but also the British Eventing National under 21 Championships.

Houghton offers spectators the whole range of talent, from up-andcoming to multi-medal winning Olympians, which is rare in any sport.

“Houghton is a truly spectacular venue which I’m sure plays a part in the 9

What’s On

ABOVE: Pictured here on Mounttemple Mistress at the Houghton International Horse Trials, Jo Rimmer is Manager of Fontmell Parva Stables, eventing and training yard. The former school teacher has produced a number of horses up to CCI*** level and now combines competing with producing young horses and training riders of all ages.

event’s appeal to riders and spectators,” says Event Director Alec Lochore.

“Hosting the FEI Nations Cup is hugely prestigious, and we’re very proud to have this class at Houghton, which ensures the attendance of riders from a great range of countries. I appreciate the distances that many competitors travel to come to our corner of North Norfolk – hopefully it means we’re doing something right!”

Another draw for competitors is Houghton International’s inclusion in the Shearwater Insurance Tri-Star Grand Slam. This series comprises five ‘Three Star’ classes across the season, and any rider winning three of the five takes home a £50,000 ‘winner takes all’ bonus. Last year, British No.1 Oliver Townend came closest to the big prize, winning both Burnham Market and Burgham. This season Izzy Taylor claimed the first leg at Belton Park, while Burnham Market was yet again won by Oliver Townend – his 10th win of this headline class since 2007.

More than 700 horses perform each year, but it’s not just about eventing.

Running alongside the International classes are a variety of other equestrian disciplines; British showjumping, Arena eventing, unaffiliated dressage and showjumping, Pony Club team showjumping, and the ever popular Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse qualifiers, where riders show off the potential stars of the future.

Away from the horses, a guaranteed crowd pleaser is the East Anglian Air

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Ambulance (EAAA) Charity Camel Racing. This takes place on Sunday 28th May, with jockeys made up of volunteers who’ve guaranteed to raise £500 for the charity, plus a smattering of professional event riders – and only time will tell as to who shows most skill on a potentially contrary camel!

The EAAA has a fundraising goal of £11million this year alone, a staggering figure which reflects the incredible service it provides. Each airborne rescue mission costs around £3,500 – and with an average of five missions a day it soon becomes clear why the fundraising target is so high..

“We provide lifesaving medical support to critically ill patients by flying the hospital A&E to them,” explains EAAA Chief Executive Patrick Peal. “We then transport them within minutes to the most appropriate hospital for their clinical needs, which can make all the difference between long-term injury and recovery – and even between life and death.”

With Norfolk famed for its coastline, residents and holiday makers are as likely as equestrians to need the services of the Air Ambulance; it really does provide a service for all which makes it the ideal charity to benefit from this year’s Horse Trials.

As ever a range of children’s entertainment will be on offer, from Razz & Pearl’s Circus Workshops to bouncy castles, while a variety of food and drink outlets (including a well stocked bar!) will provide sustenance.

Houghton International runs from 25th-28th May, and the box office is now open, with both camping and picnic parking tickets also available.

Prices for admission start at £8 for adults and £4 for children, with under 5’s admitted free of charge.

For more information on any aspect of this year’s Houghton International Horse Trials, and to book advance tickets, visit www.musketeer.co.uk

KLmagazine May 2017

Sunday 4 June, 2017 T I C K E T S AVA I L A B L E N OW

FakenhamRacecourse.co.uk

Proudly sponsored by

All Or Nothing Visit the King’s Lynn Corn Exchange this month for an incredible MOD musical!

B

ased on the life and music of The Small Faces. Written

by Carol Harrison. In 1964, a new phenomenon exploded onto the dingy British streets. It was the essence of all that was cool. It was Mod. Mods stuck two fingers up at the class-ridden society and its dull redundant culture. They were working-class free spirits who rode sexy streamlined Italian Vespas or Lambrettas.

The sharpest Mod of all was known as a ‘FACE’.

The Small Faces encapsulated all that is Mod, a unique blend of

taste and testosterone, neat, clothes obsessed and street-wise.

But these cult sophisticates shared another passion, their dedication to Rhythm ‘n’ Blues.

This quintessentially British ‘Mod’ Musical celebrates the unique sound of the iconic ‘60s Mod band, The Small Faces.

Featuring the music of the Small Faces, including an arsenal of brilliant hits like Whatcha Gonna Do About It, Lazy Sunday, Tin Soldier, Sha La La La Lee, Itchycoo Park and of course All Or Nothing.

ALL OR NOTHING Friday 9th & Saturday 10t h April

Nightly 7.30pm, Sat Matine e 2.30pm Evenings: £26.50 / Concs £24.50 Matinee: £25.50 / Concs £23 .50 Groups 1 in 10 free

Tickets are available from our Box Office on 01553 764864 or book online at: kingslynncornexchange.co .uk @klcornexchange @klcornexchange

Alive Corn Exchange

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KLmagazine

May 2017

What’s On

Half Term fun at the Alive Leisure venues Alive Corn Exchange THE BEST OF BARMY BRITAIN Sunday 4th June It’s the history of Britain with the nasty bits left in! Could you beat battling Boudicca? Will King John be a martyr for the Magna Carta? Will you lose your heart or your head to Henry VIII? Can Parliament survive gunpowder Guy? Light up your life with the great fire of London! Stand and deliver to dastardly Dick Turpin? Escape the clutches of Burke and Hare and move to the groove with party Queen Victoria!

Alive Oasis 01485 534227 Adventure Challenge, Junior Fitness, Table Tennis, Runaround Games, Junior Circuits, Parachute Games, Roller Skating and Swimming Family Fun sessions. Plus come and try our new Alive Adventures indoor play centre.

Alive St James Pool

Alive Lynnsport 01553 818001 Activities include Holiday and Breakfast clubs every day, with Archery, Football, Cricket and Basketball. Plus Tennis Camps, Tumble Teds, Trampolining, Junior Gymnastics, Roller Skating, Indoor Adventure Play and Gladiator Challenge.

Alive Downham Leisure 01366 386868 Activities include Holiday Clubs, Junior Fitness, Archery, Roller Skating, plus Swimming Family Fun sessions and Swimming Crash Courses.

SUMMER BEACH PARTIES Saturday 3rd June Come and swim in our purple coloured pools with fun floats and inflatables. St James Pool: 12.151.15pm & 4-5pm. Downham Leisure: Noon-1pm & 4.30-5.30pm Oasis: 1-2pm & 5-6pm. Booking is recommended as maximum numbers apply.

01553 764888 Swimming Crash Courses and Family Fun sessions.

For the full programme of what’s on this Half Term at the Alive Leisure venues, pick up a copy of our Half Term brochure out now or check out the website www.aliveleisure.co.uk KLmagazine May 2017

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PICTURES: BOROUGH COUNCIL OF KING'S LYNN & WEST NORFOLK

Local Life

ABOVE: Dayna Woolbright of Norfolk Museums Service with HRH the Duke of Gloucester during the royal guest’s recent visit to Stories of Lynn exhibition at the King’s Lynn town Hall – and which should be on the itinerary of every stay-at-home holiday

It’s time to enjoy the West Norfolk staycation With so much to do and enjoy on our doorsteps, there’s no need to go out of your way for your next holiday. Charlotte Wright and Stephanie Lewis have a few ideas for your local ‘stay’cation...

A

staycation is a vacation where you stay at home, and lots of people are doing it at the moment.

Especially as it means all the relaxation and fun of a holiday without the hassle or expense of actually travelling. Be a hometown tourist and spend some time exploring what’s on your very own doorstep. Lots of locals ignore the same attractions that thousands of tourists flock to our

KLmagazine May 2017

towns and villages every summer to see, but now’s your chance to change that. By choosing a staycation you’ll save money, you’ll relax, and you’ll fall in love with King’s Lynn and West Norfolk all over again. After all, you live somewhere wonderful – why leave it?

Here are our top tips on being a ‘Tourist in your own Town’ for your next holiday: – prepare for your staycation just like you would for a holiday abroad.

– get all your chores, housework and life admin done before your holiday so you can take a complete break from them while you’re ‘away.’

– pack your bags. Dig out all the holiday clothes that make you feel happy and relaxed, and even treat yourself to a brand new outfit! Don’t forget to include that good book you’ve been trying to find the time to read.

– book your accommodation. Give your home a clean so it feels like you’re

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Local Life

staying in a hotel. Or check into that quaint bed-and-breakfast or fancy hotel you’ve always been curious about.

DON’T WASTE A MOMENT – make a list of the places you’ve always wanted to have a look around, but never had the time. Browse in that charming antique shop; feed the ducks in Lynn’s beautiful park The Walks; explore the cobbled streets of the riverfront area and see the spectacular architecture through a tourist’s eyes EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY! – ignore the supermarket; it’s convenient when you’re in a rush, but now you’re relaxing why not pick up supplies at West Norfolk’s fantastic range of independent butchers, grocers and delicatessens?

– try a new ingredient or a new recipe that takes hours to cook; friendly shopkeepers will have some great tips!

– West Norfolk has an amazing range of places to eat if you’ve decided your staycation isn’t ‘self-catering’; spend an afternoon lingering over a latte in a café then dine out in the evening in an upmarket restaurant SOAK UP SOME CULTURE – visit a museum, exhibition or gallery right on your doorstep; there are plenty to choose from! Learn about your town’s history with a trip to our very own Stories of Lynn, where you can discover the stories of the seafarers, explorers, merchants, mayors, magistrates, and miscreants who shaped King’s Lynn, one of England’s most important medieval port towns, over the course of more than 800

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years. Make a day of it with the family, touring the old gaol cells, trying on the mayor’s robes, seeing the magnificent King John Cup and more! On Tuesdays at 1pm you can also take a guided tour around Stories of Lynn.

– take a class! Whether it’s cooking or still-life drawing, a staycation is the perfect chance to learn a new skill. You just may make some new friends with similar interests as well. Stories of Lynn offers a wide variety of themed masterclasses from upholstery to bookbinding; you’ll find all the details at www.kingslynntownhall.com/events Stories of Lynn may well be somewhere you’ve been hearing about or walking past for some time without ever getting the chance to visit. It’s recently celebrated its first birthday after its grand reopening with a royal visit, so now could be the perfect time.

HRH the Duke of Gloucester recently visited Stories of Lynn at King’s Lynn Town Hall to take a tour and unveil a plaque to mark its official opening.

Extensive work to the town hall complex, funded by a grant of £1,850,600 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £800,000 from the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, brought together the existing Old Gaol House and Regalia Rooms into a fascinating and interactive new exhibition.

His Royal Highness viewed the storyboards which tell the story of the restoration work, including the revealing of the stunning vaulted undercroft of the 15th-century guildhall, which is home to the new exhibition.

The tour also took in the Eight

Centuries exhibition, Walter Coney's windowsill and the treasury which features the King John Cup. The party then headed into the King's Lynn Borough Archives where His Royal Highness was invited to view the Red Register and the 1204 King John Charter; just two of the hundreds of historic documents now available for the public to view.

The tour concluded with a visit to the Old Gaol House before moving to the Gateway Room, where the Mayor invited His Royal Highness to unveil a commemorative plaque marking the occasion.

So why not follow in those royal footsteps and make a visit to Stories of Lynn part of your staycation?

STORIES OF LYNN is open daily from 10am–4.30pm, and admission is £3.95 for adults £3.95 and £1.95 for children.

Concessions are £2.95 and family tickets are £9.85 (two adults and three children, or one adult and four children, but no more than two adults).

For more information call: 01553 774297 or visit the website at www.kingslynntownhall.com

KLmagazine May 2017

Come and see our exciting

landscaping display

Our landscaping area will give you all the inspiration you’ll need from paths and paving to garden furniture and outdoor buildings.

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KLmagazine May 2017

Adrian Birt

Chris Braithwaite

Steve Blewitt

Martin Seal

Sebastian Spitz

Two outstanding brands, one outstanding team...

Meet the local team behind the success of Duff Morgan in King’s Lynn stablished over 100 years ago back in 1909, Duff Morgan has always been associated with high standards of motoring excellence and a commitment to customer care – and over the last few years those traditons have been continuing in and around King’s Lynn. Duff Morgan opened the doors to a new era for Citroën in the spring of 2010 and the fully-equipped dealership won Citroën’s prestigious Dealership of the Year Award only 12 months later, beating the brand’s other 188 UK dealerships to the title in the process.

And only two years later, the team won

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Citroën’s Excellence in Customer Care Award. Two years after that, in the spring of 2015, Duff Morgan expanded its offering by welcoming SEAT back to King's Lynn, opening a sister dealership beside the existing Citroën one.

The success of Duff Morgan is largely thanks to the well-established and experienced team behind the vehicles themselves.

People like Steve Blewitt, who oversees Duff Morgan’s on-site Business Centre, dealing with everything from company cars to specialist vans; used vehicle sales controller Adrian

Birt, who ensures all cars are prepared and presented to the very highest standards; sales executives Chris Braithwaite (Citroën) and Sebastian Spitz (SEAT); and Sales Manager Martin Seal, together with his professional support team of valeters, technicians and engineers, sales and administration staff.

“Duff Morgan has been a family-run business for over a century, and we’ve never stopped growing, expanding and maintaining our excellent standards of customer service,” says Martin.

“Whatever your motoring needs, we've got everything you're looking for."

There’s really only one way to enjoy the Duff Morgan experience for yourself; by taking the cars – and the team behind them – for a test drive!

DUFF MORGAN 49 Bergen Way, North Lynn Industrial Estate King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 2JG Telephone: 01553 770144 Website: www.duffmorgan.com KLmagazine May 2017

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Local Life

ABOVE: Fred Hall’s model of the now vanished North End of King’s Lynn, which is now housed at the town’s True’s Yard Fisherfolk Museum (the circled building) and opposite is part of the retired carpenter’s intricate model of St. Margaret’s Church (today’s Minster).

The history of King’s Lynn in miniature...

Over the last 10 years, retired carpenter Fred Hall has spent over 7,000 hours carefully recreating the historic buildings of King’s Lynn in a series of wooden models. Clare Bee takes a closer look...

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ing’s Lynn may not be a big town in comparison with Norwich or Ipswich, but it does have a wealth of listed buildings; no less than 13 are Grade I listed and all but one (the Custom House of 1683) date from medieval times. Today, it’s hard to imagine how the town would have looked several centuries ago to residents and visitors, but one man is keeping those times alive with his models of local important buildings.

He’s modelmaker extraordinaire Fred Hall (right), who for the last ten years has been bringing King’s Lynn’s history to life for Norfolk people and visitors alike. Following the death of his wife,

KLmagazine May 2017

Fred (a carpenter by trade) started to look around for something to do. His hobby of photography led him to start compiling albums of family and local history, and he became increasingly interested in historic buildings and how they looked at the time of construction.

In 2007, local historian and author Dr Paul Richards was looking for someone to make a model of the North End of King’s Lynn as it looked in the 16th century to put on display at the town’s True’s Yard Fisherfolk Museum, and commissioned Fred to create a replica of the fishing community as it was then.

Fred enjoyed the process so much that he’s since gone on to build another 14 models over the years.

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Local Life

His meticulous preparation includes researching each subject using drawings from the period, reference books, street maps, his own photos and measurements and the vast archive of photographs housed at True’s Yard. He then draws the building to scale, transfers the plan to a base board and begins to carve.

The majority of Fred’s models are made of lime wood and mahogany, using plywood for the brickwork. He then paints them all over in a fawn colour as a base, followed by carefully painting on the brickwork and other individual features.

Fred estimates that over the last seven years he’s spent over 7,000 hours on his models.

“I really enjoy doing it,” he says, “but I think I’ve done them all now – there’s nothing left!”

Fred’s completed creations are displayed in four different locations around King’s Lynn. Of these, four models are on display at True’s Yard; a recreation of 17th century Clifton House is on display in the house itself; a model of St Margaret’s Church can be seen in the Minster; and nine further models are to be found upstairs at Marriott’s Warehouse. One of these latter is a large model of the town’s waterfront in Tudor times, and is a fascinating insight into how the town looked in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Other models on display in Marriott’s Warehouse are Henry Bell’s magnificent octagonal Market Cross, which stood

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on the Tuesday Market Place until 1830, and a model of Hampton Court, a quadrangular building whose origins date back to the 14th century.

Further wings were added in later centuries, including the final north wing at the beginning of the 17th century and is thought to contain a bakehouse and a brewhouse.

Through his meticulous research, Fred has interpreted how the buildings would have looked four centuries ago.

One of Fred’s most recent models to be unveiled is that of Hanse House, which is on display in the foyer of the building’s South Quay entrance and show the river much nearer to the entrance than it is now.

“Hanse House now has a Georgian frontage,” Fred explains, “but this model is how I imagined the building to look in the 1500s.

The river used to be much closer to the building, which was convenient for the loading and unloading of medieval ships, so I thought it was an important element to include.”

Although Fred thinks he’s made models of all the buildings in the town, there are in fact a couple more he is working on at the moment. The Town Hall will show the building as it was in the 14th century (with replicas of the buildings which stood at either side of the Hall) and another is Coney’s House, a building which stood at the end of the High Street and Saturday Market Place opposite the Wenns pub – and which

sadly is no longer in existence.

It was the home of Walter Coney, merchant, MP and five-times Mayor of Lynn in the mid 1400s. The frontage of his home featured intricate wood carvings on the corner, and Fred has just completed the model – which will go on display in Marriott’s Warehouse, along with the majority of Fred’s models.

Having completed all these fine buildings, Fred is now going to turn his hand to carving animals.

He’s already sculpted a barn owl in flight and a small owl, his plan now is to carve two hares boxing, which will be made out of hardwood, which according to Fred, is very difficult to work with.

“I’ve been a carpenter all my life,” he says, “and it’s in my blood. I can sit down and start modelling, and no one complains!”

There are definitely no complaints from visitors who venture into Marriott's Warehouse or True’s Yard and marvel at the models Fred’s patiently created over the years. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Fred’s skill and interest in carpentry and history, locals and visitors alike wouldn’t have the insight into how the town looked centuries ago.

In recognition of his work, Fred was invited to attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in May 2014. For Fred, it was an honour to know how much his work is appreciated, but the modeller himself is unassuming.

“I just hit lucky doing them,” he says.

“No one had done them before.”

But in truth, we’re the lucky ones, for Fred has skillfully brought King’s Lynn’s history to life for us all to see.

ABOVE: Fred Hall’s model of Hanse House in King’s Lynn shows how close the building was to the riverfront in the 1500s. Above is his recreation of Henry Bell’s Market Cross, which stood in the town’s Tuesday Market Place for some 120 years until its demolition in 1830.

KLmagazine May 2017

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It’s my ambition to turn King’s Lynn into the greenest town of its size in the UK...

ABOVE: Kevin Holland outside The Solar Shed at Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalen – a living example of how efficient, how simple, how beneficial, and how profitable solar energy can be when designed by experts and installed by professionals.

The man who’s turning daylight into money...

Kevin Holland is a man with a mission. From a quiet corner of Norfolk, he’s switching people onto solar energy and its many benefits – to your life, to your bank balance, and to your planet aving a ‘lightbulb moment’ is something of a trite phrase, but there’s no more appropriate way of describing the scene as Kevin Holland shows me a handheld lightbulb-shaped lamp that’s powered by a built-in solar panel. It’s the kind of thing that would be perfect for fishermen, campers and frequent visitors to the loft, but that’s not the point here.

“See this?” he asks, pointing to a small red light flashing on the bottom of the lamp. “That means it's charging.”

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Nothing wrong with that, you might think, but consider this; we’re not only indoors inside Kevin’s purpose-built shed/workshop/studio/office – he’s deliberately positioned the solar panel in the completely opposite direction of the sun coming through the window.

Generating solar energy? Indoors?

Facing away from the sun?

“That’s unbelievable,” is the only thing I can think of saying.

“That’s exactly the reaction I want,” he says with a big grin.

Welcome to The Solar Shed, which is

based at Kevin’s home in Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalen on the banks of the River Great Ouse and which he describes as “a living example of The Green Britain Centre” – the internationally renowned, Eco-Tourism attraction in Swaffham, where Kevin is the resident Solar Speaker and advisor.

Indeed, visit The Solar Shed and prepare to discover that much of what you currently believe and think you know about the potential, limitations, uses and benefits of solar energy is based on myth and misconception.

KLmagazine May 2017

PICTURE CREDIT: JIM GARRET – OFF-GRID SOLUTIONS LTD

“There are only two types of people in the world,” says Kevin. “Those who have solar energy, and those who are going to have it in the future.”

It may be a bold claim, but it’s coming from an impeccably well-informed source. Following an award-winning career as a London police officer working within Europe’s most denselypopulated housing estate, Kevin Holland has become an industry leader in the field of eco-living and energy saving.

He’s one of the world’s top tweeters in the area of sustainable building design, he won the Eco Shed of the Year category at the 2012 Shed of the Year Competition, and he’s listed among the world’s most influential people in energy and climate change; alongside Leonardo diCaprio, Angela Merkel, Elon Musk and Al Gore.

Now entering his 10th year in the industry, Kevin’s overseen almost 900 solar installations to date, from residential houses to six of the 10 largest systems in King’s Lynn – together with some 450 small off-grid systems for glamping and camping sites. This is a man who knows what he’s talking about.

For instance, there’s a sense that many people have now cooled to the idea of solar panels, a feeling encouraged by media reports on the dwindling financial rewards of generating your own energy from the sun.

“It’s a complete myth,” says Kevin.

“The percentage of return today is actually better than it ever was. True, no one’s earning £2,000 a year from solar panels anymore, but they’re not paying £28,000 to do so! Most people are still getting a 5% return from the Feed-in Tariff plus the savings on energy bills, so that’s a £600-£700 return annually on a £6,000 investment! What bank will give you that?”

Many people will be surprised that you can still earn money from the daylight, but it’s always been about more than financial gain.

“We simply can’t keep digging up the planet for fossil fuels,” says Kevin. “We’ve got to the stage where oil prices mean it’s financially feasible to ‘frack’ – to blow up the ground beneath our feet! – just to put the kettle on. That’s a sad state of affairs.”

It’s also a timely reminder that solar energy is essentially a political subject.

“The two biggest industries in the world, the two largest revenue generators on the planet,” says Kevin, “are war and energy. We’ve got to do something, and The Solar Shed is here to show people how to live their lives

ABOVE: On a considerably larger scale than his projects for domestic customers (below) this solar installation at Optima Stainless in King’s Lynn is a shining example of just how beneficial the technology can be to commercial operations. The system has seen a summer energy bill of £8,000 drop to £3,500 – and what’s more, it’s even earning money.

without paying for energy bills.”

Whether you’re a householder or a business The Solar Shed can plan, design, install and service a solar system that makes the most of your location and brings you the maximum benefit.

And if you need any more proof, Kevin can call up any one of his hundreds of installations on his laptop in real time as evidence.

“Take this installation in King’s Lynn,” he says, pointing to a series of coloured graphs and charts. “This man uses virtually no electricity from the grid. His £10,000 investment has bought a big domestic solar system plus a big battery storage unit, which means between the end of March and the end of September

last year he paid £4.36 for his energy.

That’s what I’m talking about.”

Kevin points out of the window.

“See there,” he says. “I’m using free electricity to move free rainwater over my solar panels to cool them and generate more free electricity – and because of the Feed-in Tariff I’m turning more daylight into even more money.”

Converted? I think I am.

ta Meet Kevin for a chat about wha e mak ld cou rgy ene r sola e differenc ket Mar y to your life on the Tuesda y!

Place in King’s Lynn every Tuesda

67 Stow Road, Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalen, Norfolk PE34 3DJ tel: 08081 261289 / 07737 457208 web: www.thesolarshed.co.uk e-mail: info@thesolarshed.co.uk

KLmagazine May 2017

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History

ABOVE: An early photograph of the port at King’s Lynn, which saw a constant influx of goods from around the country and Europe – and was transformed by the arrival of the railways in the second half of the 19th century.

The story of the Wash ports: past and present The golden age of the ports of King’s Lynn, Wisbech and Boston may have gone, but as Dr Paul Richards explains, they all made an enduring impression on the towns that’s with us to this day...

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ntil the railways arrived in the 1840s the Wash ports depended for their prosperity on river and coastal traffic as well as their sea links with Europe. Seaborne cargoes of wool, cloth, salt, furs, iron, pitch, fish, wine, timber and coal poured through these ports, enriching local merchants for centuries.

King’s Lynn and Boston had hosted significant communities of German traders from the Hanseatic cities before 1500, and although Boston and Wisbech suffered from river silting and loss of trade in the 16th and 17th

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centuries, the Cambridgeshire town recovered in the period 1680-1730.

The Wash ports enjoyed an age of expansion from the 1760s to the 1840s, feeding London and Britain’s new industrial regions from their fertile agricultural hinterlands.

The historic townscapes seen in the three Wash ports today are largely those built in the 18th and 19th centuries as their populations began to climb. Since 2017 is the 80th anniversary of The Georgian Group (a London-based organisation dedicated to the preservation of our urban heritage from 1714-1830) it seems a

good time to take a look at these interesting towns.

That Boston and Wisbech experienced economic revival by the early 18th century is indicated by the construction of brick houses in the classical style. Traditional vernacular architecture with timber framing was being superseded as Boston’s new Custom House (1725) highlights.

In Wisbech, ‘Peckover House’ was built in 1722 on the north brink and purchased by Jonathan Peckover in 1777. Over in Boston, ‘Fydell House’ was erected in 1726 before Robert Fydell bought it in 1733 and, like

KLmagazine May 2017

History

PICTURES: TRUE’S YARD FISHERFOLK MUSEUM / SUPPLIED

Peckover House, can be described as “the grandest house in town.”

They were “handsome and modern” town mansions with fine interiors reflecting the taste and wealth of the local merchant families who lived there.

The journal of an educated traveller who visited the Wash ports in the summer of 1741 offers some valuable insights into their contemporary built environments. He started from Cambridge and may have been a university professor whose partiality for classical architecture is apparent.

King’s Lynn was “a tolerable good town situated near the mouth of the River Ouse” with the Tuesday Market Place described as “very fine and spacious”, being surrounded by “very decent buildings,” with Henry Bell’s magnificent Market Cross of 1711 receiving special attention.

The Wash port had enjoyed an urban renaissance and the Merchants’ Exchange and Clifton House would have particularly impressed our traveller too. In 1737 Benjamin Mackerell of Norwich had described King’s Lynn as “beautiful and large” with “about 2,360 houses”.

From King’s Lynn our learned tourist went to Wisbech which was “a good, pretty market town” on a river with “some good houses in it” – though he was uncomplimentary about the water supply. Street improvements undertaken in Wisbech in the 1730s confirmed that it was becoming a modern and brick built Georgian town.

He gives no details or specific locations, but his favourable impression of the Fenland town surely sprang from views of the north and south brinks and the two market places.

ABOVE: The growth of the Wash ports and the increasing wealth of local merchants had a major impact on the towns themselves, leading to buildings such as Fydell House in Boston (top) and the elegant architecture of Wisbech (bottom). At centre is a view of the port of Wisbech in 1849.

KLmagazine May 2017

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History

ABOVE: Alexander Dock in King’s Lynn in earlier times – the port is still a hive of activity today. Below is the famous Crescent in Wisbech (built at the end of the 18th century) and a view of the town’s port in 1904

Boston wasn’t regaining the same economic momentum as Wisbech, but it did have “some good houses in it”; the inns being “tolerable,” the wine “good,” but there was “very little traffick through the town.”

Fydell House, with its beautiful two storey six-bay façade and high quality stone and brick work, no doubt equally pleased the Cambridge man.

By the early 19th century Wisbech had arrived in the premier league of East Anglian towns with the architecturally grand Crescent and other housing developments displaying the town’s prosperity. For some writers the view from the bridge along the north and south brinks had “no parallel” in Georgian England. Unfortunately, most of the late Georgian warehouses which lined the Nene have been lost since 1950.

Meanwhile, Boston had at last fully emerged from the doldrums. Late Georgian houses and terraces can be found throughout the town, whose market place was also enlarged. The Exchange Building of 15 bays and three storeys in brick (erected in 1772) was a mixed housing and commercial development. Nearby are the classical Assembly Rooms (1822) and likewise they present a “dignified” façade to the river.

Boston’s port heritage depends to some extent on the preservation of its late Georgian warehouses, but several of them had been demolished by the 1960s. At King’s Lynn there was similar rapid development as population

30

increased, with London Road becoming a major artery through the town after 1820, with new streets feeding into it.

One local writer asserted that few similar boroughs could boast of such an approach as London Road, with its “handsome and elegant houses.”

It was the modest population growth (and therefore redevelopment) of the Wash ports between 1850-1950 which helped to preserve their historic streets and buildings. The coming of the railways from the 1840s had robbed them of most of their river and coastal traffic. Although wartime bombing in the 1940s was thankfully limited, town planning in Boston and King’s Lynn in the 1960s damaged the medieval street pattern and resulted in the loss of several important buildings – but all three Wash ports remain historic urban centres and deserve more attention.

KLmagazine May 2017

KLmagazine May 2017

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KLmagazine May 2017

Letting Better Our monthly round up of the latest news and legislation concerning Landlords and Tenants in the private rented sector with Edmonton Estates Director Damien Simone

Independent Lettings & Property Management Specialists

QUI CK FAC TS A sustained period of house price growth in excess of pay rises has made it difficult for many to purchase a home.

Cited by TradingEconomics.com

Stay Invested I

t’s not difficult to see that in the past 3 years alone the private rental sector in England and Wales has changed significantly. This is primarily due to several new pieces of legislation introduced by the Government to restrict landlords’ abilities to evict tenants and the staged abolition of previously acceptable tax allowances.

The motivation behind these actions seems to be fuelled by the misconception that landlords are contributing heavily to the housing shortage and by making buy-to-let investment a less favourable prospect the competitive edge will be restored to all of the first-time buyers who can’t get on to the property ladder due to investors purchasing all of the base level housing. The supporting information is presented in a factual manner making a convincing argument that; “greedy landlords are buying up all of the cheap properties and renting them back to want-to-be first-time buyers at monthly rents far higher than they would be paying if it were a mortgage”. But how much substance is

there behind this? In my experience of the current market less than none!

House prices locally have been increasing at a frenetic rate over the past 18 months assisted in no small way by the government backed Help-ToBuy schemes which are proving particularly popular with new build developers. The collateral damage of this is that property investors are often finding themselves outbid for properties by first-time-buyers, not the other way around as many would like you to believe. Investment buyers must pay a significantly higher initial deposit percentage and work to a rent-to-loan value before securing their purchase. As a result, they are the first buying category adversely affected by rising prices and a shortage of available properties.

A lot of smaller investors have seized on the current boom in capital values to sell their rental properties and avoid the new regulations that are coming into force. For those landlords who are hovering on the verge of indecision as to whether to sell, my advice is to hold

tight. As with all businesses the fundamental principal of “supply and demand” is what sets the value and rents in the local area are continuing to increase because there simply aren’t enough rental properties to meet demand.

More than 50% of the properties which we let at Edmonton Estates are never advertised and with the option of a comprehensive rent and legal protection policy to protect your investment we feel that far from being a bad time to be a landlord it has never been a better one.

Whether you have one house or one hundred if you would like to discuss with us in more depth what’s happening in the local market and the best way to maximise your investment please contact our office on 01553 660615.

Edmonton Estates Ltd, St Ann’s House, 18 St Ann’s Street, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 1LT 01553 660615 | www.edmontonestates.co.uk | info@edmontonestates.co.uk

KLmagazine May 2017

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Local Life

ABOVE: The Wisbech and Fenland Museum contains a wealth of important local and international collections, but it’s now facing the most challenging time of its 170-year history

A celebration of the past with an uncertain future It may contain exhibits covering thousands of years of world history, but the Wisbech and Fenland Museum is in danger of becoming a thing of the past itself, as Richard Parr discovers...

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stuffed albatross, a mummified cat, a breakfast service used by Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo, the earliest known photograph of Madagascar and the handwritten manuscript of Charles Dickens’ most famous novel Great Expectations – where else could you be but the wonderful Victorian treasure house of the Wisbech and Fenland Museum?

Considered one of the oldest purpose-built museums in the world and located close to the town’s famous The Crescent and church of St Peter and St. Paul, it first opened its doors to visitors in 1847.

KLmagazine May 2017

The building is well-preserved (it retains most of its original furniture, including the impressive curved twin staircase) and its splendid main and upper galleries display a remarkable collection of rare and eclectic artefacts representing both ancient and contempory local and worldwide history.

Although the museum attracts around 12,500 visitors every year, its glorious celebration of the past faces an uncertain future in the face of recently announced cuts in funding.

The Wisbech and Fenland Museum costs around £75,000 a year to run, but although providing funds to cover the next three years Fenland District

Council has withdrawn its £38,250 annual grant – leaving the museum on the brink of becoming history itself.

Chairman Richard Barnwell is determined that won’t happen.

“This is a rare gem that reflects the Victorian tradition of showing cabinets of curios,” he says. “While you won’t find any high-tech interactive displays here, that’s all part of its charm. We must keep this museum open for future generations. People need to feel that its their museum and that it needs to be in their future.”

The need for adequate funding couldn’t be more important. Without it, the museum will almost certainly be forced to close, its contents (even the 35

Local Life

ABOVE: The Wisbech and Fenland Museum contains objects relating to ordinary life in the area, world-changing local people such as Thomas Clarkson (his travelling chest is pictured top left) and the personal possessions of figures such as Napoleon Bonaparte (above right)

locally relevant ones) being distributed outside Fenland and causing a huge vacuum in the hertiage of Wisbech.

Part of the museum’s current sustainability review is looking at ways to encourage more generous visitor donations. It’s an important point; entrance to the museum is free, and in 2014-15 visitors donated a mere £1,973, which (based on current numbers) equates to roughly 15p each.

Happily, the Heritage Lottery Fund recently agreed to fund a specialist member of staff to examine ways of securing alternative funding.

As part of this review, residents of Wisbech and the surrounding area will be invited to give their views about the museum and its future development.

“The museum is run as an independent charitable trust,” says acting curator Robert Bell, “and until now it’s relied on grants to help with running costs and to maintain free admission to everyone. I think people need to start thinking differently about the museum. It contains some wonderful local, national and international collections – and it’s vital that we don’t take them for granted. If we do, we may lose them.”

With some 50,000 objects assembled over the course of 150 years, there’s an awful lot to lose.

There’s the travelling chest belonging to anti-slavery campaigner and the town’s most famous son Thomas Clarkson and the Townshend Rooms, containing objects from the extensive personal collections of the Revd

36

Chauncy Hare Townshend. These include Napoleon Bonaparte’s breakfast service used by him on the morning of the Battle of Waterloo and a boxed chess set reputed to have belonged to the ‘Sun King’ Louis XIV of France.

In another fascinating display, visitors can discover how Wisbech shipping magnate Richard Young operated a fleet of 43 vessels out of the Port of Wisbech, while the museum also houses some 6,000 Greek, Roman, Celtic and British coins – including a priceless Roman coin hoard unearthed

in Emneth.

Strangely, it’s some of the more bizarre exhibits that prove the most popular.

“One of the most popular of all is the large stuffed albatross,” says Robert. “It’s really impressive, but plenty of visitors mistakenly and amusingly refer to it as a giant seagull!”

People are always encouraged to become involved in the life of the museum, and one of the best ways of doing so is by becoming a Friend of the Museum – enabling you to support and contribute to developments, and enjoy lectures and outings held throughout the year. Further information about the role of the Friends can be obtained by contacting secretary Geoffrey Hill at friends@wisbechmuseum.org.uk The museum is always looking to recruit more volunteers and there are opportunities for work placements for students and people wishing to gain professional experience. Free guided tours are available, and to book one please call 01945 583817 or email info@wisbechmuseum.org.uk – and remember that a donation is always more than welcome.

The Wisbech and Fenland Museum is open from Tuesday to Saturday (10am4pm) and more details and information is available on 01945 583817 or by emailing info@wisbechmuseum.org.uk.

It’s a wonderful museum packed with fascinating objects and full of local treasures – but it needs our support to prevent it becoming a thing of the past itself.

KLmagazine May 2017

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KLmagazine May 2017

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KLmagazine May 2017

Welcome to the world of digital tax...

It’s the biggest change to the taxation system for 20 years, and it’s coming soon. As Making Tax Digital prepares to go live, Sean Page ACA of Stephenson Smart explains what it could mean to you... n the March 2015 Budget, the government announced one of the biggest reforms of how taxation for individuals and businesses is processed since the introduction of self-assessment 20 years ago.

The Making Tax Digital initiative is all about simplifying how you manage and pay your taxes, providing up-to-date information on your tax position and helping you manage your finances efficiently.

The wheels have already been set in motion for the creation of a fully integrated digital tax system, but the process is likely to change up to the point of implementation and beyond. The key foundations of Making Tax Digital are as follows:

I

1 Better use of information: in the past taxpayers have submitted information HMRC already knows (such as pensions, employment and bank interest); this should no longer be the case in the future.

2 Tax in real time: Instead of making people wait until the end of the year (or longer) to know how much tax they should pay, HMRC will collect and

KLmagazine May 2017

process information on a quarterly basis with the intention of minimizing errors and the build-up of repayments owed.

3 A single financial account: At the moment most taxpayers can’t see a single picture of their liabilities and entitlements in one place. By 2020, they’ll be able to see a comprehensive financial picture in their digital account, similar to how online banking works.

As with much of the current rules and regulations, Making Tax Digital isn’t quite as simple as it sounds.

For starters, it won’t apply to absolutely everyone. People exempt from the initiative will include individuals and landlords with an income below £10,000; charities and community amateur sports clubs; people for whom the digital

OUR BRANCHES

platform is not reasonably practical (because of disability or age); and even people whose religious beliefs are incompatible with the use of electronic communications.

Making Tax Digital will be gradually phased in over the next few years; the first people affected being self-employed individuals, landlords with income over the VAT threshold, and those in employment who have a secondary income through self-employment or property more than the VAT threshold – all of whom will be introduced to the new system next April.

Their new responsibilities will be to keep digital records, make tax adjustments to income and expenditure, submit quarterly updates and provide a year-end summary for income tax.

The following April Making Tax Digital will be applied to (among others) selfemployed individuals and landlords with income above £10,000 and less than the VAT threshold and self-employed individuals, landlords and incorporated entities who are registered for and pay VAT. Finally, incorporated entities who pay Corporation Tax will be welcomed to the world of digital taxation in April 2020.

Undoubtedly some organisations and individuals will be better placed than others to attack the challenge these important changes will present.

At Stephenson Smart we’re keen to make all those potentially affected by the upcoming reforms fully aware of what the requirements are and how they can be proactive in preparing for the digital future.

We’d be more than happy to provide any help that you require, whether it be transforming your manual records into a digital format or simply giving various levels of ad-hoc advice throughout the coming years. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at any of our local offices (see below) and we’ll help you successfully enter this brave new world of taxation.

KING’S LYNN 01553 774104

GREAT YARMOUTH 01493 382500

WISBECH 01945 463383

FAKENHAM 01328 863318

DOWNHAM MARKET 01366 384121

MARCH 01354 653026

39

Local Life

ABOVE: James Brown (left) and his son Arthur, who took over the Marquis Bus Service founded by his father in the late 1940s

All aboard for memories of a local bus service...

At the beginning of the 20th century, Fenland villagers had little choice but to resort to bicycles and good shoes to get around. But then a man called James Brown had a idea that changed everything

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illage buses aren’t what they used to be – progress, propserity and about 40 miles of regulation have seen to that – and they are a lot thinner on the ground than they were a few years ago.

It may sound a familiar lament of modern life, but the paragraph you’ve just read wasn’t written in the last few days. They’re the words of columnist Wally Tilley writing in the Advertiser & Pictorial in March 1969.

He was commenting on the retirement of Arthur Brown, a man who during the 1950s provided the only link

40

to Wisbech and beyond for Fenland village communitites such as Guyhirn and Murrow with his Marquis Bus Service – a service that had been founded by his father and was always known (and is still remembered) as Brown’s Buses.

The story started with James White Brown, who was born in Sibsy near Boston towards the end of the 19th century and became a farm labourer in the local area before moving closer to Spalding and taking over The Bluebell pub.

In 1916, James and his wife moved to Guyhirn to run the Marquis of Granby

and business must have been good – for just after the First World War he took possession of a 14-seater Model T Ford. It was the beginning of the Marquis Bus Service, which started by ferrying local people around the surrounding towns and villages and took on weddings and funerals between its regular services.

It was an immediate success and James steadily expanded the business, building garages beside the pub he was still running and building up his fleet to the point where there were seven Marquis buses covering an area which included Friday Bridge and Wisbech.

KLmagazine May 2017

ABOVE: The Marquis of Granby in Guyhirn, which was run by James Brown and his wife Elizabeth (right) from 1916 – and from where James started his local bus service. He eventually built a number of garages and workshops for his growing fleet of buses in the area to the left of the pub.

The company was the first in the area to win a school contract, and was soon taking children to and from places such as Thorney, Murrow, March and Wisbech Grammar School.

It was also treating people to coastal trips to resorts such as Skegness, Hunstanton, Clacton and Great Yarmouth – and during the Second world War even made special trips to Peterborough train station to pick up children who’d been evacuated from London.

By then, ‘Brown’s Buses’ were a familiar Fenland sight and the business was a true family affair; with James’ son Arthur taking on driving duties and his two daughters acting as conductoresses on several routes. Even

Arthur’s young son Melvin helped out, lending a small hand in the yard and carrying bags of money from the Saturday services.

Today, Mel Brown lives in a small hamlet close to Wisbech St Mary and he has fond memories of the business started by his grandfather.

“As a child I used to spend a lot of time on those coastal runs,” he says, “and they were a lot of fun. Just before the bus set off for home they’d make a chalk mark on one of the wheel arches and then chalk numbers all around the tyre. Everyone would buy a numbered ticket, and when the bus finally returned home the person with the number matching the number on the tyre closest to the mark on the arch

would win the money. It was a sort of ‘bus roulette’ and it was a great way to end the trip!”

Mel's father took over the running of the Marquis Bus Service in the late 1940s, carrying on the same community-based services but moving the garages and workshops closer to his home – and although the post-war period was a good one for the business, the dawn of the 1960s was a difficult one.

“My father was getting close to retirement age by then,” says Mel, “and he was getting a bit fed up with the increasing amounts of red tape involved in running a bus service. I don’t think he was particularly sad to say goodbye to it all.”

ABOVE: Part of the Marquis Bus Services fleet pictured shortly after the Second World War with drivers ‘Paraffin’ Jack Hodgson and Aby Arling – in those days the drivers were also responsible for carrying out repairs to the vehicles.

KLmagazine May 2017

41

Local Life

ABOVE: Mel Brown, whose grandfather founded the Marquis Bus Service at the start of the 20th century. He still has one of the company’s original ticket clippers (below). Above right is the daughter of his aunt May, who worked as a conductoress on the service. Her daughter moved to the USA after marrying an American serviceman whose ancestors were among the original settlers of Kansas.

Arthur gradually reduced the size of the business, and towards the end of the 60s was only running a Murrow to Wisbech service in addition to the company’s school contracts. He retired in March 1969, selling the services to I.B. Tibbs of Parson Drove and putting the Guyhirn house, land and garages up for sale, moving with his wife to a bungalow at West Walton. For Mel, there was never any doubt that he wouldn’t be following in his father’s foosteps.

“I always loved metalwork and I enjoyed the buses when I was younger,” he says, “and if I’d got a motor engineering apprenticeship I may well have worked for the company. But my career took me in a different direction and to be honest I never fancied being a bus driver. All that sitting around would have bored me to

42

tears!”

Of course, we still have buses, but for Mel there’s something missing.

“I see big buses travelling around the countryside but there never seems to be many people on them,” he says.

“I think it’s very different now. It’s less personal, it’s not as friendly, and I do think that having a conductor on board made a lot of difference.”

The Marquis Bus Service may only be a fond

and distant memory for most people now, but there’s still a little bit of ‘Brown’s Buses’ still alive and well in Mel’s garage.

“I’ve always kept this, and it brings back a lot of good memories,” he says, picking up an odd-shaped metal object. “It’s an original ticket clipper from one of our buses that the conductor would have used to validate passenger’' tickets.”

Mel demonstrates how it works, and amazingly the bell still rings when it clips. In fact, you can almost hear the happy sounds of local schoolchildren and holidaymakers on their way to the coast.

If you have memories of travelling on the Marquis Bus Service or worked for the company please let us know. We’d love to hear your stories.

KLmagazine May 2017

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KLmagazine May 2017

43

West Norfolk: Then and Now

1935

2017

THORESBY COLLEGE, KING’S LYNN Thoresby College dates from around 1500, and as you can see from George Plunkett’s 1935 photograph, very little has changed over the years. And even 86 years after the repeal of the Window Tax some of the top windows were still waiting to be reglazed!

It was certainly an easier life back then, though – when road users didn’t have to worry about one-way systems, height restrictions and Restricted Zones! You can enjoy thousands of images of Norfolk’s history on the website at www.picture.norfolk.gov.uk or by visiting the Norfolk Heritage

Centre at the Millennium Library, The Forum, Norwich (or your local studies library). We’ll be taking another nostalgic look at the area next month.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Enjoy thousands of images of Norfolk’s unique history at www.picture.norfolk.gov.uk 44

KLmagazine May 2017

was considered significant despite the wishes of the testator (her mother) to benefit various charities. However, the Supreme Court reinstated the original award of £50,000. Their decision places considerable emphasis on the original wishes expressed by the testator, the reasonableness of those wishes, and the longstanding estrangement between the deceased and her daughter.

This recent decision highlights that whilst it‘s not possible to prevent a claim under the 1975 Act, careful planning and the taking of appropriate legal advice is essential. Testators should always ensure that they:

Are your wishes child-proof?

Ensuring your Will does what you want it to estators (people who have made a will or given a legacy) sometimes provide limited or no benefit to their children, adult or otherwise, and it’s usually the result of a deterioration in the family relationship.

There’s nothing wrong with such a course of action, and the starting point is that a testator (the person making the will) always has ‘testamentary freedom’; which is the ability to consider and select who should benefit under their Will.

However, this ‘freedom’ is subject to the Inheritance (Provision for Family & Dependants) Act 1975 (more simply referred to as the ‘1975 Act’) which allows certain classes of individuals, including

T

children, to make a claim against a deceased’s estate on the grounds that the provisions of the Will (or, in the absence of a Will, the Intestacy Rules), do not make ‘reasonable financial provision’ for them.

The recent Supreme Court decision in the case of Illot v Mitson (Illot v The Blue Cross and Others [2017] UKSC 17) has prompted further discussion as to the degree to which (if at all) children have any automatic ‘entitlement’ to benefit from a deceased parent’s estate.

In this case, the adult daughter, who had been ‘cut out’ of her late mother’s will, received an award of £50,000 from an estate in the region of £485,000. This award was appealed by the daughter and increased to £143,000 – plus a further £20,000 capital sum, paid in instalments.

The precarious financial position of the daughter and her need for ‘maintenance’

“I don’t want to leave them anything... we are estranged”

i. Make a Will ii. Keep the Will under review and update when necessary iii. When revising the Will instructions in light of changing family (or any other) circumstances, take legal advice and give sufficient attention to any potential claim(s) which could be made under the 1975 Act iv. Where potential claimants under the 1975 Act are to receive limited or no benefit under the Will, testators should set out their reason(s) clearly in a supporting statement which should be signed and dated and could then be used as evidence.

The law relating to claims under the 1975 Act is complex, and particular care is needed to address the relevant issues which arise when drafting a Will and any supporting statement.

In this article I’ve supplied general information, but it’s not intended to constitute advice. Every effort has been made to ensure the law referred to is correct at the date of publication and to avoid any statement which may mislead.

However, no duty of care is assumed to any person and no liability is accepted for any omission or inaccuracy. You should always seek specific legal advice.

If you would like any further advice or information on this matter, please call me on 01553 778900 or email robert.howliston@hayes-storr.com. For legal advice on any other matter call 01553 778900 or send an email to law@hayes-storr.com.

ROBERT HOWLISTON Director Hayes + Storr

Hayes + Storr Solicitors The Old County Court, County Court Road, King’s Lynn PE30 5EJ Web: www.hayesandstorr.co.uk E-mail: law.kingslynn@hayes-storr.com Offices at: King’s Lynn | Hunstanton | Fakenham | Swaffham | Holt | Wells | Sheringham

KLmagazine May 2017

45

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KLmagazine May 2017

Counting the longterm costs of divorce How Independent Financial Adviser Kate Trendell can help you plan a financial future after divorce ivorce is one of the most stressful and confusing events you could go through during your lifetime, and it can have a huge impact on your money over the years to come. While your solicitor will help you navigate the legal system, the other professional you’ll need on your side is an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA).

They’ll be able to work with you for financial security, helping you move on with your new life by assessing your post-divorce income and expenditure situation.

It’s important to remember that as part of the divorce, you may have to do the following:

D

– Sell the family home and start a new life in a new home – Set up a pension and utilise a Pension Sharing option – Save for children’s university costs – Set up life assurance in connection with any maintenance orders – Start a new career Seeking the advice of an IFA at the start of the divorce process could help you achieve a fair settlement. Your financial matters will be reviewed by your own independent specialist, providing you with the reassurance that your individual needs are at the heart of the planning process.

The point of divorce may be the first time that you’ve had to deal with the

finances, which in itself can be a daunting prospect. Having someone you can speak to about money, pensions and investments is important; it will build your confidence about your financial security.

Maintaining your financial stability and building your wealth for the future is important. An IFA can help you with this process, and you’ll also be sharing your burden with an expert. Having enough money now and in the future is a common goal in divorce; an IFA can structure a plan to make this possible, as well as highlight the limitations.

Utilising the services of someone detached from your personal situation is particularly important as you’ll need clear, impartial help that’s based on facts rather than feelings.

Life has many changing circumstances, and an IFA will ensure your financial plan isn’t derailed if something unexpected happens.

Whether your concerns centre on reorganising your finances now or establishing a new financial plan for the future, using an IFA can help you achieve this.

Contact Kate Trendell and she will help you understand your finances and build your security for the future. With your solicitor, we will work together to achieve your financial goals.

Barnes & Sherwood Professional Advisers Office: West Winch, Norfolk PE33 0PW Contact: Kate Trendell Mobile: 07739 339663 E-mail: ktrendell@barnsher.co.uk Barnes & Sherwood Professional Advisers are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority 547997 KLmagazine May 2017

47

Gardening

ABOVE: With a little extra planning and careful thought about plant selection, your hanging baskets will last longer and look stunning throughout the summer months.

How to make the most of your hanging baskets Enhancing your garden’s floral display with hanging baskets and containers can produce a superb and colourful effect. Wendy Warner explains how easy it is to get the very best from them...

M

ay is the month to plant up your hanging baskets, troughs and containers for months of enjoyment and colour throughout the summer – and a little extra effort in your planning and planting now will give much greater rewards for the finished product.

To start, use good-quality compost; either a specially mixed Container and Basket Compost such as Miracle-Gro Moisture Control, or a general multipurpose compost, and add slow-release feed granules and water retaining gel crystals before planting.

Choose suitable sized hanging baskets or containers, remembering

KLmagazine May 2017

that even small plants will soon create a big root system and be competing for all the goodness in a small container.

When putting liners in hanging baskets, adding a layer of plastic inside (a circle from an old compost bag with a few holes will suffice) will help retain moisture in the compost, stop the compost drying out from the outside (if it’s windy) and also prolong the life of the liner by not allowing the roots to become matted into the liner.

Now for the fun bit – selecting your plants! But first you must decide where you’re locating your hanging basket or container. Most basket and bedding plants will thrive best in full or partial sun but don’t worry if you happen to be

on the north-facing side of the street where the front of your house doesn’t get any sun; you can have just as colourful baskets as your neighbours opposite as long as you select the correct plants.

Choose Fuchsias, Begonias, New Guinea Hybrids, Busy Lizzies and Coleus. Just because they’re shade lovers doesn’t mean they’re insignificant – many Fuchsias have the most amazing large flowers including Swingtime with its stunning red and white blooms; the pale pink and white Happy Wedding Day and Blacky, with contrasting pink and ruffled deep purple (nearly black) flowers.

Some Fuchsias also have interesting

49

Gardening

ABOVE: Coleus has a wide variety of leaf sizes and overall shapes, but all forms feature beautiful variegated leaves that look marvellous in hanging baskets and containers – particularly in the shade.

variegated or golden leaves too. There are both trailing and upright Fuchsias so there’s something to suit most containers – and if you chose a hardy variety it will come back every year.

Trailing and Non-stop Begonias with their waxy flowers come in an array of bright, vivid colours. Impatiens New Guinea Hybrids and Busy Lizzies are all part of the same family and will give months of colour as long as they’re not allowed to dry out. The beautiful variegated coloured leaves of Coleus seem to stand out even more in the shade, and I always nip off any flowers as they appear so all the goodness continues to go to the leaves.

The added bonus with these plants is that they require very little deadheading, and by avoiding full sun won’t dry out as quickly – who’d have thought that being on the shady side of the road would have its advantages!

For full sun, Geraniums – both zonal (upright) and ivy-leafed (trailing) – are ideal and are traditional favourites for windowboxes. They look great on their own or mixed with other basket plants, and come in an array of colours from white, through pinks, lilacs, lavenders to reds and burgundy, some even having a two-tone stripe or eye.

Cascading Surfinias (trailing Petunias) and Calibrachoa (million bells) have soft stems making them particularly tolerant of wind and rain, which is handy in our coastal areas. If you’re going for these alone in a hanging basket, three plants will be sufficient for a 12” basket.

Trio Calibrachoa have been very popular for the last few years with three colours appearing to come from the same plant (sorry to spoil the illusion, but three plugs have actually been 50

grown very close together in one pot to obtain this!) One of these can be planted in a tall pot or small basket to give a great show.

Other trailing basket plants include basket Lobelia (these are much stronger, larger plants than the standard tray Lobelia), Verbena, Diascia, Brachycome, Bacopa, Nemesia and many more varieties. All these are suitable for baskets or taller pots where they can be allowed to trail down in a sunny position.

For pots or troughs in the sun, we have many different colours of Osteospermum through whites and yellows to purples, pinks and bronze.

Either use them as a centrepiece with trailing plants or on their own for a real showpiece.

For a balanced look when choosing plants for your pots, try to have a

‘thriller’ (a tall, impressive, upright plant for the centre or back of the pot), a ‘spillers’ (trailing plants that will hang down around the sides) and ‘fillers’ – those that will fill the gaps in the middle.

If possible, once planted, leave your baskets or containers in the greenhouse for a week or two to establish and become well rooted before hanging them in their final position. Ensure the chains of your basket haven’t perished, and replace if they look weak; it could be disastrous if the basket was to fall when full grown as they’re just like buttered toast and never land the right way up!

Make sure your bracket is big enough to hold your basket. Remember the size of your basket when planted and in full growth will be much wider than the empty basket, so allow this extra space to avoid crushed and broken stems, especially if it’s windy.

Once flowering, feed at least once a week with a high-potash feed such as Tomorite or Miracle-Gro All Purpose Liquid – and when it’s hot or windy your baskets are likely to need watering daily.

At Thaxters we source most of our bedding and basket plants from local growers around the Spalding area and have fresh deliveries at least once a week in season, so you can be assured you’re always getting the best quality plants. And if you don’t have the time to make up your own, by the end of the month we’ll have plenty of ready planted hanging baskets and containers on sale.

Wendy Warner is Manager of Thaxters Garden Centre at 49 Hunstanton Road, Dersingham PE31 6NA. Visit the website at www.thaxters.co.uk or telephone 01485 541514.

KLmagazine May 2017

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Caring for your environment KLmagazine May 2017

HOMEhints

in association with FRIMSTONE LTD

High quality – with no stone unturned!

An expert guide to using Frimstone’s high quality cobbles in your home and garden... ou’ll see cobbles all around Norfolk – from quaint cobbled village streets to beautiful cottage gardens along the coast, and there’s a good reason for that as the stones are present in all the county’s quarries.

Essentially, cobbles are naturallyrounded flints that are larger than a pebble and smaller than a boulder. When extracting material from quarries, most manufacturers will screen gravel into 40mm, 20mm and 10mm sizes, although FRIMSTONE also offer 14mm and 6mm gravels.

Anything bigger than 40mm comes off as a cobble or ‘reject’; rejected because it’s too

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big to be used as gravel.

While some companies will crush this material to produce more of the more popular smaller sizes, FRIMSTONE offers them as a product in their own right.

They’re actually produced in the quarries at Briston, Crimplesham and Watlington, and are also held at the FRIMSTONE sites at Snettisham and Wisbech.

Cobbles can be used to great effect – just take a drive or walk along the north Norfolk coast and you’ll see them commonly used as an attractive walling stone on many properties.

They’re often set in panels on the walls of houses, and in fact the use of cobbles is sometimes a local planning requirement for extensions or new builds to enable new properties to retain the character of the older historic buildings surrounding it.

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In addition to their use as building material, cobbles are excellent for decorative surrounds around water features in the garden or as bedding for dry plants. Plants that thrive among cobbles are bulbs such as allium, shrubs like hebe and yucca, many grasses and several herbaceous perennials. Cobbles are also quite good at preventing cats using your garden as a public toilet!

ADVANTAGES...

Cobbles are, of course, aesthetically pleasing in decorative situations, but they also have practical advantages. They’re strong and leave good voids for water to drain through; ideal for drains or filling ditches. They can form good ‘separation zones’ to break up gardens, and they’ll sit nicely on sand beds to make pretty pathways. They can be also be used to build rockeries with soils filling the frequent voids.

DISADVANTAGES...

Cobbles aren’t great for drives, as they can fracture under pressure and leave sharp edges. They’re also difficult to compact, so are unsuited for maintaining level surfaces.

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Cobbles are available from all FRIMSTONE sites, and we’re currently looking at sizing them into bulk bags of around one Tonne (in hand size 3-4”, mug size 5-7” and larger size options) which should be available by the summer. The dedicated FRIMSTONE customer services team can give you all the help and advice you need on choosing and using cobbles – simply call 01366 388900 for more information.

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KLmagazine May 2017

53

Inspiring and distinctive outdoor furniture and accessories

Visit our showroom to see our exciting and unique new products now available Open 7 days a week 10am-4pm | Garage Lane, Setchey, King’s Lynn PE33 0AX Tel: 01553 811717 | Email: sales@norfolkleisure.co.uk | Web: www.norfolkleisure.com

PICTURES: NATIONAL TRUST / JUSTIN MINNS

Local Life

ABOVE: The bluebell is England’s unofficial national flower, and the Blickling Estate in Norfolk is one of the best spots in the whole country to see carpets of the beautiful blue flowers.

Blickling Hall and a true rhapsody in blue...

It’s one of England’s favourite flowers and it’s one of our most precious, being protected by law. And Norfolk is home to some of the best bluebell displays in the country, as Sylvia Steele discovers

I

t’s just an ordinary narrow lane winding through the Norfolk countryside until, unexpectedly, the dense woodland is left behind and an avenue of yews lining a gravelled driveway directs your vision to the splendid architectural gem that is Blickling Hall.

Grass-edged paths lead past the Hall’s entrance to former stables and servants’ quarters with their high chimneys and curved Dutch gables, said to be the first of their kind in

KLmagazine May 2017

England. Thought to have been Anne Boleyn’s birthplace, local legend contends that her troubled ghost has been seen walking the corridors on 19th May each year, the night of her execution.

Formal gardens of herbaceous borders and flower beds are laid out in Jacobean style to the rear of the Hall with, in the midst of the landscaped parkland, a lake that it thought to have formed before 1729. In the northern corner are the remains of an 18th

century garden; ‘a secret garden’ with sundial sheltered by high beech hedges.

There’s no denying the splendour of the architecture of Blickling Hall as designed by Robert Lyminge, or of the formal gardens which attract around 150,000 visitors a year. However, in spring, many visitors concentrate their views on the other end of the spectrum, for no less magnificent a scene is the Great Wood that lies less than a mile west of the Hall itself.

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Local Life

Weavers’ Way leads across the landscaped parkland to many woodland walks where at this time of year devotees of our unofficial national flower make their way. Bluebells, with their vivid sapphire tones and delicate scent drench the woodland in a kind of magic; small wonder children expect to find fairies hiding here.

In the dampness of a spring dawn, before the dense green canopy of the forest blocks the sun’s rays , a hazy impression of blue mist hangs over the wood as sweeps of bluebells appear as if on cue. It’s around St. George’s Day that these woodland flowers make their appearance, and forest floors are massed in a magnificent violet/blue that lasts throughout May. On their 25th anniversary in 2015, botanical charity Plantlife UK undertook a survey in which bluebells were voted England’s favourite wild flower, a very appropriate choice as one of the charity’s aims is to keep colour in the countryside. But unfortunately these delicate flowers have become a victim of their own popularity, with their bulbs increasingly being taken from the woodland.

They are, however, now protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 – which makes it a criminal offence to remove and sell bluebell

58

bulbs. The greatest threat to our native bluebell is now from the Spanish species sold in garden centres and which is believed to be spreading into the wild – but there’s an easy way to spot these intruders. Only native bluebells have that distinctive fragrant perfume; the Spanish variety has no scent.

Bluebells love ancient woodland and at Blickling records reveal they’ve been a part of our countryside since the Ice Age and, even where woodland has been disturbed for building, their reappearance each year indicates that woodland existed here in the past.

This wild flower marks that moment when the winter is gone and the English countryside is transformed. It’s actually a perennial herb of the lily family that stays in the soil over winter with a multitude of offshoots emerging from each bulb from early January.

Folklore concerning bluebells abound, having us believe that when wearing a wreath of bluebells the wearer must tell the truth, whilst in some parts of Scotland it’s considered unlucky to pick them. The flower’s floral meaning is constancy or sorrowful regret – and if you can turn a bluebell inside out without tearing it you will get the one you love.

Geoffrey Grigson, author of An

KLmagazine May 2017

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Email: dmgtimber@fsmail.net | Address: Merries Farm, Pullover Road, West Lynn, King’s Lynn, PE34 3LS

When planting summer containers & baskets add water retaining gel crystals to ensure compost stays moist & slow release fertiliser to encourage strong growth If your roses were troubled by black spot last year, spray with ‘RoseClear’ as soon as first shoots appear. This will also control against mildew & aphid attack.

Start sowing small trays of salad leaves at weekly intervals for an endless supply for salads throughout the summer Companion plant marigolds alongside greenhouse tomatoes & cucumbers to deter whitefly from the crops Feed acid loving plants such as rhododendrons, hydrangeas & camellias with ericaceous feed such as sequestrene of iron

THE PERFECT MARQUEE FOR YOUR EVENT

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KLmagazine May 2017

Evergreen complete 400m2 2 for £40!

Garden Centre & Coffee Shop 49 Hunstanton Road, Dersingham, King’s Lynn PE31 6NA www.thaxters.co.uk | Tel: 01485 541514

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PICTURE: IAN WARD

Local Life

ABOVE: The glorious setting of Blickling Hall, which is supposedly visited by the ghost of Anne Boleyn later this month. May also sees the visit of hundreds of people drawn to the estate’s spectacular displays of thousands of bluebells.

The UK is home to about 50% of the world’s bluebell population

Englishman’s Flora, writes that “many bluebell names such as Snake’s Flower, Adler’s Flower, Crows Flower and Cuckoo’s Flower are shared with the early Purple Orchid – with which it often grows in old woods.”

These two flowers, symbolising the beginning of spring, were in ancient history thought to have special magical properties. In modern times this is no longer fully understood, but the bluebell’s essence is still said to bring a feeling of tranquillity and stillness when you’re feeling overwhelmed and in times of trauma or anxiety.

Across the Norfolk countryside, elfin smudges of cobalt start to appear among the grasses from mid-April; it’s an uplifting sight, but it’s in their natural woodland setting that bluebells portray a breathtaking aura of sight and smell that’s impossible to challenge.

Two further vantage viewpoints at Blickling Hall are the Temple Walk (a tree-lined avenue where the plants amass by the sidewalk) and under the plane trees in the garden there’s an artistic highlight with a backdrop of the house and lake beyond.

Sadly, by the end of this month the flowers will be reaching their final cycle and the leaves will die away until next

In the Bronze Age, people used bluebell glue to attach feathers to their arrows

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The Victorians used the starch from crushed bluebells to stiffen the ruffs of their collars and sleeves Bluebell sap was also used to bind pages to the spines of books Bees ‘steal’ nectar from bluebells by biting a hole in the bottom of the bell and reaching the nectar without pollinating the flower

PICTURES: NATIONAL TRUST / JUSTIN MINNS

year when they’ll once again bring all their blue majesty back to the woodland.

In celebration of the bluebell season, the National Trust will be transforming Blickling Hall and its gardens into a rhapsody of blue this month – the house will be lit up in a sapphire glow and the cafes will be bluebell themed.

This favourite of seasons will then culminate with a Festival of the Blues, when music from three local groups will entertain picnickers in the grounds of Blickling Hall on Sunday 27th May.

KLmagazine May 2017

You’re invited to

Garden Party The Best

of the year

20th- 21st May

West Head Farm, Stowbridge, King’s Lynn PE34 3NJ

RSVP online at www.foras.co.uk

RSVP to receive your AMAZING VIP discount code to use in addition to any other offers at the event.

Your free Foras gift from us worth £9. Automatic entry into our biggest EVER prize draw.

S

Presenting...

et in 8 acres of woodlands, the Foras landscaped gardens and the old tulip barns set the scene for the most amazing outdoor space which is one of a kind.

Designed by Chelsea Gold Winners Foras, the displays are made up of mini themed landscaped areas accompanied with great planting and flower presentations. Promoting the latest innovations in flooring co-ordinated with our Garden Accessories. Every corner has something of interest, to give you inspiration for your inside or outside space.

Amazing end of line SALE and INTRODUCTORY PRICES on a variety of new lines.

Handmade Real Stone Benches from just £199 Stone Planters from just £99 NEW WATER FEATURES At introductory prices from only £297 for a full water feature kit Never to be repeated *Additional VIP discount if you RSVP*

The opening of our new Flooring Consultancy & Design Area New Mini Show Garden areas for inspiration & ideas New Water Feature Garden with the latest new products Seating, food & refreshments are all available on site Note: additional VIP discount coupon can only be used in-store and only claimed if, A) you RSVP online and register your full details as VIP discount code is non-transferable to other parties. B) To claim your discount you need to present a digital copy of the VIP coupon or a printed hard copy version. Free Gift can only be claimed if you attend the open day. Only one per household, subject to availability.*if you don’t RSVP you will still receive a15% discount BUT not the VIP additional discount. **additional discount offers cannot be used on sale or clearance lines. RSVP FACILITY CLOSES ON FRIDAY 19th MAY AT MIDNIGHT. Offers not available on-line.

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KLmagazine May 2017

At Greentrees, the great outdoors is even greater Take your next holiday to a new level – with everything you need from the country’s best caravan and motorhome specialists... t’s exactly 50 years since Keith Greentree started Greentree Caravans in Dereham, and today his son Neil oversees a highly-respected operation that covers nearly three acres and is almost certainly the best caravan and motorhome centre in the entire country.

It’s not just because Greentrees has over 100 new and used vehicles on site from the top manufacturers in the UK, and it’s not because of the highlyexperienced sales and support team on hand to offer friendly and informative advice – and go the extra mile. It’s not because of the comprehensive range of accessories and parts, and not even because Greentrees is currently the only dealer in the UK to offer caravan towing courses – which are especially popular with women caravanners!

The main reason Greentrees has

I

KLmagazine May 2017

enjoyed five decades of success is its continued commitment to high quality and first-class customer care.

It means the unrivalled Greentrees service is always there when you need it most. In addition to having an onsite fully-equipped 4-bay workshop, its CoachWorks centre is the biggest single dedicated bodyshop in the whole of East Anglia, with a 4strong team of technicians working constantly to ensure your pride and joy keeps in top condition.

What’s more, work will soon begin on a unique 20-bay technical centre; doubling the size of the Dereham centre and taking Greentrees’ state-of-the-art

service to another level entirely.

It’s not surprising that dedicated caravan and motorhome enthusiasts travel from all over the country to Norfolk for the Greentrees experience!

And for people yet to discover the joys of exploring the countryside the Greentrees way (you don’t know what you’re missing!) the company’s HireMe Leisure division, which was founded eight years ago, offers novices the perfect and perfectly worry-free way to hire and safely take to the road in one of three luxurious caravans and three motorhomes.

Thanks to Greentrees, the great outdoors has never been greater!

Adventure House, Hurn Road, Dereham Business Park, Dereham, Norfolk NR19 1WD t: 01362 696434 e: sales@greentrees-adventurestore.co.uk w: www.greentrees-adventurestore.co.uk

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fashion Great style is all in the details. Whether you’re enjoying some early summer retail therapy out and about on the north Norfolk coast, or making a fashionable impression at a very special occasion, the best of our local boutiques can help you complete your look with the perfect finishing touch...

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Wensley Scarf by Joules (£16) THE HAYLOFT at BEARTS | Stowbridge 01366 388151 KLmagazine May 2017

Watches from £70 by Olivia Burton GODDARDS | King’s Lynn 01553 772382 KLmagazine May 2017

65

Fashion

Hat by Failsworth CINDYS | Sutton Bridge 01406 350961 66

KLmagazine May 2017

Gorgeous outfits for

wedding guests or

race days plus much

casual wear

www.allezchic.co.uk t: 01553 631915 Open: Mon to Sat 10am-4.30pm The Old School, Castle Rising, King's Lynn PE31 6AG

The Fent Shop By appointment to Her Majesty The Queen Purveyor of Dress Fabrics and Haberdashery P.F.Day & Son King’s Lynn

Largest selection of fabrics in West & North Norfolk

Dress Fabrics Curtain Fabrics Craft Fabrics Net Curtains Knitting Wool Haberdashery

41 Broad Street, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 1DP

T: 01553 768613 | W: www.thefentshopkingslynn.co.uk KLmagazine May 2017

R e ve r s ab le Dr e s s

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S i ze s 1 0 -2 6 | O pe n i ng t i m e s 9 am - 5 pm C l o s e d W e d n es d a y s a n d S u nd a y s Tel: 01406 3 50961 w w w . c i n dy sf a s h i on s . c o . u k 1 0 8 Br id g e R oa d , S u tt on B ri d ge P E1 2 9 SA

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Fashion

Farah Earrings (£8) Farah Long Necklace (£15) 3 Shape Choker Pack (£8) by Accessorize QUEENSGATE SHOPPING CENTRE | Peterborough 01733 311666 68

KLmagazine May 2017

Sheila Tiller

EXCLUSIVE LADIES FASHION & SHOES EST. 1978

Stockists of Contemporary Fashions, Handbags, Shoes, Accessories & Lingerie

Fashions: 13 Market Place, Long Sutton Tel: 01406 363 433 Shoes: 7 Market Place, Long Sutton Tel: 01406 364 128 Closed all day Wednesday | www.sheilatiller.co.uk KLmagazine May 2017

Goddards, Wellesley Street, King’s Lynn, PE30 1QD T 01553 772382 E info@goddardsonline.co.uk www.goddardsonline.co.uk

69

Fashion

Trainers by Kennel-Schmenger SHEILA TILLER | Long Sutton 01406 363433 70

KLmagazine May 2017

Fashion

Hazel & Pip Louisa Bag (£25) by F&J Collection ALLEZ CHIC | Castle Rising 01553 631915 72

KLmagazine May 2017

What value do you put on your eyesight?

W

“

If I’m worried about anything I know I’m covered for as many appointments as I need.

hilst most people are aware that sight tests are important and that we should have them regularly, many people put off having their eyes tested. For some it is fear of what the optician might find, for others they are concerned about the cost of spectacles and how they might afford them.

Regular eye tests are essential to ensure that should you show signs of any eye conditions such as Macular Degeneration, Glaucoma or Cataracts for example, they are detected early and the correct course of action taken. At D.A. Seaman Optometrists we offer a comprehensive eye care package called Eyeplan. By joining Eyeplan we aim to see each patient every 6 months for either a sight examination including an Optomap Retinal Exam (a 200 degree angle image of the back of your eyes) or for a screening test such as an O.C.T. scan (where we can look at changes

to the different nerve fibre layers of the eye and examine the Macula in great detail).

Eyeplan offers reassurance that should your eyes start to change, the frequency that you are seen should make very early detection possible.

Our Eyeplan members enjoy not only peace of mind that their eye care is in hand but also a reduction in the cost of their spectacles and lenses, saving 25% on the usual retail costs. This can help spectacles become more affordable. Complete spectacles come with a 2 year Accidental Damage insurance, brilliant for life’s spectacle mishaps!

At D.A.Seaman we try to offer the best possible service combined with excellent optical care and Eyeplan makes this something that everyone should be able to enjoy.

For more information or to book an appointment please contact the practice.

“

D.A. SEAMAN OPTOMETRISTS 18 Plowright Place, Swaffham, Norfolk PE37 7LQ Tel: 01760 751050 | Web: www.daseaman.org.uk

“

–

KLmagazine May 2017

73

Bespoke curtains and blinds for all your soft furnishing needs

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KLmagazine May 2017

Jo Loades-Allmond

Annette Ball

Looking better all the time!

Say hello to the friendly face of professional eyecare at Hunstanton Eyecare!

H

unstanton Eyecare is one of the longest-established independent registered opticians in Norfolk, and the practice (privately-owned by Mr Ian Leach) offers over 40 years experience in the world of professional eyecare.

When you visit our practice in central Hunstanton, you’ll find highly experienced, qualified and friendly staff using the latest state-of-the-art technology to offer fully customised optical solutions for you and your family.

That service is now about to get bigger and better with the arrival this month of optometrist Jo Loades-Allmond, Phd. MCOptom. Having qualified almost 30 years ago, Jo has spent time in teaching and research – but enjoys working as a high street optometrist best of all; she actually owned an independent practice in Fakenham for several years before

widening her experience with some of the large optical chains.

For Jo – who looks after pet axolotls when she’s not looking after people’s vision – she’s making a welcome return to the world she loves best.

“It’s great to be back in independent practice,” she says. “It’s so rewarding to be part of a great team and to be able to spend quality time with patients.”

Jo will also be meeting up with a friend she first met professionally some 20 years ago.

Annette Ball FBDO (Hons) LVA is a qualified dispensing optician and low vision practicioner and has been Practice Manager at Hunstanton Eyecare since last July. In addition to looking after her local clients, Annette is also a practical and theoretical examiner for the professional body ABDO (Association of British Dispensing Opticians) in the UK, Malaysia and India – and

even finds time to run low vision clinics at the Fakenham Medical Centre and Queen Elizabeth NHS Trust and BMI Sandringham hospitals in King’s Lynn.

“It’s great to see Jo again,” she says, “and her experience and expertise will help Hunstanton Eyecare provide a bigger and better range of services for every one of our clients – past and present.”

Contact us now for all your optical needs from special lenses to specialist sunglasses; we’re looking forward to seeing you!

44 Church Street, Hunstanton, Norfolk PE36 5HD

PART OF EYECARE NORFOLK, TRADING AS HUNSTANTON EYECARE AND CROMER EYECARE KLmagazine May 2017

Web: www.hunstantoneyecare.co.uk Tel: 01485 532326 E-mail: info@eyecarenorfolk.co.uk Open: Monday-Friday 9am-1pm, 2-5pm | Saturdays 8am-1pm fb.me/www.hunstantoneyecare.co.uk 75

PICTURES: ELLIE GILLARD PHOTOGRAPHY

Food & Drink

ABOVE: Norfolk Dapple is one of the county’s favourite cheeses, thanks to the Ferndale Farm team behind it (opposite, left to right); Craig Flowerday, Nell Bell, her fiancé Arthur Betts, and his mother Ellie Betts –who started it all some 15 years ago.

The woman who put Norfolk cheese on the map 15 years ago, farmer’s wife Ellie Betts used surplus milk from the family cow to make her own cheese, little knowing just how successful her recipe would be, as Sylvia Steele discovers...

T

he largely arable countryside surrounding the village of Little Barningham might appear, at first glance, to be an unusual place to come across an artisan cheese maker.

Nevertheless, in a state-of-the-art cheesery tucked away behind Ferndale Farmhouse, the producer of what’s fast becoming one of Norfolk’s most recognised cheeses goes quietly about her daily business of cheese-making.

It was here that 15 years ago farmer’s wife Ellie Betts set about the creation of

KLmagazine May 2017

Norfolk Dapple. With a young family to care for, Ellie was also in charge of the single animal kept on the arable farm; the house cow that supplied their milk, a surplus of which sparked her interest in making cheese to a basic cheddar recipe primarily for the family.

Upon discovering her unexpected talent and wanting to learn more about the art, Ellie enrolled on a course at (appropriately enough) Cheddar Gorge.

Enthused by the experience, she returned to Norfolk with ambitious plans to create her own artisan

cheesery by revamping the disused storage and cold stores at the farm.

In 2003, with one press making one 10kg round of cheese, Norfolk Dapple was born. Now a family-run business with state-of-the-art steel vats, presses and automatically controlled storage rooms, production is as much as 15 cheeses a day, with Ellie at the helm working with her son Arthur, his fiancée Nell, and Craig, who’s been working there since the very start.

Arthur’s clearly proud of the company’s achievements and eager to

77

Food & Drink

78

people’s attention. When creating a logo and names for her cheeses Ellie looked no further than to the tawny owls nesting around the farm; and these are depicted on her distinctive label.

Other specialist names under the Ferndale Farm label are Ruby Dapple, which is matured in port; Norfolk Carrow, flavoured with mustard seeds; and Mature Norfolk Dapple, which is sealed in red wax and aged for much longer than usual, giving a stronger

flavour. Smoked Apple is a specialist cheese produced for shows and events and is double-smoked with garlic.

Ferndale Farm’s cheeses were initially introduced through tried-and-tested farmers’ markets around Norfolk, but it wasn’t long before demand exceeded expectation and (from a county with few links to specialist cheesemaking) Norfolk was soon seeing the appearance of great artisan cheeses.

It echoes a national trend that has resulted in the UK reportedly producing more cheeses now than France – with a quarter of all milk produced going into cheesemaking.

Interest in our homegrown cheeses is relatively recent, and much of that interest is down to Ellie Betts’ Norfolk Dapple.

It’s tempting to ask what’s next on the cheeseboard, but Arthur’s giving little away.

“We may have a few thoughts about producing a softer cooking variety of cheese,” he says. “But time goes slowly in the cheese world, and that’s is a little way off yet.”

Ferndale Farm cheeses are widely available throughout Norfolk, and can be found at Donaldsons and Norburys Deli in King’s Lynn; Elsegood Family Butchers in Grimston; JE Howard Butchers in Gayton; Norfolk Deli in Hunstanton; Heacham Farm Shop; Bakers & Larners in Holt and Budgens in Aylsham.

KLmagazine May 2017

PICTURES: ELLIE GILLARD PHOTOGRAPHY / FERNDALE FARM

talk about its day-to-day operation.

“We’re quite a small company and we don’t have specific job titles,” he says.

“We just all work together!”

On the one day of the week when the unit isn’t under production, he’s happy to explain what the art of cheese-making on a grand scale.

“Cheese owes much of its flavour to the use of raw milk,” says Arthur. “The same local farmer has supplied our milk at Ferndale Farm for seven or eight years. So much of the true flavour is accredited to the individual pasture the cows are grazing and the way they’re kept.”

He demonstrates how salt is added automatically from a self-regulator to the 2,000 litre vats.

“Technology is all well and good,” he says, “but it‘s still very much down to the human hands-on repetitive turning of the curds until the desired texture is reached.”

Norfolk Dapple is a hard cheddar cloth-bound in the traditional style, and it remains Ferndale Farm’s most popular cheese locally – but the 2016 introduction of the beer-washed Norfolk Tawny (pictured above) has proved very popular further north in the country.

Although keen not to give away too much, Arthur provides an insight into the creation of a cheese that won the Bronze Artisan Cheese Award in its debut year.

“It’s added to the brine tank for twelve hours, which means if it goes in at 4pm as we’re winding down for the day we’re up at 4am to finish the process,” he says. “The cheese rounds then receive three beer washes before they’re set in the maturing room.”

The choice of beer is rather unusual.

“Usually the ‘tawny’ type of cheese is washed in wine in Europe,” Arthur explains, “but given the number of microbreweries in the area, we decided to use a beer from nearby Beeston. It’s really rich with a high alcohol content which stops mould growth on the outside and helps the cheese to ripen.”

Many factors can affect successful cheesemaking including the weather and even the building in which it’s made, whilst successful sales can often depend on choosing names that grab

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KLmagazine May 2017

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www.knightshill.co.uk 79

Food & Drink

Lemon and Thyme Crusted Hake Fillet with Potato Rosti, Roast Butternut Squash, Parsnip, Crispy Seaweed with a Garlic and Shallot Cream Sauce Serves: 2 INGREDIENTS 2 slices of white bread 5 sprigs of fresh thyme 50g butter and some for finishing the fish 1 lemon (juiced) 75g parmesan ½ butternut squash 1 parsnip 30g curly kale 1 potato 2 banana shallots 2tsp chives (chopped) ½ clove garlic 100ml white wine 100ml fresh double cream Pinch of parsley 2 6oz Hake fillet portions Salt and pepper

METHOD Crumble Topping Pre heat oven to 120°c, place bread in oven, once golden brown, remove and place into a food processor to blitz into breadcrumbs. Add chopped thyme, melted butter, salt and pepper, lemon juice and parmesan into mixer to create the topping.

Vegetables Peel butternut squash and parsnip, cut into equal sized batons, season and roast on 180°c for around 30 minutes.

Pull leaves off stem of curly kale and put into pan of boiling water for 1 minute, remove and cool.

Heat pan of oil (around 1inch deep) to 180°c.

Finely slice kale and place in pan, this will only take 1 minute to cook, so do this last, season with salt.

Potato Rosti Peel the potato, grate potato using cheese grater, squeeze grated potato through a cloth to remove starchy juices, place in bowl and add one finely

sliced shallot, salt pepper and chives. Put frying pan onto a medium heat, add grated potato mix into a ring mould, pressing in firmly with a spoon.

Remove mould and cook until golden brown, flip to cook both sides equally.

Sauce Add one sliced shallot and ½ clove of chopped garlic to a saucepan, fry on medium heat, add white wine to pan, reduce by half, add double cream, bring to boil and finish with a pinch of chopped parsley.

Hake Fillets Pan fry Hake skin side down on medium heat until skin is nice and crisp, turn fish and add a knob of butter, turn the heat down so the fish slowly cooks through, remove from pan, add crust and grill until breadcrumbs are golden brown.

PLATE AND ENJOY!

Recipe by Kyle Wick, Sous Chef at Sands Restaurant 13 The Quay, Wells-next-the-Sea NR23 1AH Tel: 01328 710534 Web: www.sandsrestaurant.co.uk 80

KLmagazine May 2017

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Food & Drink

Rose Marshmallows Makes: 24 INGREDIENTS 120ml cold water 23g powdered gelatine 440g caster sugar 160ml golden syrup Vegetable oil for greasing 4-5 tbsp cornflour 1 tbsp dried rose petals A few drops of rose water A few drops of pink food colouring

METHOD 1 Line a square or rectangular baking tin with cling film, and grease well with light oil. The smaller the tin, the deeper the marshmallows will be.

down the side of the mixer bowl. Don’t allow it to touch the whisk directly or you’ll get needle-like sugar crystals in the marshmallow. The mixture should grow in volume like a very stiff meringue.

2 Pour the water into the bowl of a food mixer and sprinkle over the gelatine. Set aside to allow the gelatine to absorb the liquid (this is called sponging).

6 Once all the syrup has been added, continue to whisk until the marshmallow mix becomes really thick and cools a bit more. You’ll know it’s ready when it starts to form stretched bubblegum-like strands on the surface. Add the rose water and pink food colouring and whisk until combined

3 Put the caster sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Stir thoroughly and brush down any sugar on the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush (to help prevent crystallisation when heating).

4 Cook over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved, then turn up the heat to bring it to the boil. Monitor the temperature using a sugar thermometer. Wait for it to reach 130°c (it can go up to 140°c but mustn’t be below 130°c or you’ll not get a light texture). Once the bubbling mixture reaches the right temperature, take the pan off the heat and let it cool for 1 minute.

5 Whisk the gelatine mixture in a food mixer on a medium speed. Add the syrup, slowly pouring it

7 Spoon the mix into the tin with a greased spatula, press the rose petals on the surface, then cover with greased cling film and leave to set in a cool place for at least 1-2 hours, until the top feels firm when pressed.

8 Once the marshmallow has set, remove from the tray, peel off the cling film and cut into cubes with a lightly greased knife, to prevent sticking (the marshmallow will be very sticky at this point!). Roll in cornflour. The finished, cornflour-dusted marshmallows will keep in an airtight container in a cool dry place for 2 weeks.

Recipe by Jules Hetherton, Executive Chef at Strattons

Ash Close, Swaffham PE37 7NH Tel: 01760 723845 Web: www.strattonshotel.co.uk KLmagazine May 2017

83

Crawfish Inn Thai Restaurant & Bar WHAT’S YOUR

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10% discount on collected orders

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Food & Drink

RestaurantReview

A KL magazine reader takes some time out of their 9-5 to visit The Daily Grind in King’s Lynn

W

hen I heard a new coffee shop was opening in King’s Lynn “next to Smith’s” my initial reaction was one of disbelief, wrongly assuming it was going to be where the former Subway was in Norfolk Street.

What? Right opposite a well-established coffee chain and with a least half a dozen similar outlets within a coffee bean’s throw? They’re taking one heck of a gamble, I thought.

My better half soon put me right (as she often does!) telling me it could be found on the town’s London Road next to Smith’s – the bakers. I made a mental note to check it out next time I was down that way.

Usually I’m on London Road in a car (invariably stuck in traffic) but with a couple of hours to spare recently I

KLmagazine May 2017

decided to find The Daily Grind, convincing myself the walk would be a good reason to have a spot of lunch too.

It’s a quirky little place; bright and colourful, with a couple of comfy chairs in the window and just three small tables which help give it a nice homely feel. It also feels very much like a place for the local community, with people coming in to a cheery ‘good morning!’ as if they were being welcomed into an old friend’s house.

This is the sort of place where it’s easy to fall into conversation with fellow customers but just as easy to retreat into your own little world or catch up with the news. I opted for the latter, with a window seat and a decent cup of coffee – and was pleased to find not just the daily newspapers but some local interest glossies and even a small book exchange.

As I relaxed and watched the world go by, my host was kept very busy; not just with looking after diners (with breakfasts especially popular regardless of the time of day) but also taking telephone orders for takeaway meals which, as lunchtime approached, staff from local

businesses arrived to collect, freshly prepared and neatly packaged.

A tongue-in-cheek notice reads “today’s menu has two choices – take it or leave it!” but nothing could be further from the truth.

Jacket potatoes come with half a dozen toppings, including a homemade coronation chicken with a wonderful aroma, and there were no less than five home-made soups to choose from.

From the latter I decided on the delicious minestrone, which would have been a hearty meal in itself for smaller appetites thanks to the plentiful pasta twirls and chunks of bacon.

My appetite is somewhat larger, however, so I couldn’t resist trying the cheese and ham melt – which didn’t disappoint either with high quality ham (all the meats come from a traditional local butcher), good flavoursome cheddar and a beautifully fresh and crusty brown baguette. It was simple but it was also simply sublime.

Alas, I’d left no room for cake, but I’ve made an eagerly-anticipated return visit since and I can assure you that the lemon sponge is to die for!

Don’t be misled by the name of this wonderful addition to the lunchtime options in King’s Lynn – for this is one daily grind you’ll be looking forward to as soon as the alarm goes off.

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THE DAILY GRIND 52 London Road, King’s Lynn PE30 5QH Telephone: 07951 898788

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KLmagazine May 2017

Fresh ideas for the local restaurant & catering trade Trust the 4 Way Group for a totally professional and cutting edge solution he 4 Way Group has a huge amount of experience in supplying a complete range of refrigeration, lighting and energy solutions to the hotel, catering and restaurant trades across Norfolk.

Our customers range from village pubs and restaurants throughout East Anglia to national supermarkets and large food distributors; and each project is custombuilt to meet your specific needs –and the needs of your customers.

From cold stores and undercounter chillers to prep stations, blast chillers and freezers, the 4 Way Group can design, supply, install and service a totally bespoke and top-end system that helps you make the most of your food or catering operations.

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KLmagazine May 2017

and freezers, the 4 Way Group remains at the forefront of new technology, supplying equipment and products that set new standards in temperature control, hygiene, efficiency, ease of use and appearance.

With the recent changes in food-industry regulations, the 4 Way Group can also offer a full range of replacement refrigerants and leak-testing facilities to meet both your requirements and your

legal obligations.

And when you do need some help, you’ll find our maintenance and service contracts will always be on your side.

The 4 Way Group has a team of fully qualified engineers with fully stocked vehicles and can usually offer a sameday service; which is priceless when you’re dealing with fresh and frozen foodstuffs.

For a free initial consultation and quotation, contact us using the details below and get ready to take your food offering to a new level.

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Food & Drink

Lemon & Raspberry Cake Makes: 9” sandwich INGREDIENTS For the cake: 300g caster sugar 300g softened butter 300g self raising flour 1.5 tsp baking powder 6 eggs zest of 3 lemons 100g fresh raspberries plus extra for decorating For the syrup: juice of 2 lemons 75g caster sugar For the filling: 150g softened butter 300g icing sugar 1-2 tbsp milk zest of 2 lemons

METHOD 1 Preheat the oven to 160°c/gas mark 4, grease and line two 9" sandwich tins.

2 Cream together the butter and caster sugar using an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy, then add half of the eggs and whisk into the mixture on a high speed.

3 Using a large metal spoon gently fold in half of the flour and baking powder. Add the remaining eggs and give a good whisk, again on a high speed.

Add the remaining flour and baking powder then fold into the mixture.

4 Next, add the lemon zest and fold thoroughly until it is evenly distributed through the mix. Then add the fresh raspberries to the mixture and very gently fold through. Divide the mix evenly between the two sandwich tins and smooth down gently.

5 Place in the oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes (or until a skewer placed in the cake comes out clean). While the cake is in the oven it is a good time to make the syrup so it can be used as soon as the cake comes out of the oven.

6 To make the syrup place the lemon juice and caster sugar in a saucepan. Gently bring to the boil over a medium temperature. Turn down to a low heat and allow to simmer for around 20 minutes.

The syrup should then become nice and clear and will thicken slightly. Over boiling the syrup for too long will make it too thick to soak into the cake.

7 Once the cake is cooked, remove from the oven and insert a skewer all over the top of the cake to create lots of tiny holes. Using a soft pastry brush to apply brush the cake with the lemon syrup. This is best done when the cake is hot as it will absorb much better. Allow cake to cool completely on a cooling rack.

8 To make the filling, cream the butter in a bowl and gradually sift in the icing sugar. Whisk until it is nice and fluffy and pale in colour. The 1-2 tablespoons of milk can be added to smooth the cream if needed.

Add the lemon zest and mix well. Sandwich the cake together using the lemon buttercream and raspberry jam.

9 To finish top with fresh raspberries and a dust of icing sugar.

Recipe by The Folly Tearoom 4 Hopper’s Yard, Bull Street, Holt NR25 6LN Tel: 01263 713569 Web: www.follytearoom.co.uk 88

KLmagazine May 2017

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With over 20 years experience and the most advanced cleaning system in the UK, XtraClean can give your floors a new lease of life s you give your home the bright new look it’s been waiting for since the end of last summer, don’t overlook your floors when it comes to spring cleaning. Floors take a lot more more punishment most areas of your home; leaving beautiful slate, limestone and natural stone floors looking less than their best. When it takes more than a mop to bring your floors back to life you’ll need the professional services of Swaffham-based Xtraclean.

“As deposits gradually build up on your floors over the winter, traditional cleaning methods and chemicals will become increasingly ineffective,” says XtraClean’s Martin King. “Thanks to our revolutionary floor cleaning system, we can restore heavily-soiled stone floors, tiles and grout to ‘as-new’ brilliance –

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and we can do it in a single visit too!”

For over 20 years, XtraClean has been offering a professional, friendly and fullyinsured service that covers the whole county with a team of highly skilled, highly trained and highly knowledgeable technicians dedicated to keeping your floors looking their very best.

Following an initial survey and testing of your floors, Martin and his team will get to work (they’ll even move the furniture for you!) by breaking down ingrained dirt and loosening surface soiling. XtraClean’s amazing turbocleaning capture system then thoroughly pressure cleans the floor, capturing all the waste in the process. The results are spectacular, and are achieved without invasive procedures such as grinding and resurfacing.

“Once the floor has been cleaned we professionally seal it for added protection and to help retain its good looks for longer,” says Martin. ”We can even re-polish and buff highly-honed stone floors if required!”

Martin and his team also have a wealth of experience in cleaning everything from outdoor terraces to paths and patios – meaning all your floors can have a fresh new look for the new year.

“We use the most advanced technology and the most professional products on the market today,” says Martin, “and the results really do speak for themselves.”

Xtraclean can give your floors the look they deserve – contact Martin and his locally-based team today for an extra professional and extra reliable service!

Xtraclean Unit 3, Jack Boddy Way, Swaffham PE37 7HJ Tel: 01760 337762 Web: www.xtraclean.co.uk E-mail: sales@xtraclean.co.uk

KLmagazine May 2017

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PICTURES: NATIONAL TRAIL/JIRI BOHDAL/DAVE GILES / ARTHUR TIUTENKO

Local Life

ABOVE: A ‘pingo’ at a secret location in the heart of Norfolk provided a safe haven when one of England’s rarest native amphibians returned home – the humble pond frog (opposite), which was identified as a native species thanks to its distinctive local accent.

Meet the frog that croaks with a Norfolk accent...

It was thought to be a foreign import and to have become extinct over 20 years ago, but the pond frog Rana Lessonae is actually Norfolk through and through – and has now come home

I

n January 2005, the international scientific journal Biodiversity and Conservation published a paper written by eleven authors including renowned molecular ecologist Trevor Beebee of the University of Sussex, Jim Foster of the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust, Charles Snell of the University of Greenwich, and Inga Zeisset from the University of Brighton.

The result of 10 years’ worth of painstaking research, the paper was given the rather understated title of KLmagazine May 2017

Neglected Native or Undesirable Alien: Resolution of a Conservation Dilemma concerning the pool frog Rana Lessonae – a title which somewhat downplayed its significance.

For the paper helped bring about the reintroduction of a long-lost native species of frog to Norfolk, a humble amphibian that was long thought to have been an intrusive foreign import and to have died out almost 20 years previously.

Over the course of a decade, the team of academics managed to identify

the northern pool frog (rana lessonae) as a genuinely English and specifically local species by genetically linking it to colonies in Scandinavia and by listening to its distinct Norfolk accent.

It was a particularly important discovery, as until then it had been generally accepted that only six species of amphibians were native to Britain – including the single frog known as the common frog (rana temporaria).

All our other amphibians, frogs included, have come from Europe; indeed, out first immigrant frogs were 91

Local Life

ABOVE: Following the successful re-introduction of the northern pond frog to Norfolk ten years ago, the animals have now also been released to a secret location on Thompson Common (below) – although they should soon spread to publically-accessible areas.

introduced to several sites in Norfolk back in 1837. However, these were ‘edible’ frogs, and when interest in documenting local wildlife populations was awakened in the 1960s, a number of ‘pool’ frogs were recorded in Norfolk. So where did these little creatures come from?

If they’d always been in Norfolk, then they would certainly become England’s most endangered amphibian; by the middle of the 19th century the frogs were only known in one single site, and they were finally thought be extinct in the wild in 1995, the last individual frog surviving in captivity until 1999.

For the next six years, no one seemed particularly concerned about it, as the frogs remained in good shape elsewhere in Europe (especially in Scandinavia); from whence they were assumed to have originated in the first place. But the findings of the University of Sussex led team that the pool frog and its Norfolk-accented mating call originated on home soil led to a project to (quite literally) bring it home.

“By showing that pool frogs were recent inhabitants of this country we helped pave the way for their reintroduction,” said Professor Beebee, lead author of the paper and a leading authority on the conservation biology of amphibians. “If that works – and if it works well – it will significantly increase the amphibian diversity of Britain.”

In August 2005, Beebee and his colleagues in the Pool Frog Species Action Plan (led by English Nature and

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The Herpetological Conservation Trust) released 75 northern pool frogs from Sweden into the wild at a secret location near Thetford. They’d been captured from the wildlife-rich region of Uppsala, in south central Sweden, with the full (if somewhat wry) support of the local government.

“We’re delighted to be helping with the project,” said Jenny Evred of the Uppsala County Administration Board, “and it’s very satisfying to see our Swedish frogs hopping over to England for a good cause!”

And thanks to those Swedish frogs, it was a good cause that worked.

Two years ago, the Norfolk Wildlife Trust announced it was releasing a group of northern pool frogs at NWT Thompson Common; the site where the last known colony had died out in the 1990s.

It was part of the three-year Breaking New Ground Landscape Partnership Scheme, and was only one of 37 projects being delivered in the Brecks to celebrate and enhance the area.

Using the latest approaches to recovering lost species, Norfolk Wildlife Trust worked with Amphibian and Reptile Conservation to plan the frogs safe return.

“The news is often filled with disheartening stories of species being lost from England’s degraded landscapes,” said Yvette Martin of Amphibian and Reptile Conservation.

“Yet now we’re demonstrating that even nationally-extinct species have a chance to return. The northern pool frog is a fantastic example of how we can work together to bring species back – for their own sake and for future generations to appreciate.”

The frogs are currently living in a part of Thompson Common closed to the public so they can settle in undisturbed, but it’s hoped they’ll spread naturally to public areas of the site over the next few years.

And as for that Norfolk accent, it really is based on science rather than folklore. It seems that the croak of ‘our’ northern pool frogs has taken on a “characteristic inflection” and is very different when compared to the mating calls of its Scandinavian relatives; the result of the frogs listening to different frequencies in different places.

“It was fascinating to detect subtle differences in mating calls as I sampled pool frog populations across Europe,” said Dr Julia Wycherley, who carried out the bioacoustics research into the mating calls. “Those of Norfolk and Scandinavia generally had a lower pitch, and this in turn gave the frogs’ calls a unique local accent.”

So keep your ears open. If you hear a frog calling ‘rearbit, rearbit’ instead of ‘ribbit, ribbit’ you’ll know exactly what you’re listening to.

KLmagazine May 2017

OVER 25 YEARS OF FIRST CLASS MOTOR SERVICING

Enjoy a breath of fresh air with the help of K Brown Why regular servicing of your car’s air conditioning system is so important for a safer, healthier and more comfortable drive...

I

t’s that time of year when we start turning on our car’s air conditioners, and as long as it’s working we generally assume it’s ok – although that may be far from the truth.

“A car’s air conditioning system is highly complex and delicate, and by the time you notice anything’s wrong it may be too late to do anything about it,” says Keith Brown of K Brown Auto Repairs in King’s Lynn and Hunstanton. ”A lot of the problems can be avoided by using the system at least once a week all year round. Mine is on permanently – it not only clears the screen rapidly but it also keeps all the components functioning correctly.”

Your car’s air conditioning should be checked every two years, and it’s surprising how few people actually realise this – resulting in less effective performance, unpleasant odours and KLmagazine May 2017

(ultimately) the failure of the system.

K Brown’s comprehensive 5-stage air conditioning service checks for leaks and gas levels, ensures the system is sealed and free from damp, contains the correct level of refrigerant, replaces any oil if required and puts the whole system through a dynamic test.

It won’t only mean you can enjoy a more comfortable drive over the summer (and save you the trouble caused by the system’s eventual breakdown) it can actually be beneficial to your health.

“If you do notice a nasty smell when you turn on your air conditioning, it’s almost certainly due to fungal bacteria lurking in the system’s pollen filters and air ducts,” says Keith. “They can be harmful to you if they’re allowed to build up, but we can easily rectify the problem with a neutralising spray.”

If you think it’s time your car’s air conditioning needed some attention, contact K Brown Auto Repairs for a family-friendly, relaxing and refreshingly honest approach to car servicing.

It’s like a breath of fresh air!

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KLmagazine May 2017

Pets

AnimalMatters Our monthly look at the issues concerning you and your pets with Alex Dallas of the London Road Veterinary Centre...

SMALL BITES W

MEET JEFFREY!

A new family member!

T

here are exciting times ahead for the Dallas family! My son, Stuart, and his fiancé, Poppy, have taken the plunge and have got their first puppy together. Jeffrey the Golden Retriever joined the family at the end of March following eight long weeks of excitement and meticulous planning!

Naturally, being Jeffrey’s ‘Grandfather’ and a vet I have been consulted at every stage of his early development.

Stuart and Poppy spent a long time planning how a dog would fit in around their lives and researching the best breed for them. They also thoroughly researched retriever breeders and joined a waiting list of a reputable, kennel club assured breeder. Once Jeffrey and his siblings were born we had regular visits to see them which helped us get to know him from a young age.

My son has taken full advantage of having access to a whole host of veterinary professionals and has been in regular touch with Simonne, our pet behaviour counsellor. Not only does Simonne run our puppy socialisation

classes but also our ‘pre-pet chat’ nurse clinics. Stuart and Poppy now have a wealth of knowledge about what to expect during Jeffrey’s first few months and have started to put routines in place for him. Toilet training, socialisation and learning the basic commands are all going well and Jeffrey is proving to be a bright little spark!

If you’re thinking of taking the plunge and getting a new puppy, or indeed any new pet, please feel free to arrange an appointment with Simonne, or one of our other nurses, for a pre-pet chat. It always helps to have plenty of information and advice, whether it’s your first pet or a refresher for an experienced pet owner.

It is lovely to have a puppy back in the family again, it’s easy to forget how full-on it can be having a puppy crashing around the house – especially one Jeffrey’s size! Mrs Dallas is starting to get the puppy jealousy so watch this space for news of any more additions to the Dallas household…

e’ve had some lovely spring days recently and I’m sure that most people with cats are finding that they’re out and about in the garden much more now.

This inevitably leads to more conflicts with other cats. One of my own cats, Ralph, came in one evening with a bit of a limp. On closer inspection he had a nice, juicy abscess on his leg, which I suspect was the result of a cat bite. Abscesses can cause nasty problems if left untreated but a course of antibiotics and antiinflammatories soon sorted Ralph out! It’s not only other cats that your feline friend can get in a scrap with. I’ve often seen cats who are keen hunters but have got on the wrong side of a rat and had a nasty bite, which can quickly become infected. If you suspect your cat has been bitten or has an abscess please give us a call on 01553 773168 or 01366 386655 and we can check them over for you, prompt action can save a good deal of distress and money!

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LONDON ROAD 25 London Road, King’s Lynn telephone: 01553 773168 e-mail: info@lrvc.co.uk HOLLIES Paradise Road, Downham Market telephone: 01366 386655 e-mail: info@holliesvetclinic.co.uk KLmagazine May 2017

95

PICTURES: DOWNHAM GAMES / IAN WARD / SUPPLIED

Local Life

ABOVE: You may think Downham Market is a typically quiet market town in Norfolk, but it’s going to be a hive of activity over the next few months, starting with the sixth staging of the Downham Games (opposite) on June 11th.

Downham Market gets set for a year of activity One of the area’s friendliest sporting events, a commemoration of the 1947 floods, a dragon boat festival, and Norfolk’s introduction to wife carrying – it’s time to discover Downham...

I

f you thought Downham Market was just a quiet market town between King’s Lynn and Ely where nothing much ever happens, you’d be very wrong. In fact, there’s plenty going on in this corner of Norfolk, and if you’ve never visited the town before, 2017 is certainly the year to discover Downham Market.

One event which is sure to attract many new and returning visitors is this year’s Downham Games, which will be held on June 11th. The event started in 2012 as a tribute to the London Olympics, but it’s now very much part of the town’s calendar, and has grown in popularity steadily over the last five

KLmagazine May 2017

years. Last year nearly 1,000 people attended the Downham Games, which saw more than 350 locals take part in the athletic competition.

Although athletics remain at the core of the Games, this year’s event will include archery, cycling, tennis, cricket, football, nerf gun wars – and a few surprises for 2017.

“We’re always looking for new ways to enhance the event,” says organiser Frances Rayner, “and since June is Norfolk’s This Girl Can month it’s a great opportunity to encourage more girls and women to try more activities.”

Funded by Sport England, This Girl Can is a national initiative to increase female participation in sports and dispel

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Local Life

ABOVE: The rather unusual ‘sport’ of wife carrying (hitherto only known in Surrey) will be making its debut appearance in Norfolk during next month’s Downham Games. Organiser Frances Rayner (below) is hoping to attract more women to this year’s event, which takes place at the same time as the This Girl Can sporting initiative.

female worries about body shape – and will hopefully redress the slight gender imbalance at previous Downham Games.

“We’ve got two fitness sessions supported by Downham Jazzercise which we hope as many people as possible will come and join,” says Frances. “The great music and moves put on by Hilary Mayes and her team will really rock the Memorial Playing Field and show the community that in Downham Market these girls certainly can!”

The central ethos of the Downham Games is that the event is still a free family-friendly occasion, something that’s made possible with the help of the event’s many sponsors.

“We really do have to thank them for their generous support,” says Frances.

“The help of West Norfolk Community Sports, Alive Sports Development, Downham Market Town Council, Arbuckles and Downham Tandoori means that we’ve no financial barriers and can widen participation to make this year’s Games as enjoyable as possible for as many people as possible.”

Primarily due to the Downham Games, the town was justifiably proud to be judged Norfolk Sporting Village of the Year in 2016 at the Norfolk Activelife Sports Award. And at this year’s King’s Lynn Mayor’s Awards the

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Downham Games were judged Event of the Year, a fitting tribute to the work of the organisers.

This year, as well as the regular athletic activities and over 20 ‘come and try’ sports, a new event will be taking place in the county for the first time; the Norfolk Wife Carrying Championships! In fact, if you don’t fancy a trip to Surrey, Downham Market is the only place in the UK where

couples can participate in this rather unusual event.

Primarily designed to be fun, ‘wife carrying’ certainly isn’t a walk in the park! Wives (actually they can be anyone, male or female, related or not) must weigh at least 50kg (7st 12lb) and are carried over a 400m obstacle course. Organisers of the Downham Games are hoping to attract at least 25 couples to take part – and winners will receive a medal, a t-shirt and a mini keg of beer in addition to the coveted title.

Another event likely to put Downham Market on the 2017 events map is the Downham Market Festival, which takes place over the week 28th May3rd June and is preceded by the Summer Craft Fair over the weekend of May 26th-27th.

During the week-long festival, various activities will be taking place around the town, and a carnival procession led by a marching band will make its way through the town on Bank Holiday Monday from the Hythe Bridge to the Howdale. Here, a variety of events will take place in the arena, including a motorcycle stunt display, many craft and food stalls, clowns and a funfair.

But that’s not all.

Later this year, the town’s attentions will focus on water-based entertainment with the Downham Market Water Festival on Sunday August 13th, which will see ‘dragon boats’ racing on the Ouse Relief Channel at

KLmagazine May 2017

For full details of this year’s Downham Games and how you can take part – and enter Norfolk’s first Wife Carrying Competition! – please visit Facebook @DownhamGames

KLmagazine May 2017

PICTURE: MIKE PETTY / CAMBRIDGESHIRE COLLECTION

Hythe Bridge and a wealth of food demonstrations and stalls.

In fact, summer is a great time to visit Downham Market, as the town has won gold medals in the Anglia in Bloom competition for two years running.

Part of the Britain in Bloom project organised by the Royal Horticultural Society, local Anglia in Bloom organisers will be entering Downham Market into this year’s competition and encouraging residents to spruce up their gardens before the judging – with the hope of making 2017 the year of the gold medal hat trick!

As well as the multitude of events on offer this year, Downham is an attractive town and is well worth a visit at any time. The charming town square was renovated in 2004, and children from three local schools were invited to contribute to the town enhancements by creating a number of stone-carved panels for the square’s feature wall.

At the same time the iconic Clock Tower was restored and the two now stand happily alongside one another, showing the past and the future of the town. Downham Market’s unusual and intricate Clock Tower was actually presented to the town in 1878 by local businessman James Scott and is essentially a Gothic creation with ornamentals panels on an octagonal base.

It’s going to be a very busy year for Downham Market. Far from being a quiet market town where nothing much happens, it seems that in 2017 Downham Market is the market town where everything happens!

ABOVE: The local effects of the 1947 floods – when the River Great Ouse burst its banks and covered some 100 square miles of fenland – will be remembered in a special exhibition and film at the recently-opened Discover Downham heritage centre at the end of this month.

Remembering the floods of 1947...

It’s time to discover Downham’s story

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uring the Downham Market Festival at the end of May a special exhibition and film show at the newly-opened Discover Downham heritage centre (below) will highlight the 70th anniversary of the Downham floods of 1947.

Following a record-breaking cold winter and the biggest snowfall anyone could remember, a spring thaw and heavy rainfall brought the worst flooding to many parts of the country, with the Fens suffering particularly badly.

The River Great Ouse burst its banks and much of the area, from Southery and Hilgay across to Feltwell Fen and as far as Lakenheath was affected, with up to 100 square miles of fenland damaged by the surges of floodwater.

The disaster led to the building of a relief channel to take surplus water from the Fens up to King’s Lynn, and improvements were made to the existing Ten Mile and Ely Great Ouse rivers from Denver to the south of Ely.

Work on all three flood defence systems started seven years after the floods and weren’t actually finished until 1964. At the time of rebuilding, German prisoners of war were still living in the area, and they formed part of the working parties who helped to build the defences.

Discover Downham is a welcome addition to the town and is open every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10am-4pm. Located in the former fire station, visitors are encouraged to make use of the research facilities in the library and computers to discover more about the heritage and history of the town, and there are interactive displays focusing on work and play, Fenland life and conflict through the ages. In addition there is free wifi, an internet cafe and refreshments.

For more information on the special exhibition and film at Discover Downham about the 1947 floods (and opening times), please see the website at www.discoverdownham.org.uk

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ABOVE: As the store founded by his grandfather 125 years ago reaches a major anniversary, Chairman Tim Aldiss (centre) celebrates with the newer members of his management team; from left to right are Finance Director Tim Summers, Buying Director Victoria Jackson, Trading Director Tina Barkway, and Managing Director Darryl Simpson.

Celebrating 125 years of home furnishings...

Aldiss is one of Norfolk’s favourite homegrown retailers, having been part of the community for well over a century. But as the store celebrates its 125th anniversary, it’s looking to the future.

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t’s fair to say that 1892 was a year of great beginnings. In Germany, Rudolf Diesel was trying to obtain a patent for his new engine (which would eventually be named after him) while on Merseyside, Anfield owner John Houlding decided to form his own football club and call it Liverpool FC. Over in Bulgaria, visitors to the Plovdiv Fair were astonished to see the switching on of the world’s first electric lightbulb, and also bringing a touch of brightness into people’s homes was an enterprising young man from Swaffham named William James Aldiss (below) – who used

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money borrowed from his mother to open a small haberdashery shop in the centre of Fakenham.

All four enterprises are still very much with us exactly 125 years later, but they’ve grown far beyond the wildest imaginings of their creators.

The small Fakenham store opened by William Aldiss at the end of the 19th century is still named after him, but is now the largest home furnishings store in Norfolk. At its current location in the town’s old printworks, the Fakenham store now

comprises 57,000 square feet, has a sister store of the same size in Norwich that was opened in 2003, offers over 40,000 different product lines, employs around 170 local people, and serves something in the region of half a million customers a year.

Undoubtedly, a large part of Aldiss’ enduring success lies in the fact the store has never lost sight of its local origins or traditions; an independent outlook based on providing variety, choice and value that William learned from his shopkeeping parents and used to great effect in his new venture.

Ensuring he was always on the door to greet them, William made a point of building real relationships with his

KLmagazine May 2017

1892 The first Aldiss store opens on Norwich Street, Fakenham

1923 Val Aldiss joins the company

1931 The store frontage is rebuilt

1933 Death of founder WJ Aldiss

1947 customers; knowing them by name, asking after their children, and often accepting goods such as hay in exchange for his wares.

Indeed, when many of his farming-family customers (most of whom paid on account) found themselves the victims of a particularly bad harvest, William Aldiss wrote off a lot of their debt.

Such an altruistic approach to business earned him and his store the popular name of ‘the people's draper.’

“That community spirit is still very much a part of everything we do,” says Managing Director Darryl Simpson. “All successful retailers will make money when times are good, but the most respected ones are those who are there for you when times are bad.”

For all its 125-year existence, Aldiss has always been a local and family-run business. Tim Aldiss has been the company’s Chairman for the last 17 years, but he’s been part of the business for a lot longer than that. His father Val had been born in the family’s home above the store, and Tim started work there as a 16-yearold in 1956, becoming a director a little over ten years later.

“That was really my mother’s doing,” he says. “She insisted father made me a director, and he

KLmagazine May 2017

had to give in!”

Tim became Managing Director in 1988 and oversaw both the relocation of the store to its current superstore site in Oxborough Lane and the creation of a second superstore on the outskirts of Norwich in 2003.

Even after all this time Tim still plays an active role in the store, maintaining the Aldiss tradition of personal service.

“I still find it very difficult to walk into one of the stores and see someone waiting; in fact, I go barmy!” he says. “Happily, that doesn’t happen very often, and it’s gratifying to see the family values that have always been central to Aldiss being continued by our current directors.”

Indeed, far from looking backwards in this anniversary year, Aldiss has both eyes firmly on the future. The store’s new Managing Director Darryl Simpson is joined by recently-appointed Finance Director Tim Summers (who’s

been with the company for over 20 years) and the addition of Tina Barkway as Trading Director and Victoria Jackson as Buying Director. It allows for an interesting insight from the Chairman.

“When I first started, commercial travellers would visit Fakenham and stay at one of the local hotels with their samples in a suitcase,” says Tim Aldiss. “Today it’s Victoria and Tina who have the suitcases; visiting suppliers, factories and tradeshows around the world, from Germany and Holland to Singapore and Vietnam.”

They’ve also had a marked impact on the board of directors.

“For a local retailer and for one of this size, I think Aldiss has got a very unusual and possibly even unique management team,” says Darryl Simpson. “Of our main board of eight directors, four of them are female. I guess we’re ahead of our time on this, and I think it says a lot about the family-led service

Aldiss completes the purchase of Betty’s of Holt

1956 Tim Aldiss joins the company

1988 Tim Aldiss becomes the Managing Director of the family business

2000

Tim Aldiss becomes the Chairman of the Aldiss Group

2003

Aldiss opens a new store at the Hall Road retail park in Norwich 101

1990 ARCHITECTURAL IMAGE: © PURCELL

The new Aldiss superstore opens on Oxborough Lane in Fakenham

1992 Happy Birthday!

Aldiss celebrates a successful century in business

2006

Paul Clifford joins the company

2010 The Fakenham superstore is refurbished ABOVE: Almost totally destroyed by fire in 2014 (left), the restoration of the former Aldiss store in the centre of Fakenham has been carefully designed to blend in seamlessly with the surrounding Georgian architecture. Although the business no longer trades from the building, it is still owned by the Aldiss family and will be unveiled to the public later this year.

we’ve always offered.”

Being such a part of Norfolk life for so long has had an obvious effect on the store’s offering, and it’s one that still appeals to local homeowners.

“National stores will generally buy what’s likely to suit everyone and anyone,” says Darryl, “but a truly local store has to reflect its

community. That’s why we source products specifically for our local customers and their homes, which are unique to Norfolk. It’s not about age or social background; it’s about the area we choose to live in.”

It’s an approach reflected in the store’s practice of displaying furniture, furnishings and accessories in complete room sets, which are carefully designed to be realistic in size and even feature visual guides to true ceiling heights.

“It’s a way of providing inspiration and of indicating how our products will look in a genuine home environment,” says Darryl. “People invest a lot in their homes and it’s always been important for Aldiss to give them as much information, help and advice as possible.”

This year marks

another milestone with the eagerly-anticipated unveiling of the carefully restored store devastated by fire in 2014, and while the famous Aldiss façade may have gone, the new-look Georgian-style building is planned to perfectly match Fakenham’s historic market square. Also part of the store’s 125th anniversary celebrations is Aldiss’ We Want to Hear From You... project, asking people for memories of working or shopping at the store.

“We’ve already had loads of interest and comments from near and far,” says Darryl. “One of my favourites came from a lady who worked here as a 15-year-old.

She’s in her 70s now and is still using a tablecloth from Aldiss that her grandmother bought!”

If you have fond memories of working or shopping at Aldiss or still have your first purchase, visit www.aldiss.com/125celebration or send an e-mail to webenquiry@aldiss.com.

FAKENHAM

NORWICH

Oxborough Lane, Fakenham Norfolk NR21 8AF tel: 0845 130 3388 web: www.aldiss.com

Hall Road Retail Park, Norwich Norfolk NR4 6DH tel: 0845 230 3388 web: www.aldiss.com

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2010 Aldiss celebrates its 120th anniversary

2013 Aldiss furniture and furnishings become available to order online

2014

The former Aldiss drapery store in Fakenham is destroyed by fire

2016

Darryl Simpson is appointed as MD, Tim Summers as Finance Director, and both Tina Barkway and Vicky Jackson as Trading and Buying Directors

2017

Aldiss celebrates its 125th anniversary

KLmagazine May 2017

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KLmagazine May 2017

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Book Reviews

Why Rosemary is this month’s literary theme...

THE ROSEMARY TREE Elizabeth Goudge From the author of JK Rowling’s favourite children’s book comes this wonderfully told story about people in the beautiful Devon countryside trying to deal with the greatly changed world following the Second World War. Goudge expertly takes readers into a gentle, more ordered world. And although there is pain and sorrow in the end, there’s also redemption for past faults and perceived defects of character – and a lesson in why we always judge ourselves more severely. It’s a humble book that could well transform the way you see the world and the people in it.

ROSEMARY’S BABY Ira Levin It’s exactly 50 years since Ira Levin’s classic novel made him a household name and gave us the biggestselling horror story of the 1960s.

There’s no better time to discover a book which started a boom in the genre which is still felt to this day.

This is the book that turned the gothic novel on its head and brought horror to a contemporary and ‘normal’ setting – even if that means right in the middle of New York City.

100 GREAT LOw-FAT RECIpES Rosemary Conley This book may be a few years old now, but it’s still one of the best from the UK’s bestloved diet and fitness expert, who’s written over 12 books with a view to improving the way we eat and exercise for over 30 years.

This wonderful book celebrates 100 of Rosemary’s favourite recipes, from light bites and hearty meals to express dinners to slow weekend roasts. Even better, every recipe features a nutritional breakdown that prove that low-fat diets can be tasty too! Happily, the recipes are simple to follow and the ingredients are easy to find.

THE BAKERY ON ROSEMARY LANE Ellen Berry This delightful book is the first in a series of three new heartwarming novels sparked by Berry’s admitted obsession with cookbooks and her inability to stop buying them.

Roxanne is a fashion editor, but she leaves London for a quiet Yorkshire village, where she meets Michael – a widower trying to make a go of a small bakery. Little by little and cupcake by cupcake, Roxanne and Michael fall into a comforting friendship, but that’s just the start of the story. A book that’s got all the ingredients for an enjoyable read.

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ROSEMARY: THE HIDDEN KENNEDY DAUGHTER Kate Clifford Larson They were the most prominent American family of the 20th century, but few people have heard of Joe and Rose Kennedy’s strikingly beautiful daughter Rosemary – who attended exclusive schools, was presented as a debutante to the Queen of England and traveled the world with her high-spirited sisters. The reason is that Rosemary was intellectually disabled, a secret fiercely guarded by her powerful and glamorous family.

This is a fascinating portrait of a girl adored but left far behind by her competitive siblings, including JFK – and who was lobotomized when she was only 23. It’s a very thought-provoking look at the plight of the disabled.

KLmagazine May 2017

The handcrafted way to dine at home in style Why bespoke design and traditional skills are the perfect ingredients! very meal should be an occasion, but to give your dining room a distinctive and individual new look, look no further than the expert design and exceptional handmade craftsmanship of Bespoke Pine n Oak. Of course, you can always buy off-theshelf tables and chairs at standard sizes, and at Bespoke Pine n Oak’s gigantic new showroom just outside King's Lynn you’ll find the biggest and best selection available locally; with over a dozen different fixed and extending table designs and over 200 chairs in stock.

But if you're looking for something truly special, something created specifically for you and your home, take advantage of the considerable

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IF YOU CAN DRAw IT, wE CAN MAKE IT!

experience and traditional craftsmanship skills of directors Kevin Berry and Carl Ingram. The pair take dining sets to another level, crafting outstanding tailor-made furniture from responsibly-sourced solid oak and pine to the very highest standards.

“The real beauty of genuinely bespoke furniture is that it’s perfectly suited to older properties that can present problems for ready-made products,” says Kevin Berry. “Even if you have got sloped ceilings, odd angles, quirky alcoves and uneven walls you can still have the dining room you’ve been looking for – because we’ll literally make it fit perfectly. And if your dinner parties are on a grand scale,

don’t worry; we’ve made everything from 4-14 seater tables!”

And although this is furniture made in the traditional way, it can be as contemporary as you want, with any detailing you can imagine, any features you need (such as under-table drawers) and any finish you choose – from coloured paint to highly waxed and polished varnishes.

With plenty of parking right outside the door, an unrivalled choice of high quality furniture, a true commitment to customer care and a bespoke service that’s second to none, there’s simply never been a better time to discover the unique experience of Bespoke Pine n Oak.

Bespoke Pine n Oak www.bespokepinenoakltd.com

KLmagazine May 2017

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Compared to a novel, a film is like an economy pizza where there are no olives, no ham, no anchovies, no mushrooms.

All you’ve got is the dough...

PICTURE: ALAN MCCREDIE / EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL

– Louis de Bernières

Local Arts

ABOVE: Penélope Cruz and Nicolas Cage in the 2001 film version of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, based on the hugely-successful fourth novel

by Louis de Bernières (opposite), who lives in Norfolk and is a frequent guest at the King’s Lynn Fiction and Poetry festivals

Meeting the man behind a true literary sensation His first novel saw him judged one of the 20 best young writers in Britain and his fourth was voted one of the best books of the 20th century. Clare Bee talks to novelist and poet Louis de Bernières

I

n 1994, there was a true phenomenon in the publishing world. With little hype and none of the customary fanfare associated with a new book launch, Secker & Warburg published the fourth novel by British writer Louis de Bernières, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, a long novel set on the Greek island of Cephalonia during the German occupation of the Second World War. Within a short space of time virtually everyone was reading it, and since then the book has been reprinted over 30 times, translated into more than 17 languages, added to the A-level set-text

KLmagazine May 2017

list, and made into a 2001 film starring Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz. In a Waterstone’s poll of the top 100 novels of the century, Captain Corelli's Mandolin was judged the most popular post-war offering.

It turned Louis de Bernières into an international sensation, and with the world at his feet it’s somewhat surprising that he chose to move to Norfolk – but there are two very good reasons why.

As a regular at the King’s Lynn Fiction and Poetry Festivals, Louis met the late novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard, who was then living in Bungay. Visiting her

one day, Louis mentioned he was thinking of moving and she told him of a house in South Norfolk which was for sale. He immediately fell in love with the property, and 15 years later is still happily settled in Norfolk.

Born in London, Louis comes from a family whose ancestors on his father’s side can be traced back to serving in the army of Louis IV (hence his name) and he still has French relatives. He’s also led an interesting life, holding a variety of jobs from a landscape gardener and mechanic to a school teacher in both Colombia and England.

He’s also had quite a nomadic life,

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Local Arts

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his first literary love, and Louis brought out his first collection in 2013, Imagining Alexandria; Poems in Memory of Constantinos Cavafis – in which Louis draws on his love of the beautiful Mediterranean landscape. The book was illustrated with evocative line drawings by artist, plastic surgeon and specialist hand surgeon Donald Sammut.

Louis’ latest book of poetry Of Love and Desire was published last year, and is an absorbing collection of love poems, full of sorrow, heartache and rapture. It includes works that Louis has written over his lifetime and is again illustrated

by Donald Sammut.

His most recent novel is The Dust That Falls From Dreams, an epic story of love and war set in England in the first half of the 20th century, and is the first part of a trilogy. Louis is currently working on the second and third volumes, but has already written the endings.

“I usually have a plan, but it often goes awry,” he says. “The characters don’t always do as they’re expected. I’ll have an idea and it can change the whole

story.”

Many would think that being an author is a lonely life, closeted away for hours metaphorically sucking the end of a pen for inspiration and the right words, but it’s not quite like that at all.

“It’s what you make of it,” says Louis. “It is a strange life, but I have the company of lots of imaginary friends. I tend to work when the spirit moves me and I find I live my life half alone and half rushed off my feet!”

As for advice to budding authors, he’s the perfect person to ask, and he’s got a very simple answer.

“Find out what you’re good at,” he says, “and write about it.”

Louis has certainly found out he’s good at many things: novels, short stories, poetry, music. And he definitely enjoys sharing his stories with others, always appreciating being invited to take part in King’s Lynn’s Fiction Festival.

“I’m very fond of King’s Lynn,” he says. “The people are very generous and it’s so kind of them to have others staying in their houses.”

Hopefully, Louis will continue to entertain the people of King’s Lynn, bringing authorship to life in his own inimitable style with his captivating tales of travel, war and love.

For more information on Louis and his work, please visit his website at www.louisdebernieres.co.uk

AUTHOR PICTURE: IVON BARTHOLOMEW

travelling in South America, Turkey and Greece before settling in Norfolk.

Although primarily known as a author, Louis thinks of himself as having three jobs; musician, poet and novelist, all of which go very well together. In fact he always wanted to be a poet and follow in the footsteps of his father, who at 93 is still writing poetry.

His father had written a poem for Louis and his siblings, and Louis was inspired to be like him.

“As a young man in the 1960s and 70s I was always the one in the corner playing the guitar,” he says. “I thought I was another Bob Dylan!”

Louis still plays the guitar, along with the flute and (naturally enough) the mandolin.

Louis’ debut novel The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts was published in 1990 and won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, Best First Book Eurasia Region in 1991. The following year, his second novel Senor Vivo and the Coco Lord won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize again, this time in the Best Book Eurasia Region. His third book The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal formed the last part of this Latin American trilogy and was published in 1992.

Louis’ early success led to Granta magazine (the magazine of new writing) naming him as one of the 20 Best Young British Novelists in 1993 – and the following year came the extraordinary Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Since then Louis’ novels have been eagerly awaited and shortlisted for other awards – but his appeal and popularity lies not just in his novels, but in his ability to turn his hand to many other forms of the written word.

Sunday Morning at the Centre of the World is a play for radio, featuring characters Louis got to know while living in South London. His volume of short stories Notwithstanding: English from an English Village brings together a collection of stories inspired by his life in the village he grew up in.

Poetry, however, was

KLmagazine May 2017

Five-star reasons why Sandles is better by smiles It’s the area’s largest and friendliest car supermarket, and it’s getting better – thanks to the feedback of hundreds of happy customers... here’s a lot to recommend buying a car from Sandles Car Supermarket; from the enormous choice on offer (around 600 vehicles) to the painstaking pre-sales preparation, and from the expert staff to the perfect location for test drives. A visit to Sandles is always a trip worth making, but recent research by Autotrader found that some 88% of people now use the internet to help them research their new car choices – and 78% of them use third-party or ‘review’ sites to make an informed decision.

Sandles recently introduced a review facility through JudgeService, and is always interested in customer feedback – the good, the bad and the ugly. And while the good is always great to hear, it’s the comments that can help the team improve that Sandles are really interested in.

“Feedback is vitally important to us,” says Laura Sandle. “It highlights our biggest strengths and identifies any

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KLmagazine May 2017

weaknesses, which allows us to focus on what we need to improve – and if we do ever receive any form of negative feedback we act on it immediately.”

Case in point were some recent customer comments that the amount of paperwork now involved in buying a new car has taken some of the excitement and pleasure out of the moment customers finally take possession of the keys.

“It was something we hadn’t realised until we heard about it,” says Laura, “so we set about streamlining our handover process and making it less about paperwork and more about the joys of buying a car! The benefits of Sandles Car Supermarket staff were good because they were very approachable, and explained and answered anything I was unsure about!

Very reassuring, polite and friendly.

This was my first time purchasing a car and getting finance – and it’s all gone smoothly!

Ms ALISHA WILLIS (9/4/17)

customer reviews don’t just help us – they also help other customers.”

And as the scores from Google, AutoTrader and JudgeService pictured above illustrate, it seems that customerfocused approach is working. Whatever you’re looking to drive, Sandles has everything you’re looking for. But don’t just take their word for it!

information

Sandles Leziate Drove, Pott Row, King’s Lynn Norfolk PE32 1DD Telephone: 01553 630052 Website: www.sandles.co.uk

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PICTURES (except where stated): NORFOLK & NORWICH FESTIVAL

Local Arts

ABOVE: We Meet in Paradise by Theatre Fragile is just one of the events taking place this month during the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, which also includes Orbis by HumanHood (opposite), an outdoor duet exploring the relationship between humankind and the Moon.

A world of cultural wonders in one month...

When the first Norfolk & Norwich festival was held, Beethoven was still alive – but this month’s staging of one of the oldest city festivals in England showcases the best of contemporary culture

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his month, the area will be treated to a mouthwatering menu of performance, theatre, music, visual arts, literature and childrenfocused events as the Norfolk & Norwich Festival opens on May 12th and continues until May 28th.

It’s the largest arts festival in the east of England (in fact it’s one of the four biggest in the UK) and this year’s event includes world premieres, unique concerts and one-off performances, including a number of free outdoor events throughout the month of May. With such a diverse programme and such a wealth of world-famous talent, it’s difficult (if not impossible) to pick KLmagazine May 2017

highlights of this year’s festival, but some events should certainly be on everyone’s ticklist.

Take for example, the world premiere of the Voice Project’s The Arms of Sleep work – which will give 40 audience members per night a bed and invite them to spend the night at the beautiful Assembly House in Norwich for a brand new, specially-written 10hour choral piece.

In addition to the major new show from Turner Prize-winning artist Richard Long at Houghton Hall (it’s the biggest exhibition of his work since his retrospective at Tate Britain in 2009), the Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2017 will also feature the architecturally-

stunning artwork of Rana Begum in her first museum show anywhere in the world.

This has always been a festival where audiences are as much a part of the performance as the works themselves; Luke Jerram’s latest large-scale public artwork, for example, is a huge inflatable moon featuring detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface; complete with deckchairs underneath that allow audiences to bathe in the moonlight at close quarters.

Similarly exciting is Thrill Laboratory’s brand new VR playground, which will see sets of swings installed around Norwich, enabling audiences to don virtual reality headsets, jump on a 111

PICTURE: PETER HELLMAN

Local Arts

ABOVE: Part of the Super Sunday Race Horse Company’s performance at the Adnams Spiegeltent. The Norfolk & Norwich Festival also includes such internationally-renown talents as (left, from top to bottom) Annelien Van Wauwe, Laurie Anderson and Nadine Shah.

PICTURE: CANAL STREET COMMUNICATIONS

swing, and enter a range of experiences from riding a mechanical jellyfish to sitting atop a giant robot.

The Norfolk & Norwich Festival has earned an international reputation for the strength of its mucial offerings, and the 2017 event continues the trend.

Co-curated for the first time by Britten Sinfonia, the classical music programme includes a new partnership with BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists, giving audiences the opportunity to hear some of the most promising new talent from around the world; including Kathryn Rudge and James Baillieu, Annelien Van Wauwe and Amatis Trio and the Calidore Quartet.

The contemporary music scene is equally well represented, with stand out concerts featuring cappella group (and social media sensation) Naturally 7, a rare UK appearance from Totó La Momposina, and a performance by Ezra Collective; one of the most exciting new jazz groups in the world.

The festival also offers audiences the only chance outside London to see the avant-garde artists and composers Philip Glass and Laurie Anderson – the latter probably best known in the UK for her 8-minute work O Superman that reached No.2 in the UK singles chart in 1981.

Norwich is England’s first UNESCO City of Literature, and the festival celebrates that status with a feast of world-class literature-based events exploring revolutions in art, sexuality, 112

technology and identity. Will Self examines the influence of 20th century technologies in his new work Phone, a new work from Siddhartha Bose marks the 70th anniversary of Indian Independence, and Robert Service looks at the impact of the Russian Revolution, which started exactly a century ago this year.

One of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival’s most popular venues is the atmospheric Adnams Spiegeltent, and this year it will be playing host to a characteristically vibrant programme of events; from the Casus Circus show Driftwood to a cabaret of magical delights and Victorian era vaudeville from Hocus Pocus Theatre and Gossamer Thread’s Vaudeville Co. As usual, there’s plenty for children to enjoy as well at this year’s festival. For the fourth year running, the Meet Me at the Spiegeltent programme presents a range of free events for younger culturephiles; including Bounce and Rhyme sessions for 0-5 year olds, Mamasupials baby-sling dancing fun, Hartbeeps Taster creative play, and The Afternoon Social – for all ages to come together for an afternoon of socialising and intergenerational activities.

It’s one of the region’s most colourful, exciting, entertaining and thought-provoking events.

Full information on the Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2017 and details of how to book tickets can be found at www.nnfestival.org.uk.

KLmagazine May 2017

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The Last Word

WildWestNorfolk Michael Middleton’s

I

’m tempted to change my name to Michael Meldrew. Not because I’m so well known that I’m having trouble booking hotels and restuarants without people asking if I’m that Michael Middleton, but because I keep finding myself getting extremely grumpy over the most innocuous things. Over the last few weeks, I’ve got into a right state after seeing ‘lasarnia’ on a menu in Hunstanton, entering a shop that had ‘everything your looking for’ in Downham Market and almost buying a new iron that ‘cleans it’s self’ in Wisbech – and if you can’t see the problem then I’ll probably end up getting a bit grumpy with you too.

Of course, simple mistakes such as these don’t cause any harm (except to the mental wellbeing of grumpy middle-aged men) and they’re not particularly costly. But that doesn’t mean it’s safe to stop worrying about crossing those t’s and dotting those i’s just yet, as sometimes a simple error with a word or two can be very expensive indeed.

Spare a thought for the unfortunate boffin who hand-transcribed the coding for the guidance system of NASA’s Mariner I spacecraft in the spring of 1962 and missed a hyphen in the process. The result was that when Mariner I lifted off on July 22nd it was essentially uncontrollable and was promptly destroyed less than five minutes after launch, writing off some £10 million in a puff of smoke. And £10 million was an awful lot of money 55 years ago.

It’s easy to miss the odd hyphen or two (you don’t even need to be a boffin at NASA to do so) but you’d have thought there was no mistaking the words ‘win’ and ‘lose’ – but you know 114

what thought did.

Ten years ago, a car dealership in New Mexico sent out 50,000 promotional scratchcards offering a top prize of $1,000, which was a good idea until they gave the job to someone who duly printed only one card with ‘lose’ under the silver coating and 49,999 cards with ‘win’ under it.

The result? The company swiftly apologised and gave everyone with a ticket a $5 gift card, at a total cost of $250,000. It could have been worse – honouring the winning tickets would have cost them $50 million.

Not surprisingly in a country that can’t even spell ‘colour’ or ‘cheque’ right, this kind of thing isn’t rare.

A few years ago, the California-based Banner Travel Services placed a $230a-month listing in the Yellow Pages, promoting their expertise and experience in offering holidaymakers exotic experiences. Depsite the fact the ‘x’ and ‘r’ on a keyboard are two rows away, someone’s finger confused the two, resulting in hundreds of enquiries from people looking for a bit more from their vacation than a suntan and a t-shirt. The Yellow Pages (with red faces, no doubt) offered to waive the monthly fee for the listing, but the travel agency was having none of it and duly sued the directory for $10 million.

The Australians aren’t immune to this sort of thing either. Seven years ago, Penguin Australia published The Pasta Bible, which contained a less-thanmouthwatering recipe for Spelt Tagliatelle with Sardines and Prosciutto; the ingredients for which included ‘salt and freshly-ground black people.’

But before we get too smug about our use of the Queen’s English, I’d like to take you back to 1631, and a humble

typesetter working on the new print run of the King James Bible.

No doubt wondering whether he’d be having turnips or swedes with his potatoes when he got home, he lost concentration a mere 20 chapters into the second book of the Bible and forgot to put ‘not’ in the seventh commandment.

No one knows what happened to the poor man (or what he eventually got for dinner) but there was a sudden mad rush to destroy every copy of the book which appeared to give people the divine command to commit adultery.

Amazingly, 11 copies of the Bible survived – and if you’re lucky enough to find one then you can (depending on your moral standards) either retain it for future court proceedings or sell it for something in the region of £100,000.

Closer to home, I once worked for a newspaper which printed a recruitment advertisement for a local firm of solicitors who were looking for ‘freaky people’ – and then had to apologise on behalf of the telesales person who had misheard the firm’s Managing Director’s wish to recruit three key people.

It must have been enough to make him choke on his lasarnia.

KLmagazine May 2017

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