THE SHARRINGTON LECTURE
DAUBENEY HALL
The fourth Sharrington Lecture took place in the church on October 9th. This year’s subject was News Judgements: Art or Science? And the guest speaker was the BBC’s Director of News, Helen Boaden who talked compellingly of the dilemmas and challenges facing the 3000 journalists who provide the BBC’s news on television, radio and online. Drawing on the example of coverage of disasters natural and man-made – across the world she revealed the factors that influence the decisions of editors in deciding what stories to cover, how much space and prominence to give them in the space of a half hour bulletin and the narrow dividing line between showing images which cause offence by being too graphic or personally intrusive and masking the truth about the horror of what is going on. And none of these judgements are scientific
Daubeney Hall won a prestigious CPRE award that was presented on 6th November 2008. The Campaign to Protect Rural England honoured our dedicated and creative villagers – Martin and Robin Burkitt for their restoration and enhancement of their home in Sharrington. Details of the task can be found in Lynx 62 (October/November). Congratulations to them and also to their Architect Charles Emberson, who won the Architectural Award. Considerable laughter rippled through the assembly when one of the Architectural Judges told us he was politely turned down in favour of Charles for the project- a modest and fair-minded judge!! The Ceremony took place at the Assembly House Norwich, a magnificent hall. Chandeliers sparkled, hanging from the high domed roof, with walls adorned in the manner of stately homes. The minstrel gallery and the stage completed the grand scene; very apposite to the occasion. The thrust of the CPRE is self evident, and wide ranging. The Norfolk branch founded some 25 years ago, one of the first in the country. The awards were generously sponsored by Targetfollow, the property development and management company. Martin, Robin and Charles went up to the stage to receive their awards and Daubeney Hall will now have a shiny brass plate to fix to its 17th century walls to mark the occasion. Martin and Robin amply justify the plaudits of our village for their 4 years of dedication and creativity. The Judges were enthralled by the understated frontage of the Hall contrasting vividly with the stunning modern architectural design of the extension at the rear of the Hall. What an excellent village community we are privileged to live in, our heartiest congratulations to the Burkitts’s of Sharrington. PJG
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“It would be comforting to claim that” Helen said, “but it would be untrue. It is sometimes claimed that Journalism is the first cut of history. I’d suggest that it is rarely anything of the kind. Stories which seem fantastically important today may turn out to be a footnote in history in fifty years time. Barely recognised trends largely ignored by journalists often turn out to condition ours lives profoundly..... Journalism is not history and it is absolutely not a science. But neither is it completely random. Like every form of organised knowledge, News has expectations, rules and grammar which influence the choices and judgements made by journalists. In basic terms News has to be new. News has to be dramatic – it is about the atypical and unusual rather than the average and mundane. And for the BBC it has to have some kind of genuine significance – it has to matter – whether in terms of public debate and controversy here, important developments abroad or because it reveals something powerful and new for our audience”. The Bishop of Norwich , the Rt Revd Graham James, who once again chaired the event said afterwards, “ Helen’s was far the best lecture we’ve heard in the past four years – the best prepared, the best delivered and in many ways the most stimulating”. Another guest, the Dean of Norwich Cathedral, the Very Revd Graham Smith, said, “You would expect a good communicator but there was considerable content and honesty, combined with personal charm”. The audience came from all over Norfolk and together with the loyal and practical support as ever of the congregation and the village, provided a perceptive and lively question session afterwards, as well as £770 for Church Funds. AS
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