Welcome… to the latest edition of THE STRATTON & TASBURGH BOOK…
Hooray, British Summer Time has returned! Heading towards Easter Holidays, hopefully we can expect slightly warmer weather here in the Norfolk Broads...
If you’re looking to get a little more active, you might like to consider participating in one of the events in our ‘Community Events & What’s On’ pages. There are always things taking place in and around the fourteen villages covered by THE STRATTON & TASBURGH BOOK. Should you have a fundraising event, or a community-based club event to publicise, remember to e-mail us details ahead of the inclusion dates which can always be found here on page 3 and online at www.satbook.co.uk - click-page digital versions of each magazine can also be viewed on our website. You can literally see our glossy pages on your smartphone nowadays!
Enjoy April & May!...
Tracey
@BroadlandMediaLtd
Inside…
contact
tracey@wacbook.co.uk Tele: 01603 717681
- Home Products; A Place for Everything
- Wordsearch; Scientists Inventors & Pioneers
- Beauty; British Beauty
- Fundraising Concert
- Health; Waist Away
- Children’s Puzzle Page; Safari Wordfit 16 - Home & Interior; 8 Tips for a Truly Comfy Bedroom. 18 - A Look Back in Time
- Celebrities; Celebrities; Gary Barlow
- Motoring; Electric Vehicles
- Domestic Abuse Helpline
- Home Products; Time for Bed
26 - Gardening; What's in a name 28 - 80th Anniversary of VE Day 30 - Community Events & What’s On
- Jokes
32 - Recipé; Chicken Curry
33 - Protect your Pet from Theft 34 - History; A Focus On Chapelfield - Part 1
This magazine is one of 5,000 copies delivered to residents & businesses in: Long Stratton, Tasburgh, Newton Flotman, Hempnall, Morningthorpe, Fritton, Shelton, Hardwick, Saxlingham Nethergate, Saxlingham Green, Swainsthorpe, Tharston, Gt Moulton &
Advertise in THE STRATTON & TASBURGH BOOK
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Community Events & What’s On...
You can use this page to send your FREE message to 5,000 households and businesses!
LONG STRATTON GYMNASTIC CLUB every Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon caters for girls aged 5 to 18 years. The club runs a disability session on a Saturday which is open to boys and girls at Long Stratton Leisure Centre, first session free. For more information contact Tina on 01379 740948.
TAS WELL JUNIORS - The last Saturday of every month 6-8pm at the Tas Well Social Club for children of all ages. Games, activities & lots of fun. More info: Mel on 01508 532146 or mel.large@btinternet.com
COFFEE MEETING - meet some old friends, make some new friends, have a chat, a cup of tea & a piece of cake at the Coffee Pot, every Wednesday 2.003.30pm in the Tasburgh Church Room.
CASUALTIES UNION NORWICH BRANCH - Meets at the Vauxhall Centre, Johnson Place, Norwich, NR2 2SA 7:30pm 9:30pm Weds new members welcome for details contact 01508 494492 www.casualtiesunion.org.uk
KIDDY COOK - Cookery workshops for 4-11 year old chefs held in Tasburgh. Held once a month on Saturday mornings and during school holidays. www.kiddycook.co.uk or call Fran on 07973 724870 for the latest schedule.
HEMPNALL MILL CENTRE - The Mill in Hempnall is available to hire with a private bar and catering facilities. For bookings, please contact Sarah Batchelorthemillhempnall@gmail.com - 07504 699534www.hempnallmill.co.uk
THARSTON HISTORY SOCIETY regularly meets on the last Wednesday of alternate months. Everyone is welcome - admission is free but there is a retiring collect to help with Society expenses. For further information please see our website www.tharston-historysociety.com or email web@tharston-historysociety.com.
FITNESS CLASSES - Long Stratton High School on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening. Choose from circuits, HIIT or cardio blast. First session FREE. To book your FREE session or for more details please email: hello@timcourridge.co.uk
THE MILL HEMPNALL LUNCH CLUB - Thursday from £8. Tea or coffee served on arrival from 11am with a two-course lunch served at 12 noon. For more information contact Margaret Sparham ( Wed/Thurs 01508 499766 or 01508 499579 at other times)
SAXLINGHAM NETHERGATE BOWLS CLUB Come along and have a go at Bowls at our Green in a picturesque setting on the Playing Field. The club is running taster session and coaching for beginners on Monday
mornings at 11.00am. Experienced Bowlers are welcome too. Contact: Chris Lacey on 01508 499700
TASBURGH UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB - Our FA Charter Standard club won Norfolk FA’s Grassroots club of the year for 2019. We have FA qualified coaches who train boys and girls from age 5 to 15, and we have various teams playing in the Norfolk Youth Combined League. New players and volunteers welcome! For more info you can find us on Facebook, at www.tasburghunited.com or call Dan Edwards on 07813 045764.
MARTIAL ARTS - All Oriental Self Defence & Physical Fitness Techniques in One Art. Kuk Sool Won Martial Arts Club in Long Stratton and Tasburgh. TWO FREE SESSIONS. Ages 4-7 years; Lil Dragons Tasburgh Village Hall Monday 4.30pm. Ages 7 to Adult; Tasburgh Village Hall Monday 5.30-6.30pm. Classes also in Long Stratton see web www.kuksoolwongillingwater.org for locations, times and more information or call/text 07775 890359.
SAXLINGHAM NETHERGATE BOWLS CLUB Come along and have a go at Bowls at our Green in a picturesque setting on the Playing Field. The club is running taster session and coaching for beginners on Monday mornings at 11.00am. Experienced Bowlers are welcome too. Contact: Chris Lacey on 01508 499700
SINGING: IF YOU CAN SPEAK YOU CAN SING. Creative Singing Community Choir meets every Tuesday at Wacton Village Hall between 7:00 - 8:30pm. No Auditions. No Need to Read Music. For further information please contact Louise Tingley 07765 920390 or louise@lktingley.com
JUMBLE SALE Saturday, April 26th 2025,at St Peters Church, Swainsthorpe. 10.30-12.00. Entrance fee 50p, children under 14 free. Well sorted jumble, nearly new, bric a brac etc. delicious refreshments available. Donations of jumble can be left in the church porch from March 22nd onwards.
...Continued on next page
Your community event can appear be HERE in the next edition - just message tracey@wacbook.co.uk or visit www.wacbook.co.uk
Community Events & What’s On...
You can use this page to send your FREE message to 5,000 households and businesses!
LETT-UCE TALK! Keith Kent, who has been a keen gardener for many years, and co-judged the Tibenham Harvest produce show last year, is hosting a new meeting for gardening conversations – for all to join in. It will be held at Huggers Cafe, The Street, Long Stratton. This event will take place on the 1st Saturday of every month ( except Dec & Jan ) 10-11A.M. It is aimed at anyone who is interested in gardening and growing plants, whether you are just starting, or have been gardening for years! It's suggested you arrive approx. 9.30am to buy a coffee and meet fellow gardeners. For more information, please contact Keith via email: notenoughkeiths@gmail.com
Should you have a June/July 2025 Community Event / What’s On, let us know by e-mail (tracey@wacbook.co.uk) And we’ll share with 5000 homes & businesses on these glossy pages FREE-of-charge!
A word from Rosedale...
For some, the beginning of a new year can be a good time to make changes in life. A new year brings the possibility of a fresh start. Many people commit to new fitness or dietary goals or reassess career direction. In January, estate agents report a surge of properties coming onto the market as people decide to make changes to their living arrangements.
On a smaller scale, I like to take stock of my bookshelves, kitchen cupboards and wardrobe. There is something therapeutic about reorganising our personal space and clearing out things that are surplus to requirements. It feels good to donate clothes and books to charity shops, knowing that someone else can benefit from things we no longer need, whilst also making money for worthy causes. This form of recycling is also good for the planet.
For those who are bereaved, a new year is often not a cause for celebration but a reminder that the future must be faced without their loved one. For some, this fear can be quite overwhelming.
At our bereavement groups, we like
to remind participants that they do still have a future (even though it might look very different to what they had planned.) None of us know the future or what good times may lie ahead.
We also remind our participants that they are still individuals of worth (even without their loved one) and they are still importantfriends, family, colleagues etc, still need them.
No matter our circumstances, we all have something to offer. We each have a unique set of skills, characteristics and abilities that are needed in the world.
Most importantly, we all need to be reminded that we are not alone. Everyone is part of some kind of community, whether that be a family, a friendship group, neighbourhood, church, workplace or hobby
club. At the most basic level, we are all part of the human race and have a part to play in making the world a better place.
I’ll finish with a little story Whilst looking at some of the comments beneath an Instagram post about mental health, a doctor had commented that he was losing hope and didn’t feel his life had a point anymore. I encouraged him to keep going and that I believed he had a unique combination of skills and abilities that no one else had. I reminded him that the world needed what he had to give. He replied with ‘Thank you, I really needed to hear this today.’
We don’t know what difficult situations someone else might be facing but we can all do a little something that might make a big difference- a smile, a helping hand, a kind word, or an act of generosity.
If you would like some support with your bereavement, call Rosedale on 01379 640810 to reserve your free place on our next course.
This article written by Sarah Howard, Rosedale Funeral Home Bereavement Support Group Facilitator
A FOCUS ON CHAPEL FIELD - Part 1
by Chris Weston
The area we know today has had more than one purpose! Most people know it for either Pedro’s Mexican-style restaurant or as a temporary venue at different times, for Easter and Christmas Street Fairs.
It all began when the City Walls were built in the 14th century, enclosing in the process, the field of St Mary’s Chapel, part of whose monastery which stood where the Theatre Royal stands. And the Chapel Field name was born.
At this time, Medieval England was dominated by church lands, and Norwich was no exception. The area covered by Chapelfield Road, from the Assembly House to the modern-day gardens, belonged to a large site just inside the city walls. This formed the College of St Marys in the Fields, which trained generations of priests. A chapel was built by John le Brun around 1248, forming an adjunct to the hospital built on the nearby site of today’s Assembly House. From 1404, when the city was granted the right to govern itself in the form of a corporation, assemblies were held there in which citizens voted for bailiffs, the officials who were to govern Norwich for the following year. It was also the centre for the Feast of Corpus Christi, an important annual festival in which trade guilds marched in procession. The guilds were vital in forming social and economic loyalties, as well as conducting religious duties. St Marys received royal approval in 1487 when King Henry VII stayed the night at the chapel. The College of St Mary-in-the-Fields remained associated, until the Dissolution. In 1545, this open space was initially granted to a private citizen but was subsequently sold to the city in 1569 to be held in Trust.
Chapelfield’s records tell us it was soon leased for use as Norwich’s
Archery butts and grazing land.
Two similar and well-known sites operated in both Aylsham (once a narrow strip of grass between Cawston Road Mill Road) and Wellsnext -the-Sea (an area of grass between Station Rd and Burnt Street). Each was known as the Buttlands. In Norwich, Chapel Field was already well-known and was often used as Norwich’s Military
Training Archery Ground. Archers trained here before the Battle of Agincourt (1415) and the field was also used as a tourney ground. During 1580 the Yeomanry were trained here to resist possible invasion by the Spanish Armada. During 1588, the city militia also trained here, shooting with handguns and arquebuses in preparation for any Spanish Armada
attack. An arquebus is a form of long gun which appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier. The term arquebus derives from the Dutch word Haakbus. In 1666 the same field would be used as a mass burial site for victims of the Great Plague, which had begun in London the previous year.
By the 1600s Chapelfield had come into the ownership of the Hobart family. A Norfolk family which prospered in the legal profession, it also built the great house at Blickling Hall, near Aylsham. In 1656 Lady Hobart, wife of the attorney general, held the lease of Chapelfield. She tried to stop citizens right of free access to the area, but the people resisted and maintained their right of way. Chapel Fields has been a Victorian public park since at least 1655.
Designed by George Alden Stevens, this large open space for public benefit, had been fully railed in by 1707. Walks were first laid out in 1746 and the gardens are claimed to be the earliest surviving ornamental public open space in Norwich. In 1746, three main walks with avenues of elm around the perimeter were planted by lease-
