Wereham news

Update from Wereham

SAFER NEIGHBOURHOOD TEAM (SNT)

SATURDAY 14th NOVEMBER

11 - 12.00 NOON

WEREHAM VILLAGE HALL

You are invited to meet members of your Safer Neighbourhood Team (Sara and Sophie are our local Police Community Support Officers) and to discuss any issues of Crime and Policing or to seek advice.

This is a regular event held on the second Saturday of each month between 11.00 and 12.00 noon.

CAR BOOT SALE AND CAMPANION DOG SHOW

As many of you know the Car Boot and Companion Dog show which was held on Sunday 27th September was a great success. The feedback received from not only villagers but also from the many visiting attendees said that it was the best event they had been to in a long time. What a lovely testament to the hard work and dedication of the ladies (they know who they are) who spent many hours organising and worrying about how it would turn out. On behalf of the remaining Village Hall Committee members I would like to say a collective thank you to the organising team.

We were blessed with a sunny day which encouraged many people to come from far and wide to either run a stall or just to come and browse. The field was packed with people and a carnival atmosphere was evident. As well as the Boot Sale and Companion Dog show the Magpie Centre (Riding for the Disabled Association) provided pony rides for all which were particularly enjoyed by the children. Refreshments were provided by the Fish and Chip van and the Ice Cream Van with teas and cakes on sale in the village hall.

The total amount raised is still rising but so far close to £1000.00 has been banked, this amount will be added to our previous fundraising for the rebuilding of the village hall.

Once again on behalf of the Village Hall Committee, I would like to thank everyone who supported this event either by way of giving prizes, running a stall or just coming to enjoy the day.

FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS CLUB

We are pleased to be able to tell you that the Friends and Neighbours club is now up and running again in the village hall. Attendance on weeks one and two was disappointing but since then we have seen an increase in members. We have been pleased to welcome two new members to the club and hope they will continue to join us each week. If you are at a loose end on Thursday afternoon from 2.00 until 4.00 then please feel free to join us. We spend the time drinking tea or coffee and eating cake, playing dominoes, darts and cards or just chatting to each other. We would also be happy to add other activities should anyone want to try them out.

Whether you live in Wereham or a nearby village and would like to come along then please feel free to do so, you will be very welcome.

VANDALISM

Unfortunately recently several incidents of the door handle to the village hall being ripped off and taken away have occurred! We would be grateful to anyone reading this, and who needs a door handle, if they would kindly go to their nearest DIY store and purchase one rather than taking the one from the village hall.

On a more serious note, previous incidents of vandalism to the village hall have been successfully dealt with by the Police Community Support Officers and they have now been asked to increase their patrols in the vicinity of the hall to catch the culprits this time.

CHURCHYARD

Please would dog owners refrain from using the churchyard as an exercise area.

Thank you

COFFEE MORNING

Friday 27th November in the Church 10.00 to 12.00 noon

Tea, Coffee & Cakes and sales of olive wood Nativity and Christmas decorations

All proceeds to go to the church

THE RETURN OF THE COAT OF ARMS IN ST MARGARET'S CHURCH

After many months of restoration, the Coat of Arms will be returned to its rightful position in our church. After the restoration of the Clock and Bell there was an amount of money remaining so the Committee decided to have the Coat of Arms restored. The restorer selected and the Faculty granted, we took the Coat of Arms to Ms Kiffy Stainer Hutchins who has her studio on the Estate Farm adjacent to Houghton Hall grounds in April of this year. We expected the restoration to take approximately 6-8 weeks but once cleaning was started it soon became apparent that the painting was not only in a poorer condition than at first expected, but also it was much older than the 1866 date painted at the bottom of it but actually dating from 1714.

In June, Tom, Philip and I went to the studio to see how the restoration was coming along and we were pleasantly surprised. With just cleaning it was obvious that the Coat of Arms was going to be greatly improved. We were invited to go back in August to have another viewing and again were amazed at the improvement. During this second visit we were advised that to bring this Coat of Arms back to its original condition, another £1700.00 was needed. This was a shock and to raise another £1700 we thought might be a bridge too far.

The Coat of Arms looked great but Kiffy, having started to restore it, wanted to take it all the way, she knows that it is one of only 30 such artefacts in the country so worth the extra effort. Having gone so far we decided that we needed to raise this extra money - so after a few telephone calls and many e-mails we were very lucky to be granted £1000.00 from Norfolk Churches Trust with the remainder coming from The Aurelius Charitable Trust. St Margaret's Church is now the custodian of an important work of art which comes with a provenance. We hope you will take the time to call in the church to take a look at it - you will be impressed. There will be pictures of 'before' and 'after' displayed in the church to show you just how much restoration has been done and the difference it has made. Our projects are now complete so the Clock and Bell Committee would like to say a final thank you to you for your support over the last 3 years which has enabled us to achieve our goal.

Patricia Evans

WEREHAM BARN DANCE

A barn dance was held in our village hall on Saturday evening (10th October). A small group of volunteers created the right atmosphere with straw and hay bales, bunting, and balloons. We were apprehensive about the numbers that would come, but by 7-30 we had a queue outside waiting to come in. Between 60 to 70 people turned up altogether.

Barbara Foster did the calling with her husband Terry on the CD player. The intention was to dance to the CD's and a small group of local musicians [Dom on the accordion, Chrissie on the guitar, Eleanor and Harriet on fiddles] would play between dances and in the interval. As it turned out, the group and the dancers were enjoying themselves so much that we had live music all evening. There was no shortage of people willing to dance and everyone joined in the final dance - the Circassian Circle.

It was great to see such a mixed group of local people of all ages having a good time together. I would think there would be some very sore feet [and heads!] on the Sunday morning.

WWW would like to thank everyone who donated raffle prizes, tea and coffee for the village hall and to Mrs Gent for all the delicious cakes and sausage rolls she made and donated - and everyone who came.

Special thanks to the caller and musicians for making it such a wonderful evening.

Looking forward to the next one.

Margaret & Dudley

Lynda Eddy