photos by May Prior
Click pic for more

A packed church enjoyed a lovely carol service in St. Mary's Church on 4th December. Philip Aldred and 'Dolce' choir performed 4 pieces, including everyone's favourite 'O Holy Night.' John Metcalf's stunning displays in the windows and font much admired by everyone. Mulled wine and mince pies were served in the village hall after the service.

For a few days in December, St Mary's Church was transformed into a mini theatre, with spotlights, coloured lights, mist and snow machines, for two performances of 'Step into Christmas.'  Produced and directed by Paul Blake, (originally from Forncett), and his cast of 16, who have all previously performed in local amateur dramatic groups, most recently the Tasburgh Players before they folded in 2012.

Delighted packed audiences enjoyed a varied and fast moving show: from traditional carols and readings, to ' Santa Baby', 'Mistletoe and Wine' , 'As long as there's Christmas', and everyone's favourite, 'White Christmas'. A rousing finale of 'I wish it could be Christmas every day' had the audience clapping and singing along.

Solos and duets performed by Paul, Trevor, Sharon, Laura, Wendy, Sonia and 15 yr old Katie, readings by Sharon, John and Lenny, and the 'Tech Team' of Paul Smith on lighting and Neil Pitcher on sound made sure it was a perfect festive atmosphere.

A big thank you to them all for their hard work rehearsing in the weeks leading up to the performances, and setting up the church with all the equipment and decorations. All proceeds from the performances will go towards the restoration fund. Thanks to the Tas Well bar for being open for refreshments.

We look forward to the next show! 

Click pic for more
photos by John Webster

Now into its sixth year our local fête at Forncett End again proved a popular venue for locals and their families, keen to experience a traditional gathering where folk picked up real bargains at the extensive bric-a-brac stall, chose from a super selection of home-made cakes and pastries, as well as indulging in games of skill and chance, while listening to live music performed on the stage from afternoon to evening. Of course, refreshments were at the top of the menu: tasty burgers and sausages from local butchers, cream teas, and soft drinks or alcoholic ones – wine and beer.

All this on a really fantastic summer’s day and evening, when Elliot’s varied programme of musical items culminated with his vibrant group MODE performing with panache till the very end accompanied by a beautiful sunset. The committee will soon meet to discuss the event and verify the amount raised after deduction of the many expenses.

Margaret & John Webster

Some photographs of the exhibition held 9th and 10th July at St Mary's Church, Forncett. 

In addition, the Forncett Great War Timeline has been updated to end 2016. 

photos by Richard Ball
Click pic for more

We’ve been asked if the use of the sign actually has any effect on the speeding behaviour of drivers but this is difficult to prove conclusively without comparative data being obtained when the sign is not operating. However, the manufacturer advised that the sign could be put into ‘stealth’ mode which sounds sinister but simply means the vehicle numbers and speed data can continue to be logged without the speed display working. So when the sign was located on Mill Road in early June it was operated normally for the first week and in stealth mode for the second week. I won’t claim this to be a highly scientific exercise but the results are interesting. In the first week 48% of all vehicles were exceeding 35 mph and in the second week when the display was turned off this increased to 55%. So it does seem reasonable to infer that the sign does have a positive impact on driver behaviour — unfortunately this doesn’t disguise the fact that over the two weeks 78% of all drivers, some 7,459, exceeded the 30 mph limit with 219 exceeding 50 mph! This location remains the worst for speeding and clearly isn’t a particularly good place to be a pedestrian. 

For details and tables of the results please 

photos Su Leavesley
Click on pic for slideshow

On Sunday 22d May, thanks to a grant from South Norfolk Council, about 100 residents joined our celebration of The Queen’s 90th birthday.

The children enjoyed a variety of entertainment from Frances, JMS Catering (Jan and Mike Smail) provided a fabulous savoury buffet; Jackie and Gill produced lots of beautifully decorated ‘fairy cakes’; Barry supplied all that was needed from the Bar and thanks to Andrew for the PA system.

We all enjoyed near perfect weather on Jubilee Green and the chance to meet old friends and make new ones. Thanks to all who helped get everything ready in the morning, who came along to join the celebrations in the afternoon ... and helped clear up in record time at the end.

Click pic for slide show
photos by Richard Ball

When St. Mary's was closed in the early 1980's everything from the interior was removed or vandalised. The medieval font was given to the Roman Catholic Shrine at Houghton St. Giles, North Norfolk, where it remained for many years. After hearing of the restoration work and the 'Angels' Award last year the font was offered back to St. Mary's, being surplus to their requirements.

It was removed from the shrine in late 2015, and repaired and restored by stonemason Bruce Riley. On 27th May 2016 he installed the font back in the church. It is probable that the marble plinth is of the same type used in Norwich Cathedral.

Currently (June 2016) there are still many people alive who were christened in the font before it was removed.

On the 28th April at St Edmunds Church in Forncett End, an awareness training Seminar for the newly installed Defibrillator, the second for our village, was given by Martin Render from The Community Heartbeat Trust. This was incredibly well attended and a great success. It was also good fun, very informative and, possibly, motivational. Light hearted and very serious in equal measure to make the important points that needed making. This was an opportunity to understand what a defibrillator is, how it can save lives and most importantly dispel any fears and myths about using these incredible devices.

For those that were unable to join the session, I would like to pass on the 4 crucial things that Martin wanted us all to remember from the evening.

1. When a person has a Cardiac arrest, the heart doesn’t pump blood around the body as it should and without intervention from somebody, that person IS going to die. So the option to do nothing isn’t really an option.

2. If the heart has gone into a rhythm known as fibrillation, a Defibrillator is needed to try to get it working again. These new defibrillators are so easy to use that you don’t need any training; ours even has a video display showing you what to do.

3. Using a defibrillator on a person CANNOT DO ANY HARM and will not deliver a shock to the patient unless he/she needs it.

4. You are not going to be sued or be in trouble for trying to save a life with a defibrillator and it is unsuccessful 

I would like to thank all those that attended the session for coming and hope that you did find it helpful. If anyone who attended has any comments or feedback about the session I would be very pleased to hear from you (). We would like to arrange further sessions, maybe on an annual basis, so keep a look out for details. More details from the evening cab be seen on the Forncett website.

Thanks also to Martin Render and Community Heartbeat Trust and to John and Margaret Webster for the use of the Church.

photos Su Leavesley
Click on pic for slideshow

Several months after it was removed from its prominent position at the road junction at the bottom of Mill Road, in front of St Peter’s Church. our Village Sign has now been fully restored and returned to its proper place.

The design of the sign was originally researched by Bill Matthews in the late 1970s and, helped by his daughter Debbie with some of the drawings, it was eventually constructed and erected on its oak post and flint base (topped with a millstone from one of the Forncett mills) to mark the marnage of Pnnce Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.

Over the years. former Parish Councillor Andrew Smith has carried out maintenance and re-painting as required, but it was decided a year or so ago that a total refurbishment was required. Bob McClenning spent several months drying out. stabilising and eventually re-painting the actual decorative sign. David Taylor supplied wood sections for the lettering and the other supports, expertly crafting them to match the (by now very decayed) originals. Linda Preece used her skills as sculptor and wood carver to recreate ‘The Forncetts' name.

Graham Gale and Brian Frith dismantled and, after the artists and craftspeople had done their work, reassembled the whole sign (using the original re-painted wrought ironwork).

Now on show for all to see, complete with a new plaque to remind everyone that the renovation took place in the year of the 90th birthday of HM Queen Elizabeth Il, we hope the sign will last many more years.