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Village Sign Restored
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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.
- Details
- Written by: Su Leavesley
43% of drivers on Forncett’s main roads exceed the speed limit
The speed awareness sign (SAM2) reported in a previous Flyer as being purchased by the Parish Council was delivered in November and is now being employed around the village by a team of four volunteers - Harry Bowers, Keith Fromings, Philip Yull and the writer. Locations for the signs, on stretches of road limited to 30 mph, have been designated by Norfolk County Council’s highways department. There are 3 locations in Forncett End on the Norwich Road (B 1113) and the Long Stratton Road and 3 locations in Forncett St Peter on Mill Road and Low Road and generally the sign will only remain in each location for a maximum of about two weeks.
Most drivers will be aware of the SAM2 signs - they are vehicle activated and indicate clearly to the drivers of oncoming vehicles their speed in mph. If they are exceeding the speed limit a flashing warning sign will entreat them to ‘SLOW DOWN’. The actual vehicle speed will continue to be displayed up to 39 mph but above this no speed is indicated so as not to further encourage those drivers who might see a challenge in seeing how high a speed they can generate on the sign although the warning sign will continue to flash. This latest generation of sign also records the number of vehicle movements and the speed of any vehicle when it activates the sign. We now have recorded data from the initial three locations and the results are in the table below.
The locations of the sign were:
‘A’ - outside Austhorpe House adjacent to the bus shelter on Norwich Road (B1113) northbound.
‘B’ - on the bend outside the Methodist Church on Long Stratton Road westbound.
‘C’ - on the Mill Road hill westbound (recorded over the Christmas and New Year periods).
Overall an average of 43% of drivers on our village’s main roads exceeded the statutory 30 mph speed limit. A significant proportion of these do so at speeds that shows little regard for the safety of the village and its residents. It’s also worth noting that these higher end violations were not all recorded at the dead of night as might be expected, there being a fairly even spread throughout the full 24 hour periods including the daytime peak periods.
Top Speeding ‘prizes’ go to drivers of vehicles on: Norwich Road (B 1113) northbound on the 10th December at 10.20 am clocked at between 65 and 70 mph, and, Mill Road westbound on the 24th December at 6.20 pm clocked at between 85 and 90 mph. We’ll continue to update this information in future editions of the Flyer.
- Details
- Written by: Phil Whiscombe
St Mary's Church update
(click pic to enlarge)
Carols by Candlelight on 4th December at St Mary's was once again well attended. The singing was helped by 'Dolce' choir who also performed four pieces including Away in a Manger and O Holy Night.
We have been contacted by staff at the Roman Catholic Shrine at Walsingham, as they no longer have any need for the medieval font, originally from St Mary's Church, it will be returning to the Church, and should be installed in the next few months. This will be of interest to anyone who was christened there years ago when the font was used, and we'd like to hear from you.
There are a number of good quality 2nd hand books for sale in the church, do pop in and have a look if you're passing.
- Details
- Written by: May Prior
Mince Pies anyone?
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Photos Su Leavesley
VERY few households will be able to resist the lure of a box of supermarket mince pies over the coming weeks, so the Ladies Who Lunch team stayed at home and tested ten boxes and packets of mince pies that are easily available to people in most areas.
Our brief was simple; sample a piece of mince pie and mark it out of 5 for; taste; appearance; amount of fill, and general ‘integrity’ which encompassed all other aspects including whether they came out of the box in bits to how uniform they were, and whether they had leaked any filling, or had excessive amounts of twig and pips in. Also the calories, (but you don’t want to know about that! Except that the Co-op was highest at 263 per pie!). and number of ingredients was noted. Three sets of pies came in plastic cartons (from instore bakeries) and two of them were without information.
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- Written by: Super User
Historic England - Angels Award for St Mary's Church
(Click pic for more,
photos by Sarah Prior)
On 7th September 2015 Graham Prior and seven other members of the 'Friends of St Mary's' who have been heavily involved in voluntary work for he church, travelled to London for Historic England's Angels Award Ceremony. The church was shortlisted in the category 'best rescue or repair of an historic place of worship' along with three other churches.
The ceremony took place at the Palace Theatre, and the judges were Andrew Lloyd Webber, Emma Bridgewater, George Clarke, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall ( Dean of Westminster), Dr Bettany Hughes, and Historic England's Chief Executive Duncan Wilson.
The Friends group were delighted when Songs of Praise presenter Connie Fisher opened the envelope to reveal that they had won the award, which was presented to Graham and May Prior by Connie and Dr John Hall.
A reception at Kettner's Bar followed the ceremony, and was much enjoyed by everyone.
- Details
- Written by: May and Graham Prior
St Mary’s Church Open Weekend and Forncett Great War Project
Photos Richard Ball
(click pic for slideshow)
The weekend event of 4th and 5th July was a great success. Visitors were arriving as soon as it opened and did not drift away until after 4pm on both days, an hour after it was scheduled to finish! There was much interest shown in the transformation of St Mary’s church especially from older residents who had known and regularly attended services before closure. One family had particularly fond memories because their parents were married here; the last wedding before closure. May and Graham Prior were in the church to explain renovation work to visitors and were happy that the work was finished in time for their daughter’s wedding a few weeks earlier.
There is a new Colenso exhibition on show together with a bust of the man. John Colenso was a rector of St Mary’s in 1846 before becoming Bishop of Natal (now South Africa) in 1853. This exhibition was curated by John Webster and the bust is on permanent loan to the church.
Photos Richard Ball, except
where captioned otherwise.
(click pic for slideshow)
A lot of interest was also shown in the amount of WW1 memorabilia exhibited on behalf of Forncett History Group’s Great War Project, and Graham was also on hand all weekend to talk to people about them, together with Mike and Bill, two friends, one from the Western Front Association and all enthusiasts. Members of the History Group were also there.
The Timeline has been extended to June 1915 and is now permanently on show here. Work is in progress to complete the year 1915. Also on show were the Book of Remembrance and a DVD of photographs of the men named on Forncett’s war memorials. The highlight of Sunday was Nigel Amies’ appearance as a WW1 infantryman complete with authentic uniform, genuine WW1 drum and various artefacts. As well as demonstrating the equipment such a soldier needed to survive, people were able to handle and even wear objects. Nigel showed he had a very good singing voice and was an excellent drummer and communicator.
Many thanks go to all who lent exhibits, helped with the organisation, and made tea and excellent cakes, all ensuring this was a very successful weekend. We estimate about 200 people attended over the two days.
- Details
- Written by: May Prior and Jackie Lanaway.
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