needhamlink@gmail.com
Needham Village Link
July/August 2017
Friday 30 June 2017
From the Editor
It’s been difficult to drag myself indoors to put this issue of the Needham Link together in this wonderful sunny weather.
There has been a lot going on in the Village Hall. Details of past events can be found elsewhere in the Link. The next big Village Hall event will be the Annual BBQ which will be held on Sunday 13 August. Let’s hope for another lovely day for this usually very well attended Needham event. I know the Friends of Needham Village Hall committee have been and will be working very hard to ensure the BBQ is as successful as ever. Please give it your support. Jean Youell is looking for raffle prizes. If you have anything suitable please contact her on 854 819.
There is still time to visit the Open Studios of our very local artists:
1/2 July & 8/9 July from 11am to 6pm
- Rose Martin at Skeetsmere House, Upper Burnt House Lane
- Gill Levin at The Tithe Barn, Mill Lane
- Vicky Townley at The Old King’s Head, Brockdish
As you will read elsewhere in this issue, the November/December issue will be my last as Editor. I have been asking for a volunteer to take over as Editor for some time now but apart from one offer which failed to materialise there has been no response. I took over the role in January 2012 when the then Editor, David Cunliffe, said he felt that 5 years was the time to give up. I will have been Editor of the Link for 6 years! There is still time for someone to step into the role. However, if there is nobody willing to take over I really regret that Needham will no longer have a newsletter in which, apart from other things, to publicise village events. I shall try to maintain the website at www.needhamlink.co.uk to publicise forthcoming events but regret that villagers with no access to the internet will be at a disadvantage. It isn’t too late to volunteer to be the next editor of the Link!
Helen
Needham Village Hall Management Committee.
Report to Needham Parish Council Annual Meeting 2017
Committee members are to be congratulated for the achievements of the last year. Highlights were the highly successful party held in June to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday supported by a grant obtained from South Norfolk Council and also the traditional summer barbeque. Both these events were blessed with dry weather and were well supported by village residents.
The challenge we face in the coming year is to translate that interest from residents into support for the Village Hall Committee. This is particularly needed as three committee members have stood down since the last Annual Meeting. We are currently without a Treasurer and help is also needed in managing bookings. We are in the difficult position of owning a facility that is much admired and used by the wider community but fails to receive the necessary support from within the village. It was noticeable that at two recent events held at the Hall, intended to draw in Needham residents, attendance was almost exclusively from outside the village.
We are encouraged by the work of Needham Action Group in planning to create a new community play area on Townsland Trust land behind the Hall, but without support for the Management Committee the future of the Hall itself is in doubt.
Nevertheless, on a more mundane level the committee has continued to care for the maintenance and improvement of the Hall, most noticeably in the erection of the new storage shed in the grounds.
Report to Parish Council from the Editor of the Link
Since the last Parish Council Annual Meeting six editions of the Link have been published. The Link has informed residents of forthcoming events such as the party to celebrate the 90th birthday of the Queen held in June and the village barbeque held in September. I have then published illustrated reports on these events.
The Link also regularly contains reports on the Parish Council meetings, the work of the Friends of Needham Village Hall, and the Carpet Bowls Club as well as the monthly coffee mornings in the Red Lion, which has raised impressive amounts for charity. Photo features include the erection of a storage shed in the grounds of the Village Hall and the Open Day held by the Needham Action Group (NAG) to promote the proposed play area in the village. The Link has been used to distribute information on NAG.
The Link has also contained village news, such as the progress of long term resident Derek Buttle, who suffered a severe stroke last year and notifying friends of Sylvia Miller of the date of the memorial service held at St Peter’s church. There have also been articles on local subjects which I hope have been of interest to readers. Recently, I have tried to make readers aware of businesses who are based in the village.
My first edition as editor was in January 2012 since when there has been an issue every two months. My next editorial will announce that after six years of producing the Link my last edition will be the November/December edition and I shall be inviting volunteers to take over the role of editor/publisher.
Miscellaneous
Borderhoppa
Borderhoppa has lots going on for our members in 2017 including lunches out, visits to garden centres and places of interest. If you or someone you know would like to join us, please call us on 01379 854800.
Harleston & District Dementia Café & Support Group
Don’t forget that our café & support group is open on the 3rd Thursday of every month at the Swift Piano Bar at the Swan Hotel, Harleston, 2pm – 4pm with our next session on Thursday 20th July.
This month our café is kindly sponsored by: The Harleston Grapevine
As well as our usual soothing hand massages and nail care, this month we have a ‘Sing-a-long with Darrin. We also provide other stimulating activities, refreshments and cakes; fully supported by our volunteers. Please be assured of a very warm, friendly welcome to everyone.
Needham Carpet Bowls Club
Since our last report the club competitions have been completed.
The winners were:
Ladies Singles: Jean Gower
Gents Singles : Brian Carlile
Pairs : Celia Snaith & Dennis Taylor
The competition for the Mary Howlett Trophy will take place shortly.
Two members from our club will attend the AGM at Old Buckingham on 12 July. The draw for the Winter League will also take place.
Club evenings are every Wednesday evening starting at 7:30pm. All equipment is supplied. New members would be very welcome!
Nudger
St Peter’s Needham Church Service and Events.
2nd July Morning Prayer 11.00am
9th July Morning Prayer 9.30am
16th July Morning Prayer 11.00am
23rd July Holy Communion 9.30am
16th July Morning Prayer 11.00am
23rd July Holy Communion 9.30am
6th Aug Morning Prayer 11.00am
13th Aug Morning Prayer 9.30am
20th Aug Benefice Service at Brockdish Church 10.30am
27th Aug Holy Communion 9.30am
Rector: Revd Nigel Tuffnell
Tel: 01379 308905
Email: rector@7churches.org.uk
Office: Lucy Elton-Cooke
Office: Lucy Elton-Cooke
(Mon - Fri 9am to 1pm)
Tel: 01379 851148
Tel: 01379 851148
Email: admin@7churhes.org.uk
Facebook – www.facebook.comredenhall.scole
Twitter - twitter.com7churches@RedScole
Facebook – www.facebook.comredenhall.scole
Twitter - twitter.com7churches@RedScole
Village Hall Lettings
Monday : Tai Chi 10am - 12:00 noon
Pilates 7pm - 9pm
Tuesday: Pilates 10am - 12:00 noon
Whist Drive 7:30pm
Wine Guild 7:30pm (3rd week Sept to May)
Wednesday: Art Group 1:30pm - 4:30pm
Bowls Club 7:30pm
Thursday: Craft Group 10am - 12:00 noon (2nd week in month)
Martial Arts 7pm - 8:30pm
Library 2pm - 4pm
Please contact Bookings Secretary, Jean Youell (854 819) if you wish to make a booking.
Friends of Needham Village Hall
We are delighted that recently three new recruits representing the hirers and St Peters have joined the committee managing the running of the hall. We would still very much welcome anyone living in the village to join us, in particular to help with managing the finances. The whole team share in looking after the fees for hiring the hall and paying invoices for maintenance work done but a single coordinator is needed to keep track of the finances.
As we meet only every six weeks or so, this does not take up a great deal of time, but we are rewarded with glowing praise from all who use the hall. If you feel you could help please contact Andrew Major on 01379 852958, any committee member, or come to our next meeting at 7.30 on Monday 31 July in the annex to the Hall when we shall be making final arrangements for the village barbeque.
Wanted!
We need Raffle prizes for the BBQ. If you would like to donate a prize please contact Jean Youell at 77 High Road or phone 854 819
Needham Village Hall Events
When I read last Autumn that the Friends of Needham Village Hall were having difficulty recruiting enough members to ensure the continuing viability of our hall I suggested launching a pilot entertainment programme to attract more villagers and promote this valuable community asset. After carrying out a survey asking local people what events they wanted which elicited 70 enthusiastic replies, we launched a publicity campaign in March consisting of flyers, posters and local press coverage to promote three different shows.
We kicked off on 1st April with my talk contrasting the myth of the brave and gallant highwayman, Dick Turpin, with the true story of one of history's most notorious robbers. While tucking into home-made sandwiches and cakes the audience at Everything Stops For Tea in May enjoyed a light-hearted entertainment about how afternoon tea developed into a national institution over more than 300 years. The third show in early June featured the very talented young classical guitarist, Peter Turrell playing music spanning the past 500 years from early Renaissance lute pieces through delicate baroque melodies to modern instrumental and flamenco music.
The audience of more than 100 people who supported the season were uniformly enthusiastic and appreciative – some travelled from as far afield as Norwich, Needham Market and Attleborough, but very few from Needham itself. Around a dozen villagers did, however, assist as volunteers in organising the shows and distributing the publicity. Harleston Information Plus provided us with box office facilities, many Harleston shops and businesses were happy to display posters and we were very grateful for the coverage in Grapevine, the Needham Link and other community magazines, as well as a front page article in the Harleston Mercury.
The aim had been to organise a season that covered its costs and, in fact, the events made a modest profit. However, despite all the publicity, the Village Hall Committee are still short of new members and are now urgently looking for a Treasurer.
Stephen Poulter
* Photos of the events on the centre pages
Needham Parish Council Annual Meeting: 15 May 2017
Chairman’s Report
Over the past twelve months the Parish Council have again represented the residents of Needham with a full schedule of bi-monthly meetings. We have acted on a variety of concerns including the harassment of pensioners by door-to-door callers, theft of firewood and noise nuisance. We have also been successful in requesting action on clearing fly tipping and highway and footpath obstructions.
However, the lack of a response to our request for the reinstatement of an early morning bus service and improvement to the A143 crossing reminds us that as a Parish Council we have limited influence.
Similarly, our objection to a recommendation by the Boundary Commission that Needham should be relocated in the Harleston District was also dismissed. I look forward therefore to receiving regular visits to our meetings from the Harleston District Councillors when the change takes effect.
In the last twelve months we have welcomed Heidi Williams and Georgina Frost onto the Parish Council and I am grateful for their support. I also welcome the support of Darren French in volunteering to be the Needham Tree Warden.
On a sombre note, it is with sadness I have to report that Sylvia Miller, who stood down as a Parish Councillor at the beginning of the year and who was also active in many other aspects of village life, died at the Easter weekend. The large numbers who attended a memorial service is testimony to the affection in which she was held.
We continue to maintain a healthy bank balance where the sum of £915 has been earmarked for payment of a half share with Brockdish of a SAM2 (Speed Awareness) machine. We also continue to fund the publication of the Link newsletter.
The Parish Council are pleased to support the Needham Action Group set up to create a community area on land behind the Village Hall and we hope to be able to assist them with financial transactions. A grant of £767 from the District Councillor is helping fund negotiations to obtain a lease on the land from the Townlands Trust.
I should like to thank Jenny Wilby, our District Councillor and Martin Wilby our County Councillor, for attending our meetings when their commitments permit and for their highly informative reports. As always, I must also thank Philip Freemen, our Parish Clerk, for his support and without whom we should not be able to function.
Andrew Major
Wednesday 28 June 2017
Needham Village BBQ
Needham Village Annual BBQ
Sunday 13 August
1:00pm
Needham Coronation Village Hall
*
Live Music
Bouncy Castle
Raffle
BBQ & Bar
Friday 9 June 2017
Is it Natural Gas or Laughing Gas? Part 2 of Delwyn Snaith's saga!
We left Delwyn with high expectations as he had been assured that both sorts of window cutters were going to turn up. Did it run smoothly from now on? Read on to find out.........
9 March: It's
Sunday - the Big Day. They should be here any minute; well, perhaps any hour;
well, perhaps any day now. You’ve guessed it, nobody turned up.
10 March 2014 Telephoned
Shirley who said that she had tried to telephone on Saturday to let us know
that they had the window cutting tool but could not get a window cutting person
who wanted the overtime and was prepared to come out on a Sunday. My patience
was now getting pretty thin, and we agreed that the job would be done on 20
March. This gave them ten days to get their act together. What do you think
happened?
19 March: A lorry
from Morrison’s, contractors to National Grid plc, arrives and drops off some
road signs and safety barriers. Things
are looking up.
20 March: 08:30 Two men from Morrison’s arrive to install the
gas pipe.
Have
we been here before?
09:30
We had two men looking at a metal pipe
in a big hole, one of them on the telephone. After half an hour the one not on
the telephone came to the door to say they had not been able to contact the
window cutter who was supposed to cut the window in the pipe. They said that they would not leave until the
job was finished.
10:30
A third man arrived – the
supervisor. He assured me that we would
have gas today.
14:30 Another lorry arrives. It's the window cutter and guess what? No,
you’re wrong. He HAS got a window cutter and in fifteen minutes he's cut the window
and gone.
You might ask where had he been all
morning, and where was he going to in such a hurry. Well, apparently, the story goes like this:
§ The Morrison’s
scheduler had sent two men to dig a hole for me, but had not arranged for a window-cutter
man.
§ The
scheduler had sent the window-cutter man to another job in Suffolk, but had
failed to send any diggers to that site.
§ So, my two
men stood around for half a day looking at the hole in the road, wondering
where the window cutter had got to.
§ At that time,
the window cutter was at another job, looking at a tarmaced road and wondering where
the diggers had got to.
OK, back to the best bit of the story. We now have
a window in the black metal pipe, and we can see the yellow gas pipe and, hey
presto, they make the connection and we now have gas. But wait – the tale does not end there.
You might now be thinking that as
we’ve got the gas, what else could go wrong? Don't forget that we’re dealing
with Morrison/National Grid.
21 March: A lorry
arrives with two men who filled the hole with some hardcore and tamped it down
with a jump-up-and-down oscillating tamping machine, commonly known as a “whacker”.
Very efficient. They then left saying that the tarmac guys would be along
tomorrow.
“What's
wrong with that?”, you ask.
Well,
later the same day a lorry turned up. The driver had three bags of permanently
soft tarmac, which he broke up into small pieces and put into the hole. He
raked this with a shovel to get it as smooth as possible, as that was the only
tool he had brought. Now, I have just
said that the only tool he had brought was a shovel (no whacker). So he whacked
the tar down with his shovel and said that it would be all right, as the
passing cars would do the rest.
Three weeks after this episode, the proper tarmac job was undertaken.
Oh, I nearly forgot.
24 March: British Gas
telephoned to ask if they could postpone the installation of the meter until
later in the week, and we agreed that “later in the week” would be the next
day.
I
then received a second telephone call from British Gas saying that their
engineer was unable to install the meter tomorrow. I was asked if it would be convenient for
their guy to come along and install it within the next forty minutes. I said YES. He duly arrived and in half an hour we had
gas and a gas meter.
HAVE YOU
HEARD ANYTHING LIKE IT? AS THEY SAY,
“YOU COULDN’T MAKE IT UP”.
All of the above took place just to get gas connected from the road
onto the property.
I’m pleased to say that we had a
happy ending to the above challenges. We
had booked a qualified gas fitter who was amenable to fitting in with the
ever-changing dates. He was recommended
by “Josephine” at the “Blue Lion”! and when
came to give us the estimate he talked the technical talk and seemed to know
what he was doing.
Did he know what he was doing? YES
HE DID. What a fantastic installation. He was pedantic about where the pipes
went and how the bends looked. He even cleaned out the inside of the existing
central heading pipes with a big magnetic machine called a “Power Flush”.
I would recommend this guy to
anyone. He now does our annual service.
We had to have him back when we had
a leak from the central heating under the floor, for which we had to make a
claim on the insurance.
That, however, is ANOTHER STORY!
Thank you to Del for his story which I'm sure we all find amusing but probably nearly drove Del to drink!
Tuesday 6 June 2017
Is it Natural Gas or Laughing Gas? - A tale of our times.
by Delwyn Snaith
This is a true story of how we had gas supplied to our property in Needham in 2014. It is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Only some of the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
This is a true story of how we had gas supplied to our property in Needham in 2014. It is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Only some of the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Celia, being more money-cautious,
looked at the price we were paying for our heating oil, together with the fact
that when energy prices were discussed on the news, it was only gas and
electricity that was covered; oil prices never got a mention.
I'll tell this story in the way of
a diary, as it's easier.
We were told to ring a British Gas
telephone number to arrange for the connection to the gas main in the road.
20 January: We received
a letter from the New Housing Connections Division of British Gas, together
with information sheets for the site manager, telling us that we had to fit a
U6 meter box to the property and that National Grid plc would come and excavate
all trenches required for the project.
28 January: While we
were out, a surveyor called from National Grid plc (I’ll call him Alan) and
looked at the job. He rang me at about 8.00 pm to say he had been to the
property. He recommended that we bought a meter box from
a local builders’ merchant, which he said would be easy for me to install. I ordered
this and it arrived a few days later.
I was a little apprehensive about
fitting the meter box without a lintel so I rang "my friend" Alan at
National Grid. He told me that these boxes were always fitted without a lintel
as, at the worst, there would only be one unsupported brick. No problem. So
with my trusty angle grinder, hammer and chisel, I cut a hole in the wall. The
box fitted neatly into the hole. As instructed by Alan, I liberally coated the sides
of the box with silicon filler/adhesive and pushed it into the hole. Whoopee, it
fitted like a glove.
Now for the next
stage.
12 February: I received a
letter from British Gas to Mr” Delwin
Smaigh”, whoever he is. This letter advised that to get our gas
account up and running, they needed our meter reading.
14 February: I rang
British Gas and explained that I hadn’t got a meter yet. I was told that I couldn’t have a new meter
until I had supplied the reading from the old meter. So I again told him that "I
HAVE NOT GOT A METER". The
operative told me that he could not proceed without a meter reading, so I asked
to speak to his supervisor. The
supervisor advised that the meter reading would be 0000. So I politely enquired
why, in that case, had they sent the letter. He said "Just ignore
it". I then asked him why I needed an account with British Gas, as I
intended to buy the gas from EDF. I was then told that I had to buy my first
month's gas from British Gas, and then I could change suppliers. I thought this
was odd so I rang EDF who told me, yes,
I had to go with British Gas as I had arranged through them for the gas pipe to
be fitted by National Grid. I then asked
"Could I have done this through EDF", and was told, yes, it would
have been possible if I had not already signed up with British Gas.
20 February: I had a phone
call from a gentleman who was from either National Grid or British Gas, I can’t
recall which (by this time I was beginning to lose the plot) to tell me that
the connection from the pipe in the road to the meter box would be done on 28
February. He then asked me what type of main was in the road. Thinking this was
a stupid question, (I now know it's not a stupid question) I answered "A
gas main". He then asked if it was high pressure, medium pressure or low
pressure. I asked "How do you
expect me to know?"
Right, everything was duly
organised and the gas pipe was scheduled for installation on 28 February,
the meter on 3 March and the heating engineer was booked for 10 March (Being a pessimist, I allowed a week for problems - only a week?
Silly boy.)
27 February: A lorry from Morrison’s
(not the supermarket, but contractors to National Grid plc) arrived and dropped
off some road signs and safety barriers.
28 February: Two men from
Morrison’s arrived to install the gas pipe.
Now, you may ask what was wrong with that. The answer is nothing YET.
There was an argument between the
two men. The one with the plan said that
the main was under the pavement, and the one with the metal detector said that
it was under the road. So they agreed that they would start with the pavement, as they had to dig
through it anyway. This they did - no
main, so they dug into the road where they found the main.
You may ask, “ So what's wrong with
that?”. I'll tell you. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories about the “wrong” type
of snow. Well, this was the “wrong” type of gas pipe. This was a metal pipe
which had leaked in the past, so a plastic pipe had been inserted into the
middle of it. The problem was that they needed a “window cutter” to cut into
the metal pipe so that they could connect to the plastic. This tool was on
another van. They had the wrong type of van.
In order to prevent confusion later
on, I will explain here that there are two distinctly different window cutters.
1. A window cutter
is the tool used to cut into the metal pipe, thus making a window in the metal
casing, through which you can see the yellow plastic pipe which carries the
gas.
2. A window cutter
is the man/woman who uses the tool in order to cut into the metal pipe.
I hope that's all clear, because it
wasn’t clear to National Grid/Morrison that you needed both.
The two men finished off the part
of the pipe installation from the hole in the road to my newly-installed meter box
and said a window cutter would come along with a window cutter and finish the
job.
Now here's a bit of legal stuff. National
Grid are obliged to seek permission from the relevant Council if they want to
dig up a road. They are given a window (here we go, another window) of four
working days to do the job and they MUST then reinstate the road within four
days or be fined.
5 March: A lorry
turned up with a load of hardcore and filled in the hole in the road. Great,
but how about finishing the job?
Later
in the day, two lorries turned up - one with the tools and the other with the
tarmac. The holes were filled in and rolled flat. Not a bad job, considering
that the hole in the road was going to be dug up again when the window cutter
arrived with the window cutter (Are you keeping up?).
When they
started to put the tools away, I asked who would be filling the hole in the
path on my property near to the garage. I was told that this wasn’t their responsibility,
as all they did was public roads.
Back
on the phone to Shirley at Morrison’s. She checked with the scheduler and
reported back that he was under the impression that both the holes on the
property had been made good, but he promised it would be done A.S.A.P.
5 March: A man from
Morrison’s arrived to take away the barriers around the now beautifully
tarmaced hole and started loading them onto a lorry. A second Morrison lorry
then turned up, and I recognised the driver as being the man who had delivered
the signs and barriers.
Now,
slow down, you've got it all wrong; it's worse than that.
I
went to talk to the delivery guy who said "Where's Holly Barn? We have an installation there tomorrow". I pointed down the road and said "Can you see that black building, that's
it".
So,
armed with this information I telephoned "my friend" Shirley. I
asked her if the crew who were attending Holly Barn tomorrow were aware that
the main was in the road, not in the pavement, and that they needed a window-cutting
tool and a window-cutting person. Shirley was delighted that I had been so
public-spirited as to ring her and let her know, thereby helping their
installation run smoothly.
I
said "Seeing that you are so grateful, how about when they have finished
that installation with the window cutter and the window cutter, can they come 178
metres down the road and do mine?". "What a good idea. I’ll see if that can be arranged”, she said.
Ten
minutes later Shirley rang back to say that the Council had given the go-ahead
to dig up the road again. The window cutter
and window cutter would cut my pipe after they had finished at Holly Barn. GRRREAT!
6 March: I had to
go into Harleston on the afternoon. As I
drove out of the drive, I looked up the road to Holly Barn and could see some men
were up there working. GRRREAT!
When
I got back home at five o'clock, I didn’t have a hole in the road and there was
no- one working at Holly Barn. They had finished before three o'clock. Celia
had checked.
7 March: I telephoned
Shirley and asked what had happened. She
said that she wasn’t aware that the job had not been done. She checked up on
this and returned my call. She advised that the scheduler had cancelled the
call because the Council had not given the go-ahead (in actual fact, the
Council had given permission). She asked me to leave it with her.
Shirley
rang back to ask if it would be all right under the circumstances to the job on
SUNDAY. " I said “ Yes, please. You mean to say that you can get a window-cutter
with a window-cutter?”. She said "YES".
To be continued..........
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