Swaffham Newsletter

Sporle Afternoon WI
The well and appropriately dressed
Witches of Sporle who refreshed
themselves with delicious soup and
tasty desserts, have packed their broomsticks
away. With Guy Fawkes all forgotten we now get
down to dealing with WI business. November
sees the year’s review of activities, outings, bank
balances and the election of the 2019 Committee.
This year all existing committee members, with the
exception of the treasurer, are standing again. We
have a volunteer to be the club’s new treasurer so
our money will be in safe hands. Members have
their chance to put forward ideas for forthcoming
speakers, activities, outing or any items they think
maybe of interest to fellow members. Christmas
lunch is one such item!
Sporle & District Afternoon WI every 3rd Tuesday
of the month from 2pm till 4pm. Members start
arriving from l.45pm in time to buy their raffle
tickets, inspect the sales table, pick up their WI
Gazette and meet with friends. Our speaker is first
to entertain us, then we break for tea/coffee and
cake followed by WI news, raffle and the meeting
usually ends with a poem or entertaining verse. So
ends an afternoon of friendship and interest and
who knows what else!
The Pickenhams WI
At the beginning of our meeting we
sang the National Anthem and Iris
read us a piece about the woman's
work role during the devastating First World War
while the men were away fighting. They certainly
kept the home fires burning.
Our AGM progressed, the reports were read and
the same officers and committee returned for
one more year. Our speaker Muriel Small gave us
a lovely demonstration and talk about sugar craft
and members had a go.
During the last month members have enjoyed
-: Ten Pin Bowling, Coffee and Chat at the Blue
Lion and a delicious Autumn Lunch prepared by
Pentney WI.
Future events include -: 1)WI Bottle Stall at the
Church Christmas Fair on 1st Dec. 11am — 2.30pm.
2) West Tofts Carol Service on Sunday 9th
December at 6pm.
The next Meeting is our Christmas Party Tuesday
11th December at 2pm when we will be entertained
by a member of the Magic Lantern Society.
Swaffham WI
The November meeting of Swaffham
WI took place on 7th November in the
Church Rooms at 2pm. We have changed
the times for the winter period so that members do not
have to come out in the cold and dark. November is the
month when we have our AGM. This is when we vote
our new committee in and choose our president for the
coming year.
We have our WI advisor to assist us so that we get things
right and is independent from us. We are also hoping
to team up with another local WI so we are looking
forward to welcoming them to our group. When the
business was finished we had tea and biscuits and drew
the raffle. The meeting closed at 4pm. We welcome
visitors and new members, so if you are interested
phone our secretary on 01760 722879.
W. Acre Halloween & Bonfire Night
With rain, thunder and hailstones the West Acre
Halloween and Bonfire night on 27th October was
nearly a complete washout and so we have to
expend our deep gratitude to everyone who came
out to support us regardless of the weather. Luckily
most of the rain was during the set up and held off
for the evening and the fireworks display. Everyone
seemed in good spirits (excuse the pun!) with lots
of children entering the fancy dress competition, a
busy BBQ and all of the soup, mulled wine and a
barrel and half of real ale being sold. We would like
to express our thanks for all the kind donations for
our raffle prizes and to all the very wet volunteers
who put so much time and effort into what could
have been a complete washout. Against all the
odds, surprisingly we made a small profit of just
over £360. Not as much as usual but very much
appreciated. Thank you.
West Acre Village Hall Committee
Regular Activities @ Swaffham Library
Bounce and Rhymetime: Every Tuesday during term
time, 11.15-11.45am. Drop in for songs and music
for pre-schoolers and parents/carers. Free.
Breckland Customer Services: Every Tuesday 10am-
1pm & Fridays 1-5pm. Free.
Computer Buddy Sessions: Every Tuesday 10am-
12noon. Book or drop in for computer support.
Most Thursday and Fridays 2-4pm. Booking
required. Free.
Games Afternoon: Every Thursday starting, 2-4pm.
Drop in for a friendly chat over a cuppa and a game
of Scrabble, draughts or dominoes. Free.
Swaffham Rugby Club
Swaffham Rugby Club’s 8th Annual Firework display
was once again considered a big success. The Club’s
event organiser, Chris Upton, rallied his troops and
provided over 800 people with an entertaining and
enjoyable evening.
With stalls and food
available from 5pm
the crowd gradually
filled the ground
and clubhouse,
and at 7pm the
display began with
a bang. A slightly
longer and bigger
display this year was
delivered by Milky
Brook’s men which
everyone said was
certainly worth it,
and after last year’s problems with the supply of food,
no chances were taken and there was plenty to go
around. Although the date has yet to be confirmed,
next year’s event will almost certainly be on the first
Sunday in November as it always has been, as we
look forward to the 9th year in a row. Fundraising to
keep the Club financially secure, and at the same time
support the community, is always a difficult balance
and whilst all the profits from the Fireworks Display are
retained by the club, there are many events during the
rest of the year which donate to local causes. Over the
course of the last 5 years the Club has given in excess
of £4000 to local charities and has also provided free
use of the facilities to many other charitable groups
for fundraising functions.
Rugby, like many other sports generally, is struggling
to maintain player numbers at the levels of 15 years
ago and the Club relies heavily on its local support
both off the pitch and on it. The Mini and Youth
section work hard to keep youngsters interested in
the sport by providing fully qualified coaching every
Sunday morning from October to April. To maintain
this facility, Peter Harris, one of our older members,
recently walked from Yarmouth to Kings Lynn on a
sponsored walk and raised £560 to provide kit for our
“players of the future”.
Swaffham Relief in Need Charity
Registered Charity No. 1072912
Relief in Need is a Registered Charity which meets 6 times
a year, offering grants for a specific purpose for the relief
of persons resident in the area of benefit (i.e. Swaffham)
who are in need, hardship or distress. Application Forms
are available from the Town Hall or reliefinneed@
swaffhamtowncouncil.gov.uk.
SCALGA
Greetings from the allotments.
We have had a very mild autumn and we were
picking blackberries, raspberries and tomatoes until
early November. The odd broad bean plant has
popped up where the earlier crops were and they are
flowering, whether we will get a small crop or not it
will be interesting to see. The strawberry plants also
have green fruit on them.
Since the changing of the weather from autumn to
winter the allotments as usual are slowing down.
Hopefully maintenance of sheds and poly tunnels
etc. has been done and we are all set for the
seasonal weather. Unfortunately we had to cancel
our Halloween night. The weather beforehand
was awful and as it takes time and effort to erect
shelter “just in case”; we decided not to go ahead.
Also there were many other things going on in the
town the same evening. A shame but there’s always
next year. As you saw on the front cover of the last
Newsletter, our retiring member Bill Twiddy certainly
did grow the biggest pumpkin.
At the last Forum meeting Chaired by the Town Clerk
for the Council, where a gratifying number of our
SCALGA members attended, the discussions were
quite lively and questions asked, especially relating to
management and expenditure. Unfortunately, there
will be no further Forum meetings in the foreseeable
future but we will keep members informed.
The Council felt it would be fair to allow non SCALGA
members a voice and have formed a sub-committee
Chaired by Paul Darby and aided by Paul McMahon.
Site representatives were to be appointed by The
Council in order to give plot holders who are not
members of SCALGA a fair chance of speaking their
mind. We presently have “walk rounds” checking the
plots with a Council employee who we value on these
inspections. This has worked well as SCALGA are able
to inform the Council at the time when a plot that
may look unkempt is in fact due to the plot holder
being ill and needing time or any other valid reason.
On the other hand we are able to warn a member
if their plot is not up to scratch and subsequently
avoid them getting a warning letter from the Council.
The welfare of livestock is also monitored. We have
helped the Council on many occasions with such
issues. The newly formed sub-committee we have
been told, will also attend these inspections. We look
forward to their input concerning non- members
that we may not have knowledge of.
Merry Christmas to you all, I already have my sprouts
on the stove to ensure tenderness for Christmas day.
Jennifer Edwards
If you are interested in taking a plot or a starter
plot, please call Graham or Jennifer Edwards on
07919888870 or 07919888870
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