Swaffham Newsletter

Swaffham Rugby Club
Swaffham Rugby Club has had to close down its
Mini section for children under 12 due to lack of
volunteers but, fortunately, the Youth teams from
under 13 to under 16 are continuing to train and play
on Sunday mornings. This is a sad decision to make
after the children’s section was begun in 1992, but
RFU regulations now make it very hard for volunteers
to offer their services without certain qualifications.
Whilst there is an obvious benefit to coaches receiving
proper training, for children of these younger age
groups, much of the enjoyment they get is from the
interaction with other children rather than the rugby
skills they develop.
The Club will continue to try and get coaches trained
for these age groups, but in the short term the Club is
unable to offer rugby to children under 12.
At the beginning of September, and after a couple of
false starts, Swaffham finally got back to full contact
rugby with a pre-season memorial friendly against
Watton as part of their Return to Rugby celebrations
and Fun Day. With plenty of children enjoying the
bouncy castles and other games, whilst the parents
enjoyed a swift half, it was left to the seniors to put on
a show later in the afternoon.
After a minutes silence in memory of past members,
both sides entered into the spirit of playing fast open
rugby. Unfortunately with an 18-month break some
of the handling was not up to standard which resulted
in a stop start game at the beginning. However,
Watton were first on the scoresheet when they easily
developed an overlap on the left and scored near
the corner. At this point it seemed that it would be a
long day for Swaffham, but they finally got into their
rhythm and started to attack the Watton line. After
some sustained pressure James Boyle crossed under
the posts to make the scores level, but it was not
long before Watton replied with another score after
some good driving play by the forwards. Swaffham’s
pressure resulted in Watton giving away a string of
penalties which ended with a player being yellow
carded and, after a quick tap and go, Ben Davidson
ran through a gap to put Swaffham level again going
into half time.
With both sides having squads in excess of 20 players
several changes were made a halftime and as a result
the handling errors continued as players looked
to keep the ball moving whenever possible. In the
first 20 minutes neither side was able to make the
breakthrough and they resulted to tactical kicking
much to the displeasure of the spectators. Swaffham
finally seemed to get a second wind towards the end
of the game and ran in two quick tries. The first of
these was an excellent poaching opportunity by
Man of the Match James Pearce, whilst Alex Clark
completed the scoring with a neat kick and chase.
The final score was Swaffham 22, Watton 10, but the
best result was getting a proper game of rugby back
to Pickenham Road.
The first league match is away at West Norfolk on
18th September followed by a VP lunch to watch the
first home game against Broadland, with an early kick
off at 2pm, on 25th Sept.
After last year’s postponement, the 10th Annual
Fireworks Display will now take place on Sunday
November 7th at the North Pickenham Road ground.
Prices have been kept at pre-pandemic levels and over
1000 people will be expected to turn up and enjoy
this traditional entertainment once again. Tickets will
only be available on the gate.
Swaffham Dementia Café
We are proud to announce the return of the dementia
café. After a long and regrettable absence due to the
pandemic, we are back.
Held on the first Wednesday of every month, we
look forward to welcoming you back to the Assembly
Rooms at Swaffham Market Place from 10am -
12noon.
We will be thrilled to greet new and existing visitors
to come and join us for tea and a chat in a light
hearted environment.
We can also offer advice and support to carers of
people living with all forms of dementia.
Celia, Sue & Jenny
Ashill, Holme Hale & District Garden Club
Website: ashillgardeningclub.wordpress.com/
Email: ashillholmehalegardenclub@gmail.com
A Change Of Name, A Sting In The Tail & Showtime
August was a busy month for the Garden Club. We
held our AGM on Thursday August 26th followed by
an excellent talk by Dr Ian Bedford about the benefit
of wasps to our gardens. This was followed on Sunday
August 29th by our annual Horticultural Show.
At our AGM the membership unanimously approved
a change of name for the club to better represent
the increasingly wide catchment area from which our
members are drawn. Although the club was founded in
Ashill and meets in Holme Hale, many of the members
come from surrounding towns and villages in the
area hence a new name Ashill, Holme Hale & District
Garden Club. It was pleasing to see that 72 members
renewed their membership for the coming year at the
August meeting, so we are well on our way to pre-covid
membership numbers despite such a long break in
meetings due to the pandemic.
The AGM was followed by a fascinating talk by Dr Ian
Bedford on the benefits of wasps in our garden. Despite
the bad reputation wasps have, particularly that nasty
sting in the tail, they provide a service to the gardener in
getting rid of many other insect pests that can ravage our
flowers, fruit and vegetables. Wasps evolved some 200
million years ago and there are some 200,000 species
worldwide, of which 9,000 are found in the UK. They fall
into 2 main groups, the solitary wasps, which accounts
for the vast majority, and the social species that form
a colony around a Queen wasp, building large intricate
nests. Among two of the insect pests they control for
gardeners are aphids and whitefly. Increasingly, various
species of wasps are being utilised instead of chemicals
by the pest control companies to biologically control
various infestations in the garden.
The Garden Club held its annual Show on Sunday
August 29th which combined our usual flower show
with our fruit and vegetable show in this strange
year. With nearly 150 entries covering flowers, floral
arrangements, fruit, vegetables and home baking the
day was a great success. After judging was complete the
show was open to the general public in the afternoon
to view all the entries, purchase plants and enjoy
refreshments. The Club did record business at the plant
stall, tombola and refreshments which indicates how
much everyone wants to get back to attending events. A
list of the winners of the various classes is on the Flower
20 21
Show page of the club website and also listed here.
Our next monthly meeting is on Thursday September
23rd at 2.30pm when our speaker will be Bob Coutts
who will talk about ‘Gardening for the Autumn’. This will
be followed by our meeting on Thursday October 28th
when Angela Marshall will present a talk on ‘Helping
Norfolk Hedgehogs’. All meetings are held at Holme
Hale Pavilion.
New members are always welcome so come along and
join us Horticultural at one of our monthly Show 2021 meetings. Class Winners
CLASS
WINNER
1. Vase of 5 Different Flower Stems Lynn McBrien
2. One Single Stem Dahlia Robert Self
Horticultural
3. 3 Stems Same
Show
Variety of
2021
Flower
Class Winners
Hazel Chapman
4. Indoor Pot Plant Jeanne Flynn
5. Floral Seaside Arrangement Laurene Henderson
6.Pot of Cactus or Succulent
Jackie Hill
7. Foliage Arrangment Lynn McBrien
8a. Home Baking: Gingerbread Men Mike Fox
8b. Home Baking: Apple Cake Mike Fox
9a. Photography: Farmyard Scene Tom Thurston
9b. Photography: Waterside Scene Kate Lawrenson
10. Plate of 5 Mixed Vegetables Neville McBrien
11. Plate of 5 of Same Vegetable David & Penny Wickerson
12. Plate of 5 Mixed Fruit Wendy Churchill
13. Plate of 5 Same Fruit Wendy Churchill
14. Plate of 3 Potatoes Same Size Richard Leighton
15. Plate of 3 Courgettes Rowena Jackson
16. Plate of 5 Tomatoes Wendy Churchill
18. Plate of 3 Onions Robert Self
19. Funny Shaped Vegetable Robert Chapman
15. Overall Best in Show Mike Fox
RBL - Women's Section
To all ladies in and around the Swaffham
Area, my name is Iris Reeve. I am the
Chairman of the above organisation. I am very pleased
that we are now able to continue with our monthly
meetings after a long break due to Covid 19.
We re-opened on 10th August and, like other charities,
I suspect, our numbers have fallen due to various
reasons.
We are a small group of ladies who meet monthly on
the second Tuesday of the month from 2.30 - 4pm at
Valentine Barker Court, Greenhoe Place, Swaffham.
You do not have to be ex-service people or members of
a military family. Our meetings are friendly, we discuss
any business over a cup of tea and biscuits.
We try, when possible, to get speakers otherwise,
members may like to talk about their lives or work.
Sometimes we have a little quiz. Our aim is to raise
money for our military men, women and their families,
so we have a small raffle at each meeting.
During the year we fundraise by holding coffee
mornings, garden parties and having bric-a-brac stalls
at fetes. We are not classed as a social club where we
go on outings or theatre trips.
Please, if you are interested, come along and meet us.
If you then decide you would like to join us, that would
be great. There is an annual membership fee of £18.
Our next meeting is 12th October. You can contact
me, Iris, on 01760 721430 or Frances Barker on 01760
724445. Thank you for taking the time to read this.