Local Lynx No. 150 - June/July 2023

SURVEYOR’S ALLOTMENT
An Update
The Felbeck Trust is forging ahead with its work on
the Surveyor’s allotment on Folly Hill, Bale, and an
access gate has now been fitted. In the Trust’s newsletter,
one of the volunteers, Sean, humorously describes his
part in the production of the gate:
“In the preparation of the access gate at Bale, Trevor
asked me to head over to our timber store, find two 4.8m
rails, saw them in half and deliver them to Bale. Packing
my tape measure to ensure complete accuracy, I headed
to the store, jumped out and searched for the 4.8m rails,
lengthy beasts which aren't inconspicuous by their nature.
Despite my best efforts, the longest I could find fell well
short of the 4.8m mark (3.86m to be precise) so out came
the saw and in a jiffy I was armed with four planks which
I hoped would do the job. Upon arrival at Bale, I was
reassured by Trevor that all was in order. It was a relief to
hear Stu being delegated the highly technical task of
assembling the gate.
My task, much more
suitable for an Irishman, was
to help Ian and Trevor to dig a
couple of very deep holes.
During the course of the
morning my greatest asset
proved to be my prodigiously
long arms. Despite the use of the excellent soil borer, a
tool akin to an enormous corkscrew, digging was
hindered by numerous large flints which could only be
extracted by lying prone, face in the dirt, while using
one's digits to scrabble around in the base of the hole. By
midday, holes were dug, posts were installed, the gate
was hung, the Felbeck Trust sign was erected, and we
even had time to engage with several friendly dog
walkers who were interested in our project.”
BINHAM
Contact: Paul Bailey 07401 315714
paulbailey04@aol.com
BINHAM PARISH COUNCIL
Since the Local Lynx was launched in 1998,
Binham PC has contributed to it regularly, with the
aim of keeping Binham and Cockthorpe homeowners
informed of local activities, consultations on local
and district projects, mainly housing in its various
forms, from Broadland’s mixed development of 27
new properties, through to renovations of houses and
finally traffic passing through the villages.
providing a substantial data base to monitor vehicle
speeds and the effectiveness of more recently positioned
road restrictions. These include village entry gates on
the Hindringham, Wells and Langham Roads (2018/19),
which have recently been enhanced by 30 mph roundels
(2023). The village’s defibrillator, positioned by The
Chequers pub (2018), provides welcome reassurance
that, with the aid of instructions from a call handler,
lifesaving CPR can be started prior to the emergency
medical services arriving on scene. During the Covid
pandemic, the PC was also able to provide a valuable
resource, by assisting Binham and Cockthorpe residents
to negotiate the various rules, restrictions and
lockdowns. As well as providing information on the
need to get one’s Covid vaccinations. Residents took
comfort from knowing that they could seek help or
advice at any time. As an aside, Issue 137 included “a
sighting of aliens” one February evening in 2021. Well
not really, it proved to be just a smart new sugar beet
harvester, festooned with very bright spotlights.
By the time this 150 th edition of the Lynx is delivered,
their Majesties King Charles and Queen Camilla will have
been crowned at Westminster Abbey, supported, and
celebrated not only by our own nation, but also by those
nations further afield. We do hope that readers were able to
participate in the activities arranged throughout the benefice.
The list of chosen activities for May 7 th , which had been
tried and tested over previous royal celebrations, not least
HM Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden and Platinum Jubilees,
included tug of war, all comer’s-cricket and a special flower
display in the Priory Church (2002). So, here’s hoping that
we will have celebrated the Coronation in best Binham and
Cockthorpe fashion.
March’s PC meeting was unfortunately cancelled due to
a number of unforeseen apologies, resulting in a nonquorate
council. Since then, the district and parish elections
have taken place, with the election of councillors for
Binham PC being uncontested. The next meeting of the PC
will be on Monday 22 nd May at 7.30pm in Binham
Memorial Hall.
It has been relatively quiet since the last meeting in
January, probably not the most prudent thing to say,
especially as the district council emphasis may change,
depending on the results of the district elections. On this
note, District Councillor Richard Kershaw, who has
previously so ably supported Binham and Cockthorpe PC,
has decided not to stand for re-election. We shall miss his
professionalism, sensibility and willingness to assist the PC
Out of curiosity, I randomly selected several
previous Lynx editions, only to find that the topics
covered in recent issues, are no different to those
covered over the previous 25 years. Namely, dog
fouling, overgrown hedges, the state of our roads
(1998), repairs to the telephone box and the bus
shelter (2003), and traffic flow and speeding
(2014/15). The latter issue, is now being monitored
by the SAM that was purchased in 2015 and serves to
remind drivers of the local speed limit, as well as
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