Local Lynx No.151 August/September 2023

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CHILDREN’S SUMMER READING CHALLENGE Norfolk Libraries The Summer Reading Challenge 2023 is free and fun, it builds confidence and supports children reading for pleasure. Children’s reading can ‘dip’ during the long summer break making it harder for them returning to school. In addition, reading for pleasure has so many proven benefits including developing empathy by identifying with characters and improving mental wellbeing. Over 700,000 children sign up to the challenge every year. To join the challenge children will need to be a library member. This is free of charge and children will receive their own library card for which there are no overdue fees. Children will be given a pack; they can set their own reading challenge (we recommend six books over the sixweek period). Children choose their own books which can include e-books from our virtual library. The children will collect stickers along the way and on completion of the challenge they will receive a medal and certificate of achievement. There is a digital platform too, so the fun can carry on at home. Children can take part in the Challenge at summerreadingchallenge.org. FAKENHAM WALKING RUGBY The Fakenham Walking Rugby Group are always on the look-out for more new members to join in with this excellent team sport activity. Based at the Fakenham Rugby Club’s Stringer Ground, off Old Wells Road, on the edge of Fakenham town itself, the current group of members is drawn from across north and mid-Norfolk. Walking Rugby is a relatively new sporting activity - in a similar vein to both Walking Football and Walking Netball - and aims to attract, in the main, people who are in their forties or older, both men and women. Walking Rugby itself is a fun team-based game and it is a great way of introducing an element of light-hearted exercise into your weekly routine. However, it is a much less physical/less contact sport than its standard counterpart with the main aim being participating, competing, and enjoying all the benefits of a team sport. It is attractive to both ex-players and those who are completely new to the game of rugby, being a much simpler version of the traditional game. Players do not need to have any specialist equipment to join-in; but they need to wear suitable clothing and footwear for playing on a natural grass pitch surface. Our Walking Rugby Group sessions take place on Wednesday evenings throughout the year at the Fakenham Rugby Club ground, arriving at 6.45pm for a 7pm start. Sessions last for an hour, beginning with a gentle warm-up before game-time. There is also a great social side to the Group, and the possibility of fixtures played against other Walking Rugby Groups. Please do come along and join us on a Wednesday night - your first ‘taster session’ will be free-of-charge. Contact the organiser, Jeffrey Pearce, for any further information and details: jdpearce@btinternet.com. HEALTHWATCH NORFOLK The Healthwatch Norfolk team is having a very busy summer. We are involved in a project called Three Hospitals Three Weeks which sees the whole staff spending a full week at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. This will help us build up a rich picture of patient experiences that we can analyse. The idea is to identify any issues that we hear about as well as highlight good practice to make sure this is shared across all three sites. If you miss out on catching us at the hospitals, you can also leave your views online via the Healthwatch Norfolk website at www.healthwatchnorfolk.co.uk or by giving us a call on 0808 168 9669. We will be publishing reports after visiting each hospital, as well as a further document to cover all the main points we found at each site in the autumn. Although we are focusing on the three hospitals above, we are keen to hear your Cromer Hospital feedback too so please let us know your experiences there too. As well as our visits there, our engagement team are out and about in the community too, continuing to gather your feedback over the summer so that we can continue to pass it on to health and social care leaders when they shape services. A.Stewart BALE Contact: Maggie Thomas 01328 822481 maggie2403@icloud.com BALE REP FOR LOCAL LYNX An Opportunity I took over as Bale rep for the Lynx when Jane Wheeler moved to Scotland in 2019. I have thoroughly enjoyed the 6
position but, as some of you may know, I no longer live in Bale and feel it would be more fitting for a resident of Bale to take over. The number of hours you would need to commit to the role are very few as there are only six editions per year. Bale has several regular contributors so, unless you want to, you do not need to write articles yourself. However, you do need to know how to use a computer and Word. If you would like to have a chat with me about the role, please contact me on 07753 743542 or nab me at Fish and Chips, Bale Oak Bar or any other event at Bale village hall. I am happy to work with you until you feel confident to go it alone. I look forward to being overwhelmed with offers. Maggie Thomas TRIBUTE TO ANTHONY RICHARD HAYWARD OF BALE Anthony was born in the village of Trunch but was brought up on the family's remote farm at Little Fransham from the age of two. He was educated at St. Felix School, Felixstowe, and Oakham School, Rutland. He then studied at the College of Estate Management in London for two years and, after working at Tunbridge Wells for a year, he returned to Norfolk in 1964. Anthony was a Chartered Surveyor, Agricultural Valuer and Auctioneer and, upon his return to Norfolk, joined Andrews & Dewing (who later became Case & Dewing) at Wells-next-the-Sea. He moved to Bale in 1967. In 1989 Anthony started his own professional business and concentrated on what he most enjoyed doing, surveying and reporting on all types of buildings, until his retirement. He was a much-respected surveyor and his considerable knowledge of the area, its geography and byways, fuelled his love for his role as Parish Clerk, initially for Gunthorpe with Bale and later for Brinton with Sharrington. The former he served for 35 years and the latter 27 years, both positions fulfilled with passion. Anthony is remembered fondly in the village for his dedication to his work but also for his horse, "Leap", which lived to the age of thirty. He passed away very peacefully, after a long illness, with his wife, Dawn, by his side. He was a source of valuable work for the parish and a much trusted and reliable fountain of knowledge for our region. His expertise and smiling disposition will be sorely missed. AJE WILD BALE Purple Emperor It is high summer and a cascade of purple shimmers over the ‘master tree’ in a woodland glade. A battle ensues between the males as they circle around the treetops in search of a passing female. The Purple Emperor is one of our most attractive and rare butterflies. It is found in small colonies in large woods of mature oak and beech trees with damp areas where Goat Sallow grows, the food plant of the larvae. The adult butterflies feed on honeydew from the Goat Sallow leaves and from wounds in the bark and take salts from puddles on the ground. The second largest butterfly found in the UK, the Purple Emperor male has a wing span of 7.5cm and the larger female a span of 8.4cm. The sheen on the upper side of the male’s wing is a vivid purple, the females being a sooty black; both have splashes of white. The underside of both sexes is an orange, brown and white pattern with a large ‘eye’ on the forewing. The eye is thought to replicate a predator, so providing some protection from attacks by small birds. In July and August the male perches high in a tree waiting for a female to pass. They then glide together and, if the female is receptive, they mate in the top of a tree and the female flies on while the male waits for the next female. The adult female will travel some distance to find a Goat Sallow or Common Sallow and lays a dozen or so eggs on the leaves, normally in the shade. The eggs hatch after ten days or so and the caterpillars will feed until their second larval change in November. They then form a silk home on the bark and remain there until spring when they emerge and feed, again as a caterpillar, until May/June when they form a chrysalis under the surface of a leaf, finally emerging as adults in July. Purple Emperors are restricted to southern England, the Midlands and East Anglia and, along with all British butterflies, have declined over recent decades. However, the population now appears to be increasing and expanding in 7
Page 1 and 2: ISSUE 151 August - September 2023 I
Page 3 and 4: Church Services for Bale and Stiffk
Page 5: At the time of writing, Holt Medica
Page 9 and 10: BALE 100 CLUB Join Bale 100 Club an
Page 11 and 12: labours. Some concern was expressed
Page 13 and 14: Jude Robson £5 Beverley Lawrence
Page 15 and 16: oomy and has sides to it, we can be
Page 17 and 18: out of operation for over a year. I
Page 19 and 20: MORSTON REGATTA PARTY The Morston R
Page 21 and 22: in the loft, but then in June 2022,
Page 23 and 24: NORFOLK CHURCHES TRUST BIKE RIDE Th
Page 25 and 26: a good indicator of clean water, as
Page 27 and 28: Wednesday 23 rd August from 5pm unt

Local Lynx No.151 August/September 2023

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