SNL Sept 23 for web

Coffee Morning for East Anglian
Air Ambulance
Coffee & Cake Experience in the Garden
Join Sharon and Gordon in their garden at 100 London
Street, Swaffham for a morning of refreshments
in aid of East Anglian Air Ambulance on Friday 8th
September from 10am - 1pm.
Entry is £5 per person, which includes ether a sausage
roll or shortbread, a slice of homemade cake and a
tea, coffee or cold drink.
For more information call 01760 725654. We look
forward to seeing you.
watch repairs
Swaffham
Indoor Market
Now back at Swaffham Assembly Rooms
managed by
crafts
plants
refreshments
free parking
Open every Friday * from 9am - 2pm at Swaffham Assembly Rooms
*check the ‘what’s on’ page of our website for details of roll-over Saturday markets
www.swaffhamcommunityhub.co.uk
local food
bric a brac
10
Swaffham History Group
Swaffham History Group, which normally meets on
the second Monday of the month, now has a new
Chairperson, Monika Rieger-Ridd. Monika, a long
standing member of the group, succeeds Barry Ellis.
Barry continues to look after the Group’s archives. In
addition, Pete Coombes remains as Financial Controller,
and Gerry Brown continues as the Group Secretary.
The Group usually meets at 2pm in the museum learning
room. Anyone can join and there is no subscription. Our
chief interest is the history of Swaffham and surrounding
district; some of us undertake research of the rich history
of Swaffham, its buildings and people, while others
come along just to hear about it. We also have invited
speakers to present interesting, locally related, historical
topics, and have outings to places of historic interest
in the region. If that sounds like something that would
interest you, please feel free to drop in for a ‘taster’.
Many of you will be aware of the current Historic Action
Zone initiative that started in 2022 with the Carter 22
theme, and is continuing this year with the theme of
‘Under the Eye of the Buttercross’. As part of the latter,
the History Group were commissioned by the Swaffham
Cultural Consortium to undertake detailed research of
the Town’s historic Market Place, taking in the three sides
of Market Place plus the Shambles. This will include the
history of the various premises, their uses and different
owners, not forgetting some of the characters and
families who played a role in the businesses. On 12th
June, the History Group held an event in the Assembly
Rooms called ‘Mapping the Market Place’, to which
members of the public were invited to come along and
help us fill in some of the gaps in our understanding
of what shops and businesses stood where and who
some of the memorable characters were. It was quite a
success, with not only current local residents dropping
in, but also people who had grown up in Swaffham and
the surrounding district and then moved away; we had
a visit from someone from Hertfordshire who recounted
her childhood in Swaffham.
Our research is now concluded, and Barry Ellis has done
a phenomenal job in pulling everything together. Part of
the commission was to produce an illustrated written
account. After some discussion in the Group, it was
agreed that we will produce a series of booklets, block
by block, of Market Place. How many will depend on the
final editing of the material, but the aim is to have these in
the museum shop in early spring next year. The booklets
will include ‘then and now’ photos, with old and new
maps, as well as historic details, timelines and accounts,
and stories related by those who we interviewed. It is
also the aim to have an interactive presentation on the
Swaffham Cultural Consortium’s website using some of
the material. Details will be available on the SCC website
https://www.swaffhamculture.org/