Swaffham Newsletter

Wissey u3a
Monthly Meetings:
Our next meeting will be on Thursday 1st February
when our guest speaker will be Pat Alker from Project
Dukem talking about their work in Ethiopia, which
is focused on
helping young
people, including
HIV/AIDS orphans.
Last time:
At our first meeting
of the New Year
on Thursday 4th
January 2024
our guest speaker Don Mobley gave an illustrated
talk about US Military Aviation in East Anglia. This
fascinating talk gave us a tremendous amount of detail
about the extent and range of the USA’s involvement
in our region over many years, which continues today,
particularly at Lakenheath. The presentation ended
with a dramatic video clip showing a pilot’s eye view
of flying a modern fighter plane. We now know what
it’s like flying upside down at high speed and low level.
Not for the faint-hearted!
Looking forward:
At our March meeting, in addition to our guest speaker,
our Art Group will be mounting an exhibition of their
recent work.
Interested?...
Please visit our website www.wisseyu3a.org and if
you are interested in attending one of our meetings
as a guest to ‘test the water’ ring David Moncaster on
01760 724755 or email d.moncaster@btinternet.com.
We meet on the 1st Thursday of each month in The
Pavilion at Holme Hale, with doors opening at 9.45am
for socialising and refreshments, and the meeting
starting promptly at 10.30 am. We finish by 12 noon.
Royal British Legion
Happy New Year Everyone!
Please note: there is no Legion meeting in February.
Next meeting will be 8pm on Tuesday 19th March at
the Con Club.
Swaffham Arts
Date for the diary: March 16th at 7.30pm at Swaffham
Assembly Rooms. Chaos Collective will perform a
concert of music to celebrate the achievements of
Swaffham Cultural Consortium's events and findings
of the past three years, devoted to appreciating the
qualities of our town.
We hope you will be able to come. More details later.
NarVOS
Indoor meeting at The Assembly
Rooms, 1 Market Place, Swaffham
PE37 7AB. Wednesday 28th February
2024 at 7.30pm Carlton Marshes From
Arable Desert to Wonderous Wetland Presented
by Matt Gooch
Matt’s career with Suffolk Wildlife Trust saw
him create and develop Carlton Marshes Nature
Reserve near Lowestoft under a successful Heritage
Fund application and he now leads the North East
Reserves team to ensure the reserves move forward
for wildlife and people in Suffolk. Matt has been in
post from before the Carlton Marshes Project began
and will take us through a whistle stop tour of its
destruction in 1968 to the wonderous wetland it is
today and what more could come.
With the Heritage Fund and investment of over £4
million in 1000 acres of wildness, the transformation
of Carlton Marshes into the southern gateway to
the Broads National Park is complete. The reserve
is also one of the best sites in East Anglia to see
grasshopper and other reedbed warblers. The
grazing marshes are also ideal for wintering wildfowl
and breeding waders with lapwing and redshank
displaying through the spring and large numbers of
wigeon, teal and snipe in winter.
Working from the ground up, Matt spent much of
his early years in the Suffolk Countryside and then
working on farms, he found a passion for wildlife and
people, leading to roles with East Suffolk Council,
Natural England, the Environment Agency and
Suffolk Wildlife Trust. As a real wildlife enthusiast
Matt is a birder and can normally be found in the
East Anglian countryside with binoculars and kids,
with his dog on a lead.
Please come along. Visitors welcome. Admission £4
on the night; free to NarVOS members. For more
information contact Paul Fuller on 07999 857209 or
go to www.narvos.org.uk.
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