Saturday 30 August 2014

It's all happening in Old Buckenham

Diary dates for September

Monday 1    Monday Mardle, Church Rooms, 2.15pm to 4.15pm

Tuesday 2    Coffee and chat, Church Rooms, 10.30am to 12 noon

Wednesday 3    Women's Fellowship, Methodist Chapel, 2.30pm

Saturday 6    Village Cinema, Inside Llewyn Davis, Village Hall, 7.30pm

Sunday 7    Wargames Club, Village Hall, 2.30pm to 6pm

Wednesday 10   Luncheon Club Coffee Morning, Village Hall, 10.15am

Thursday 11    Breckland Flower Club, Village Hall, 2pm

Thursday 11    Social and Wine Circle, Church Rooms, 7.45pm

Sunday 14    Harvest Festival, Methodist Chapel, 10.45am

Sunday 14    Askew Agricultural Museum open, 2pm to 5pm

Sunday 14    Old Buckenham Windmill open, 2pm to 5pm

Sunday 14    Village Produce Show, Village Hall, 2.30pm

Monday 15    Monday Mardle, Church Rooms, 2.15pm to 4.15pm

Monday 15    Service at Methodist Chapel, 7.15pm

Wednesday 17    Songs of Praise, Methodist Chapel, 7.30pm

Sunday 21    Garage Sales throughout village starting at 10am

Sunday 21    Dog Show, outside Ox and Plough, entries open 12 noon

Wednesday 24    Luncheon Club outing

Thursday 25    Women's Institute, Village Hall, 7.30pm

Friday 26    OB Players Murder Mystery evening, Village Hall, 7.30pm

Saturday 27    Balloon Festival at Airfield

Saturday 27    Weekend garage sale, Karmel, 8am to 4pm

Saturday 27    OB Players Murder Mystery evening, Village Hall, 7.30pm

Sunday 28    Balloon Festival at Airfield

Sunday 28    Weekend garage sale, Karmel, 8am to 4pm

Thursday 28 August 2014

Old Buckenham village newsletter for September

Newsletter out and about


Copies of the September issue have now been put around at all the usual places in the village. Many villagers are now have copies delivered along with the Six Villages Newsletter which should also be available at the end of this week.

Tuesday 26 August 2014

Latest at Old Buckenham Village Cinema

Old Buckenham Village Cinema
will be showing
Inside Llewyn Davis on Saturday 6 September starting at 7.30pm.
This is a special evening in that the Hall will  be using their own audio visual equipment for the first time. Also there will be a cheque from Breckland District Council being presented at the begining of the evening. The cheque is a £2400 contribution to the cost of the new equipment.

The film appears to be a well hidden gem, a comedy/drama written and directed by the Coen brothers (No Country for Old Men).  It has had two Oscar nominations and two Golden Globes. There have been good on line reviews and you can see the trailer atwww.youtube.com/watch?v=LFphYRyH7wc
Advance tickets are £4, on the door they will cost you £6. Just call 01953 860866 or email  boxofficeobvh@gmail.com to book your tickets. As usual there will be a bar and refreshments.

Saturday 23 August 2014

Two Wheel Tuesdays in Old Buckenham

Weekly gatherings of enthusiasts
Ben Delvin of the Ox & Plough in Old Buckenham invites all two wheelers to gather outside his pub on Tuesday evenings. The event has proved very popular with bikers from far and near arriving to show off their machines and to talk with other enthusiasts. There are even a few people who cycle to the pub too.
On the light summer evenings bikes stretch out across Old Buckenham Green and the mobile caterer is kept busy.





It is understood that this coming Tuesday 21 August the pub's neighbour, Rosemary West, has been persuaded to have a ride on the back of one of the machines. She is taking this opportunity to raise money for the local Star Throwers charity so if you want to add your name to the sponsorship list you'll need to pop along on Tuesday evening around 6pm. You can probably get more details by emailing  info@theoxandplough.com

Friday 22 August 2014

Quiz coming to Old Buckenham

It will be nice with rice

Monday 18 August 2014

Old Buckenham's response to school move

Supporting documents
The following text relates to the post yesterday on the Special Parish Council held to decide the Parish Council's position on the proposed move of Chapel Road School to Old Buckenham.
Appendix 1. Comments on planning application.
While Old Buckenham Parish Council approved application y/3/2014/3006, Chapel Road School Relocation, a number of significant areas of concern, errors and omissions were found, see below. This resulted in the listing of a number of conditions that we request the applicants meet.
The proposed development is outside the village boundary; the justification given for this within the Planning Statement is that it is a sustainable development, and that no other sites were available.
With respect to the former, it cannot be described as sustainable as both staff and pupils will be entirely dependent on cars and minibuses as there is little to no public transport in the area. Whilst it is accepted that public transport is not a realistic option for the majority of the pupils, the vast majority of vehicle movements (according to the Transport Statement) will be generated by staff, who have no reason not to use public transport, if it were available.
In relation to the availability of other sites, a list is provided within the Appendices of the Planning Statement, which lists a number of other sites that were considered. A number of these have been discounted solely for the reason that they are outside the settlement boundary, with little or no public transport, and therefore unsustainable. This is exactly the same case for the current location, a point acknowledged in the applicant’s analysis of the current site. It is therefore unclear why this particular site was considered the most suitable.
In summary, the proposed development is located in open countryside, where there is a general presumption against development. Whilst the NPPF introduces a presumption in favour of sustainable development, this development cannot be considered sustainable, primarily due to its reliance on the private vehicle, and is therefore contrary to both the Adopted Development Plan and the NPPF.
One of the primary reasons given for choosing this location for the school the building at this location is the potential for integration with mainstream schools. However, it is unclear the extent to which such integration currently takes place, or is intended to in the future, as no information appears to be provided within the application supporting information.
The Design and Access statement states that public access to the MUGA and other facilities would be through the village hall boundary. The Village Hall has made it clear that this is not an option due to an already oversubscribed car park.
The Transport Statement describes that there is unlikely to be an increase in traffic travelling through Old Buckenham. With up to 80 teachers arriving, a total of 38 minibus movements in and out, and 16 private car movements in and out (134 movements in total at each end of the day) and around 50% going through the village, there will be a significant traffic increase especially considering these movements will take place during peak times.
The Transport Statement describes no safety measures where the access road joins the B1077 at a point where cars could be travelling at 60mph. The document describes an 85th percentile speed of 35mph using the moving observer method, Sample sizes have not been disclosed. Independent measurement reveals a 42mph 85th percentile speed, determined by timing a vehicle over a known distance with a sample size of 50. An 85th percentile speed of 42mph requires a 120m vision splay; the plans show a splay of only 90m on the south side.
Insufficient parking spaces have been provided for staff when pupil numbers reach target. A target of 11% reduction in single occupancy journeys has been set, with no plans on how this will be achieved or what sanctions will be applied if target is not achieved; it therefore a meaningless aim.
The design of the building is poor and is not in keeping with the neighbourhood; the building is extremely large in footprint, and whilst it is accepted that the building form is, in part, dictated by a need to meet certain operational requirements, the architectural treatment makes no attempt to break up the visual mass. The building is poorly articulated, bulky and unattractive. It pays no respect to local architecture, and does nothing to enhance local distinctiveness. It is therefore contrary to both the Adopted Development Plan and the NPPF.
The Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) is inaccurate and misleading. It makes no attempt to summarise the many and varied issues raised by local residents at the consultation event of 17 and 18 June. There was a significant turn-out from villagers at this event, which is not conveyed within the SCI. The key issues debated following NCC’s presentation at this event related primarily to highway safety and traffic.
Old Buckenham does not have public street lights and most importantly does not want them. This development has significant external lighting and if not properly controlled, there is potential for both light and noise pollution.
It would appear that utilities have not been consulted based on the absence of any consultation to the water authority, who also denied knowledge of the development when telephoned, and the electricity companies. The new school will significantly increase the population during the day and we already have areas of the village with low water pressure.
The room adjacencies diagram in the design and access statement refer to expansion of the current building. No details of this proposed expansion are given in the application

Appendix 2
The support of Old Buckenham Parish Council is subject to the following conditions.
Moving the 30 mph limit to include the new entrance to the B1077.
New entrance to be a mini roundabout.
A 20mph temporary speed limit at school start and end times (to include the B1077 to the Memorial, Hargham Road and Abbey Road).
Crossing refuges at the Hargham Road junction and the Memorial junction to be installed
Transport levels have been detailed in the transport statement, therefore movements in and out of the school must be capped at these levels.
The restriction on the new relief road being for the new school only to be lifted as access to the recreation area and to the primary school could relieve traffic and parking pressure significantly.
External lighting is to be switched off by 10pm at the latest. Also the pitch and MUGA be relocated to the paddock area to reduce noise and light pollution.
The barrier position is too close to the B1077. Any delays caused by the barrier will very quickly back traffic to the main road, therefore barriers must be moved to the car park entrance.
The transport statement states that building traffic will not pass through the village. All contractors and suppliers are to commit to taking disciplinary action against drivers who ignore this requirement.

Sunday 17 August 2014

Old Buckenham Parish Council special meeting

Proposed move of Chapel Road School
These notes are written by the blog editor from the draft minutes of a Special Meeting of Old Buckenham Parish Council held on Thursday 14 August at Old Buckenham Village Hall.
Those present were Steve Milner (chairman), John Frost, Adrian Joel, Derek Smalley, Paul Boggia, Tom Johnson and the parish clerk James Watling (parish clerk). Apologies had been received from Carol Marshall, Sarah Dye, Tim Ing, Jonathan Kemp and Akis Chrisovelides.
There were also 12 members of the public present.
The only matter on the agenda was the proposed move of Chapel Road School to a site in Old Buckenham adjacent to the Village Hall. Steve Milner said the planning application for the new school had now been received by the Parish Council. There had been two opportunities for the public to view all the documents. This special meeting was to decide if the Parish Council wished to support the application or to vote against it. If they voted to support the application, they would need to decide what conditions or restrictions should be forwarded to Norfolk County Council concerning the application. One resident informed the meeting that local notices on the application had not been put up by NCC. The Clerk replied that he had spoken to Neil Campbell of NCC on the matter and he was assured that they would be displayed. Steve Milner then read out eleven points of concern regarding the planning application (see appendix 1) before asking for the councillors views on the points raised. Derek Smalley, Adrian Joel, Paul Boggia and Tom Johnson replied on various matters that they had been asked to look into. Steve Milner then read out a list of conditions (appendix 2) that he said should be put forward by the Parish Council if they voted to support the application and asked members of the public for their views on the application. Residents gave criticism of previous meetings with Norfolk County Council on the application. They also raised the question of emergency exit and access to the school which was not in the application. A small majority of residents were in favour of the application not being approved. Derek Smalley then proposed that the Parish Council object to the application on the basis of the points discussed in appendix 1. This was seconded by Tom Johnson and the vote was 3 for and 3 against the proposal. The Chairman then used his casting vote to vote against the proposal. Paul Boggia then proposed that the Parish Council support the application subject to the conditions discussed in appendix 2 and agreed in the meeting. This was seconded by Adrian Joel with 3 councillors for, 2 against and one abstention, therefore the proposal was carried.

Details of appendix 1 and appendix 2 will be given in a further post on this blog tomorrow.

Saturday 16 August 2014

Tower repairs in Old Buckenham

Rebuilding work on All Saints Church tower
The building specialists have come all the way from Barrow, set up their own builders' hut in the churchyard and the protective netting is all around the scaffolding.
But on a sunny day it is still very photogenic.



Thursday 14 August 2014

Housing progress in Old Buckenham

Cotman housing reaches last stages
About a year ago the blog editor started taking photographs of the housing site being developed by the Cotman Housing Association. He always stood at the same place on the edge of Prince Harry's Wood and tried to take the same view to show what progress was taking place.
There has been a lot of banging going on over the last couple of days and the view now consists of tall wooden fencing with some roofing appearing over the top.
So future photos will have to be taken around the front of the site...

October 2013

August 2014

August 2014
 
August 2014

Tuesday 12 August 2014

Details of Old Buckenham produce show

Produce Show schedule 2014
This schedule is distributed around the village by putting a copy in the village newsletter. Many people don't remember to keep it so here are copies of the two pages of the document.
Just click on the images to enlarge them to a more readable size.

Sunday 10 August 2014

Looking at an Old Buckenham garden

College Farm opened for charity today

You work on your garden for ages, knowing that visitors will be looking around and you will be raising funds for St John Ambulance. It is the first time you have done it and everything is ready. Then the weather breaks and sudden downpours and thunder are forecast for opening day. It rains, hard at times all morning  and is not much better when opening time comes at 2pm.
But people still come and cars start to line up in the field. Some locals just walk down the road to see how a garden has progressed from a farmer's field over the last ten years. The sun comes out for a while, then it gets cloudy and thunder starts again which means the teas and cakes do well as people shelter from the rain. Before the closing time at 5pm the sun is out again and it has all seemed worthwhile.






Friday 8 August 2014

Latest from Old Buckenham WI

Local friends and the National Trust
Old Buckenham WI were pleased to welcome members from New Costessey Evening WI to their July meeting. This link between the two WIs was established about 30 years ago when members went on a WI holiday to Hampshire together. Since then they have met on a biennial basis and it is always good to meet up and exchange ideas.
After supper and a glass of wine, the speaker for the evening was Hazel Gillingham who talked about the life of Octavia Hill, who was born in Wisbech in 1838, the eighth daughter of a prosperous corn merchant and former banker. Although known as a co-founder of the National Trust, Octavia Hill was an energetic campaigner who did much to improve the lot of impoverished city dwellers, especially in London. She was a pioneer of social housing who believed that there were better and more humane ways of arranging accommodation for the poor than through the state. Aided by her friend, John Ruskin, she bought houses and let them to the urban depressed. Octavia Hill provided an early model of social work, did much to preserve urban open spaces and was the first to use the term “green belt”.
September is always a busy month for the village WI – there is a group meeting (when they meet with other WIs in the area) and then there is the very popular Village Produce Show on Sunday 14 September. A copy of the schedule was sent out with the June edition of the village newsletter so search yours out and see if you can enter. They would love to see you (and what you have produced) there at the show in the Village Hall.

Tuesday 5 August 2014

The Old Buckenham pagoda

Scaffolding can be pretty
Proving a safe platform for the workers to use when repairing the octagonal tower of All Saints Church in Old Buckenham has been a major job. But the skillful scaffolders have provided a structure with a beauty of its own.
Seen in nice weather across the churchyard it provides a different but attractive picture.


 
It also looks different when floodlit during the night. Last night, as part of the remembrance of the start of the First World War, the floodlighting was switched off between 10pm and 11pm leaving just a single light to shine out over the village. Also at 10pm a single bell tolled out and was rung one hundred times.
 

 

Sunday 3 August 2014

Film festival for Old Buckenham?

Cinema in September and November
The Village Hall will be shortly taking ownership of their own cinema equipment and the first film to be shown will be ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ on Saturday 6 September. This is a highly-rated comedy drama by the renowned Coen Brothers.
The story follows a week in the life of a young folk singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. Llewyn Davis is at a crossroads. Guitar in tow, huddled against the unforgiving New York winter, he is struggling to make it as a musician against seemingly insurmountable obstacles - some of them of his own making. Living at the mercy of both friends and strangers, Llewyn's misadventures take him from the basket houses of the village to an empty Chicago club - on an odyssey to audition for music mogul Bud Grossman - and back again.
You can watch a trailer at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFphYRyH7wc

 For future films, the Village Hall have a wonderful opportunity but it will need a great deal of time investment and so it is necessary to gauge the level of support there is for such an event.
The proposal is that the village have a mini film festival and show some fantastic films from America, Ireland and the continent (subtitled). The aim would be to show three films, one each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, over a weekend sometime in November. The three films would be (subject to availability):
‘Mood Indigo’ - a French film starring Audrey Tatou.
The surreal and poetic tale of Colin, an idealistic and inventive young man, and Chloé, a young woman who seems like the physical embodiment of the eponymous Duke Ellington tune. Their idyllic marriage is turned on its head when Chloé falls sick with a water lily growing in her lung. To pay for her medical bills in this fantasy version of Paris, Colin must go out to work in a series of increasingly absurd jobs, while around them, their apartment disintegrates and their friends go to pieces.
trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38ugyccL5zU
‘Calvery’ - an Irish film starring Brendan Gleeson and Chris O'Dowd.
Father James is a good priest who is faced with sinister and troubling circumstances brought about by a mysterious member of his parish. Although he continues to comfort his own fragile daughter and reach out to help members of his church with their various scurrilous moral, and often comic, problems, he feels sinister and troubling forces closing in and begins to wonder if he will have the courage to face his own personal Calvary.
Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGM5rq_vX4U
‘Chef’ - a US film about a frustrated chef who, after some stormy scenes with restaurateurs, sets up his own mobile restaurant. Chef Carl Casper suddenly quits his job at a prominent Los Angeles restaurant after refusing to compromise his creative integrity for its controlling owner. Finding himself in Miami, he teams up with his ex-wife, his friend and his son to launch a food truck. Taking to the road, Chef Carl goes back to his roots to reignite his passion for the kitchen and zest for life and love.
Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgFws3AoIUY
Because these films are subsidised by the British Film Institute, it would be possible to offer advanced tickets at £3 per film or £6 for all three.

So please let the organisers know as soon as possible if a mini film festival is an event that you would support. Contact Steve and Lynn on 01953 860866 or by emailing boxofficeobvh@gmail.com


Friday 1 August 2014

Quiet August in Old Buckenham?

Diary dates for August

Tuesday 5    Coffee and chat, Church Rooms, 10.30am to 12 noon

Wednesday 6    Women's Fellowship, Methodist Chapel, 2.30pm

Sunday 10    Open garden at College Farm, 2pm to 5.30pm

Sunday 10    Askew Agricultural Museum open, 2pm to 5pm

Sunday 10    Old Buckenham Windmill open, 2pm to 5pm

Monday 11    Whist drive, Church Rooms, 2pm

Wednesday 13     Luncheon Club, Village Hall, 10am to 2pm

Thursday 14    Breckland Flower Club, Village Hall, 2pm

Thursday 14    Chapel Road School meeting, Village Hall, 7.30pm

Wednesday 20    Songs of Praise, Methodist Chapel, 7.30pm

Wednesday 27    Luncheon Club, Village Hall, 10am to 2pm

Thursday 28   Women's Institute, Village Hall, 7.30pm