On this week in Crimplesham, Downham Market, Gaywood, Hunstanton, King’s Lynn and Titchwell: August 4-10, 1990
In our regular On This Week feature we look back at what was making the news on August 4-10, 1990…
Norfolk Fire Service came close to being overwhelmed by the number of calls received during heatwave conditions over three days, it has been revealed. A total of 175 calls flooded into fire service headquarters during one day – at one point reaching a call a minute – and the total for the three days was 203. The situation became so critical that the neighbouring counties of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire were put on standby to send appliances into Norfolk. A fire spokesman said that the number of field and hedgerow fires was “quite alarming”, adding that a considerable acreage had been lost to burning over the past few weeks.
Top local honours in the search for Norfolk’s best-kept towns and villages have gone to Hunstanton, Crimplesham and Titchwell. Hunstanton claimed the best kept town title, after being runner-up in 1989, and judges said the resort was a clear and worthy winner. Crimplesham won the small village category for the second successive year and Titchwell topped the tidiest churchyard category, also for the second time.
Concern that ground-launched Cruise missiles that have left Greenham Common may be replaced by a new generation of air-launched Cruise missiles has been expressed by Fakenham and District for Nuclear Disarmament member John Coombs. He wrote to NW Norfolk MP, Henry Bellingham and North Norfolk MP, Ralph Howell, expressing horror that the new missiles would be on planes based in Britain, especially if they were deployed at the US stand-by base at Sculthorpe or RAF Marham.
Multi-thousand pound reconstruction work on the Gaywood Clock war memorial is almost over. But it could still be some time before the clock is operational again. The clock tower had to be moved from the Lynn Road, Gayton Road junction because of Gaywood’s £670,000 road realignment scheme and it is now based on the north side of Lynn Road. The clock mechanism is being overhauled by a Derby-based company and the total cost of moving the tower and the clock work is put at £15,000.
An exhausted stowaway discovered out in the North Sea has brought a happy ending to a feathered tale of loss and heartache. Lynn chiropodist Hazel Ellis had appealed for help through the Lynn News after her pet budgie “Aussie” went missing from her Gaywood home. She was contacted by a local fisherman who said a budgie answering Aussie’s description had taken shelter on his boat three miles out to sea. In fact, the budgie was not Aussie, but Hazel decided that because it was so distressed and exhausted that she would take the bird home and adopt him.
Jetting out to Canada later this month is talented West Norfolk sportsman Mark Pearce, who is hoping to make a name for himself in American Football. He has gained a four-year scholarship at the Breton University in Sidney, Nova Scotia. Pearce (23) played for Lynn Patriots for two seasons before moving on to Norwich Devils and was named as “player of the year” as the Devils won the British National Gridiron title. Canadian coaches believe that with his 6ft 7ins and 17-stone plus frame he can develop into a top player.
Shopkeepers have spoken of “regret” following news that plans for a shopping mall in Lynn have been shelved indefinitely. The £34 million indoor centre was to have been built at Baxter’s Court, to the rear of the Debenhams store. But high interest rates and a depressed property market have forced developers Amec Properties, Burton Property Trust and Arcadia to call off plans to start work next year. Lynn Chamber of Trade president, Mr Bernard Barlow, said he hoped another scheme could be drawn up to revitalise that end of the High Street, which “is in the doldrums”.
Downham is the latest town to boast a Barnardo’s shop. The new charity business was opened in a former shoe shop in the Market Place by the town mayor and mayoress, Roy and Lillie Baker. The shop’s salaried manager, Maureen Harness, will run the shop with 15 volunteers, and one of the team will be Mrs Lillie Baker.
Wide boy EastEnders star Steve McFadden, who plays Phil Mitchell in the hit soap, was on hand to mark the completion of work in Lynn’s Crown and Mitre pub. McFadden has relatives in the Lynn area and would often drink in the pub, said landlord Les Hemming, who was also marking exactly one year since he first moved into the premises.
