In our weekly On This Week column, we take a look back 30 years…
In an evening of pomp and ceremony, tinged with humour and sadness, Bryan Howling took his place as West Norfolk’s new Mayor. The committed environmentalist, from Terrington St Clement, said he intended to encourage concern for the environment during his term of office. He will be helped by his wife June, the new Mayoress, and the new Deputy Mayor and Mayoress will be John Gooderson and Dee Howling. News of the death of British Labour party leader John Smith earlier in the day was marked with prayers and sadness from councillors on all sides of the political spectrum.
Fun and laughter filled the air at Park Farm in Snettisham for some special birthday celebrations. The farm was swamped by 74 under-fives and 75 adults who were invited along to mark Lynn and District Home-Start’s tenth birthday and the national charity’s 21st. This year is also the International Year of the Family, which gave the Home-Start members another reason for smiling.
Gayton race ace Martin Brundle was magnificent in the Monaco Grand Prix, with his brilliant second place at the tortuous Monte Carlo circuit, promising that it is surely only a matter of time before victory comes his way. Only Michael Schumacher’s Benetton could keep ahead of Brundle in his McLaren on the narrow twisting track. He was disappointed to fall back to eighth on the grid after transmission problems slowed his times for his qualifying laps. But that may have been a blessing in disguise as team-mate Mika Hakkinan who was second on the grid had a first-corner clash with Damon Hill which put them both out of the race.
The 13th Century Bircham Newton church, one of the oldest and smallest in Norfolk, is to reopen shortly for worship. The church was known to be so loved by Queen Mary that, after the war, she paid for the re-roofing and restoration work herself and visited it in 1949 to see the completed work. For the past two years, the church tower has been undergoing vital repairs during which time no services were held, although the building remained open to the public.
Offers of about £250,000 are expected for Lynn’s old county court building. The London Road landmark has been put on the market for sale by formal tender by the Department of the Environment. Keen interest is being shown in the 1861 building, distinctive for its Italian palazzo-style look, which was vacated when the courthouse was transferred to Chequer House in King Street in September 2005. It is thought most of the interest from would-be buyers would come from organisations who would convert the premises into offices.
Working class hero Roger Ward, often dubbed the most powerful man in West Norfolk, has retired from his role as district secretary of Britain’s mighty Transport and General Workers. Now aged 48, Mr Ward first joined the T&G in a Wisbech timber yard while working alongside dockers; he rose through union ranks as a shop steward, senior shop steward and branch chairman. In 1976 he became one of a new wave of young district secretaries responsible for a wide area covering Lynn, Wells, Watton, Wisbech, Swaffham and Downham.
Children’s lives are being made safer and healthier by the laying of a new footpath and cycleway across Harding’s Pits at South Lynn. Around 300 yards of path has been laid from Wisbech Road towards the sluice over the River Nar, in the first of three stages. Another path, to link with it, will start from Whitefriars Primary School in the Friars. It means that pupils and their parents can walk or cycle to the school from South Lynn without having to negotiate the Southgates roundabout and the narrows Southgate Street.
Television weatherman Jim Bacon made a return trip to his birthplace of Feltwell to unveil its new village sign. The aluminium sign symbolises a full history of the village including the church of St Nicholas and the oak tree which was in the village until 1964 and was reputedly 1,300 years old; it became diseased and had to be taken down. Also featured is Lady Alveva, who was married to the Earl of Mercia in Norman times and died in 1085. She is shown with her hunting dogs. Sheep are on the sign as well because Feltwell used to be a large sheep-breeding area.
Ram-raiders wearing balaclava helmets used a four-wheel drive vehicle to smash through the showroom window of Hill and Osborne in Burnham Market and then drove off with equipment worth about £10,000. A shocked passer-by alerted police as two men looted the agricultural machinery firm just before 10pm and loaded mowers, strimmers and chainsaws into the pick-up.