Welcome to the Nordelph Community web site.
Welcome back after our Summer 'layover'. The website is now just one year old and clearly healthy: without any trouble, this month we have added content to all four sections! We generally make few changes to the 'Web Matters' section, but this month we've added an immodest page about what the site has achieved one year on.
The observant among you will have noted that the village sign has been removed (temporarily) for refurbishment -- something we have reflected in our heading!
While it hasn't exactly been a long hot summer, it has been an irritating one for a lot of villagers: the nuisance element of youths from other villages hanging around the staithe area hasn't diminished. The church, already in serious disrepair, has been further damaged, and has been broken into twice -- there is also evidence that it is being used as a sleeping place.
You were promised photographs of the 2005 raft race. However, although there were two rafts champing at the bit, the lack of any crews, the change from the traditional date of the Bank Holiday weekend, and the earlier-than-normal starting time meant that those assembled shrugged their shoulders, called the whole thing off and went for an excellent lunch hosted by Linda in the Chequers!
In early August, we had visitors from Downham Market's twin town of Civray: click to read about the Civray Barbecue.
And to remind yourself of the way in which twinning with the French town has brought at least one resident to Nordelph, try Coming via Civray in our Why live here? section.
The terrorist bombs in London during July will have affected many of us -- either directly or through the experiences of, and fears for, friends and family. At least one resident had the unnerving experience of knowing that, had his journey been made just 24 hours later, he would have been between Kings Cross and Russell Square at the crucial moment.
But there were also other near escapes. Later this Summer, an Air France passenger jet slid off the runway at Toronto airport while landing in a storm. A one-time Nordelph resident, Ronald Willson our 'St Malo correspondent', was due on that flight, but not that day.
You can read about his escape, and how lucky Yoda the dog feels about it!
In fact, Ronald Willson has provided us with a lot of our material this month.
Back in June, after acknowledging his on-going supply of Nordelph-related material, we ventured to suggest that he might like to send us a photograph.
The one alongside will let those who remember him know what he looks like today.
In the Nordelph Past section, you can take a look at Ron and his sister in the days when they lived hereabouts!
But Ronald also contributed, unwittingly, to another section of the website that has new material this month. We've appointed our first 'Fruit and Vegetable Correspondent'. We plan to feature a 'vegetable of the month' in each update, accessed via our Fen Food section. This used to contain simply recipes that you'd sent in, but now there's an additional drop-down box from which you can read what you need to know about our featured vegetable. We kick off with spinach and chard, but thanks to Ronald's enquiries, there's also an unexpected piece about samphire!
We've added a couple of new entries in our index to this section. Hitherto, this 'home page' has vanished whenever the site is updated. Now, clicking on Back Numbers will take you to a page from which you can retrieve the pages (together with fully functional links) from every update after the first. And the inclusion this month of a couple of items (the Civray visitors and the Toronto accident) that don't really fall satisfactorily into any of the existing categories have prompted us to add an Events Past entry. It has that title to dissuade visitors from thinking it will tell them what's about to happen in Nordelph, and is (just) slightly more welcoming than 'Miscellaneous'!
The Photo Competition that we've been reporting has selected its winner: you can examine it (and make your own mind up) at www.fenvisualarts.org.uk. We'll remove the section from the index on our next update.
We also thought it about time that we added Rod Burman's carpentry to our Trade Directory. The furniture on display outside the Chequers was beginning to make us feel that the website wasn't looking at what was there for the seeing!
Des Andrew has prepared a report on Road Safety in the village. It uses powerful photographs to make its point -- as in this pair showing what might only too easily confront a speeding motorist travelling through the village from Outwell towards Downham:
Until we get Broadband in Nordelph, the report is far too large to place on the website: you can request a copy by e-mailing Des directly on: DesAndrew@aol.com.
And there's more: the church services have been updated to cover September. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to provide a report of the July Parish Council meeting, but we do have the minutes of the May meeting. And in the 'Nordelph Future' section on how we use technology, there are some thoughts on the economics of printing your own digital photographs.