QUICK TOUR QUICK TOUR NORDELPH COMMUNITY WEBSITE: July 2010
So that's it, then! The last edition of the website featured the Google Street View image of Holy Trinity Church; the view above is all that's left. Our position has been made fairly clear over the years that this saga has been dragging on -- we think that the Diocese of Ely has lost its sense of community and cannot see beyond commercial gain. Sadly, this was brought home to us when the latest development plans for the site were tabled: the proposed allotments that figured as a 'reward' for the village in the previous, rejected, proposal have disappeared!
So the site above (whose frontage measures almost the same as the first four terraced dwellings along High Street is bidding to become no fewer than six terraced houses. That's another dozen cars decanted onto High Street.
We documented the demolition of the church over the month it took to destroy it
and all of those photos, submitted by many sad villagers, are collected on this website.
Your privacy
There was 'an incident' in Nordelph at the end of June -- a shooting. This website experienced a phenomenal increase in traffic, with over a month's average visitor numbers viewing the site on a single day. This was all the more unusual because the site didn't carry any report of the affair and isn't going to now. There have been similar 'omissions' from the site's coverage in the past, and there will be more in the future. This is not because we want to ignore the dark things in Nordelph, but because on principle we're here to document the village, not the behaviour of the people who live here. We take your privacy seriously.
Interestingly, the bulk of the traceable traffic originated with journalists -- including the BBC and The Times -- using the 21st century equivalent of pounding the pavements. Despite this, when BBC Look East covered the story the same evening the report wasn't shown in the west of the region -- in particular not in Nordelph!
Raft race 2010
Remember Sunday August 16th last year -- the weather was stunning, the Village Hall had just been gifted to the community and we proved that Nordelph could party with the best. And there's a chance to do it all again in 2010.
This year's Raft Race and Fun Day will be held on Sunday August 22nd. You'll be seeing the poster around more and more, and if you'd like to display one yourself (not necessarily in the village) just click on the reduced size copy alongside to download a full A4 size copy.
As far as the raft race is concerned, there's to be no advance registration this year -- all you have to do is to turn up with a raft, a crew and your entry fee at 1245 on the day. But you'll save some time (and avoid disappointment) if you download the rules and entry form in advance.
Fancy dress is a feature again this year (what is it with Nordelph villagers? Even the New Year Party was fancy dress!). And this year there's a fancy dress parade (rafters and spectators) before the costumes get wet and covered with flour -- did we mention the flour bombing?
Fire safety
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We've been asked by the Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service to help them in their programme of advising the general public on fire safety issues; naturally we're delighted! The first of what may well become a regular series of postings on the Nordelph website is pictured alongside. As befits the weather we're having, this first issue focuses on the fire dangers of Summer. |
Also in this update ...
We've had quite a bit of correspondence concerning a couple of pages we posted last month. Our appeal for a date for the photo of the tricycling Venneys produced a response from their great granddaughter; you can see what she said by following the link above. We also asked for help in putting names to faces in our photo of Nordelph ladies at the Village Hall. See who we've managed to identify!
The Trade Directory hasn't been updated for a while -- just to remind you, we will on request advertise any business or service that might be of use to the residents of Nordelph. We've just added a new entry that will be of some use if you're looking for a builder or roofer.
And finally ...
We tried to end our last update -- posted as the church demolition started -- on a positive note by featuring a couple of photos of new life in the village: nesting swans and a clutch of duck eggs. There's mixed news on those two fronts. The swans are currently trailing no less than eight cygnets along Well Creek, but the duck eggs vanished before they had a chance to hatch. Probably it's safer to be a grumpy old curmudgeon -- in the spirit of which we post the following photograph, without any comment, of a recently seen visitor to High Street.
