KL Magazine April 2019

ISSN 2044–7965

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ISSUE 103 APRIL 2019 PRICELESS

magazine

WEST NORFOLK | NORTH NORFOLK | COASTAL

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welcome

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n the last act of Shakespeare's King John, Louis the Dauphin is looking forward to an early start in the morning. "The day shall not be up so soon as I," he says, "to try the fair adventure of tomorrow."

It may seem a rather literary way to open this month's magazine, but it couldn't be a more appropriate one - for this issue contains plenty of fair adventures to enjoy over the next few weeks. In addition to the King's Lynn Shakespeare Festival (which features two special guest appearances by Sir Ian McKellen), we're looking forward to celebrating the area's long agricultural heritage at the 43rd Stradsett Vintage Rally, and getting ready to remember the historic role King's Lynn played in the trade of medieval Europe with the return of the town's ever-popular Hanse

Festival. We've even travelled the entire width of the county to bring you a taste of the very last complete circus building in England – the Hippdrome Circus in Great Yarmouth.

We're also taking a sporting theme this month, but from two rather unusual angles. As well as taking a look behind the scenes of a typical race meeting at Fakenham Racecourse (although the incredible teamwork involved can hardly be described as 'typical') we're also talking to former Norwich City footballer Darren Eadie.

Described as the best left-winger since Arthur Scargill in the first edition of FourFourTwo magazine in 1994, Darren became a firm favourite with the crowd at Carrow Road. Injury forced him to take an early retirement from the sport aged 28, but he's got another goal in

COVER IMAGE

meet the team

sight now - working with Norfolk County Council to encourage men aged 40-75 to think more seriously about the state of their health.

And there's no better place to start getting a little fresh air and exercise than Sheringham Park. Although many people see it (quite rightly) as a beautiful natural wonder, it was in fact carefully designed and created by the last great English landscape designer of the 18th century.

We hope you enjoy this month's magazine - and wish all our readers and advertisers a very happy Easter!

Eric Secker EDITOR

KL magazine

Tulips in the fields of East Winch by Ian Ward

MANAGING DIRECTOR Laura Dunn

CONTENT MANAGER

Sarah Woonton

EDITOR

Eric Secker

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Amy Phillips Lisa Barrett

ADVERTISING Jessica Smith

DISTRIBUTION Pete Tonroe

PHOTOGRAPHY Ian Ward

CONTRIBUTORS Alison Gifford Michael Walker

contact

18 Tuesday Market Place King’s Lynn PE30 1JW 01553 601201 info@klmagazine.co.uk

KL magazine is published monthly by KL Publications Ltd. The magazine cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited submissions, manuscripts and photographs. While every care is taken, prices and details are subject to change and KL magazine takes no responsibility for omissions or errors. We reserve the right to publish and edit any letters. All rights reserved.

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DIARY DATES This month’s forthcoming events FULL STEAM AHEAD...

A preview of the Stradsett Vintage Rally KEEPING TIME IN DOWNHAM MARKET The story of the town’s iconic clock KING’S LYNN’S EUROPEAN PAST A look forward to this year’s Hanse Festival DARREN EADIE’S NEW GOAL The former footballer’s healthy campaign UNDER STARTER’S ORDERS...

A day at Fakenham Racecourse YOU AND YOUR PETS With London Road Veterinary Centre THE BUOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN Keeping the port of King’s Lynn safe THEN & NOW The ever-changing face of west Norfolk APRIL IN THE GARDEN Expert advice with Wendy Warner EXPLORING SHERINGHAM PARK...

A beautiful masterpiece of clever design

APRIL 2019

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FASHION The latest spring collections A STING IN THE TALE Leigh Goodsell’s Norfolk honey A TASTE OF THE COAST...

Inside Wells Crab House FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH The Heron at Stowbridge LYNN’S SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL Something special this way comes LYNN GRAMMAR SCHOOL A short history by Michael Walker HOME INTERIORS Design, innovation and creativity A PRICE ABOVE PEARLS...

The life of Alice Le Strange ROLL UP, ROLL UP, ROLL UP! The Hippodrome Circus A LIFELONG LOVE OF ART Lucy Loveheart’s enchanting work MICHAEL MIDDLETON There’s no fool like an old fool...

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Well worth the wait: the first-ever BMW X7

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Listers King’s Lynn gets ready to welcome the much-anticipated BMW X7, which proves that seeing really is believing...

t's been talked about and speculated on for almost four years, and we've seen a few production photographs and sketches, but the time has finally arrived to lift the covers off the first-ever BMW X7, a simply stunning seven-seat Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) that isn't just BMW's biggest SAV to date - it's probably Britain's as well.

Longer, wider and taller than a Range Rover, the BMW X7 has a huge road

presence, and manages to perfectly balance that with top-class design and a wealth of state-of-the-art features.

"This could well be the most exciting new car launch from any manufacturer in 2019," says Laurence Bennett, Head of Business at Listers King's Lynn. "The BMW X7 is full of sophisticated driver assistance systems which make it as safe to drive as it is enjoyable, and it demonstrates a clear commitment to luxury virtually everywhere you look."

Even the standard model includes Vernasca leather trim, four-zone climate control, 20-inch light-alloy wheels, and a panoramic glass roof comprised of three sections that can be opened individually or as one. All seven generously-sized seats fold and unfold electronically, and the expansive interior still manages to leave enough room for an enormous 326-litres of

boot space.

The advanced chassis technology and six-cylinder petrol/diesel engines offer everything you'd expect from a top-of-the-line SAV: excellent ride comfort, off-road prowess and the exceptional on-road handling that typifies the BMW experience.

"It won't be arriving for a few weeks yet, but people are already reserving their place at our official launch for the BMW X7," says Laurence. “It will give people a chance to see all the exciting ways the interior and exterior can be tailored to reflect your personal style.”

To attend the launch event at Listers King’s Lynn and arrange a test drive in the first-ever BMW X7, please call Listers on 01553 692000 – and discover why this is one car that’s been well worth waiting for.

FIND US: Hardwick Road, King's Lynn PE30 4NA TEL: 01553 692000 | WEB: listerskingslynnbmw.co.uk

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Diarydates LOCAL EVENTS IN APRIL

BURNHAM MARKET & HOUGHTON INTERNATIONAL HORSE TRIALS Barefoot Retreats Burnham Market International and Saracen Horse Feeds Houghton International Horse Trials offer a fantastic day out for all the family, with trade stands and children's entertainment running alongside world class competition. Daily hospitality packages and picnic parking are available at both events, with on-site camping a popular option on the grounds of Houghton Hall. Musketeer Event

Management's official charity for 2019 is Riding For The Disabled. Tickets: Prices start at £3 per child and £8 per adult. For more information and to book advance tickets, visit www.musketeer.co.uk.

WHEN & WHERE: Barefoot Retreats Burnham Market International at Sussex Farm - Friday 12th-Sunday 14th April; Saracen Horse Feeds Houghton International (in the grounds of Houghton Hall) 23rd- 26th May.

SANDRINGHAM EASTER EGG HUNT Follow a trail of clues around the Sandringham Country Park and win a chocolate egg! Tickets: £3 per person.

Proceeds go to East Anglian Air Ambulance. No need to book, just turn up!

Hosted by King’s Lynn Priory Rotary Club.

WHEN: Saturday 20th April, 10am-3pm WHERE: Near the Visitor Centre at Sandringham, King’s Lynn PE35 6EH

BESS THE COMMONER QUEEN FEATURING MICHELLE TODD

Celebrate the arrival of warmer weather, longer days, and plants springing into life at this family Spring Fair. There'll be a craft market, games, food and drink, and much more. Entry is free.

A story of survival and astonishing business success in the brutal world of Elizabethan politics, as witnessed at first hand by Bess of Hardwick. Born a farmer's daughter, Bess rose to become the richest woman in Elizabethan England, creating the Cavendish dynasty, building Chatsworth House and Hardwick Hall and becoming a “maker of queens.” This ambitious show, presented as a seamless mix of powerful live performance and luscious film, shot on location at Hardwick Hall, is a must see. Tickets: £15 / £7.50 under 18s (suitable for ages 12+) available from the King’s Lynn Corn Exchange Box Office on 01553 764864

WHEN: Saturday 27th April, 10am-4.30pm WHERE: North Wootton Village Hall

WHEN: Sunday 28th April, 7.30pm WHERE: St Nicholas’ Chapel, PE30 1NH

NORTH WOOTTON SPRING FAIR

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Full steam ahead for the Stradsett Vintage Rally With almost 1,000 separate exhibits, the 43rd Stradsett Vintage Rally next month promises to offer a fascinating and entertaining weekend for all the family – with a few surprises in store as well

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t the start of next month, one of the area's most popular events takes place when the Stradsett Vintage Rally returns to the glorious setting of Stradsett Hall, south of King's Lynn. Run by the East Anglia Group of the National Vintage Tractor and Engine Club, this will be their 43rd rally - but it's actually the event's 45th year.

"It started back in 1974 when some people combined their vintage tractors with a garden fete, and it's got bigger and better ever since," says Rally Organiser and Publicity OďŹƒcer Gordon Carson. "In all that time we've only had to cancel two events - one because of

KLmagazine April 2019

an outbreak of foot and mouth disease and the other because of some exceptionally bad weather."

In his younger days, Gordon worked on a farm and admits that he's always been interested in vintage machines, but that interest took a slightly more hands-on turn about 20 years ago when his next-door neighbour retired.

"I suggested that we take his old John Deere Model B tractor out of his shed and restore it," he says. "It was a lot of hard work, but it was really interesting, and when we decided to take it to a show we ended up winning an award for Best Tractor in Show. I was hooked from that point on!"

Today, the rally features an extremely impressive collection of vintage tractors, commercial vehicles and stationary engines from around the country. Their owners spend many hours and a considerable amount of money restoring and caring for all these great machines. Organising this rally is a big job and it takes up most of the year for the club.

"Although most people don't give tractors much of a second thought, they've played a really important part in our history," he says. "The exhibitors at the rally invest a huge amount of time into restoring them to their original working condition, and that's why the

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“It’s a very real connection between the present and the proud agricultural history of Norfolk” rally is so important. It's pointless if all that history simply sits in a shed where no one can see it!"

The scale of the Stradsett Vintage Rally is extraordinary. This year, the event will feature almost 1,000 exhibits including ex-military vehicles, classic cars, motorcycles, stationary engines and horticultural machines from all around the country - and even from as far afield as Belgium. There's a fairground for children, there’s a Wall of Death for fearless motorcyclists, and there’s a mini-tractor pulling competition for all the family. Add almost 100 trade and catering stands into the mix and you begin to see why the event has become such a popular feature on the calendar of west Norfolk.

"With the help of Alfred Bagge I've arranged to have an even bigger rally field this year," says Gordon. "It's going to be a lot better for the stationary engines and it will offer more room to the various club stands - which are becoming more popular every year."

The Stradsett Vintage Rally always has a different theme, and 2019 will be focused (thanks to the suggestion of tractor steward Reg Fletcher) on 100year-old tractors, single-cylinder tractors, ploughs and cultivators. And don't worry if all the technical detail is beyond you - the commentators provide all the necessary information and background.

The event also makes a significant contribution to local charities (50% of the proceeds always goes to the East Anglian Air Ambulance) and last year the Stradsett Vintage Rally raised some £9,000. There’s a serious side to the weekend, however, as Gordon is always keen to point out.

“We have a special ‘working area’ where people can see how jobs such as stone crushing and threshing used to be done,” he says. “It brings back plenty 10

of memories for some of our older visitors - who worked with these machines in the past - and it’s a fascinating way for children to discover how machinery has evolved over the years.”

And that’s one of the main attractions of the Stradsett Vintage Rally. It’s not just a showcase of highly-polished panels and lovingly-restored vehicles.

It’s a very real connection between the present and the proud agricultural history of Norfolk.

“I always think that when the weather's nice, the steam engines are going, the music is playing and you can smell the food stands, there aren’t many better things in life,” says Gordon.

“I might be a little biased, but I think it’s one of the very best events in the whole area – you’ll always learn something new and you’ll always have a great time!”

Stradsett Park Vintage Rally 2019 5th & 6th May Tickets are £7.50 for adults, while children under 16 are free.

For more details and information, please call 01945 880091

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LOCAL EVENTS IN APRIL & MAY

VERDI REQUIEM WITH ELY SINFONIA AND KING'S LYNN FESTIVAL CHORUS Listen to one of the giant pillars of work in the choral repertoire that nearly didn't get written. Performed in one of the most iconic sacred spaces in East Anglia, you’ll be enthralled by the bone-chilling Dies Irae (Day of Wrath), contrasted with moments of supplication, intercession and (finally) redemption.

And that's just from the singers of King's Lynn Festival Chorus and soloists. Tickets: From £8, with some concessions. Available from Ely Cathedral Box Office – at box.office@elycathedral.org or contact 01353 660349.

WHEN: Saturday 4th May, 7.30pm WHERE: Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire

COLKIRK ARTS FESTIVAL St. Mary’s Church in Colkirk invites you to their arts festival, with the theme ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great and Small.’ On display will be over 100 paintings, beautiful flowers, stainless steel sculptures, Bonsai trees, plus pottery by Colkirk Potter. Miniature garden competition for children. Refreshments will be available throughout the weekend and Rev. Robin will close the festival with a Songs of Praise service. Admission is free.

For more details go to www.colkirk-norfolk.co.uk/events.htm

WHEN: Saturday 11th May, 10am-5pm, and Sunday 12th May, 10am-4pm

WHERE: St Mary’s Church, Colkirk NR21 7NR

TRUE’S YARD FISHERFOLK MUSEUM: DISCOVER YOUR FAMILY HISTORY Interested in researching your family history? Need some help? Improve your family history research skills with Vic & Val. Novice & experienced Genealogists welcome! They cover: • How to start family history research • Census, settlement and parish records • Ordering birth, marriage and death certificates • Using the Local Records Offices, public libraries and family history societies • Searching for wills and military records • Dating and ‘reading’ photographs

• Using Ancestry (free access at True’s Yard), Findmypast, Familysearch and The Genealogist • Updates in the field of genealogy • Group discussion and assistance Tickets: £3 per session - to book, contact True's Yard on 01553 770479 or send an e-mail to info@truesyard.co.uk.

WHEN: Saturdays 10.30am - 12.30pm (excluding Easter)

WHERE: True’s Yard Fisherfolk Museum

HENRI MATISSE EXHIBITION Capital Culture Gallery in Coltishall is hosting an exhibition that will feature a wide range of Henri Matisse’s prints from six distinct periods of his career, including his beautiful line drawings and portraits and the vibrant colour of his later work.

This is a rare chance to see a diverse collection of beautifully created, limited edition prints which will also be available to buy. For more details and opening hours, go to www.capitalculture.eu.

WHEN: 27th April until 18th May WHERE: Capital Culture Gallery, 47 Church Street, Coltishall. NR12 7DW

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Keeping time with Downham’s iconic clock

Presented to the town by a local businessman, it’s been at the centre of social and civic life in Downham Market for over 140 years - and in all that time has only needed one major overhaul...

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n 1878 people got excited about all sorts of things - Gilbert and Sullivan had just opened a new musical called HMS Pinafore, and there was a summer heatwave. The obelisk known as Cleopatra's Needle was being erected on the banks of the River Thames (no one seemed to mind that it was actually made some 1,500 years before Cleopatra's birth), and the latest typewriter was unveiled - which included a remarkable new feature called a shift key.

In Downham Market, meanwhile, a vast crowd of people (including over 500 local schoolchildren) gathered in the town square to see local businessman, draper, grocer and clothier James Scott unveil his lasting legacy to Downham Market in the form of an iconic clock - something the townspeople had been wanting for over 30 years.

ABOVE: Downham Market’s iconic clock picutred in the early 1950s It was such a grand occasion that the attending schoolchildren were given a special commemorative coin glimpse into the life of the town over day it was unveiled back in 1878. to mark the event. the years. It was reported in 1907, for On that day, James Scott gave a A local newspaper reported that example, that Harry Gates - who was rousing speech to the enormous Scott hoped the clock would "be a on the board of the Guardians of the crowd in Downham's town square. He lasting memento of his generous and Workhouse at the time - claimed that hoped the clock would "answer all the benevolent disposition towards his no one in Downham was out of work, purposes it is intended to do, and neighbours, and will hand down his other than "a few lazy fellows standing prove a valuable and permanent boon name to prosperity, and denote in against the clock." to the town." years to come that he had at heart the In the mid-1930s, local clockmaker Over 140 years later, he'd be pleased improvement of Downham and the Charles Utting was responsible for to know it's still one of Downham's welfare of its inhabitants." winding the clock, a task for which he most iconic features - and it's still Fortunately, the clock itself managed was paid £1 a year. The Downham being talked about. to live up to such an accolade.

Gazette reported that within a year of Standing 33ft tall, the cast-iron his death the pendulum had fallen off Thanks to the volunteers at Discover construction wasn't Scott's work and the clock had stopped.

Downham for some of the historical entirely, although he certainly provided Although electrified in the 1960s, the details in this feature. Located in the the £450 necessary for its creation. clock stopped again just after old fire station at 30 Priory Road, It was designed by London-based Christmas 1989. While engineers Downham Market, the centre is open William Cunliffe, built by Benson of examined the motor and tried to on Thursdays and Fridays. For more London, and featured a bell ("made locate the cause of the fault, it was details and information, please see with all the latest improvements") by discovered that the town council had www.discoverdownham.org.uk Warner & Son - who'd once cast the simply forgotten to pay the electricity original Big Ben. Happily, local bill. businesses were also involved in the Now Grade II listed, the clock has project - Robert Bleder laid the only ever needed one major foundations, William Lawrie did the refurbishment, and that came in 2004 stonework, and local ironmongers thanks to Smiths of Derby, who've Rhoda Trotter & Son carried out the been one of the country's leading final installation. clockmakers since 1856 - they built With plenty of ornate details, an the huge turret clock for St. Paul's octagonal base and cuboid clock Cathedral - and Downham's clock was chamber, the decidedly Gothic clock able to chime again. became an immediate focus and And when the Discover Downham much-loved talking point in the centre heritage centre opened in 2003, one of Downham Market, not least of its most popular features was an 8ft because it featured the novelty of replica of the clock made by Andrew having all four of its dials illuminated Rust of local DMi Signs. A fascinating by gas light - with automatic ignition, object in itself, the small doors open to no less. reveal information on the history of The clock has played a central role the 'real' clock and even includes one in the social and civic life of Downham of the commemorative coins Market ever since, and its appearance presented to schoolchildren on the in local media offers a fascinating

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IMAGE: DISCOVER DOWNHAM

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Why new build projects need our new technology It’s time to discover why so many local builders are choosing the 4 Way Group for a complete air source heating solution...

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ore than 15,000 self-build properties were completed last year, and the number of people planning on building their own home continues to rise. In an industry increasingly concerned with renewables, environmental issues and energy efficiencies, one of the most important choices concerns the choice of heating system.

Which brings us to air source heating from the 4 Way Group, which offers a solution that's up to 50% more costeffective to run than traditional heating systems and is capable of outputting more than three times as much heat energy as the electricity it takes to operate.

It's the future of home heating, but to get the best out of the latest technology it's essential to contact the 4 Way Group at the earliest stages of the build.

"We'll start with the architectural drawings and plans for the project," says director Steve Simpson, "and we'll then design, install and commission a complete system that makes the most of the layout and maximises performance."

Not only that - the 4 Way Group will help ensure your self-build meets all current building regulations and legislation and offers impressive savings on future fuel costs.

It’s easy to see why Steve and his highly-trained and experienced team have established a track record of completing successful and awardwinning projects for local self-builders all over Norfolk for well over 10 years.

Trying to juggle SAP ratings, financial implications, the need for high quality products, professional installation standards and future running costs can be time-consuming and frustrating –

which is why the 4 Way Group’s ‘onestop shop’ approach is so attractive.

From start to finish, the latest air source heating systems from the 4 Way Group fulfill every requirement for energy-efficient properties - and offer a fully renewable heating solution that enables you to future-proof your project.

“If you’re interested in an even more comfortable, controllable, and energyeffective hot water and heating system,” says Steve, “ask us about integrating your air source heating with underfloor heating or PV panels – it’s relatively easy for us to design and install, and the results are amazing.”

To take full advantage of all the benefits air source heating can bring to your project, contact the 4 Way Group today for a free initial consultation.

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ABOVE: Although our political relationship with Europe is somewhat of a thorny issue at the moment, the Hanse Festival in King’s Lynn is a fascinating and fun-filled reminder that the town has always had a successful commercial and cultural relationship with the continent

PICTURES: THE BOROUGH COUNCIL OF KING’S LYNN & WEST NORFOLK

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A celebrati0n of King’s Lynn’s European heritage Once one of the country’s busiest ports, King’s Lynn has always been an important part of Europe, and its rich heritage and proud trading past with the continent are celebrated in next month’s Hanse Festival

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he rich and colourful Hanseatic heritage of King’s Lynn will be celebrated once again next month with the return of the ever-popular Hanse Festival on 12th May 2019.

“The Hanse Festival celebrates everything we have to be proud of about our town – its history, people, cultural events, international links and stunning architecture,” says the Mayor of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Cllr Nick Daubney. “It draws people to the historic waterside and naturally focuses on the town’s maritime past – and its position as one of the country’s most significant ports in medieval times.”

The annual festival, which returns for the 11th time this year, celebrates the town’s past and current membership of

KLmagazine April 2019

the Hanseatic League.

Music will be playing, people representing Hanseatic nations will be waving flags, and thanks to Rachael Williams, the Learning and Engagement Officer from Stories of Lynn, children from local schools will be getting involved with the festival parade again this year. They’ll form a procession of ‘walking boats’ they’ve designed – and each of the boats will have their sails raised, every sail featuring merchant marks of the time.

Rachael will also be including the Sea Cadets in the activities – they’ll be learning merchant shipmen skills including balance beam work to make them steady on board ship when the weather is stormy, and walking the plank – in case the pirates that plagued

the seas in those times forced them to do so. Other activities include knot tying and rope coiling.

At the Hanse Festival itself, children will be able to try their hands at building small boats. Races will take place to see which boats cross the tank of water the fastest – powered only by the wind of a fan.

The King’s Lynn Hanse Regatta will take place over the Hanse Weekend, with races beginning at 10am on Saturday and noon on Sunday.

Organised by the King’s Lynn Coastal Rowing Club, the regatta will feature boats from all over the country.

Popular events from previous festivals return, including Discover Hanseatic Lynn walks and lectures at Marriott’s Warehouse. A training workshop for 21

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The Hanseatic League Then & Now

ABOVE: From modern music to historic re-enactments, the Hanse Festival is a fantastic celebration of the important role King’s Lynn has played in Europe since the 13th century

young Hanse sailors, which will take place at the Hanse House on the South Quay, will offer an opportunity to purchase stores for the journey, and in the Minster churchyard there will be a falconry display.

The King’s Lynn Town Guides will lead the Discover Hanseatic Lynn walks.

Each will be an hour-long tour of the town’s key Hanseatic buildings. The walks are free to attend, but must be booked at the Tourist Information Centre Music will be provided on the main stage in King’s Staithe Square opposite the town’s iconic Custom House, courtesy of the Norfolk Shantymen, The Shackleton Trio and Bear Club.

Bear Club performed at Festival Too last year, and were so popular they were invited back for the town’s Christmas Lights switch-on event.

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Organisers felt they’d be the perfect addition to the Hanse Festival. The Shackleton Trio performed at Folk in the Town last year on the Tuesday Market Place, and appeared as the Georgia Shackleton Trio at the Hanse Festival in 2017. They enthralled the audience with tales of ‘Lonesome George’ – a very lonely tortoise. And, of course, no maritime-linked festival would be complete without an appearance from the Norfolk Shantymen.

A further music event is a showcase for Folk in the Town – where local acoustic, roots and folk musicians and bands can book a slot to try to win a place at Folk in the Town.

All the latest information on the Hanse Festival can be found online at www.kingslynnhansefestival.co.uk

The Hanseatic League was a historic and powerful trading alliance which began in Germany in the 13th century and dominated Baltic and North Sea trade for three centuries. The alliance brought wealth and prosperity to King’s Lynn, as it became one of the league’s main UK ports.

Merchants thronged the Great Ouse waterfront. The Hanseatic warehouse was built by German merchants. Lynners built fine homes, guildhalls and churches alongside the busy river. The legacy of these great merchants can still be seen today.

The new Hanseatic League was created in 1980, its purpose to keep the spirit of the original league alive in terms of a social and cultural alliance. The new Hanse consists of 192 cities across 16 countries, and in July 2005 the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk became the first English city to become a member of the new Hanse.

The Mayor of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, Cllr Nick Daubney represents England on the International Commission for the league and sits alongside representatives from each of the other member countries. It’s hoped that membership of the Hanse (which is free) will help with international networking, raising awareness of King’s Lynn across the member countries and increasing overall recognition – both locally and further afield – of this important facet of King’s Lynn’s rich heritage.

ABOVE: Mayor of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Cllr Nick Daubney (far right) with his wife Cheryl and Dr. Paul Richards (second left) at last year’s Hanse Festival in King’s Lynn KLmagazine April 2019

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The most original musical baby, toddler & pre-school classes on the planet!

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Fri 5th Sat 6th

Contact Brandi at Hartbeeps Norfolk: brandi@hartbeeps.com 07703 006 048

Facebook “Hartbeeps Norfolk” www.hartbeeps.com

Sun 7th Thurs 11th

Charlie Landsborough - The Farewell Tour Known as the UK’s premier country music singer, Charlie Landsborough will be embarking on a farewell tour of Britain before his retirement.

Quadrophenia The Album - Live

Paying tribute to the emotive music of The Who, the biggest selling and most powerful band in the world for decades.

Produced specifically for the theatre stage and for all ages.

An Evening with Simon Weston CBE

One of the countries most inspirational people talks about his life and career with the BBC’s David Fitzgerald. Featuring footage of the Falklands conflict and a Q&A session.

Saba Douglas Hamilton - A Life with Elephants

Join Saba, the highly acclaimed elephant conservationist and wildlife TV presenter of This Wild Life and Big Cat Diaries for an evening of exciting animal stories.

Wizard Of Oz • 2:30pm & 6pm Sun The It’s time to click your heels as Shone Productions take you over 13th the rainbow in their fantastic production of The Wizard of Oz. Starring Barney Harwood And Emmerdale's Sapphire Elia.

Wed 17th Sun 21st

RSC – As You Like It Live Broadcast • 7pm Rosalind is banished, wrestling with her heart and her head.

With her cousin by her side, she journeys to a world of exile where all can discover their deeper selves.

Alice in Wonderland – 3pm

Join Alice down the rabbit hole in her magical adventures through Wonderland in this brand-new staging of Lewis Carroll’s family favourite ‘Alice In Wonderland.’

NT Live – All About Eve Encore Screening

Thurs •7pm Gillian Anderson (X-Files) and Lily James (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) lead in All About Eve 25th broadcast live to cinemas from the West End in London Sun 28th

Beatlemania – The Story of the Beatles

Beatlemania is one of the longest running most successful Beatles shows in the world. Promising to be a non-stop party with over forty songs from Love Me Do to Let It Be.

For ticket prices, more info & to book visit the website:

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or call the Box Office: 01485

532252

The Princess Theatre, 13 The Green, Hunstanton PE36 5AH KLmagazine April 2019

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KLmagazine April 2019

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“We treat all projects like our own home...”

From initial quote to final completion, RGR Developments offers a new approach to building that puts you and your home first...

W

hether you're looking for a complete new build property or a relatively small extension, RGR Developments will certainly change the way you think about builders.

The business was formed four years ago when Ryan Rix and Gary New (two exceptionally talented craftsmen from contrasting domestic and commercial backgrounds) worked with each other on a number of different projects. They discovered they didn't just share a passion for high standards – both felt the most important elements of a builder/customer relationship were openness, transparency and a genuine commitment to the project.

Since joining forces and pooling skills, Ryan and Gary have (literally) built an enviable reputation across Norfolk

for work of outstanding quality and first-class customer service.

"We've never had a single problem with Building Control, and we don't spend any time fixing problems because we make sure they don't arise in the first place!" says Ryan. "We approach every project as if it was our own home, and that's why we pay so much attention to the details – from kitchen re-fits to listed building restorations."

The reputation of RGR Developments isn't limited to customers, designers and architects, however. Several subcontractors have praised the experience of working alongside Ryan and Gary, noting the team's precise approach to construction and professional management of building schedules.

"Even at the very start of a project, we put everything we can into providing

quotes that are as detailed as they are realistic," says Gary. "Our customers always tell us how impressed they are that we go the extra mile, but it's only natural to us. If someone's making such a major investment in their home, it's our responsibility to make sure it's done properly."

Contact RGR Developments today for an initial chat about your plans – and discover a new approach to building that puts you and your home first.

8 Mill Road, Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalen King’s Lynn PE34 3BZ | Tel: 07921 910651 /

07817 941897 | Web: www.rgrdevelopments.co.uk | Email: info@rgrdevelopments.co.uk

KLmagazine April 2019

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- Darren Eadie

“

“

I only watch Norwich City play when I’m working because even after all this time, I find it hard to watch them.

PICTURES: Norfolk County Council & Rick Kelly

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From footballer to men’s health ambassador Norwich City FC footballer Darren Eadie’s dreams were shattered when a knee injury ended his career at its peak. After struggling to cope with the huge blow, Darren’s now encouraging men to tackle health issues...

I

n the very first edition of the hugely popular football magazine FourFourTwo in 1994, Darren Eadie was featured under the headline The Boy’s a Bit Special. A favourite of the crowd at Carrow Road (then and now), the talented midfielder played for Norwich City FC between 1993-99, scoring 39 goals in 204 appearances for the club. A short spell at Leicester City followed, before Darren’s career ended abruptly when a knee injury forced him to retire, aged just 28.

We caught up with Darren (he’s now 43) to discover what it’s like to fulfil your dreams of becoming a professional footballer only to have them them dashed at such a young age. Moreover, having struggled with

KLmagazine April 2019

his own mental health for many years and following what he calls, “the year from hell” (which included the death of his mother, his brother suffering a stroke and his father having a serious health scare) Darren is only too aware how fragile health can be – and is now determined to raise awareness of looking after yourself and other people.

KL magazine: Did you always want to be a footballer?

Darren Eadie: When we were asked at school about what we wanted to be when we ‘grew up’, most kids said they wanted to be doctors and firemen, but I had no trouble in saying I wanted to be a footballer. Everyone in the class laughed, including the teacher! Maybe

it was an outrageous ambition to have, but I was determined it what I was going to do.

KL magazine: Were you naturally gifted at football?

Darren Eadie: I think I was, and I played a lot of rugby too, which helped my development. But you don’t get many 5ft 8ins rugby players, so I focused on football. I also remember that even though I was only 11 at the time I thought being a footballer would be more financially beneficial!

KL magazine: How did you set about realising your dream?

Darren Eadie: I started by playing in

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local teams in Wiltshire, which is where I lived at the time. I was spotted by a scout and played at Swindon Town’s Centre For Football Excellence for a couple of years before I was picked up

by Southampton.

Following a game against Norwich, I was scouted and asked to play for them – so at 16, I left home and moved to Norwich to start my apprenticeship.

It was hard being so far from home at such a young age, but I was very driven, and simply concentrated on my football.

KL magazine: What were the main highlights of your career?

Darren Eadie: I played my debut season for Norwich City in Europe – it was the first time the club had played in Europe and we were the first British team to beat Bayern Munich in their Olympic Stadium. I also loved playing in the Premier League when it started, and being called up for the England squad

by Glenn Hoddle, who had always been one of my idols – I’d always been a Tottenham Hotspur fan, so that was incredible.

KL magazine: What was it like being

ABOVE: Darren playing for Norwich City FC at the height of his football career in 1999

Darren Eadie: It was a really difficult time for us. I’d met my wife at 17 and we’ve been together ever since. We have three children, and it affected us all. I think I realise that more now than I did then.

I didn’t know what to do next. In fact, I only watch Norwich City play when I’m working because even after all this time, I find it hard to watch them.

forced to retire at 28?

Darren Eadie: I was at Leicester City at the time and though I’d had injuries in the past, I’d always come back from operations and played again – so I didn’t think this was going to be any different. I’ve had 26 operations on my left knee in total, so you almost start getting used to it. On this day, however, I woke up in the recovery room with my wife next to me and was told that was it – my career was over. It was horrendous, because all I’d ever wanted to be was a footballer.

KL magazine: What impact did it have

KL magazine: You’ve now teamed up with Norfolk County Council to tackle the issues surrounding men’s health – why’s that important to you?

Darren Eadie: Having suffered with mental health myself in the years following my football career, I think it’s really important for people to get help – for your sake and for your family’s sake.

Whatever symptoms you have, go to the doctor. There’s always been a certain stigma about mental health, but once you make that first step you’ll start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

on you and your family?

There’s no shame in seeking help. Even

just speaking to a friend or family member can give you a huge sense of relief.

Your health is more important than anything else. In many ways, last year was my year from hell. I lost my mother in February 2018 after she had a brain hemorrhage at the age of 61, and a few months after that my brother (he’s 44) had a stroke. My father then made a routine trip to the dentist and was told he had pre-cancerous cells on his tongue – which had to be cut away.

It’s been the worst of times, but you learn from these things and you become stronger – and I want people who are going through similarly difficult times to know they’re not alone.

KL magazine: What are you doing now?

Darren Eadie: I do lots of media work for Sky TV and Radio Norfolk and I’m also coaching football at St Joseph’s College in Ipswich, which I really enjoy.

KL magazine: Do you still call Norfolk your home?

Darren Eadie: Absolutely! I moved here when I was 16, and I’m still here now. I live in Blofield with my family and we love it. I’d never leave Norfolk.

For more information on the men’s health campaign supported by Darren Eadie and Norfolk County Council, please visit the website at www.norfolk.gov.uk/menkind

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KLmagazine April 2019

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“For the first time in years I can bend down and touch my toes! I can’t understand what Terry does, but I can guarantee that it works...”

- Susan Walden,

Snettisham

“I felt so much better after only one session...”

Discover how Terry Connolly and a revolutionary new form of therapy can help free you from a life of chronic aches and pains

A

t Free Your Body Therapy in the centre of King’s Lynn, Terry Connolly continues to use new treatment techniques to free people from a life of aches and pains; people like Susan Walden of Snettisham, for example.

“Some days I was in such constant pain that it was difficult to know which hurt the most - my knees, my hips or my back,” she says. “I'd seen chiropractors and osteopaths but nothing seemed to help very much at all.”

With the problems and pain showing no signs of going away, and being unwilling to risk becoming addicted to painkillers, Susan remembered reading about all the people who’d visited Free Your Body Therapy in recent issues of KL magazine.

"I thought if he could help all these different people with all these different problems then he might be able to help me," she says.

Terry Connolly is one of the very few people in the entire world currently offering P-DTR (Proprioceptive Deep Tendon Reflex) as a form of treatment.

Moreover, he combines that with Anatomy in Motion gait therapy – a cutting-edge method of correcting postural problems that helps with the repair and rehabilitation of past injuries and the relief of pain. For Susan, the effects were exactly what she’d been looking for.

“I felt so much better after only one session,” she says. “My back is straight, my joints are more free, and I very rarely get pain anymore - and nothing like the pain I'd become used to” There’s no great secret and no hidden magic to Terry’s treatment – he simply looks at the body and the causes of chronic pain in a completely different way.

“In Susan's case, her pain was caused by a combination of injuries and accidents that had built up over time," he says.

"Essentially, it was a case of going back to the beginning and repairing that cumulative damage by reminding Susan's muscles how they were supposed to be working together.”

If you’re interested in freeing yourself from a life of chronic aches and pain, contact Terry today and book an appointment with Free Your Body Therapy. Like Susan, you’ll find the results hard to believe.

“For the first time in years I can bend down and touch my toes,” she says. “I can't understand what Terry does but I can guarantee that it works."

Old Dairy Units, Austin Street, King’s Lynn | Tel: 01553 277520 www.freeyourbodytherapy.co.uk

KLmagazine April 2019

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Behind the scenes at Fakenham Racecourse

Everyone enjoys a day at the races, but few realise just how much work and how many different people are involved in staging a race meeting highlight of the National Hunt season," he says. "Less than 20 minutes after the Cheltenham Gold Cup, we'll be holding our Tote Exacta Fakenham Silver Cup I'm already looking forward to a wonderful day's racing."

But that's a long way off. The first race of today's seven-race meeting at Fakenham will take place at 1.20pm, and David has an extraordinarily busy six hours ahead of him.

His first task is to check the course rain gauge to see if conditions have changed since his last update 24 hours

ago, and he contacts local weather forecasters to see if the weather's likely to change during the day.

"We had 4mm of rain last night, so the going is still good to soft and good in places," he says. "In fact, the conditions are ideal for jump racing there's just the right amount of moisture in the ground."

Having called in to see the night duty staff at the stables (four horses from Wales stayed overnight) David meets up with Head Groundsman Matthew King and then walks the entire course with

PICTURE: ADRIAN JUDD

I

t's shortly before 6am on the day of the races, and the first person has already arrived at Fakenham Racecourse - but they're not here to place an early bet. As both Chief Executive and Clerk of the Course (one of the few people in the sport to carry out such a dual role) David Hunter has been up since 5am, and he's not expecting to get home for another 14 hours.

"Every one of our 13 race days is exciting, but today is particularly special as it takes place at the same time as the

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“We have about 300 people working behind the scenes to ensure the meeting is a success...” his two dogs.

By which time, his small team of nine full-time staff have started to assemble.

They're the vanguard of a veritable army that's now preparing for the start of the racing. Over the next couple of hours, the racecourse will welcome ground staff, television crews, caterers, first aiders, veterinary officers, and around 120 casual staff from car park attendants to ticket sellers. And then there are the 24 race officials together with the trainers and the jockeys - and the 38 horses who didn't spend the night in the stables.

"We have a really good attendance for a course of this size, and for a meeting like this we'll probably have around 2,000 spectators," says David.

"What many of them probably don't realise is we have about 300 people working behind the scenes to ensure the meeting is a success."

It's a quite extraordinary operation, and David's boundless energy is equally impressive. He's now distributing official paperwork to the relevant officials, briefing the fence attendants, greeting the many corporate guests, preparing a detailed timetable for the meeting and even carrying the cups and trophies to the weighing room.

Rarely seen by racegoers, this area behind the grandstand is (apart from the racing itself, of course) possibly the most fascinating area of the racecourse. It's already packed with highly experienced professionals (mostly employed by the British Horseracing Authority) who'll ensure today's meeting meets the sport's stringent regulations.

"We act like a team of independent referees to ensure everything takes place within the rules of racing," says Chief Steward Tony McGlore. "We're here to maintain the integrity of the racing itself and make sure the meeting runs smoothly, fairly, and safely."

KLmagazine April 2019

ABOVE: A huge amount of organisation goes on behind the scenes to ensure a great day’s racing at Fakenham Racecourse. A single meeting will involve over 20 officials and around 300 extra staff, together with the hard-working team of Chief Executive and Clerk of the Course David Hunter (centre left) who’s been dedicated to the racecourse for the last 20 years

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PICTURES: ADRIAN JUDD WWW.LEADERBOARDPHOTOGRAPHY.COM / KL MAGAZINE

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PICTURES: Fakenham Racecourse holds 13 meetings through the season, and for the last 114 years has been treating visitors to a high standard of racing, first-class facilities and exceptional hospitality – thanks to the work of a small and dedicated team that’s been headed by Chief Executive and Clerk of the Course David Hunter for the last 20 years

While Tony and his assistant stewards watch every detail of every race from multiple angles behind closed doors, the room outside is a constant hive of activity, with the official Starters, Clerk of the Scales Jeremy Lind and today's Judge David Hicks - who'll announce the results and winning distances, and will have the unenviable job of calling the result in the event of a photofinish.

From his towering observation position overlooking the course, he's helped in that respect by two very special digital cameras.

"They take a picture of the winning line that's only 1 pixel wide and they do that 1,000 times a second," he says.

"That level of precision makes it very unusual to have a dead heat, but I've seen it happen on a number of occasions."

It's now only an hour before the first race, and Welsh trainer Christian Williams (who has four horses competing today) is walking the course.

He's been up since 2am, and arrived at Fakenham after an eight-hour drive.

34

Although he's familiar with the racecourse, he prefers to walk it himself on the morning of race day.

"This is a very lovely course, but I always like to see it for myself at close quarters," he says. "Many other trainers choose not to walk the course, but I find that it gives me a much better feel for the conditions on the day."

As tips go, it's not a bad one Christian will eventually finish the meeting with two winners, and kindly donate his winning momento from the last meeting at Fakenham to a local gentleman who’d been taken ill at the event.

All this excitement and preparation and all these officials come together at 1.20pm for the first race of the day. By now a large crowd of spectators has arrived, and the noise they make while cheering their favourite is deafening.

Judge David Hicks calls the result, the Clerk of Scales weighs in the jockeys, and the word from the Steward's Room is that "it's good." We're off.

Six races later (with a break for

everyone to watch a live broadcast of the Cheltenham Gold Cup) the total prize money of just under £75,000 has been distributed and the last race of the day finishes shortly before 5.50pm. But for David Hunter - who arrived at the course 12 hours ago - the day isn't over quite yet.

Before he can consider going home, he still has to complete the official paperwork, have a debriefing with the officials, check with his team about how the day went, thank the bar staff, and try to find time for a cup of tea.

He'll be one of the last people to leave the racecourse - and on his way out he'll already be thinking of the next meeting at Fakenham Racecourse on Easter Monday.

"It's always good to look back over another successful meeting and look forward to ending the day with a whisky mac," he says. "Though sometimes I do dream that the day's racing is about to start and I haven't organised a single thing. It hasn't happened yet, I should say!"

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Insuranceinsights

Our monthly look at insurance issues for you and your family with the experts at Adrian Flux...

1 2 3

Toptips

Don’t forget breakdown insurance, it will pay for itself the first time you have to use it (the average breakdown call-out charge is £90) Adrian Flux has a nationwide network of more than 1,800 breakdown and recovery specialists to help get you and your horses back on the move The cheapest insurance deals can only be found over the phone and are not available on price comparison websites

The very best insurance deal for your horsebox...

With more than 40 years experience, you can rely on Adrian Flux to source the very best value-for-money cover for you and your horses

S

pring is the perfect time for people taking part in equestrian events to make sure their horseboxes and/or trailers are up to the job of transporting their beloved steeds safely.

The first meeting in East Anglia’s prestigious eventing calendar are the Barefoot Retreats Burnham Market International Horse Trials – which take place at Sussex Farm later this month on 12th-14th April.

The trials offer three fantastic days out for all the family featuring more than 20 dressage events, show jumping competitions, and cross country trials.

But before you start thinking of winning a rosette or two, you (and your horse) will have to get there safely, so you should seriously consider giving your horsebox or trailer a good clean and service – especially if it’s been laid

up over winter. It’s also the prime time to review insurance arrangements for your trailer.

Adrian Flux provides quality, affordable insurance and offers a variety of specialist policies for motorised horseboxes and horse trailers, sourced from an extensive panel of well-known, nationwide insurers.

Quotes can cover trailers up to the value of £40,000 (which is ideal for the most expensive options) and can provide up to £1 million public liability cover – and provide up to 30 days Green Card insurance in more than 20 European countries.

Breakdown insurance is also well worth considering. In fact, it will probably more than pay for itself the very first time you need to make a claim on it.

Flux Rescue breakdown insurance

costs as little as £79.50 a year and includes cover for your trailer or horsebox – and up to three horses in transit.

In the event of an accident, a team of specialists and a top-of-the-range horsebox will be sent to recover your horses. They will also (if necessary) even close the road or lanes on a motorway and cordon off a safe area where your horses can take temporary refuge before they continue their journey.

Our combination of local knowledge and national expertise is all you need to know to keep you (and your equine friends) safe and secure.

Adrian Flux insurance company is based in King’s Lynn and please note that our very best deals are only available over the telephone. Call us now for a free, no-obligation quote.

TEL: 0800 916 1269 | EMAIL: contact-us@adrianflux.co.uk WEB: www.adrianflux.co.uk

KLmagazine April 2019

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KLmagazine April 2019

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Animalmatters

Our monthly look at the issues concerning you and your pets with Jennifer Sinclair at London Road & Hollies Vets...

Smallbites

BUY 1 GET 1 FREE April Offer

Cats get bladder infections too

S

omething I am frequently being asked at the moment is ‘Why is my cat urinating inappropriately?’ With the drawing out of the days and the milder weather we are seeing an increase in the cases of cystitis in our feline patients. Cystitis can be due to a number of causes, including crystal formation in the urine, bacterial infections and stress. Stress can play a major role in the development in cystitis by causing the release of chemicals which directly cause inflammation and irritation within the bladder. Bacterial infections are more prominent in older cats, as they cannot concentrate their urine adequately to fight against ascending bacteria from the rear end. While we may not feel that letting our cats out for longer periods of time during the nicer weather would seem particularly stressful, we do see a natural correlation between cats going outside more due to warmer weather and an increase in ‘stress-related’ cystitis. This may well be because cats are coming into contact with other neighbourhood cats more, causing an increase in conflict, and therefore in anxiety as well.

We also see a peak in the number of

cases of cystitis in the autumn, during the fireworks period, when the sounds and flashes from fireworks can cause distress to our pets. In cats this can present itself as bouts of cystitis.

Signs of cystitis include starting to urinate in places that your pet would not have previously urinated before, blood in the urine, needing to urinate frequently, straining to urinate, painful urination (your cat may yowl or seem in discomfort when they pee), and overgrooming around the back end.

Some male cats can even develop a blockage in their urethra due to its small size compared to females, when they have either severe inflammation or a plug of mucous or crystals that form.

This then becomes a medical emergency as they can become seriously ill very quickly, showing signs of lethargy, weakness, wobbliness, vomiting and drooling.

The most important thing if you think your cat has cystitis, especially if your cat is male, is that you seek veterinary attention promptly. Cystitis is painful, and can often be simply treated within a matter of a few days. It is quite common to see reoccurrences of cystitis, but dietary (to either increase water intake or to reduce crystal

LONDON ROAD Hospital Walk, King’s Lynn Tel: 01553 773168 HOLLIES Paradise Road, Downham Market Tel: 01366 386655

KLmagazine April 2019

We are excited to announce our launch of Natures Range, a vet approved, nutritionally balanced and thoroughly tasty pet food.

A great way to give your pets all the vitamins and minerals they need for healthy muscles, bones and digestion. We are offering a buy one get one free offer throughout April! Please call in or visit our website for further details.

formation if appropriate), environmental, and stress-relieving modification as needed will vastly reduce likelihood of a repeat episode.

Do not confuse urination with spraying. A cat will squat to urinate, while it will stand upright to spray and often flicker its tail. If cystitis has been ruled out as the cause for inappropriate urination, then there may be a behavioural reason why a cat is urinating or spraying within the house.

Quite often this can be to do with anxieties a cat has, and the first thing we may want to look at in practice is the core territory the cat lives in, and the resources within that area. If you feel your cat or dog has a behavioural issue, please feel free to book an appointment with our inhouse Behavioural Counsellor.

Email: info@londonroadvets.co.uk Web: www.londonroadvets.co.uk

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How the buoys of King’s Lynn keep the port safe The wreck of ‘Wick Bay’ in December 1889 led to the creation of the King’s Lynn Conservancy Board, and today their exceptional skills and distinctive coloured buoys are essential to the port’s operation...

T

he ship Wick Bay sank in December 1889 at King’s Lynn on a voyage from Baltimore with a cargo of oilcake and maize. The wreck blocked the channel and cost the Lynn Corporation a great deal of money in lost trade and salvage – which led to the creation of the King’s Lynn Conservancy Board, and today their exceptional skills and distinctive coloured buoys are essential to the port’s operation.

Hundreds of people drive and walk past them every day, but few people will consider the red and green metal buoys on the South Quay as no more

KLmagazine April 2019

than a maritime curiosity – and little idea of their importance. In addition to lighthouses, beacons and other navigational aids, they actually play an important part in guiding mariners to a safe harbour in unfamiliar waters.

The landlocked buoys resting by the road on the South Quay are known as “lateral markers” – a type of buoy which indicates the port (red) and starboard (green) side of the channel to be followed. Keep them on the correct sides of your vessel and you’ll sail a safe passage.

They may seem the most mundane of items, but there's a fascinating history attached to the use and variety

of buoys in our rivers and seas. They aid navigation by marking wrecks and shifting sand banks, warn of dangerous water, provide mooring, indicate safe channels, and signify special features in coastal and navigable inland waters.

Some are lit and some even have a rudimentary built-in fog signal thanks to (literally) a few bells and whistles.

And they're not just a thing of the past - even in these days of arctic trucks, freight trains and air freighters, ships continue to carry the bulk of the world's commercial cargo.

Although the port of King's Lynn has never presented enough danger to warrant a lighthouse, its constantly

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“They may seem the most mundane of items, but there’s a fascinating history attached to the use and variety of buoys in our rivers and seas” shifting sands and channels make buoys essential to its continued safe operation.

In charge of that safe operation is the King’s Lynn Conservancy Board.

Founded in 1897, it currently operates every single day of the year with 14 staff providing pilotage (expertly guiding ships into port), port information and operations. Somewhat surprisingly, the Board is self-financing and non-profit making - though it's required to balance its books. The pilots and Harbour Master, Captain Patrick Jary, are alert to all kinds of problems and danger in their part of the river down to Stow Bridge. The work is constant as is the repair and maintenance of the working boats. Extreme weather, ice and even drought have an effect on the pilotage of large vessels. Historic ships like the Lisa von Lubeck are also a challenge to guide to moorings at the pontoons and water activities such as the Hanseatic Ski Race are checked for safety.

The King’s Lynn Conservancy Board operates two fast pilot cutters - St. Ann and United - to transfer pilots to and from the ships in the Wash. The tug Conservator is used to assist larger vessels dock and undock safely and to provide emergency towage cover in the approaches to the port. The buoy vessel St. Edmund is used to maintain and move the navigation marks in the constantly-changing channel and carries out dozens of 'buoy relocations' as a result of natural changes to the 40

channel.

Two equally important vessels are the Staplewear and Ardefast, which survey the seabed. Since Victorian times, alterations to the 'Lynn Deeps' using stone banks to the west and marshes to the east have confined the channel, which means the speed of the tide increases as the depth of the water decreases - a knowledgeable local pilot and some expertly-positioned buoys are essential when manoeuvring a large ship. The King’s Lynn Conservancy Board owns and maintains 40 buoys, 13 light beacons and a single light float in the approach channel (the lights are solar powered) and the buoys are changed and refurbished after two years on station.

"We don't restore the buoys as such," says Deputy Harbour Master Paul Bailey, "but we do clean them in our workshop and re-paint them in the appropriate colour for their next station. That's generally something that only needs doing every three years or so - they're hard-wearing little things!"

They're not really very little any more - although the first ones were little more than wooden barrels weighed down with a large stone, modern buoys can stand over 15m high and weigh in excess of 10 tons. In March 2014 tidal and metrological monitoring equipment was fitted to the Bulldog and Dolly Peg beacons with data uploaded every five minutes to a digital log.

An enjoyable stroll to the Purfleet Quay in King's Lynn where the King's Lynn Conservancy Board's buoys are stored before deployment will show you just how varied and colourful these essential maritime aids are - and something we should never take for granted.

PICTURES: Rarely seen or thought about, the buoys around the waters of King’s Lynn are an essential part of the King’s Lynn Conservancy Board’s work

KLmagazine April 2019

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West Norfolk: Then & Now

BACK TO SCHOOL FOR THE GIRLS OF KING’S LYNN...

On page 86 of this month's magazine, Michael Walker talks about the original grammar school in King's Lynn, but one of his other five books on local

education examines the history of the West Norfolk & King's Lynn High School for Girls, pictured above (top) in 1967.

First opened in 1886 as part of a small group of independent girls' schools, the school moved to this beautiful building on King Street in King's Lynn in 1903 and was eventually merged with Alderman Catleugh Secondary School

to become Springwood High School in 1979. The school played an important part in the education of local girls, and made its very own contribution to the war effort - using the lawn for gun practice during the First World War and 'digging for victory' in Second World War. We’d love to hear some stories from former pupils!

If you’re interested in seeing more of how our area has changed visit www.truesyard.co.uk 42

KLmagazine April 2019

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“It's so rewarding to work closely with clients over the entire course of a project”

The helping hand your self-build project needs...

From the initial design to the finishing touches, Studio 11 Architecture can help you create the home of your dreams – on time and on budget

T

here's no doubt that selfbuild projects are becoming more popular - they now represent around 10% of all completed properties in the UK (some 12,000 homes a year) and the industry is set to grow by 41% over the next three years.

"People love the idea of building their own homes, but it's a field that presents a number of challenges to someone with limited technical knowledge or design expertise," says Kris Baxter of Studio 11 Architecture. "It represents a huge investment of time and money, so it's essential to get it right - and to get it right from the start."

In fact, Kris recommends contacting a design consultant before you even

purchase the land itself to ensure your vision meets planning legislation, doesn't contravene any building or conservation issues, and can be achieved within both your budget and your timescale.

With an impressive track record of designing everything from small-scale extensions to multi-property developments, Studio 11 Architecture can handle every aspect of any selfbuild project - working with you on the initial concept, handling all planning applications, preparing fully detailed drawings, overseeing the tender process, and liaising with all relevant contractors.

It's an approach that takes away a lot of worry and stress and helps focus people's attentions on the essentials rather than the details.

"Lots of people start their project with their dream kitchen or bedroom, but we like to take them back to basics," says Kris' associate Johnathon Gower.

"You can alter your kitchen or bathroom at any time, but the

structure, form and function of a home is the most essential part of any design – and the most difficult to change in the future. That's why it's so rewarding to work closely with clients over the entire course of a project - it’s the best way of ensuring they get a home that's right for them."

If you'd like a greater insight into how Studio 11 approaches self-build projects, take a look at their regular online blog at www.pink-stripes.co.uk.

"It doesn't sell our services or promote Studio 11 Architecture as such because that's not its purpose," says Kris. "It's designed to be a resource of help and advice for people considering embarking on projects.”

For more details and a free consultation, please contact Studio 11 Architecture today and discover how you can get your self-build project off the ground.

Norfolk Studio: Holkham Studios, Longlands, Holkham Estate NR23 1SH Telephone: 01328 854110 Email: design@studio11architecture.co.uk Website: www.studio11architecture.co.uk

KLmagazine April 2019

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How to make your lawn better looking than ever

ABOVE: Avoid cutting your grass in the heat of the day – early morning or in the evening is much better for both you and your lawn

You’ve probably already noticed, but last year was a particularly difficult one for our garden lawns, but bringing them back to their best is simple, as Wendy Warner of Thaxters Garden Centre explains...

Y

ou may be surprised to learn that 2018 was a very stressful year for our lawns. Heavy snow and cold weather early in the spring (just as the grass was about to start growing) was followed by an extremely hot spell and unusually low rainfall throughout the summer. In fact, by midsummer there was very little visible green grass on many lawns – most of it resembled something similar to straw.

After all that your lawn may still be looking a little worse for wear, but April is the perfect month to start remedying it as temperatures start to rise and there’s much less likelihood of frost.

If there’s been a sudden warm spell, the grass may have put on considerable

KLmagazine April 2019

growth, but once you’ve established your mower still works after its winter break, it’s advisable to raise the blade height so you’re only removing about one third of the length of grass. You’ll then be easily able to see the composition of your lawn.

An apparently green lawn can often be a mixture of favourable grass and less welcome weeds and moss. If you have a mixture of weeds and moss along with your grass, now’s the time to start using an all-in-one feed, weed and moss killer, following the packet instructions to ensure you get the right coverage. It can be applied manually or with an appropriate spreader, but don’t be tempted to use a stronger application if you have a large quantity

of moss or weeds – you’ll probably do more harm than good, and end up scorching the grass.

Once the moss turns black, you’ll need to rake it out and the grass will start to fill the gaps. If you’ve been left with large bare patches you can then re-seed the area. Add a little fresh topsoil before seeding and cover with a net to protect it from the birds.

If there’s no rain, you’ll need to water the area after a few days to aid germination. Allow new grass to grow for approximately two months before using any weed or moss treatments – and please avoid putting grass clippings that have recently been treated onto the compost heap.

If moss is a real problem, especially in 45

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“Allow new grass to grow for around two months before using any weed or moss treatments...” areas of excessive moisture, shade or poor quality turf, don’t rake or scarify the lawn before treating as this will simply spread the spores and encourage more moss to grow.

If you have moss, but few weeds, use a feed and mosskiller. You will rarely find a mosskiller without a feed, as the grass needs to be strengthened so it can fill the area where the moss dies.

Once treated, try to remedy the cause of the problem by aerating the lawn. A hollow tine aerator will remove plugs of soil and a rotary aerator will spike the lawn – although the same effect can be created by pushing a normal garden fork into the lawn.

A mixture of topsoil, compost and sharp sand can then be brushed into these holes to improve drainage and encourage the roots of the grass to grow deeper and become stronger.

Weeds can be controlled throughout the year by hand-weeding, but remember to ‘lever out’ dandelions and other weeds with taproots to ensure the whole root comes out. Again, you may need to reseed if large patches of earth are left bare. For chemical weed control, the weeds need to be in growth (usually April to September) and for stronger, perennial weed growth which hasn’t been treated with the allin-one treatment, choose a specific lawn weedkiller. Please ensure you don’t use a general weedkiller – as this will kill the grass too.

As your grass grows stronger, you can lower the blade height on the lawnmower when cutting until the weather gets very hot. If there are still signs of moss and weeds in the lawn in July, apply a second treatment of allin-one – and if there’s no rain within 48 hours, water it in using a hose or sprinkler. If the grass is weed-free, either a soluble liquid feed or a high nitrogen granular feed can be used to keep it green and looking healthy.

If we get another very hot summer this year, don’t panic – your grass will 46

probably look unsightly on the surface, but it would take many continuous months of drought to affect the roots.

If you decide to irrigate your lawn, occasional and thorough watering is far more beneficial than “little and often,” which will encourage shallow roots.

And try to avoid cutting your grass in the heat of the day – early morning or in the evening will be much better for both you and the grass!

From September, use an autumn feed and mosskiller to toughen up the lawn for the winter and aerate again to aid drainage. Rake up any leaves that fall on the grass and try to avoid walking on

and compacting the lawn throughout the winter months. Follow these tips and you’ll be well on your way to a healthier lawn this summer!

YOU AND YOUR GARDEN

Wendy Warner is the Manager of Thaxters Garden Centre in Dersingham.

You can visit the website at www.thaxters.co.uk or telephone 01485 541514. If you’d like some inspiration for your garden or have a particular issue or variety of plant you’d like Wendy to look at, please contact us at info@klmagazine.co.uk.

KLmagazine April 2019

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MOA AT ROAD NURSERY A friendly family‐rrun, independent Garden Centre

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Moat Rd, Terrington St Clement, King's Lynn PE34 4PN | Tel: 01553 828723 | Open: Mon-Sat 9-5, Sun 10-4 KLmagazine April 2019

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KLmagazine April 2019

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Tom and Laura McEwan of Home Instead Senior Care in Norfolk receive their award at this year’s Mayor’s Business Awards

Putting the care back into the business of caring...

Home Instead Senior Care in Norfolk celebrates its 10th anniversary with a major award for customer care at the Mayor’s Business Awards

A

t the annual Mayor's Business Awards in King's Lynn last month, Home Instead Senior Care in Norfolk was presented with the prestigious Customer Care Award, a reflection of the company's incredible commitment and pioneering services for West Norfolk’s older population.

"We've all spent a huge amount of time and effort over the past few years in becoming part of the local community," says Operations Manager Tom McEwan, "and this represents official recognition of that work. We're really honoured with the award - but I must admit it was a bit of a surprise!"

There couldn't be a better way for Home Instead Senior Care in Norfolk to celebrate its 10th anniversary. In the last 12 months, the company has doubled its staff, reported annual growth of 175%, and trained over 500 people across west Norfolk in understanding dementia and helping people live with

KING’S LYNN 01553 387967 www.homeinstead.co.uk/westnorfolk

KLmagazine April 2019

the condition.

Home Instead Senior Care in Norfolk specialises in relationship-led care, allowing people to remain at home in familiar surroundings and helping them enjoy a stimulating and enhanced quality of life.

It's an approach that puts genuine care first and foremost, and it's an approach that makes a world of difference to the clients themselves. In fact, an anonymous and independent survey recently carried out by Buckinghamshire-based Smith & Henderson found that 100% of clients would recommend Home Instead Senior Care in Norfolk - and 100% said that their Caregiver always arrived on time and was well matched to their needs.

The same survey found that 100% of Caregivers themselves were proud to work for Home Instead Senior Care in Norfolk, and that 100% felt motivated enough to happily go above and

beyond what was required of them.

“Letting someone provide care for you at home can be a very personal experience, and that’s why we set the bar extremely high with regards to the standard of care we deliver,” says Tom. “Every single detail of every home care service we offer is tailored to suit the individual needs of the client. They decide on the level of care and support they need – for as long as they want it.”

If you'd like more information and details on the many different homecare services and specialist support offered

by Home Instead Senior Care in Norfolk, please contact your nearest office using the details below.

HOLT 01263 650 983

DEREHAM 01362 357974

www.homeinstead.co.uk/northnorfolk

www.homeinstead.co.uk/midnorfolk

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PICTURES: Justin Minns/NTPL

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Humphry Repton’s favourite & darling child The great landscape designer Humphry Repton completed over 400 commissions during his illustrious career, but there’s no doubt about his greatest achievement – the stunning beauty of Sheringham Park

S

heringham Park is one of Norfolk's most idyllic locations. While the hall at its heart is privately occupied, the surrounding grounds offer a constant draw for visitors who revel in the spectacular views from the several overlook towers and wonder at the outstanding gardens - which include a rare snowdrop tree, 15 different kinds of magnolia, the first plane trees in Norfolk, and some rhododendrons that

originated with the famous Victorian plant collector and explorer Ernest 'Chinese' Wilson.

It may appear the most natural of settings, but the beauty of Sheringham Park is largely artificial - a testament to the vision and talents of the last great English landscape designer of the 18th century.

When Abbot and Charlotte Upcher completed the purchase of Sheringham Park in 1811, they weren't too

impressed with the farmhouse that sat on the site. It hardly fitted their status and was clearly unsuitable for their growing family. The solicitor who'd handled the sale recommended they talk to his father, and it was that happy coincidence that brought Humphry Repton to Sheringham.

Having tried (and failed) to make a career out of textiles and playwriting, Repton had been devoting his artistic talents to landscape gardening since

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PICTURES: The extraordinary vision of landscape designer Humphry Repton (compare his original design with the reality above) helped make Sheringham Park one of Norfolk’s prettiest and most tranquil locations

1788 - and had already completed successful projects for the mayor of Norwich and Lord Coke at Holkham Hall.

His trademark was his famous 'Red Book' in which he presented designs to his clients (named after the colour of the book's distinctive leather binding) and he'd go on to produce over 120 of them. Possibly none are held in such high regard as the one he produced for the Upchers at Sheringham - it's now held at the Royal Institution of British Architects' library at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Repton's vision for Sheringham was as ambitious as it was sympathetic to the location. While the owners wanted their new hall to offer a sea view, Repton suggested it be positioned in the shelter of the nearby oak woodland.

"The sea at Sheringham," he said, "is not like that of the Bay of Naples." And his view prevailed.

This was Repton's chance to create the ideal country estate, especially as he felt the rest of the country was

52

falling apart - Britain was at war with France and was in deep recession. The Prime Minister had just been assassinated, and the king had descended into madness.

His design required that the Upchers' new hall become part of the local community - keeping the building itself relatively modest, allowing visitors to enjoy the views, and encouraging locals to collect dead wood from within the estate boundaries.

He recommended the addition of a cornfield to emphasise the fact this was a place for production as well as pleasure, and his suggestions for extending the woodlands were particularly significant at a time when trees were being cut down all over the country for shipbuilding.

Repton also added a touch of theatre, suggesting carving through a ridge of hills so the main approach to the hall created a point where Sheringham Hall appeared to the visitor suddenly and dramatically - "like some enchanted Palace of a Fairy Tale."

Repton was an extraordinary designer, but that was generally as far as his involvement went - it was up to his clients to implement (or not) his ideas - but he was obviously proud of his designs for Sheringham Park, a project he described as his "favourite and darling child in Norfolk."

His son John designed the hall itself, and Repton was present when the first foundation stones were laid in July 1813. Sadly, he died six years later before he could see the realisation of his grand vision for Sheringham Park.

Over the course of 30 years, he'd completed over 400 commissions, but this beautiful part of Norfolk is now considered the best preserved and most complete example of Repton's work.

KLmagazine April 2019

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Daniel Sims Family Law

SOLICITOR

We’re all going on a summer holiday?

Taking children on holiday for separated parents can be problematic, but Daniel Sims of Fraser Dawbarns LLP explains how to avoid unnecessary issues – and ensure that the children’s best interests are served

W

ith the dark winter months now behind us, many people are likely to be planning for summer holidays with the children, but for separated parents this can be more complicated than it might appear.

If both mum and dad have ‘parental responsibility’ for the children, they have equal rights and responsibilities – and neither can dictate the arrangements for when the children are with the other parent.

Subject to any Court Order to the contrary, either parent could take the children for a ‘staycation’ within England and Wales without the other’s consent, although it’s always best practice to discuss and agree this in advance, and to ensure contact times are ‘made up’ before or afterwards.

Foreign holidays are slightly different however, and not just in terms of climate! The standard position is that parents need either permission from

the other parent or an Order from the Court allowing them to temporarily remove the children from the country.

Parents with Child Arrangements Orders stating that the children ‘live with’ them can take the children abroad for up to 28 days without permission, but parents that do not have the benefit of an Order (or the other’s agreement) will be committing a criminal offence under the Child Abduction Act 1984.

To avoid holiday dates clashes and losing large holiday deposits, it’s sensible to discuss the arrangements months in advance.

As part of this, we always advise that travel, accommodation and contact details are shared between the parents.

Hopefully the other parent will agree to the holiday, in which case it would be prudent to obtain their agreement in writing, so you can take it with you to the airport. If the other parent will not agree however, the only option is to make an application to the Court for permission, by way of a Specific Issue Order.

The outcome of Court proceedings is never certain, of course, but generally

holidays are not a problem. Provided the location is not ‘high risk’ and there is no threat of the parent remaining there with the children and not returning, the Court will often take the view that foreign holidays are in the best interests of children, to give them life experiences and broaden their horizons.

Such applications can be costly and time-consuming however, and can’t be made a few weeks before the departure date!

As with all other decisions and arrangements made for the children, this matter requires clear and open communication between the parents, with a focus on what is best for the children.

If you would like advice regarding contact/holiday arrangements, or any other family matter, please contact our King’s Lynn office (details below) or any of our other offices to speak with a member of our highly experienced and expert team.

21 Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 1JW Tel: 01553 666600 Fax: 01553 767221 DX: 57800 KINGS LYNN Web: www.fraserdawbarns.com E-mail: info@fraserdawbarns.com

KLmagazine April 2019

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It’s finally time to ditch all those chunky knit jumpers and go for something a little lighter – and a lot brighter!

Spring is the perfect time to spruce up your wardrobe, and it’s something we look forward to every year. Here are our top picks from the top local boutiques for this year’s New Season collections...

Dress by Claudia Stratar

SHEILA TILLER Long Sutton

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Bayview Gilet £89 & Waterford Boots £189 by Dubarry

THE HAYLOFT at BEARTS Stowbridge

The new Bayview gilet is ideal for flattering layering and is an essential go-to item for country wear, equestrian wear, sailing around the coast or simply for day-to-day life...

KLmagazine April 2019

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Outfit by Marble Fashions

CINDY’S

Sutton Bridge

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This classic casual navy top is perfect for day or evening, for a relaxed comfortable look.

Team up with white jeans or shorts...

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KLmagazine April 2019

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Ontrend

Combining an animal print with blush pink both of which are big hits on the runway for this year’s spring season

Wedding Outfit

by Glitz

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Beautynotes

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Facefacts

Our chemical peels are pain free and there’s minimal downtime (two to five days).

Wearing a high factor SPF is essential post peel, and maximum results are seen at six weeks.

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Mesotherapy improves hair thinning by strengthening and nourishing the hair follicles to promote the growth of new hair, and results can be seen after just one treatment.

3

Mesotherapy is great for localised fat treatments, especially on thighs, abdomen and double chins. As the skin’s metabolism increases, the skin tightens, making the treatment area look slimmer and contoured

Treatments for skin, hair & body

M

esotherapy is a non-invasive technique based on microinjections delivered just below the epidermis and is virtually pain free. The injected medication/solution contains a wide range of minerals, hormones, vitamins, amino acids, nucleic acids and coenzymes that can be tailored to patients’ individual needs.

Mesotherapy can treat a variety of symptoms and ailments such as alopecia, pigmentation, wrinkles, the removal of excess fat, and skin tightening. Popular conditions that women are currently using Mesotherapy for are cellulite and stretch marks following weight loss and pregnancy.

Hair Loss Hair loss can be due to hormone imbalances, lack of nutrients and reduced blood circulation.

Our expert Mesotherapy treatment addresses all

these problems, resulting in a stimulation of natural hair growth and a reduction of hair loss.

Cellulite

Mesotherapy can help in the reduction of cellulite and localized fat by stimulating and increasing the mobilization and elimination of free fatty acids in the bloodstream. Mesotherapy treatments should only be carried out by medical professionals with the appropriate training – and due to the risk of crosscontamination, you should ensure your practitioner only uses FDA-approved medical devices to deliver these treatments. Why not treat yourself to a Chemical Peel? Great for reversing the signs of aging, brightening skin and pigmentation, acne, large pores, scarring.

CHEMICAL PEEL SPECIAL OFFERS

Perfecting Peel £60 (Normally £80) 6% Retinol Peel £80 (Normally £100) Buy two of the above offers and get your third treatment half price

Treatments

• Dermal Fillers, including lip enhancement, nasolabial folds & marionettes • Cheek, jaw & chin augmentation • Wrinkle-reducing injections • Chemical skin peels • Microneedling • Mesotherapy • Injectable & topical skin boosters • PCA Skin Care range

All procedures are fully insured and performed by a qualified Harley Street nurse

The Hoste Spa Clinic Our next Aesthetic Beauty clinics in Burnham Market take place on Wed 24th April and Mon 13th May. Contact the spa on 01328 737022 to book your appointment.

For a FREE consultation, please contact Emma on 07791 575889 or e-mail info@aestheticsbeautyclinics.com

KLmagazine April 2019

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Feetfirst Tips and advice with local expert

Elizabeth Dutton from The Foot Care Centre

Feetfacts

Did you know that about 2.5 times our body weight goes through our feet, approximately 9,500 times a day? It’s an amazing fact, as is the truth that your feet will sweat up to half a pint of water a day. It’s not surprising they hurt sometimes!

Step into spring

It’s time to uncover your feet – and to give them the care and attention they deserve, as Elizabeth Dutton of The Foot Care Centre explains

O

ver the past few months, The Foot Care Centre has had a makeover and we’re truly delighted with our new look.

Elizabeth Dutton and her staff are really looking forward to welcoming you to the centre and providing expert help for all your foot care needs.

As we move into spring, we become more aware of how our feet are looking – and having been confined to shoes, boots, socks and stockings for the last few months it’s only natural that our feet can look a little out of shape at this time of year.

Our special Medi-Pedi treatment will help put the spring back into your step and soothe the aches and pains away.

Medi–Pedi combines a professional nail cut and file, removal of callouses and corns with the relaxing pamper of a pedicure. A nail paint, using

The Foot Care Centre KLmagazine April 2019

our professional natural range of nail polishes, is also available if required.

Actually, looking after your nails is a very important part of your foot care routine. Nails provide a buffer between pressures caused by wearing footwear and the softer part of your toe and nail bed. If your nails are too short, too long or not shaped correctly they can’t function correctly and can cause problems such as ingrowing nails – which are incredibly painful and debilitating.

A regular routine appointment with your foot health practitioner can ensure these problems are quickly resolved, and over time can be prevented from reoccurring.

The Foot Care Centre is located at 4B Tower Street. We share an entrance with The House of Hair & Beauty and are next to the Majestic Cinema.

Foot Care

TRAINING The Foot Care Centre can provide training too, allowing you to gain a Level 4 Diploma in foot care.

You can train in a friendly, professional environment – and follow a new career, take a change of direction, or add to an existing qualification.

For more information, advice and help on getting started, please get in touch.

01553 768661 | Email: enquiries@thefootcarecentrekingslynn.co.uk 4b Tower Street, King's Lynn PE30 1EJ | www.thefootcarecentrekingslynn.co.uk

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Why Leigh Goodsell really is the bee’s knees...

Leigh Goodsell has been fascinated by bees since he was a child, and is a self-confessed honey addict. Now a bee farmer, what started as a childhood hobby has become a profession and a popular local delicacy

M

ost children save their pocket money to buy toys and sweets, but when Leigh Goodsell was 11, he broke the (piggy) bank to spend his carefullysaved £40 on a beehive. Leigh’s fascination for bees came about after his family moved to Snettisham in Norfolk, when he was nine years old and met a lifelong friend at school.

“My best friend kept bees, so I naturally wanted to keep bees too,” says Leigh. “There’s nothing quite like the taste of honey that’s just come out of a hive. For a greedy nine-year-old, that’s quite intoxicating!”

Leigh was delighted when he eventually had the funds for his own beehive, which he kept in his parents’ garden, but the bees wreaked havoc and stung everyone within a 100-metre

KLmagazine April 2019

radius – including Leigh’s mother.

“They were probably the most evil bees in history,” says Leigh, ”but I really learned a lot from them, and from that moment I was hooked.”

Learning from friends and books (and from an often painful process of trial and error) Leigh discovered everything he could about bees and making honey – it’s called apiculture to the initiated – and although his confidence and ability grew, it remained just a hobby. For a while.

Leigh moved to London for a short period, but missed country life and eventually returned to Norfolk – and it wasn’t long before he was back in his bee veil.

“I worked as a photographer and sold a bit of honey, but gradually began to take fewer pictures and make more honey,” he says. “I think that becoming

a professional bee farmer happened pretty organically in the end.”

Leigh’s Bees was established as a business in 2013, and it wasn’t difficult to encourage local stockists to buy his honey – as people’s awareness of the value of good honey and the importance of the bees themselves has increased in recent years.

“Once customers tasted the honey, they realised it was very different to supermarket honey, which is pasteurised and filtered, and they came back

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BEEfacts Honey bees gather nectar from two million flowers to make one pound of honey The average bee will only make around a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime It’s estimated that one third of the food we consume relies on pollination – mainly by bees Female bees do all the work.

Known as worker bees, they live for about six weeks in the summer, although autumn-born workers may live for six months Male bees (drones) spend their time eating honey until a new queen is ready to mate. Once a drone has mated (in flight) with a queen, it dies PICTURES: Leigh’s hives on the borage fields (above). A bee working an Ivy flower (below)

“I love my job, there’s something that amazes me every day and I always learn something new”

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for more,” says Leigh. “It sold itself really, and the numbers just kept increasing.”

Leigh’s honey (well, his bees’ honey) is now available from a number of stockists – including Walsingham Farms Shop in Heacham and Walsingham, Heath Farm Shop in Great Massingham and Thornham Deli.

But what’s so special about the honey produced by Leigh’s bees?

“We retain the goodness of the honey by bottling as much as we can as soon as it’s extracted,” he says. “It goes into the jars straight off the comb. If we ever have to warm any, it’s only warmed to a certain point so we know the enzymes will still be alive – and we have it tested to verify that.”

Leigh also explains that bees produce different flavoured honey depending on the pollen or nectar they feed on. If the bees have been at a site in Brancaster working sea lavender, the honey will be taken off and bottled as sea lavender honey, which has a very distinctive taste and texture. Leigh wouldn’t mix it with honey produced from a different site as they’re all unique. His current flavours include Ivy Flower Honey, Heather Honey and Borage Honey.

The bee farming season kicks off in April, so now is a particularly busy time for Leigh, who works hard to ensure his bees – he’s got approximately 12 million of them! – gather enough honey throughout the spring and summer to create a surplus over and

above their needs. The surplus is harvested, and the bees are left with more than enough of their own honey to survive the winter.

He does this by taking them to different crops around the country, before returning home to Narford.

“I love my job,” says Leigh. “There’s something that amazes me every day and I always learn something new.”

The job doesn’t come without its challenges though.

“It’s hard on my back,” he says, “but the main challenge is the weather. No matter how well I do my job, if the weather’s bad then we can have a bad year.”

Another peril of being a bee farmer is being stung, but that’s just the norm for Leigh, who says on an average day he’ll be stung four or five times. He wouldn’t change a thing, though – he’s living his childhood dream and is surrounded by honey every day!

“I love honey on porridge, on toast, in coffee and simply off the spoon!” he says. “You’d think I’d get fed up with it, but I don’t. I’m a honey addict.”

KLmagazine April 2019

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Spring lamb available now Special offer on lamb racks over the Easter weekend in both our Walsingham and Heacham shops

Wa alsingham

Guild Street NR22 6BU t: 01328 821877

He eacham

No orwich Market

Norfo folk Lavender Lynn Road PE31 7JE t: 01485 570002

R Row F, 124/125 Norwich NR2 1ND t: 01603 621966

www.walsingham.co

SHOP

|

DISTILLERY |

TOURS

|

THE KITCHEN

£5

e y th sk ed i n hi k d W oo en sh r b sp li u o ng to r t E ny he ny a uc n a ith Vo o w o p 30 sh r £ e ov

RESTAURANT & COFFEE HOUSE Coome annd visit isit ou our

AFTERNOON TEA 1 . 3 0 - 5 . 3 0 P M D A I LY Pre-booking required £14.95pp

S T G EO R G E ’ S TO U R & 2 C O U R S E LU N C H 1 H O U R TO U R On the hour, every hour 10am-4pm 7 days a week £27.50pp

www.englishwhisky.co.uk | 01953 717939 St George’s Distillery, Harling Road, Roudham, Norfolk NR16 2QW OPEN 7 days a week | Distillery: 9am-5.30pm | T To ours: 10am-4pm | The Kitchen: 9am-5pm

KLmagazine April 2019

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Craw wfish Inn Thai Restaurant & Bar

Traditional Bangkok Thai Cuisine Local Real Ales Extensive Wine List Takeaway Ser vice Fully Air Conditioned Backing British Farming

Call 01328 878313 for reser vations Open: Tues Sun fr Holt Road, Thursfo

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The Wooden Gem f fe

Easter Saturd Live music • 9pm Easter Sunday Charity carboot 10am - 2pm. Book for pitch all proceeds to hope for Heather.

Book table for Easter Sunday lunch

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Tracey & Stuart welcome you to their newly refurbished pub beautifully set between two rivers

Cofffeeosity Emporium A ffew ew o off o ou ur d delicious e l i c i o u s f lavou l a v o u rs! rs!

MA AICAN BLUE MOUNTA AIN Smooth & mild / Rich & sweet

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Nutty & caramel / Intense & refined acidity Plus! T Teeas | Homemade Cakes | Function Room Hire 01366 384040 | www.theheronstowbridge.com The Heron Stowbridge, The Causeway, Stowbridge PE34 3PP

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31 High Street, Hunstanton 01485 535559 Find us on Facebook

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Pressed sumac chicken with black garlic aioli, heritage tomatoes & pickled shallots

INGREDIENTS

Serves 6 (as a starter or 4 as a light lunch) Sumac chicken 2 large free-range chicken breasts 1 tsp smoked paprika 2 tsp sumac 50g pistachios 50g dates

Pickled shallots 60ml water 110ml white wine vinegar 80g sugar 6 juniper berries 2 shallots, peeled and cut into thin rings

Black garlic aioli 2 free range egg yolks 1 tsp white wine vinegar 2 tsp Dijon mustard 400ml rape seed oil 5 cloves of black garlic 1 large handful of mixed heritage tomatoes KLmagazine April 2019

1

5

Dice each chicken breast into eight equal pieces and put in a bowl with the paprika, sumac, pistachios and dates. Add a large pinch of table salt and mix heavily making sure the chicken is well coated. Line a rectangular pâté mould with three layers of cling film and press the mixture into this.

Cover the top with cling film then place another pâté mould on top with weights inside it and leave to chill in the fridge for one hour.

To make the black garlic aioli, add the egg yolks and the white wine vinegar into a food processor and blitz for 30 seconds.

Then add the mustard and slowly add the rape seed oil making sure you’re adding in a slow and steady stream this will incorporate into a thick emulsion. When all the oil has gone, add the black garlic to the processor, along with a heavy pinch of salt and blitz for a further 45 seconds. Decant into a tub and chill in the fridge.

2 3

6

Turn the oven on to 140°C.

Remove the chicken mix from the fridge and place the pate moulds in a deep tray and fill with boiling water ensuring the water goes at least ¾ of the way up the bottom mould. Cook for one hour or until the middle of the chicken probes at 72 degrees.

Once cooked cool and then chill in the fridge.

4

Slice and chop the tomatoes in different ways. Some can be slow roasted in advance to give concentrated sweetness and variety to the dish.

To serve slice the chicken into generous portions and mindfully add all the other elements to the plate.

Daniel Freear

For the pickled shallots place the water, vinegar, sugar and juniper berries into a sauce pan on a medium heat for six minutes.

HEAD CHEF AT STRATTONS Next plunge the shallot rings into the 4 Ash Close, Swaffham PE37 7NH pickling liquor and leave. Once chilled place into a kilner jar and refrigerate.

Tel: 01760 723845 Web: www.strattonshotel.com 71

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Wells Crab House

Only three years after opening, it’s one of the most popular and talked-about restaurants in Norfolk, showcasing the very best of the county’s fish and seafood – and giving it an exciting new twist...

N

orfolk is famous for its outstanding fish and seafood, which makes it all the more surprising that when Scott and Kelly Dougal opened Wells Crab House in Wells-next-the-Sea three years ago it was one of the very few dedicated seafood restaurants along the whole coastline.

The couple grew up in the same town of Halesworth in Suffolk, and moved to Norfolk to work for the Flying Kiwi Inns group - Scott at The Ship in Brancaster and Kelly at The Crown in Wells - before they heard that the Wells Crab House Cafe was available.

"We felt that north Norfolk really needed - and deserved - a genuine seafood restaurant," says Scott, "so it

72

seemed the perfect opportunity to showcase some of the county's finest produce. And we both love seafood!"

Originally a pub some 200 years ago, the building was also the town's first Co-op store in the 1960s, and has had half a dozen different incarnations since then - but it's fair to say that it's never looked better than it does today.

Virtually single-handedly, Scott and Kelly transformed the interior, repainting the walls and completely refurbishing and redecorating it. They introduced new equipment to the kitchen, built a new bar and installed new tables and specially-upholstered chairs. And they did it in little more than three weeks.

All that work soon paid off, as Wells Crab House has become one of

Norfolk's most popular and in-demand restaurants. At last year's Norfolk Food & Drink Awards, it became the first restaurant to win two awards at the same event - for Restaurant of the Year and Best Front of House Team. During the ceremony, Scott and Kelly looked over at the winners they expected – only to hear their own restaurant announced!

"It's been brilliant and far more successful than we'd ever hoped," says Scott. "We’ve now got a staff of four full-time plus part-time chefs and a brilliant front of house team!"

And when a restaurant by the coast is fully booked for the next three Saturdays in mid-March (before the summer season arrives) you know it's doing something very special.

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The success of Wells Crab House is a great testament to Scott and Kelly's passion and hard work, but it's also largely due to their quite incredible food.

There's no doubt this is a seafood restaurant - there's only a single meat starter and main course on the menu (the same applies to vegetarian dishes) which changes on a monthly basis, and the specials board tends to reflect the catch of the day.

"All our lobsters, crabs and oysters come from a few hundred yards away on the quayside," says Scott, "but I also get some interesting fish from a friend at Billingsgate Market in London. We're always supporting local fishermen, and we'll buy as much as we can from them."

And if you were thinking of ordering plaice and chips, you may need to think again. At Wells Crab House, Scott and Kelly have given local seafood a whole new dimension, elevating it to a new level entirely. A recent inverted variation of the classic 'surf and turf' involved a delicious skate with mushrooms and a chicken gravy - while the current menu includes a whole mackerel stuffed with beetroot and leeks. This is very clever food, and it's extraordinarily tasty.

Norfolk's seafood pedigree is recognised across the country, putting places such as Cromer (crabs), Brancaster (mussels) and Stiffkey (cockles) on the nation's food map. It's about time we had a restaurant dedicated to truly celebrating our local fish and seafood - and willing to take it in any number of exciting new directions.

Thanks to Scott and Kelly Dougal and their talented team at Wells Crab House, that time has arrived. And it tastes incredible. Just remember to book your table before everyone else does.

On the MENU CASTING OFF

Brown Shrimp Fettucine with Artichoke Hearts and Parmesan

Grilled Mackerel Fillet with Spiced Salt and Asian Slaw

Battered Sardines Mayonnaise and a Tomato & Cucumber Salad

MAIN CATCH

Thai Stuffed Whole Gilthead Bream with Spiced Pineapple Black Rice and Sweet & Sour Cucumber Salad

Stonebass Fillet with Salt & Vinegar Mash, Fine Beans and Herb Cream

Whiting Schnitzel with Sweet Potato Fries, Blackened Beans and Katsu Sauce

TO REEL IT IN

Join us for our

ST. GEORGE’S DAY ENGLISH DINNER TUESDAY 23

RD

APRIL 2019

Join our patriotic celebrations with a fabulous 4-course meal accompanied by wines from Lee Dyer of Winbirri Vineyard – which recently produced a white wine judged the best in the world.

Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake with Lemon and Ely Afternoon Tea Gin Icing and Clotted Cream

Chocolate Delice with Chocolate Coated Orange

BBQ Banana with Salted Caramel Ice Cream and Macadamia Nuts

TO BOOK Please call 01328 710456 or visit www.wellscrabhouse.co.uk

Tickets: £40 per person. £10 deposit required Places are limited, so please book now to avoid disappointment.

KLmagazine April 2019

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MEET the Chef

Talking with Wells Crab House’s Head Chef Scott Dougal KL magazine: How did you start as a chef?

Scott Dougal: I've always loved cooking, and I actually won the British Gas East Anglian Cook of the Year Award when I was 13! It must have been a natural talent, because I'm entirely self-taught. For some reason I ended up in the motor industry for 16 years, and it was Kelly (who's now my wife!) who brought me back to the trade. I started a job as a barman so I could spend more time with her!

KL magazine: What's your general approach to food?

Scott Dougal: To be honest, we'll try anything as long as there's fish involved! I want the food we serve to be as fresh as possible and as local as possible. That doesn't just apply to the fish and seafood - it extends to the salads, the cucumbers, the squashes and the garnishes. Even when we do put meat on the menu, that comes from Wells. One of the best things about going on holiday is tasting local food, and I think we should have the same attitude at home. We're in Norfolk, so let's enjoy Norfolk's food!

KL magazine: What do you like

the kitchen, and we each have our own little areas of expertise. James Hughes likes traditional dishes but also has a real flair for Cajun food, while Richard Baker is a real talent when it comes to Middle Eastern dishes. As for myself, I love cooking Asian food when done well, the flavours are really amazing. That means we're never short of new ways to bring the best out of our local fish and seafood.

l a g u o D Scott

KL magazine: Is there anything you don't like cooking?

Scott Dougal: This is going to sound really weird considering the fact that we run a seafood restaurant, but I can't actually touch oysters because I'm highly allergic to them - and I also have a slight intolerance to crab and lobster as well! I didn't discover any of this until we were up and running, but I don't think that would have changed anything. I just need to be a bit careful.

cooking best?

Scott Dougal: There are three of us in

KL magazine: What would you recommend for a three-course meal at Wells Crab House?

Scott Dougal: To start, I'd definitely recommend the cornmeal-crumbed octopus tentacle hotdog, and I'd follow that with the Skrei Cod Bourguignon with silverskin onions, crispy bacon and new potatoes. If you had any room for dessert, I'd suggest the banana and condensed milk parfait, with cashew

nut and honey praline. But that assumes you'll be coming today - our menu changes so regularly that it's very difficult to recommend certain dishes.

KL magazine: Who's your culinary inspiration?

Scott Dougal: I always admired the late Anthony Bourdain, who died last year and was one of the most influential chefs in the world, but I was brought up on Keith Floyd and he's always been my food hero.

KL magazine: If you were going out for a meal with Kelly and weren't allowed to choose your own restaurant, where would you go?

Scott Dougal: We always like to try somewhere new, but we do have our favourites such as Benedicts and Haggle in Norwich. Wells has some great places to eat, and in Burnham Market 20 North Street and Socius are really amazing. For a special treat we'll go to Mortson Hall. Galton Blackiston is a brilliant chef, and I've always admired the work of Eric Snaith at Titchwell Manor. We're really spoiled with great restaurants in Norfolk - the only trouble is that our day off is Monday, just like all the other restaurants we want to visit!

Wells Crab House, 38-40 Freeman Street, Wells-next-the-Sea NR23 1BA Telephone: 01328 710456 | Website: www.wellscrabhouse.co.uk 74

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Lynn Road, Fincham, King's Lynn PE33 9HE 01366 347747 | timberscountrylodge.co.uk

A unique Grade II listed barn complex located in the beautiful Norfolk Countryside

DOG FRIENDLYme

Park, meet, drink, dine, celebrate, relax, sleep….enjoy

We now welco r dogs into our ba area - near the fireplace

BOOK NOW For our Easter Sunday Carvery Sunday 21st April Guests who book a table will be included into a draw to win a large Easter egg!

NEW ON THE MENU FOR APRIL

TICKETS

£50

(£5 of ea c going to h ticket ch Call us to arity) book

Bollywood Spectacular Party Sunday 14th April, 3:30pm-10pm @ Downham Market Town Hall

Get ready for a night of colour, entertainment, fun & dancing.

Enjoy an authentic 3 course meal Indian meal and fantastic live acts... including The London School of Bollywood (as seen on Britain’s Got Talent), Achanak and Apache Indian 90’s superstar.

52-56 High St, Downham Market PE38 9HH • Tel: 01366 386110 KLmagazine April 2019

@thedownhamtandoori 75

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Authentic Mexican food

Open daily 12 noon -10pm Book a table via our social media or give us a call

Packed with fresh and tas asty ty ideas as fo for a hap happy Eas aster!

New season crabs Local oysters & shellfish Jumbo raw aw p prawns Wide range of fr Wi fresh & sm moked fish h Local honey

lus!

Plu Deli counter with quality local cheeses

D NALDS NS 1 Railway Road, King’s Lynn | 01553 762277

A f resh taste of the sea

Austin Fields, King’s Lynn | Tel: 01553 772241 OPEN: Tues/Wed/Thurs 7am-4pm, Fri 7am-5pm, Sat 7am-3pm

ORIENT TA AL PA P ALACE

THE

BERNEY• AR•MS EA ATT DRINK STA AYY

CHINESE REST TA AURANT Pe

Cuisine

Choose as many dishes as you want from the à la carte menu and they'll be freshly cooked to order - all for one set price!

Stay y,, Relax

Enjoy Easter

Enjoy a relaxing short break this Easter at The Berne eyy Arms.

Call us on 01366 347995 or go to our website: www.theberneyarms.co.uk/stay for more information on our lovely rooms.

Church Road, Barton Bendish PE33 9GF

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2255 nn, PE33 0NP 5pm-10:30pm co.uk

KLmagazine April 2019

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Flavour of the month

Truly delicious food and a very warm welcome at The Heron at Stowbridge...

I

f it’s fair to say that The Heron in Stowbridge couldn’t be in a more idyllic setting. Perfectly placed between two rivers – the River Great Ouse and New Cut – it’s surrounded by open space and natural beauty. It’s perfect for a warm and sunny day, but when we visited in early March it was pouring with rain. Happily, the interior is no less attractive.

You certainly don’t need sunshine to enjoy everything The Heron has to offer. We received a very friendly welcome and soon warmed up in front of the roaring open fire. The décor inside is beautiful – it’s clear that it’s been carefully thought out, with neutral tones and some lovely finishing touches. I particularly liked the heronthemed wallpaper and the fact the word ‘welcome’ appears in numerous

KLmagazine April 2019

places throughout the pub – over the bar and on the coat stand, for example.

You certainly feel at home here, and it helps give the pub an authentic community feel. At the bar are posters advertising local events and a collection box raising money for Heather Bellamy – a young local woman with cancer who’s raising funds for lifesaving treatment in America. There’s a jar containing dog biscuits and there’s a jar full of sweets for children, so no one will be short of a treat!

Tracey and Stuart Elflett opened the doors of the newly-refurbished pub in August last year, having spent four months giving it an exciting new lease of life.

“It’s exceeded all our hopes and dreams,” smiled Tracey when I asked about how things have gone since the couple took over The Heron.

Tracey took us through to the restaurant (also decorated beautifully I should add) where we were treated to a delicious meal courtesy of head chef David Plumb.

“We serve pub classics but we like to give them a bit of a contemporary twist,” he said when we talked to him later. “The most important thing to me is that everyone goes home feeling satisfied!”

There’s certainly plenty of choice on the menu, but it’s not overwhelming.

The Heron runs specials from Tuesday to Saturday, and do lunch and dinner deals on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which includes the roast of the day.

We enjoyed a fabulous antipasti board with mixed Italian meats, olives, sun-blushed tomatoes and sliced warm baguette as a shared starter. For mains we chose the beer-battered haddock and chips (all of which was extremely well done) and chicken supreme – which was served in a delicious Stilton sauce – together with a beautiful tenderloin pork in a red wine and plum sauce from the specials board.

All the food was outstanding, and I’d love to go back to try more of The Heron’s food because several other dishes caught my eye – including a specially-created range of vegetarian dishes.

This local pub is unusually friendly, and that’s largely down to the work of Tracey herself.

“I want everyone who walks though these door to be treated like royalty,” she said as we left – and the staff are as good as her words. I really hope that next time I visit The Heron (which I certainly will) the sun will be shining, because I can think of few things better than sitting by the river with a glass of gin from the pub’s well-stocked gin shelf.

Hopefully, I’ll see you there.

THE HERON The Causeway, Stowbridge PE34 3PP Tel: 01366 384040 Web: www.theheronstowbridge.com E 77

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KLmagazine April 2019

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Pistachio & olive oil cake with raspberry ice cream

INGREDIENTS Cake

200g of pistachio nuts 3 eggs 200g sugar 125ml warm olive oil 100g melted butter 2 oranges juiced 2 lemons juiced 50g polenta 75g flour 1tsp baking powder

Ice cream 150ml double cream 100ml whole milk 90g egg yolks 100g caster sugar

Jelly and gel 500ml raspberry purée 5g agar-agar

KLmagazine April 2019

1

For the cake, Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas mark 2. Add the eggs and sugar to a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of gently boiling water. Whisk vigorously until the mixture becomes light and frothy.

2

Slowly mix in the oil, butter, lemon juice and orange juice.

3

Blitz the polenta, pistachio nuts, flour and baking powder into a fine crumb, then gently fold into the egg mixture until a dropping consistency is achieved.

4 5

Add to a lined cake tin and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

For the ice cream, In a medium bowl mix together the egg yolks and sugar. In a separate pan mix together the milk and cream and bring to the boil.

6

Pour 1/3 of the milk and cream mixture over the egg mixture and mix well, then pour everything back into the pan and heat until it reaches 72°C. Pass through a sieve.

7

Add 250ml of raspberry purée and mix well, leave to cool before churning in an ice cream machine.

8

For the jelly and gel, bring the purée to the boil, add the agar and whisk, bring back to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 minute.

9

Pour into a tray and chill in the fridge for an hour. Once cooled cut into shapes, blitz the trim to make a gel.

RECIPE BY CALEY HALL HOTEL Old Hunstanton Road, Old Hunstanton PE36 6HH Tel: 01485 533486 Web: www.caleyhallhotel.co.uk 79

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ABOVE: Actor Andrew Jarvis (seen most recently as ‘Jerry’ in EastEnders) at St. George’s Guildhall in King’s Lynn – the setting for this month’s King’s Lynn Shakespeare Festival, which he’s organised virtually single-handedly

Why all the world’s a stage for Andrew Jarvis

KL magazine talks to the organiser of this month’s King’s Lynn Shakespeare Festival – which features a wealth of international scholarship and a very special guest appearance by Sir Ian McKellen

V

eteran actor Andrew Jarvis is standing on King Street in King's Lynn. He's within a stone's throw from Shakespeare Barn, he's within a few feet of Shakespeare House, and the pub on the corner of the street is called The Globe. The man who has admittedly spent a lifetime with the world's most famous (and influential) dramatist has also single-handedly organised this month's King’s Lynn Shakespeare Festival - which takes place in what may very well be the only surviving venue in the world where the playwright actually performed.

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And that's exactly where we're standing. We're outside St. George's Guildhall, where this month's festival starts on Friday 26th April - the 455th anniversary of Shakespeare's baptism.

"From the very start, I've wanted this festival to do two things," says Andrew. "I want to bring Shakespeare home, and I want to show people there's nothing difficult about understanding him."

He remembers being at the Royal Shakespeare Company some 30 years ago when Artist Director Terry Hands was asked KLmagazine April 2019

“ I want to show people there’s nothing difficult about understanding Shakespeare...” what the style of the RSC was. His disarming response was that the 'style' was simple - actors in light speaking Shakespeare.

"That's all you need and that's all you'll ever need," says Andrew. "The words are on the page in the same way that Mozart's notes are on the sheet music. You'd never dream of adding a few extra notes to make it sound better, and there's no need to modernise the language of Shakespeare."

The King’s Lynn Shakespeare Festival opens on Friday with a workshop designed to solve the perennial problem of lifting those words off the page and bringing Shakespeare to life. A number of local schools and colleges are already looking forward to it, but Andrew is keen to stress that anyone is welcome to attend.

"I talk to so many people who'd love to read Shakespeare but find it difficult to know where to start," he says. "That's what this workshop is for - and we'll be more than happy for someone to bring some Shakespeare with them and we'll work on it together."

That evening Andrew himself will be performing Ages of Man (a selection of readings from Shakespeare made famous by Sir John Gielgud) and he'll be accompanied by period music from the nine musicians of the East of England Renaissance Consort led by John Durrant.

The following day, the King’s Lynn Shakespeare Festival features presentations by five leading scholars exploring various aspects of the playwright and his connections to the town.

Richard Dutton (Emeritus Professor of English at Ohio State University) will be discussing the nature of touring theatre in Shakespeare's time, while Matthew Woodcock (Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at the UEA) will be presenting his latest research on the evidence supporting Shakespeare's presence in King's Lynn.

John Drakakis (Emeritus Professor of English Studies at the University of Stirling) will be talking about Robert KLmagazine April 2019

IMAGE: OLIVER ROSSER - FEAST CREATIVE

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ABOVE: St. George’s Guildhall in King’s Lynn may feature the last remaining stage in the world where Shakespeare may have performed – a subject that’s a major focus of this month’s festival

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ABOVE: Sir Ian McKellen’s seminal performance in Macbeth opposite Judi Dench is regarded as the greatest of the 20th century, and the world-famous actor will be taking part in this month’s King’s Lynn Shakespeare Festival with two special appearances

Armin - who was born in King's Lynn and eventually became the leading comedy actor in Shakespeare's company, and Alison Findlay (Professor of Renaissance Drama at Lancaster University and Chair of the British Shakespeare Company) will be exploring the roles of 'boy players' in Elizabethan theatre - and what happened to them when they grew up.

Finally, Peter J Smith (Reader in Renaissance Literature at Nottingham Trent University) will be exploring the bodily obsessions of King Lear and how they relate to the actor's experience and his choice of play is rather fitting as it turns out.

Following a special guided

82

Shakespeare Walk around the historic heart of King's Lynn by Dr. Paul Richards, the stage of St. George's Guildhall will welcome Sir Ian McKellen - instantly recognisable for his film roles as Gandalf and Magneto, but also a professional Shakespearean actor for the last 57 years. The winner of every major theatrical award in the UK, his performance as Macbeth in 1976 (opposite Judi Dench) is considered to be the greatest of the 20th century.

Having said that his performance as King Lear in London last year would be his final Shakespearean role, McKellen is celebrating his 80th birthday by touring his new solo show Tolkien, Shakespeare and You! around different venues in the UK, and he'll be appearing at the King's Lynn Shakespeare Festival on both Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.

"This will be my first visit to King's Lynn and I'm really looking forward to it," he says. "Live theatre has always been thrilling to me, and when I was growing up in Lancashire I was always grateful to those companies that toured beyond London. I'm now repaying that debt by touring up and down the country myself, and I'm pleased that all the profits will benefit both the King's Lynn Shakespeare Festival and St. George's Guildhall."

Before McKellen closes the Festival on Sunday afternoon, an open round table forum and discussion and Q&A session will take place with the five

scholars mentioned earlier exploring the various issues raised over the weekend and avenues of further research.

And then Andrew Jarvis will finally be able to relax. Perchance to dream.

"All we want to do is create interest, celebrate the man and his work, and spark new investigations into his connections with King's Lynn," he says.

"I've received so much positive feedback and enthusiasm for the idea that I'm sure it will be a fabulous event for everyone."

Happily, it's unlikely to be a one-off event either.

"I'd love to stage a production or two later this year and establish a repertory theatre company here doing regular theatre," he says. "As for next year, people have already been suggesting events for another festival - from musical performances and film screenings to educational workshops and productions. In fact, I'm already looking forward to organising the 2020 King's Lynn Shakespeare Festival!"

The King's Lynn Shakespeare Festival

Friday 26th - Sunday 28th April at St. George's Guildhall, King's Lynn For full details and booking details, please see the website at www.kingslynnshakespeare.com

KLmagazine April 2019

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KLmagazine April 2019

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KLmagazine April 2019

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Why the sound of music has never looked better...

For the complete home cinema experience, Core Technology Projects insists on paying as much attention to the sound as they do the visuals

W

hen you watch a film your attention is likely to be mainly focused on the picture itself, admiring the acting and marvelling at the special effects - but one of the most important elements of the complete cinema experience comes through your ears. In many ways, truly dynamic sound in today's movies can play just as important a role as all the CGI. From its centre in King’s Lynn, Core Technology Projects has built a strong local reputation around Norfolk for designing and installing dedicated home cinema rooms – and for taking sound to a new level.

“We've probably got a choice of around 20 different brands of speakers at the moment and they're some of the most advanced designs available anywhere," says managing director Jim Garrett. "People often spend a lot of money on a sound system but the

results can be really disappointing.

We've got the experience and the expertise to help you get the best out of the very latest audio technology."

And before you think your room is going to be dominated by an array of unsightly speakers, Core Technology Projects can introduce you to the modern world of sound. Many of today's cutting-edge speakers are specially designed to be features in themselves, but if you really don't want to see them, Jim and his team offer everything from in-wall speakers and invisible speakers to behind-the-screen speakers and even pendant light speakers.

It means you can enjoy the most realistic and immersive sound imaginable without being surrounded by wires, cables and technology.

"We can take that approach throughout your home and design a multi-room audio system with

independent volume control for every room in your house," says Jim. "We can even bring the inside out and create complete outdoor sound installations that are perfect for barbecues and summer sports broadcasts."

As Core Technology Projects opens new demonstration suites at their King's Lynn base and new centre in Holt, there's never been a better time to see (and hear) the future of home entertainment.

Contact Core Technology Projects today or visit the showrooms and demonstration suites in King’s Lynn and Holt for more information and an initial consultation about your home cinema requirements. And don’t forget to ask for details about our other services – such as complete smarthome installations, fully automated gates and barriers, and comprehensive data and security solutions.

1 APS House, Oldmedow Road, Hardwick Industrial Estate, King’s Lynn PE30 4JJ Tel: 01553 776413 Web: www.coretechnologyprojects.co.uk E-mail: enquiries@coretechnologyprojects.co.uk

KLmagazine April 2019

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“

Let no one come to the school with uncombed head, face and hands unwashed, dirty shoes and torn hose – or slovenly dress...

”

- From the original rule book of Lynn Grammar School

86_KLGrammarSchool.qxp_Layout 1 22/03/2019 15:59 Page 3

ABOVE: Lynn Grammar School in St James Street in King’s Lynn (1822-1906) – opposite is the Butchers’ Shambles on the town’s Saturday Market Place built near to where the old Charnel Chapel had stood and was demolished in 1914. The school was on the first floor for about 40 years.

The 500-year story of Lynn’s Grammar School

Former head of King Edward VII School and writer Michael Walker talks about the origins and development of Lynn Grammar School, a fascinating story that begins back in 1510

S

ome references can be found to the provision of education in King’s Lynn in the 14th and 15th centuries, but 1510 has long been taken as the key date when considering the origins of the Lynn Grammar School.

That was the date of the Will of Thomas Thoresby, in which the former mayor provided for the upkeep of a priest who was to be paid from the income from lands in Gaywood, subject to certain conditions – principally that the priest would pray for his soul and “daily teach six children in grammar and song.”

Under the Chantries Act of 1548, property bequeathed to pay for the daily chanting of prayers for the dead could be confiscated. It’s believed that the land, having been seized by the Crown, was then granted to the Lynn Corporation – which felt obliged to

KLmagazine April 2019

apply the income to the original purpose. Certainly the unbroken history of the school under the control of the Corporation can be traced from November 1550, when the Borough Hall Book refers to John Rackster as “now being the grammar school master.” He was to receive a salary of £10 per year and “a chaldron of coals for his winter firing.”

The first mention of governance in relation to the Grammar School was in 1606, when it was decided that two governors would be appointed to oversee the management of the school – and later in that year various rules were agreed. A set of rules is preserved in the Borough Archives, but these bear the date 1662. They may have replaced those agreed in 1606, but are more likely the same.

There are 32 rules in all, divided into sections concerned with Piety, Letters 87

86_KLGrammarSchool.qxp_Layout 1 22/03/2019 16:00 Page 4

(the curriculum), Manners and Order.

Good behaviour was obviously very important. Anyone “who either in church or in public does not conduct himself modestly” would be punished as would “brawling, fighting, noise, pilfering, obscenity and oaths.”

Although school uniform was a thing of the future, there was a rule which said: “Let no one come to the school with uncombed head, face and hands unwashed, dirty shoes and torn hose, or slovenly dress.”

The old adage that cleanliness is next to godliness, obviously applied. There was even good advice for the masters, who had to “arrange the course of study neither all at once nor confusedly, but leisurely, illustrating extensively with examples. Let them never go on to new lessons unless the former are known and fully understood.”

These rules were reproduced in The Lennensian, the magazine of King Edward Vll School, in December 1930, along with some delightful cartoons.

The school in the early days was located on the upper floor of the Charnel Chapel, a 14th century building next to St Margaret’s Church (today’s Minster) which stood over the bones taken out of the many graves in the cemetery. It was demolished in 1779 and for a period of some 40 years the Grammar School was located in rooms above the ‘Butchers’ Shambles’, which also stood on the town’s Saturday Market Place.

Although it had been used for the boarders from quite early in the school’s history, the master’s house in St James Street (near the corner with what is today called Tower Street) wasn’t used for teaching until the 1820s. However, it was to be the main site of the school until 1906 when it moved to magnificent new buildings on the Gaywood Road.

Over the centuries, the school experienced many ups and downs.

Perhaps the nadir was in the mid-18th century when the Usher (or second master) Eugene Aram was arrested after only a few months in the post for a murder which had been committed some 14 years previously.

After a celebrated trial in York, Aram was found guilty and hanged in 1759.

An exhibition in the Stories of Lynn museum describes the details of the murder and the trial.

In complete contrast, a high point came in the 19th century during the headship of the Rev. Thomas White. He

88

managed to secure the patronage of the Prince of Wales, who in 1864 decided to award a Gold Medal to the best student at the Grammar School, a prize which is still awarded annually to this day.

It’s believed the school was brought to the attention of the Prince of Wales when the boys lined the station at King’s Lynn to welcome him and his new bride on their way to Sandringham,

which had been bought for the prince by his mother as a private house in 1862. The first medal was awarded to a certain H Bristow in April 1865 at Sandringham House.

A detailed history of the school is to be found in my book, Diary of a Grammar School which is available from Waterstones in Lynn.

ABOVE: An illustration of Lynn Grammar School’s Rule 16, which stated that “in the streets, where magistrates, men of years or notability may be, let the head [of the student] be uncovered and the way given to them, and let the Master reprove those who neglect to do so...”

KLmagazine April 2019

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KLmagazine April 2019

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Helping you make sense of Making Tax Digital...

Almost 90% of businesses will be affected by Making Tax Digital, and Stephenson Smart can help you make sense of this new initiative

T

here’s still a great deal of confusion surrounding Making Tax Digital (MTD) concerning who it applies to, when it will start and what it will mean. MTD for VAT is now live, which means that businesses with a taxable turnover above the £85,000 VAT registration threshold now come within the new rules. Here, we answer some of the key questions regarding MTD for VAT:

Q: What exactly are the digital requirements for tax?

A: As part of the MTD initiative, businesses are required to keep specified records digitally, and file all future VAT returns direct from their digital records. Businesses already using software will need to check with their provider to ensure their products are MTD-compliant. Some businesses will need to change the way they record their business transactions.

Q: Do all VAT-registered businesses start MTD at the same time?

A: Each business will have its own start date depending on its VAT quarters. For

KING’S LYNN 01553 774104 FAKENHAM 01328 863318

KLmagazine April 2019

most businesses with a turnover above £85,000, the MTD rules are compulsory from your first VAT return period starting on (or after) 1st April 2019.

There are, however, some exceptions for complex businesses.

Q: What happens if my business is voluntarily registered for VAT?

A: If your turnover is below the VAT registration limit, you may not need to enter MTD for VAT – but note that you can always join voluntarily!

Q: Does my business have to do anything to get into MTD for VAT? A: Certainly. A business has to sign up to MTD for VAT, and to do this you’ll need your Government Gateway login details and VAT number. At Stephenson Smart we can help you with this process.

Q: Are there penalties for getting MTD for VAT wrong?

penalty period will only last for 12 months, so it’s important that businesses understand and comply with the rules – or seek professional assistance immediately.

Q: Can my business leave MTD for VAT if turnover falls?

A: A business will stay within MTD for VAT even if turnover subsequently falls below the VAT threshold – and the obligation to keep digital records will continue. Only if a business qualifies for exemption (or deregisters) from VAT do the MTD for VAT rules cease to apply.

Q: How can you help my business?

A: As this new system takes effect,

Stephenson Smart would be delighted to advise you on any aspect of MTD for VAT. Please don’t hesitate to contact us or pop in to one of our offices (see below) for a free consultation.

A: Although MTD for VAT is backed by a system of penalties, HMRC intends to take a light approach for certain rules during the first year. This ‘soft landing’ DOWNHAM MARKET 01366 384121 WISBECH 01945 463383

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Home interiors are taking a decidedly spring look this month.

Take some fresh crisp new linen and combine it with some delightful patterned fabrics and natural colours to bring the outdoors in...

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KLmagazine April 2019

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KLmagazine April 2019

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There’s no better time to take advantage of the most advanced cleaning system in the UK with the professional services of Xtraclean

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he days are getting longer and they’re certainly getting brighter, which means it’s the perfect time to treat your stone and wood floors to the Xtraclean treatment – and bring them back to life. Although you can always use elbow grease and off-the-shelf cleaning products (and hope they won’t damage the surface) there’s no better alternative to the professional cleaning services of Martin King and his Swaffham-based team at Xtraclean.

“Natural stone and solid wood floors look incredible when they're first laid, but there’s no way you’re going to be able to keep that ‘as new’ look forever,” says Martin. “Even if your floors have been laid professionally they’ll still need expert care and an equally professional approach to cleaning – and that’s where we come in.”

For almost 25 years, Martin and his team have been treating floors across Norfolk to the most advanced cleaning system in the UK.

“Stone floors aren’t the easiest surfaces in the world to clean,” says Martin, “but our powerful system and the products we use can bring heavilysoiled stone, wood and tiled floors back to their best. And the really good news of all is that we can usually do it in a single visit!”

Over the years, Xtraclean has built a strong reputation for a reliable, friendly and fully-insured service with a team of highly skilled, highly trained and highly knowledgeable technicians – all dedicated to keeping your floors looking as bright and fresh as the day they were laid. Following an initial survey and test, Martin and his team will get to work (they’ll even move the furniture for you!) breaking down ingrained dirt and loosening surface soiling.

Xtraclean’s state-of-the-art turbo ‘clean and capture’ system will then pressure clean the floor using its own water supply and capture all the waste in the process. Without using invasive

and harmful procedures such as grinding and resurfacing (which can actually damage your floor) the results are truly spectacular.

“We can even seal your floors with specialist products for added protection and to help keep those good looks for longer,” says Martin. ”And if you're looking for a particularly amazing finish we can re-polish and buff highly-honed surfaces if required!”

Surprisingly, there’s no great secret to offering such a high quality floor cleaning service.

“We simply use the most advanced technology we can and the most professional products available,” says Martin. “To be honest, you have to see the results to believe them – just ask our customers!”

To give your floors a brighter and cleaner look, contact Xtraclean today for a complete and extra-professional service.

Unit 3, Jack Boddy Way, Swaffham PE37 7HJ Tel: 01760 337762 Web: www.xtraclean.co.uk E-mail: sales@xtraclean.co.uk

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ABOVE: Hunstanton Hall, which contains one of the very few portraits of Alice Le Strange (opposite) who took over the responsibility for the household finances in 1610 – and kept a meticulous and detailed account of everyday life for a wealthy Norfolk family

Portrait of a lady whose price was above pearls...

One of Norfolk’s unsung heroines is undoubtedly Alice Le Strange, whose meticulous household accounts provide a unique insight into the everyday life and finances of an important family in the 17th century

F

ollowing last month’s International Women’s Day, it’s time to meet a local superwoman from the 17th century. With no photographs or video clips to rely on, Alice Le Strange emerges from the numerous documents she meticulously kept as mistress of all she surveyed.

She was, in fact, the consummate housewife and manager – in the words of her husband, Sir Hamon Le Strange “her price is above pearls.”

Alice was a farmer, estate manager and guardian of the family’s finances, and the huge archive she left detailing her life at Hunstanton and Sedgeford form one of the most important collections held in the Norfolk Record Office.

KLmagazine April 2019

Women of the time were no strangers to accounts or managing estates, but usually as widows. Alice, however, was particularly astute and understood that records and accounts could keep the estate on a sound commercial footing.

While other ancient Norfolk families went to the wall, giving up sound dayto-day management of their estates by leaving stewards in charge – while they led an idle lifestyle into bankruptcy – Alice literally looked after the pennies while the pounds continued to pile up.

Alice was born in 1585, the daughter of Richard Stubbe and his second wife Anne, widow of John Le Strange of Sedgeford – and her father was determined to improve his situation in life. Trained as a lawyer, his marriage

put him in close contact with the affairs of local landed families (especially the Le Stranges) and over the years he built up his own estate including property at Rougham, Sedgeford, Hunstanton and Holme. He was one of the trustees assigned the job of guiding and securing the future of the orphaned eight-year-old Hamon Le Strange.

It’s no surprise that as soon as Hamon was old enough to marry, Alice’s father volunteered her for the role.

She was 17 at the time, and the couple would be together for 50 years.

Of their eight children, four survived to adulthood (Nicholas, Hamon, Roger and Elizabeth) and in 1610 Sir Hamon handed over responsibility for household expenditure to his wife.

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With Alice in charge, the family’s household accounts became unusually rigorous (pictured right) – in fact she positively revelled in bookkeeping. It made a stark contrast to the days when her husband had relied on the honesty of servants and tradesmen to tell him what they were owed!

Over the years, Alice added her own dairy to the household income –A Reckoning of the Profit of my Deyrey first occurs in 1617. A year later, as her father’s health declined, she assumed responsibility for the Sedgeford estate as well. This involved receiving rents, keeping the intricate sheep accounts, organizing grazing regimes and crop rotations, drawing up rentals and field books, and commissioning a land and buildings survey.

From 1621, Alice kept building accounts, and ten years later began to rationalize and maintain records for the entire estate at Hunstanton, Heacham, and Ringstead. Investment in building programmes and land drainage now made financial sense.

When enough money had been made from farm rents, timber, corn, livestock, wool, butter, milk and cheese (thanks in no small part to Alice’s work), Hunstanton Hall was rebuilt in the latest style. Le Strange was re-elected as the local MP in 1621, and took his wife on her only visit to London – where she purchased a variety of items for the family and Hunstanton Hall, spending just over £163.

In the 1630s the annual income from the Le Strange estates reached almost £3,000, and when the couple’s eldest son Nicholas married, every single farthing spent on the celebration was recorded – even though no expense was spared. Life was good.

But the couple had no idea that storm clouds were brewing on the horizon.

The family’s prosperity was brutally interrupted by the Civil War. The Le Strange family supported the King, and in 1643 Hamon Le Strange took over King’s Lynn for the Royalists – but was defeated after a short siege by Oliver Cromwell. The following year, Hamon’s youngest son Roger hatched a misguided plan to re-take King’s Lynn – an ambitious plan which led to four years’ imprisonment under sentence of death. Luckily, he managed to flee abroad.

As for Alice, she was helpless to stop her entire flock of 1,660 sheep and all the family’s corn and horses being plundered – and their land confiscated

by Parliamentary forces in retribution.

The total of £1,088 in fines the family were given were described by Alice as “Tiranical Oppression beside our greate

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ABOVE: This portrait of Sir Hamon Le Strange by John Hoskins (1590–1665) can now be seen at King’s Lynn Town Hall

Losse” and her accounts bristle with fury while summarising the fate of her animals and crops.

Gradually, she restocked the farm and took delight in teaching her grandsons how to manage their own small flocks of sheep. She records “Ewe lamb twinnes” for Charles, “one store lamb for little Wills” – and “little Jack” received two store sheep and four store lambs contributing to a flock “of the little Boyes forty-five sheep”.

Alice’s books end abruptly when Sir Hamon died in 1654. Perhaps because she was now a 69-year-old widow her younger relations wanted to take charge, but whatever the case she died two years later.

Her management secured the survival of the family estates in good times and bad – and her records are a

“Alice emerges from the numerous documents she meticulously kept as mistress of all she surveyed...” unique sociological record of 17th century rural west Norfolk, bringing to life a truly remarkable woman.

When Professor Jane Whittle and Dr Elizabeth Griffiths published a major academic study of Alice’s six years ago, they said: “This single household's economy provides a window into some of the most significant cultural and economic issues of early modern England: innovations in trade, retail and production, the basis of gentry power, social relations in the countryside, and the gendering of family life.”

Despite her relative obscurity compared to figures such as Margery Kempe and Edith Cavell, Alice Le Strange remains one of Norfolk’s most remarkable women.

KLmagazine April 2019

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Lettingbetter

Our monthly round up of the latest news and legislation concerning Landlords and Tenants in the private rented sector with Edmonton Estates Director

Damien Simone

Quickfact There is going to be a 12month phasing out period relating to fees in tenancies that were signed prior to 1st June 2019.

Fee Free Reign

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he tenant fee ban is looming ever closer with 1st June this year being the proposed start.

Having had an opportunity to review the final drafts of the legal schedules relating to this I find the extent of what is being classified as a “tenant fee” quite remarkable.

The public promotion of the tenant fee ban was presented as a means of stopping certain letting agents charging over-inflated fees to people applying for a rented property and also to discourage the unnecessary renewal of tenancies where a fee for doing so was contractually obtainable. Now whilst I can appreciate that there were certain agencies in the market that needed to have their wings clipped when it came to what they were charging and why, a significant amount of an agent’s time is expended in the correct processing and administration of potential tenants. In my opinion the cost of this should not be the sole responsibility of the

landlord who is offering the property, but this is of course a lost argument now.

What is interesting is just how far this legislation projects into the management of the tenancy after it has been set up. Two of the most notable charges to be deemed illegal are: Late payment charges for rent: If your tenant defaults after the Fee Ban the landlord or Agent is no longer entitled to make a charge for the administration of late payment notices. Don’t expect the same courtesy from your mortgage lender if as the result of your tenants paying late your financial commitments for the property are delayed. There is a caveat that after 14 days interest can be charged on the unpaid money at 3% above base rate, the effective application of which will be difficult.

Loss of keys is another interesting area as only the cost of the replacement keys is permissible with no consideration available for the costs of

Edmonton Estates Ltd, Nelson House, Bergen Way, King's Lynn PE30 2DE 01553 660615 www.edmontonestates.co.uk info@edmontonestates.co.uk

KLmagazine April 2019

administering the access outside of normal office hours. It is worth noting that in law if the tenant loses keys there is no legal obligation for the landlord or agent to initiate their re-entry into the property and the cost of arranging a locksmith in this instance rests with the tenant. It’s not difficult to see how this could easily end up costing tenants more rather than less.

This law is being applied and we are now beyond the point of revocation but, don’t expect this to be confined to the private rented sector. Mortgage advisors and car supermarkets that charge customers additional administration fees above the purchase value of the vehicle, you are in the crosshairs too, be warned.

Independent Lettings & Property Management Specialists

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ABOVE: The beautiful Hippodrome Circus in Great Yarmouth is one of only three circuses in the world to have a built-in water spectacle – an original feature that was carefully restored by owner Peter Jay and provides a stunning backdrop to some of the venue’s spectacular shows

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Celebrating 116 years of star-studded shows...

Since 1903, the unique Hippodrome Circus in Great Yarmouth has been entertaining audiences with a world-class cast of performers and artistes. And today it’s bigger, brighter and better than ever

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he Hippodrome in Great Yarmouth has often been described as one of the seven wonders of the British seaside, and is the only complete surviving circus building in the country - having been entertaining audiences and attracting people to the Norfolk coastal town for 116 years.

Its origins are equally theatrical.

George Gilbert was born in Norwich in 1857 to a penniless coach builder, but he ran away from home at a young age to join Hannaford’s London Travelling KLmagazine April 2019

Circus, a grand-sounding company that actually comprised a single tent, two horses and a fortune-telling pony.

Despite this rather humble beginning, Gilbert managed to perfect skills in bareback horse riding, trapeze work and acrobatics and became one of the country's most famous showmen - and he never forgot that his first circus trip saw him travel to Great Yarmouth's Easter Fair. That was the start of a lifelong love of the town, and in addition to donating hundreds of tons of coal to the poor and thousands of

pairs of boots to local children, Gilbert also constructed the Hippodrome in 1903.

The exterior was on a particularly impressive scale, but that was nothing compared to what took place behind the entrance doors. Gilbert started as he meant to go on, managing to attract the world-famous Charles Blondin (who'd crossed Niagra Falls on a tightrope in 1859) to his new stage and the Hippodrome never looked back.

Lillie Langtry once sang on the 105

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“This venue has one of the richest histories of performance in the entire world...”

Hippodrome's stage, which also hosted the famous 4ft 6ins comedian and dancer Harry 'Little Tich' Relph, the incomparable Harry Houdini, and a young Charlie Chaplin - who almost certainly performed there as a child before finding fame and fortune in America. During the Second World War it was used as a practice shooting range for the military, and David Lloyd George (the last Liberal Prime Minister) held political rallies there. In more recent years, the Hippodrome has welcomed everyone from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to the Moscow State Circus, from BBC's Question Time to the legendary guitarist Duane Eddy.

The Hippodrome continues to present an incredible variety of entertainment, and one of its most enduring attractions is the amazing water spectacle, which uses an ingenious mechanism created by Gilbert himself and that still uses the technology of 1903 - with no electrics and no hydraulics.

The Hippodrome's present-day renaissance is the result of the extraordinary work of the Jay family starting with Peter Jay (below), who bought the famous building with his late father in 1979 and restored it to its former glory.

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ABOVE: A young Charlie Chaplin (left) almost certainly performed on the Hippodrome stage, while David Bowie (right) almost spent his career as David Jay after seeing the building’s owner Peter Jay rehearse with his band in a London pub

He also established the Hippodrome's fascinating Circus Museum, a veritable treasure trove of memories that includes rare memorabilia, unique props, archive photographs, contemporary artwork, and a collection of posters and costumes.

It's hardly a surprise, though, because Peter's no stranger to the stage himself.

He founded the popular group Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers at the start of the 1960s, and enjoyed tours with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Ike and Tina Turner. In fact, after seeing Peter's band rehearsing in a London pub one evening, a young singer/songwriter called David Jones started calling himself David Jay for a while - before settling on Bowie as a surname.

"Our vision for the Hippodrome has always been for it to help make Great Yarmouth truly 'great' again," says Peter.

"The town has wealth of incredible buildings, and like the Hippodrome they've adapted and changed along with the times. This venue has one of the richest histories of performance in the entire world, and in my opinion it's the most unique and most atmospheric arena anywhere in the country."

With his wife and two sons, Peter now oversees the production of four major shows annually - a star-studded programme that consumes all 365 days of the year - but the family wouldn't have it any other way. They're currently preparing for the opening of this year's Pirates Live spectacular, an awardwinning two-hour extravaganza that opens on 6th April and features a cast of actors, acrobats and aerialists performing on a huge galleon in the water. And it's all indoors, of course.

There's nothing quite like it, and that's the real magic of the Hippodrome.

"We've never wanted the Hippodrome to simply be a window to the past or a relic of a bygone time," says Peter. "We're really proud of our history and we embrace it, but we're always using it to push our shows forward and further into the future.

When it was built it was a 'must see' destination - and that's what we want.

Not just for the Hippodrome, but for Great Yarmouth as well."

For information on upcoming shows at the Hippodrome and details of how to book your tickets, please see the website www.hippodromecircus.co.uk KLmagazine April 2019

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Opening a new chapter in motoring excellence...

Duff Morgan unveils a new look showroom and a new level of service

D

uff Morgan has been in King's Lynn for almost 10 years now, and its commitment to motoring excellence has never been in doubt - it won Citroën's prestigious Dealership of the Year Award less than a year after opening, and followed that the next year by adding Citroën's Excellence in Customer Care Award to the trophy cabinet.

Today, the dealership continues to provide an award-winning level of service in every department for SEAT, Citroën and its premium DS sister brand, but it's never looked as good as the company has just taken the covers off a major refurbishment programme at its King's Lynn showroom to reflect Citroën's fresh new corporate identity,

KLmagazine April 2019

improve facilities, and enhance the experience for staff and customers.

"Everything from the flooring upwards has been upgraded," says Sales Manager Martin Seal. "We've got a new electric charging point, a lovely new customer waiting lounge, a children's area - and we've even improved the lighting! Whether you're visiting for a new or used car, a commercial vehicle, or a scheduled service or MOT, we know you'll be impressed by all the differences. Even the new coffee machine is

amazing!"

It's a sign of Duff Morgan's dedication to customer care that the two months of refurbishment had no impact on the delivery of a first-class service for all customers.

"For long-standing customers and for people wanting to discover what makes the Duff Morgan experience so different," says Martin, "I'd like to invite everyone to join us on Thursday 11th April for our official launch event, which will take place all day until 8pm."

If you can't make that, please remember that Duff Morgan King's Lynn is open seven days a week with the very latest Citroën and SEAT models available to view and test drive - from the stunning Citroën C5 Aircross SUV to the family-friendly SEAT Mii.

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Lucy Loveheart and a lifelong love of art

ABOVE: Painted two decades ago, ‘Norfolk’ by local artist Lucy Loveheart was the work that defined her internationally-popular style

Her father was a painter and her mother created fairy tales, so it’s hardly surprising Lucy Loveheart developed into a magical artist...

H

er name could easily be a character from a fairy tale, and there’s no doubt that the work of internationally renowned Norfolk artist Lucy Loveheart has an endearing and enchanting character to it. Over a 30year career, her delightful artwork has been used for publishing, fabrics, ceramics, cards, murals, advertising and catalogues – in addition to her own paintings that sell in galleries or are privately commissioned. Incredibly, she’s also found the time to create a series of children’s books with her mother, with over 16 titles that have sold over 500,000 copies around the world.

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KL magazine: Did you always want to be an artist?

Lucy Loveheart: In a word, yes! I briefly flirted with the idea of being a ballerina, an actress, and a singer – but the appeal of being an artist always won out in the end. I have a very distinct childhood memory of eating a piece of birthday cake on my fifth birthday in the sunshine when I had a sense of destiny that I would almost certainly be an artist.

KL magazine: How did that youthful enthusiasm become a career?

Lucy Loveheart: When I left art school

I applied to go on the Enterprise Allowance Scheme, which helped people to set up their own businesses.

That inspired me to think about my art in a different, slightly more businesslike way. Prior to that I hadn’t really thought about the practicalities of what a career in art might entail.

I realised that if I wanted to do what I loved and earn an income, I’d need to focus KLmagazine April 2019

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and work hard. It’s important not to let that side of things inhibit your creativity, but having an awareness of how to survive in business is crucial for success.

KL magazine: Is there one single work that you're particularly proud of - or is important to you?

Lucy Loveheart: Yes. About 20 years ago I painted a picture called ‘Norfolk’ and it felt as though I was finally able to paint in the way I wanted to, to show how I saw things in my mind’s eye. It pulled together all the elements that were of significance to me - nature, colour, buildings, people, and my love of magical things. There’s also a subtle narrative about my friends and places and things that were happening at that time. This was the painting that launched my signature style.

KL magazine: What do you consider to have been your greatest achievement to date?

Lucy Loveheart: I’ve really been very lucky in my career. I’ve worked with some wonderful people and been given some dream projects. But I’ve worked tirelessly to make things work. To have made a living from it for over 30 years and still love it – without having to make too many compromises – is something I’d consider my greatest achievement.

KL magazine: Do the demands of 'commercial' art affect how you work and what you design?

Lucy Loveheart: Definitely. I’m very lucky because I now work in a team, and I don’t know what I’d do without them. We all have to work closely together to make our projects a success and keep the business afloat.

I like being an artist and I love having dreamy and creative ideas that may or not be commercially successful – but it’s just as important to do commercial work and give clients what they want.

At the end of the day I’m a service provider and I need to make a living.

We have to listen to a lot of different views from several people – and then try to bring that together to fulfil our brief and the hopes of the client.

KL magazine: What's a typical day in the studio like for you?

Lucy Loveheart: I like to start with an early morning walk with the dog out in the wilds of north Norfolk.

Being in the heart of the country really helps to free my mind and

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visualise the day ahead. I then have a coffee and settle into the studio to plan the day. I try to spend the morning in the office sorting out business correspondence, troubleshooting and reading e-mails – which means I can concentrate on being more creative in the afternoon and evening.

KL magazine: How do you like people to respond to your art - do you want to provoke a particular reaction?

Lucy Loveheart: I know my art isn’t for everybody, but my hope is that something that I’ve done might resonate with people in some way. I hope I might help them capture a memory of a place or a moment in time or a feeling or sentiment of something slightly poignant.

I’m constantly referencing my own childhood memories and daydreams and the magical way I used to make things and draw and play and think about things.

I‘d like to think that people understand that and even relate to it on some level with their own childhood uninhibited and free.

KL magazine: Who would you consider to be your greatest inspiration?

Lucy Loveheart: That would have to be my father, who was an artist as well.

He taught me how to draw and paint and see things in perspective and passed on to me his love of art, history of art, and architecture.

He was a very talented artist but wasn’t business-minded at all. He often took on numerous projects with barely enough time to complete all the deadlines, he didn’t charge enough for his services, and he gave most of his paintings away. In a way he created a blueprint in how not to do things on a business level – but as an artist he was truly inspirational!

KL magazine: If you could have any work of art on your wall, what would it be?

Lucy Loveheart: That’s easy – it would have to be ‘Primavera’ by Sandro Botticelli (below).

KL magazine: When you're not painting, what do you enjoy doing?

Lucy Loveheart: Lots!

Cycling around the quiet little lanes of Norfolk, dancing with my friends, and walking in the moonlight by the coast.

I love singing at the top of my voice to all my favourite songs and visiting places that will inspire me. I like to create space to think and get ideas. And most of all I enjoy spending happy times with my close friends and lovely family.

KL magazine: Where can we see more of your work?

Lucy Loveheart: We have a website www.lucyloveheart.com which features an online gallery and shop selling all our in-house products. I’m also exhibiting at the Royal Norfolk Show in the summer. You’ll also find my work at Holkham Hall, the RHS Chelsea Flower show next month, and EACH charity shops – I recently worked on a collection of giftware to help raise funds for the Nook appeal.

KL magazine: What are you working on at the moment?

Lucy Loveheart: I’m currently working on several projects. I’ve been commissioned by Wentworth House in Rotherham to produce a huge painting of this little-known treasure in the north

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of England. I’m also working on a collection of products for Ragdale Hall Spa in Leicestershire, and (believe it or not) some Christmas designs for Kew Gardens, Chatsworth House, and Blenheim Palace.

KL magazine: If someone was considering a career in art and you could only give them one piece of advice, what would it be?

Lucy Loveheart: It is VERY hard to be self-employed, let alone make a career from art or anything creative, but it is possible – and if you believe hard enough you’ll find a way.

The best advice I can give is to be fully prepared to have a fair few knocks, failures, rejections, setbacks, moments of doubt, and loss of faith in what you’re doing. That’s all part and parcel of the path you have chosen – but you can turn all those experiences around if you can learn from them!

KLmagazine April 2019

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Michael Middleton’s

WildWestNorfolk

T

he start of April has always given rise to various news stories delivered with a rather generous pinch of salt. In 1947, WVTR (the armed forces radio station) in Tokyo interrupted an evening broadcast of dance music with a news flash because a 20-foot sea monster had emerged from the waters of Tokyo Bay and was making its way inland. The entire region was thrown into chaos. Ten years later, the BBC’s Richard Dimbleby reported on the annual spaghetti harvest in Switzerland. Two decades after that, The Guardian enraged travel agents all over the country after it published a lengthy travel feature story on the islands of San Serriffe. Twenty years later, the respected PC/Computing Magazine discussed the law that was about to ban drunk people from using the newly-arrived internet.

This traditional tomfoolery used to be a bit of light-hearted relief from the everyday world of politics, weather reports and sport – and we were perfectly happy to allow news organisations to give us ‘fake’ news one day a year. April Fools’ Day feels decidedly different today.

The real world and the real news is so devidedly odd and so hard to accept at face value these days that it’s beginning to seem as though every day is 1st April.

Watch the news tonight and try to resist asking “are they having a laugh?” at some point.

So this month, instead of talking about the Tuesday Market Place in King’s Lynn being turned into an ice skating rink, Swaffham banning cats from the town centre, and people in Hunstanton proving their distinctive cliffs were the inspiration for the 114

famous Victoria Sponge, I thought we’d have a little fun in the form of a multiple-choice quiz. Here are three recent news stories, and your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to spot the odd one out.

We’ll start with the announcement that a new road sign could soon be rolled out across Britain warning drivers to be aware of hedgehogs. It’s a move designed to slow the disastrous decline in the population of the charming (but decidedly spiny) mammals – and even much-maligned Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has voiced his support for the idea.

“The fall in the number of hedgehogs is a great concern to me,” he said, “so as Parliamentary Hedgehog Champion I want to do all I can to help halt this decline.”

Secondly, meet retired HGV driver Ken Robinson from Yorkshire, who’s still happily married – but only just. Ken nearly got divorced after he spent up to four hours a night for two years putting together a 33,600-piece jigsaw puzzle.

It cost over £200, was the largest commercially-available puzzle in the world when he bought it, and it was nearly 20ft long. But his wife wasn’t too impressed.

At least he completed it, unlike Norfolk’s own Graham Andrew – who finished the thing only to find he had four pieces missing, which then had to be specially cut and sent to him from Spain.

And finally, there’s Lisa Holmes of Bromley, who was fined almost £1,100 because her parked car had an oil leak.

Admitting that cars do tend to leak oil from time to time, the local council said they had no option but to prosecute.

“Apart from the potential danger to

others and the environment, oil can actually damage the road surface,” said a council spokesman in The Bromley Times. “The council incurs significant costs to rectify oily patches - and they’re unsightly as well.”

So there you have it; wildlife-friendly road signs, marriage-destroying jigsaws and costly oil leaks. Any one of them could be a convincing April Fool’s joke, but they’re not. I’m afraid it was a trick question. They’re all absolutely true.

And that’s the trouble with April Fool’s Day ‘jokes’ now - the real world is weird enough anyway that we’ll be willing to believe (if not accept) virtually anything.

Does that mean we’re less gullible, or does it mean we’re more cynical?

I often think back to those idyllic days of 1957, when Norwich City Council became the first local authority in the country to start using a new piece of office equipment called a ‘computer.’

It was also the year that the Toddlers’ Truce came to end, an hour (from 67pm) when there was absoutely nothing on television (literally) so that parents could put their children to bed.

It was a sweet and innocent world, so when the BBC produced a special report on the Swiss spaghetti harvest that year, no one blinked an eyelid.

Spaghetti was virtually unheard of in the UK at the time. The food was an exotic delicacy, and hundreds of people phoned the BBC wanting to know how to grow their own spaghetti trees. The BBC’s director-general Sir Ian Jacob even checked an encyclopedia to find out how spaghetti actually grew – but the book had no information on the topic.

It’s a very odd world when outlandish hoaxes and pranks are more believable than reality.

KLmagazine April 2019

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