Wereham Village News

A detailed update of activities in Werham over the past month.

St Margaret's Spring Clean

A warm thank you to the six helpers who arrived armed with mops, vacuum cleaners, brushes and dustpans, to clean the Church on Wednesday morning. With energy and cheerful efficiency they tackled what had hitherto been a slightly daunting task for a mere one or two. St Margaret's is not easy to clean and sometimes the lightest touch can create a small avalanche of dust and plaster. How we look forward to the next stage of restoration! With so many hands, the long kneeler at the altar could be stitched, the kneelers received a really thorough dusting, the extremely heavy antique bier could be moved aside for cleaning and those inaccessible cobwebs in the high windows finally despatched.

We hope you will be able to join us again at 10:00 am. on Wednesday 4th July which will have the church sparkling and ready for Festival Day.

Wereham Village Hall Quiz Finalists

Congratulations to Liz and Greg Baddock and Linda and John Eastgate, Wereham's Quiz team, who fished in second place in the Western Area Quiz section last Friday, and will now compete for a place in the Norfolk final. Well done and the best of luck for the final round.

Wereham Village festival 15th July- New this year -a Produce Stall

Will you have a surplus of fruit, vegetables or flowers from your garden?

Are you good at making jam or marmalade? If so, would you like to donate any surplus to the produce stall? We would be happy to collect!

Please call Ivy on 501108 or Patricia on 501395.

All proceeds will go to the church restoration fund-Thank you for your support!

Also............

Beanie Babes for Sale!

Someone generously donated an impressive collection of Beanie Babes towards our fundraising effort. Some are First Edition and some are Collector's items -- it seemed a pity to split them up. All have their original tags and are in pristine condition, in sizes that range from 6 inches to 20 inches in height. If you are interested please call Patricia on 01366 501395 for more details.

Have fun -- Get Fit!

Riding for the Disabled is running a super Summer Program -this will be for a couple of our hours each week during August.

However, we also badly need HELPERS, whose main task is to walk alongside the children as they ride. Would you like to help?

Everything you will need to know will be covered at a Training Session for Helpers which will be held on Monday the 30th July at the Magpie Centre, at Wallington Hall between 10:30 a.m. and 12 noon .

Similarly, if you have or know of a child or teenager, with special needs, who may be able to benefit from riding, we are always pleased to hear from parents or carers.

Phone Rachel at 015538 10202

Fund raising for the Bell and clock

Following the successful concert in February, given by 2 Iinspire and Dolce, it was decided to promote a concert making use of our considerable local talent. The concert is being put together under the able direction of Tom Golden, and will take place in St Margaret's Church at 7:30 p.m. on the evening of Monday 9th July .The repertoire will be varied and will have something in it to appeal to everyone ,so we do hope you can join us in what promises to be a most enjoyable evening.

Two other concerts are being planned by the Fundraisers later in the year- these will be in September and October- and feature a male voice choir from King's Lynn and a youth choir from West Winch and surrounding areas. These will be events to look forward to I feel sure.

Wereham Wildlife Woodland- The search goes on!

Although it may appear that not much is happening at the moment , behind-the-scenes our searching and planning for the future continues. First and foremost is our quest for a piece of land which will ultimately become Wereham's wildlife Woodland, and something we hope will be of immense benefit to young and old and to succeeding generations in Wereham.

In the meantime, this month sees an important workshop and training day in Sussex, which will deal with the formats and criteria necessary to apply to Trusts and government bodies for funding, including methods of running a fundraising campaign.

Do you remember old Wereham?

Many older people who have lived in our village all their lives are valuable repositories of village history, which, sadly, can so easily be lost.

I wonder if any of you remember a fine house known as Wereham Hall, which was situated on the corner of The Row and the old road from Wereham to Stoke Ferry (now the A1 34)?

Any memories that you have of this house, the people who lived in it and why it was eventually demolished, would be of great value to a young woman who is researching the family history of one of her forebears. John Houchen was a "gentleman of the parish " who died in 1852 and his rather fine, marble memorial can be seen in the south aisle of St Margaret's Church.

Any thing you could tell us about it could be sent to Ray Thompson who edits The Village Pump magazine in Stoke Ferry. Alternatively you could send it to me (Pammie Walker) and I will make sure that he receives it.

One last word.......

I, am also interested in any information anyone might have about Mansion House, which, I'm told, once stood upon the portion of land that is now occupied by the new semi -detached cottages (numbered one to six) in Church Road diagonally opposite the church. Some of us would like to piece together and preserve this other small piece of Wereham history and would be most grateful for any information I could gather.

Pammie Walker

Co-ordinated by Pammie Walker