Boughton News -May

Boughton 'Picnic on the Green' - Sunday June 3rd

To help commemorate the Diamond Jubilee and the UK Olympics we are holding a celebratory fun day in Boughton on Sunday June 3rd, on the Green from2:45pmonwards. There will be a number of activities throughout the afternoon and early evening including:

1948 Olympic Village Torch Relay (due through Boughton at3:32pm) - Watch and support our young Boughton runners carrying the 1948 Olympic Torch through the village. Boughton is fortunate to have been selected as one of the 80West Norfolkvillages where the 1948 Olympic Torch can be seen.

Judging of 'The 2012 Boughton Challenge' - This year's Boughton Challenge is 'Bake A Pie' and the judging panel will be out in force to select the tastiest pie. It is a tough job but someone has to do it| We must have some excellent cooks in the village, so get those recipes out and bring your pie along to the event for judging. Look out for further information on The 2012 Challenge on the village Notice Board.

Picnic and Afternoon Tea - Please bring along your own picnic and whilst enjoying the festivities why not treat yourself to a traditional cup of afternoon tea and perhaps a slice of one of those delicious pies, for sale in our decorated marquee!!

Additionally we will have a raffle, music and dancing, and some fun games!

So put the date in your diary and help celebrate this momentous year with a fun and enjoyable afternoon in Boughton. If anyone would like to help in anyway please contact Frank on 500743.

'The Great Doctor Who Mystery' of Boughton.

Lost! Doctor Who!

Many of you will know that we have a children's medieval garden just inside the church gate, containing many olde English plants and flowers. Well, when the garden was being fiormed we placed a small glas jar, (to keep good luck in) a plastic puppy and a model Doctor Who (moveable joints!) just in front of the garden sign.

Over time the puppy has run off, but the other two items have, through rain and shine, wind and snow, stayed in place by the sign. Catrastophe! Doctor Who is missing! Last weekend after the Coffee Morning we noticed he has gone. Can you help? Do you know anything about this? Is there a more sinister side to his disappearance? Has he been kidnapped?

Doctor Who is about 4 inches tall, bears a passing resemblance to David Tennant and has a long brown coat on and is missing his left hand. If you know anything please call me to help us find Doctor Who!

Peter Agate

The Boardwalk – and more

Following on from February’s magnificent efforts, our terrific band of volunteers has continued to work like a well-honed team of professionals. Not content with bending the first driving cap, they managed to break the new beefier version in two, and a third one had to be fabricated by Bonnet’s. This one survived to the end, even with the new co-ordinated two man swing technique on the sledgehammers, which was very fast.

At around the same time, we bought all the five inch galvanised nails in the area in one week. All the local suppliers ran out! We realised that we were using between five and seven kilos in a morning.

We now have a sturdy set of steps down the bank at theOxborough Road. All the completed boardwalk has been carefully covered with wire netting for grip. The Community Payback team returned and did various other jobs for us,including erecting a large number of posts around the route, ready to receive the waymarkers. At the same time, a team of four ‘Paybackers’, led by our own Parish Chairman, conducted a monumental litter pick. This culminated in them loading Mark’s trailer to capacity, twice, to move the accumulated rubbish into a suitable spot for West Norfolk Council to collect. It is interesting to note that one of worker’s, fromEastern Europe, was appalled to think that the British should trash their own countryside in this manner.

On the same day, we also removed all the remaining timber from the fen, and stored it safely for the summer, so that we can go back next year to board any wet spots we couldn’t find in this year’s drought.

The specially designed waymark signs arrived, complete with a marsh harrier logo, and have been affixed to all the posts, so that it is easy to follow the route – and people are beginning to use it.

One request. You may take your dog, but as it is a site of Special Scientific Interest, it must be on a lead. The regulations for a site of this nature states that the lead cannot be more than two metres in length as the ground nesting birds are often close to the edges of the site, and must not be interfered with. Obviously, any self respecting nature lover will clean up after their pet, as a matter of course.

There are just a few things left to complete now, and then we shall be ready for the official opening.

Sue Pogmore