To mark the passing of Knut, the Berlin Zoo polar bear (2006-11), here's a eulogy to one of his predecessors, the London Zoo polar bear Sam, who was, as an intertitle bluntly puts it, "shot at Dawn to end his infirmities" after 24 years as one of the zoo's most popular attractions. This Topical Budget newsreel isn't so indelicate as to show the actual death - instead, it shows assorted animals and children reacting to the news. (Michael Brooke)

You can read more about the Topical Budget silent newsreel series at http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/583128/index.html

Best wishes


Angela Sykes
Manager
Diss Corn Hall
www.disscornhall.co.uk


01379 652239
07984 155135
angelamsykes@gmail.com

Teaming Up aims to give young disabled people the opportunity to gain more independence, confidence, self esteem and vital social skills, whilst taking part in everyday fun leisure activities. The funding will mean the project will be running evening and holiday sessions for young people aged 14-25 with disabilities or additional needs from April 2011 to March 2012.


Later in the year sessions will also be running in Haverhill, Sudbury and Stowmarket and there will be other regular sessions in Lowestoft, Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds. The evening activities will include bowling, cinema, swimming, meals out and visits to interesting places.

For 14-21 year olds there will also be a full programme of daytime school holiday sessions which start with a range of fun activities this Easter.

Karl Daniels, Teaming Up Co-Ordinator, said: “We’re really excited and pleased to receive funding for this project for another year. Everyone who came to Teaming Up sessions last year really enjoyed themselves and we’re looking forward to another year of fun! I hope we can build upon the success of last year and reach lots of new people too.”

Optua is also looking for young people to volunteer at the Teaming Up sessions.
For more information or to register for any of these activities please contact Karl Daniels on 01473 836770 or email tup@optua.org.uk

There’s more information on Optua’s website at - www.optua.org.uk/Leisure-teamingup.asp

You can download a booklet with more information about Teaming Up and the activities planned near you from April 2011 to March 2012. To view it please click here.

A new scheme has been launched in Norfolk aimed at detecting, preventing and reducing instances of horse theft and equine crime.

The equestrian community in Norfolk has recently been alarmed at a spate of horse and vehicle thefts and other equine related crime and, as a result, local businesses have teamed up to do something about it.

The Norfolk Horsewatch scheme is the idea of Woodland Park Equestrian Centre in South Walsham, who asked security company Broadland Guarding Services for help in starting up a warning system that could benefit the entire equestrian community in Norfolk.

The result is a new website, www.norfolkhorsewatch.org, that acts as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the scheme, providing Norfolk Horsewatch members with up to date warnings, alerts and details of equine crime that come in either through the police or through Broadland Guarding Services’ 24 hour control room.

Tessa Plane from Woodland Park Equestrian Centre, said, “We strongly felt that something needed to be done deter those who target horses, equestrian premises and property. A scheme like Norfolk Horsewatch will make it much harder for criminals because we will be able to warn each other about suspicious activity as it happens, report missing horses, with the hope of it then becoming much harder for thieves to sell them on, and raise awareness of the importance of taking proper security steps to protect horses and vehicles. Hopefully the scheme may even help to reunite stolen horses with their rightful owners.”

Norfolk Horsewatch members will also be able to take part in security marking events to help protect their property, such as trailers and tack, from theft and can display ‘Norfolk Horsewatch’ signage in their yards to deter thieves from entering the premises.

Managing Director of Broadland Guarding Services, Amanda Geary, said, “We were only too happy to get involved with the scheme. I am a keen rider myself and after discussing the issues with friends in the equestrian community we realised that something had to be done. The scheme is not set up to make a profit. We recognise that equine crime is a great concern at the moment in Norfolk and I felt we had the resources and expertise that could help to create a really effective Horsewatch scheme, using our 24 hour control room to keep members up to date so that they can be vigilant and better protect themselves.”

An open day to find out more about the scheme will be held at Broadland Guarding Services HQ, Delta House, Vulcan Road North, Norwich on Sunday 3rd April from 9am until 6pm. Anyone who is interested in the scheme is welcome to come along and there will be the opportunity to sign up on the day.

The scheme will be officially launched at the East Anglian Game & Country Fair at the Norfolk Showground on 16 & 17 April 2011, where there will be a Horsewatch stand where you can receive information packs and sign up to the scheme.

Membership costs just £5 plus VAT per year to cover the administration costs of the scheme. Not only will members be able to receive and share up to date information but they will also benefit from discounts on equine goods and services.

Bungay Taekwon-do students at England Squad training session held at Loughborough University on 27th March 2011

Saturday 26 March
LADIES 1s v Chelmsford (L) (H) 2.00 (W) 2-2 D
LADIES 2s v Cambridge University (L) (H) 12.00 (W) 0-1 L

MENS 2s v Cambridge University 2s (L) (H) 1.45 (S) 3-1 W
MENS 3s v Cambridge University 3s (L) (A) 12.00 3-4 L
MENS 4s v Bury St Edmunds 2s (L) (A) 11.00 2-2 D
MENS 5s v Felixstowe 2s (L) (A) 11.30 3-2 W & promotion
MENS 6s v Bury St Edmunds 3s (L) (H) 3.15 (S) 1-2 L
MENS 7s v Norfolk Nomads 2s (L) (A) 2.30 7-0 W
BOYS Dev. v Norwich City (L) (H) 10.30 (W) 1-3 L

Sunday 27 March
MENS 1s v Southgate (L) (A) 2.00 1-5 L
U10 Boys – Dereham Minis 2nd & 4th
U12 Boys – Dereham Minis 2nd
U10 Girls – Dereham Minis 2nd
U12 Girls – Dereham Minis 4th

Trying to contact Jim Sandy, Jim Church or Stephen Hartley

I'm trying to contact old friends I knew when I lived in Diss, plus Harleston but there doesn't seem to be a guest book service in local papers anymore (not that anyone much replied) and forums don't really seem to exist either (I tried FaceBook but couldn't refine my search to places as well as people:  500 Jim Churches from Harleston is a bit much to plough through or Stephen Hartleys, from Fair Green, Diss - especially when there is no way to cut it down to this).

I've not only lost contact with the two old friends I tried to find out about but my brother, Jim Sandy, also known as Smiley and was actually born Terrance Brian, who I thought was safely ensconced in Diss but has escaped and got married, with a little girl apparently!

I just want to find out if any or all of this is true as I'm 59 and he's got to be 63.  I don't want to personally contact him but just find out where he is (I'm in Scotland) and if anybody knows about this marriage and if the child is actually his or from a former marriage.

Just a bit miffed and mystified that I found out about all this accidentally and still don't have confirmation that any of this is true or not.

Any help appreciated.

Tony Sandy
paigetheoracle(at)sky.com

 £1.00 entry fee of which part goes to The Child Bereavement Charity - HRH Prince William is Patron of this Charity.

DON'T DELAY - Your entries must be in by 2nd April 2011 send to Paint and Create, Unit 3, Henstead Arts & Craft Centre, Toad Row, Henstead, Beccles, Suffolk, NR34 7LG 01502 744244 or email - paintandcreate@hotmail.co.uk

Children are to draw and colour the Royal Wedding Couple on their wedding Day on A4 plain paper as large as possible - with their age/name and parents/guardians contact details on a separate piece of paper.

Age group categories - upto 5 years, 6-8yrs, 9-12 years, 13-16 years and 17 and over.

Darren Huckerby was the star guest as 300 staff from Norfolk’s mental health trust celebrated their own and their colleagues’ achievements at a glittering awards dinner.

The popular former Norwich City star presented the trophies and posed for countless photographs as Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust held its Trust Awards 2011 at the Sprowston Manor Marriott Hotel on Thursday, March 24 2011.

“I was very pleased to be invited,” said Darren afterwards. “The Trust is doing great work in mental health, which is an area that often gets overlooked. A lot of people put it on the backburner, and it only comes to the forefront when someone close to them is struggling with a mental illness, or Alzheimer’s, or some other form of dementia.”

The 10 award winners were each selected from a shortlist of three. The winners ranged from administrative staff to a five-strong memory treatment team, and the inspiration behind a music project for people with mental health problems. The full list of award winners was:

Unsung hero (clinical) – Julie Kerton, staff nurse, Poppies Day Hospital
 
Chair’s award – Linda Cross, locality personal assistant, Chatterton House


Julie Kerton, staff nurse at the Poppies Day Centre, at Carlton Court, near Lowestoft, won the unsung hero (clinical) award for her work in setting up a support group for people diagnosed with dementia, and launching a ‘Lifetime’ garden to help stimulate the memories of dementia sufferers.

“I’m really overwhelmed,” said Julie. “What makes it extra special was feeling so much support, especially from three gentlemen who have dementia who came here with me tonight. They’re the reason I do the job that I do, and I’m as pleased for them as I am for myself because they value and appreciate what I do. I feel very honoured.”

The Trust’s second awards night followed on from a successful inaugural event in 2009. The latest event was entirely funded through the generosity of sponsors.

Trust chief executive Aidan Thomas said: “I’m very proud to be part of such an excellent organisation, and that’s a reflection on the quality of our staff. This evening is about recognising how much our people contribute to the lives of others, and saying ‘thank you’ to those who go out of their way to improve the lives of other people.”

The Trust awards were sponsored by: Birketts; Eras; Falcon Healthcare; HCL Doctors; the Locum Practice; Mills and Reeve; ProMedical; Psychiatry People; and Pulse Doctors.

Montagu's harrier at Minsmere 2010


For a high res image go to: www.wildaboutimages.co.uk
© Paul Bunyard

This extract comes from Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister's 'Listen to Britain'. The film is available to buy on the BFI DVD 'Land of Promise: British Documentary Movement (1930-1950)'. The 4-disc set with 13 hours of re-mastered footage, in deluxe presentation box with 96-page booklet, is available from the BFI at http://www.bfi.org.uk/filmstore

A landmark BFI collection, and the first major retrospective of the documentary film movement during its period of greatest influence. These films - many of which are being made available here for the first time since their original release - capture the spirit and strength, concerns and resolve of Britain and its people before, during and after the Second World War.

These diverse and compelling films are fascinating historical documents, bearing witness to the social and industrial changes of the rapidly changing world. Yet they are also striking in their different approach to the form. Using poetry, dramatic reconstruction, the techniques of modernism and explicit propaganda, the filmmakers found fresh, new ways to get their message across.

You can watch 'Listen to Britain' and over 1000 other complete films and TV programmes from the BFI National Archive free of charge at the new BFI Mediatheque - http://www.bfi.org.uk/mediatheque

The Marina which has held a prestigious residency with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for the past six years has struggled recently following a series of cuts to its funding yet despite this the venue continues to offer a diverse cultural mix.

At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday night Waveney District Council’s executive ratified the decision to agree to the proposal made at an earlier cross party scrutiny panel.

Over the coming months the authority and the theatre management and Friends committee will now work to form a charitable not for profit organisation to guide the theatre for the next fifteen years.

Waveney District Council will continue to own the premises and have a commitment to maintain the building structure and the new management will seek to source funding to enhance internal areas.

The authority will offer a subsidy of 150K for the first four years of the operation with future funding levels to be negotiated. This will leave the new trust with a substantial funding gap which will need to be filled however the successful  management bid outlined several key areas in which this could be achieved.

Ten years ago the theatre received double its current subsidy and despite it being cut substantially had gone on to treble its audiences and attract high calibre events including major artistes, musicals, drama. opera, ballet and comedy as well as a highly successful professional pantomime and hugely popular cinema.

As part of the bid the management have promised to maintain the venues current programme and provide a broad cultural mix as well as providing a home for local amateur and community events and its popular film series.

Late last year the authority attempted to find a new operator for the venue and when this proved unsuccessful suggested the Marina could be offered without the requirement for it to be a theatre - prompting a storm of protests and a campaign which had widespread support from major stars including comedian Ken Dodd. This led to a change in the specification set and for the first time the chance for the theatres own successful management to put forward a bid.

Following a lengthy process a management bid was put forward with the full support of the theatre friends organisation and it is this bid which will now form the basis of the new trust.

It is hoped the new management arrangement will be in place by the end of the year.

Theatre Manager Martin Halliday who led the bid to take on the Marina said "I am delighted that a solution has been achieved, over the past nine years we have turned the Marina around, introducing a vast array of quality events and in turn seen audiences more than treble, enabling the venue to establish a strong reputation within the theatre industry. We are now looking forward to working with our partners Waveney District Council and The Friends Of The Marina, as we build on past achievements and create the new charitable company to operate the theatre. Since news of our bid was made public, we have received numerous offers of support for the future, and we will of course be following these up, but in the short term I would ask the public to assist us in the best way possible buy tickets! We have a host of events over the coming months and while we prepare to move forward and confirm the future programme it is important that we get off to a strong start."

Chairman of the Friends Of The Marina, "Peter Wilson added The past few years have been a worrying time for both the staff at the theatre and many thousands of theatre goers. The Friends of the Marina welcomes the news that the bid to run the venue has been accepted and looks forward to supporting the management team as we enter an exciting new era both for the Marina and the cultural life of the area."

Ian Maclay, Managing Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra added, "The RPO has every confidence that the management of the Marina will run the venue with continued success in the future. The orchestra is fully committed to the concert series at the Marina, and looks forward to appearing in Lowestoft for many years to come."