F.O.N.D.
Who are we?
Friends of Norfolk Dialect (FOND) was founded in 1999, dedicated to conserving and recording Norfolk’s priceless linguistic and cultural heritage, thus keeping ‘Broad Norfolk’ alive.
Our aim is to record as many of our county’s traditional words as possible, together with placenames, sayings, stories and songs. Friends of Norfolk Dialect seeks the help of other organisations and experts in building up an archive of literature and sound recordings some of which appear on this site for your delight!
What do we do?
- We campaign for the recognition and teaching of ‘Norfolk’ as an authentic English regional dialect.
- We assist film and TV Producers to achieve the correct accent in drama productions set in Norfolk.
- We produce information packs and assist with projects for schools
- We also publish a quarterly newsletter called The Merry Mawkin.
Several times a year we organise social and fundraising ‘Dews’, culminating in an ever-popular seasonal ‘Panto’ – in dialect, naturally!
How can we help?
There are several ways FOND may be able to help you:
- PRONUNCIATION – We are very lucky to have Professor Peter Trudgill as our President and, as an expert in languages, he can advise on derivation of words and pronunciation.
- SCHOOLS – We want to encourage youngsters to keep the dialect alive. We are happy to help teachers and we’ll come into school if required.
- TALKS –If you have a group that would like to hear about the dialect, we have members who will give light-hearted talks.
- EVENTS – If you are organising ‘dew’, preferably indoors, we are willing to attend events around the county.
Keith Skipper MBE, DL, Founder of FOND
A FOND welcome to yew, my bewties!
DUNT TIME FLY when yew’re dewin’ suffin’ useful! It seems like only yesterday when a FOND dream started to come true with a passionate meeting in Yaxham Village Hall. In fact, it is over 26 years since a band of enthusiasts decided it was high time to put our dialect fight on an official footing.
I accepted the role of chairman with pride and optimism and noted in my diary for Sunday, October 3rd, 1999: “A day for celebration. A day I hope future generations will salute with gratitude.