Words from the Chair

I can’t believe how quickly time is going by this year and so far we seem to have had a mild winter. I’ve been able to enjoy the sunshine, as I spent some of my half term being a tourist around Norfolk with a friend who came to stay. I always enjoy being able to explore this glorious county we live in. We had a great time visiting iconic Norfolk places (those ones you often see on postcards!) such as How Hill, St. Benet’s Abbey, Happisburgh lighthouse, the Bure Valley Railway, Ranworth church, the seals at Horsey, Felbrigg, Sheringham Park and Norwich Cathedral.

We often ended up talking about how we pronounce things as she has a distinctly northern accent, it didn’t stop us having a good mardle though. I do recall that when we first knew each other at university in the walking club, my Norfolk phrases sometimes earnt me some funny looks from other members. I distinctly remember it wasn’t until the end of one rather long walk when I announced I was ‘knocked up’ that I found out the phrase had an entirely different meaning to being very tired!

It was good to see some of you at the FOND AGM in November at Yaxham Village Hall. As a result of the meeting there have now been a few changes to the committee and you will find an up to date list of contact details in the latest Mawkin. Both the treasurer (Toni Reeve) and secretary (Lyn Fountain) stepped down from their roles, although Toni is still going to be on the committee. Again I would like to thank them for all the work they have done for FOND, as a token of thanks we presented Lyn with a FOND memories clematis and Toni with a bottle of wine. I am pleased to announce that we were able to fill both these officer positions at the AGM and also add another member to the committee.

We welcome Richard Reid as our new treasurer, Ann Reeve as our new secretary and David Raby as a committee member; I wish them well in their new positions and look forward to working with them. I would also like to thank Alan Cooper for his work as technical officer, he too stepped down at the AGM. I am pleased that Stewart Orr agreed to return to this role which he has previously done. Stewart has been busy sorting our recordings and has some exciting ideas which I look forward to working on with him. Please do get in touch if you are interested in being involved in any recording work. After the formalities of the AGM we were treated to the light-hearted tales of My life in Steam by Bev Woolner, always a joy to hear him speak, thank you Bev.

I was very pleased with the success of our panto The Wizard of Ouse, it was particularly great to see so many people there all enjoying themselves. I know a lot of time and effort went in to it, but I’m sure those of you who came will agree it certainly paid off. Thank you to those who came to support us and to all those involved in helping to put the show on. It was also lovely to hear the Trosher entries, I hope people enjoyed contributing to our new poetry category, hopefully we will get even more entries this year.

The winning Trosher entries are just one of the many things printed for you to enjoy reading in the latest Merry Mawkin. Iif you missed the panto or just need a reminder of the many laughs do take a look at some of the photos in the latest Merry Mawkin.

Hope to see some of you at the Celebration of Norfolk Dialect event in Cromer.

Fare ye well,

Diana

P.S. My mother she say, when her brother was at university, everybody thought he had a harmonica but he actually had a little sister, referred to in his Norfolk way as “Our Monica.”