Author: alpington-yelverton-admin

The next Parish Council meeting will be held at 7.30pm at the village hall, Mon 10th Jan 2022. The agenda is downloadable below.

Christmas: The best kept secret?

According to ‘Bono’ the lead singer/songwriter of my favourite rock band, U2, ‘a secret is something you tell one other person’ (from the song ‘The Fly’, 1991). As I reflected on that claim, I began to see that there is some truth within it. How often have you heard people say to you (or you have said to them!) “don’t tell anybody, but…….”.

As we approach Christmas and the celebration of the birth of Christ, I wonder if the message of Christmas is becoming a secret? As the decorations go up and the lights are turned on, I wonder what is actually being celebrated in the minds of many? The true meaning of Christmas seems to be increasingly a secret as the sacred and the secular move further apart. But perhaps this is all part of God’s plan and we see this in the way he chose to reveal himself to the world.

In the nativity story in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, the angel visits Mary and Joseph individually with the message of the incarnation and the need to trust in God; only one small group of shepherds are visited by the angel on the hillside and encouraged to visit the new-born child lying in the manger. And in the Magi, we have another small group who alone seem able to interpret the mystery of the events unfolding before them, which fires them into action.

So perhaps the story of Christ, which began with the Word ‘in the beginning’ and continues to this day, has always been a secret to be shared with one other person? A secret to be passed on in love and in the trust that God will work through that sharing.

So who is the person you will tell the secret of Christmas to this year?

With every blessing to you and your loved ones.

Fr Chris.

There is currently a consultation open on the Norfolk County Council for the 2022/23 budget, where you can provide comments, including on the level of Council Tax and adult social care precept.

Some relevant paragraphs taken from the document, including the link to the comments form:

We now want to hear your views on our council tax and budget approach to help our elected councillors make the right, even if tough, decisions in agreeing a balanced budget for 2022-2023.

I wanted to alert you to the webpage where we published our budget consultation on Thursday 25 November. You can find out more at www.norfolk.gov.uk/budget and have your say using our online feedback form.

Our consultation closes at midnight on Thursday 30 December 2021. Please note that if we receive any consultation responses after this date we cannot guarantee that we will be able to take them into account.

Voluntary Norfolk is looking for volunteers to support the NHS and vulnerable people needing extra help in the community. We have a wide variety of volunteer opportunities and are happy to work with you to find the volunteering role that is right for you, fits your interests, skills, location and availability.

You can click the below image for a PDF version:

Current volunteer vacancies, include supporting carers and the people they care for; volunteer drivers to assist patients in accessing key healthcare appointments; meet and greet, admin support and stock room roles in community hospitals and GP surgeries; marshals and administration roles at Covid vaccination centres; volunteers to help people with a newly diagnosed long term condition achieve health goals and improve their quality of life; volunteers to help clients use smart phones and computers to connect with family and friends and, of course, telephone befrienders to reduce isolation and loneliness.

All our volunteers are friendly, approachable, have a sympathetic manner, good communication skills, and are determined to help and support others living in Norfolk.

If you would like to have a conversation about the volunteering opportunities available at Voluntary Norfolk, please get in touch.

Email us at volunteering@voluntarynorfolk.org.uk providing your preferred contact information, phone 07385 378740 and speak to a volunteer coordinator or leave us a message, or fill in the volunteer registration form for the relevant service you are interested in via this link:

https://www.voluntarynorfolk.org.uk/home-2/register-to-volunteer-2

We look forward to hearing from you and thank you for your help.

After such a stormy end to November and with the shorter Winter days, we are now spending less time out in our gardens. However, there are still things to be done as the weather permits and the year draws to a close. We can continue with some tidying up, protecting any tender plants and ponds and helping the wildlife in our gardens.

Feeding

Keep your bird feeders topped up with a variety of seeds, nuts and suet products and make water available.

Watering

Although it makes sense to water plants sparingly at this time of year, check regularly to ensure that any container plants and pots in the greenhouse don’t dry out completely.

Protecting Plants

Protect tender palms and tree ferns. Pack a few handfuls of straw into the crown, tie up the leaves or fronds and wrap the whole plant in horticultural fleece or hessian tying it off securely at the bottom. Try not to use bubble wrap for this purpose as on warm days, your plants will sweat and rot.

Indoors, move houseplants away from warm radiators and into a sunny, cool place where they will be happier.

Protecting Ponds

If very severe frosts are forecast, float a football on the water in concrete lined ponds. When the water freezes, the ball will absorb the ice pressure rather than cracking the concrete sides.

Fish may suffocate if ice persists for long, so melt a hole by standing a metal pan on the surface filled with boiling water.

Try not to break up the ice as when the broken ice falls into the water, this lowers the water temperature further and cancel the insulating effect of the frozen surface.

Relaxing and planning for next year

If you can, take some time to sit somewhere warm and comfortable and read some of the gardening magazines and books you never found time to read earlier in the year and conjure up some wonderful plans and planting schemes for next year.

Merry Christmas!

Church Meadow Lane, Bergh Apton, will be closed, 6th to 8th Dec 2021, next to the crossroads down the road from Green Pastures.

From the official notice:

…Anglian Water connection works are required at the C375 Church Meadow Lane from its junction with C374 Bergh Apton Road for 20m south-westwards in the PARISH OF BERGH APTON …

There’s a Pub Quiz held at the Wheel of Fortune, fortnightly on a Tuesday evening starting at 7.30pm. Next one is 7th Dec! £1pp entry includes nibbles & a raffle.

We also have The Hippy Chippy in the car park every Thursday Evening from 5pm until 8pm

Dec/Jan edition of Eleven Says, the Newspaper of the Bramerton Group of Churches covering 11 Parishes.

You may have noticed that there is now a specially commissioned memorial plaque displayed on the village hall, which commemorates the resilience of our community during the pandemic.

It was presented to the Parish Council but it should be noted that it is for all residents in the whole village.

This is a norfolk-wide initiative by the lord lieutenant’s office to recognise the sacrifices and community spirit which have been shown in the first year of the pandemic, and onwards. So there will be similar plaques in other villages around the county.

From the lord lieutenant:

“I have heard of numerous inspirational stories of how communities have come together to support others and I very much wanted to mark this. Although the Parish Councils are the conduit, I should emphasise that the plaque is for your community as a whole.”

While the plaque itself isn’t unique to Alpington and Yelverton, we can look back at our own initiatives within the parish with pride. Alongside all the ad-hoc acts of kindness and resilience, the village had a defined plan for a crisis event such as this, and it was actioned quickly and with a lot of impact. See the previous posts on the community action plan:

action plan introduction action plan update relaunch on new lockdown

The design of the plaque incorporates the skills of a recent graduate from Norwich University of the Arts, Ruby Douglass, and the wording from a team at Norwich’s National Centre for Writing. The cost of the project has been covered by generous sponsorship from Adnams, the Red Socks Charitable Trust, the Geoffrey Watling Charity, the Pennycress Trust, the Kip and Alison Bertram Trust and the Sybil Cholmondeley Trust.

A message from the school about a fantastic advent trail idea for Alpington and Yelverton:

As a joint project between the school and St Mary’s Church, we would like to create an advent trail around the village.

We are asking school and parish families to create an advent window or garden display that can be seen from the road. These will then be revealed, one each day, throughout advent, culminating in a display in the church on Christmas Eve – a bit like a giant village advent calendar!

We will then create a map of the village showing where each window can be found so that the advent trail can be followed throughout December.

Your name and address would not be made public, the map would just show the street or area where the window could be seen.

This has been done in many other villages and towns across the country. If you search for images of “Advent Windows” you will find loads of ideas and inspiration.

If you would like to take part, please complete the form below by Friday 19th November.

click here for the form

We will then be in touch to let you know which day you need to reveal your lovely display! We would suggest that windows or displays are lit between 4 and 6pm. This allows them to be discovered and admired without having too much impact on CO2 emissions or your electricity bills!

Thank you so much for taking part.

Rosie Welch (headteacher), Ceri Browes (Alpington Friends) Rev Cate Turner