There will be a 10mph speed limit on a 0.6km stretch of the A146, around the Green Pastures junction, for about 1 month. 10th May to 7th June.
From the official notice:
…a 10 mph speed restriction on the A146 Loddon Road from a point 330 metres west of its junction with the C375 Back Lane for a distance of 630 metres eastwards… because of Norfolk County Council surface dressing road markings and stud installation works.
…traffic over the said road should be restricted with effect from 10th May 2021 to 7th June 2021…
April 2021 has apparently been the coldest since the 1980s and the driest for decades so fingers crossed, May will be warmer and will hopefully bring some much-needed rain for our gardens just as they surge into life for the Summer months ahead.
Mowing
It is now time for regular lawn maintenance and May is really the last chance to sow or lay new lawns until the Autumn. Even though it has been so dry, your lawn will probably need a weekly mow from now until Autumn and the edges will still need trimming.
Planting
Once the danger of frost has passed, plant out strawberries and sow runner beans outside, constructing your wigwams or cane supports for them. The end of the month is the best time to plant out tender vegetables like courgettes and the colourful summer bedding plants.
This is also a great time to re-pot any pot-bound plants in pots about 10cm bigger than the current ones. Give them a good feed and tie-in any long climber shoots to their supports with soft twine or string.
Pest Protection
As the weather warms up, the insect pests are becoming more active – so keep an eye out for them. Pick off scarlet lily beetle from your lilies (their larvae rapidly defoliate plants). Watch for vine weevil in container plantings – irregular-shaped notches to leaf edges are tell-tale signs (the young grubs in the soil eat the roots really quickly).
Check your roses for black spot, remove and discard all infected leaves on the plant to prevent it spreading. They may need spraying with a fungicide such as Rose Clear to keep it under control.
If you find aphids/greenfly on your rosebushes, as an alternative to shop-bought pesticides you can spray them with washing up liquid solution (the same strength as you would use for washing dishes) and on a cloudy day, spray the whole bush, including the tops and undersides of the leaves and buds. You may need to repeat this treatment regularly to keep your roses clear of these little creatures.
You can also now cover soft fruit bushes with netting to prevent birds eating the fruit. If you are growing strawberries, put straw or bark around or under them.
Pruning Spring-flowing shrubs
Your Spring-flowering shrubs will be finishing their flowering display so now is the time to prune these – eg:- Ribes, Weigela and Forsythia, as these all flower on this year’s growth. Prune them back into shape just after they have finished flowering to give a beautiful display next year.
Administering “The Chelsea Chop”
To check the growth of perennial plants which can grow too tall, you can make the plants branch out by cutting or pinching off the growing tips. Plants which respond well to this treatment are Rudbeckias, Solidago (Golden Rod), Heleniums, Phlox and Michaelmas Daisies. Take a pair of shears and literally chop off the top 6 inches of growth. This action will reduce the overall height of the flowing plant by about 25% and although they may flower a week or two later, as they won’t be so tall, they won’t be so prone to collapsing or being blown over.
Feeding Bulbs
Dead head your Spring flowing bulbs and then feed them with a granular fertiliser, blood, fish and bone, or Miracle Gro to give them an energy boost and help them flower next Spring.
Relaxing in your garden
Remember to take some time to sit in your garden on warmer days to relax and just enjoy the sights, sounds and atmosphere of your beautiful outside space.
This junction has been closed for a week or so, due to be finished today, but the works have overrun and the closure will remain, expected for another day.
The relevant part of the official notice:
..continuing the prohibition of the use by vehicles of the C375 Church Meadow Lane from 20m southwest of its junction with Nichols road for 50m eastward…
Please share this if you can so that we can reach residents who might not follow this community site.
Today (Sat 17th Apr) a Yelverton resident had a visit from 2 men in an old plain white or grey Renault Traffic van Reg No BK55 RZJ.
The resident was round the back of the house and did not know they were parked at the front of the house apparently looking around and through the windows. A neighbour saw them and challenged them, alerting the resident to their presence.
The passenger was out of the van, wearing a scruffy blue checked shirt, jeans and work boots, unshaven guy about 5’8″ tall, slim build, dark scruffy short hair with an Irish accent. The driver wasn’t seen.
The resident asked if they could help and they said they were looking for Mr Richards in Salmon Road. He showed a scruffy bit of paper with this information on it and the postcode was correct. We said we did not know of any Salmon Road or Mr Richards and they then left rather hastily.
They turned right onto Framingham Earl Road towards Poringland at 12.30pm.
The incident has been reported to Norfolk police on 101.
There was also another incident earlier this month involving a Ford Transit with Tree and Garden Services on it’s side. This van was crawling up and down Framingham Earl Road repeatedly and when approached by a neighbour as it stopped outside his house. It sped off in the direction of Poringland. The neighbour did manage to take a picture of that van:
A van involved in suspicious behaviour on Framingham Earl Road
The Junction of Wheel Road, Reeders Lane, and Burgate Lane, Alpington, will be closed for 3 days 4-6th May 2021.
If you come out of the Wheel of Fortune pub and turn left, then it’s the junction 200m down the road there.
The relevant part of the official notice:
…U76372 Burgate Lane/Wheel Road from a point 30 metres east of its junction with the U76373 Reeders Lane for a distance of 60 metres westwards, and U76373 Reeders Lane from its junction with the U76372 Burgate Lane for a distance of 30 metres southwards.
The Street, Bergh Apton (from Alpington it’s on the way to the recycling centre) will be closed for 3 days 5-7th May 2021.
The relevant part of the official notice:
…Temporary Traffic Order affecting the U76329 The Street from 50 metres south of its junction with U76398 Dodgers Lane for a distance of 20 metres southwards because of Anglian Water new connection works.
The latest data from the speed camera in the village shows that there is still a speeding issue on Church Road, with 10% of vehicles over the limit, and the average speeder going 34mph:
The Parish Council, supported by a resident who prepares our speed camera analysis reports, have summarised the speed camera results provided by Bergh Apton Parish Council and issued these to the Police.
The headlines over the past 12 months are as follows:
Peak time for speeding is between 4-6pm
No particular day of the week is noted for excessive speed – it occurs every day
More than 1 in 3 vehicles using the route are speeding (34%)
There were 328 vehicles travelling in excess of 50 mph
7 vehicles travelling at 75mph, 2 travelling at 70 mph, 13 travelling at 65mph and 30 travelling at 60 mph
These are worrying statistics for anyone using that road, whether in a car or on foot, a resident or not. There are a few footpaths which come out onto Mill Road, so if you’re using them please take care when stepping out onto the road. Pets have been killed on the road during the year, which is made more likely by the speeding.
Armed with these statistics the police have been asked to put an appropriate level of priority on helping us to solve the problem.
We will update you through this website when the Parish Council receives any news.
Below is a tribute to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, posted here on behalf of the Parish Council. The tribute is from The Lady Dannatt MBE, HM Lord-Lieutenant of Norfolk, who is the patron of the Norfolk Association of Local Councils.
The Duke of Edinburgh and Norfolk
It was an immensely sad moment for us all here in Norfolk when word of the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, reached us on Friday. Along with so many others, my immediate reaction was one of profound sorrow for Her Majesty The Queen, and for all the members of the Royal Family. On behalf of the entire county, we offer them our heartfelt and very deepest sympathy. Her Majesty and the Royal Family have lost a husband, a father, a grandfather and a great grandfather; as a nation we have lost one of the most remarkable figures of the last century.
At some level, the news was not unexpected of course; we knew the Duke was approaching his 100th birthday and had recently spent a month in hospital. Nevertheless, Prince Philip seemed invincible, indestructible, so deeply was his life and that of the nation intertwined. We, both the country, and the county where the Duke latterly chose to spend so much of his time, are immeasurably and sadly diminished by his death.
It is no secret of course, how much the Duke adored Norfolk. Wood Farm, on the Sandringham estate, where he and the Queen often stayed when it was just the two of them here, was his chosen home after he retired from public life in 2017. He will be mourned deeply by everyone who knew, loved and served him within those small and tight-knit village communities, as well as those working on the arable, livestock and fruit farms the Duke cherished so dearly. As a knowledgeable and passionate countryman, I am told Prince Philip ‘knew almost every blade of grass in Norfolk’.
Many of us across the county will have our own personal recollections of Prince Philip. He was involved with the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, the Norfolk Nelson Museum and was Patron of The Wherry Trust amongst scores of others. In the past the Duke had competed in carriage driving at the Royal Norfolk Show and never missed an opportunity to talk to the young, whether they be cadets, school children or young people tending their animals in one of the large sheds provided on the show ground.
Like all the senior members of the Royal Family, Prince Philip took his responsibilities towards the Armed Forces very seriously, especially the senior appointments he held personally. Visiting the Grenadier Guards, of which he was Colonel, on exercise in Thetford Forest a number of years ago, he came across a trench occupied by a very junior officer – my middle son – “Getting on alright down there, are you Bertie?” the Duke enquired. Is it any wonder Prince Philip’s visits were eagerly anticipated and so warmly welcomed to all the units of the Armed Forces to which he was affiliated?
The Duke of Edinburgh
The Duke will also long be remembered for his annual and familiar attendance, with other members of the Royal Family, at the service in the Sandringham church of St Mary Magdalene on Christmas Day. And as tributes pour in from around the world, it is there, in that small church, that some of those closest to the Duke will gather. Not necessarily the ‘great or the good’ but ordinary people from every walk of life, who are proud to have served the Duke in his favourite home; and who will bow their heads in respect, deep affection and great gratitude for this remarkable and most honourable of men. A true friend of Norfolk, undoubtedly. And beyond that, a distinguished and dedicated servant of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and our World. We owe His Royal Highness so much and greatly mourn his death.
The Wheel of Fortune will reopen on Wednesday 14th at 5pm.
Here’s a brief summary of what to expect. The Fish & Chip van will be here & you are allowed to queue for your takeaway but not for ordering beer.
Please remember to bring a face covering as you will need it for signing in & using the indoor toilets.
We are still waiting for different card machines that may work in the garden, if you could pay with cash this would speed things up for us. Looking forward to seeing you all soon.
One of our parish councillors John Lain sorts out our litter bins ahead of south Norfolk council collections. He said he can tell that a number of residents have been taking it upon themselves to pick up litter from our streets, hedgerows, and banks.
What a lovely thing to do.
The parish council and this community website would like to sincerely thank everyone who has been doing this.
Every time someone picks up a piece of litter that isn’t theirs, it not only cleans that one piece up, it makes it less likely that other people will drop litter. It’s a known phenomenon. So each piece cleaned up has a bigger impact than you might think. And it’s also known that tidy environments make people happier. All of that added together means that there’s a small group of people in the village that is having a large effect on all of our general happiness, without realising it.
Of course, if you are doing this voluntarily we hope you take care and do it safely.
In normal years, the village holds a litter picking event which is sponsored by South Norfolk Council. For obvious reasons this did not happen last year, but it will be restarted when restrictions allow.
Alpington and Yelverton 