Author: alpington-yelverton-admin

Households across Norfolk will soon be asked to take part in the nationwide survey of housing and the population. It has been carried out every decade since 1801, with the exception of 1941.

Information from the digital-first census will help decide how services are planned and funded in your local area. This could mean things like doctors’ surgeries, housing or new bus routes. Households will receive a letter with a unique access code in the post, allowing them to complete their questionnaire online.

Paper questionnaires will be available on request.

Census day is March 21.

For more information, visit census.gov.uk

Please see below the official notice of the parish councillor vacancy which was mentioned on this website in November 2020.

Below is a copy and paste from a document sent out by Garry Whiting, Heathgate Medical Practice & Lead Manager for the Poringland Centre:

Update – Covid 19 Vaccinations Message from Heathgate Medical Practice and Old Mill and Millgates Surgery

Thank you for your comments after my last message. I promised to keep you up to date and so have this update for you.

Our local vaccination programme is continuing and over 4,000 of our initial cohort of 16,000 priority patients have now passed through our vaccination centre at the Poringland Community Centre in just over 2 weeks, receiving their first dose. These patients are in the national priority listings which the Government has announced.

You will recall we have had to work in groups of GP Practices rather than vaccinate alone and the teams from the nine practices in our group, working out of Poringland, are working hard to arrange appointments, vaccinate and record vaccinations in the new national software being used.

Vaccine supply continues to be scheduled for us and we are using the Pfizer vaccine that NHS England is sending us, at times with short notice.

We are using every dose and some of you may have had last minute calls to attend when booked patients have not kept their appointments.

We have used our smaller supply of Astra Zeneca (AZ) vaccines for our Care Home residents and staff. There are fewer restrictions on moving the AZ vaccine.

As well as managing vaccination through the centre, we have visited 35 care homes to vaccinate residents and staff and are visiting vulnerable patients at home who can not get to the Centre.

You may see teams of clinicians visiting patients homes in our area today.
Booking teams from across the 9 GP Practices are continuing to call and offer patients appointments for vaccination. We are moving through those aged 70 plus now. That’s a long list! Many of you have chosen to visit the mass vaccination site in Norwich and this remains an option providing you have had a national letter inviting you to book.

Thank you to those of you who have provided such positive feedback of our efforts after visiting the Centre. I would like to extend my personal thanks for the way people have worked with us as they have attended, the staff from our Practices and the magnificent volunteers that have supported us with car park duties, observing the rest area after vaccination and providing staff with tea and coffee.
Continued thanks to the Community Centre staff, local agencies, the police and the parish council.

Again I would ask that you do not call Practices to see where you are on the list to call. Our teams are working through the lists as quickly as they can based on the vaccine supplies we are allocated for the specific cohorts of patients announced by the Government so far.

I’ll keep you posted. 

Garry Whiting

Managing Partner

Heathgate Medical Practice

Lead Manager for the Poringland Centre

New business grants from £2,000 to £20,000 are available to support large, small and micro businesses from South Norfolk and Broadland District Councils through the second phase of its discretionary business grant.

The Councils welcome applications from South Norfolk and Broadland businesses of any size, whether home based or based in business premises, business rated or not rated, self-employed or employing staff. They are particularly keen to hear from businesses that have so far been unable to receive any COVID-19 financial support.

To qualify for the Additional Restrictions Grant, businesses must have experienced a loss of income (turnover) of at least 20% or £40,000 and fall into one of the following categories:

1. A rated business that did not qualify for Local Restrictions Support Grant payments during national lockdowns or local restrictions
2. A business that has so far been unable to receive any COVID-19 financial support – including businesses with premises which are not business-rated, or without its own business rating
3. A business that employs 10 or more full-time equivalent employees and wishes to request a top-up to a previous Local Restrictions Support Grant award 

Any business that needs support is encouraged to get in touch to find out what funding they may be eligible for. Please share with your business networks and fellow business owners.

To find out more and apply for an Additional Restrictions Grant or another business grant visit the following sites:

www.south-norfolk.gov.uk/business-support 

www.broadland.gov.uk/coronavirus/businesses

Please find below this week’s Community Update from Assistant Chief Constable Julie Went

Feb/Mar edition of Eleven Says, the Newspaper of the Bramerton Group of Churches covering 11 Parishes.

Next year will be the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II ascending the throne, her Platinum Jubilee.  To mark this occasion there will be an extra bank holiday on June 3rd 2022, making a four day bank holiday weekend.

Several residents have suggested that it would be lovely to hold a Community Celebration on this bank holiday weekend, both to recognise the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and to celebrate life being more fun again.  Suggestions have included a village street party/picnic or a large village fete/festival where local organisations can put on activities and set up stalls.

The Parish Council may be able to apply for a small grant towards this, but this is an event that needs the participation of the community as a whole, not just on the day but in the planning and organising.

If you are interested in helping to plan and organise such an event please contact Louise Taylor or Sue Stacey.

To do so, please use the contact us form on our website. Just mention that you’re able to help in the Platinum Jubilee event and we will make sure the message reaches Louise and Sue.

Contact Us

If there’s sufficient interest then we anticipate having a meeting this summer to kick off the planning process.

Below are the details of a bonus for referring a friend to the community oil purchase scheme. This website previously carried an article about the scheme, and further details can be seen on our page here. If you’re not in the scheme, contact us and we will put you in touch with someone who is, so that you can both take advantage of the offer.

From the thinking-fuel scheme:

This February we are asking you to Share The Love by referring a friend to the Thinkingfuel syndicate, and you both receive £10 off your orders!

Simply ask your friend to sign up at http://www.thinkingfuel.org.uk then drop us an email to thinkingfuel@af-affinity.co.uk copying your email address too. Please remember to include both your names and contact details. One of the team will then be in touch. Once your friend has joined, both receive £10 off your next order.

To qualify

· Minimum order is 500 litres

· Maximum order is 2000 litres

· Your friend must place an order in February to receive £10 off

· Orders are for Kerosene (heating oil) only

· Full payment must be received and delivered before a credit is applied

· The account application process must be completed for the new account

· Those being referred must be new to the syndicate, and not existing members.

· £10 is for each qualifying customer only and not transferable

This year, I think many of us will be relieved that our bitterly cold and wet January is drawing to a close, so let’s look forward to February knowing that we are edging ever-closer to the magical Springtime. 

As long as we don’t get another “Beast from the East” or a deluge of snow, a lot can be achieved in your garden during February on days when the ground isn’t frozen or waterlogged. 

Planting

You can now plant bare-root trees and shrubs in their final positions. Similarly, you can move or plant ‘in-the-green’ snowdrops (snowdrops with just leaves) so they will give you a beautiful show of white flowers in a week or so. This is also a good month for planting shallots, raspberries and blackberry canes, if weather and soil conditions permit. 

Make sure the frosts haven’t lifted newly-planted trees and shrubs, firm the soil around them gently with your foot if required. 

Pruning

If you didn’t get a chance to prune your hedges last Autumn, February is a great time to do this.  Deciduous garden hedges can all be cut back fairly hard now. 

You can also cut back deciduous grasses, ideally down to 15-20cm before new shoots emerge and also deadhead any winter bedding plants for bushier displays later in the year.

Feeding

If you have cleared off the old growth from your perennials and your flowerbeds are quite tidy, you can apply a top dressing of blood fish and bone or other granular fertiliser around the plants and gently fork this into the soil. 

Sowing

Although it seems very early in the year, if the weather permits, you can plant your sweet pea seeds outside where you wish them to flower but they may need to be protected with cloches. Alternatively, plant some seeds in a few plant pots in the greenhouse or on the windowsill so they can be planted out later in the spring.

Seed catalogues

You can get a lot of ideas for your summer garden from gardening magazines or seed catalogues, maybe finding some new varieties of striking annuals for your pots or hanging baskets.  So, on any wet and cold February days, they may be worth a browse! 

These tips were kindly contributed by local resident Cara MacColl

A small bit of good news: we’ve noticed that a few of the older and damaged signs around the village have been replaced recently. If any villagers reported some of these to the council then thanks!

There were defective and worn out signs in Wheel Road, Burgate Lane and Reeders Lane. Some of them were reported late last year by the Parish Council, and we’re pleased that they’ve been selected to be fixed at this difficult time.

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The author’s personal understanding is that these sorts of things are (perhaps understandably) usually low priority for the county council to fix, but they are currently only able to carry out certain works because of coronavirus restrictions, and it looks like this has allowed these items to come to the top of the list.