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Dylan Thomas

Thu, 7 Oct 2010 22:01:31 +0100

To begin at the beginning: It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters’-and-rabbits’ wood limping invisible down to the sloeback, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea.

So begins “Under Milk Wood”, the great ‘play for voices’ by Dylan Thomas and so began the wonderful evening of readings from Dylan Thomas in St. Margaret’s Church, Starston on Saturday 28th August as part of the Harleston and Waveney Festival. The readings were performed – and ‘performed’ is the right word – by Brian Ellis, a Welsh actor and director whose knowledge and love for the text shone through every piece that he gave us. It is impossible in the space of one short evening to provide more than a small taste of Thomas’ work, but Brian gave us plenty of variety ranging from the evocative “Memories of Christmas”…

One Christmas was so much like another, in those years, around the sea-town corner now, and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six…

…to the other end of the literary spectrum with poems such as “And Death Shall Have No Dominion”.

He was a serious poet was Dylan Thomas, and a pretty serious drinker as well, but he could also be very funny. He was born in Swansea in October 1914 and in his “Reminiscences of Childhood”, which Brian included in the programme, he wrote:

…beyond that unknown Wales lay England, which was London, and a country called ‘The Front’ from which many of our neighbours never came back. At the beginning the only ‘front’ I knew was the little lobby before our front door; I could not understand how so many people never returned from there…

St. Margaret’s provided an excellent setting for a performance such as this, (though next time I’ll remember to take a cushion) and there were about 30 people in the audience. Wine and nibbles (mostly home made I suspect) were served in the interval and after the performance. It was a very enjoyable occasion and many thanks to Brian for his performance and to Ruth Cawcutt for organising such a memorable evening. I’ll end with one final – well known – Dylan Thomas quotation:

Do not go gentle into that good night
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Michael Bartlett

Fire Safety

Thu, 7 Oct 2010 21:55:13 +0100

The World’s biggest coffee morning

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:25:39 +0100

Starston's version of the Biggest Coffee Morning will take place at the Jubilee Hall 10am -12.30pm on SATURDAY 25th SEPTEMBER.

We have booked the very popular Mary's Little Gems and Phoenix Cards who were such a success at the last coffee morning and there will be all the usual cakes, 2nd hand books, bric-a-brac etc. so if you would like to donate something that we can sell please bring it along on the day or i can collect it beforehand if you give me a call.

So please come along and have a cup of coffee, a piece of cake and a chat and support this worthy cause.

Entry is free but a small donation would be appreciated.

Sue Moore 01379 852387

Land Purchase Decision

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:22:09 +0100

A meeting was held in the Jubilee Hall on Wednesday 23rd June 2010 to discuss the possible purchase of the land by the bridge alongside the Harleston Road. This is not a Parish Council matter but Dr Edward Libbey took the chair and was joined by Mike Bentley, Neighbourhood Officer for the Waveney Valley at SNDC. 25 members of the public were also present.

The Chairman explained the background. Approximately 5 acres of land on either side of The Beck, between Low Road and Harleston Road, had been put up for auction and had subsequently been purchased privately. A number of residents had expressed concern about what might happen to the land and his private soundings established that there was support for buying the land for the village. He felt that most of money could probably be raised from villagers and that grants might be available to help towards purchase and maintenance of the site. The Parish Council did not have the money to buy it. The most tax- efficient way of buying the land was through a charity; this would also make it easier to get grants. The Trustees of the Village Hall (a registered charity) had agreed, in principle, if money was made available to them, to buy and manage the site, provided this was not to the detriment of the Hall nor in conflict with their existing Trustee obligations. With time running out before the auction, a private purchaser intervened and bought the land. However there was still an opportunity to buy part of the site to protect it for the village. The aim of the current meeting was to inform people what was happening, find out their views, decide what to do and explain the next steps.

Julian Lombe-Taylor asked to make a statement. He declared an interest as a partner in RGL Taylor and Partners as they had bought the land. The partnership was willing to sell part of the land (almost 2 acres to include the area to the south side of the Beck and the north side from the road bridge up to 25 metres beyond the sluice) to the village for the same price as they had paid for it. JLT offered to withdraw from the meeting, but that offer was not taken up.

The Chairman introduced Mike Bentley who said this was a valuable opportunity to acquire a publicly accessible open space at an affordable price. His team and the Council’s Funding Officer would help with grant applications; grants would certainly be available, perhaps up to 25% of the money needed, provided it could be shown that there was general support for the project within the village. As a “public open space” the land would have certain protections under Council planning policies. There was also the option to designate it as a village green which would confer statutory protection. What was needed now was a consultation in the village to determine a) that there was support for buying the land and b) what people wanted it to be used for.

The Chairman felt it was important to raise at least £10,000 – to buy the land and endow it so that the Village Hall Trustees had financial security to cover the purchase on additional costs.

Some concerns were expressed from the floor about access. Initial thoughts were that it could be via Low Road; a foot bridge could be built across the Beck to access the southern part of the site. It was pointed out that the Parish Plan showed considerable support for a village green and for community woodland. There was a general view that minimal development was the best option for the site.

There was unanimous support from the meeting for moving ahead with the project. As a next step the Chairman would work with Mike Bentley to produce a short questionnaire to be distributed to every household in the village as soon as possible. The questionnaire would establish if there is general support for the project and views on the use of the site.

RETURNING THE QUESTIONNAIRE

You should have received the questionnaire with this edition of Pigeon Post. Please fill it in and return it as soon as possible. It is important to have a high response to the questionnaire in order to apply for grant funding.

Once you have completed the questionnaire please return it to one of the collection points. These are:
• Jo Emms, Mulberry Barn, Church Hill,
• Anna Saul, Wood Farm, Wood Lane
• Michael Bartlett, The Red Cottage, The Street,
• Ian & Betty McKenzie, Highland Cottage, Hardwick Road
• John Formston, Tuskers, Cross Road
• Ruth Cawcutt, Birchwood, Rushall Road

If you cannot get to one of the collection points please ring Anna (853906) or Michael (852318) and we will arrange collection.

Intervillage Sports

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:16:00 +0100

Starston’s finest and fittest descended on Dennington in June to represent the village in this year’s inter-village games. They also brought along their parents. Starston made the unusual decision to further handicap an already fragile team by only managing to attend two of the warm up events in the preceding weeks. With points meaning prizes, we may as well have tied logs to our feet when the big day came – in fact some of us did. Despite the sterling efforts of the kids, hauling themselves down the track, under nets, around cones, we came home once more with the wooden spoon.

There were however some moments to be proud of. Notably, Sam Colman was the only winner of the day, demonstrating that years of bringing breakfast in bed to his parents has paid off when it comes to egg transportation over rough ground. After a cautious start, wind filled his sails as he reached the halfway mark and he sprinted past his wilting opposition to bring home the bacon (and thankfully the egg).

Pulses raced later as it seemed that our second gold was on the cards in the land raft race until some woeful refereeing robbed us of victory at the last. Special mention must go to our distance runners Caroline Mair and Olly Simmonds who took on the teens at the track mile. I hope Caroline finishes the race soon because we’re starting to miss her and would like her home.

A sporting swansong from the Byrne family – the fancy dressed dash is Bill’s signature event - included admirable effort from Maddie, our decathlete. You will be summoned from your island to compete next year. The other villages will never know you left. A special mention to Chris and Lara who have gathered the troops for the past three years. Starston’s time will come. We’ll be back next year. Currently we have a stark lack of teenage athletes but little people grow so the other villages better watch their backs!

James Mair