The blurb that goes with it states: “We hope you enjoy looking back and sharing your memories on Facebook, from the most recent to those long ago.”
So I thought it would be slightly different for today’s blog to take those memories of 4th July over a number of years and make a few comments on them which you will find in italics. So here goes:
From one year ago
It was three years ago today that we had flooding in the village.
I remember donning my wellies to pop out and take a few photos in St David's Road which became impassable. The torrential rain saw the fire brigade turn up to pump the water away and for some time we were stranded (a bit like lockdown really).
I remember we were looking after our granddaughter who would only have been two at the time. Our daughter-in-law couldn't get through to pick her up and we couldn't get out to take her home.
Eventually the rain subsided and I made it to the Memorial Playing Field for the social running group. I seem to remember we ended up running round the village as the field was also very damp. (the social running group ran for a number of years and was financed by Active Norfolk with whom we had a close relationship over a number of years. Paul Evans coached everyone).
It was the second lot of torrential rain within a week. The previous week I had to brave similar conditions to get down to Woodcote in Firs Road for a meeting of the Heart of Hethersett Bereavement group. Incidentally that is still in existence. We support people who have lost loved ones. It's an informal group which normally meets on alternate Tuesdays at Woodcote Sheltered Housing complex in Firs Road. Of course, at the moment, meetings have been suspended due to the pandemic. (We are hoping to start this group up again as soon as safe to do so).
This morning I popped along to the former Old Hall School to pick up a highly colourful piece of art which I had bid for on an e-bay auction last week. (This is now hanging up in my study).
I was the only person to make a bid for it but it's nice to have a small piece from the history of Hethersett Old Hall School.
The e-bay sale saw a number of items come under the hammer from hymn books to a table and plenty of signs. The auction raised over £180 which will be donated to the East Anglian Air Ambulance.
We had a very pleasant afternoon in the company of Laurie Brettingham and members of his family, helping to celebrate the big man's 90th birthday. Laurie is a very engaging character and I guess that he is family. His eldest daughter is married to my third cousin! (Laurie is still very much with us but unfortunately his son-in-law John Mountain died earlier this year).
I have mentioned and written articles about Laurie in the past, He has had a very interesting life - being a copy boy for newspapers and then a police officer in London and he was also a teacher before moving to Norfolk on his retirement. He then turned his hand to writing books on counter intelligence in the Second World War. These are still available for sale on e-bay.
I will be featuring Laurie again in my next Hethersett Herald e-magazine out at the end of July. I am very pleased to have been asked to do some freelance work for the Eastern Daily Press, Norwich Evening News and Wymondham and Attleborough Mercury newspaper. I will be sending in a piece about Laurie over the next couple of days. (I am still churning out copy for the newspapers).
I got news last night that next year's Hethersett pantomime has been cancelled. I'm afraid this hasn't come as a surprise. It is likely that some form of social distancing will still be in place in the future which will make rehearsing impossible and would have cut down the number of people who could attend. The group have promised to come back stronger than ever in 2022. (They have subsequently confirmed that Aladdin will take place in January 2022.)
Finally today had a lovely chat with Warwick Cooper about his Photos on the Doorstep project and of course we had our photographs taken.
From three years ago
It's a known fact that if you live on Coronation Street the chances are very good that you will end up either in prison or hospital or dead at the hands of a serial killer. (This definitely still applies).
From six years ago
Sunday is the county finals of the Norfolk Village Games and Hethersett will be defending our title won last year. We are short of darts players this year. We can have a team of up to three and players must be over 11 years of age. If you would like to join our championship team just reply to this post. The games take place at the UEA Sportspark and start at 10 a.m and run until about three. The only criteria is you have to live in Hethersett, Great Melton, Little Melton or Ketteringham. (This was an annual competition organised by Active Norfolk and I organised the Hethersett entry. It stopped a number of years ago due to lack of funding. (Hethersett were the last champions so technically we still hold the title of Norfolk Sports Village of the Year. Towns were also included so this was a big feather in our cap).
For all those who work their guts out either playing or supporting sport and love sport for its own ends, why do we have to put up with morons like Nick Kyrgios. His pathetic attempts to make a point at Wimbledon by deliberately losing points makes him come over as a petulant schoolkid rather than a professional sportsman. Truly pathetic. Let's hope he loses. (Kyrgios is still as petulant as ever and pulled out of Wimbledon this year due to injury).
From seven years ago
Don't you just love all the freeloading celebrities at Wimbledon. Wonder how long they queued for and how much they paid for their tickets. Really pleased with my Hethersett Funrun time. On Thursday I took 21 min 12 sec. Was aiming today to get under 21 minutes and finished in 19 min 15 sec. Congratulations to everyone that took part. (The Hethersett Village Funrun is over a two mile course and ran for nine years before being cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID. It is hoped to hold it again in 2022. It regularly attracted over 300 runners of all ages).
From eight years ago
The sun is shining. It's Hethersett's award winning Open Weekend. All happening on the Memorial Field today. Sport in the Park and village fayre from 11 a.m with a car boot sale, Hethersett Hawks Cycle Speedway at 4 p.m, Woodcote Sheltered Housing open day and evening musical entertainment from 7 p.m. (Just some of the things we used to get up to in the village).
Ironically almost four years to the day we had anohter torrential downpour in the village. When the rain abated I went out to see if there was any localised flooding but thankfully couldn't find any.