In May we partied at a distance to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Now it's Victory over Japan Day. The parish council is once again urging everyone to party and to raise a glass to all those who died or fought in the Second World War.
It hasn't been possible to have a community event organised, so it's down to individuals to raise their glasses for a toast at 3 pm to remember all those who fought for our freedom.
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I have just taken out a month's subscription to the new Local Recall site put together by Archant. Basically it has indexed over 700,000 pages of the Eastern Daily Press newspaper with millions of historic documents.
So of course I showed my vain side by putting my own name into the search engine and it came up with hundreds of mentions of Peter Steward.
There was the death of Scottish fisherman Peter Steward (not me)
Then there was news that Lowestoft Town full back Peter Steward has suffered a bad injury (not me).
Then there was a Peter Steward who walked from London to Wymondham in aid of Chapel Road Special School at Attleborough (that was me) and
A Peter Steward who appeared in the North Norfolk Players production of Lord Arthur Savile's Crime at Sheringham Little Theatre in December 1974 (that was me) and
A Peter Steward who was a judge in a rock music talent competition (that was me).
Most of the other cuttings were comments made by a Peter Steward who was press spokesman for Norfolk Constabulary and commenting on everything from thefts and drink driving to missing children and murders (again that WAS me).
Two of those mentions were things on my life bucket list.
This included appearing in a play in front of a live audience (achieved, but once was enough).
Walking over 100 miles in three days for a charity (achieved, but once was enough).
Another was
To run a marathon (achieved when I ran the Bungay Black Dog Marathon in 1982 - but once was enough).
You are probably getting the idea here that I don't really stick at much but that's not true. These were one-off things that I wanted to experience and then move on. It helped that I soon realised that I'm not a long distance runner, my acting ability is virtually zero and walking 100 miles in three days was anything but enjoyable.
Appearing with the North Norfolk players was a strange and amusing experience. They took themselves very seriously and had an ex professional drama producer who demanded seriousness and discipline as if we were likely within a year to tread the boards at Drury Lane.
After a few rehearsals, I was taken aside and quietly told that they didn't feel I was up to it. Of course they were correct. I have a total inability to learn lines. They were concerned that I would dry up on stage. It didn't help that at the age of 22 I was being asked to play the part of a German anarchist many years my senior. I actually looked 22 and my German accent sounded very Japanese.
The problem was I didn't take the play at all seriously but neither did the guy playing the vicar who decided that as he wasn't required to be on until after the interval he would go for a walk. That walk took him into a local pub. The interval came and two of us were detailed to go and find him. We must have looked an odd couple - a woman in high heels and period dress and a much shorter man dressed in a penguin suit and made up to look like an anarchist. And of course our friend was in full on frockcoat with dog collar.
Luckily we found him in the nearest pub to Sheringham Little Theatre … but he was slightly the worse for wear. We got him back in time.
The worry was I would forget my lines. In one scene I was on stage with two of the old dears (sorry real actresses). I remembered my lines perfectly. They forgot theirs and had to have a prompt while I said "your line" out of the side of my mouth.
It was all too serious though and I bowed out, although I'm not sure whether we played just the one night or a full week.
There's also one final memory I have of that group. We used to rehearse in the home of Rex Bellamy (who was rather posh) in Sheringham. Much of the time we sat in a row on a bed in one of the rooms. On this particular evening there must have been four of us sitting in a line. At one point the person at the pillar end of the bed got up. The bed sagged and I fell on the floor. It still makes me laugh almost 50 years later.
Mr and Mrs Bellamy weren't impressed by the fact that I lay on the floor convulsed with laughter. I kept wanting to say "lighten up luvvies, lighten up."