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  • Shotesham Bowls Club is a hidden gem on the edge of Shotesham village located in a rural setting overlooking farmland. It’s facilities include a good quality bowling green with 6 rinks and an automatic watering system, along with floodlighting for evening matches, a clubhouse with kitchen and a toilet, and an adjoining car park.

We have about 30 members of mixed ages and bowling abilities, split roughly 50/50 between men and women. Some of our members have belonged to the club for many years but we are all forward thinking and warmly encourage new members. You would be very welcome to come along and take part in our “roll ups” for practice on a Saturday afternoon to see if you would like to join the club. Our roll ups are very relaxed laid back gatherings when members dress casually, and the accent is very much on just having an enjoyable afternoon bowling and socialising with other club members.

Bowls is a relaxing, yet competitive sport for all ages that not only helps keep you fit but lets you meet new people and see new greens when we play matches away against other clubs in the surrounding villages.

Our club is run on an equal opportunities basis which means every member has the same opportunity to put their name forward to play in one or more of the matches against another club each week. We also enjoy internal competitions where trophies are awarded to the winners at a club dinner which takes place in the village pub in November. A highlight of our season is a club pairs competition and barbeque, this is always well attended.

We hope you would enjoy playing bowls with us all you need to start with is a pair of flat heel-less shoes so you can walk on the green without damaging it. We would lend you some bowls for your first practice sessions. Weather permitting the club opens on Saturday April 18th this year we hope to see you there.

If you are interested do come along or contact Alan Banham on 550574,  Mike Razzell on 498446, or John Torbitt on 499541

History of the club. Shotesham Bowls Club played at Shotesham Lodge in 1945, which was then occupied by Mr Claude Barton, a director of Wincarnis (fortified wine) in Norwich. He was the father of Andrew Barton who lived at Rose Cottage and for several years was associated with the Shotesham Festival which started in 1976 and was held every 4 years and continued for about 20 years.

In 1947 Mr Jimmy Emms from Malthouse Farm offered the club land, the present site, at a very small rent and the green was laid by Fred Clarke and other members. With pedestrian access  from a small gate on Brooke Road and an ex rail wagon in the left hand corner as a club house. Around 1960 the green was extended and the present clubhouse was purchased and a toilet was added and also a car park with access by a new driveway. The green and additional land having been purchased with some financial help from the Norwich City Supporters Club which is  why the NCS Cup is competed for each year. In the 60s there was a strong ladies section and there was a ladies team who raised enough money to have floodlights installed, and these are still used when necessary.

By the 90s the green had deteriorated having many bare patches, and the decision was taken to have it relaid. This was done in 1997 and home matches did not start until 1st June. This work was financed by the members by loans and gifts and was repaid within 2 years. We then had thoughts of an automatic watering system and this was installed around 2000 with some financial help from WREN waste recycling organisation.

 

  • Christmas Events 2023 –
    Carols round the Tree
     – we were treated to some fine weather and some excellent entertainment at the event on Christmas Eve. Mulled wine, mince pies and hot chocolate was served and a collection of donations raised £166 for EACH. Many thanks to all who helped out, particularly Christine and Ted, Nick and Sue and Lindsay, and to everyone who turned out to sing and appreciate. 

    New Years Eve Fun Run once again collected a number of hardy souls of many different ages and sent them out into a reasonably pleasant (for running) day…..and welcomed them back just as the rain had started to fall. The pre race favourites took a back seat as Steve Blomfield finished first in 38.12 after a sprint up Church Hall, with previous winner Dominic Copping 5 secs behind, and brother Jasper another 12secs after that. Anna Lloyd was first lady in under 49mins, and the two seniors winners were Mike Laurence and Liz Blakie, with Anna’s son Zach the first junior in 49.49. A special mention for Emi Muntingh who, although her running coach(!) would only let her run one lap, she completed it in 13mins!!! Definitely one to watch for the future! 
  • For everyone who has Internet problems or is interested in preparing for the high speed broadband revolution! 
    County Broadband, who have already visited a number of households in the village and have around 10% (20 households) signed up, are hosting a meeting on Monday 12th December in Trinity Hall.  The idea is to give us all the information regarding a Broadband plan for Shotesham, and hopefully to achieve a minimum of 20% of the village signed up for it which will enable the go ahead in the near future.
    In the meantime, click here for more information
  • Tour de Shotesham bike ride, A fine sunny day for the 10th anniversary Tour de Shotesham, which saw Martijn Muntingh (34.03) and Terri Howard (43.52) retain their titles from last year, and the Burtons – Christine and Ted – cycled away with the ‘mature’ categories. First amongst the younger entries were brother and sister, Noah and Anayah Russell, and first (of one!) in the ebike category was yours truly (46.29).  Martijn was 1 minute outside the TdS record, mainly due to a stiff north westerly wind blowing up Rogers Lane…better luck next year Martijn.
  • New Years Eve Fun Run 2021- well attended this year with 23 runners and more than half off them were ladies! I was personally hoping for a lady’s name on the trophy but Dudley Garner drew away and won the event just over a minute in front of Stephanie Laurence, with another two ladies – Jenny Clarke (as the first senior runner) and Florence (‘Mummy’) Tewson not far behind. A special mention for Georgia and Zac Lloyd as the first two youngsters, who were also members of the first family (of four!) over the line. Well done to all who participated and hope you all enjoyed the rest of Hogmany! Click on photo for more
  • Something we did in lockdown! Following a suggestion by our own Pat Harris, a small group of our residents, ably led and coordinated by Ken Holbeck, decided to create a short story by writing a paragraph each, along with several alternative endings……..Time to go.. click here to continue 
  • Very best wishes for a happy and successful 2020, a round up below of some of a few of the community events over the festive season. We had two excellent Church services, featuring our village choir at Candlelit Carols in St Mary’s on Sunday, and again at the Carols round the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve which also saw a standout performance by our young hand bell ringers. Both services were so well attended that we nearly ran out of even standing room, I’m sure Dawn and her team would be more than pleased to see some more of us at the normal services throughout 2020! Many thanks also to all who donated to our charity collection on Christmas Eve, we raised £231 which has been donated to Big C’s Nearer to Home appeal, information here
  • Our presentation of A Christmas Carol on 23rd also played to a full house and was much appreciated by all who were there, we look forward to having the Keeper’s Daughter theatre group back again when they have another touring show. 
  • The 2019 Shotesham Fun Run attracted an excellent field of 30 runners on a fine and very nearly warm Old Year’s day. Dom Copping ran an excellent time of 35.05 to collect the trophy, with Martijn Muntingh just pipping Steve Fenn to second place and last years winner Adan Paice in fourth. Fastest lady was Kelly Bailey in just over 46 minutes, and a stunning run of 53 mins saw 8, yes eight, year old Nieve Copping win the under 16s. The two fastest ‘seniors’ were Dave Tait and Liz Blakie in 46 and 52 minutes respectively. Well done to all who took part, and indeed all families, friends and well wishers who turned out to cheers them all on. 
  • Click here for some thoughts of a frequent visitor to Shotesham Common
  • A hugely successfull Shotesham Open Gardens and Art Trail took place over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday June 23rd/24th. A beautifully sunny couple of days saw almost 700 visitors who were delighted by the welcome and hospitality experienced throughout our village and contributed around £6000, with all profits after expenses (over £5000), being donated to the All Saints Church bells project. Highlights included immaculately turned out gardens, as well as Art & Patchwork Exhibitions, and a Flower Show and bell ringing at All Saints Church. Our thanks go to all the very hardworking gardeners and the many other helpers who manned carparks, made and served tea and cakes, arranged flowers and displayed all our arts and crafts.
  • Despite some dreich (fine Scottish expression) weather at the start, this year’s Tour de Shotesham attracted a record entry of 37 cyclists including a fair number of youngsters all of whom very determinedly completed the course. Thankfully the weather brightened a little to allow the prizes to be presented at The Globe and for everyone to enjoy a refreshing cold drink or two. The winners were; Under 14s – Holly Saville and Cameron Guy; Under 60s – Teri Tickner and Steve Nicholls; Seniors – Jane Ellis and Paul Maddison. Click on the photo below for a full pictorial review.

  • And on Sunday 6th May, well over 100 people, large and small, turned out on the Common for the return of The Great Shotesham Duck Race (also known as the Kenducky Derby 😀). On a scorcio 🌞😎 afternoon most of the kids, and quite a few adults, were happy to cool off in Beechers Brook (the Beck) while assisting some of the ducks to negotiate the various hazards. An exciting race saw a very close finish before large numbers of racegoers retired to The Globe for a well deserved cold refreshment. Click on photo for the rest…  …and the winners were: U14s – 1st. Ellis Sexton (the fastest time overall 20.34); 2nd. Mason Gabrell; 3rd. Revita Stuart. Adults – 1st. Tony Bates; 2nd. Martin Grey; 3rd. Cordelia Knights; and Dan Boulger had the longest duck in the water 26.00! And the prize for Best Dressed Duck went to Bernie Fenn (see photo above!). Unclaimed prizes can retrieved from Simon at Beck Cottage, Hollow Lane. Hope the sun manages to attend next year’s race!

    photos by Mike Fenn
  • The Shotesham Village Association held it’s Annual General Meeting in March with the committee being re-elected and a couple of new members joining us, many thanks to those who turned out and contributed. As always we have a number of events planned for the coming year and, although events are open to everyone, we would encourage residents to become Members of the Association and help with all the things that go on in the village. A small donation, minimum £3, will help us fund events and you can always keep in touch with what goes on in and around the village by joining our email distribution list!
  • 13 hardy souls took part in the Old Year’s day run on 31st Dec 2017 run with ages ranging from 17 – 81, well done to all and prizes to: Mens winner – Adam Pearce, 36:36; Ladies Winner – Stephanie Lawrence, 43:08; Juniors Winner – Joe Moncrieff, 37:18.

    Well done to winners Adam, Stephanie (and sleeping baby) and Joe
  • KEEP DOORS SHUT & EYES OPEN! Once again Shotesham has suffered from what, this time, turned out to be a spate of burglaries on the same day. The outbuildings of at least two houses in the village were broken into and had a number of items stolen, and at least one other property suffered an attempted break in.Around 1pm on the 6th of September a white van, probably a Ford Escort style, was seen driving somewhat recklessly in the vicinity of one of the properties. If anyone has any further information regarding this van, or of anyone acting suspiciously around the village, please either inform the police, or let us know via either the ‘Contact Us’ button or the phone number on the website and we’ll pass it on.Obviously yet another lesson for us all on maintaining the security of our properties and keeping an eye out for our neighbours, particularly if we know they’re out and about.Update on burglary incidents…Thank you for all your feedback. Appears there were a number of sightings around Shotesham, including at the top of Chapel Lane at around 12.15pm, Priory Lane about 1.00, around 1.30 in the Brooke Road/ Market Lane area, and on Hawes Green at a similar time. Our postman also got a close look at them in the driveway of one of the targeted properties on Brooke Road at 12.30. The general impression is that the culprits are particularly calm and brazen and didn’t appear too bothered about people seeing them. They were probably around 40 and were driving an older white Renault Master or Ford Transit van.The police are now investigating and are specifically asking if anyone has CCTV on their property. If so, could they please have a look at the last 48 hours or so to see if there is anything relevant that may assist. Many thanks to everyone for their help.
  • Message from South Norfolk Council – We are currently seeing high levels of fly tipping and littering in South Norfolk. Both of these have a negative impact on the environment and human health. We often find that fly tipping has occurred because residents have given their waste to unregistered waste carriers who have in turn fly tipped the waste. We hope to protect residents from this form of activity. Your help with this matter will be gratefully received. Click here for info, and if you wish to discuss this matter please do not hesitate to contact the Community Protection team on 01508 533723.
  • Anglian Water are running a campaign to find and register properties that have a private pumping station with the aim of taking over the maintenance and running costs. If you have one of these, please click here for more info and how to register.
  • Shotesham☀️Summer☀️Fayre☀️ – Saturday July 8th. This year’s Fayre was designed with families in mind and, with the dog show, kids (and adult) races, and many other events, everyone was entertained well into the evening. And finally, the water slide was amazing with kids of all ages taking part😛. Click here to see all the fun of the Fayre!
  • On Sunday 9th April a record 42 competitors took part in the seventh Tour de Shotesham and were rewarded with a warm and sunny day, along with some well deserved cold beers (other cold drinks were available!) at the Globe on completion. Well done to all cyclists, and a special thanks to Ed Howard and all his helpers for organising and managing the event. Click on the photo below for a report and the rest of the photos.
  • …and they’re off!
  • See here for videos of last year’s Comedy Sketch Show.
  • The Village Association ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING took place on 8th March at Trinity Hall, a short précis of the business…A review of the year’s activities and finances were reported and all agreed it had been a good year. Our book of Shotesham Walks is a great success and some remain available for sale at both village churches and The Globe. The SVA committee was reorganised with several long serving members standing down. A huge vote of thanks was passed on to all, including Bernie Fenn who has done sterling work as Secretary then Chairperson, and others who have worked hard behind the scenes. A new committee was then elected with some re-elections and several new members. The meeting proceeded with discussion on planned events and ideas for the forthcoming year, particularly some thoughts on some more events for families and children, and then concluded with wine (very kindly donated by outgoing committee member Sue Astbury) and more chat about the future.Post Meeting Note; at a subsequent meeting of the new committee, Ken Munro and Jan Jeeves were elected as chair and vice-chair respectively.
  • For anyone privileged enough to see it, Saturday 21st January saw an excellent performance by The Voice Project in Norwich Cathedral of ‘Between Stars’. Lending their voice to this uniquely enjoyable event were several ladies from Shotesham and Stoke HC, pictured below (although Christine Burton went shy at photo time!). Well done girls, great show! Keep your eyes open for the next one.

  • Post Offices extend banking services. A new agreement means more rural residents will be able to bank at their local post office. The deal bring together the Post Office’s existing arrangements with individual banks into a single set of cash and cheque services. The latest agreement covers customers of virtually all UK banks. Click on the link above for details, and also for other news from the Rural Services Network.
  • Excellent news for our chosen charity, East Anglia Children’s Hospice. At three events over the 2016 Festive Period – Tin Heart Troubadours, our Sketch Show and Supper, and the Christmas Eve Carol Service – we managed to raise and donate £938.80. A great effort from the village and many thanks to everyone involved.
  • NEWSFLASH – Boudica’s Bangle…
  • Information for No 84 bus users, click here for new times or under Timetables above, please also note the new stand L instead of K.
  • Two more from Norfolk Council…Verge Cutting …..Early Help Hub Newsletter
  • Saxlingham Baby and Toddler group would welcome new members, see here for more information.
  • In spite of the weather threat, our celebration of The Queen’s birthday on 12th June turned out to be a splendid affair, with something approaching sunshine and more cake than could ever be eaten! Many thanks from the village to the Parish Council for facilitating and, most importantly, to Wally and Heather for hosting. Photos to prove it ….
  • The new booklet of village footpaths has been delivered to every house in the village, if by chance you haven’t received one please let us know via the ‘contact us’ button on the menu above. Additional copies are now on sale, £3/copy, at The Globe, Trinity Hall, All Saints & St Mary’s churches and also from Bernie – floracot@btinternet.com – The booklet is also accessable from the menu on the Home Page.
  • A few residents have asked about the best way to buy heating oil – some info here.
  • Please be aware, the cattle are now on the north and south common for the summer. Walkers are still welcome, but please take care to close all gates and keep dogs on leads at all times. Thank you.
  • Your esteemed editor participated in a sponsored walk on 21st May, 5 laps completed with at least one in double quick time! If you’d like to help a good cause, have a look…
  • A big ‘thank you’ from East Anglian Children’s Hospices following our Spring Piano Concert..see here
  • Also recently updated is the new and simplified Trading Post page. Items available and wanted are now on one page, so please have a look. It works, most items go within a few days!
  • Monday 4th April the Art Group will be painting and drawing at various spots in the village. They would be delighted for more potential artists to join them, no previous experience required. For more info contact Wally at awalterj@btinternet.com or just turn up at the Trinity at 9.45 on Monday 4th!
  • Village annual litter pick, see here
  • The mobile library visits Shotesham once per month and the dates are on the Calendar. To view what time and where it stops in the village see here
  • Changes to the council recycling centre at Morningthorpe. Norfolk Council have announced that, as from 18th January, the main centre will be closed on Mondays through Wednesdays inclusive, and will be open only from Thursdays to Sundays. Further info can be found on Norfolk.gov.uk/recyclingcentres. (Moved to archive 3/3/16)
  • If you are familiar with Wally Jackson’s sense of humour you might enjoy this article, written specially for the website. There is a clue in the title “Joint effort
  • The new programme for Shotesham Gardening Group 2015/16 is here. 2015-2016 programme
  • The village walking group has a programme of walks for the first half of 2016. Details here.
  • Church Hill is being looked after with the aim of returning it to its former glory as a natural wildflower meadow. For a summary of progress after 3 years please click here.  Also please click here to see photos of the annual rake-up on church hill in sunny mid August.
  • The altar kneelers at Saint Mary’s church have been refurbished by talented village tapestry artists, pictures can be seen via Publications or Special Projects above, or up close and personal at the church itself. Well worth a look.
  • Do you use the village footpaths or help to maintain them (whether as farmer or volunteer?) Maureen the footpath warden has written an update and an appreciation – click here to see.
  • Sadly, ash dieback disease is a reality in the village. You may have noticed that some ashes are thinly leaved this year. Here is an example of 2 ashes just a few metres apart in a hedge near to Stubbs Green. The one on the left is badly affected whilst the one on the right looks healthy and strong so far. Fingers crossed for its genes…1-P1090552 Click on the photo to enlarge
  • The new defibrillator is installed in the telephone box in the Street and ANYONE can use it without risk as it talks you through the simple steps. The code to access it is available by dialling 999 and also by members of the Parish Council and SVA. Click here for picture and initial instruction
  • Ever thought about having a go at Church Bell Ringing? Recruits still wanted. Click here for more details
  • Do you have a well in your garden?  It was not until the 60’s that mains water came to our village and the wells stopped being used. There is a project to record the position of wells and their part in village history. If you have any information please contact Jeff Gough on 550358