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Julie in Norfolk
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 Posted -
09/03/2008
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13:58
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This is a new forum for a new subject.
Local to where I live is planned a quarrying and asphalt site. Following the quarring of the sand and gravel, they (have yet to find out quite who) plan to have a landfil site for inert waste.
The thing is that it is planned to site this work on a SSSI (site of special scientific interest).
We have very little time to appeal this decision. We have found that the plnners have been working on this for 3 years and yet we get 3 weeks to appeal or make our opinion known.
I intend (if you will forgive me for using this site to my own ends) to put information regarding the local interest group upu on this site. People may read this or ignore it as they like. I would ask you to read it though; if for no other reason than that one day you may have to appeal a similar decision and you may want to follow or better some of the action that we have taken.
Please feel free to voice your opinions on our action and also we appreciate any and all comments and advice.
This morning, a fair amount of the able bodied went to the picnic area opposite the planned site, that is the picnic area that is adjacent to the Camping and Caravanning site that the new owners have invested so heavily in. Whilst we were there, one of our local long legged persons measured out positions for the protest banners which were duly erected courtesy of several more of the longer legged variety type folks. Us short ones did the protesting and most of us were photographed for the local newspaper, the Eastern Daily Press. Hopefully you should be able to find a photo of us all on their website soon. I am the short one at the back.
The first thing that I will lead you all to is a website that the village are setting up. The hope is that by 11th March 2008 there will be an e-petition that people can add their names to.
The web address is
www.hawitage.co.uk
Please let me know on this site if you have any difficulties accessing it, I will pass all messages on to those with the know how.
Thank you for reading the first string on this forum. There will be more I promise you.
Measure with a micrometer.
Mark with a pencil.
Cut with an axe.
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Julie in Norfolk
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 Posted - 12/04/2008 : 20:50
This is, I hope, going to be the lastish on the subject of the gravel extraction and landfill site.
We have won the battle, the Forestry commission having withdrawn their application to demolish a wonderful piece of woodland in the Breckland area.
Tomorrow, as a celebration of this fact, we are "Turning the Stone". All of you in Northern climes with enough stone to build houses with and still have some left over for walls will not really understand what it is to be in Norfolk with B"gger all stone except for one. This is the case in Great Hockham.
We have one stone.
Mind you, its a bit of a biggun!
http://www.wayland.org.uk/sites/images/Gt%20Hockham/hockham5.jpg
I have given you a site to click onto to view one of the last times that the stone was turned. You can see why we make such a thing about it. It normally takes 6 men and several wooden levers about 2 hours of heaving, planning, wedging, drinking, more planning and heaving before the stone is turned over. The most recent turning was the millenium, prior to that was 50 years after the end of WWII. Hernias have been initiated in this exhausting but momentus occasion.
Have a cheer. It starts about 12.00 when the pub opens and finishes about 14.00, well before the pub closes. We will be there, cheering them along. But please, please, please don't tell elfin safety for no high vis jackets will be worn and some men may only be wearing trainers and jeans and t-shirts. We will not have the area coned off, nor have we purchased road signs to prevent that car coming down the road like it normally does on a Sunday. We will, however, be able to guarantee that no-one will suffer from dehydration.
Photographs of the brave few may follow. I have got to find a way to stop the flash from bouncing off their heads.
Edited by - Julie in Norfolk on 12/04/2008 8:59:59 PM
Measure with a micrometer.
Mark with a pencil.
Cut with an axe.  |
Callunna
Revolving Grey Blob
3044 Posts
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Posted - 12/04/2008 : 21:44
All of you in Northern climes with enough stone to build houses with and still have some left over for walls will not really understand what it is to be in Norfolk with B"gger all stone except for one.
We drove across Norfolk last year and were amused to see a sign for [Somewhere] Hill (can't remember exact name). We looked across the flat plains stretching in every direction and decided that the small heap of soil in a field must have been the hill in question.
Anyway - Well Done to you all! Just shows that ordinary people and common sense CAN win sometimes. We look forward to seeing your photos of the stone being turned.
=================== www.sheldrickrose.co.ukwww.bernulf.co.ukwww.bernulfsplace.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 13/04/2008 : 08:42
Lovely to see a result. But...... being an old realist, be vigilant, the pressures for destruction are still out there. Love the bit about flask and bald heads. My mate Daniel played hell with me for shaving my head a couple of years ago when I asked him for a nice pic for the masthead on my column in BET. And he is an expert! I think it took about six shots to get rid of the glare.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Julie in Norfolk
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Posted - 13/04/2008 : 09:21
I know what you mean about hills Calunna. Where I used to work, someone told me that a person had driven the van over the hill to look for something. Well I looked round and couldn't see a hill for the life of me.
Round and round I turned looking for a hill thinking I had gone mad or blind or both. There was a slight incline, that counts as a hill!
Edited by - Julie in Norfolk on 13/04/2008 09:23:45 AM
Measure with a micrometer.
Mark with a pencil.
Cut with an axe. |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 14/04/2008 : 07:46
I can remember the vague sense of unease I had when I first saw Minnesota. Rolling inclines but nothing you could look up to. I often think of the Psalm; 'I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh.......' I only feel really comfortable when I have a hill to look up to. I used to go regularly to a farm in Scotland and part of the route was through a narrow valley with steep sloping sides and I loved that piece of road. Driving across to Glancoe on the Road to Fort william. Looking up at the Nevis range........
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Another
Traycle Mine Overseer
6250 Posts
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Posted - 14/04/2008 : 08:52
Nice one Jules. One in the eye for the pen pushers. Nolic
" I'm a self made man who worships his creator"  |
Julie in Norfolk
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Posted - 25/04/2008 : 15:14
From youtube is another (hopefully final) little gem. It is a video of the turning of the stone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMbQTRDavEI
Hope you enjoy it
Measure with a micrometer.
Mark with a pencil.
Cut with an axe. |
Callunna
Revolving Grey Blob
3044 Posts
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Posted - 25/04/2008 : 15:47
Well done to all of you 
That looked like a lot of fun and it was surely a genuine cause for celebration if ever there was. |
moh
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Posted - 25/04/2008 : 16:08
What a grand community spirit , can't beat living in a village for that- didn't see anyone with red hair!!
Say only a little but say it well |
Julie in Norfolk
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Posted - 25/04/2008 : 18:18
I had a quick check again, you can clearly see my hand and a camera at one point. I generally prefer to be behind the camera instead of in front of one! I find it is fairer on everyone else! Ha ha
Measure with a micrometer.
Mark with a pencil.
Cut with an axe. |
Tizer
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Posted - 14/05/2008 : 10:10
Julie, I've just got an email response to my signing of the Hockham petition and - at a quick glance - it looks like you've won. If everyone already knows this then I apologise for being slow - otherwise, congratulations on a job well done!
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Julie in Norfolk
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Posted - 15/05/2008 : 18:24
Yup we won, but we won't relax. It has taught us the benefit of having a brilliant parish clerk who reads all that he ought to and spurs into action when needed.
Many people did a lot more than I did to win this battle, we all did what we could. It is a great community here in Hockham.
Measure with a micrometer.
Mark with a pencil.
Cut with an axe. |
frankwilk
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Posted - 15/05/2008 : 22:21
I got the same e-mail, and I don't normally support this kind of thing but pleased it sorted it's self out.
Well done Julie eco -warrior OGFB that's like an MBE !!!!!!!!!!!!
Frank Wilkinson Once Navy Always Navy |
Julie the Eco-warrior
