Web Log

Here's your chance to help people in developing countries.

Lynn Lions Club are once again running their used spectacles collection, with the help of Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Tescos Gaywood, Boots Opticians and Gayton Road Health Centre.

Just take along your used specs to any of these collection points during October. Look for a blue bin with the Lions logo. Specs will be accepted in any in any condition.

For nearly 70 years, individual Lions Clubs have collected used eyeglasses for distribution to the needy in developing nations. The Lions now recycle 5 million pairs of spectacles each year.

King's Lynn has received a Silver Award at the first attempt, after entering the Anglia In Bloom competition.

Cllr Elizabeth Nockolds, Chair of the King's Lynn in Bloom group said 'This is brilliant news for everyone involved. The Council is keen to improve the varied appearance of the area and Anglia in Bloom helps us to do this. I am looking forward to reviewing the judges' feedback report to help us plan further improvements for next year.'

The Fairstead Doorstep Green was nominated as the Best Community Project in a large town and was the outright winner for the Anglia region.

- visit the Anglia in Bloom website

This short documentary on local legends and ghosts was made by Mark, a 21-year-old student at King's lynn College.

The film is being shown at the Co-operative Young Film-Makers 2006 Festival.

The Heritage Open Day on Sunday was a great success.

Over twenty historic properties were opened up to the public to celebrate our unique historical heritage. Access was completely free to places not normally open to the public or would normally charge an entrance fee.

Properties included The Old Town Hall, The Gaol House and the fascinating Masonic Temple in the Duke's Head Hotel, which was open for the first time this year.

Visitors were also able to view parts of the Majestic Cinema not normally accessable. These included a walled-off section beside Cinema 3, containing some beautiful stained glass windows (pictures show some of the detail), and a disused old staircase which led right up to the roof, allowing visitors some spectacular views of the town. (see below)

Another new feature this year was an open top bus, used to tour all the properties and make visiting easier.


Visitors brave enough to climb up to the roof of the Majestic Cinema had a great view of the town. In the background you can see parts of Tower Street and the new multi-storey car park.

Small crowds gathered along the quay on Sunday morning to see the highest tide for 20 years.

Environment Agency staff were on stand-by in their yellow jackets as the water crept up to within 3 inches of overflowing onto the quayside.

Fortunately weather conditions were very calm, so no flooding occured on this occasion, but it was worrying for us locals to see just how high the water could reach!

As the tide began to turn, two men jumped into the river and swam over to the far side and back again.

It's interesting to compare the next two pictures taken from the same viewpoint but at different times: The above picture was taken during the morning at high tide, while the bottom picture was taken at low tide during the afternoon.

The M.V. Alma cargo ship recently visiting the Port of Kings Lynn.

Manned by a crew from Estonia and Russia she weighs in at nearly 4,000 tons, and can store over 5,000 cubic metres of grain in her hold.

A local website that helps recycle usable items is proving extremely popular.

West Norfolk FreeCycle was launched in January but already has nearly 500 members, who are busy recycling everything from Barbie dolls to bar-B-ques. You can even recycle bigger items like garden sheds.

The website works by matching people who have things they need to get rid of with people who can use them. Their goal is to keep usable items out of the landfill.

By using what we already have on this earth, we reduce consumerism, manufacture fewer goods, and lessen the impact on the earth. Another benefit of using Freecycle is that it encourages us to get rid of junk that we no longer need and promote community involvement in the process.

The West Norfolk Freecycle group is a branch of an incredibly fast-growing international Freecycle movement, which began in Tucson, AZ on May 1st, 2003 and now boasts thousands of groups all over the world.

We all personally know lots of great people in our community who would love this idea, so we ask you to please help this group grow by spreading the word! Their website can be found at groups.yahoo.com/group/freecyclewestnorfolk/