On Sizewell Beach

We took advantage of the few days of good weather last week to go to the lovely beach at Sizewell.

Although in the vicinity of two nuclear power stations, this is one of the best places to walk on the Suffolk Coast in my opinion.  Always uncrowded, even at the height of the holiday season, it is a great place to get away from it all and enjoy the beautiful coastline.  There is a good beach café for refreshments and a fair sized car park.

Somehow the beach and its surroundings, while not unaffected by the power stations, retain their tranquillity and atmosphere. The attractive shape of Sizewell 2, with its lovely white domed roof, is a positive part of this.  I am not so sure however that the area will remain unspoilt if and when Sizewell 3 comes along.  The proposed design of the new plant is ugly and obtrusive, and I understand that the contractor, EDF, has been unwilling to contemplate modifying this.  Additionally the plan for a residential campus for 3000 construction workers just inland from Minsmere Bird Sanctuary is unappealing.

Teresa May’s decision to suspend a decision on Hinkley Point may well mean that Sizewell 3 never happens, and for a number of reasons, not least the damage that its construction will bring to this remote and still beautiful area, it is difficult to be enthusiastic about it.

After our walk we had lunch at the Eel’s Foot Inn at Eastbridge, a few miles away.  This is a historic country pub that we like.   It serves good food and has a pleasant bar and garden.  There has been an Ale House in the area since the mid 16^th Century, and the current Inn dates from the late 17^th Century. More about the Inn can be found on its website HERE.

The Eels Foot Inn.

Late summer Garden Party on Elmsett Green.

 A correspondent from Elmsett has sent an enticing invitation to their Garden Party. This will be held on the Green, pictured above, on Sunday 4th September between 2.30 p.m. and 4.30 p.m..  There will be the chance to enjoy a beautiful garden against the backdrop of a 16th Century thatched cottage.  A perfect English scene!

Stalls will include second hand books, raffle, tombola, plants cards and glass, home produce and bric a brac.  Village calendars go on sale that day too.

This year there will be a Best Dressed Bicycle competitions for the children and the Elmsett Fellowship Brass band will be on hand to entertain.

There is ample parking close by.  

All funds raised will go towards supporting St Peter's church, Elmsett.

'A lovely event to end the school holidays!'

Thomas Gainsborough painted Elmsett Church when living in Suffolk between 1750 and 1755.  The painting is now in the Bowes Museum, Castle Barnard.

Opera at Kentwell

Interval refreshments

We enjoyed our outing on Friday evening to see Opera Brava's production of Rigoletto at Kentwell Hall.

This was country house opera at its simplest and best:  deck chairs and rugs on the lawn for the picnicking audience combined with quite sophisticated staging for the very accomplished performers.  Sung in English, with crystal clear diction from all, Rigoletto has rarely packed so immediate a punch.

An excellent cast had been assembled for this most personal of Verdi’s operas. The opera focusses on parental love.  This is a theme with which the composer dealt several times, and it is thought that he was much affected by the failure of his own children to reach maturity.  

The plot revolves around the jester at the Court of Mantua, Rigoletto, who is punished by the loss of his precious daughter for his connivance and encouragement of the venality of the society of which he is a part.  Played by Oliver Gibbs, the jester was convincingly corrupt in Act One, and tragic at the close.  Gilda (Laura Pooley), who sang with astonishing accuracy and sweetness, pulled appropriately at the heart strings.  The Duke was played by Cameron Rolls.  Although possibly a tad mature to be mistaken for a ‘poor student in disguise’ he sang with a steely heroism throughout.  The cameo role of Maddalena, the ‘Bella Figlia del’ amore’ of the famous last act quartet, was played with great seductiveness and intelligence by Greek born Lilly Papaioannou.   I wish we had been able to see her ‘Carmen’ the following evening.

Rigoletto warns his daughter, Gilda, not to go out!

Despite being somewhat chilly by the close of the evening, the occasion was very heart-warming, and it was wonderful to hear such good singing so close to home at a beautiful venue.

I hope that Kentwell decides to repeat the exercise next year. 

The Duke boasts about his conquests to his courtiers.

The Eighth in the East, Heritage Guide to the USAAF in East Anglia launched.

The Airmen's Bar

The Swan Hotel in Lavenham was an appropriate venue for today’s launch of The Eighth in the East Heritage Guide.  This publication offers valuable assistance to visitors wishing to access the many local sites that are connected to the activities of the 8^th United States Army Air Force whose forces arrived in East Anglia between 1942 and 1945.

The Guide has been produced, thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.  It has been put together by a group of museums, individual volunteers and enthusiasts with interest in what has become known as the ‘friendly invasion’ of our area by our wartime allies. The publication offers visitors to East Anglia some 20 sights to visit.   These include well known places such as the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial at Madingley and the American Air Museum at Duxford, part of the Imperial War Museum.  Also in the mix however are smaller museums such as the Rougham Control Tower Museum outside Bury St Edmunds and the Wattisham Station Heritage Museum (open by appointment only).

Also included in the Guide is the Swan Hotel itself.  Famous as the home of the USAAF’s 487^th Bomb Group, the Hotel’s Airmen’s Bar still retains on its wall the evocative signatures of young servicemen from the nearby airfields at Lavenham and Sudbury for whom it was a favourite watering hole.

The Guide is intended to be just a start.  Further funding is being sought to upgrade the project website and to further encourage visitors to explore this fascinating story.  A link to the website is available HERE.    

Not many veterans of the 8^th are still alive.   Only 15, all in their nineties, attended a recent reunion in New Orleans.  In addition to promoting tourism, this initiative should serve to keep the memory alive of the soldiers and airmen who came to our assistance during the darkest period of the Second World War.  Many of them never saw their homeland again.

The WW2 airfield at Deopham in Norfolk today

September theatre at Cobbolds Mill.

On the afternoon of Saturday 17th September the theatre company Illyria will once again be visiting the lovely riverside surroundings of Cobbolds Mill in Monks Eleigh.  This year they will be performing Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare.

The show starts at 4 p.m. and the gates open at 2.30 p.m. Teas will be available before the performance and during the interval.  The audience is asked to bring their own seating and to wear warm clothing.

 Tickets cost £15 for adults and £10 for children.  A family ticket for 4 costs £40.   Tickets are available from louise.cobboldsmills@talktalk,net (01449 741429) or from Illyria.uk.com (£1.75 handling fee).

All proceeds will go to support Kettlebaston Church.

The show will go on unless there is a hurricane, in which case it will be rescheduled.

Theatre Royal Bury Children's Festival, 2016.

The Wind and Sun, one of the acts taking part in the Festival

This year I was really pleased to be able to give some of my locality budget* to support the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds Children’s Festival.  Neighboring councillor, Colin Spence, also provided funding, and as a result during June Lavenham, Bildeston, Whatfield and Cockfield Schools, and also Colin’s schools in Great Waldingfield and Acton, were visited by a troupe of live performers. The children enjoyed drama, dance, music, circus and storytelling and I have had some encouraging feedback about the shows.

There is nothing like live theatre.   I hope that this small move towards introducing children to it at an early stage will encourage them to take an interest in live performing arts, and to become the audiences and players of the future.

This week I received an e mail from Julia Read, the Head of Development at the Theatre Royal on the outcomes of the Festival.   This tells me that the Festival had been a great success, attracting an audience of over 4000.   It visited 24 schools and at 9 other venues, and involved some 15 different theatre companies.  Feedback forms showed an excellent response

Looking to the future, the Director of the Theatre Royal, Karen Simpson would like to reach out to more parents.   In the report she wrote:  ‘We would like to work with schools in the future to invite parents into the performances in schools.  This would enable many more parents to experience the quality and intimacy of the work on offer.  It would also reinforce the experience at home and in school for the child.

In an age where the solitary pursuits of the internet seem to absorb more and more time, sharing a theatrical experience with others is to my mind more important than ever.

*This is taxpayer’s money, a small amount of which, Suffolk County Council allows me to distribute to communities and organisations around the Division

Buried pleasures

Rings from the Snape Burial site

Every month I receive news from the Suffolk Archaeological Service.  This generally gives an update on what is going on in the Suffolk archaelogical world and highlights news that can be found on the interesting website, the Suffolk Heritage Explorer.

Anyone who is interested in Suffolk’s history should check out this site.

The team produces regular articles in a series called On the Vaults. The July article focussed on a grave at the Snape Anglo Saxon Burial site where burials from the 6^th and 7^th century have been found.   In comparison with other finds at the site this particular grave was notable for its simplicity, but goods found in the grave, and other similar ones found elsewhere, have enabled experts to reconstruct how Anglo Saxon women dressed.  The article in question can be found HERE, along with a link to the rest of the site

More information about the Snape site can also bebe found  HERE.

Recently the team moved to new premises and they are now located at Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service, Bury Resource Centre, Hollow Road, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. IP32 7AY. 01284 741230 archaeology@suffolk.gov.uk  

The Archaeology team can be followed on Twitter.