|
GOOD
OW FOND DEWS 2011
FOND
AGM –
27 NOVEMBER
A
REPORT BY ROSEMARY COOPER
 |
|
| NORMAN
HART |
|
Members
assembled in Lincoln Hall at Hingham on Sunday 27 November
received a warm welcome from the chairman, Norman Hart, who
said – having signed last year’s minutes –
he felt more relaxed at this meeting compared to last year.
Reporting
visits to various radio stations in the county, he highlighted
the apology received from the BBC for the dialect portrayed
in a play based in Norwich. He also said that there had been
many visits to events with the display as well as the opportunity
to talk to groups. The joint event with the Friends of Gressenhall
was a great success, he continued, and it was hoped to repeat
it in 2012.
Norman
then spoke of the trip to Louth for the National Dialect Conference,
which had been really enjoyable and there had been a good
exchange of ideas with other societies.
The
chairman then commended Diss High School for including six
to seven lessons on the dialect in their syllabus for eleven-year-olds,
and then thanked the rest of the committee for their work
and making his chairmanship enjoyable.
 |
|
ROSEMARY
COOPER
SECRETARY
|
|
The
book by Robin Limmer, Norfolk Dialect and its Friends, has
been re-printed and Norman commended it to the assembly. He
also spoke of the launch of Keith Skipper’s new book
Come Yew On, Tergether! which was held at Jarrolds
and at which FOND took part.
Rosemary
Cooper’s report echoed his, with the addition of a mention
of the Trosher competition which had now been marked, and
the purchase of a new PA system for meetings and Dews.
 |
|
JANET
WOODHOUSE
TREASURER
|
|
Brenda
Bizzell, membership secretary, gave members the figures to
date, saying we had no members in NR22, NR23 or NR32, however
there are sixteen in NR9 which includes Hingham.
Janet
Woodhouse, treasurer, followed with the state of our finances.
Our
account balance at 31 October was £4,233.36.
 |
|
JEAN
EAGLEN
COMMITTEE MEMBER
|
|
Ashley
Gray gave his Newsletter/Web report thanking all the contributors
to the magazine. He said our website had an average of 150
hits per day, and had recently seen a 4% increase.
Jean
Eaglen read Stewart Orr’s report, in which he said he
was grateful to Jean for providing the recordings. There are
now sixty-four separate recordings with twenty-three having
been done this year.
At
this point Norman thanked Jean as she is the only person at
present collecting the dialect for us.
The
election followed, with two changes: John Austrin came off
the committee and Diana Rackham was voted on. Janet Woodhouse
said this would be her last year and that the auditor was
prepared to remain for another year.
An
amendment and addition to the constitution were passed. The
meeting then agreed that members should gain entry to Dews
for £1 less than non-members. Liza Austrin welcomed
Diana to the FOND committee and Ted said he looked forward
to working with Diana, as she had reduced the average age
of the committee quite considerably. Norman ended the meeting
by thanking John Austren for all his work.
After
the break for tea and a chat Vera Youngman entertained the
audience with her tales of being a lady’s maid at the
age of sixteen in 1938. There were several questions for her
about her life then, and the houses and castles she had stayed
at. Norman then thanked everyone for coming and looked forward
to seeing them at the pantomime in January.
| |
Founder
member, Keith Skipper and (right) FOND
members at the start of the AGM
|
|
| |
Norman
Hart, chairman, with committee members and (right)
Vera Youngman
|
|
| |
Diana
Rackham, voted on to the committee and (right)
FOND members
|
|
|
A
FOND OLE DEW AT FINCHAM
A
REPORT BY ROBIN LIMMER
 |
|
| ROBIN
LIMMER |
|
FOND
chairman Norman Hart told the audience at Fincham Memorial
Hall: “Most people don’t seem to realise there’s
more of Norfolk west of Swaffham than there is east of Norwich.”
When
we arrived home again after an afternoon spent in West Norfolk
some of us had made a round trip of 120 miles – and it
was worth it. For the occasion marked the opportunity to make
FOND’s presence felt in the ‘Far West’. Hitherto,
most of our FOND dews had been held in the centre of the county,
a few in the south and a few in the north.
Until
the Fincham FOND dew on 25 September, out of twenty-nine dews,
only four had been held in West Norfolk since our formation
in 1999. And, of course, none of the twelve AGMs or eleven
pantomimes had ever strayed west of a line from North Elmham
via Yaxham to Hingham.
So
here we were eight miles south of King’s Lynn for an
afternoon of Squit and Music and it went down well with an
audience of around thirty-five – maybe it would have
been bigger if the weather hadn’t been so glorious outside
in the late September sunshine.
The
squit was provided in good measure by Norfolk’s answer
to Pam Ayres, FOND’s very own Tina Chamberlain –
fresh from her recent star performance at the Gressenhall
Dew – plus a couple of appropriately-attired yokels,
Ted Peachment and Alan Smith. Once again, the music came from
Tina’s sister, Christine Attfield, who, to her own guitar
accompaniment, contributed songs which included a very creditable
Singing Postman-style performance of ‘Come Along A Me’.
But
it was Tina’s tale of ‘Peter the Hissing Snake’
which really brought the Memorial Hall down. Peter’s
exploits of hissing in a pit required a very careful delivery
from Tina. However, try as they might, the audience were unable
to cause this experienced entertainer to fall into a spoonerism
pit herself!
| |
Norman
is ‘On the huh’ ... whilst the Fincham
audience laughed and laughed
|
|
| |
Alan
is suitably attired... as Tina hisses in the pit...
and Christine sang alonga me
|
|
| |
The
Fincham audience loved every minute... as Ted
acts (?) the country yokel
|
|
|
A
JOINT FOND/FoG DEW – 10 JULY
A
REPORT BY TED PEACHMENT
 |
|
| TED
PEACHMENT |
|
As
the result of discussions between Christine Walters, chairman
of Friends of Gressenhall (FoG), and Ted Peachment, vice-chairman
of Friends of Norfolk Dialect (FOND) – also a FoG committee
member – the idea of holding a joint event or ‘dew’
was mooted.
The
suggestion that Gressenhall would provide the venue and refreshments,
and FOND the entertainment, was put to both committees and
the Gressenhall management. This received a favourable reaction
all round and thus the date of Sunday 10 July 2011 was fixed.
It
was necessary to sell tickets in advance, so that the ‘dew’
attendees could show these at the Gressenhall Workhouse and
Rural Life Museum entrance to avoid paying the full fee.
They
were allowed in at 1pm, giving them time to explore the Museum
or use the Mardlers’ Rest Café. Furthermore, FOND’s
display boards could be left in place in the Chapel during
Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the event, thus given us some
extra publicity.
The
show started at 2pm in the Workhouse Chapel with Ted Peachment
MC preaching from the pulpit! The two chairmen, Christine
Walters (FoG) and Norman Hart (FOND) were introduced to the
audience, and the entertainment began.
The
first half included the ‘Pam Ayres of Norfolk’:
Tina Chamberlain, and her sister Christine Attfield on guitar,
with Christine’s daughter, Lisa, operating the microphone
mixers.
 |
|
| TINA
AND HER SISTER, CHRISTINE |
|
Christine
performed several songs – including a Singing Postman
number – and was then joined by Tina, who amazed everyone
with her singing voice!
Tina
then read some of her poems (still available in book form
or on DVD) and told
tales of her early life in Swardeston.
Finally,
the first half concluded with a duet from the two sisters.
 |
|
| RAY
HUBBARD |
|
During
the interval tea, coffee and beautiful cakes – produced
by Christine Walters – were served by Christine and members
of her FoG team.
Following
refreshments, the raffle was drawn and the second half began,
this time with entertainment from Ray Hubbard, a great favourite
of both FOND and FoG. Ray soon had the audience in stitches
with his jokes and tales interspersed, as they were, with
songs and music as he accompanied himself on each of three
accordions.
The
show finished with thanks from Norman and Christine, who provided
‘thank you’ gifts to the entertainers and the MC.
 |
|
| CHRISTINE
WALTERS |
|
About
seventy people attended and, from the rapturous applause and
the cream-smeared faces, the show appeared to have been well
received and a great success. There were calls for it to become
an annual event, and this will be considered.
The
Friends of Gressenhall are a charity based at the Museum,
and raise funds to help support it, including buying all the
Suffolk Punches over the years which work on the Museum Farm
– whilst FOND works to promote and preserve the Norfolk
dialect.
Together,
the two organisations share a common interest in the promotion,
education and preservation of Norfolk Heritage, and fit well
together.
| |
Christine
admires the cakes, whilst Tina tells everyone:
“Um normal for Norfolk!”
|
|
| |
Ray
had the audience in stitches and Tina and Christine
sing in the chapel
|
|
| |
Norman
reads out a winning raffle ticket,
and Christine plays her guitar and sings
|
|
|
AN
ARTERNUNE WITH TONY HALL –
5 JUNE
 |
|
| TONY
HALL |
|
In
the Village Hall at Corpusty on Sunday 5 June FOND staged
an ‘Afternoon of Music and Squit’ with no other
than Tony Hall, well known for his cartoons in the Eastern
Daily Press and also for his sharp wit and musical talents.
Tony
joked and played to a packed house, much to everyone’s
delight, and, later, this prompted a message to be left in
the guestbook on the FOND website, which read:
“Priceless
performance by old friend Tony Hall at the latest FOND dew.
“His
homemade compositions – like his EDP cartoons –
are crammed with sly fun and real Norfolk flavour.
“Good
to see a full house at Corpusty for what must prove to be
the cultural treat of the year.
“If
laughter is the perfect tonic, Mr Hall should pass on his
medicine to the NHS!”
Need
I say more? I reckon, our ole paartner Keith Skipper said
it all, don’t you?
PS:
The birthday boy? None other than our intrepid photographer,
Alan Cooper. Happy Birthday, bor!
|
TONY
HALL’S ARTERNUNE O’ MUSIC AN’ SQUIT
|
| |
The
packed Village Hall at Corpusty; Tony Hall played
some of his own compositions
|
|
| |
Tony
was full of sly fun; meanwhile Alan looked forward
to a slice of cake
|
|
| |
Amongst
the appreciative audience there were some well-known
faces...!
|
|
|
Please
sign our guestbook
as we would love to hear from you – or,
if you prefer, email:
|
