Cammy Hitches Luxurious Ride to Boat & Caravan Show

Cammy, Wroxham Barns resident elephant, is hitching a luxurious ride to the Boat & Caravan Show, NEC Birmingham, courtesy of Norfolk Broads Direct on their brand new 46ft cruiser Fair President. Both Cammy and Fair President are part of The Broads Tourism Forum’s presence at the show, which runs from February 23 to 28.

Cammy, who began life as Camouflagephant on Norwich’s Go Elephants! trail, has been a firm favourite at Wroxham Barns since September 2008 and will be representing Junior Farm at the NEC show. During her time at Wroxham Barns, Cammy’s ‘feed’ bucket has raised £700 for CLIC Sargent and Born Free Foundation, the two charities that benefited from Go Elephants!.

Fair President is the newest member of Norfolk Broads Direct’s fleet. The 46ft luxury cruiser cost £150,000 to build and fit out. Fair President’s accommodation can sleep up to six people in two cabins and the spacious central living area. There is a separate bathroom with whirlpool bath, an ensuite shower unit, plus a Freesat TV system, DVD player and X-Box, which will be perfect for combining a holiday on the Norfolk Broads and watching The World Cup. Norfolk Broads Direct has invested £1 million in new additions to its fleet over the last five years.

Ian Russell, Director Wroxham Barns said: "Cammy is very excited about her trip to Birmingham and being the centre of attention on The Broads Tourism Forum stand. I would like to thank Barbara and Paul Greasley of Norfolk Broads Direct for offering her such a luxurious lift."

Barbara Greasley, Director Norfolk Broads Direct said: "We are honoured to be giving Cammy a ride to NEC and are really looking forward to showcasing Fair President with The Broads Tourism Forum. We are returning to the Boat & Caravan Show for the second time after having such a successful visit last year."

For more information about Wroxham Barns, tel. 01603 783762, http://www.wroxhambarns.co.uk/ and Norfolk Broads Direct, tel. 01603 782207, http://www.broads.co.uk/.

Photograph: Barbara Greasley and Ian Russell with Cammy on Fair President.

Norfolk Deaf Association - New President - New Challenges

Tony Innes (pictured), an Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist, who retired as Deputy Medical Director, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust, last February, is the new President of Norfolk Deaf Association (NDA).

The charity, which has been active in Norfolk since 1898, has received a £10,000 Modernisation Fund Grant to help Mr Innes and his fellow trustees plan the next phase of NDA’s life, and ensure that it can more effectively support hearing needs in the county. The Modernisation Fund is a Government initiative to help the voluntary sector combat the impact of the recession.
NDA currently runs the Norfolk Hearing Support Service (NHSS) comprising a mobile clinic (formerly know as the Listen Here Bus), home visiting for people with limited mobility and hearing aid clinics at 13 locations in the county. The charity also offers Befriending, Tinnitus Support and Deaf Awareness Training.

NDA urgently needs to raise £60,000 for its services, particularly the mobile clinic, which was initially set up with lottery funding. The mobile clinic works in 28 Norfolk towns and villages including Dereham, Ormesby, Thetford and Sheringham. Trained volunteers help hard of hearing National Health hearing aid users with maintenance and general advice. NDA’s ambition is to improve accessibility and extend the range of the clinic in rural Norfolk.

Grants from Norfolk Community Foundation (£4,795) and The Clan Trust (£2,000) and an anonymous donation of £6,000 have been received to support the mobile clinic and train volunteers, but more is needed.

The other elements of NHSS currently receive funding from Norfolk Primary Care Trust. Last financial year NDA was able to help 5,500 hearing aid users and more than 3,500 users were helped during the first six months of the current financial year.

Tony Innes said: "Funds are tight, but we are confident that we can maintain all our services. However we would particularly like to extend the range of the mobile clinic, which provides assistance directly where there is the need."

"The Modernisation Fund Grant has allowed us to take a long hard look at the way we run the charity," continued Mr Innes, "including more effective business planning and fundraising. We have been helped by Aliona Laker, former General Manager at Norfolk and Norwich Families’ House, and now a consultant in the voluntary sector, who is working closely with us as we focus on our governance and operational management to ensure that we can emerge from the recession in good shape."

Tony Innes
Tony Innes MB, BS, FRCS trained at St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School from 1967-72. His first ENT post was at Southend Hospital in 1975. He has worked at Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, London, The Nuffield Institute for Hearing London and the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street. He was appointed as Consultant ENT Surgeon at Norfolk and Norwich Hospital in 1981, with a special interest in children's ears, nose and throat disorders and adult ear disease and deafness. He was Deputy Medical Director Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust from 2000 until his retirement in February 2009.

Norfolk Deaf Association
NDA was founded in 1898 and aims to improve the lives of young people and adults with all degrees of hearing loss through providing information, support, awareness and communication. NDA provides the following services: Norfolk Hearing Support Service, Befriending, Tinnitus Support and Deaf Awareness Training, http://www.norfolkdeaf.org.uk/, tel./minicom 01603 404440.

Calling all Norfolk Poets - Poetry-next-the-Sea Competition

Poetry-next-the-Sea, www.poetry-next-the-sea.com, which runs the annual poetry festival in Wells (May 7–9), is staging its third open poetry competition, supported by Norfolk Community Foundation. The winners will be announced during the festival.

The competition is open to anyone living in Norfolk who has not had a pamphlet or collection of poems published. Writers whose poems have appeared in magazines or anthologies are eligible to enter.

The closing date for entries is Wednesday, April 7. There are two categories, student (age 13 to 16) and adult (over 16). Application forms are available from Wells and Fakenham Libraries or Susan Marshall tel. 01328 711813, email suzy948@btinternet.com.

Writers can enter up to three poems. Each poem must be 20 lines or less and must be unpublished. There is no charge to enter the competition.

Mike Bannister returns as judge for the second year. Mike is chair of Café Poets Halesworth and is president of the Suffolk Poetry Society. His poems have appeared in The London Magazine, Envoi, Other Poetry, Brittle Star, The Interpreters House, and a number of anthologies. His poem A Fourth Warming was short-listed for the Housman Society’s Poetry Prize (1992).

Commenting on last year’s judging process Mike Bannister said: "To be asked to read more than 100 poems was both a delight and an honour. Every poem bore its own small spark of nature. At first reading, 40 poems showed some evidence of crafting. To arrive at a final list, the friends and enemies of good poetry were unmasked one by one: cliché or originality? imagery or reportage? compression or long-winded? rhythm or broken-backed dissonance? plain word or pedantry? dull fact or metaphor? detachment or sentimentality? echoes or chimes or heavy-handed rhymes?"

First prize in 2009 went to Rob Knee for The Ark. Emily Trend won the student category for her poem In Memory of My Great Grandfather, Edward Theo Trend.

This year’s Poetry Festival, Poetry-next-the-Sea 2010, Singing, Saying and Spirit-Level runs from Friday, May 7 to Sunday, May 9 and features Ronald Blythe, Kevin-Crossley-Holland, Joe Dunthorne, Laura Elliott, Grey Gowrie, Hugh Lupton, Sam Riviere, Jo Shapcott, Angus Sinclair, Pauline Stainer, Jon Stallworthy, Jack Underwood, Tom Warner and Julia Webb along with a series of poetry, voice and storytelling workshops. Full details will soon be online at
www.poetry-next-the-sea.com. Brochures will be available in mid March.

Norfolk Tourist Attractions Brochure Launch

Norfolk Tourist Attractions’ Association (NTAA) Chairman, Peter Williamson celebrated the publication of NTAA’s 2010 brochure on Wednesday, February 3, at the association’s newest member, The Woad Centre, Beetley near Dereham, with owners Ian and Bernadette Howard.

Pcuured left to right are Lydia Smith, Norfolk Tourism Director, Peter Williamson, Ian and Bernadette Howard.

The Howards are the only woad producers in the UK and have revived a traditional industry that died out in the 1930s. Woad’s indigo pigment has a historical East Anglian link with Boudicca and the Iceni tribe who used it as war paint. But today the Howard’s pigment is at the heart of environmentally friendly woad-dyed yarn and textiles. They are also involved in a project investigating the medicinal benefits of woad and are working with William Kroll, a young London-based entrepreneur, who is launching a woad-inspired clothing label called ‘Tender’, which has had good reviews in the USA.

Some 500,000 NTAA brochures promoting the county’s top attractions will be distributed to more than 3,500 outlets throughout the East of England. Founded in 1991, the association currently represents 106 attractions in Norfolk and North Suffolk.

Copies of the NTAA brochure can be ordered/downloaded via http://www.norfolktouristattractions.co.uk/ or http://www.visitnorfolk.co.uk/.

The Woad Centre, http://www.woad-inc.co.uk/, tel. 01362 860218 is open at Easter and from May 1 to Christmas, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Bank Holiday Mondays 10am to 4pm; daily dyeing demonstration at 2pm, woad production exhibition and shop. Half-day workshops on woad production and indigo-dyeing techniques run on the third Saturday of the month from May to October.