June 2010

Letters

A thank you

Thank you for everyone’s effort and great support during the 2010 elections.

Cllr Simon Tobin

Marathon success!

Dear Editor

I ran the London Marathon on 25th April and successfully completed the course in 5 hours and 38 minutes. This in spite of developing spectacular blisters, which have subsequently led to the loss of several of my toenails!

It was a fantastic day, with favourable weather and thousands of spectators who did a marvellous job of cheering all the competitors along the way. I can truly say that I enjoyed myself all the way round – running the Marathon is certainly a good way to see London!

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me, and particularly to anyone who was kind enough to sponsor me, including patrons of the Randolph, the Golf Club, the Surgery, customers at Barbrooks and Boydens, and individuals too numerous to mention!

I am thrilled to say that I have now raised £3,365 for Breast Cancer Care – much more than I had anticipated. With a few outstanding amounts to come I should reach a total of £3,500. Thank you all SO much, I have been overwhelmed by everyone’s kindness.

Amanda Humphry, Reydon

Southwold bus services: some thoughts

Dear Editor,

It is sensible to encourage visitors to Southwold to come by public transport where possible, and the bus services to the town are now more frequent than they were 20 years ago.

The most recent welcome improvement has been the reorganisation of the 601 service from Yarmouth and Lowestoft to Southwold and its extension to the Pier.

However, when I used it recently, I could find no bus stop signs outside the Pier and no bus timetables on display there for this service – only a two-year-old timetable for the bus from Southwold Market Place to Beccles.

The Pier is one of the town’s great attractions and it is good that Anglian Buses now serve it. We in the East Suffolk Travellers’ Association are doing our best to promote it. How about Suffolk County Council putting up some bus stop signs and timetables there in time for the main holiday season?

The Halesworth–Southwold bus service is also an asset, which, despite some recent cuts, maintains connections with the trains at Halesworth. We in ESTA have also pressed for through bus/train tickets to be reintroduced when the new train operator takes over in April next year.

Trevor Garrod, Chairman, East Suffolk Travellers’ Association

Halesworth holidays in the ‘50s

Dear Editor,

My sister died a couple of years ago and I recently came across some family photographs she had in her possession. Among these pictures were a series taken during a family holiday we took in 1951, the year following my father’s death. I wonder if they are of any interest to you. . . In the main, they focus on a day’s harvesting on Ivy Farm near Halesworth. Beyond that, I know little. The tractor driver was called William and I believe he may have married in that year.

Roger Smith, Chislehurst, Kent.

The latest about the Omega Jazzmen

Dear Editor,

This very popular five-piece band, based in the Suffolk area, now performs a very extensive repertoire of jazz, ranging from the ‘New Orleans Sound’, including songs of the dance halls, blues and spirituals, through to the sometimes gentle, but always swinging, hard-driving and exciting style of the Chicago period of jazz.

The band’s repertoire has expanded dramatically over the last few months and now includes many well-known songs, including those wonderful compositions written by composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Cole Porter, as well as the more familiar jazz standards.

Over the past few years, the band has played at numerous village hall dances, parish church concerts, private parties, beer festivals, the Henham Country Steam Rally and the New Sports Pavilion on Southwold Common, as well as resident monthly sessions at various venues, our now permanent ‘last Friday of the month’ venue being the Wissett Plough near Halesworth, a very friendly establishment run by Nick and Debbie Sumner which is a joy to perform at.

The unit already has a steady flow of bookings coming in for 2010.

The band’s line-up consists of cornet, clarinet doubling tenor saxophone, banjo doubling guitar, string bass and drums, with some of the band members taking care of the vocals. The overall sound is vibrant, melodious, driving, swinging, and exciting, as all the musicians gel beautifully together to produce such an excellent overall sound.

The Omega Jazzmen just love to make music together for listening or for dancing and take part in every session determined to please the public with Jazz played to a very high standard.

Why not book a table and enjoy a delicious meal at the Plough whilst listening to the sounds of some superb jazz?

For enquiries about booking the Omega Jazzmen to play at your public or private function, please give us a call on 01502 562994.

Brian Farrington, Reydon

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