Grandad – E&D went to Taverham Methodist Church band concert by Drayton Band.
Mum – Alan went on BB sponsored walk 9.15 – 5.15 – 13 miles. E went to Drayton after riding. Made 2 dresses in aft. Wrote to MP about Direct Grant Schools, “Foodshare” & lotteries.
Notes
Grandma and Auntie Dolly Went to a Concert by Drayton Band at Taverham Methodist Church
E refers to my grandmother Ethel May Cecilia Parkin. D refers to Dorothy Rose who we knew as Auntie Dolly although she was my grandmother’s first cousin. Grandma’s father (Charles Cirket) and Auntie Dolly’s mother (Lois Rose née Cirket) were siblings. Auntie Dolly visited grandma and grandad often coming by bus from where she lived in Bedford to Norwich bus station, see Chapter 122. She had arrived on the 2nd.
Grandma and Auntie Dolly went to Taverham Methodist Church for a concert by Drayton Band, see Chapter 124.
Taverham Methodist Church
There was never a Methodist church building in Taverham but Methodist services were held in the village hall from 1964 to 1991. Such services started in April 1964. Initially, services were monthly then every two weeks and, from May 1965, they were held weekly. The church functioned as part of Drayton Methodist Church until 1972 when a separate society was established. In the late eighties, the Methodists were interested in establishing premises in the area where further housing was being developed north of the Fakenham Road. It was decided to establish this jointly with the Anglicans. A joint Anglican and Methodist church, Trinity, was founded in Thorpe Marriott in 1991.The last service in Taverham Village Hall was held on 24 November 1991, see Chapter 79.
Drayton Band
This band was established in 1937 and was also known as Drayton and District Birtish Legion (Silver) Band and Drayton Village Band. When visiting Norfolk, in April 1965, Ken and Pearl Hodges went to an evening concert given by the Drayton Silver Band at the village hall and, in February 1966, dad also attended a concert of theirs, see Chapter 92. Grandma and Auntie Eva, grandad’s sister, went to one of their concerts in May 1968 at Mile Cross Methodist Church, see Chapter 90. Apparently, the band moved to Eye in Suffolk in 2000 and is now known as Castleton Brass.
Alan Went on a Boys’ Brigade Sponsored Walk
Alan refers to my younger brother. BB refers to Boys’ Brigade to which he belonged, see Chapter 124. He went on a 13-mile sponsored walk. If I was being cruel, I would question why it took him/them eight hours to walk 13 miles (!) but I guess they made a day of it.
Liz Went to Drayton After Riding
E refers to my younger sister Liz (Elizabeth). She went to Drayton, presumably my grandparents’ house, after riding. She went riding regularly in or near to Drayton, see Chapter 122.
Mum Made Two Dresses in the Afternoon
Mum was an accomplished seamstress and made a lot of her own clothes, see Chapter 126. On this occasion, she made two dresses in the afternoon (aft). It is pretty impressive, to me anyway, if she managed to start and complete making two dresses in a single afternoon! It would also be tempting to think that she did this from the two lots of material she had bought from Garlands that week, see Chapter 125. One was turquoise and the other was navy, white and red.
Mum Wrote to Our MP
Mum write to our MP about three issues. I believe our MP at that time was John Garrett who was Labour MP for Norwich South from 1974 to 1983 and from 1987 to 1997.
Direct Grant Schools
Direct Grant Schools existed between 1945 and 1976. They were essentially private schools but one quarter of the places were funded by a direct grant from central government. Norwich High School for Girls, the school my sister attended, was one such school, see Chapter 118. Mum was a strong supporter of such schools. But, they were abolished in 1976. Most schools, including the High School, became private schools while some Catholic Schools, including Notre Dame in Norwich, joined the state system.
Foodshare
The Foodshare Campaign was jointly supported by churches, the World Development Movement and voluntary agencies. While the government claimed to be sympathetic to the Foodshare Manifesto, it pleaded poverty in relation to buying cereals for developing countries and appeared to try to transfer responsibility for this to the then EEC! I imagine mum was strongly in favour of Foodshare given churches’ support for this. It appears that there was a concerted campaign to encourage people to write to their MP about this.
The Foodshare Manifesto had four points:
- Press the EEC to double its food aid commitment from 1.3 million tons to 1.6 million tons of grain
- Help with the necessary finance to purchase the grain
- Double Britain’s existing commitment of 25,000 tons of fertiliser to the FAO’s Fertiliser Supply Scheme and pay the cost of supplying this additional fertiliser
- Initiate a high-level study to report within three months to see what economies could be made in our food patterns,, such as eating less meat, to release grain for the hungry.
Lotteries
Unlike the previous two issues, I am sure, given mum’s staunch Methodist beliefs, that she would have been opposed to lotteries. I suspect she wrote to her MP because of plans to introduce the 1975 Lotteries Act. This made it easier for small organisations and local authorities to hold lotteries.
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