At sheringham paper, norfolk uk

@ Sheringham Community Paper - Issue 85 - 14 March 2008

North Norfolk Amateur Radio Group
50-year old radio station back on-air

An impressive looking home-made amateur radio station over 50 years old has been brought back to life by members of the North Norfolk Amateur Radio Group based at the Muckleburgh Collection, Weybourne. The station was built by Wing Commander Ieuan Edward Hill of Piddington, Oxfordshire in the 1950's and he continued using it until he died in 1997. In 2000, his daughter, Rosemary Cox, donated the equipment to the radio group at the museum where it has been on static display in the "Radio Hut" ever since.

When donating the equipment, Mrs Cox wrote: "One of my late Father's dearest wishes was that his radio equipment should be used where possible, be learnt from and enjoyed by a future generation." The Group has always intended to honour that wish but pending restoration to full working order, the station has been used as a Morse code practice desk for visiting children who are shown how to send their names in Morse, and awarded certificates for their achievement.

Norfolk Amateur Radio Group based at the Muckleburgh Collection, Weybourne

Wing Commander Hill obtained his first radio receiving licence in 1925, and his first experimental transmitting licence was issued in 1928. His first call sign was 6HL which became G6HL soon after when prefix letters were added to call signs to indicate the country where a station was located. Accompanying his station is an historic collection of "QSL" cards, dating from 1928 to 1997, recording and confirming the huge number of radio contacts he made with other amateur stations around the world, including many from countries with names that no longer exist.

His hope that his station should continue to be used has not been forgotten, and while the museum at Muckleburgh has been closed this winter, members of the Radio Group, led by Norwich based radio amateur Bill Ward, call sign G4NRE, have been working to finally get the G6HL station back on the air. With a lack of written instructions and the great number of knobs, switches and sockets on the equipment, often unmarked, it has not been an easy task but success came on 13th December when Bill Ward switched the station on and exchanged greetings on the 20-metre band with a French station located near Versailles. For members of the Group present, it was an exciting and truly memorable occasion hearing this magnificent piece of equipment come back to life.

Norfolk Amateur Radio Group based at the Muckleburgh Collection, Weybourne

Further work was needed, however, to make the station fully operational and this has now been completed. It is hoped to put the station on the air regularly when the radio hut is open to visitors in 2008 and to make many contacts with stations around the world using both speech and Morse code.


While the museum is closed for the winter, the Radio Group meets at Muckleburgh on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 am to 4 pm. Bill Ward, who became the Group's new chairman at its AGM in January, would like to hear from any radio enthusiasts who would like to join the Group and take part in its interesting activities. Contact him by 'phone on 01603 487047, or by e-mail at g4nre@yahoo.com for further details. More information about the Group and its activities, including when the radio hut is open to the public, can be found on the internet at: www.radioclubs.net/nnarg and the museum's own website is at www.muckleburgh.co.uk

Aylsham, Norfolk’s First ‘Plastic Bag FREE’ Town

www.aylshamplasticbagfree.co.uk
On Saturday 3rd May 2008, Aylsham will become Norfolk’s first ‘Plastic Bag FREE’ town. Today sees the start of the countdown to this big switch from plastic, with 10 weeks to go.

Plastic bags are an unnecessary waste of resources using up precious oil, creating litter and being disposed of in their millions in landfill where they are slow to breakdown. Less bags mean a better, more sustainable environment. With this backdrop Aylsham decided to ‘go for it’ and be the first town in Norfolk aiming to be ‘plastic bag free’.

After a couple of public meetings, an Aylsham ‘Plastic Bag FREE’ working group was formed with representatives from the traders, Cittaslow, Aylsham Town Council, Broadland District Council and Norfolk County Council. The working group decided that they wanted Aylsham to be the first town and realised it was time to pick a date and work towards it.

The first step towards a plastic bag free town is encouraging traders in Aylsham to only supply alternatives to plastic bags to their customers. Already over 30 traders have pledged to encourage their customers to bring their own shopping bags and where required use biodegradable bags.

Of course the most important traders to get involved are the main users and suppliers of plastic bags like supermarkets and food shops. However support from other businesses is vital and the list of participating traders shows a good cross section.

Budgens, who probably use more bags than all the other traders in the town put together, have pledged to remove plastic bags from their store. Neil, the store manager, says they already use paper bags for fruit and vegetables, so they are looking at removing the dependence on carrier bags at the tills.

Crawford, of G F White Traditional Family Butchers, has also pledged to remove plastic bags, despite being tightly constrained by the health and hygiene rules. Of course putting a kilo of liver in a paper bag just isn’t an option, so Crawford is looking at alternative biodegradable bags for that type of produce.

J B Postle have different issues, as most people who visit their electrical store don’t have a shopping bag they can fit a toaster or kettle into. Nikki and John are sure they can find a way to keep their customers happy and stop using plastic bags.Other shops who have taken the pledge include Aylsham Post Office, Burebank Books, J Christian Jewellers, Break Charity Shop, Shoe Box and Celebrations card shop. Hair dressers, beauticians, opticians, nurseries and an art gallery have all joined the scheme. A full list of traders who have made the pledge to be involved are listed on the website www.aylshamplasticbagfree.co.uk

Naturally some traders have concerns and questions about going ‘Plastic Bag FREE’. We’ve been reliant on plastic bags for so long now, that to switch appears expensive and most importantly a hassle. On the website we’ve tried to answer trader’s questions and we expect to add and edit the site constantly between now and 3rd May to help the process as much as possible. Cooperative buying of biodegradable alternatives to plastic bags is a possibility and traders are discussing the options.

Traders wanting to join the scheme are welcome to visit the website www.aylshamplasticbagfree.co.uk and download the letter of support.

Readers Email

We are a local band who were put together by the tutors at The Access to Music college in Norwich.  We have been together for 4 months and have played two half hour gigs in Norwich.  We entered ourselves into a competition in Croydon - Live and Unsigned - which the first round was held today. We had to play unplugged for two minutes in front of a panel of judges, and were informed of the result ten minutes later.  We were successful and are now in the regional semi finals to be held on March 16th in Croydon again.  There are five of us, Rachael - vocalist, Chris - drummer, Dan and Dale - guitarists, and Ben - bassist.  We have two more gigs lined up in Norwich for February, and tickets are available for the regional semi-finals in Croydon.  Tel: 07796406752

Saturday, 15th March

HOT CROSS BUN COFFEE MORNING
Raffle: Tombola: Cakes etc.

10 -12 noon

ST. ANDREWS CHURCH
EAST RUNTON

In aid of organ fund