At Sheringham town community newspaper. North Norfolk England UK.

CHILDMINDING

Are you thinking of returning to work? Who's going to look after the kids? Some of you may be thinking of using a childminder as they offer flexible times for childcare and will be more accommodating for early starts or late finishes at work, but who are they and can you feel at ease about leaving your little cherubs with a stranger? In Sheringham the answer is definitely yes!

Sheringham Childminders are part of the North Norfolk Childminding Network coordinated by Sue Farrow who has been working in childcare for 30 years and childminding for 10 years.

Every Childminder is registered and inspected by OFSTED, attend a 12 hour First Aid course, and have to abide by the National Childminding Association's Quality Childminding Charter. Sue visits each Childminder in the network every 6-8 weeks, and as the Network Coordinator, she knows which childminder has any vacancies for children. Sue will also try her best to match parents and children with like-minded childminders.

Many Childminders are currently training to provide nursery places in a home environment which will give parents in Sheringham another option for their children to access pre-school education. It's also another option for employment. Just imagine working from home and still being able to look after your own children. You can also decide what days and hours you would like to work. The training is free and courses are run on a regular basis.

So now you know a little bit more about the childminders in Sheringham what do you do next? Call Sue Farrow the Sheringham Childminding Network Coordinator on 821997, or the Norfolk Childcare Information Line on 01603 622292.

CAN YOU FIND BEAKY?

We will be hiding Beaky in every issue, maybe more than once and at different sizes - see if you can spot him.

When you do, write and tell us what page(s) he is on and where, giving the same details as before.
Small prize for the winner.
He's in THIS issue, can you find him?

KIDZ CORNER

Okay, all you children aged 1 - 12 years, this column is for you. Enter the competition(s) and you may win a prize.

Forward and Backward
A palindrome is a word (or phrase or sentence) that reads the same from left to right as it does from right to left. For example, a palindrome that means "trick or joke" is gag.
For each of the words below, can you suggest a palindrome?

Midday
Title for a lady
Tier
Sound a chick makes
Part of the human body
Something that fails to work
An entertainer's short-term job
Short, quick, down-and-up motion
Sound a horn makes

SPOT THE SPELLIN MIST-ACHE
Don't forget,In every issue we are going to be putting some deliberate spelling mistakes. Let us know what pages they are on and obviously which word. Make sure you tell us who you are and where we can contact you. Those of you who spot ALL of them will be put into the draw, the winner will receive one pound for each spelling mistake they find. Don't tell us about the grammar - So hurry up, read this paper from cover to cover, find the mistakes and you could be.....
IN THE MONEY!!!

THE PEASANT'S REVOLT
IS IT OVER YET?

The next presentation in the programme of Winter Talks organised by Sheringham Museum Trust is intitled "The Peasant's Revolt". The speaker, back by popular demand, is Mrs Barbara Miller who will trace the origins of this popular uprising, how it developed and the aftermath when the Government of the day went back on its promises. The strongest support for the revolt was in the Eastern counties. The talk will be given on Thursday 27 February in the Methodist Church Hall, Cromer Road, Sheringham, starting at 7.30pm. Admission is Ł1.50 per person (Ł1 for members of the Museum Trust and Sheringham Preservation Society) inclusive of light refreshments and there will be a raffle.
The evening is being generously sponsored by Mrs Mary Blyth, President of the Sheringham Museum Trust.

WHAT NOW FOR THE PARISH HALL?

On the morning of Saturday 8th January there was a meeting of over a hundred members of St Peter's Church congregation. They heard about plans going back over ten years for an extension on the side of the Church. The Churchwardens, Judith Knowles and Richard Bevis, explained how the Parochial Church Council (PCC) had twice in that time tried to satisfy the need for a hall beside the Church rather than in Waterbank Road. There would be toilets (including for the disabled) in the extension. But there had not been enough money. The Spend A Penny Project had so far raised Ł32,000 for toilets. But building them would now cost twice that. Church members learnt of the increasing cost of running the Parish Hall in Waterbank Road, the need to spend over Ł20,000 on repairs and bringing it up to the new Health and Safety standards. Following a meeting of the congregation in August the PCC decided to ask for outline planning consent for the Parish Hall to be sold. This would relieve Church members of having to dig yet further into their pockets each Sunday. There would then be the money to build an extension on the side of the Church. Regular hirers had been written to. Some arranged to find other venues, two said they would stay as long as they could, but the Bowls Club claimed they had no where else to go, so planning consent was refused. The meeting heard the four choices now available to the PCC.
1. To make no changes and go on subsidising the hirers from the Church collection.
2. To appeal against the planning permission. Professional advice was against this.
3. To raise the charges steeply to all hirers.
4. To close the hall, and then sell it.
The Vicar, Tony Windross, suggested that the ideal solution would be for the Council, or those people who were interested in keeping the Hall open, to buy it and run it as a public leisure facility. The Church is legally obliged to sell to the highest bidder. Mr William Rusdell, a member of the Bowls Club, suggested that members of the public could raise the money to buy the Hall and do the work needed. He personally pledged Ł1000. Mr Bryan Pigott offered to fund-raise for some of the necessary improvements to the Hall. It was pointed out that if the Church kept the Hall it could not afford its much-needed extension. Other speakers emphasised the problems of continuing to run the Hall and the difficulty without adequate toilets of using of the Church for concerts. This has been made worse by the Council closing the toilets in the car park in the evenings. The Vicar, Tony Windross, said "above all, St Peter's wants to welcome families to worship; this is difficult while we have nowhere suitable for children to go for Sunday School, and nowhere comfortable for meetings. Those who built the Hall were building for the future. What we want to do is to continue with their work."
Further information from Richard Bevis, Churchwarden, 01263 823336