Carbrooke Heritage Website, is in the process of being updated. There is lots of updated information. Please take a look, feedback welcome, especially if you have stories, photos or comments to add.
www.carbrookehistory.co.uk
Saturday, 29 August 2020
Tuesday, 25 August 2020
Carbrooke Heritage News - Carbrooke Parish Armour
There have been rumours of pieces from a suit of armour in Carbrooke for decades, with some residents claiming to have seen it, but in more recent years, it appeared to have been lost. However during the 2018 Heritage Festival in the church, whilst looking for something else, a member of the PCC found what she recognised as the missing armour. We were delighted to have rediscovered it.
It was sent to Norwich Museum, who also sent it to the Royal Armourer, as it was of such interest. It had been presumed to have been Medieval given Carbrookes links with Knights Hospitallers, but instead it was dated to the mid-late 1600s by Norwich Museum, which was very enthusiastic about such a rare find. The armour has been professionally conserved for the village by the museum at a cost of almost £2500.00
The village of Carbrooke has 13 pieces from a suit of Parish Armour dating from the English Civil War period (1642-1651).
What is Parish Armour?
Every village in England was required to send young men to fight in the Civil War, as Pikemen. These conscripts, clad only in leather jerkins, were ‘cannon fodder’ in the battles and had to fight mounted cavalry, who were armed with swords and other lethal weapons – and wore armour.
Those villages which could afford it thus purchased a suit of armour for their soldier, usually made by the local blacksmith. Hence the concept of “Parish Armour”; it remained the property of the parish.
Mike Botting, volunteered to make and donate a cabinet in which to display the armour; and to obtain sponsorship from local people and businesses to defray the cost of conservation. He also donated the model 'Knight' for display purposes.
Should you wish to make a donation towards the restoration of unique local artefact, please contact Mike, Donations of £200 will be acknowledged by a plaque on the cabinet itself, while smaller donations will be listed on a board adjacent to it.
Please make cheques payable to Carbrooke Heritage Group, or you can make BACS transfers to Carbrooke Heritage Group’s account at Lloyds Bank, sort code 30-92-88, account number 01300405. Please write “Parish Armour” on the back of your cheque, or in the “reference” box in your bank transfer. Any amount which you can afford would be greatly appreciated.
The Armour is on permanent display in the church, and can be viewed whenever the church is open, or by arrangement.gg
Carbrooke Heritage News - July 2020
Carbrooke Heritage News - July 2020
Some buildings very similar, others have disappeared altogether.
Carbrooke VE Day Celebrations 2020
Where will you be on 8 May 2020?
75 years ago, the country was preparing to celebrate the end of WW2, with street parties.
As we are living through history, and trying to defeat another common enemy (CV 19), let us commemorate, all those who lived through the difficult days of WW2, and those who gave their lives.
We appreciate those difficulties and fears ourselves now, so let us take an opportunity to lift the gloom, with a 'Garden Party'
From 4-6pm Friday 8 May
Decorate your windows, fences, gardens in red white and blue. Set up a picnic table in your garden, or outside your house, have a 1940's style picnic, dress in the style of the day, play 1940's music.
But please remember to maintain the social distancing rules.
Record the event for posterity, by sharing a photo with us.
Celebrating VE Day 2020
As we cannot be together on that day, here are some suggestions from Breckland Council as to how we can celebrate at home.
The weekend of May 8th – 10th is the weekend to commemorate and celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, marking the end of the war in Europe.
To help you prepare your day, we are sharing party pack to get you started while you #StayHomeSaveLives.
The online pack includes...
- wartime recipes your family can try out
- party bunting you can cut out and make
- posters for your windows
- colouring templates for your children
- a fantastic VE competition set by Dan Snow the BBC History Guy
- A Spotify wartime playlist featuring Dame Vera Lynn and other wartime musical greats
You'll have everything you need to celebrate at home, whilst remembering and celebrating our wartime generation
Carbrooke Church; Covid-19 - Action Group
A reminder that just inside the church door there is a Food Bank Box. Please leave cans, bottles, jars or packets of food...or take them if your need becomes great.
The church is open during the daytime, often with a lit candle, as a place for quiet reflection. All are welcome to spend a while away from the stresses and strains around us.
Thank you and stay safe!
Carbrooke St Peter and St Paul Church. Contact Mark on 07935334610 or mgward@aol.com
Carbrooke Heritage News - NEW Handicraft Group
NEW Carbrooke Handicraft Group,
This Friday - 14th February 10.30 -12.30 Carbrooke Village Hall.
If you are interested in sewing for pleasure, making small items for local charities or getting involved in a community handicraft project, please join us to discuss ideas over a cup of tea.
Learn new skills, share ideas or offer help and advice.
Small charge to cover costs.
Carbrooke Heritage News - November 2019
All great Christmas presents.
Come along to find out more about Carbrooke Heritage on our stall.
Carbrooke School Log Transcription: Book Launch: Friday 8th November 2019
Lovely village event today which was very well attended. It was a Village Tea Party to celebrate the Book Launch of "A Village School at War", The log book of Carbrooke School during the Second World War. It makes for fascinating reading . There was music and refreshments and many reunions and sharing of memories.
Thanks everyone who attended our book launch, it was a lovely afternoon, great village atmosphere.
Thank you Carbrooke school pupils for reading excerpts, UK Ukelele Band for music, Paul Weatherill for military vehicles, and to setters up and caterers.
Also Carbrooke Parish Council for grant towards publication, and Carbrooke Village Hall for the venue.
Books available for £5, contact carbrookeheritage@gmail.com for more details.
Throughout the years school headteachers have had to keep a school diary, and Carbrooke school is no exception.
During the second world war, the Headmistress, Miss Mary Norton, kept a fascinating record of daily life and events in Carbrooke, during the years of the war through her entries in the school log: a much admired headmistress, with an obvious care for the children in her charge.Daily life went on as usual, admidst the highly unusual events bought on by war, particularly the kind involvement of locally based American troops.
The Heritage Group have transcribed, and printed Carbrooke school log, adding background photos and information.
As we begin commemorations for the start of WW2, we hope this is a fitting tribute, and launch the book with a traditional village tea party in the village hall.
Carbrooke Heritage Group would like to thank Carbrooke Parish Council, for funding the printing of the books.
To find out more visit our website Page
Carbrooke Heritage News September 2019
FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH - Advice and support.
Thursday 19th September Carbrooke church at 7pm.
Family history research is becoming increasingly popular, but where do. we make a start? Come along to this presentation for suggestions, advice and guidance.
For those who already have the 'bug', get some further help or share your own.
Please bring along details of any brick walls you've encountered in your research.
Presented by Mark Ward.
No charge (donations welcome). With tea & biscuits.
Carbrooke Heritage News July - Jan Godfrey
It is with great sadness, that we have to report the death of Jan Godfrey. Jan was one of the founding members of the Heritage Group, amongst so many other things in our village and our local area. Here is a photo of her interviewing some Carbrooke school pupils,at the time of the school archaeological dig c1996. She lived in Carbrooke almost all of her life and attended the school, she was also extremely involved with the establishment of the village green. We shall miss her greatly, particularly her knowledge and advice of local heritage.
The funeral of Jan Godfrey, will be held in Carbrooke Church on August 6th at 2pm, and will be conducted by the Bishop of Lynn.
Carbrooke Fete 29th June 2019
Many thanks to all those who donated items, gave their time, or supported us by attending on the day.
Next year we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the millennium green, we are already planning the event, please consider volunteering.
Date for next years fete 4th July.
27 April 2019 2pm - Smith Family Reunion - Longevity in Carbrooke
Lovely afternoon in the Village Hall, celebrating with the Smith family of Carbrooke.
A brief history of the Smith family in Carbrooke. Enid Clarke, Nora Lund, Betty Cocker & Brian Smith.
The Smith Family part of Carbrooke Village life since 1920
Enid was 3 months old when her parents Cecil & Winifred moved to Carbrooke & took over the Village Shop in Church Street, Lived there in the Village Shop in Church Street and the Thatched Cottage in Broadmoor Road before settling in their home in Church Street again
Nora, Betty & Brian born in Carbrooke as was Geoffrey who died in 2002. Their father Cecil was a Master Carpenter. Examples of his work can be seen here in the Church Including the High Alter Table. Cecil Active Participant in Village Life & Member of Carbrooke Church Choir, Carbrooke Cricket Team, Clerk to the Parish Council, Church Warden
In 1936 Cecil & Winfred took over the Post Office which was moved to their house.
Cecil became Post Master until his death in 1967 & Winifred carried on until she retired aged 87 .
Enid,Nora, Betty, Brian & Geoffrey all went to the Village School
Betty Married and moved away and has come down from Scotland for this reunion.
Nora went to America as a War Bride & has flown Back from USA
Enid & Brian have both stayed in the Village
Brian with Renee has always supported events in the Village and Brian played Cricket for the village team Betty was the Scorer.
Enid has been a great supporter of Village life and has put Carbrooke on the world map with her widely acclaimed Miniature paintings
Fellow of the Royal Miniature Society (celebrates her 100 birthday this year) Not many villages can boast of having 4 members of one family born in the village with a total age of 377 present today
Carbrooke Heritage News - Memorial Tree for Robert Buscall
A tree to commemorate the contribution made by the late Robert Buscall to the village was planted on March 11th 2019 at 2pm on Carbrooke Millennium Green. In front of a group of villagers short speeches were given by Brian Harris and Tom Thurston before the tree a Copper Beech, was dedicated by David Saunders and officially planted by Robert's wife Livia and his son Ed. The ceremony was followed by a cake cutting the in village hall and refreshments.
Robert worked to help and promote the village, and was instrumental in helping to save the school from closure in 1980's.
Here is a brief resume, how he helped the Village and served the County
For many Years he was the Village’s representative on both Breckland District Council. In addition, he served on the Village Hall Committee and Parish Council and was chairman of both.
He was on the Committee of the Norfolk Agricultural Station at Morley near Wymondham. This is now called the Morley Research Centre. He was also Chairman and President of the Norfolk Country Landowners Association.
Robert served as a Magistrate at Swaffham and later on the Mid- Norfolk Bench when the Swaffham Bench was amalgamated with those at Wymondham & Dereham and was the chairman of the Norfolk Magistrate Courts Committee.
When he was appointed High Sheriff of Norfolk, he financed a bus to take the pupils at the Village School to Norwich so they could attend the annual High Sheriff’s service in Norwich Cathedral. He was a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk for a number of years.
When the Village School was threatened with closure in 1986, Robert was instrumental, with the School’s Parent Teacher Association, in keeping the school open. Not only did he lobby each Norfolk County Council member who sat on the County’s Education Committee he also chaired meetings at Carbrooke Hall between members of the PTA and the local council member who was chairman of the education committee. On the day that the Council made their decision he provided a bus to take school pupils & parents to County Hall so they could demonstrate outside the meeting room in support of the School.
Millennium Green. This was owned by Carbrooke Estates and Robert and his son Ed allowed the village to buy the land behind the Village Hall from the Estate for the Green. This was one of the first Millennium Greens to be formed in the Country. It should also be noted that it was Robert’s Father who donated the land on which the Village Hall was built.
During his very active public life, he always found time to help the village with advice and practical help.
Carbrooke Heritage News January 2019 - From the Post Box
Great to see a new use for our remaining phone box. Thanks to the Parish Council, and to Alan who has tidied, repainted, and repaired the light.
This morning we fitted a new defibrillator for Carbrooke Parish Council. This is a great way to utilise an old BT phone box. A very satisfying job that could literally save someone's life. Signage was also fitted as part of the job.
Sunday, 23 August 2020
Carbrooke Village Hall to re open following refurbishment.
After several months of closure for refurbishments the Village Hall Committee is pleased to announce that the Hall will be back in operation from Monday 21st January. A huge amount of work and effort has gone into ridding us once and for all of our truly awful toilets and the new kitchen is looking pretty good too. In particular a big thanks should got to Karrie and Ed who have pulled out all the stops to make this happen!
We expect the much improved Hall to be popular with bookings so please get in touch if you have an event that you would like to hold in the Hall. You can check availability on the Hall home page calendar.
More news coming soon – but in the meantime the photos below will give you a good flavour of the work!
Saturday, 22 August 2020
Carbrooke Heritage News January 2019
Our next
Heritage meeting will be held in the Village Hall on Monday 25th
March 7pm, everyone is welcome to attend we discuss our ongoing activities and
historically related subjects, if anyone has any suggestions please get in touch.
We have a
number of ongoing projects as well as new ones in the pipeline. We are working
on Transcribing the School log book for the years 1939 - 45, which we hope to
publish as a book, with related items and articles relevant to the time and
activities in the school, and would like to hear from anyone with memories of Carbrooke
school, or of wartime memories - first or second hand.
We are
planning a visit to the Watton Museum, on Wednesday 13th March 7pm, to
see how they went about setting up the Museum (in Wayland Hall), the display
items, and making arrangements for our some of our own items to be displayed in
a cabinet for a while and also to offer our help with transcribing items
relevant to Carbrooke.
On 11th
March at 2pm – and followed by refreshments, The Millenium Green will be
planting a tree in memory of Robert Buscall, who helped & promoted the
village and amenities, as well as being instrumental in saving the school from
closure.
Believe it
or not, the Millenium Green will be 20 years old next year, and the committee
are considering ways of marking the event.
Carbrooke Longevity
Carbrooke Heritage Group are hosting a
family reunion tea party on Saturday 27th April at 2pm.
The Smith family will be getting together over the weekend, Enid Clarke (Smith)
still lives in Carbrooke, as does younger brother Brian. Norah will be visiting
from the USA (an American war bride), and sister Betty from Scotland. Believe
it or not, all 3 sisters are in their 90's, with Brian aged 87.
Their mother ran Carbrooke Post Office for many years, during the 20th century, and the Smith family have been involved
in many Carbrooke activities over the years.
This will be quite an event considering the ages of
the siblings.
It would lovely to see lots of current or
past Carbrooke residents to this celebration, to take part in the reunion. We
hope to see you there.
Following on
from the success of the poppy production within the community, which were displayed
on the Church for the Remembrance commemorations, we are considering ways we
can work together to produce a lasting item of interest using the talents of
our community. One suggestion is to create a ‘Carbrooke Time Line’ incorporating, national/international and
local events illustrated by our residents using crafting, stitching,
woodworking and artistic skills. If anyone would like to get involved with this
please get in touch.
Web: www.carbrookehistory.co.uk Email: carbrookeheritage@gmail.com
Facebook: Carbrooke History and Heritage
Carbrooke Heritage News November 2018
Our next Heritage meeting will be held in the church on 20th November, everyone is welcome to attend at 7pm, we will discuss our ongoing activities and events for next year, if anyone has any suggestions please get in touch.
We have been pretty busy recently, On Bank holiday Monday, the Village Signs were erected, beautifully designed and painted by Adrian Talbot, In October a fascinating talk by Tom Thurston was presented with slides on the heritage of Agriculture in our region in particular and uncertainties faced for the future of farming. It was well supported and raised about £65 for group funds. More recently we have been involved in preparations for the Remembrance Weekend and the production of poppies. John Coppen gave a presentation on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and their work, again well supported. The weekend culminated in the Remembrance Service in the church on Sunday 11th.
Our next project is to transcribe the school log book for the years of WW2, and to research further particular points of interest. The school Headmistress for these years kept meticulous and detailed records of activities in the school, village and outside world during those turbulent years. American servicemen visited the school and provided parties for the children. Several years ago, letters written during war time between Carbrooke school pupils and an American girl were discovered in a library in Norfolk Virginia USA.
We would like to hear from anyone with memories of Carbrooke school, or of wartime memories - first or second hand.
Carbrooke Heritage News ; Carbrooke Poppies
At about this time last year, we began considering ways in which we could commemorate the Centenary of the ending of The Great War. In early summer, a suggestion was made, that we might knit or crochet poppies, - one for each of the 27 men on Carbrooke War Memorial. This was being planned in similar ways across the whole country, and we felt would be a project many would like be involved with - to show their respect and to be part of something bigger.
A group
conversation grew and grew, until we had decided we might try and produce
hundreds of poppies to cover the church tower, representing those who have been
killed in military action in service of our country. For anyone who doesn’t
know, this would be some project as the church tower is (I am told) 99 feet
high.
Over the
summer, we started planning and passing on the idea, poppy patterns were shared
around, and the handiwork began. I was rather alarmed, when I read in the PCC
minutes that we would be making thousands
of poppies, and I don’t think anyone believed we would really get enough
poppies to do anything significant, but by the autumn, poppy production was
well under way by the whole community, & others who had heard about it
through word of mouth or social media and wanted to be involved.
How we would
attach the poppies was a quandary, the tower was too tall to hang a net from as
other places have done, and there would be no way of fixing them individually.
Eventually we decided attaching them to strings, trailing them from the top of
the tower, like streamers – a different take on the usual ideas.
During
October more and more poppies arrived and we began sewing them onto the strings,
the school and playgroup wanted to be involved, with the children making felt
poppies, and playgroup mini wreaths, which have been used to decorate the
screen inside the church.
We estimate
that we have produced 2500 poppies, and whilst sewing them, often comment on
the different styles and colours of red used, we have done our best to mix them
all up. Apparently there is now a nationwide shortage of red wool!
You may notice some of the poppies are
purple; - these signify the horses, mules,
camels, bullocks, dogs, carrier pigeons and other animals which suffered the same
terrible conditions as the soldiers & were sacrificed in our wars. There
are also some white poppies - our hope that one day there will be lasting
peace.
At the
beginning of November, the streamers were hoisted to the top of the tower and attached
to the flagpole, with the ends secured into the ground with wooden pegs, we are
particularly pleased that one very long streamer reaches to the war memorial. The
original plan, to place a knitted poppy for each man mentioned, on the war
memorial has also been achieved.
We set out
to create a tangible commemoration and opportunity to pay respect to our
ancestors, family members, friends or neighbours – and as recognition of the
terrible waste of life & atrocities that has been endured in conflicts,
which drive people apart. This activity on the other hand has bought
communities across the country together.
Many Carbrooke
people, and others further afield, have been involved in our project, who may
not normally meet or work together, this in turn is part of a larger, nationwide
project, to remember, respect and hope for the future.
We plan to
leave the displays in place until the end of November then all the poppies will
be stored and used again in the future as part of our annual remembrance
service, or for special events.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Enid Clarke (nee Smith)
It is with sadness we hear of the death of Enid Clarke on Sunday 27th September 2020 , aged 100 years. Enid moved to Carbrooke at the age of...
-
On 17 th June Tom Thurston presented a most informative talk on the History of the Heavy Horse in Carbrooke Village Hall. Thank you to ev... -
It is great when bits of Carbrooke Heritage are rescued and reused as would have been in the past. For example the old church at Carbrooke P... -
Lovely sunny day today, and at this time of year I can’t help but notice all the seasonal smells there are, particularly plants. Wallflowe...