Norwich Puppet Theatre has been awarded a £60,000 Arts Council England Grant through the National Lottery for two new productions with leading puppetry company Indefinite Articles and highly-reputed puppeteer Peter O’Rourke. Rehearsals for The Chalk Giants are now beginning and the show opens at Norwich Puppet Theatre on 24 July for a 2-week run before showing at the Edinburgh Festival in late August. A gala performance is planned to take place in Norwich in September, with two further public performances before the show then goes on tour to schools and other venues across the East of England. Tickets for the performances in July are already on sale and schools interested in booking a place on the tour should contact the Puppet Theatre. The second production with Peter O’Rourke, a fresh take on the classic tale Little Red Riding Hood, will begin to be developed in 2011.

Whilst the Norwich Puppet Theatre, as an arts charity, still faces challenges with the sustainability of its core funding, the latest project award from the Arts Council reflects their support for the Theatre’s exciting vision for the future.

“We are delighted to have received funding for the new productions. It marks the beginning of a new chapter at Norwich Puppet Theatre. Following core funding cuts in 2008, as experienced across the arts sector, the theatre has been reshaping itself, programming high quality puppetry and offering a wide range of educational activities. Our vision is to produce once more, high quality puppetry productions for regional audiences to enjoy. This will re-establish Norwich on the map as a centre for puppetry excellence – The Chalk Giants is our first step along this road. We hope people will support our latest venture and come along to see The Chalk Giants this summer!” - Nic Hopkins, Chair of the Board, Norwich Puppet Theatre.


The Chalk Giants, which is ideal for families with children age 5 and over, is based on an old English folk-tale and creates a world of magic and mystery with chalk drawings, light and shadow puppetry. Writing for the production has been commissioned from Guyanese-born John Agard and music has been commissioned from Jonathan Lambert. The story, which was researched and developed with local people and schools, references features of the landscape, both real and legendary, through improvised storytelling about the Icknield Way in Suffolk (known as the ‘chalk belt’) and its local myths.

Indefinite Articles’ work with Norwich Puppet Theatre has enabled them to explore new aspects of puppetry: “The Chalk Giants is an exciting production as we will be interacting with the audience with improvisation and scripted narrative. By working within one of the few building-based organisations dedicated to the development and advocacy of puppet theatre in the UK, we have been able to focus on further exploring the theatrical use of puppets and objects in the translation of narrative ideas. We hope to engage people with chalk as a material which is both vital and tactile (one now almost obsolete in the classroom) and to excite and inspire them with the animated lines and images created in the performance. We are proud to be sharing the exciting venture with Norwich Puppet and are delighted to be able to use the theatre, with its great facilities for puppeteers, as our base” - Sally Brown and Steve Tipaldy, Indefinite Articles.

Norwich Puppet Theatre, one of only two theatres in England dedicated to puppetry, is 30 years-old at the beginning of December. Celebrations kick-off with a special exhibition at Fusion in the Forum, Norwich, from 29 November - 3 December. The birthday will also include a party and an auction of glove puppets signed and decorated by a host of celebrities. The anniversary programme is set to run over several months. More information will be announced with the launch of the theatre’s autumn programme. The season will also see the unveiling of the theatre’s new visual identity developed by East Publishing, which will be evident with a striking new events brochure and website.

Since opening in 1980, hundreds of puppetry professionals have developed their art and skills in devising, directing and performing puppet theatre in Norwich. They have become some of the leading names in the puppetry community, at the heart of the art form in the region, the UK and Europe with hundreds of performances reaching audiences across the world.

“We are immensely proud of the part Norwich Puppet Theatre has played in the development of puppetry as an art form and in training some of the leading puppeteers in the sector. Amongst the Theatre’s alumni and the companies with whom they have gone on to work are Ray DaSilva (the founder), Peter O’Rourke (Spitting Image, Little Angel Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company), John Roberts (Puppetcraft), Sean Myatt (Nottingham Trent University), Joy Haynes (Banyan Theatre), Zannie Fraser (Ripstop Productions), Mark Pitman & Iklooshar Malara (Garlic Theatre), Luis Boy, Mark Whitaker (with Horse and Bamboo Theatre and others), Sam Dutton (Royal Shakespeare Company and others) to name but a few” - Ian Woods, General Manager, Norwich Puppet Theatre.

Now is the time of year when gardens in Norfolk are reaching their summer peak. With warm sunny weather forecast take the opportunity to enjoy the splendours and sights of some truly fabulous new gardens and at the same time help raise much needed funds for the charities that the National Gardens Scheme supports. July brings the interest of a new NGS open garden nearly every week of the month welcoming visitors into them. Garden enthusiasts are spoilt for choice with many other regular gardens open providing a garden trail of interest across the county.


The Bear Shop, Elm Hill, Norwich is opening for the first time for the National Gardens Scheme, the location featured in many famous films. It is open 11 - 4.30, Admission £3 or combined with Strangers Hall £4.50, children free The garden is considered to be based on a design by Gertrude Jekyll, a small terraced garden behind a C15 house in the historic Cathedral Quarter of Norwich.

Four Seasons, Cheney's Lane, Forncett St Mary makes its debut on Sarurday,10th July, open 11 - 4, admission £4.50, children free. It is a richly planted 2½-acre garden, wide range of herbaceous plants, roses, and trees, many of which are raised here. It is the home of a former nursery. The owners, now retired, have more time to devote to enriching the plantings still further.


Heronsbridge, Bawburgh Road, Marlingford opens with 4 Mill Road on the 11th July. It is open 11 -5 with a combined admission of £4, children free. There is a story to this garden (ask the owner). The River Yare runs the length of the garden, with plenty of wildlife especially the kingfisher. The beds are a mixture of herbaceous perennials and shrubs. There are fruit and other trees, one old ash which is kept for nesting birds and other inhabitants. Gravel drive, small step to grass, slope down to river, some beds at drive level.

Two new gardens open on the 25th July. Dale Farm, Sandy Lane, Dereham opens 11-5, admission £3.50, children free. It is a 2 acre plant person’s garden with spring fed lake. Over 700 plant varieties featured in exuberantly planted borders and waterside gardens. Kitchen garden, orchard, naturalistic planting areas and wood sculptures. Garden completely redesigned in 2007. Gravel drive and some grass paths. Exhibition of natural wood sculptures.

Sharane, Lynn Road, West Rudham opens 11-5, admission £3.50. It is a third of an acre plantsman’s garden, created over several years by enthusiastic owners. Densely planted colourful borders of perennials, hostas, ferns, roses, iris, some exotic plants and grasses, with a collection of over 90 dazzling day lilies. Other features of interest, small pond with wildlife, raised vegetable beds, greenhouses and fruiting bushes and trees.

Norfolk County Organiser Anthea Foster said “Many new gardens open each year, often with another garden nearby. It forms not just a great day out for the garden visitor but gets the whole community involved and raises its profile locally. It encourages gardeners to down their tools and sit on a garden bench in a stranger’s garden while supporting the charities of the National Gardens Scheme.

For more garden days out ideas visit your local Tourist information, garden centre, nursery or open garden to pick up a Norfolk NGS Garden Guide or visit www.norfolkgardens.org.

If your garden is blooming now is the time to contact County Organiser Fiona Black to discuss opening your garden for the NGS. Tel 01692 650247.


Founded in 1927, The NGS has raised more than £25 million for charity in the last 10 years.
www.norfolkgardens.org

Henry Moore Textiles, a major exhibition of Moore’s fabric designs from the 1940s and 1950s, opens at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts on Tuesday 22 June and runs until Sunday 29 August. Henry Moore’s passion for colour and form is revealed in this exhibition which brings together dress and upholstery fabrics with large-scale wall panels, drawings, lithographs and sculpture. Henry Moore Textiles is a critically acclaimed touring exhibition, developed by The Henry Moore Foundation.

“Henry Moore is best known for his monumental sculpture and visitors to his studio and home at Perry Green are often astonished to discover that the artist also worked on an intimate scale. The textile designs in this exhibition reveal many illuminating aspects of his work, with links to his interests in non-Western art, organic form and perhaps surprisingly, vivid colour.” - Anita Feldman, exhibition curator and Head of Henry Moore Collections and Exhibitions, The Henry Moore Foundation, Perry Green

Moore was first approached for fabric designs by Czech textile manufacturer Zika Ascher in late 1942 or early 1943. Ascher had settled in London with his wife Lida, having managed to escape the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia while on honeymoon in Norway. They set up a new textile production company and soon commissioned leading artists to create designs for scarves, to be produced in rayon and parachute nylon, as well as silk. Moore worked closely with Ascher on the project, and later went beyond the brief to create designs that could be used for dress and upholstery fabric. By the late 1940s Moore had moved on from repeat textile designs and was experimenting with limited editions of textile panels comprising single figure motifs, that could be hung as objects of art in themselves.

The project gave Moore an opportunity to experiment with designs that would be accessible to all, and particularly suited his socialist belief that modern art should be a part of everyday life. As Manchester’s Daily Dispatch proclaimed in 1953, “We can’t all afford to hang a Picasso on the wall - but very soon we’ll be having Henry Moore curtains at the windows!” Moore’s own home at Hoglands featured bedspreads and curtains made by his wife Irina from the fabrics he designed.

Ascher was impressed with Moore’s work, writing to him in 1970, “I feel that some of the non-figurative designs show the real strength of your art.” The textiles found wide appeal, with his Barbed Wire design appearing in the 1947 British film They Made Me a Fugitive. For the public, aspirations of glamour were firmly linked to the stars of cinema, and Moore’s dress fabrics were an affordable way to emulate their screen idols.


During the war and in the post-war years, Utility regulations limited textile production, leading to a ‘make-do-and-mend’ climate and an often drab colour palette in clothing and domestic fabrics. Ascher’s project saw the potential to inject a new creativity into British textiles and give the country something to look forward to. Moore’s colourful designs looked forward to a new era, while his recurring mother and child motif became an evocative symbol of community and stability after the dark days of the war.


The influence of the war shows in the more hard-edged designs on display, which incorporate images of barbed wire and safety pins. Other designs feature more whimsical subjects seen nowhere else in his work, such as sea creatures, caterpillars and piano keys. The colours of the designs are particularly unexpected from an artist who felt that colour was a distraction from the appreciation of form, and therefore did not paint his sculptures: vivid pinks and greens, zigzag motifs and swirls of interspersing colours are common elements.

“It’s always fascinating to discover less well-known aspects of a great artist’s work and I know that for many people the exhibition will be a revelation, especially in the light of Henry Moore’s early fascination with the kind of world art that is so well represented in the Sainsbury Centre’s permanent collections.” - Nichola Johnson, Director, Sainsbury Centre.

Henry Moore Textiles runs concurrently with unearthed, an exhibition of prehistoric ceramic figures from the Balkans and Japan.

Loddon Mill Arts is delighted to have commissioned an exhibition of new works by one of Britain's leading artists and Norfolk resident, David Dane.

The Exhibition runs from 19th - 31st July, 2010, between 10:00 and 16:00 daily and is 'free' for anyone to attend.

It also includes an exhibition by artist in residence Theo Fenning.

The exhibition can be previewed at a special exhibition launch concert on Sunday 18th, July 2010 at 18:00 given by the Henschel Quartett. The 'internationally renowned' Henschel Quartett, are Artistic Patrons of Loddon Mill Arts, and return to the UK in July. Billed as 'One of the outstanding German string ensembles of the moment' by the New York Times, they will perform works by Haydn, Schumann & Schulhoff at Loddon Mill Arts, Norfolk.

The Concert begins at 18:00. Doors open at 17:00. There will be the opportunity for champagne tasting during the interval, hosted by our sponsors Adnams of Southwold. Tickets are £15. Ticket Hotline: 01508 521800

Diary Dates regarding Wildlife and Garden Events at Pensthorpe Nature Reserve in Norfolk.




July 10th & 24th/August 7th 2010Event: Dragonfly Walks
Join our resident expert Thomas Spencer for the chance to have Pensthorpe dragonflies and Damselflies identified for you. Dazzling masters of the air, dragonflies are a fascinating feature of Pensthorpe. Enjoy seeing how many species you can find. Prior booking essential. Appropriate clothing and sensible footwear essential.
Time: 12.30pm
Price: Adults £11.00, seniors £9.50, children £7.30, Season Card Holders £2.00

July 3rd, July 17th, July 21st, July 31st 2010
Event: Butterfly Walks
Our resident expert Thomas Spencer will show you the various habitats which attract 21 species of butterfly to Pensthorpe. Come and see how many you can find. Prior booking essential. Appropriate clothing and sensible footwear essential.
Time: 12.30pm
Price: Adults £11.00, seniors £9.50, children £7.30, Season Card Holders £2.00


September 25th and 29th 2010
Course: Photography Workshop Moths & Waterfowl with Mike Powles
Go behind the scenes at Pensthorpe and photograph some of the birds we have on show, then get up close to the delicate nature of moths. During the course of the day Mike will help you with composition, exposure, field craft, equipment choices, getting the best from your equipment and much more. You should bring your own camera and appropriate clothing/ footwear for the day. Mike Powles is an award-winning wildlife photographer who has been featured on BBC Springwatch.
Time: 7:00am - 13:00pm
Price: £65.00 per person. Booking esential. Light lunch included.
Other Photography workshops available:
September 29th - Moths & Waterfowl

October 9th 2010
Tour: Farm Landrover Tour with Bill Jordan
Join owner Bill Jordan as he takes you through our Conservation Grade Farm, learn how this type of farming benefits the farmer and the surrounding countryside. The journey should last approximately one hour and is followed by a cooked breakfast in our cafe.
Time: 8:30am - 9:30am
Price: £11.50 per person. Includes cooked breakfast. Booking essential as space is limited.

First Monday of every month – March to December 2010
Course: Optic Days
Get the low down on binoculars, scopes and all the hi-tech equipment used for birdwatching and photography. Come and see demonstrations and try a wide range of models, all under the instruction of experts from Viking Optics. Beginners to experts welcome.


For More Information:
Telephone: 01328 851465
Or visit www.pensthorpe.com

The new BFI restoration of Cavalcanti's 'Went the Day Well' opens 9 July 2010.

To book tickets, visit http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_sou...

Cavalcanti's wartime film, based on a story by Graham Greene, still unsettles, even shocks, with its subversive, almost surreal spectacle of a cosy English village under Nazi attack in the Second World War.

Disguised as British soldiers, the invading Germans insinuate themselves into a pretty village inhabited by British character players so familiar to wartime audiences that they must have seemed like family members. Always the mischievous foreign observer, Cavalcanti kicks away their usual charm, letting them kill and be killed in a violent battle for their green, pleasant land. Critics' reactions at the time were mixed; but now we can properly relish this visionary film, as jolting and quizzical about British life as anything by Powell and Pressburger.

This film is screening as part of Long Live Film, a major project celebrating the 75th anniversary of the BFI National Archive. Further information at http://www.bfi.org.uk/archive75

Over the past decade Norwich-based community choir, Hearts and Voices has raised over £8,000 for local and national charities. To mark its 10 year anniversary Hearts and Voices has decided to focus its fundraising efforts closer to home to raise money for the Sing Your Heart Out project (SYHO).

The award-winning SYHO project began in 2004 with the support of the Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. SYHO is open to anyone who wants to sing - and there is no requirement to read music. Participants are guaranteed great fun, and the chance to sing enjoyable arrangements of popular songs, and easy harmony songs from all over the world to benefit their mental health.

The singing sessions have been such a success they have spread across Norfolk, but the project is in need of funds to continue past March 2011.

A “Songs of the Earth” concert will be performed by Hearts and Voices to raise funds for the SYHO project in South Norfolk. Songs will have a connection to the earth and will range from well known classics such as “I can see clearly now the rain has gone”, to spiritual and world songs. The concert will be held at St Mary’s Church, Attleborough, NR17 2RH on Saturday 24 July.

Advance tickets are £6 or £4 concessions and can be reserved on 01508 489619 or from The Book Fountain, Wymondham or Nuts & Bolts, Attleborough. Tickets will also be available on the door at £7.50 or £5 concessions.

For further information or to donate money to Sing Your Heart Out please visit www.syho.org

NHS Norfolk’s Stop Smoking Service has helped more people than ever before to stop smoking.

It helped 4457 smokers in Norfolk (excluding Great Yarmouth) in 2009/2010 according to the latest figures, compared to 4282 the year before and 4039 in 2007/08.

NHS Norfolk's Stop Smoking Commissioning Manager, Jennie Pusey, said: "We are continuing to build on the success of the NHS Norfolk Stop Smoking Service and we are pleased to see it has helped nearly 4,500 people to a healthier lifestyle.

"We believe there are something like 117,000 smokers in the NHS Norfolk area and we know that if they stop smoking they will greatly reduce their risk of dying prematurely through cancer, heart disease or suffering from chronic breathing problems."


People wanting help to quit can call the Stop Smoking Service on 0800 0854 113.

NHS Norfolk commissions services which aim to make finding support to give up smoking as accessible and flexible as possible. These include the Norfolk Stop Smoking Service, which is provided by Norfolk Community Health and Care (NCH&C), and offers patients professional support, tips and nicotine replacement therapy (such as gum or patches) to help them give up the habit.

People can also obtain information about the support on offer to help them stop smoking from their GP practice or can stop into their local pharmacy for advice.

NHS Norfolk has also recently commissioned the Keystone Development Trust to provide a stop smoking service for migrant workers in the Thetford area.

Thursday (July 1st) is the third anniversary of smoke free legislation coming into effect in England and Wales. The legislation outlawed smoking in pubs, clubs and all public buildings and has had a major effect on public health. Research has suggested the legislation has brought about 1200 fewer heart attacks across England in its first year alone. It saved the NHS an estimated £8.4 million and may have prevented almost 200 deaths.

The Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicians recently reported says that about 2 million children in the UK currently live in a household where they are exposed to cigarette smoke and many more are exposed outside the home. Children are particularly vulnerable to passive smoke exposure.

It reported tobacco smoke is responsible for:

- Over 20,000 cases of lower respiratory tract infection
- 120,000 cases of middle ear disease
- At least 22,000 new cases of wheeze and asthma
- 200 cases of bacterial meningitis
- 40 sudden infant deaths, one in five of all sudden infant deaths

Each year, these cases generate over 300,000 UK GP consultations and about 9,500 hospital admissions, and cost the NHS about £23.3 million.

NHS Norfolk's Tobacco Control Manager Clive Slater said: "The success of the smoke free legislation in terms of compliance is clear cut and it has delivered remarkable results in terms of public health.

"It has brought excellent benefits for individuals who have been spared the risks of passive smoking at work and when they go into public buildings."

A survey has shown more than 40 per cent of parents are illegally fronting, and I am sure they must know its against the law...


Many parents know fronting is illegal, and really believe they stand to save over £180 pounds.

Don't forget if a driver is found to be fronting they could have all or part of their claims refused by their insurance company, complete with their policy cancelled and face a prosecution for fraud and leave them with a criminal record.

Perhaps the current economic situation is causing more people to jump on the bandwagon and try fronting, but parents must realise that it may seem harmless to do this but in long term are helping towards prosecution and the chance of not obtaining insurance in the future, and setting poor examples to their children.

Through doing this parents are not helping their young drivers to the importance of responsible driving.

It is a known fact the quicker younger drivers start their own insurance and start their own no claims discount by being the main driver, the more affordable this will make insurance for them in the future...

"I was never really a Barclay Boy. I was too young in 1970 to be properly involved in any shenanigans that may have gone on in that part of the Carrow Road ground. But even at eleven years of age, I knew it was the place to be. With our first season behind us, when we watched from the South Stand, my pal and I graduated to the Barclay with ease - we just slipped quietly around the corner in fact. A few more friends joined us, so we had our own little gang, all the same age, and week by week we got closer to the pukka Barclay Boys, to be found slap bang in the middle of that all standing terrace.

I can't easily recollect any footballing memories from the 1970-71 season. Ron Saunders was settled into his position as manager. We finished mid table as we always seemed to do. Attendances were anywhere between ten and fifteen thousand. But I saw little football, despite going to every Saturday match. At less than five feet tall, it really was, come to think of it, pointless standing on the Barclay terrace. Especially as we crept more and more towards the centre. Early on, we worked out that you didn't want to be too near the front. In moments of unrivalled excitement, the crowd were prone to falling forwards en masse, and at eleven years old that was a pretty scary thought. But higher up on the terrace we were totally dwarfed. I used to have to stand on tip toes just to get a few glimpses of play. If I saw a shot being lined up, I rarely knew the outcome until the crowd reacted. If on another occasion I saw the ball bulging the back of the net, I would have to ask those around me who had scored. I went to Carrow Road each week but I didn't catch much action.

The attraction of the Barclay to us kids was of course the singing, and the chance to be in with the 'hard nuts'. Neither I, or any others in our gang, were troublemakers. But we loved being close to those that were. I loved chanting 'Sing Up The River End'. And 'Aye O, Aye O, We Are The Barclay Boys'. And perhaps my favourite 'You're Going In The River'. Shouting abuse at the caged opposition supporters further along the terrace. Pointing lofted fingers at them. I remember once being led right into the centre of the Barclay so I could get a closer look at the ringleaders - the ones who decided where the fights were going to take place. If something was going off after the game, word spread on the terrace. Plans were drawn up. Rendezvous points agreed. And a small group of them were the decision makers as to which song should be sung next. Half a dozen would get things started, then the rest would pick the song up and join in. I was frankly disappointed. Though older than me, these people were still young men. Quite what I expected I am not sure! Possibly not as fierce as I maybe thought they would be. Dressed in their cherry coloured Doc Martens, some looked like they needed a good meal - it was of course the original skinhead era. There were more followers than instigators, and had my Barclay career lasted any amount of time I would have surely been one of the former. But the impression I am left with all these years later, is that Norwich were never ever in the big league when it came down to hooliganism. The likes of QPR, Birmingham City and Millwall for instance all visited Carrow Road that season. I just always felt that other clubs had many more instigators than we had. I saw many scuffles in and around the ground, especially down Riverside and outside Thorpe Station. I was always appalled just how quickly 'the followers' legged it in the opposite direction at the first sign of trouble. Any anticipation of a major battle often faded as we realised the best on offer was a minor skirmish.


I have to say our gang soon got bored of the Barclay way of life, another indication that we really were too young for it. Negotiating a safe journey to and from the ground was always a challenge. Often we were too scared to go via Riverside for fear of 'going in the river'. And I remember Lower Clarence Road being a trouble hot spot if we went that way, as some of the opposition fans arrived by train, that was their route to the ground too. You needed eyes in the back of your head that is certain. But we never ever got into any bother - the thugs left us alone because we were too small ! Our attention turned to another game - hide and seek. Each week we would get to the ground earlier and earlier. Often we were first to queue at the turnstiles, which I think opened at 12.30. Once into the empty ground a couple of lads would go off and the rest of us had to find them. You could go anywhere in those days from the corner where the Barclay met the Main Stand to the opposite corner where the River End met the Main Stand (apart from the opposition cage which needed a de-tour through the back of the Barclay). As more people came into the ground it was easier to hide of course. But we got behind the burger vans and under the concrete stairways. And chased each other, weaving in and out of the fans as they walked to their places on the terraces. Truthfully, we were a damned nuisance. We often got shouted at. I remember once frightening the life out of an old man as I emerged from under the staircase leading into the South Stand. He threatened to report me and said we would all be banned from Carrow Road. I can also remember a period when we used to sneak a football into the ground and have a kick about in the tunnel behind the South Stand, until supporter traffic made it impossible. By about 2.30 we used to retreat back to the Barclay, squeeze our way onto the now packed terrace, and get down to the singing. I would go home totally cream crackered from all the running around. I used to fall asleep during The Generation Game and my Mum once asked if I went to the football to watch, or did I actually get to play for the Canaries!

The following season, the 1971-72 promotion campaign, I left the Barclay. I had the opportunity to watch City from the Main Stand and spent much of that year gaining illegal entry into the ground, though that is a tale for another time. By the following season I was back, though the gang had split and it was largely a return to being me and my original pal. We stayed in the Barclay until the mid seventies. Football took over. We grew taller and saw much more of the games. We were in Division One for some of that time too and the club were starting to move forward. The singing continued though we dropped the ruder and viler renditions. Suddenly it all seemed rather juvenile, and as we went from thirteen to fifteen years of age, our main worry each match was that City would win and not lose. The game was great back then and I came to realise just how much Norwich City Football Club meant to me.

As it still does today!"


Credit to:
aitch www.canaryseventyninety.blogspot.com

These clips were taken along side my photographic projects during May 2010

For a high res image go to: www.wildaboutimages.co.uk

© Paul Bunyard

NHS Norfolk is encouraging people in north Norfolk to join their local Workout Project, to improve their long-term health and their local environment.

The North Norfolk Workout Project is delivered by conservation volunteering charity BTCV for North Norfolk District Council.

Lucy Macleod, NHS Norfolk's Consultant in Public Health, said: “The North Norfolk Workout Project is an enjoyable way to a more active life, and we would encourage anyone interested to find out more.

“You will be improving your own long-term health and also benefitting your community. It's also a good way to socialise and make new friends, which can contribute to an overall healthier lifestyle.”

The scheme is run with additional funding and support from Natural England through Access to Nature as part of the Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces Programme, NHS Norfolk and the North Norfolk Community Partnership.

Activities are organised later this month at North Walsham, Cromer and Holt, among others.

Mark Webster, project officer, said: "The North Norfolk Workout Project only began less than a year ago, but our volunteers have already made a substantial difference to their environment.

"Activities have included a variety of work at sites in North Walsham, Cromer and Holt, as well as learning more about wildlife by doing a seaweed survey at West Runton and birdwatching at Blakeney.

"Anyone over 16 is welcome to volunteer, and anyone who has physical, sensory or learning difficulties, mental health or long-term medical conditions is particularly welcome."

Volunteers also aiming to complete at least three 'Community Challenges' in north Norfolk each year which could involve clearing and improving access to a local open space. They welcome suggestions for future projects.

"North Norfolk District Council (NNDC)was very pleased to obtain the funding for this project," said Penny Bevan Jones, NNDC's Cabinet member with responsibility for health.

"The Council provides a range of opportunities for people to improve their health and well being such as leisure and sports centres, the Time of Your Life mobile gym and Fit Together walking and activities. The Workout Project offers another way for people to get active as well as improve the environment and we are delighted that so many people have already taken part."

Nick Clarke, of Active Norfolk, said: "We are moving away from the traditional sport model of people becoming more active. There are lots of different ways for people to increase their amount of physical activity.

"We recommend conservation activities because we find their volunteers exercise without really knowing it - because it's so enjoyable. It's free to take part, and helps the environment at the same time."

For more details on how you can join the North Norfolk Project call Mark on 01263 516 336 or visit: www.btcv.org./norfolk

To find out more about other activities and initiatives across the NHS Norfolk locality which can support you to lead an active, healthy lifestyle, call the NHS Norfolk Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on 0800 587 4132, or visit: www.norfolk.nhs.uk/pals/index.html

Two fabulous performers from Rig-a-Jig-Jig at the Norfolk History Fair at Gressinghall. Keeping Norfolk's traditional music alive here with the fiddle and the dulcimer

Tom Green was a comedian and arranger of pantomime harlequinades at the Brighton Aquarium, where it is likely he ran into director G.A. Smith as he exhibited his early films. Smith employed Mr. and Mrs. Green to perform in his comedies at 10 shillings a time.

In this film, Green is on his own performing what is known as a 'facial', that is a piece direct to camera showing changing facial expressions. The ability to get close up to the star was a great advantage that film had over the stage and early film-makers were keen to exploit it. Here Tom Green quaffs a glass of beer and gets progressively drunker and more leery. (Bryony Dixon)

Norwich is known as a city of history, culture, shopping and a tourism destination. Now it is becoming known for its collection of gardens of quality and character and interest as another new garden opens in Norwich this year for the National gardens Scheme. Norfolk a county known for its magnificent rural gardens and its great horticultural product now has an urban area that has NGS city gardens to visit.  They are all accessible by public transport.   Discover what is over the garden gate and hidden behind the city’s walls!

A popular place for many years and still a favourite, attracting visitors annually, is the Bishop’s garden open 1 -5 on the last Sunday in June, 27th admission £3, children free.   It is a four acre walled garden dating back to the 12th century.
The Bear Shop, Elm Hill, Norwich is opening for the first time for the National Gardens Scheme, the location featured in many famous films. It is open 11 - 4.30, Admission £3 or combined with Strangers Hall £4.50, children free.  The garden is considered to be based on a design by Gertrude Jekyll, a small terraced garden behind a C15 house in the historic Cathedral Quarter of Norwich..

Strangers Hall is a quarter of an acre garden hidden  behind  the home of wealthy merchants and mayors of the 16th and 17th Century.  It is an unexpectedly peaceful oasis in a busy part of the city. Strangers' Hall museum, St Gregory's' Church and the Maddermarket Theatre provide a historic boundary to the garden.

Just outside of Norwich, Heronsbridge,  Bawburgh Road, Marlingford opens with  4 Mill Road on the 11th July.   It is open 11 -5 with a combined admission of £4, children free.  There is a story to this garden (ask the owner). The River Yare runs the length of the garden, with plenty of wildlife especially the kingfisher. The beds are a mixture of herbaceous perennials and shrubs. There are fruit and other trees, one old ash  which is kept for nesting birds and other inhabitants.

North Lodge, Bowthorpe Road, Norwich opens twice  on the 18th and 25th July, 11 -5, admission £2.50, children free.   A town garden of 0.1-acre to Victorian Gothic Cemetery Lodge, (not open), created from a barren area with challenging triangular plot over the past ten years. Strong structure and attention to internal vista including Gothic conservatory, a formal pond, pergola, and classical-style summerhouse with  predominantly herbaceous planting.  Adjacent is associated historic parkland cemetery also worth a visit.

The Exotic Garden opens on the 1st August, 1- 5, admission £4.50 with the renowned “Will Giles featuring his “Exotic city garden” covering approximately 1 acre on a South facing hillside. It includes a new ½-acre garden with the largest treehouse in Norfolk.  In high summer the garden is a riot of colour among towering architectural plants such as cannas, bananas, aroids, palms etc giving the garden a truly subtropical feel, especially with its use of houseplants as bedding. New xerophytic garden (desert garden).

To end the Norwich garden trail is Plovers Hill outside the city at Buckenham Road, Strumpshaw.  It is open on the 8th August  11-5, admission £3.50, children free. It is the home of assistant county organisers James and Jan Saunt,  a 1-acre garden of contrasts, small C18 house (not open) with RIBA award winning orangery.  The gardeners pride and joy is the formal lawn hedged with yew and lesser species, huge mulberry, gingko, liquidambar and Japanese bitter orange, herbaceous borders with a range of varied plants, garden sculpture and water feature.  It has a kitchen garden with orchard and soft fruits.

James Saunt said  “The NGS gardens posses a beautifully tranquil atmosphere in and just outside of the city centre.  More and more city garden owners are transforming their homes to incorporate green or tropical gardens. It is also interesting to find large gardens within Norwich.  For many years only a few gardens have opened regularly.  The awareness of “The National Gardens Scheme Yellow Book” and the increased interest in garden design and grow your own has led to many gardeners becoming enthusiasts and aiming for high standards.   It is very rewarding for them to achieve the recognition of the NGS and share their  gardening passion with  visitors while raising money for worthwhile charities”.

For more garden days out ideas visit your local Tourist information, garden centre, nursery or open garden to pick up a Norfolk NGS Garden Guide or visit www.norfolkgardens.org.

If your garden is blooming, now is the time to contact County Organiser Fiona Black to discuss opening your garden.for the NGS.  Tel 01692 650247. Or visit the NGS team in the Norfolk and Norwich Horticultural tent at the Royal Norfolk Show 30th June & 1st July 2010.