Editor : Jim Fieldsend
8 Croft Close, Wickhambrook
Tel : 01440 820108
Published by the Wickhambrook MSC Supporters Association
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Issue No. 212 - September -October
2004
Photo on the front cover
of The Scene
Photo by Ron Weir
Well, here we are again. It really doesn't seem like two months since
I sat down to do the last issue but it is. So what has happened in
the meantime? Well there was of course the carnival, which although
I missed it this year, was apparently the usual success.
I have recently recieved a letter from John Long who, for those who
don't know, is a local worthy and supporter of all things Wickhambrook.
John was bewailing the likely imminent demise of the outdoor bowls
club and urges more people to join and not let a very expensive bowling
green go to rack and ruin. Sorry John but the club secretary has been
begging for new members for the last two years apparently without
success. The bowls club looks like following several other worthy
organizations into oblivion due to lack of support. Since my arrival
in the village seventeen years ago I have witnessed the end of the
Community Association, the cricket club and the rise and fall of the
petanque club to name just three. When I came here the village had
three pubs and supported all three, we now have only one. The carnival
was a big event with up to a dozen floats in the parade, we are now
lucky to get two. There was a big bonfire and firework display now
sadly no more.
How and why does this happen? I think the answer to that is "Modern
Life" happened. What is happening to Wickhambrook is happening
to villages all over the country. People are far more mobile than
they ever were. Everyone has a car and thinks nothing of travelling
to Ipswich, or Cambridge, or Norwich, for a day out or even just an
evening out. Newmarket or Bury-St-Edmunds, well they are just down
the road. Then you have entertainment in the home. Why turn out on
a wet evening to play the next village at something when you can watch
an international game of virtually any sport under the sun from the
comfort of your own armchair.
It would be quite easy to cite apathy as the cause of the death of
so much of village life but this would only be in part true. Enthusiasm
is still to be found one only has to look at what happened when the
kids wanted a skateboard park. People once more came out of the woodwork
and raised the necessary funds. Who knows this may be the next thing
to go out of favour, although I doubt it.
At the end of the day you cannot make people turn out and do something
that they don't want to do. The bowling green, built at a cost of
some £45,000 is a wonderful asset for the village, but if it
cost ten times that amount you still can't make people play on it.
The panto is recognized as one of the best amateur shows in East Anglia
but you can't make people buy a ticket if they don't want to see it.
You can beg and plead all you like but people will do what they want
to do.
Okay, the soap box has now been put back in the garage and Er-indoors
has stopped peering over my shoulder wondering what I'm going to say
next. Now then about the holiday we were within days of leaving on
as I put together the last edition. It was fantastic. We went to Canada
and Alaska and I'm still in awe of the place. We saw everything from
Ice-bergs to Eagles, Glaciers to Totem Poles. We saw the Wells Fargo
Offices, although this one had four wheel drive trucks outside and
not a stage coach. The Hudson Bay Company minus the beaver skins.
It was unbelievable. Never mind space, this is still the last frontier.
All I have to do now is start saving the pennies so that I can go
back again.
Well I think that's about all for now so I'll just harness the huskys
to the sled and mush this lot round to Joanne's. Be seeing you Pardners
As newer issues of
The Scene are published, some articles that are regular features
in The Scene will be updated and so will not have a link back to
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