The most high profile topic discussed concerned a petition raised by a group of residents requesting the provision of pedestrian crossings at the Townsend Corner crossroads.

Unfortunately, councillors were unaware of the existence of this petition until the town clerk was approached by officers of Norfolk County Council seeking our views on the proposals.

In the past, when residents have raised issues concerning road safety, councillors have investigated the options available and, in co-operation with the county council, have agreed and funded improvements where possible.

In the case of this petition, councillors felt that, in the absence of any dialogue with the organisers, they were unable to take a view on their proposals and it was therefore agreed not to take any action on the matter.

However, should anybody or group wish to discuss this or any other matter of public concern, please do not hesitate to raise the matter publicly at our regular town council meetings or personally with the town clerk or any of your councillors.

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Well, we cannot compete with the standards of Oldham and Wednesbury, but they have more practice with sooty showers every day except one day a year.

Chaucer also said that April is the time when people go on pilgrimages, and it is indeed the beginning of the holiday season already.

Le Bossu Manqué is heading back to Marseilles, this year going via Seville. where he insists an aunt of his keep a restaurant by the town wall – Aunty Pasta he calls her; a Bizet little place, he says, but Carmen see for yourself. He is taking his cat with him in line with the ancient adage Ubi puss, ibi evacua – where you have a cat, take it away with you.

Digger used to have relatives on the Mediterranean too: one in Monaco was rich, having made his fortune in lending money at extortionate interest to men who had lost all of theirs in the casino. He was the original man who banked the broke at Monte Carlo.

Since the reopening of a certain hostelry in Reepham there have been reports of lions and unicorns knocking on doors and demanding pieces of cake.

“Some gave them white bread, And some gave them brown” and in our town they could get black bread as well, or at least toast, but we will not say more about that.

Now then, how many of you know that the road that connects Whitwell Street with Mill Road halfway along is officially called Duffers Lane? Duffer was a name for a smuggler; and we have a Smugglers Lane, too.

Such names were used for ancient roads that avoided the towns that grew up later; so one could make a good case for a smuggling route down the footpath from Cawston Lane on the crest, up Whitwell Street and Duffers Lane, Broomhill Lane to Smugglers Lane and on, avoiding the police in Reepham, which was harder to do in those days.

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