West Acre Parish Council
Welcome to our website.
Here you will find information about the village, news about local events and links to local attractions. We hope that you find what you want. If not, please contact one of the Parish Councillors listed in the contact page.
Click on a picture to see a larger version. Please note that this site is not responsible for changes to any events listed.
NEWS
West Acre News - May 2019 issue
The latest edition of the Parish newsletter is available to view. Clicking on one of the pages below will open a larger version in a new window.
If you would like to contribute please contact Ralph via email at westacreparish@gmail.com
The Creation of Adam, Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo 1511-12
NEWS
Services at All Saints Church, West Acre
Sunday 18 August Holy Communion Said 9am
Please contact Henry on (01760) 755254 for further details.
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West Acre Parish Council
The next Meeting of the Parish Council will be held on Monday 2 September in the Village Hall, starting at 6.30pm.
Everyone welcome.
Below you will find Minutes of Parish Council meetings from the last twelve months, plus other documents which the Council has to publicise to comply with the Transparency Code.
Click on a heading to see the full document.
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting 14 January 2019
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting 29 October 2018
Minutes of the Parish Council AGM 20th May 2019
Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting 20th May 2019
NEWS
West Acre Carpet Bowls Club sweeps to success
Having recently won the Let's Get Active League for the first time and being presented with the trophy (pictured left) the club has been told that they are to be presented with a second cup as they finished runners-up in the Pairs Competition. They are making plans to reinforce the shelves of their trophy cabinet.
On Sunday 19th May four members of the Club (pictured below, left) played in the final of the Mayors Shield competition held at Alive Leisure. This is the first time that a team from West Acre has entered this competition and they did very well to finish as runners-up.
Also on the same day the chairman Brian Roberts collected two trophies on behalf of the couple that played in the Pairs Winter League (below right) as the players themselves were unable to attend the presentation. The trophies were later presented to the players on their club day.
The club is looking to reinforce its player resources, so if you are interested in joining the fun you can contact Belinda on 01760 755184.
Click on the image to view a larger version.
NEWS
Quidenham, Quidhampton, Quendon, Queen Charlton, Quemerford and Quenington, to name a few
West Acre resident and Parish Councillor Jeremy Cameron is a compulsive walker. For some reason that is difficult to fathom, he has walked from Quebec to Detroit, New York to California, London to Venice, Hook of Holland to Istanbul. And other equally exotic places.
Looking for a new challenge, he decided to visit all forty-five places in England beginning with Q. Jeremy planned on taking two years to complete his quest, but some serious unwanted encounters with SERIOUS illness added another three years to his journeys.
Having reached Quaking Houses, the last on his list of Qs, Jeremy started to put pen to paper. The result is Quite Quintessential. Jeremy, pictured right, recently celebrated the launch of his latest book with an event at Jarrolds in Norwich. He traveled there, and back, by car. Wise man.
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West Acre Parish Council
Chair's Annual Report for 2018-19
Click on the image below to view the full version.
NEWS
What a load of rubbish!
Keen cyclers Lucy and Oscar Birkbeck can’t stand seeing all the rubbish on the road side, so they recently walked from the Vicarage crossroads to the ‘T’ junction near Swaffham armed with a roll of bags to collect it. After a happy but messy three hours they had accumulated an impressive collection of twenty bags (!), one sack, three tyres and some car parts. Subsequently, over half of the collection was recycled.
For the time being the road and its verges are clean and it is a joy to travel along. The next target for the dynamic ecologically-minded duo is the Walton Road.
Lucy and Oscar are keen to hear from anyone who has recently seen a car with only one wheel and missing some essential parts.
FEATURE
An appreciation of Colin Deasley, one of West Acre's characters.
Story by Jeremy Cameron
It may come as a surprise to hear that Colin Deasley has not lived in West Acre all his life.
Born in HiIborough, Colin moved here with his parents Ernie and May and his older brother Gerry when he was six years old. Ernie, recently returned from serving in the army in the Second World War, took a job as gamekeeper on the West Acre estate.
The family lived for some years at Pretoria where Colin's mates included JohnThaxton, Michael Bumfrey and Terry Eagle. Some of their activities might perhaps be described as mischief. They went to school in the village and then, when the school closed down, were transferred to East Walton.
Coin has always been a patient man - in everything except cricket. In the village team he suffered from wanting to hit every ball to Swaffham. He was not usually successful but was a valued and popular member of the team until he gave up playing when he got married.
On leaving school, Colin worked for a year with old Jimmy Reynolds in the woods and on the game cart. Jimmy was born in the nineteenth century and served in the First World War. What he didn't know wasn't worth knowing. Perhaps he passed on both his wisdom and his friendliness to Colin. Then Colin became a keeper like his father. He came to know every blade of grass, every bird and every animal on the estate. He also turned his hand to anything. If you can't make something work, ask Colin. If you need help, ask Colin. If you want a chat over a beer, call on Colin.
So, when the game keeping came to an end, Colin became a gardener. He soon had more work than he could do. It turned out that he had green fingers. His garden facing the village green is a delight to the eye and attracts tourists' photographs throughout the year as the flowers change. Colin never actually retired. He never stops.
Colin married June and they had Keith and Sandra. Both children have now technically left the village but spend almost as much time here as when they lived here! Colin has about seven grandchildren and sees them all the time. He also sees everyone else. There have been tragedies in Colin's life including the death of his beloved June, but he has always kept going. It could be said that he is geographically the central point of the village. He must be the friendliest inhabitant and he is one of those who make the village tick.
NEWS
West Acre Annual Parish Reports for 2018-19
To read a report from one of the following groups working in the village. Please click on the name of the group to see the full report.
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Matt's your man!
West Acre Billiards Club's Matthew Boughen was made Player of the Month for March in this season's Narbeck Boys Billiards League.
Matthew's team also finished as runners-up in the League Team Cup, losing in the final to Massingham.
Matthew is following in a fine tradition of our village producing top class Billiards players, including Ricky Easter and Bruce Welham (both National Junior Championship runners-up), Danni Maud (National Girls Champion) and Jack Easter (twice National Junior Champion).
During the summer holidays the Club will be running coaching sessions specifically for children in West Acre (7 years and over) who would like to try Billiards and Snooker.
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....and more honours for Billiards Club
Matthew was also part of a team of three that recently won the West Norfolk Billiards League Team Cup, while West Acre 'A' team (pictured left) topped the WNBL Championship.
Mick Cooper claimed the best win of his career on Sunday when he was crowned English over 60s billiards champion.
Cooper, 60 (pictured, bottom left), was competing at Clay Cross, in Derbyshire’s North East Derbyshire Snooker Centre, defeating Somerset’s Brian Harvey in the final.
This made it a quadruple celebration for the West Acre Club. Among their members, West Acre now boast the national girls champion in Hannah Greeno, national under-16 champion in Finley Brown, UK seniors champion Phillip Welham and now over 60s champion Cooper.
West Acre's success has been recognised by being selected as one of ten centres to trial the new World Snooker/Schools scheme which will take place for 6 weeks during the summer school holidays. Anyone interested in further details or in joining this centre of excellence should contact Phillip Welham (01760 755337).
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NEWS
West Acre Village Fete 2019
Thank you to everyone who came along to the West Acre Village fete on 15th June to enjoy playing games or just relaxing to the music, with something to eat and drink. We would like to thank all of the local businesses who generously donated raffle prizes and to everyone who contributed towards the tombola, cake stall, books and bric-a-brac which, along with all the games, play an important part of the day. Most of all a big thank you to Garlinda for allowing us to use her garden again and all the volunteers who gave up their own time to make the day happen and help raise £3653 for the West Acre Village Hall.
Please click on an image to see a larger version.
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David Baker 14.02.1939 - 05.08.2019
The family and friends of David will gather at All Saints Church, West Acre, on Friday 23 August at 2pm for his funeral service.
Canon Stuart Nairn will conduct the service.
David lived at Ford Cottage in West Acre for many years. He was a celebrated stone carver and educator.