We’ve had reports of a “Ghost” Tesco bus service running through the village.

Rumour has it that it comes through the village every other week (Michael says it starts at Weeting and goes onto Brandon Tesco and then through our village and drops off at Thetford Tesco)

We’ve been told that the next bus is now on the 19th April and every other Tuesday thereafter.

We assume it stops where the normal bus stops.

We believe that it travels through around 9.30am but can be a few minutes late, so best to be there for that time.

We understand that the driver will help people on with their trolleys, take them to Tesco in Thetford and that you have between and hour and one hour fifteen minutes to shop. It leaves at 11.00 am and drops people back off.

This is a free service and I gather has been run for years but very few people know about this.

So far Tesco have been unable to answer our queries about the service or tell us who the services is operated by.

update – 08/4/16

Tesco have replied in detail. Neither the Thetford or Brandon store are aware of any free bus service, so the mystery remains. Watch this space as they say

Please let us know if you’ve used this service or of any other sightings of it!

http://santondownham.org/home/contact/

If you walk down Hall Drive you’ll see the little triangle at the bottom. It’s a popular tourist destination in Summer (and Winter) with lots of cars coming for a quick spin around it.

Actually we think most of them are lost and are simply trying to find the river, and don’t quite make the right turn. As a consquence you’ll see lots of lost vehicles turning round and cutting the corners off the triangle. The area is quite prone to being muddy and the verges are very soft and more than the odd vehicle has got stuck.

A large delivery truck had the misfortune to try and turn round there earlier in the year and managed to get stuck for a couple of hours.

They were not alone in getting lost and having problems getting out of the mud. The army managed to get lost last year and a whole convoy tried to turn round.

The net result was a lot of mud on the road and the grass being churned up badly.

Thanks to everyone who tidied up afterwards

Sadly Saturday the 20th was the last day that newspapers were delivered to Santon Dowham.

Breckland News (Mace) in Brandon said that the numbers were down to just 19 houses and that it was no longer viable.

This came as a bit of a shock to those of us who have greatly enjoyed the excellent service from the staff at Breckland News and Neill our paperboy.

The new version of Santon Downham.org is live as of the 12th of March 2016. The previous version has been archived here.

About 95% of the old content has been migrated across. A few areas a still being worked upon and might be missing a few details.

Please contact us with any errors or omissions.

Tim Kaye

Webmaster

Forest Heath announces dates for base meetings

Dates have been set for a series of public engagement sessions which will discuss the local priorities regarding the future of the RAF Mildenhall site.

Forest Heath District Council will be meeting with Government departments including the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Department for Transport, ahead of three engagement sessions in April and May.

Leader of Forest Heath District Council, Cllr James Waters said: “The MoD announced earlier this year its intention to release part of the site for housing while still considering if it wants to keep the rest of the site for military use.

“What we can say with certainty is The US Department of Defense has not published a detailed timetable for the withdrawal of personnel from RAF Mildenhall, and no planning applications for housing on the site have been submitted to us as the local planning authority to decide, nor has consultation with us over this taken place. We don’t know how much of the site is to be released by the MoD.

“There is still the possibility of any number of options for the future of the site. So what do we want to achieve from this site? We believe it is a mix of new employment, housing, an improved skills sector and better local education all of which will benefit living standards of the local area.

“We believe this is a prime site for business growth– a chance for Mildenhall to capitalise on the science and innovation sector spilling out of Cambridge, and to replace the local jobs that will be lost when the base closes.

“We held a series of very successful engagement sessions last year. Now, following both the MoD announcement and our discussions with the Government we believe the time is right to hold these meetings in our communities again to discuss not just people’s concerns, but the options for the future. We also hope to have an answer from the Government soon as to whether aviation use can be considered among these options.

“These meetings will help us as we continue the work with our communities and businesses on the one hand, and on the other partners including our MP, Suffolk County Council, Local Enterprise Partnerships, and the USAF, to ensure we are well placed to lead the regeneration of this site.”

The engagement sessions will take place on:

• 18 April – 6pm – at Forest Heath District Council, College Heath Road, Mildenhall
• 9 May- 6pm – at The Jubilee Centre in Mildenhall
• 13 May – 6pm – at Beck Row Community Centre

Booking is essential – members of the public wishing to attend should email malag@westsuffolk.gov.uk