Power Cut planned for 11th October 0900 to 1400 for tree trimming etc near power cables etc.

UK Power Networks Ref INCD-2774-O West Santon Downham

Following a succesfull summer of car boots and extra Car Boot will take place on the 6th of October

The car boot takes place outside the Village Hall/Breckland Club in the car park and on on the small village green.

For further information contact Sylvia.

Tel: 01842 815213        Email: sylvia@santondownhamcentre.co.uk

They are on the 1st Sunday of the Month

Santon Downham – or more particularly the surrounding Thetford forest featured in the Sunday Times 50 best autumn days out.

The piece on 50 days out also includes the best Autumn Drives which includes the route through Thetford forest and Santon Downham.

Special taskforce survey seeks YOUR evidence to help tackle rural issues

Residents, businesses and organisations are being urged to help a new West Suffolk Council taskforce identify opportunities and issues in rural areas.

The taskforce wants to talk to a broad range of individuals and organisations across West Suffolk in a variety of ways, including a simple online survey live now at www.westsuffolk.gov.uk/rural.
West Suffolk Council was set up to be large enough to champion the area while working closely with communities, such as those in rural areas, to tackle local issues. Council Leader Cllr John Griffiths made the commitment in his first speech to the new authority in May to set up a rural task force.

Cllr Mike Chester, who chairs the group, said: “Our task is to make sure that rural considerations are taken into account in future Council processes and decision making. We are contacting people who live and run businesses and organisations to ask them their opinions on what they see as the opportunities and issues. This will be crucial in developing options both to directly address some of the issues and also to rural-proof future decisions.”

A survey has been set up to allow everyone to give their views, available online at www.westsuffolk.gov.uk/rural , or hard copy at council offices, or on request from policy@westsuffolk.gov.uk or by calling 01284 757633 . The survey is open until 30 September but evidence will continue to be fed in throughout the review process.
The taskforce is also holding special meetings across the area, details to be published shortly, and inviting key people to attend taskforce meetings.
The review will encompass all of West Suffolk’s areas, in order to understand the issues and opportunities that all rural or all urban areas have in common, as well as those facing specific localities. As well as engaging direct with local communities and businesses, the Rural Taskforce will identify key issues, assets and challenges by using a range of existing local and national evidence and research produced by other bodies, for example, the Rural Services Network and the House of Lords Select Committee on the rural economy.
It is expected that Cabinet will hear interim recommendations from the Task Force.

Work has officially started at RAF Lakenheath to construct facilities for the new F-35 fighter jets due to be stationed there.

RAF Lakenheath which confusingly is USAF will become home to F-35s alongside the existing F15s.

The only operational F-35s (in Europe) belong to the RAF and are flying from RAF Marham.

See the news story on The Construction Index for more details of the project.

Lisa was present at the groundbreaking.

I recently came across an extract from the Cambridge Antiquarian Society proceedings from 1909 which was for sale on Ebay.

It talked about a hoard of metal found in Santon Downham.

A bit of research led me to their archives where I found a digital copy of the proceedings.

The hoard was found in 1897 but did not seem to be of much interest until this discussion in 1908.

It’s amazing what you might find in your garden!

You’ll have read in the news that there’s being a clamp down on drivers who fail the roadside eyesight test and that you can loose your license instantly.

The drivers of two minis V3 JAR and MD55 MYH are obviously in need of glasses as they couldn’t see the No Parking sign at a distance of 3m.

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Santon Downham has once again scooped hottest place in the country on what is now the hottest day of the year so far.

33.3C (~ 92F in old money)

The Met Office was also aware how hot it was here at bedtime – it tweeted: “Struggling to sleep? At 11pm it’s still 24.3 °C at Santon Downham in Suffolk #HeatwaveUK”

We also featured on Look East the following evenning where there was a section on why SD is so hot (and Cold) and where the weatherstation is. See Weather Records for details

It’s expected to get hotter this week though so hold onto your ice lollies.

Screen dump Metro news/The Met Office

With the demise of the Santon Downham News there is nolonger a regular publication that is available to all of the Village (apart from this website – but of course not everyone has access to the web!).

We’ll continue to publish news (as and when we have some) but are always on the lookout for new stories.

If you’re a budding journalist/mountain biker and fancy writing a piece on the state of the forest trails, or a blogger who’d like to record the wildlife seen in the area please let us know and we’ll do our best to accomodate you.

Santon Downham has a lot of history and from time to time people get in touch asking about specifics. If you’re a history buff and have photos/info on Santon Downham’s past and would like to contribute to the site please get in touch.

If we gather enough of interest to everyone it may be possible to produce a newsletter on an add hoc basis.

We look forward to hearing from you