Local Info

You can find details about local services here

Animal Rescue
If you find a distressed or injured animal and wonder what to do the PACTS Animal Sanctuary can probably help.

It’s the largest animal sanctuary and rescue centre in Suffolk/Norfolk.

With over 600 rescued animals ranging from Hedgehogs to Horses they have their own vet and animal ambulance.

Contact them on 01362 820775.

PACTS website

Safer Neighbourhood
Brandon Literary Soc

About the Group

The Brandon Literary Society is a group for anyone in Brandon or the surrounding areas who is interested in literature or books, and would like to attend any of our events.

Our aim is to make events of literary interest available for the enjoyment of all interested people. Anyone is welcome, all that is needed is an interest in Literature.

Brandon Literary Society offers a regular opportunity for people with an interest in literature to attend classes, hear occasional speakers on a variety of literary topics, and to participate in friendly informal discussions and groups.

We have an experienced professional Further Education Lecturer on our team who runs the majority of our taught courses. These courses are relaxed and run for enjoyment, and open to anyone who would like to attend – there is no coursework or exam and our groups are really relaxed, friendly and enjoyable.

Events

When there is enough interest we also arrange visits to other events or places of interest from time to time. For example we are currently planning a trip to the cinema to see The Lovely Bones, as the novel is featured on our ‘Book to Film’ course later in the year.

We endeavor to always keep the cost of our events reasonable (and sometimes even free!) to ensure we are accessible to anyone wishing to attend. As our members usually make friends with each other we also share and swap books and DVDs which keeps the cost down.

If anyone has any specific areas of interest the they should feel free to drop us line and let us know so we can work toward targeting peoples interests. Courses to date have included areas such as The Nineteenth Century, The Twentieth Century, The Romantics, and Women’s Writing. Our courses are usually ten weeks long. The class we are currently running is called ‘Reading the Gothic’ and our next advertised class is called ‘Book to Film’.

More Info/Contact

We have recently opened a web forum which our members will hopefully be joining.

The site contains further information and is a good way for people to get a feel for the group, ask any questions, make suggestions, sign up for our mailing list and find out what’s on. There will also be threads to discuss books etc. The web address is http://brandon-literary-society.ning.com/ and anyone is welcome to join.

Should anyone wish to get in touch without going to the new forum they should call Louisa Summer on 01842-811714 or drop us a line at Literary_Society@teacher.com

Broadband

wwwAs of june 2017 Santon Downham has high speed broadband. Fibre has been run to a new cabinet at the entrance to the village (the road to Brandon).

High speed broadband is available from a number of suppliers with speeds upto 70mbps (approx 15 times the old speeds)

 
 
 
Bus Times
Santon Downham has a poor bus service. The 200/201 bus service runs between Mildenhall and Thetford about 7 times a day (each direction).

Coach Services operate the route and a detail timetable can be found here (timetable at the bottom of the page)

There is a Dial-A-Ride type service in the area details can be found here

Car Boots

car_boot2Car boots are run by the Village Hall and usually run on the 1st Sunday in the month from March through to October

More details can be found on the Village Hall website.

Contact Sylvia on 01842 815213 with any queries

Cinema

A new Light cinema opened in Thetford in December 2016. They have 3 screens

What’s on at The Light

A variety of restaurants are hoped for in the Riverside complex. At present there is an American Diner. A gym is set to open as part of the scheme.

Coach Times

nationalexpresslogoNational Express used to run direct coach services from Brandon and Thetford to London.

As of February 2016 coaches only run to Thetford.

Coaches can take as llittle at 2hrs 20min. However many services now go via Cambridge and can take nearly 5 hours!!

Details can be found on their timetable finder.

Food Bank

Both Thetford and Brandon have food banks.

See https://thetford.foodbank.org.uk

for details of how you can donate

Heating Oil

If you use heating oil you may want to watch the price of it to determine when is a good time to buy.

Here are some graphs of historical prices from Boilerjuice.

The Last Weeks price changes

The Last 2 Months

The Last 6 Months

 

Milkman

milkandmoreOur local milkman is now part of the Milk and More network.

Deliveries are three days a week – Monday,Wednesday and Friday.

You can treat him just like a regular milkman or you can set yourself up for online ordering and payment by direct debit.

If you use the online system you can place orders up until 9pm the night before and Milk and More will deliver a wide range of standard groceries which include:-

  • Diary – Milk,Cheese,Cream etc
  • Cereals
  • Bread
  • Bacon
  • Potatoes
  • Tea,Coffee,Sugar,Jam

While not as cheap as Tescos, they’re certainly more convenient and are great for a quick top up rather than having to drive into Brandon.

Obviously the village shop is even more convenient and not restricted to just three days a week.

Check out Milk and More online.

Mobile Coverage
Mobile Library

mobile librarySanton Downham is on the route of Suffolk County Councils Mobile Library

We are on Mobile route 4

It calls every four weeks on a Saturday between 10:40 and 11:00am.

It currently (Dec 2015) parks outside the Village Hall/Club car park.

See the calendar for the dates of the next visit.

Police
Recycling

There are several recycling banks nearby:-

Brandon

Brandon has no councul recycling points only bottle/clothing banks in several local car parks.

1. Aldi’s car park at the back on the High Street
2. The car park by the School off Bury Road (behind the market square).

Thetford

Thetford Main Recycling Centre Plus

15-17 Telford Way, IP24 1HU.

Currently open 9am – 4pm, 7 days a week

Directions

Thetford Main Recycling Centre is half way down Telford Way. Telford Way industrial estate is close to the A11. Leave A11 at A1066/A134 roundabout (Munford Road) and head towards Thetford. Telford Way is the second turning on the right.

Sainsbury’s has a bottle bank,paper and clothing recycling

Tesco’s does not have any recycling facilities.

Santon Downham

Santon Downham has a bottle bank in the Village Hall/Club Car park

Traffic Cams