For the 2nd year running the Breckland Club is running an annual Oktoberfest.

It runs from the 3rd of October to the 12th.

Normal club opening hours apply but the event is open to everyone (not just club members).

In June 2025 we received a query from Derek Matthews seeking further information on his great uncle Earnest who was recorded in the 1921 census as living at Downham Hall.

The census shows him as a Horseman (Timber) and employed by the Downham Syndicate with an address of Downham Hall.

The Downham Syndicate was operated by former members of the Canadian Forestry Corps who were stationed at Downham Hall during WW1.

It’s likely he worked with a team of horses extracting timber from deep in the forest to load it onto the timber railway operating at the time.

We knew Santon Downham was famous for being hot but we think this is the first time we’ve been responsible for a heatwave.

In case you didn’t know a heat wave is triggered if the temperature passes a particular threshold for three days in a row. It’s not constant but varies by region.

In Suffolk, where the threshold is 27C, a temperature of 29.3C was recorded in the village of Santon Downham on Thursday the 19^th of June. This was the third day in a row the county’s threshold had been breached – resulting in a heatwave being declared.

The previous week recorded the hottest day of the year (so far) and SD claimed the record with 29.4C on the 13^th. The Met Office announced this with a little video.

Those are the official numbers however our own weather station thought it was a bit hotter….

Santon Downham welcomes Brew and Bloom (BREWAND.BLOOM) a cake and coffee caravan offering much needed refreshements to the village.

Mark and Colin have opened the caravan (near the old Post Office – see map) offering a variety of cakes, tea and coffee etc.

Their aim is to open Fridays,Saturdays and Sundays (and Bank Holidays) throughout the summer months.

Weather records fell yesterday when the UK recorded the hottest start of May since 1860.

Kew Gardens, in south-west London, registered 29.3C on Thursday afternoon taking it past the previous May 1 record high temperature of 27.4C at Lossiemouth in Moray in 1990.

Santon Downham came a close 2nd with 27.8C – which still beat the 1860 record.

Interestingly our garden weather station recorded 28.1C.

Coach Services have updated their website and have a new App for timetables and tracking live buses.

live timetables and App

for those of you who prefer a simple timetable a copy of the printed one can be found here

The A11 is closed between 8pm and 06:00 as follows:-

Various roadworks are occuring on the A11 over the next month with the A11 being closed on several occasions with diversions in place.

See https://nationalhighways.co.uk/travel-updates/road-closure-report/ for details on the current day

7 April to 9 April – A11 northbound 

Closed between Thetford Roundabout and Brandon Road Roundabout

If you’re traveling northbound on the A11: 

• Exit the A11 at Thetford Roundabout onto London Road.
• Turn left onto the A134 (Brandon Road)
• Rejoin the A11 at Brandon Road Roundabout

A11 northbound diversion route phase 1

10 April to 15 April – A11 northbound

Closed between Mundford Road Roundabout and Thetford Road Roundabout

if you’re travelling northbound on the A11:

• Exit the A11 at Mundford Road Roundabout onto the A1066
• Join the A1075 (Norwich Road)
• Rejoin the A11 at Thetford Road Roundabout

A11 northbound diversion route phase 2

16 April to 24 April – A11 southbound

Closed between Thetford Road Roundabout and Mundford Road Roundabout

If you’re travelling southbound on the A11: 

• Exit the A11 at Thetford Road Roundabout onto the A1075 (Norwich Road)
• Join the A1066
• Rejoin the A11 at Mundford Road Roundabout

A11 southbound diversion route phase 3

25 April to 29 April – A11 southbound

Closed between Mundford Road Roundabout and Brandon Road Roundabout

If you’re travelling southbound on the A11: 

• Exit the A11 at Mundford Road Roundabout onto the A134
• Continue northbound towards Mundford and then join the A1065
• Follow the A1065 to Fiveways Roundabout
• Rejoin the A11 to continue your journey

A11 southbound diversion route phase 4

30 April to 2 May – A11 southbound

Closed between Brandon Road Roundabout and Thetford Roundabout

If you’re travelling southbound on the A11 will need to:

• Exit the A11 at Mundford Road Roundabout onto the A134
• Continue northbound towards Mundford and then join the A1065
• Follow the A1065 to Fiveways Roundabout
• Rejoin the A11 to continue your journey

A11 southbound diversion route phase 5

6 May to 8 May – A11 northbound

Closed between Brandon Road Roundabout and Mundford Road Roundabout

If you’re travelling northbound on the A11 will need to:

• Exit the A11 at Fiveways Roundabout onto the A1065
• Follow the A1065 to Mundford
• At Swaffham Road Roundabout join the A134
• Rejoin the A11 at Mundford Road Roundabout

A11 northbound diversion route phase 6

Santon Downham’s new bus service has got off to a flying start this week.

We went bus spotting on Tuesday to see if the new service lived up to expectations and whether SD is once more connected to the outside world by a viable bus service.

We can confirm that it is!!!

In the time we walked around the village green (chatting to various neighbours about the exciting news) we spotted a total of four buses – two heading to Brandon/Mildenhall and two in the Thetford direction. Heidi has put copies of the current timetable(s) for the 80/80A buses up in the shelter. We have a copy online here .

Here are pictures of the buses as proof.

From the 1st of April , Santon Downham gets a new and improved bus service.

The 80/80a Service starts on the 1st of April. The new bus times make it possible to get to Brandon without leaving at the crack of dawn, and even go to Norwich for lunch. As always this timetable is subject to change. Please check the live timetables at Coach Services before attempting to travel!!

Coach services also have their own App

Note – the Parish Council approved the installation of EV chargers.

The parish council is seeking feedback on the proposal to install two (four) 11kw EV (electric vehicle) chargers in the car park for the village hall and the club.

(to put this in context an 11kw charge would take approx 1 hour to add 40 miles of range for a medium size EV such as a VW ID.3)

The proposal has been under discussion for nearly a year now and details of this can be found in the minutes of the Parish Council meetings.

Please send feedback to Chairman, Parish Clerk or any of the Parish Councillors

The consultation and site plan are below. Not the site plan isn’t to scale it is only indicative of the location of the chargers not their actual footprint.