Forncett Fete 2014

Written by Fete Organisers.

The 2014 Forncett Village Fete
Saturday June 28th 2014
at Forncett Village Hall and Jubilee Green

UPDATE 16th July

Following the Fete Committee 'Review' meeting on 15th July, we can announce that the net total raised was £2,210.02, giving each of the School, Little Tractors Playgroup and Village Hall £736.67.

Thanks again to all who contributed to such a brilliant outcome.

UPDATE Monday 30th June

Despite a very poor weather forecast, hundreds of people enjoyed over two hours of near perfect 'Fete' weather on Saturday afternoon taking advantage of all the attractions on offer to suit young and old.  For a full report with masses of colour photos of the activities and visitors see these special pages from the July 2014 Forncett Flyer or get the full version of 'The Flyer' here Forncett Flyer July 2014. (Flyer links courtesy Su Leavesley and the Flyer editorial team)

Click picture for slideshow: Photos by Brian Frith  

It was unfortunate that activities were cut short just before the scheduled finish time by a torrential downpour, but we had better weather than predicted for much of the time and hope that everyone enjoyed themselves. We anticipate that the event will have raised an amount comparable with last year's total, to be shared equally between Forncett Primary School, Little Tractors Playgroup and the Village Hall. 

Thanks to everyone who helped in any way: planning, setting up, assisting at stalls and activities on the day, clearing away, donating prizes, providing car parking, scaffolding, bunting, netting etc, ... and, of course, to villagers, friends and relatives who turned out in force to make it all worthwhile and such a great day for the community of Forncett. 

Dolce Choir

Written by Richard Ball.

Click pic for slide show
Photos: Richard Ball

On Saturday 10th May the Dolce Choir entertained us at the Steam Museum, an event organised in aid of Forncett St. Mary Church.

The choir, 15 strong, was directed by Philip Aldred who also acted as compere and kept the concert lively with a string of jokes.

With an interval for drinks and eats, the choir performed a varied repertoire including California Dreaming, The Rose, Fields of Barley, You raise me up, and songs from Miss Saigon and Les Miserable.

Highlights of the evening were the Titanic episode (see pics!), Highland Cathedral sung by a Caledonian native, and the audience's rendition of a first world war combo (Pack up your troubles from one side and It's a long way to Tipperaray from the other side) and the 'One old man' fugue! and Anna Cottrell's African story.

All in all, a most enjoyable evening. Thank you Dolce Choir for performing, May and Graham Prior for organising and Jane and Rowan Francis for housing it during St. Mary's refurbishment.

St Mary's Church this summer

Written by May Prior.

Following a successful grant award to St. Mary's from English Heritage/Heritage Lottery last year, architect Nicholas Warns has completed the development stage of surveys, quotes and plans, and the restoration work is scheduled to take place this year between April and September. This will include replacing the Nave and Office windows, flint repairs, cleaning the interior wooden roof, and new drains and gutters. Events will be difficult to organise while the work is being carried out, but we are hoping that the following will take place:

Tuesday 25th March, 7p.m. - Service for the Festival of the Annunciation

Saturday 16th August 7.30p.m. - Popular jazz band DixieMix are back for another foot tapping performance. Sure to be a sell out!

Saturday 18th October - Craft Fair, 11am -3p.m.

Forncett History Group is producing a book of commemoration for the men from Forncett who lost their lives in both World Wars, and a timeline depicting major events in WW1 will be displayed in St. Mary's Church - renovation permitting - or St Peter's.

For enquiries about any events, or church opening times, please contact Graham and May Prior 01508 481856 or

Open Gardens: The Forncetts - July 7th 2013

Written by Diggers and Dibblers.

Click pic for slideshow

Forncett Open Gardens; Sunday 7th July 2013.

On Sunday July 7th, ten private gardens plus the Allotments at Forncett End and also St Mary's Church were 'open' from 11 am to 4 pm.

On one of the hottest days of the year and with 'opposition' from Andy Murray's Wimbledon Final, we wondered whether the turnout would be affected.  If it was ... we didn't really notice.  Despite the large distances between some of the gardens, an estimated 150 people visited the village and enjoyed the wide range of gardens open to view (in addition to Forncett St Mary Church and the Allotments at Forncett End).

Forncett Fete 2013 hailed a great success!

Written by Fete Organisers.

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Click pic for slideshow
Photos by Su Leavesley

After a break last year the 2013 Forncett Village Fete was held at the Village Hall and Jubilee Green on Saturday June 29th 2013, the first to be held at the Village Hall, with its adjacent recently named 'Jubilee Green' and the general opinion seems to be that it was a great success! It gave us the Village Hall close at hand for power, refreshment and 'other facilities', and the Tas Well bar was able to operate very conveniently from the corner of the Hall nearest the field. We were favoured with perfect weather and an excellent turnout of visitors (estimated 100 cars parked at one time, as well as many cyclists and pedestrians). It all added up to make a great Village occasion!

Update 20th July: With income and expenditure now totalled, the Organising Committee have declared the total profits (subject to any very late expense claims) to be £2347.05, meaning that each of three groups (Village Hall, School and Little Tractors Playgroup) will receive £782.35 for their funds.  Thank you, everybody, once again!  A truly fantastic result!

Successful open day at Sandpit Farm

Written by Administrator.

Click pic for slideshow

Christina Wakeford and Cynthia Finlayson opened their gardens for charity under the National Gardens Scheme on Sunday 23rd June 2013. The weather, though not perfect, provided much sunshine as well as the occasional shower and there was an excellent turnout of visitors. A goodly sum was raised for NGS charities as well as a more modest sum from the tea tent run by the Diggers & Dibblers team which will be donated to the Forncett Village Hall fund.

Forncett Big Litter Pick 2013 - Update

Written by Brian Frith.

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Photos by Brian Frith
(click to enlarge)

Update: May 11th 2013

We have just heard that Forncett has won one of the £250 prizes for participating in the Litter Pick.  The prize money must be used for 'The Community'.  Those who helped with the Litter Pick have been asked for ideas - the final decision will be made by the Parish Council as the Litter Pick was done 'in their name'.  The prize is an extra bonus - in addition to the benefits of a cleaner village and some excellent Community work!  Wonderful!

Saturday April 6th 2013

  • Sun shining (is this Spring?)
  • 21 Volunteers
  • 8 'routes' for picking, totalling approximately 14 miles of roads
  • 2 hours (average) time
  • 22 bulging bags of rubbish collected!

Congratulations to all volunteers who took part in our 'Big Litter Pick' - one of a number taking place throughout South Norfolk this Spring.  The photo shows 18 of the (mostly well-behaved!) volunteers at the Village Halll after depositing their bags of litter and enjoying some welcome refreshments provided by the Parish Council and served by Anne,  

Forncett celebrates the Jubilee

Written by Su Leavesley.

And how we celebrated! It rained; it was cold; but if the Queen could stand it on that boat (sorry, barge) on the Thames, then who are we to grumble?

Painted by the children of Forncett School, this banner was the centre piece of the party at the school on Friday. All the children were dressed in their royal-most clothing, and there were six Busby-wearing gentlemen to guard the ‘Queen’ and her close family. Several of the children performed songs, dances and jokes to entertain and delight the parents, guests, teachers and staff.

Click on the picture to enlarge it)

Forncett Fete 2011

Written by Sally Hibbler.

A BIG thank you to everyone for attending and helping with the fete.

Following the initial count of the takings at the fete, the fete has raised, after expenses, £1,654.68!  Obviously this may change slightly when counted again. A further £750 should also be added as part of Barclays donations to local charities.

WELL DONE to everyone

Click image for slide show

Photos Courtesy of Su Leavesley