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Bar Billiards – Out of Retirement

I had decided this year not to play in the Norwich bar billiards league, but just to loiter around a couple of games and go to the international events in Sudbury. I’ve decided international games are really the future for my natural bar billiards talents where I continue to aspire just not to come last. However, sometimes, a hero is needed and as the Serengeti team captain Roy couldn’t find one, I agreed to play for the team once again. I got to the White Lion a little early to calm my nerves and I went with the landlord Oscar recommended Racing Pigeons from Electric Bear Brewing Company of Bath. As an aside, many things from Bath are a bit exceptional and this was a decent hazy, light, stone fruit packed little number. Anyway, pint in hand, nerves only partially frayed, I was ready.

The draw was completed and I always hope to not be drawn third or fourth as that means the food might be brought out and my game play is heavily impacted. First is handy, it gets the game out of the way although last isn’t great as it might be the deciding game and I might crack with the pressure of it all.

Right, we’re off. We were playing the team from the Artichoke and my opponent was playing her first league match, which is something that’s usually a curse as beginner’s luck and all that.

I’ll take that, but I must admit to feeling the pressure a little and had a fair few rather sub-optimal shots for a while. I always think that playing first is a bit like doing karaoke sober, although to be fair, I’ve never done karaoke but I’ve listened to other people screeching. There’s a choice between grinding in the 10 and 20 shots to try and build up a steady score, or going for some of the bigger shots. I went for a few bigger shots, but only a couple came off, so I reverted to my more normal boring play. But, there’s a job to do, it’s not meant to be pretty.

Then watching the next few games and I’d note that this is a sub-optimal shot to have to play. The Serengeti lost the second and third singles games, but there was then a flurry of excitement as the team won the next five matches.

And the main event is now here. This year things have changed so players pay £2 each for the food which is provided, but that seemed more than agreeable to me as Oscar does provide a generous spread. Fortunately it was sufficiently generous for me to get two plate fulls (and I would add that I didn’t take these two plates at once) so I was suitably surprised and delighted.

Incidentally, I did ask John, the Artichoke’s captain, if his team wanted to have a go at the food first. However, I think he knew that I hoped he would say no, which meant I was the ready volunteer to test matters.

The two team captains, John and Roy. Both really wonderful welcoming people and a credit to the league.

The pressure was off at this point so I got a Black Stag from Peak Ales, a coffee and chocolate stout with some liquorice evident in the taste.

After the five wins in a row, it was time for Guy and I to see what we could do in the final game, although the pressure was now off us. The father and son team of John and Jack were just too strong for Guy and I, but their win was well deserved. The end result was 6-3 to the Serengeti, but there were several close games and it could have gone either way. We did miss Emma shouting about “it’s a timed game” which normally pierces the air like a bar billiards air-raid siren but we did miss her! I’m intending to go back into retirement now, just turning up to a few games to watch and to see if there’s any food going spare….

And, as another aside, I’ve really enjoyed this whole league thing and there are a record number of teams in the league this year. It’s a way that people can be brought together and hopefully there will be more people engaged and interested with the process, with maybe even more teams next year. Pete has a Youtube bar billiards channel going at https://www.youtube.com/@NorwichBarBilliards and there’s a chance, if he isn’t scared off by editing several hours of me missing 50 shots in a row, then Zak (my official bar billiards trainer and spiritual tormentor when he’s in good form which is nearly always) and I might just embark on a tour of every table in the league. The goal? For me to finally beat him somewhere, anywhere even if I have to tilt the table slightly in my favour. But that’s a saga for another post. Watch this space.

May 8, 2025

Great Bealings – St. Mary’s Church (John Julian Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead)

Whilst meandering around St. Mary’s Church in Great Bealings, this grave caught my eye, commemorating the life of John Julian Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead (1932-2005). John Julian Ganzoni was born on 30 September 1932, the only son of Sir (Francis) John Childs Ganzoni and Gwendolen Gertrude Turner. His father was a distinguished figure in his own right who was a barrister by profession and a long-serving Conservative Member of Parliament for Ipswich, who was elevated to the peerage as the 1st Baron Belstead in 1938. The first Lord Belstead had also served his country during the First World War as an officer in the Suffolk Regiment and his mother, Gwendolen, was the daughter of Arthur Turner, also of Ipswich.

John Julian grew up with an elder sister, The Honourable Jill Ganzoni, who would later become known for her philanthropic endeavours, notably her significant contributions to the Belstead Centre at Woodbridge School, a lasting tribute to the family name in Suffolk. An early, perhaps formative, brush with the world of high politics occurred in his childhood when he and his sister Jill were presented to the then Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, at their parents’ Ipswich home which must have been really rather exciting. Such an environment, where political discourse and public service were familiar concepts, likely instilled in the young Ganzoni a nascent understanding of duty, even if his own political ambitions were not to surface for some years.

When his father died in 1958, it meant that he joined the House of Lords, but it took him several years to make his maiden speech. Matters changed somewhat though over the next few decades as he was given appointments by numerous Prime Ministers. I think we need a table here….

Role	Department/Body	Dates	Prime Minister(s) Served Under
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State	Department of Education and Science	1970–1973	Edward Heath
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State	Northern Ireland Office	1973–1974	Edward Heath
Chairman	Association of Governing Bodies of Public Schools	1974–1979	N/A
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State	Home Office	1979–1982	Margaret Thatcher
Minister of State	Foreign and Commonwealth Office	1982–1983	Margaret Thatcher
Minister of State	Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food	1983–1987	Margaret Thatcher
Deputy Leader of the House of Lords	House of Lords	1983–1987	Margaret Thatcher
Minister of State	Department of the Environment	1987–1988	Margaret Thatcher
Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal	House of Lords / Privy Council Office	1988–1990	Margaret Thatcher
Paymaster General	HM Treasury	1990–1992	John Major
Minister of State	Northern Ireland Office	1990–1992	John Major

After retiring from Government, in 1992 he took over as Chairman of the Parole Board for five years and was known throughout his career as a compassionate Conservative. He died in 2005 without children and when his sister, Honourable Jill Ganzoni, died in 2022 her ashes were scattered next to his which all seems really rather lovely.

May 7, 2025

Great Bealings – St. Mary’s Church (Font)

As I don’t get out much, I’m always intrigued to see an old font in a church, just because of the considerable heritage that they so often have. This one is likely to date from the thirteenth century, a relatively simple octagonal bowl with recessed arches on the sides and made from Purbeck marble.

The circular shaft, with its eight supporting columns, is likely to have been added later. I accept that getting excited about a bit of old stone in a church might seem excessive, but it’s where children were being baptised 800 years ago and that continuity of history does seem remarkable. I like things that are enduring and this has survived through centuries of societal change, conflict and renewal. And that’s not to mention that this font was initially designed for a Catholic Church, but here we are generations later with the font being used for Protestant services. It’s also likely the font where John Carver was baptised.

May 7, 2025
Crowfield – All Saints Church

Richard and I couldn’t visit the interior of this church as a Christening was taking place, but it’s a quite stunning building and the churchyard also contains the grave of Roy Hudd.

The church is located in the village of Crowfield which developed in proximity to Stone Street, an ancient Roman road that connected Coddenham to Peasenhall. The church was central to the original heart of the village, but later development along Stone Street has left the church as a little isolated. The church here was redeveloped to become a chapel of ease in the fourteenth century, acting as a subsidiary church under the jurisdiction of the nearby St. Mary’s Church in Coddenham.

It’s the chancel today that is perhaps the most noteworthy, dating back to the early fifteenth century and it’s the only wooden timber framed church in Suffolk. There was a major remodelling of the church in 1862 and the nave was substantially altered, with the chancel being reworked and partly reconstructed. This Victorian rebuilding, which has arguably partly ruined the church but also likely saved it, was funded by Lady Middleton as a memorial to her late husband, Sir William Fowle Middleton.

The church has never had a tower, but it does have a rather beautiful bell turret and this was added as part of the 1860s reconstruction of the church. Richard and I are hoping to return to the church to see the architectural treasures that might be located within and to have a closer look at the exterior of the building.

May 7, 2025
Food from Every Stall on Norwich Market (2025 Edition) – Week 10 and Deb’s

This week’s visit on the plan that James and I have to eat at every food stall at Norwich Market was Deb’s, which we visited when we did this market tour in 2023.

The hot food options. We were welcomed promptly by a friendly team member who took the order and checked if we were eating at the stall or taking away. I went for a sausage & bacon large bap which was £5.50, an increase of £1.10 since we last visited which is in keeping with the general price inflation of the market. I also asked for the bacon to be crispy and the team member was happy to accept that request, as I sometimes think that some people find my bacon demands as a little sub-optimal.

Wise advice, although the bloody things circulate freely around the market now.

My bacon and sausage cooking away. James went for a double cheese burger, encouraged by myself to be fair as he was intending to have a single one, and that’s starting to cook on there as well. It was agreed by myself that I wouldn’t wait for his food to arrive before I started mine, as I wanted to ensure I started my meal at the temperature that the stall intended.

It’s all a bit cluttered, but I like an authentic feel to a cafe rather than polished steel all over the place. Craft beer bars I like to be on-trend and shiny though of course, I don’t compromise on my standards there. I make this point as this felt like a traditional market stall, the kind of set-up that one might hope to find for a traditional lunch-time snack.

The sauce is sweet chilli that I’ve put on. And as a food review, this is as good a bacon and sausage roll as I could desire from a market stall. But let’s take this opportunity to talk bacon, shall we? This wasn’t the anaemic, apologetic stuff you sometimes encounter. This was bacon as it’s meant to be, each rasher a crispy, bronzed warrior having bravely faced the heat and emerged victorious, with absolutely no sign of that dreaded, flabby surrender. I reject the out-dated concept that the fat is somehow the tasty bit, it isn’t, the meat is the tasty bit. I want crunch to this arrangement and that’s what I received. The portion size of the bacon was generous, perhaps overpowering the sausage slightly, but the food all tasted fresh and of a decent quality. I was left surprised and delighted by this roll, it felt like value for money to me.

James and his artistic photos. I have to move out of the way of these as he doesn’t want me cluttering them up. He mentioned afterwards that he saw two frozen burgers being cooked and that he wasn’t expecting a gourmet experience. But, he thought they were excellent in terms of their depth of flavour, so that’s another win. He also said:

“When asked, I must recount a recent gastronomic encounter with a seemingly unassuming double cheeseburger, procured from a purveyor of street-side sustenance – a quintessential market stall, if you will. The bovine patties themselves presented a quite remarkable profundity of flavour, a veritable symphony of umami notes that danced upon the palate with unexpected sophistication. Encasing this delight was a bun of demonstrable freshness, its delicate crumb yielding with pleasing softness. The accompanying verdant assemblage, colloquially termed ‘salad’, provided a most welcome textural counterpoint, its crispness juxtaposing splendidly with the tender succulence of the meat and the molten embrace of the fromage. Furthermore, the entire construction was served at a most agreeable temperature, ensuring optimal sensory engagement. Indeed, this offering transcended its humble origins, representing a paradigm of market stall culinary artistry, a truly delightful and surprisingly nuanced gustatory experience.”

I was very pleased with this food, the service was friendly, the surroundings were clean and it’s a welcoming stall. I liked that there was quite an array of different sauces and condiments, all which the customer could access themselves so they could have as much as they wanted. The bacon was cooked perfectly, I felt that the pricing was reasonable and this is one of my favourite market stalls so far this year. I also noticed that there seemed to be a higher proportion of regulars than at other stalls, so they’d soon recognise me and my bacon requirements if I went on a regular basis.

May 7, 2025
Crowfield – All Saints Church (James Wright – Commonwealth War Grave)

This is the sole Commonwealth War Grave at the beautiful church of All Saints in Crowfield and it commemorates the life of James Wright.

James was born on 29 March 1923, the son of Jarvis Wright and Lillian Wright. The family were listed in the 1939 register, something that seems quite poignant when there’s a death, with Jarvis, Lillian and James living together, along with Mabel Buckles (nee Wright). Jarvis ran the Bell Inn at Crowfield and he was also a farmer, with James helping out on the farm.

On the matter of the Bell Inn, this unfortunately closed in the 1960s and is now used for residential purposes, retaining the name ‘The Old Bell’.

James was a Aircraftman 2nd Class in Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, service number 1724940. He died on 5 May 1943 at the age of 20 following an air crash near Milton in Hampshire. He was in an Boulton Paul Defiant aircraft (DR940, RAF 1622 Anti Air Co-operation Flight) which crashed and also killed the pilot Norman Reilly. There’s a strong likelihood that James’s parents were told about his death when standing behind that door at the pub, with only the limited consolation that his body was able to be recovered home to Crowfield as unlike many aircraft it didn’t crash over enemy territory.

May 7, 2025
2025 LDWA 100 – Marshals’ Event – Simon Pipe Finishing (Norfolk and Suffolk)

I forgot to upload this video! And how could I forget Simon Pipe from the media team after he nominated me to join the LDWA NEC….. This was the end of Simon’s successful walk, much of which he did with David Morgan where he was running to keep up with the Welsh Tiger. I was delighted to see Simon finish, a brave, courageous and lovely man!

May 7, 2025
Crowfield – All Saints Church (Roy Hudd)

Whilst waiting for a checkpoint to open on the LDWA 100, Richard and I visited All Saints Church in Crowfield to have a little look around. We weren’t able to go inside the church as there was a Christening taking place, but we took the opportunity to have a look around the churchyard.

Roy Hudd OBE (1936–2020) was a British entertainer who was known for his work as a comedian, actor, author and historian of music hall traditions. Born in Croydon, he began his career as a stand-up comedian and Butlin’s Redcoat in the late 1950s, going on to become a leading authority on variety entertainment and serving as president of the British Music Hall Society. He rose to national prominence through his long-running BBC Radio 2 comedy series The News Huddlines (1975–2001), he was widely recognised on television for his role as Archie Shuttleworth in Coronation Street, as well as appearances in One Foot in the Grave and Common as Muck. On stage, he earned acclaim for performances in musicals such as Underneath the Arches, winning a Laurence Olivier Award, and he was also an accomplished author.

Roy Hudd and his wife had lived in Crowfield for some time and in February 2014 he unveiled the village’s commemorative sign which is a wooden carving which includes the church. He attended numerous local events, fetes and following his death on 15 March 2020 he was buried at the church. This rather impressive and distinctive headstone was erected at the grave just a few weeks ago and it is certainly eye-catching and its presentation is designed to look like a theatrical poster.

May 6, 2025
2025 LDWA 100 – Marshals’ Event – Next Stop the Main Event (Norfolk and Suffolk)

And that’s the end of the marshals’ LDWA 100 event for 2025, with 52 starters and 46 finishers, but as ever, everyone should be congratulated on their achievements. Thanks to Katie and her team, the event ran like clockwork and it was marvellous to see the whole operation working well and entrants enjoying the walk. Those more used to walking hills and pretending they’re mountain goats did find a challenge with a relatively flat course, with the ground being quite firm. I had a rather lovely time and all the volunteers were well looked after and I hope that they all enjoyed the event. The lean got the better of a few walkers, but the LDWA is funding research into this rather sub-optimal situation where walkers can start to lean to one side after a long walk which often puts an end to their event.

Congratulations also to the wonderful LDWA chair, Madeleine, who got around the event in not far short of 48 hours which meant that she went for two nights without sleep. At one stage it looked like she might have to retire, but her natural stubbornness ensured she powered on! I did call Madeleine when it was evident she was walking the wrong way and I’m glad I did that as I’ve been promised a steak bake.

But this was all just the precursor to the main event in three weeks that will have over 500 entrants taking part…. I’m already looking forwards to it!

May 6, 2025
2025 LDWA 100 – Marshals’ Event – More Finishers (Norfolk and Suffolk)

The number of brave walkers continued, here’s Anne and Vaughan.

Shu.

The formidable David.

Yvonne and Roger, going so quickly that the only photo I had which wasn’t blurred had those bins in the middle….

Chelle running towards the end. Chelle has written big chunks of the route and walked it endless times, so the whole arrangement had extra special relevance to her.

Chelle being greeted by Katie at the end of the walk, with Richard busy writing down his shopping list.

May 6, 2025