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The Rheumatoid in Norfolk Group (The RiNG) usually meets monthly in Hethersett Village Hall, but for its birthday celebrations it is moving for one month only to Norwich Theatre Royal.

The birthday bash will take place on 7^th April from 1 to 4 p.m and the star performers will be Ailsa Bosworth, Chief Executive Officer of the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society and Professor David Scott, Rheumatology Consultant at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. Professor Scott is also Patient Involvement Officer at the Royal College of Physicians. They will be talking about new developments in Rheumatoid Arthritis patient care throughout the United Kingdom as well as the latest developments in drugs.
The Birthday Party will be held in the light, bright upstairs area of the refurbished theatre and admission is £3 per person which includes a traditional afternoon tea thanks to sponsorship from local businesses.

The event will also feature a range of commercial stands. Tickets can be booked on 0800 055 3637 and more information is available on their website www.thering.org.

“We would love to see people who want to celebrate the difference THE RiNG is making to people’s lives,” said secretary Elaine Bounds.

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Retired English teacher Paul Binney was the guest speaker at Hethersett Methodist Church’s Ladies Breakfast. He gave an illustrated talk and slide show featuring his own unique style of poetry which concentrated on fun and some unusual and little known facts about Norfolk.

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Hethersett’s annual parish meeting will take place on Wednesday, 5^th May in the Village Hall from 7.30 p.m. The meeting will give villagers the chance to raise any issues of concern and also suggest improvements to village life.

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Hethersett Women’s Institute recovered from having to cancel its December meeting through bad weather to organise highly successful evenings in January and February.

In January Mr. John Everett – a local beekeeper from Rockland St. Mary, who has recently achieved a Master Beekeeper Certificate from the British Beekeepers’ Association - gave an interesting talk on the ‘Secrets of Bees and Honey’. He explained the very involved hierarchy of the life cycle of bees and their hives and that mankind’s relationship with this insect stretched back to the dawn of history. Members learnt about the secrets of the honeybee nest and the many uses that can be made of their production of honey and honeycomb – not only for food, but also medicinal purposes and the bees wax extracted from the honeycomb.

The February meeting was also especially interesting as Mr. Paul Goodley from Keys of Aylsham, Art Auctioneers and Estate Agents, told members about his life as a dealer in antiques. Members were able to bring along some of their favourite articles for which he then gave an estimated valuation. There was an interesting mixture of items arrayed – curios of various sorts, china & pottery, a painting and some ornaments. Some people were pleasantly surprised – and some were less so!

The March meeting will take place on Monday (March 15^th) at Hethersett Methodist Church Hall Guest speaker will be Mrs. Sheila Kefford on “Behind the scenes at Norwich Cathedral”. Visitors are welcome.

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Hethersett is gearing up for a busy and colourful summer.

The annual Hethersett in Bloom competition will take place on 26^th June with the winners presented with their awards on July 14^th, just three days after the village’s annual open gardens scheme on July 11^th.

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Hethersett and District Churches Together will be holding its annual barn dance in Little Melton Village Hall on Saturday 20^th February from 7.30 p.m. Dancing will once again be to the Shinanikins folk band. Tickets are £6 (£3 for children) and available from either Margaret Ford on 01603 811393 or Anne Steward on 01603 811052. Proceeds from a raffle will go towards Hethersett Jubilee Youth Club funds^.

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^{The Churches Together group will
be organising a united service in Great Melton Parish Church at 3 p.m on 24th
January and this will be followed by the annual meeting.}

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The Norwich Youth for Christ Gospel Choir will be appearing at Hethersett Methodist Church on 6^thFebruary at 7 p.m.

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Guest speaker at the February meeting of the Hethersett Pensioners’ Association was local historian and journalist Peter Steward who spoke about famous and infamous people from the village’s past and present from local footballers and famous race horses to musicians and including the fascinating story of Elizabeth Pulley who was deported to Australia in the 18^th century and allegedly gave birth to the first white child to be conceived and born on Australian territory.

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A new 10 week Alpha course is due to begin tonight (Thursday 11^th February) at Hethersett Rectory.

The course looks at many aspects of Christian life and is suitable for both committed Christians and also those wanting to find out more about faith and Christianity.

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The next walk organised by the Humbleyard Hoofers group will cover six miles from Bridgham to Wretham, returning via Pedders Way and Harling Drove. Everyone is welcome on the walk which departs from St Remigius Church Car Park, Hethersett at 9.30 a.m on 27^th February.

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A series of Winter Warmer lunches have been proving popular at Hethersett Methodist Church with the latest attracting over 30 people on a cold Saturday.

The lunches, which feature soup, a sweet, coffee and tea, continue for the next two weeks on February 13^th and 20^thfrom midday.

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The pre-Christmas christingle service in Hethersett Parish Church raised £197 for the Children’s Society.

Box collections for the society during the year have realised over £877 in Hethersett and over £76 in Little Melton.

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Hethersett and District Horticultural Society was visited by one of its long standing friends, Barry Gayton who gave a talk on what he referred to as “the massive subject of Succulents.” He included the related cactus family and explained that there are up to 90,000 different types in the world. Barry outlined their robustness and ability to survive in ventilated conservatories with extreme temperature
swings. He said that many of the succulents came from either America, Africa or Madagascar. Some were very long lived in his personal experience. Having sown seeds around.1955 the same plants were still growing in his greenhouses.

He went on to show slides of examples of a score of succulents, with such exotic names as Crassula, Euphorbia, Pachyphytum, Fenestraria, Hoya, Furcraea and Greenovia. One most technically interesting was from the aeonium family which produced a flat rosette of leaves, like scaly platelets whose layout inspired the Fibonacci mathematical series. Members were treated to amazing shapes, sizes and colours of flowers from only a small selection of the world's succulent population.

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Hethersett village archivist Bill Reekie and local historian Chris Barringer combined to take members of Hethersett Society on a journey through the past.

They showed slides from the collections of former leading village historians George Beckford and Russell Utting.

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Over 100 people enjoyed a traditional barn dance and supper organised by Hethersett and District Churches Together in Little Melton Village Hall.

Dancing was to the Shinanikins folk dance band and the event also raised £124 for Hethersett Jubilee Youth Club from a raffle.

Hethersett and District Churches Together also launched a series of Lent study groups with a Shrove Tuesday pancake evening. The group will also once again be overseeing the distribution of Easter cards throughout Hethersett and the Meltons giving details of church services throughout the Easter period.

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The next meeting of the Rheumatoid Arthritis in Norfolk group (The RiNG) will take place at Hethersett Village Hall on March 3^rd from 2 to 4 p.m when guest speakers will be John Balls and Sue Burrows who will talk about Norfolk survivors of the Titanic.

The group will be holding its second birthday celebrations at Norwich Theatre Royal on April 7^th.

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Despite the hard winter plans are well advanced for the annual plant sale outside Hethersett Methodist Church on May 22^nd from 9 a.m until noon.

The event will raise money for the Hope and Homes for Children charity which works to help under-privileged children in Central and Eastern Europe and Africa.

“We have suffered a long and cold winter, but the initial snow falls provided a layer of insulation beneath the icy conditions that came later,” said Hethersett organiser Joan Green who is confident of another successful sale.

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The Hethersett Painting for Pleasure exhibition and open day held in the Village Hall before Christmas raised £279 from the sale of refreshments and a raffle. The money has been split between Hethersett Jubilee Youth Club and the Caroline Lindley Educational Trust.

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Hethersett Junior School has a new astro turf all weather area to give youngsters more play space during wet weather.

“The astro turf is an extension to one of our playgrounds and has created a play area usable during the wetter months so children have more space,” said Head Teacher Andy Whittle.

If the surface proves successful the idea could be widened out as Mr Whittle explained:

“If it is successful we will look at other projects which could be shared by the community all through the year,” he said.

Caring pupils also organised a Hike for Haiti and cake sale at the school to raise money for the earthquake relief fund.

This year’s annual summer fair will be held on Saturday 8^th May from 10 a.m until 1 p.m.

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The Yarmouth Herring Fleet was the subject of a talk to Hethersett Society by Mr Simon Partridge.

He explained that drifters went out only from October to December with the fish being prepared for export by women who travelled down from Scotland. Much of the fish was exported to Russia. During the war years the drifters were used for mine sweeping. Recent years have seen a welcome increase in the number of herring.

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This year’s door to door Christian Aid collection in Hethersett will take place between May 9^th and 15th