We’re fast approching July. Fakenham Fair and the associated Pub & Club Festival are at the end of August. Won’t be long now!

I recently created a couple of websites for those two ‘happenings’ - pop along to www.fakenhamfair.co.uk and www.plubfest.co.uk to keep up to speed with what’s being planned.

If you’re a trader who’d like a stall at Fakenham Fair, you’d better book up now – I’ve been reliably informed that the number of booked stalls has already reached last year’s total. The Carnival Procession is being planned as we speak and bookings are being taken for that too. Get in quick if you’re a business or local organization who wants to be in the procession. You’ll find the appropriate entry documents for download on the site.

As for Fakenham Plubfest, we’ve had a pretty good response from the town’s ‘boozers’ – there are just two or three pubs who haven’t quite made up their minds yet, and just one social club which is yet to respond – I’d class that as a bit of a success. We have the Prize Draw all but sorted – the ticksheets are on the website to download, the venues’ ink and stamps are ready to go and some nice prizes have already been donated. Almost good to go!

I was walking past Stuart Cuttler’s shop yesterday – ‘The Eye Man’ in Norwich Street. When things are quiet we often have a chinwag for a few minutes and yesterday I dropped into his shop to ‘shoot the breeze’.

Stuart was sorting out his stock for display. He had loads of spectacle frames and was giving them a polish and setting them out on the shelves (PS. if any of you need a pair of ‘goggles’, Stuart’s your man. I got good old fashioned service and very keen prices when I bought my frames there).

Anyway, I was on the ball yesterday. I immediately spotted something that obviously didn’t belong in the shop and asked why it was there. What was it? A lovely big Lowrey MX-1 theatre organ – not something you see every day in a spec frames shop! Apparently, this beauty is worth a fair bit of cash, but Stuart wants to give it away to make space. It sounds nice too – I got a free demo from Stuart, who’s a dab hand on the keyboard it turns out. Loud too – we had to shut the shop door to make sure we didn’t frighten the passers by!

So… I don’t usually place free ads on this blog, but as this is unusual and a bit of a giveaway… Anybody fancy a free Lowrey MX-1 ‘consolette’ organ? It could do with a touch of TLC (Stuart says, ‘It needs playing’) but what an absolute bargain for an enthusiast!