Part of the new ‘central hub’ website I’m creating for Fakenham has a page selling promotional merchandise (well, I’ve got to maximise my ROI as they say in Dragons’ Den – the site’s taking ages to create!).

If you fancy a quick preview, click on the picture on the right. It should take you to the new Fakenham shop at Spreadshirt, where you can browse through the selection of tees, hoodies and other Fakenham-branded stuff.

It’s all very tongue-in-cheek and I think it’ll strike a chord with Fakenham folk. Let me know what you think so far.

Happy New Year, everybody.

I speak to local people from time to time who tell me they read this blog regularly to keep up with things which are happening in our town. Ideally, that shouldn’t really be the case – there should be a dedicated site where local info is published and my blog should be more personal, less promotional. Hopefully that’s about to change in 2011, with the launch of a new Fakenham website. I’ve been working on it over the Christmas break and it should be set to go live in the not-too-distant future.

It’s designed to be the hub of Fakenham’s websites – a route through to them all and a place where important info is available centrally – something I’ve been banging on about for a while!

As I’m in the process of finalising the new site’s initial content, I thought I’d ask you what you’d like to see on it (although I can’t promise it’ll be included, of course). I’ve already got links to local news stories, cinema listings, latest news from the new Town Council and Kick Start websites, listings from the Fakenham Business Directory and an event calendar – speaking of which…..

I’ve used Google Calendars to display events organized by the Town Council, Kick Start group and market/farmers’ market dates. If you’re involved with a community group or another organization which would like to be included in the dates on the calendar, please get in touch. I’ll tell you how to get an online calendar which you can publish on your own website, include all Fakenham’s events on it if you want and how to get your dates amalgamated with the composite ‘official’ Fakenham calendar of events.

That’s all about the subject for now, but I shall return to it soon. In the meantime, please add your thoughts and ideas as a comment on this post, buttonhole me on Facebook, or drop me an email via ‘steve at wensum dot net’.

Did you know there’s a new social club in Fakenham? One has just been started at the Community Centre and the first night is this week. Here’s a message I got via Facebook from Lisa Smerdon, who’s organizing it…

“First night of our Thursday night social club. Everyone welcome to come along, have a drink in nice, warm comfortable surroundings at affordable prices. Come and support us and give us suggestions as to what you want from YOUR community centre.”

Here’s a story in the motoring press about Howes of Fakenham going into administration. Let’s hope the Peugeot dealership can be sold as a going concern and the employees are kept on.  It’s a car sales business that’s been established in the area for 50 years.

An impressive turnout for the Armistice Day ceremony at the Fakenham War memorial this morning - especially considering the absolutely foul weather! Lovely to see so many braving the elements to pay their respects.

This is interesting. I just got a press release from Fakenham Area Partnership, who have introduced a new car scheme designed to provide transport support for people in need, to attend local medical appointments.

Volunteer drivers will use their own vehicles to carry clients to pre-booked destinations, in exchange for a modest mileage charge covering basic car running costs.

Passengers book a journey in advance, the scheme co-ordinator arranges with an available volunteer driver who collects the client from their home, takes them to their appointment, waits for them and then returns them back home.

In the early stages the scheme will only cover appointments to the Fakenham or Walsingham surgeries. In order to expand the service the team needs to recruit more drivers and would welcome support from anyone with a couple of hours spare each week.

Anyone wishing to book a journey should call 07799 274 995 between 9am and 5pm on weekdays only, giving as much notice as possible. Further enquiries about the service or becoming a volunteer can be made through the partnership desk on 01328 851555 or e-mail details to admin@fakenhamareapartnership.co.uk

The War Memorial in the town centre. We all know where and what it is, but let’s spare a second to remember what it actually represents…

On Thursday 11th November at 11am, representatives from Fakenham Town Council will be leading a community ceremony to commemorate Armistice Day with a period of reflection and silence – remembering all those servicemen who have lost their lives in conflicts around the world – on the anniversary of the end of hostilities in the Great War.

It’s a subject in our minds constantly these days, as the UK’s service personnel – including many from this region - are currently engaged in active duty in difficult conditions in the Middle East. Rarely a day goes by at the moment without a reminder appearing on our TV screens and in the newspapers and I think as a consequence, public support for our Armed Forces is probably at a bit of a high right now.

It would be lovely to see a good turnout of support at the ceremony, which is to be completely informal and open to all. It will be market day in the town and I suspect there will be lots of people who do join in – they’ll be made welcome, I’m sure. I’ll try to get there myself  to take a few photos for this website if I can.

Of course, the Royal British Legion will be holding their own ceremony in the Market Square on Remembrance Sunday too, with their own traditional march and wreath-laying. If you can’t make it on Thursday, pop along on Sunday morning to pay your respects with them if you can.

Remember, remember it’s the 6th of November – tomorrow (Saturday 6th) is when you’ll be able to see the annual Fakenham Fireworks Display at Fakenham racecourse, courtesy of Fakenham Chamber of Trade & Commerce.

Gates are open at 5pm and the display starts at 6.30. Price is £15 per car (max 5 persons) on the door. There’s food and fairground attractions, with North Norfolk Radio helping the entertainment along. This year, they’re supporting Help For Heroes and other local charities.

It’s usually pretty spectacular – enjoy the evening!

I attended a Kick Start Fakenham meeting last night – the first one I’ve been to for ages. The meetings are much more formal than they used to be, with a definite agenda and structure to them. Although the informal nature of earlier meetings was friendly and comfortable, I think it has improved with this change – they covered a lot of issues in an hour and a half!

There’s a fair bit going on at Kick Start. Carnival plans, fundraising ideas, festivals, commemorative areas being planned for the community and a lot more besides. They’re actively representing themselves on other town agencies too – the Area Partnership, Town Council and Chamber of Trade will all have Kick Start representatives from now on. It’s all coming together nicely.

Hopefully, I’ll be helping them to get a website up and running soon – they’ll then be branching out from their Facebook page so that information about what they’re doing for the town is more widely available. That’s why I was there last night.

Online information: That’s another area which will hopefully become more ‘joined up’ in Fakenham in the near future too. Watch this space!