On this week: February 22-28, 2014

Tidal flooding has left £1.2 million damage in its wake at Brancaster’s Royal West Norfolk Golf Club, while a damaged bank means fears remain. The club lost £600,000 of machinery, including three tractors and six or seven ride-on mowers in December’s flood, as well as suffering damage to fences and banks and three weeks where the course was waterlogged and out of use. A workshop and store were destroyed and the outcome of a planning application to replace them is awaited. Brancaster Parish Council has also called upon the Environment Agency to carry out repairs to a bank that runs alongside the access road to the club, while the beach car park was also breached in five places.Police services in West Norfolk will soon be at crisis point if funding cuts continue warns the Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers. Senior officers from the Norfolk and Suffolk forces have revealed plans to merge the control rooms and support services, as part of a drive to save almost £37 million over the next four years. The Federation has backed the plans, but says that if planned Government cuts continue there will become a time in the near future when Norfolk and Suffolk forces will reach crisis point.Dozens of people have signed up to help maintain the River Heacham at Sedgeford. During a village open day, attended by around 100 people at Sedgeford Village Hall, organised by the Norfolk Rivers Trust, some 40 new volunteers signed up to the trust’s River Guardian programme, which encourages residents to take an active role in looking after their area’s waterways. The trust say most of the new volunteers will be engaged in work along the River Heacham such as riverbank planting or the monitoring of invertebrates in the water.

Managers at Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital have called on patients to tell them what they think of services at a forthcoming series of meetings across the area. Officials hope the sessions will let them explain the changes made to the trust since it was put into special measures in October 2013, as well as allowing members of the public to have their say. The hospital’s chief executive, Dr Manjit Obhrai said: “We have been through some challenging times and we need to hear the views of those who use the hospital if we are to get things right in the future.”A public meeting is to be held as part of a renewed effort to build a swimming pool in Fakenham. Sports club members, residents and community groups are invited to attend the meeting at Fakenham Community Centre. It has been organised amid concerns about a lack of swimming pool facilities in the town following news that Fakenham Academy’s pool will close in July for financial reasons, while Fakenham Junior School also needs more funds to ensure its pool can remain open. Fakenham Area Partnership has led a long-running campaign for a new pool and wants local people to show their support for the project.Two young footballers studying at the College of West Anglia are part of the England Colleges under-19s squad for the Roma Caput Mundi Tournament being held in Italy. Shaun Stocker and Toby Hilliard will be lining up against Malta in the opening game and hoping to remain in the team for the other group matches against San Marino and Italy. The duo have previously played for the national side against Australia, when Hilliard scored twice in a 3-2 win and against Wales in the first leg of the Anglo Cup which finished 1-1. Stocker plays for Lynn Town Reserves and Hilliard for Swaffham Town. East Rudham’s outdated old wooden pavilion could be replaced with a modern building if plans put forward by the recreational ground committee come to fruition. Plans have been submitted to West Norfolk Council to construct a new pavilion which would include toilets and changing facilities. Villagers have been using the playing field in School Road for 90 years and it houses the bowling green and cricket pitch.Shoppers and holidaymakers will be able to enjoy live entertainment at The Spinney in Hunstanton after a premises licence was granted for the newly-regenerated area by West Norfolk Council’s licensing committee, which heard that Norfolk police had withdrawn its original objection to the plan. The Spinney had undergone a large-scale plan to turn it into a pedestrianised area and space that can be used for the public for small-scale performances including live music.