Death of the ‘Samphire Man’ – on this week: April 1-7, 2010

In our weekly On This Week we look back to the week of April 1-7, 2020…One of the area’s greatest characters, ‘Samphire Man’ Henry Dewson has died at the age of 90. Mr Dewson was a familiar sight with his horse and cart, going round the streets of Lynn daily for 40 years, selling samphire from the local marshes during the season. He told the Lynn News in 1996: “There used to be dozens of us – butchers, bakers, coalmen, samphire and the like. Now I’m the last and I like to think it enhances the town for a pony and cart still to be seen trotting around. This is something I’ve done every summer since I helped my dad for no pay.” A widower, Mr Newson had lived at Hardwick Narrows, West Winch.A repair bill of up to £100,000 faces landlord Eddie Sheppard after fire gutted part of his 16th century Coach and Horses pub in Tilney St Lawrence. It is possible the blaze was caused by a dehumidifier and the pub was forced to close over the busy bank holiday weekend, costing about £3,000 in trade. The pub, a listed building, is a traditional coaching inn with wooden beams and open fireplaces. Fire crews from Terrington St Clement, Lynn and Wisbech battled the blaze for about 80 minutes.

The owners of Congham Hall have awarded a £2.4 million contract to extend and improve the hotel to Lynn firm Chalcroft Construction. The re-vamp will include adding new kitchen and restaurant facilities, a new bedroom block and a new spa building with a swimming pool and gym. The hotel, which is set in 30 acres of parkland near Grimston, was built in the 1780s by a wealthy Lynn merchant and was bought for hotel use in 1982. The current owner is the von Essen Hotels group.Health chiefs have approved a business plan for the proposed £5 million health centre in Fakenham. The new facility is to be built less than half-a-mile away from the existing surgery, off Clipbush Lane, and will form part of a health, social care and employment campus planned by the developers Medcentres. Building work is expected to finish by mid-next year and the centre will improve facilities available to staff, while allowing extra services to be offered including cataract operations in the day-surgery facility.North West Norfolk MP Henry Bellingham has added his voice and his support to the opposition to plans for a six-turbine wind farm on land near Stanhoe. He told members of the Burn Valley Conservatives branch that it was a serious issue and one which could open floodgates to more applications if it was passed. The application for a wind farm is on land at Jack’s Lane on Barwick Hall Farm between Stanhoe, the Creakes and Syderstone, and it is claimed that the turbines would supply enough electricity for more than 5,000 homes. The Lynn ‘Poultec Training’ Young Stars start their National League campaign this week at home to Scunthorpe Saints. The line-up is expected to be: 1 James Brundle, 2 Scott Campos, 3 Ricky Wallace, 4 Adam Lowe, 5 Darren Mallett, 6 Chris Widman, 7 Jake Knight. A late team change sees Knight, the son of former Lynn favourite Richard Knight, come in for Jamie Courtney.Gaywood’s Tom Thumb toddler group has met for the final time at its home after 23 years. The group, which takes on children up to the age of two-and-a-half, met once a week at the Alderman Jackson School in Marsh Lane. But the parents no longer have anywhere to go because the special needs school is closing and the pupils moving to the new Churchill Park School at Fairstead. On average ten mothers regularly attend the sessions, but sometimes double that number attend.Boarded-up shops in Lynn’s Railway Road could become homes for adults with special needs. Saffron Housing Association has applied to West Norfolk Council to build 12 apartments, accommodation for support staff and a courtyard in place of semi-derelict buildings at Nos 6 and 7. The self-contained units would be occupied by adults aged 16-24 with complex support needs who would live independently with assistance from staff when needed. The development would back on to Sainsbury’s car park and a disused tyre workshop in Albion Street.