Plans for supermarket giant to come to town, social club re-opens and safety message at cinema: Memories from 1986 and 2012

In our regular On This Week column, we look back through the pages of the Lynn News from February 25 to March 2, 2012 and we’re also featuring a picture from 1986…Preliminary clearance work has begun on Sainsbury’s £40 million superstore and petrol station near the Hardwick roundabout at Lynn. The new store, on a 12-acre site close to Hardwick Road will be creating up to 300 full and part-time jobs for local people, as well as helping to secure 200 existing jobs at neighbouring food group Pinguin Lutosa. Work on the 70,000 sq ft superstore itself will start in the coming weeks, with building expected to be completed at the end of the year. The new Sainsbury’s will work in tandem with the existing town centre store which employs about 150 full and part-time staff. A new eastern European superstore, Lituanica, has announced it will take up premises on the St Nicholas Retail Park in the summer and around 30 jobs will be created.A new report has identified West Norfolk as having one of the highest numbers of empty homes in the Eastern region. Figures released by the Empty Homes Agency for local authority boroughs in the East of England showed 2,654 vacant homes in the Lynn area in November last year. The figure was far higher than Norwich and other districts in the county, and in the seven counties classed as being in the East only Central Bedfordshire was higher with 3,039 empty homes.

More than 5,000 people have added their support to a campaign to close Tuesday Market Place to traffic while the Lynn Mart is held. An online petition after the death of three-year-old Rio Bell, in King Street, now stands at 5,100 signatures meaning West Norfolk Council will have to discuss the issue at a full council meeting. Campaigner Paul Macey, who held Rio’s hand in his last moments, believes that in future years the road should be closed throughout children’s day and from 5.30pm every other day. Joshua Yates, of Reffley, posted the petition online on the night of Rio’s death and within an hour more than 1,000 people had signed it.The ESCAPE community allotment project based at Tumbler Hill in Swaffham has been given more than £3,000 in funding so that it can extend its work to Flagship Housing tenants in the area. The project hopes to teach the tenants new food growing and gardening skills to use in their gardens at home. ESCAPE – Enjoy Swaffham Community Allotment Project Enterprise – will be running a series of free food growing and general gardening workshops on its allotment from early April, with each participant receiving a starter pack containing gardening gloves, seeds and fact sheets.Children have been welcomed back to the newly-refurbished Old Hunstanton Social Club, where they enjoyed getting stuck in at a craft session during an open day. The club nearly closed last year, but has been revived by a new committee, with the members working on the refurbishment. It means that now bands perform at the club on Sundays, there are quiz nights and bingo sessions as well as a monthly craft session for children. Different real ales are also available each week.Lynn Stars have finalised their team for the new season by swooping to sign 26-year-old Jordan Frampton, who also rides for Rye House Rockets in the National League. Frampton comes in as a replacement for the injured Kozza Smith who is expected to be sidelined for half of the 2012 season. Frampton arrives with a converted average of 4.63 and the Stars consider he will be a solid double-up rider to have alongside David Howe at reserve.Top businesses in West Norfolk were recognised at the annual Mayor’s Awards for Business Achievement in the special ceremony held at Lynn Town Hall. The Manufacturing Business of the Year award went to Cooper Roller Bearings of South Lynn; Coastal Veterinary Group at Snettisham was named as the top Young Business; North Lynn-based firm JD Cooling took the Service Business of the Year accolade. The awards were presented by the Borough Mayor, Colin Sampson.The fight against the Lynn incinerator project has taken a musical turn after plans were unveiled for a concert to be held in aid of the campaign. Eight bands are due to play at the “Incinerhate” gig next weekend at the Bar Red in Lynn’s Norfolk Street, raising both funds and awareness of the campaign against the proposed Saddlebow development. Future events being planned include an Easter fair at Middleton and a fun run in Lynn.