Nowadays, most books of fiction have a section at the back with a list of discussion points and notes for book clubs. Across Norfolk and Suffolk there is hardly a town (and many a village) that doesn't have at least one monthly meeting for book-lovers and, if none is nearby, newspapers and radio have also got into the act.

As the school run begins again and the children’s long summer holiday is a fading memory, it is a good time to look back on our own school days.

Before I started school my grandfather would tell me how he would cross the road from my grandparent’s council flat, to talk to me through the fence at playtime. Sadly, he died a few months before I started at Hillside Primary School in Ipswich.

The ancient role of High Sheriff, in a modern society.

Every year, like other counties, Suffolk and Norfolk have a new High Sheriff. In April, James Bagge from Stradsett, was appointed to Norfolk, and Geoffrey Probert, from Bures, to Suffolk. A Royal appointment, this is an unpaid, unelected, non-political position, that lasts for twelve months. Apart from attending Royal visits to their county, and supporting High Court Judges and the judiciary, both new High Sheriffs have definite ideas of how they will use their year in office. 

A Woman of Purpose by Suzanne Hawkes

Black and White Productions – various venues (see below)

3-8th October 2017

One hundred years ago this year, Elizabeth Garrett-Anderson died, which is an excellent reason for a play about this Aldeburgh woman who became the first woman to qualify as a doctor in the UK, and was appointed the first female mayor, the Mayor of Aldeburgh.