Reepham (Norfolk)
Reepham is a small town in North Norfolk and has had 'market town' status since 1277; a sign to mark this has recently been erected. The town has undergone significant development throughout its life, with the housing in the area showing a mix of vintages, styles and purposes.
Notable services include the town's two schools. Commercially, several notable regionally-known shops reside in Reepham. The most prominent is 'Kerry's Farmhouse Pine', which sells pine furniture and offers a cafe too. It is situated on the old Reepham Station site, and largely owes its relative success to its advertising on the local radio station - Radio Broadland.
Reepham is host to two convenience stores, quite surprising for its size; SPAR and the Post Office. The Post Office also provides food, drink and other goods commonly found at any general store - it a common sight here to witness OAPs purchasing the Daily Telegraph. The second, SPAR is open for extended hours, contrary to the typical 9 to 5 opening hours of the post office. Because of this, SPAR is often frequented in the evenings by people looking for alcohol, a DVD to rent or youths on a Friday night who have come to Reepham for the youth club/drop in. Other notable commercial attractions include Diane's Pantry, a specialist organic/health store, and a HSBC branch.
Reepham has 3 churches on the same site and is one of only 2 places in Europe to do so. Reepham's church of St. Mary is joined by its choir vestry to St. Michael’s and the third church belonged to Hackford. However, this third church burned down in 1543 and now only a fragment of the tower wall remains on the left of the path as you go towards the Market Place.
The Reepham Societyis a registered charity, set up to stimulate public interest in Reepham, Hackford, Kerdiston, Salle, and Whitwell in 1976.
Marriott's Way and Reepham
Reepham is a significant stop on the Marriott's Way cycle and footpath. Travelling on the Marriott's Way in a westerly direction from Reepham sation you will encounter the infamous Themelthorpe Loop, the sharpest bend in the whole of the British Rail Network when tracks were in place. When travelling from Lenwade to Reepham station via the Marriott's Way a large short-cut can be taken by leaving the path at Whitwell Station and travelling by road to Reepham station instead of journeying around the Themelthorpe Loop.
Reepham High School
Reepham High School, which has 'Technology College' status, serves over 800 pupils, the majority of whom live in outlying villages. Mr. Christopher Hassell is the current head teacher.
Recent fame has hit the school in the form of a new £1,000,000 science block development and its ongoing league table success. Then Education Secretary, Charles Clarke; Martin Bell, OBE; and local businessman Bernard Mathews have all visited the establishment to commemorate the opening of other developments. The school is also renowned for its place at the heart of the community, offering pioneering adult education courses, many free of charge. On a more academic front, the school takes much pride in the AS level courses it runs in Maths and Electronics, having produced students with A grades two years earlier than the usual sitting age for AS exams. The school has also been used as a case study by Education giant LJGroup.
Ofsted inspected the school on the 7th and 8th of December 2005, awarding the school the highest overall grade possible - 'Outstanding'. This report is available for on line viewing here. In the Summer of 2006, the school underwent a new painting project, visually refurbishing the aging school.
After many complaints of the school's website being indefinitely under construction, a new refurbished site has been made for the 2006/2007 year.
The School's Art Exhibition, displaying the final pieces of the School's GCSE Art students, is a highlight of the school's Summer calendar.
On the 10th of October, letters were sent home to pupils of RHS to announce that the school is very close to getting approved for sixth form status. For several years now the school has been unsuccessfuly applying, being rejected due to size limitations yet now there is speculation they may receive a £2 million grant to expand the school's facilities.
It was announced on the year 11 Awards Evening, 18th Nov '06, that because that particular year had been statistically the best performing the school had ever had, they were in fact the main reason funding and approval was able to be secured for both a second specialism and sixth form.
The sixth form is expected to be operating by 2008.
In the early 2006-2007 school year, rumours were circulating that the school's authorities were attempting to apply for an 'Arts College' specialism to add to their belt. Many critics of the school's sudden development fear that the rapid expansion will destroy the school's sense of community which it has so strongly relied on for success, and cripple student's liberties, forcing many to take subjects under the rules of school specialism that they have no desire to. Ultimately, there is a fear the school will burn out.
On the 18th November 06, Mr. Hassell revealed that the specialism would in fact be 'vocationalism'. Details of the change have yet to be released.
Notable Alumni
Mathew Fletcher- Sufferer of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. Gained fame through his struggle to raise awareness for the condition.
Controversy over Whitwell Station
Although called Whitwell Station, nowadays the site is closer to the town of Reepham than Whitwell and as such, is considered 'home turf' by the people of Reepham, as well as being a notable stop on Marriott's Way. Although the old buildings still stand, the site has been derelict ever since the Beeching Acts of the 60s and subsequent decline of rural railway.
In June 2006, proposals were been made by the council about the possibility of the derelict Whitwell Station site being converted into a traveller's site. Ironically, up to this point, the council had put considerable effort in to prevent this occurring, with such additions to the site as trenches, car obstacles and metal barriers. These proposals have proven to be generally strongly opposed by the local populace, who argue the town's services will be overstretched. However, the council replies that there is no funding to develop the site any other way, and such land use is much needed.
By July, several meetings had been held to allow residents to express their views. These events proved very popular however, and gatherings had to be upgraded to larger venues nearer Norwich due to their sheer popularity. Tensions rose, and eventually one meeting had to be cancelled due to active protests. Disgruntled residents accused the council of rushing plans through without their consent. Outside spectators criticised the opposition for general racial intolerance, particularly one instance where a literally-liberal flyer was put through the doors of properties in Reepham, that expressed contempt and loathing for travellers, and was considered unacceptably offensive. Under pressure, the group responsible apologised shortly afterwards.
On August 1st, the council has offered a compromise stating that any other offers for the land are welcomed, but the 1 month deadline they set was widely considered as a rush of contract. At this point, there was still no certainty about its fate. What is certain though, is that there will always be a diehard opposition group within the village; a 1000 name petition was handed to County Hall.
In an act of poetical irony, on the night of 30th August many youths who had just left the local high school demonstrated what they thought the site was suited for by throwing a party at Whitwell Station. Although local residents called the police, once noise levels had been lowered and fire risks adhered to the law decided the party was not disturbing the peace and let it run its path.
On the 19th October, Simon Woodbridge, leader of Broadland District Council confirmed there were major obstacles to the sites use as a travellers camp. Campaigners in Reepham viewed this with elation as an admittance of their success. It emerged that Broadland Council had used the Whitwell Site as a textbook-example of targets when applying to the government for traveller-site money. On 21st October, the 7.78 acre plot was reported as still being for sale at £250,000.
Reepham Town Council emerged as the new candidate for buying the site; community welfare developments such as a youth hostel are rumoured to be on the agenda. However, many sceptics doubted the weight; such a council has to perform so powerful a move. Vorlage:Disputeabout Ultimately, on the 12th December, it was announced that the site had been sold to a private bidder for an undisclosed amount. While some felt relieved at the conclusion of the situation, others felt it was a disappointing reflection on the town. "Lost [from] the town forever" were the words of the Town Council chairman.
Site Photography
External Links
A profile of Reepham- by the EDP's Ian Clarke
Reepham's Church at norfolkchurches.co.uk