You would have thought that with the explosion at the London Tavern, Coltishall had had its share of publicity for a while. Not so, the relative peace of Coltishall was recently disturbed by the wail of police sirens and the chatter of a police helicopter hovering overhead. The reason being that a vigilant mum had spotted a man brandishing a gun near to Coltishall Primary School shortly before the children finished for the day. She informed Chris Jones, the Headmaster, who then contacted the police. Children were kept in their classrooms after school along with the parents who were there to collect them. The man was eventually caught by the police in possession of what proved to be a replica gun and he has been detained. It would seem that he had a history of mental illness and will presumably be placed where he can do no harm to either others or himself.

It appears as if we have our own last stand at the OK corral or in this case much bleating about the mulberry bush. We have published both sides of the argument within this Marlpit together with a letter from the parent of a child who attends the nursery. Basically the situation is that the Mulberry Bush Nursery, who for 11 years had previously enjoyed 1 hour to ‘set-up’ before the Nursery opened, recently had their set-up time reduced to ½ hour without explanation and have been told that if they want the extra ½ hour they will have to pay for it. Given the amount of time that the Nursery doesn’t actually use the facility for which they have paid (School holidays, Jubilee Players sole use for 3 weeks), then the decision of the Tithe Barn Committee would seem harsh. Whilst it goes without saying that everybody appreciates the unpaid work done by the Tithe Barn Committee, as in the many other committees in the villages, time should always be made to reconsider a decision that may have not been

entirely fair or in the overall interests of the villages for whom the Tithe Barn is there to provide a facility for activities, such as a nursery. Let us hope there can be some agreement and that a settlement can be achieved.

There have been suggestions that if a skateboard park was to be provided in the village that it would be sited on the existing grass tennis courts. Whilst we would welcome an additional facility for youth in the area it would seem quite silly to provide it at the expense of another facility.

On the subject of youth activities, the Marlpit Editors are considering instigating and supporting a separate Junior Marlpit magazine to be prepared and run by young people for young people with as little adult supervision as necessary. Is there any interest in such a scheme? It so contact any editor.

Finally, where space permits we will generally publish extracts from the draft Parish Council minutes for either Parish. If any Marlpit reader considers that they are in anyway disadvantaged by, what might of necessity or choice be limited publication of these minutes, then we would point out that these meetings are open to the public to attend and have a personal opportunity to see local democracy at work.