How much for a piece of fish? Catch it first, double it, then double it again!

That was a taste of the highly entertaining talk on the Harvest of the Sea given by local fisherman Cyril Sutherland in May. His talk, and the gist of his tale about the economics of fishing, showed the relationship between risk and reward.

Cyril is a fourth generation fisherman, and described how he wished he had paid more attention to his grandfather as he told how the local fishing industry off our coast around the Wash has moved with the times – and the fashion. Even today, with the best of navigation aids, the sea is dangerous, and his grandfather often never knew when he would be able to get back to the shore.

Back in the nineteenth century it was oysters – 2/6d for twenty first class for the Estate, the fast food for the wealthy. Climate change was not to blame for the decline in oysters, but crabs who killed and ate them, and so crabs and eventually mussels became some of the staples for a local fishing industry known more for its indifferent years and occasional good ones than for the steady decline we hear about nationally. Locally, there is no regulation within the three mile limit, and Cyril and his sister have built up a good local business from the fresh fruit of the sea.

At the end of his sparkling talk he happily showed crabs and lobsters and a selection of traps and pots, and proudly told us that his son has decided after university to take to the boat and follow the family tradition. What better?

One of our latest initiatives concerns the erection of plaques denoting buildings of importance to the heritage of Hunstanton and Old Hunstanton.

The Annual General Meeting of the Hunstanton Civic Society was held on Tuesday, 5th December 2006 at the Town Hall, Hunstanton. This was extremely well attended and ideas which were put forward on behalf of the committee for the future of Hunstanton were received with much enthusiasm and applause.

A very interesting and informative talk was given by Mr Jon Goodchild, the Head of Smithdon High School, Hunstanton, on the subject of the future of Education. His eloquence and enthusiasm engendered a great many questions.

Mrs Sheila Jeffreys continues as Chairman, Mrs Solveig Ward as Vice-Chairman and Mr David Johnson as Honorary Treasurer. Mrs Fay Wilby takes over as Honorary Secretary from Mrs Linda Corby.

The Committee is now Mr Roy Clark, Mrs Carla Hume, Mrs Canny Jones, Mr Jason Law, Mr Ken Lawson, Mr John Maiden and Mr Chris Roan and coopted members Ms Margi Blunden, Mr Martin Chown, Mrs Kate Gigg, Mr David Jones and Ms Vivienne Young.

Our entry to Hunstanton In Bloom, which we did as a joint project with the four schools in Hunstanton, together with our replanting of St. Edmund’s Chapel garden, was included in Anglia in Bloom 2006. We enjoyed working with the schools and this year all the people who worked on this project were delighted with the silver award which followed the bronze which was achieved last year at the first attempt.

The Society is replanting The Garden of Rest at St Edmund’s Chapel near the lighthouse. It was originally created to commemorate local men who fell in action during the First World War and included a seat in memory of Edith Cavell who was shot for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium.