Some regular visitors to blaxhall.com will have noticed a few changes over the first few months of 2007, as the site slowly migrates from an old tabular layout to what (I hope) is a more streamlined intuitive site using the latest web authoring standards.

One of the side effects has been that some formatting has appeared exceedingly strange in Internet Explorer 6.0 and earlier, which I hope I have now rectified. However!!! - if you use IE 6 and some of the pages look peculiar, I really would be grateful if you could let me know - I do check them all but it is possible (when I say possible I mean likely) that I have missed the odd page.

If you are using IE 5.5 or earlier, (you're not are you? really?) and you fancy upgrading you could try Firefox or Opera, or, if you must, Internet Explorer 7, all of which are free.

After a glorious Easter weekend and a corresponding explosion in the insect population about these parts, it is a joy to see swallows arriving back in Blaxhall during the past week.

Hardly "news" if you live within a few miles of Blaxhall, but following the recent sale of the Blaxhall Ship, the pub will be open over the Easter weekend, and thereafter! Hooray! More on this soon.
*FOLLOW UP*
Thanks to Maggie Grenham for sending over this photo of the crowd outside the Ship on Easter Monday.

The application to change the use of the Blaxhall Ship from Public House to Guesthouse has been unanimously rejected by planners at Suffolk Coastal District Council. There were well over 50 letters of objection, many refuting claims made by the owners that the Ship's abysmal trading figures were a result of a general national trend.

The news will come as a relief to virtually all of us in the village, who have witnessed the former popular and vibrant public house suffer over recent years. There are unconfirmed rumours that the Ship has already been sold, watch this space for further news. The BBC Radio Suffolk item on the possible change of use is available below, it will be moved into the Archive section in due course.

From Tuesday 2nd of January:
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The ailing plumbing which serves Stone Common has been replaced by new, larger pipework. In due course the new sewer will come on stream and the tankers currently blocking the road every morning will be gone.

Work on stage one of the hall rebuilding project has been completed, and blends in very well with the existing hall it must be said.

Work began on the village hall extension with the removal of the existing dated and delapidated lean-to. Saturday 21/10/2006

Church Window Specialist and Leaded Light Maker Ian Free, can be seen here working on the Victorian stained glass window that was removed from the church and taken away for repair last month. It is now fully restored and looking resplendent.

The Village was treated to a rare sight in June, when Geordie and Mel came to visit. Geordie, a Tree Surgeon (Greenman Tree Care) built the Gypsy Caravan himself and was partaking in a journey from south Suffolk to Norfolk. It transpires that Geordie was at Otley College with our ex Blaxhall resident Jamie Cutts.

A possible doubling of rail services on the East Suffolk line is in the offing. Funding to reinstate the "Beccles loop", which allows trains to pass on the mainly single track line, is being sought. The line has attracted 16% more passengers for One Railways since the direct service to London was introduced in late 2004, and transport groups suggest the proposed doubling of services would both ease traffic on the A12 and help with the redevelopment of the Waveney valley.

Blaxhall deacon Nigella Youngs Dunnett was ordained as a priest on September 24th 2006 in St Edmundsbury Cathedral.

If you are considering signing up to broadband or have already and have issues, it may be worth your while to take a look at this page. I have had the service for over a year and have written down my experience of the high speed revolution.

The planned/rumoured/feared/hoped for bypass of Little Glemham, Marlesford, Stratford St. Andrew & Farnham has been in the news again recently, some 10 years after first finding the limelight. The Government's Local Transport Plan, due to run from 2006, could see the project go ahead, but work would be unlikely to start before 2011. Even then only if the scheme is one of the 3 approved from the 5 being considered, and the environmental issues can be resolved.

Dave Watson, Transport Policy Manager at Suffolk County Council, was kind enough to email me a summary of the project, which can be found here.