Saxmundham is small Suffolk market town

fr 29 fe 08

1956 Muffin the Mule made his tv debut

... and from the people who brought you the Saxmundham-Aldeburgh branch line another 24 carat piece, the 1958 Aldeburgh Carnival with a brief glimpse of Wickham Market Junction (yeah, yeah we know it's at Campsea).

su 24 fe 08

1923 The Flying Scotsman went into service

House prices in Saxmundham at the end of last year.

mo 18 fe 08

1901 Winston Churchill made his parliamentary maiden speech

That's disheartening. The toilets in the Saxmundham Somerfield, which are right by the checkout, are locked after 6pm because of "continued vandalism".

February's pics as prints, mugs and t-shirts at photoboxgallery.com/NearTheCoast

fr 15 fe 08

1971 British money went decimal

Rather like the Tour de France given enough time the Eastern Angles come to you and put on a show. They did it last night in Saxmundham Middle School

with Cuckoo Teapot and will be doing it all over East Anglia this spring. Cuckoo Teapot will next be near the coast Tuesday 4th March at Brandeston.

we 13 fe 08

1692 The Campbells massacred the MacDonalds at Glen Coe

A while back we mentioned a 17th century Dennington shop token at auction? Right now there are one Woodbridge (Grocer Henry Stebbing) and two Saxmundham (Draper Nicholas Shepherd) 17th century tokens on ebaY.

we 6 fe 08

1957 Bill Haley and the Comets played their first London gig

The Eastern Angles take Cuckoo Teapot out on tour next week starting Wednesday and Thursday in Saxmundham. Over the next three months venues will include Eye, Brandeston, Bredfield, Westleton, Hacheston, Woodbridge and Orford. Take them in before the blue meanie Arts Council finish them off.

tu 22 ja 08

1972 The UK became part of the European Economic Community

Here's a bit of solid gold, a 1950s train journey on the Saxmundham-Aldeburgh branch calling at Thorpe Halt ... accompanied by Flanders and Swan ... and we've just worked out that the boy standing seemingly dangerously on the track is holding up the single track token for the driver.

we 28 no 07

1893 New Zealand women became the first to vote in a General Election

Daylight burglary near Sax! Alright, it is pretty dark by four thirty these days ... Daytime burglary near Sax!

mo 08 oc 07

1965 The death penalty was abolished in the UK

The Suffolk Constabulary are having an information evening about becoming a Special from 7:30pm tonight in Saxmundham Middle School. More info in this Word document.

fr 05 oc 07

1917 Lord Lee of Fareham gave Chequers to the nation as a country home for its prime ministers

The fifth Saxmundham Arts Festival starts Friday week with a literary luncheon featuring author Joanna Trollope who, perhaps unfairly, might be considered queen of the Aga saga.

fr 24 au 07

410 The Visigoths captured Rome

It's a while since we've actually been to Saxmundham so when we visited last weekend there were a lot of changes. You can no longer drive down the side of the White Hart but the pub does retain a car park at the back. You get to it by driving all the way round Somerfields ... who don't have Patak's lime pickle but at least have Sharwood's which is more than the Fram Solar has.

The High Street is poshing up with an art gallery, what was the gent's outfitters is now designer shop Cotton Tree, the jewellers who were call Crapnockett and Sons or some such are now Jackey L, the second hand book shop that closed Saturday afternoons so the owner could get to the football now sells cards and the other hardware shop is about to become The Store. Are all near the coast towns going the same way as Aldeburgh?