earlier in Woodbridge

It must be well over a decade since we saw an Eastern Angles Christmas show and we don't recall the now available free parking at the rear of the Ipswich theatre but it's still a small cast working their socks off.  Saturday it was five actors who had Fenland Screamers tightly polished prompting laughter and applause from the audience.  We got to be part of a rope bridge and had an actor sit on our lap ... unfortunately not one of the ladies.  The show continues this month including a run at the Seckford Theatre Woodbridge.

The Shell garage on the Ipswich bound carriageway of the Woodbridge bypass has been flattened.  Rumour has the rebuild will have a Waitrose which doesn't seem impossible.

Just the building at the pleasant Co-op garage on the A1120 by Stowupland has been flattened but the garage is still functioning from what looks like a Portakabin.

The passing lorry driver who in April destroyed the metalwork hanging off the Bell and Steelyard Woodbridge has been given seven points and ordered to pay £683.  Hope his insurance covers the at least £10,000 to fix it which judging by the scaffolding outside we're quite prepared to believe.

Suffolk Singers workshop this Sunday at Woodbridge School.

In Woodbridge today we discovered there's a Mountain Warehouse in the Thoroughfare, the charity shops are schizophrenic about DVDs with prices varying between £1 and £2.95 and we saw a mature lady with a shopping bag decorated with Jack Vettriano's Singing Butler.

The seventh Shuck Festival in Woodbridge today and tomorrow and a bit windy in Framlingham yesterday.

Tonight is the penultimate in a a four day run by the Deben Players of the musical comedy Nunsense at the Seckford Theatre Woodbridge.  The Convent of Little Sisters of Hoboken present wonderful songs and madcap dance routines.

♫ Stuff to do around near the coast this weekend includes tonight a music quiz at the Framlingham Crown, the free Laxitude all weekend with Lyrical Jukebox and naughty Harleston boys Red Mecca playing tonight plus Maritime Woodbridge tomorrow and Sunday.

House sales active in Saxmundham, Wickham Market, Woodbridge and surprisingly Laxfield.

A forged £20 note in Beccles Tuesday and more in Woodbridge earlier in the month.

Tomorrow there's two performances in the Seckford Theatre (that's the one in Woodbridge School) of the pantomime Rumplestiltskin by the Deben Players Juniors.

Here's a new one (to us at least) Splat Quack Go Suffolk's Muddiest Mud Run. superficially a Woodbridge happening tomorrow but in fact just outside Hollesley ... entries accepted on the day and it sounds a teensie bit like those Zombie Evacuations.

♫ Free entry to the lunchtime recital by The Beech Duo in Woodbridge library tomorrow.  Classical duets for guitar and violin by Paganini, Piazzolla, Carulli and others.

Something large appears to have bumped into the Woodbridge Bell and Steelyard.

In the Woodbridge hardware shop the man in front was being served ... well having a nice chat actually.  Indications were made the conversation was ending when the phone started to ring.  Beggar we thought Now we'll have to wait for that to be answered but no, the proprietor ignored it and served us ... sometimes you win eh?

Disappointing charity DVD shopping in Woodbridge the other week not helped by the Salvation Army shop gone.  Tragically the Georgian Coffee House has closed, perhaps not helped by a car crashing in to it earlier in the year.

♫ The Suffolk Singers fifth fundraising concert tonight in Woodbridge is in aid of  the Teenage Cancer Trust.  Directed by the vivacious Claire Weston a varied programme of easy-listening with informal table seating and a ploughman’s supper it unusually as of Tuesday hadn't sold out.

A coastal rowing club is forming in Woodbridge next year ... now that would involve gigs?

 JOBS  Wanted a Groundcare and Hire Salesperson in Framlingham and in Woodbridge a Workshop Manager for  Bronzework a small firm making bespoke metalwork.

House sales continued to sparkle in Woodbridge during the summer ... or maybe it's just a large town by the standards of near the coast.

♫ A mature Punk/New wave band in the Woodbridge/Framlingham/Ipswich axis is looking for a singer, they promise not to take requests.

The Woodbridge School sports hall is LARGE but  was needed yesterday afternoon for all the friends and relatives at a Suffolk Police cadet parade.  A sea of white shirts but also some dark blue worn by emergency services cadets who seem to be proto fire fighters.  PCC Tim Passmore assured the hall that in this atmosphere of cuts funding would continue for the cadets because they are the future ... can't disagree with that.

♫ We always had a sneaking regard for Gilbert and Sullivan and Mike Leigh's Topsy Turvy turned the regard into open admiration.  The Ipswich G&S Soc are performing Pirates of Penzance in the Seckford Theatre Woodbridge (that's the one in Woodbridge school) until Saturday.

Chief Constable Gareth Wilson and Police and Crime Commissioner Tim Passmore meeting and greeting in the Woodbridge Thoroughfare 11am-2pm today.

Carl Hammond missing from Woodbridge was found safe yesterday afternoon.

Police are concerned for the well being of 34 year old Carl Hammond missing from Woodbridge since Monday.

That's regrettable, the Woodbridge Motor Cycle Club are no longer holding grass track meetings.  A while since we've been but we liked the mud splattered starts and the curiosity that sidecars race clockwise and singles anti-clockwise.

♫ Tonight a musical choice, Walkway back at the Saxmundham Social Club (they must like them) or the Kingfisher Sinfonietta with a concert of Mozart and Mendelsshon at St Mary's Woodbridge.

On the A12 side of the Woodbridge Wyevale car park is a new to us Mountain Warehouse.  They sell clothes and kit for outdoor pursuits, couldn't see any ice axes, lots of low cost own brand stuff ... you get what you pay for.

The mobile police station was in the Woodbridge Wyevale car park today handing out purse chains and a placcy car thing that advises Remove your valuables and gives you somewhere to display your parking receipt.  PCSOs Graeme Hawkes and Marie Smith had a steady flow of customers and it's nice to see the police out and about.

Not surprisingly no remaining free tickets for Friday's lunchtime Radio 3 concert at the Snape Maltings but in the evening and Woodbridge a Friends of the Earth Musical Soirée with party fare, how glamorous and just a pound to get in.

The Woodbridge Anchor gets a nice review on the Telegraph web site, that'll please Vernon (if he's still the landlord) ... maybe he'll stop calling us Geoff.

Another cycle safety day tomorrow in Woodbridge by the skate park where you can get your bike security coded for free ...  let's hope it's bit drier than last time ...

It tried to snow this morning in Framlingham and by lunchtime it was raining hard enough that the Woodbridge skate park had just two youngsters using it and PCSOs Graeme Hawkes and Marie Smith were being exercised keeping their stock of bike lights and locks dry.  Despite this the PCSOs still had customers for security marking and we were disappointed to find the Griffin sport and leather goods shop in the Thoroughfare is closed and looking sorry for itself.

Earlier this week a Land Rover Defender in Wickham Market had a window smashed and items stolen ... bit concerning this crime is being dealt with by PC Gemma Spink at the Felixstowe station, not Woodbridge?

House burglary Saturday in Warene Close off Brook Lane Framlingham and attempted break-ins in Woodbridge Monday and Tuesday.