25th September 2004

Just after midday on Saturday 25th September Peter Annis (on the eve of his 77th birthday) of Orchard View on The Street performed a simple ceremony that brought to an end many years of waiting and debating the creation of a Village Sign for Bergh Apton.

Peter pulled a cord that dropped a Union Flag from the new village sign whose two sides portray significant village milestones and features since its beginnings well before the Norman Conquest. The unveiling was followed by a dedication of the sign by Canon John Phillips, representing our Rector Peter Knight who was fulfilling another engagement.

The chairman of the Parish Council, Alison Freeman, began the ceremony with a welcoming speech in which she thanked the many people whose skills and efforts had produced the sign. She mentioned in particular Bob Kerry who, as Parish Council chairman in the late 1990s, transformed the desire for a Village Sign into action, spurred on by a donation from the Sculpture Trail of 1997. She complimented artist Ivan Soanes who created and painted the sign based on the historic advice of Lorie Lain-Rogers, and the craftsmen of East Coast Castings of Watton who cast the aluminium alloy sign from Ivan’s original work.

Amongst those whom she thanked, Alison made particular mention of people whose contributions were critical to the installation of the sign: to Karl Harvey who gave his time and the materials to make the base to hold the sign’s oak post; to Lorie Lain-Rogers whose carpentry skills shaped the post; and to Kevin Parfitt and Derek Blake who made the foundation on which the sign sits.
After the ceremony the assembled company adjourned to the Village Hall where celebratory refreshments were served

Pictures from the day