Weekly newsletter from the Landlord
21 February 2012
Dear Customers,
Spring must be here. We have a dove sitting very tightly on two eggs in a hanging basket on our outside upstairs patio. Last year they had three clutches of young and this year seem to be starting even earlier. Looks like no flowers in the baskets again. Still saves watering and if reports of the drought are as bad as they are suggesting maybe this is just as well.
We have made a couple of changes to our opening times on Monday and will continue with his until further notice. We are not opening Monday morning and in the evening we are only open for drinks and not food. If however you should be looking for a large party and would require food we could make arrangements to satisfy your needs. The main reason for the above is to give Chris our chef at least one day a week off as we have recently lost Vicky who has a left for maternity reasons. Monday can be very quiet so this was the day we decided to cut back on. I apologise to anybody who turned up the last two Mondays and I hope you will come to visit us on another occasion.
On Tuesday morning we hosted BAR for their monthly luncheon meeting and in the evening of course it was Valentine's Night and we were quite busy with this although obviously every table was a booking for two except for one gentleman who was staying at the Wallows and came down for an evening meal. We hope he did not feel too out of place. During the evening Carol proposed to Peter (well it is a Leap Year after all) and thankfully he accepted. We were quick to congratulate them and even quicker to point out that we specialise in wedding receptions. As far as I know this was the only proposal made on the night but we trust everybody else had an equally romantic evening.
Wednesday was fairly quiet although on one night Mark Offord celebrated his 24th birthday but unfortunately although the note was made nobody put on the date. You just can't get the staff! On Thursday SWAP held one of their regular meetings which was well attended and in the pub we held our regular quiz. This was conducted by 13 contestants and was won by the teachers. Obviously 13 was their lucky number. The bonus question went unanswered although two teams missed out by one either side of the correct answer to the question which was, How many times Monaco had appeared in various Olympic games without winning a medal?
On Friday evening Anne Bell celebrated a birthday with children, grandchildren and of course Ted. This was a very pleasant and enjoyable evening made even better by the fact that there was enough cake leftover to allow the staff a slice or two. Congratulations Anne and we look forward to many more similar celebrations. I hope the Baileys didn't go to your head. Saturday although reasonably busy at lunchtime was very quiet in the evening and we closed quite early for a Saturday. I sometimes wonder what the residents of Moreton Hall do for entertainment and relaxation at the weekend. When the Flying Fortress is no more they will be the first to complain that there is no pub up this end of the estate and something should be done about it. Don't say you haven't been warned. Remember when it's gone it's gone.
Sunday once again rescued the week and we had a really busy day. I always know when it's busy as I get stuck on the carvery for the best part of two hours carving continuously and trying to keep smiling even when the world seems to be against me. You can have 10 people queueing at the carvery but the next two people waiting to be served are so engrossed in their conversation with each other that they are obliviously keeping everybody else waiting and then I guarantee they will say “didn't it take a long time to get our dinners”? Take my word it is very difficult to keep smiling at the end of a long day. On the other hand they are paying our wages so I must temper my reactions. If all else fails I tell the waiting customers behind them and give them a good kick.
We had quite a few people celebrating birthdays on Sunday including Lynda Robinson, Mark Capel, Ted Cross his 75th, Beth and Emily Curtis their 13ths and Norman Robertson his birthday and retirement from the mechanical trade. Congratulations to all these and as well as hoping they had a good time up here at the Flying Fortress we would like to thank them for coming to the Flying Fortress to celebrate their special occasion.
Talking of special occasions I suppose it is time to start reminding you of one of the biggest special occasions of the year. This is of course Mothering Sunday which this year is on 18 March. The order book is filling up nicely but we still have plenty of room. As usual we are only taking bookings so if you turn up on spec you will I am afraid be disappointed. Certainly this is true up until at least 4 PM and we have been known to close earlier than our usual time of 730 if as we usually are extremely tired. I was going to put another word in but children and Mrs Whitehouse might be reading this letter.
On Mothering Sunday we have a fixed menu consisting of a main course, desert and coffee and the price for this will be £16.25. We also do a children's menu of a main course and dessert and this is £11.75. We will have three meats on the carvery and we would normally have a chicken, fish and vegetarian dish available as well and then a choice of deserts off the carousel. I guarantee that on Sunday morning there will be people asking can they book a table and unfortunately I will have to say no because we are fully booked. This happens every year so please be warned, Book early or be disappointed.
Another thing I must remember to tell you about is the next Quiz which is on 1 March and starts at eight o'clock. Hopefully winter will be over by then so you have no excuse for not popping up for an exciting evening of answering a host of questions most of which you should know the answers to.
If the residents of Beyton and Drinkstone did but know it they owe me a huge thank you. Last Tuesday I noticed at my field at Thurston near the Planche that the main sewer pipe had blocked and was overflowing into the field. I knew from past experience that this meant the villages upstream would soon be having blocked drains etc if the blockage was not cured. I was with an official from Mid Suffolk Council at thetime and asked him to notify the appropriate authorities about the problem and considered the matter closed. The next day I noticed the blockage still there so I rang Anglia Water and they had no knowledge of the problem. On Thursday a tanker unblocked the drains but the manhole is seriously dislodged and needs urgent repair. I would be interested if the man from Mid Suffolk actually told anybody and what action was taken.
Well on this cheerful note I think it is time to be saying goodbye especially as suddenly the word count has returned and it seems I have written some almost 1300 words so before I reach that milestone I will say goodbye for now hope to see you soon up here at the Flying Fortress in the very near future. Woops we are now on 1328 and rising.
Yours sincerely and faithfully
All at the Flying Fortress
14 February 2012
Dear Customers,
And a very happy Valentine's day to you all. I am sure you all remembered to get the card and judging by the number of gentlemen I saw yesterday clasping bouquets of flowers I hope all you ladies have got the vases polished and filled with water. It looked at one time as if we were going to be very quiet tonight but thankfully the phone has been ringing and we have quite a respectable number of diners.
Considering the weather we had a very good week and although there was snow on the ground all the time it never actually affected customers ability to travel thankfully. Monday and Tuesday were relatively quiet although on Tuesday evening James came in for a lightning tasting session with friends to celebrate his 18th. On Wednesday we had an all day Conference organised by Suffolk County Council dealing with problems older people may have with bogus callers and scam deals etc. This was very well attended both in the morning and afternoon sessions.
On Thursday the Coakley family celebrated the birthday for a young family member but unfortunately although I took details I cannot find the young person's name. My apologies and I trust he had a good evening. On Saturday morning Callum Warden celebrated his 21st birthday. In the evening the Function Room was put to very good use with the Annual Awards Dinner for the West Suffolk Motor Club which was very well attended and these were entertained by a good old Suffolk boy reminiscing over days gone by. Judging by the feedback everybody had a really good night and enjoyed the whole proceedings.
Sunday was exceptionally busy again and we were under pressure most of the day so much so that I even missed the first half of the Wales Scotland match. I was even more upset on Saturday when I had planned to watch the France Ireland match as soon as I had finished the Carveries for the Motor Club. To my horror when I went to watch the match where I had left the introductions to the match on the BBC to channel I came back to find Country and Western being played. I immediately accused in my mind different customers and staff for changing the channel to spite me but then finally realised that the game had been cancelled and another program substituted. Luckily I had not accused anybody. But to get back to Sunday we had one largish party with Sally Rayson celebrating her 60th and the Austin family had Zach Clegg celebrating his sixth birthday and Mrs and Austin her 60th. The Kershaw family also had a largish get-together but apart from this most of the tables were on the smaller size but there were an awful lot of them. Once again we did over 200 meals and were glad when the day was over.
We were a little worried on Saturday night when two customers brought our attention to some of the roast potatoes which had large unsightly black marks on them. One person suggested blight but I ruled this out as I knew Barton Place would not have supplied me with blighted potatoes and I knew that these potatoes had being brought in that morning from the container and there was a good possibility of having suffered from the very hard frost the night before. We have the few bags left and will be checking these very carefully after peeling. On Sunday we also were very close to running out of vegetables and had to resort to frozen peas and sweet corn for the very few last customers. I know that these are some of the nicest frozen vegetables but we do much prefer to use fresh all the time. We were also getting very low on meat and had put in and extra joint during the afternoon which was only just ready by the evening and for one customer we had to slice the meat and put it back into the oven for a couple of minutes to take away the rareness. Luckily this was right at the end of the day.
I am sure you have all remembered that on Thursday we have the Quiz Night and the Bonus prize is £55 and although not in the lottery league would still be worth winning. The Quiz starts at 8 PM and is for teams of up to 6. The price per contestant is a very reasonable one pound. I am beginning to hope that the prize will be won or I will be needing Securicor to guard it if it gets much bigger.
My apologies to anyone who tried to come to a Flying Fortress on Monday morning and found we were closed. This was because one of our relief chefs was on holiday and Vicky has just left on maternity leave. She had her last session on Sunday and we wish her well with the new member of the family to be. We thought it was a little hard to work Chris for a full seven days without a break so decided to give food on Monday a miss. We are looking for a replacement so if you know anybody that would like 2 to 3 days a week and is an experienced chef please get them to give us a ring to arrange an appointment. We are also looking for experienced bar and waiting staff so likewise please give us a ring if you think you are suitable.
Well I'm not sure how many words I have written but it feels like more than enough so I think it is time for me to take my leave of you but just before I go I understand that Bridie Lavelle has become a friend to Rosemary on Facebook. Bridie lives in Bohola in Mayo and I understand from a book by Terry Wogan given to me at Christmas that there are more millionaires in Bohola than anywhere else in Ireland. I trust Bridie is one of these! In any case all my best wishes to Tom, Bridie and the family.
Once again I will say "goodbye", hoping to see you soon up here at the Flying Fortress and wishing you all the best.
Yours faithfully and sincerely
All at the Flying Fortress
Seventh of February 2012
Dear Customers,
Yes, snow they promised, and snow we got. Not a lot but just enough slow us down a little. We certainly noticed that Sunday was quite a lot quieter than normal and we had a few people ring up to say they could not get their cars out of their drive or that members of the party were not able to travel quite long distances.
Not a fantastic week but just enough to keep our heads above water and encourage us to stay in business another week. The week started on Tuesday with EDF having one of their regular meetings although some How we managed to get it into our minds that they came at 10 o'clock and not at nine. I felt quite sorry for the gentleman seeing me leaning out of the window half naked first thing in the morning. Not a pretty sight.
On Thursday we had a small celebration in the evening to mark Colin Harris' 80th birthday and also celebrating Michael passing his driving test. We also held the Quiz night and this was exceptionally well supported with 20 contestants divided between four teams. The likely lads attended for the first time in several weeks and immediately signalled that they were back in force with a comprehensive win. The Heather family came second and the bonus prize of £47, yes, £47 was not won as no one knew when Curly Wurlies were first introduced. You would have thought most people would have known that answer! I'm sure you all knew it was 1970. Remember the next quiz will be on February 16 and with a bit of luck the bonus should be over £50.
Friday was a reasonable day but without too much booked and Saturday morning was quite busy with the celebration of Linda Earp's 60th birthday and I'm sure the family would like me to thank Mrs Manklow for all her hard work in organising and getting the room ready. The new Conservatory looked as good as ever we have seen it. Saturday evening was relatively quiet although the Morgan party had a good get-together and chat.
With the snow falling over Saturday night we were not too sure what Sunday would bring. We had an occasional phone call cancelling bookings but several others checking we were still open and I'm glad to say at all the staff managed to get here safely. We did however notice that perhaps they were not so many casual bookings and probably less people ringing up during the day to book a meal. The main event of the day was Tony and Brenda Boughton's 60th Wedding Anniversary and also Tony's 82nd birthday celebration. This party took place in the Function Room and gave everybody space to spread out and enjoy themselves.
In the afternoon Millie Brinkman celebrated her 10th birthday family and in the evening we were honoured with the presence of the Wibbly Wools a Knitting Club who have started regular meetings up here at the Fortress. These also took over the Function Room and once again the children seemed to all enjoy themselves.
I hope you all saw the advert in the Citizen last week advertising our Carvery which is now available seven days a week at all sessions that we are open and I hope also you noticed that there was a voucher for a free drink when you purchase one of our fantastic carveries Monday to Saturday. We were also advertising our New Menu which is proving very popular and most people seem to like the new format of having the Menu on the card rather than in a folder. We certainly have noticed that it looks a lot tidier and dare I say more professional. We are now on our second Specials Menu and this seems to be working quite well where we change just a few of the meals every week or two but leave the old tried and trusted favourites on the main menu card. You may notice that Haddock appears on the special card each time and this is because we forgot to include it in the favourite section. It just goes to prove that even we are not completely perfect!
As a member of the best of Bury we have been given some forms for customers to give feedback to their Website hopefully with favourable comments although we would all admit that if a comment is unfavourable but fair it does you a lot more good than compliments that lead you to complacency. I have tried several times to see what is written about us on Trip Advisor but so far have not managed to successfully get on to the Site. I have seen recently where people are advised not to take too much notice of reviews on such sites as often if they are good they can be generated by the owners or friends of the business but if they are bad they could have been generated by jealous opposition or people with a grudge against the business. Thankfully I think a much better guide is judging us by how many people use us on a Sunday and in my book up to 200 people a week, week after week, cannot all be wrong and we must be doing something just a little bit right. On the other hand I am not so sure what to say about the quiet Monday night last night when we only had two diners and about four drinkers. Why can't there be more Sundays in a week?
I am sure that many of you will have read about my unfortunate dealings with Baberg Council regarding parking in Sudbury. Needless to say I think I was very badly treated and if you should have about three hours to spare I will relate the whole saga to you. I think however that I have had the last laugh as I have asked my Irish relations to spend a little time in the car parks in Sudbury. It is amazing how differently they are being treated to the way I was, amazing but not surprising. Maybe if and when Baburgh decide to prosecute they will send the defendants to a court that has being closed down for nearly a year and give no hint of an apology for doing so. I doubt it though as "sorry" does not seem to be a word in their vocabulary. Needless to say we have not been back to Sudbury since the incident and so far I would think the businesses of Sudbury have lost several hundreds of pounds in lost sales. This should concern Baberg Council but I am sure it does not.
Well that's my moan of the week out of the way and we must not be bitter or dwell on life's little setbacks. I must on the other hand thank the gentleman who brought a beautiful photograph of a rainbow over the Flying Fortress. The rainbow seems to end on the roof of the pub and reinforces my view that the Fortress will always be a little pot of gold.
With this warming thought on this cold winter's day I will take my leave of you as I am sure I have written enough for another week. I expect to see you all up here at the Flying Fortress with your Citizen Vouchers clasped tightly in your hands and demanding your free drink with your Carvery dinner. Until then it's goodbye from me
Yours sincerely and faithfully
All at the Flying Fortress
31st of January 2012
Dear Customers,
Yes, last day of January and just about still no snow thank goodness. We really have been very fortunate as far as the weather is concerned although I'm sure those farmers with irrigation must be asking for more rain as underground reservoirs are still very low.
Now that we have the Air Conditioning units working in the Function Room the only time we need the radiators on downstairs is when we are using the two Conservatories. We are still using radiator heat upstairs but this obviously is not such a drain as heating the whole pub. The beauty of the A.C. Units is that they only take a very few minutes to heat up the room whereas radiators take an hour or more and then when you switch them off the heat remains quite some time.
We have now had the survey done for connecting the gas and are awaiting the estimate for the connection of the meter. If this is sensible we will be hoping to get a new boiler fitted very soon. We are also hoping that the pipework already in place will be suitable for running the kitchen equipment as well although this will mean modifying the cookers and grills. Our oil boiler has done us very well for over 23 years but I am told they are not as efficient as the modern ones and certainly mains gas will be a lot cheaper than propane for cooking.
For the last week in January we were more than pleased with the level of trade last week. The Suffolk Farm Machinery Club held a meeting on Tuesday evening and both CIBSE and the Bury Yachting Club held meetings on Wednesday evening and then we were further honoured with the presence of the Knitting Club for what will be one of their regular meetings up here at the Flying Fortress. However the main event of the day was the funeral of David Wasket from Thurston. Mr Wasket was a very well-known and popular jazz musician and his family, friends and fellow musicians saw him off in traditional jazz fashion. I understand there was a Marching Band at the Crematorium and in the evening there must've been at least 30 musicians playing at various times on the stage to a packed hall. In 23 years of running the Flying Fortress we have never seen such a send off to what was obviously such a very popular man.
Thursday was relatively quiet although Friday was reasonably busy and then we had a good Saturday evening but lunchtime was fairly quiet. On Saturday evening Pakenham Bowls Club held their annual dinner with 22 members whilst the Wilson party at a get-together in the new conservatory. Nigel Huffey celebrated his 59th birthday and Bunny and Shirley Starrie celebrated their wedding anniversary. We hope everybody enjoyed themselves and wish them all the very best.
Sunday was another cracker and I know this by the amount of time I spent at the Carvery. From about a 12:45 until 3 o'clock I never left my station as I was carving dinners to a constant queue of hungry customers. It is a fact that when people book they all want to come at one o'clock and you can tell they get annoyed if you tell them that you are fully booked at this time. We warned them that we are very busy at one o'clock but they still want to book it and are prepared to take the consequences which can mean a lengthy queue at the Carvery. I presume this must help to work up an appetite because they are all in very good humour when they finally get served. They tell me afterwards that the wait was worthwhile. By the end of the day we had done over 200 meals and my poor aching arms and feet certainly knew all about it.
Marjorie Puddifoot celebrated her 90th birthday Peter Balaam celebrated his 77th and Andy Balaam his 50th and of course we wish them very happy birthdays. I'm sure there were other people also celebrating and I apologise that we did not get details of their events.
Hopefully if you get the Citizen you will see that we are advertising the fact we are doing Carveries everyday and also that we have a New Menu which is proving very popular. If you bring the advert in and have a carvery meal then you will be entitled to a free drink. I know you must be saying, "is there any end to our generosity"? Last December we had a promotion giving out cards offering a 20% discount on food in January and this has been very well taken up with quite a few people presenting their vouchers when they eat.
Once again I must remind you that this Thursday, 2nd February we are holding a Quiz evening which starts at eight o'clock. Everyone is welcome and teams can be from 1 to 6 in strength and the joining fee is just one pound a person. All of the money goes to prizes and at the moment the bonus question would win £40 for the correct answer.
Although I am not looking for sympathy I have had a bit of a cold just recently and also a bit of a headache which of course I was blaming on the cold. However one day last week we checked the alcohol strength of the red wine I sip during the evening and to our amazement found that it was 14.5%. The red I usually drink is about 11% so I think perhaps this might explain the headaches. It certainly is made me a little more careful.
As this letter has now taking me over 2 1/2 hours to write as I have been called away to meet an old Rugby acquaintance,Barry Squirrel, and we have been replaying all those magical moments and tries we scored over some 20 years and catching up with all the news and all the people we both know I think it is time I brought the letter to a close. As always I would like to invite you up to the Flying Fortress where you will be made most welcome and don't forget if you bring the voucher from the Citizen and have a Carvery meal you will be entitled to your free drink. There might not be such a thing as a free lunch but there certainly can be a free drink! So goodbye for now see you soon,
Yours faithfully and sincerely
All at the Flying Fortress
24th of January 2012
Dear Customers,
Another wet miserable day but still no sign of snow thank goodness. The good thing about this type of weather is that it keeps the heating bills down and most of the time we only need the air conditioning units on to provide enough heat for most of the pub.
Talking of heating we have at last managed to make serious contact with British Gas and they are coming out this Friday to do a survey. Two letters I sent them were lost in the post so eventually I completed the application over the phone and things are now beginning to move. There was some doubt whether gas was still connected but this has been verified so depending on the cost of the meter and any other minor works we may be converting to gas heating and even using mains gas for cooking instead of propane.
The new Menus have now been in use for over a week and we are very pleased with the way things are working out. The Specials are also on a card menu and although we had to quickly reprint some more for Sunday they had been very well received. We intend to change the specials every two weeks or so but in the meantime if something runs out we will just have to notify the customer that it is not available. The new dishes have also been very well received although one or two customers are missing their old favourites. If we are able and still have the item in stock we have been only too happy to oblige them with their favourite items. Many more however are welcoming the change and all of their comments have been favourable.
As reported earlier we are now having Carvery available at every session and although this has been slow to get through to a lot of our customers several others are extremely pleased to see the Carvery back at all times that we are open. We know that our Roast Dinner is by far the favourite choice on a Sunday but there is no reason why it should not be equally appreciated on other days of the week. The other beauty is that it is ready to eat instantaneously. You can come in to the Fortress, order your drink and within a minute or two be sitting eating your Carvery. McDonald's would be proud of such instant service!
Last week Rosemary and I managed to get away for a couple days thanks to a generous Christmas present from Ian, our son who looked after the pub in our absence. He also gave us tickets to a play at the Theatre Royal in Norwich and a voucher to a very upmarket restaurant in the same town. Both gifts were much appreciated and enjoyed especially the meal which was the taster menu which comprised of about eight or more courses and was well worth the £50 per head that it cost. Don't worry we are not thinking of starting a similar menu at the Flying Fortress just yet.
As you would expect for mid-January last week was not overly busy but we had one or two meetings and a very enjoyable Quiz night during the week and Sunday was the busiest we have had so far this year. On Tuesday Abbeygate Badminton Club had a small meeting and on Thursday the British Model Flying Club had a meeting as did SWAP, the Parkinson support group. On Thursday we also held our bimonthly Quiz and this was supported by 15 customers and a very, very close encounter followed. The contest was one by just half a point and both sides could have won by more had they had the strength of their convictions in the wipeout round when they did not dare to include answers which proved to be correct. Obviously they were not members of the SAS.
As far as we know we only had two get-togethers of note and these were both on Sunday. Glen Ross and Rebecca Hunt celebrated their engagement and Peter and Eileen Hull had a belated Christmas get-together with family and friends.
Whilst we were away Ian had a bit of a Spring clean and tidy up. Needless to say he threw out several of my most precious possessions such as the Guinness fridge which had never been used and tidied up the bookshelves with all those priceless and loved books which no one ever reads. I'm sure that if we left Ian here or a week we would not recognise the place. I have to say that many of his changes had been long over due and it is always nice to have a new pair of eyes to see the obvious.
Although the last two weeks have been very quiet it has been encouraging to see the number of bookings that are coming in and especially for largish meetings in the Function Room. We have done our homework and although we would not claim or try to be the cheapest in the area we reckon we are as good as any other and always give good value for money and excellent service. We are always prepared to tailor our offerings to the need of the customer and as a result we think we are not only getting new business but also retaining it. There is no doubt that a couple of decent meetings or functions during the week put a much better look to the weekly takings.
I am sure you all read about the shop in Bury that had its rates doubled and I know exactly how they must feel. The Business Rates are one of those costs that you have no control over at all. They are set by Government and it is very difficult to get them changed and even more difficult to know whether they are fair or not. They have to be paid at the same rate whether you have 1 or 100 customers in the pub and you have no control over them at all. With other costs you can either shop around for a cheaper supplier or not use so much of that particular commodity but with the business rates you have no choice, just pay up.
I probably told you about the problems we had with Macro and the deliveries well we are having very similar problems with Bookers. We hope that these can be sorted out and we get the type of service we require but I have my doubts. They do not seem to be that well organised to deal with this type of delivery trade. I am about the look in Yellow Pages for yet another supplier.
Once again my word counter does not seem to be working so I am presuming that I have written enough to satisfy you for another week though if you would like to hear more you are welcome to come and visit us up here at the Flying Fortress where I am sure I will have plenty more to complain about. Every now and then I have good news and this is well worth waiting for. So with this promise I will be saying Goodbye hoping to see you soon and don't forget you if don't want to lose your pub you should use it!
Yours faithfully and sincerely
All at the Flying
17th of January 2012
Dear Customers,
Well you wanted Cold and Frost and you have it. I hope you are satisfied although as long as it stays as bright and sunny as it is this morning I don't think any of us will complain.
You will be pleased and perhaps surprised that we have finally gone on to our New Menu and this seems to be going quite well. It is in a different formula to our old one in as much as we are no longer using the Crimson Menu cases but instead have printed cards with the menu on. This is on a parchment type card but we have found that the ink does not stick very well to the paper so we are laminating them to make them last little a longer. We are intending to put the Specials' Menu onto card also but at the moment we are still using the Chalk Boards. Already we have noticed the odd mistake which hopefully will be corrected at the next reprint. Please accept it as a mistake and not a fact that the 8 ounce burgers are the same price as the 4 ounce ones and accept our apologies that Haddock and chips are not on the main menu but on the Special one for now. I think that these are the major mistakes and not bad for our first attempt. I am sure you will notice many more. The Wine List is also on a separate sheet and is available on request.
The Special Menu includes some completely new dishes for us as does the Main Menu. Four types of pies are available and several types of Fish including Fish Pie which I saw on the Hairy Bikers was the most popular pub meal. I would have thought this would have been Sausage and Mash, Fish and Chips or Steak and Kidney Pie but certainly all of these are most popular at the flying Fortress. We also have four of five vegetarian meals on the menu so if this is your persuasion you will be well catered for. Included in these are Glamorgan sausages which we probably have all heard of but most of us would not know they are made from breadcrumbs egg and cheese. These are served with mash, vegetables and onion gravy and having had them for dinner on Sunday I can thoroughly recommend them.
The Carvery however still holds pride of place at The Flying Fortress and this is now available at every Sesssion that we are open.
Once again I have to remind you that the Quiz is this Thursday and starts at eight o'clock. Hopefully a good crowd will turn up as we were a little short at the last quiz night. All the money taken in fees goes to the winners although the kitty goes on to the next quiz if it is not won this time.
As you can imagine the second week in January was not as busy as some we have had such as mid-July but on the other hand it was quite reasonable. On Tuesday BAR held one of their regular lunchtime meetings with a meal and on Wednesday a party of ladies that work or have worked at the Police Station came in for dinner and a lively, I was going to say gossip, but I'm sure it was just a good natter. Whatever the subject was there was an awful lot of laughter emerging from the room. On Friday Roly Talbot celebrated his 65th birthday with a group of family and friends.
On Saturday morning we were honoured with a visit of local Bellringers who were going to pull the bells at the Norman Tower in Bury St Edmunds. There were 34 in this party and they all had a hearty carvery to fortify themselves for the hard work. Thank you MMaurice Rose for organising the event and next time I will let you help yourself to the crackling without abuse! We also had quite a few people dining on Saturday morning so it made for a really busy start to the day. Unfortunately as so often happens this was not followed by a busy evening and of the three tables booked two rang up to cancel because of illness. We had just a few other diners and all in all it was a quiet night. Just one celebration to report and this was Cathy's 40th birthday which was celebrated long into the evening.
Sunday thankfully was a lot busier though perhaps not quite as busy as those before Christmas but I think this is understandable. John Sturgeon celebrated a birthday and Margaret Rush celebrated her 80th birthday with family and friends. The evening was fairly quiet with the one table that was booked cancelling again through illness. As it happened one of our staff also cancelled through illness so luckily I was able to manage on my own with just Kerry to help.
The book about the pictorial history of the Rougham Airfield and the 94th Bomb Group has been selling terrifically well and I for ever seem to be ringing up Cliff Hall to bring more copies. This book was launched mid-December up here at the Flying Fortress with a signing by the author night and Cliff and Wendy must be really pleased just how well sales are going. Although we are not the main distributors we have been contacted by many people both here and abroad wanting to know how they can obtain a copy. If you are local you can give us a ring on (01284) 787665 or if you need a copy sent you could ring Cliff on (01284) 705405 and he will be able to put you in touch with the people who are the main distributors.
As I told you last week this computer seems to have a mind of its own and every now and then it goes into italics and it is not telling me how many words I have written so far. I only know it feels like more than enough so I think it is time I will should be saying goodbye to you, hoping to see you up here soon at the Flying Fortress and wishing you well.
Yours faithfully and sincerely
All at The Flying Fortress
PS I am sure that everybody who knows Martin Rice will be extremely pleased to hear that he is back home following his fourth operation for brain tumours and when we saw him on Sunday he was in excellent health and humour. Well done and good luck Martin from all your friends at the Fortress.