1. Monday, October 21, 2013www.edp24.co.uk
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WE DID IT!Villagers raise the cash
needed to save their pub
I Villagers and John
McGourty, chairman of
the Save Our King’s Arms
(SOKA) campaign,
celebrate outside the pub
at Shouldham.
Picture: IAN BURT
I Full story – page five
Villagers behind an EDP-backed
campaign to buy their last remain-
ing pub declared: “We did it!” as
they reached a landmark £150,000
fund-raising target which puts
them within touching distance of
being able to buy the venue.
Shouldham residents now face
the tantalising prospect of getting
their hands on the beer pumps of
the King’s Arms in four or five
weeks after an overwhelming
response from the people of West
Norfolk to a rallying cry to save
the village’s last remaining water-
ing hole.
Organisers of the Save Our
King’s Arms (SOKA) campaign
have been selling stakes in the pub
to help raise the cash to buy and
reopen it as a community pub. The
money means that if SOKA’s
application for a matched-funding
grant from the Social Investment
Business (SIB) is successful, it
will have enough to buy and refur-
bish the venue.
But organisers have said they
are taking nothing for granted as
they wait for the SIB to make its
decision over the next month or
so. SOKA secretary Phil Harriss
said: “The whole community is
behind us.”
Andrew Papworth
andrew.papworth@archant.co.uk
INSIDE TODAY
Casualty
badly hurt
after car and
bike collision
Leader’s
secret life
behind the
Iron Curtain
page 38
page five
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UK & WORLD NEWS 8-11
LOTTERY RESULTS 8
CONTACT US 12
OPINION 26-27
LETTERS 28-29
ANNOUNCEMENTS 32
CLASSIFIEDS 43-46
FUEL VOUCHER 33
SPORT 47-56
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Thursday, June 13, 2013
YOUR DAILY LYNN & WEST EDITION INCORPORATING 70p
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Council to
debate new
incinerator
proposals
page 4
WEATHER 14
UK & WORLD NEWS 8-11
LOTTERY RESULTS 8
CONTACT US 12
OPINION 30-31
LETTERS 32-33
ANNOUNCEMENTS 36
CLASSIFIEDS 49-52
FUEL VOUCHER 37
SPORT 54-64 www. 24.co.uk
Gas leak could have killed us all
Family tells of shock over carbon monoxide poisoning horror –see page 15
INSIDE TODAY
Childhood sweethearts’
love story lasted a lifetime
UKIP councillor resigns
over shoplifting storm
page 4
pages 2-3
Full story – page 7
A year ago, they lost their last
remaining pub – but today, the
residents of Shouldham start a
fightback by announcing a cam-
paign to club together to buy the
venue so they can reopen it for the
community.
Punters were devastated when
the beloved King’s Arms, in The
Green, closed in June last year
after it struggled to keep up with
rent payments.
Determined to bring it back,
they have decided to raise the
£315,000 asking price and run it
themselves – with villagers each
owning a stake and profits being
divided between themselves and
good causes in the community.
Backed by the EDP, the cam-
paign will enable people to buy
shares worth anything from £50 to
£20,000 after residents won a bat-
tle to get it listed as a “community
asset” by West Norfolk Borough
Council.
John McGourty, chairman of
the Save Our King’s Arms (SOKA)
campaign, said: “This is our
chance to put The King’s Arms at
the heart of village life.”
SHOULDER TO
SHOULDHAMEDP backing villagers’ bid to reopen beloved pub
Residents of Shouldham
are trying to reopen their
village pub, the King’s
Arms. Photo: IAN BURT
Andrew Papworth
andrew.papworth@archant.co.uk
I Flashback to June 13 this year to
the launch of the campaign.

2. 5
local NEWS
Eastern DailyPress MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2013
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@edp24
MONDAY 28TH OCTOBER
10AM - 2PM
Andrew Papworth
andrew.papworth@archant.co.uk
Villagers hit their target
for bid to buy their pub
Victorious villagers behind an
EDP-backed campaign to buy their
pub are today celebrating after they
reached their target of selling
£150,000 of shares.
Organisers of the Shouldham Save
Our King’s Arms (SOKA) are now
one step closer to getting their hands
on the beer pumps of the
17th-century pub after a supportive
Tweet from celebrity Stephen Fry
prompted a last-minute rush of
share-buying, which took them over
the finishing line.
Residents announced the news
that they had reached the £150,000
milestone on Twitter with the words:
“We did it!”.
SOKA has been selling stakes in
the pub on the village green to help
raise the money needed to buy and
reopen it as a community pub owned
and run by local people.
The overwhelming response from
across West Norfolk and beyond
means that if SOKA’s application for
When we started we
said that we have just
got to do something,
because we won’t be
able to live with
ourselves if we let our
final pub go
Phil Harriss
over the next month or so.
He admitted that when the villag-
ers set out on their campaign after
The King’s Arms closed last year,
they did not know just how strong
the response would be.
“It has been fantastic and just
really heartening,” he said. “When
we started we said that we have just
got to do something, because we
won’t be able to live with ourselves if
we let our final pub go.”
Shouldham once boasted six pubs
but, over the years, they have all
closed.
The King’s Arms was the last one
left and had played a major part in
village life. However it closed last
year when its tenants failed to keep
up with rent payments, prompting
SOKA organisers to say: “There is a
feeling we’ve got to do it – not just for
ourselves but future generations
too.”
SOKA chairman John McGourty
said the aim was to “put the King’s
Arms at the heart of village life and
make a contribution to the whole
fabric of the community”.
a matched-funding grant from the
Social Investment Business (SIB) is
successful, it will have enough
money to buy and refurbish it.
It raises the tantalising prospect
that, if the grant application is
successful, the villagers could own
the pub within four or five weeks –
although organisers stress there is
still a long way and that they are
taking nothing for granted.
The SIB has already visited
Shouldham to assess its grant appli-
cation, with SOKA secretary Phil
Harriss saying: “Initial feedback
from SIB has been extremely posi-
tive.” It is due to make its decision
The leader of UKIP councillors will
meet the leader of Norfolk County
Council on Tuesday in an attempt to
persuade him to support the cancel-
lation of the proposed King’s Lynn
incinerator in a crunch vote next
week.
The government announced on
Friday it would withdraw £169m of
funding for the project, but cabinet
members have warned the estimated
£26m cost of cancelling the scheme
would have a “devastating” effect on
front-line council services.
The talks between UKIP’s Toby
Coke and Labour’s George Nobbs
come just six days before an extraor-
dinary meeting of the council when
all 84 councillors will be able to vote
on the future of the scheme.
Mr Coke said his group of 14
councillors would have a free vote,
and he expected all of them would
vote against the incinerator. The
40-strong Conservative group, nine-
strong Liberal Democrat group and
four-strong Green group will also
have free votes.
Because the meeting was called at
short notice, it is believed a number
of councillors will be unable to
attend, adding to the uncertainty
about the outcome.
However, the final decision will be
taken the following day by the eight-
member cabinet, which is composed
of five Labour councillors and three
Liberal Democrats, and is not legally
bound to follow the decision of the
full council.
Last week, North West Norfolk
MP Henry Bellingham wrote to the
government asking it to give the
council a loan to cover the cost of
cancelling the contract.
However, a spokesman for Defra
said: “Any potential costs arising
under the contract are an issue for
the council and the contractor.”
UKIP leader hopes to win
support to cancel burner
Casualty seriously injured as car and bike crash
A casualty is in a “serious condition”
after a crash between a car and a
motorcycle in King’s Lynn.
Paramedics called police to the scene,
near Strikes, on Lynn Road, at 6.45pm.
A police spokesman said one person
was injured, and was taken to the
Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s
Lynn.
The A148 Lynn Road/Gaywood Road
was closed in both directions between
Gayton Road and Tennyson Avenue for
most of last night.
I John McGourty, chairman
of the Save Our King’s Arms
(SOKA) campaign outside the
King’s Arms at Shouldham
with Alan Austin and Abbie
Panks. Picture: IAN BURT
I One person
was seriously
hurt after a
collision
between a
motorbike
and a car.
Picture: IAN
BURT