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A
BRIEF HISTORY OF FOND
YOU MAY BE INTERESTED to know that,
since FOND was formed in 1999, we have:
*
Achieved a membership of around 300 individuals from all parts
of Norfolk and the Waveney Valley, as well as ex-pats scattered
across the world.
*
Visited all parts of the county with a rolling programme of
at least four public meetings (or dews) each year.
These meetings have attracted distinguished and entertaining
speakers and have helped to raise funds for our cause. They
have included our annual New Year party and ‘scratch’
pantomime which, in January 2005, raised more than £450
for the Eastern Daily Press South-East Asia Tsunami
Disaster Appeal.
*
Established a website which, to date, has recorded over 80,000
page-hits, many of them from Norfolk exiles living overseas.
*
Given advice on dialect to theatre actors, producers and authors.
*
Secured Lottery funding to purchase recording equipment, and
given training in its use to a number of members.
*
Made steady progress with a programme of recording dialect
speakers, the recordings being housed in the Sound Archive
at the Norfolk Records office.
*
Assisted with the organisation of seminars involving teachers
and the University of East Anglia.
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| BY
PETER TRUDGILL |
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*
Applied for further Lottery funding, totalling almost £25,000,
for a pilot project, being carried out in co-operation with
the Local Education Authority, to introduce an understanding
and appreciation of Norfolk Dialect as a subject for study
in the county’s schools. If the bid is successful this
initiative is on track to be launched this year.
*
Put together displays at various fetes and festivals around
Norfolk, including the Origins promotion at The Forum in Norwich,
and taken part in other events such as the Harleston Festival.
During
that period our President, Peter Trudgill, has completed his
book on the historical development and grammar of the Norfolk
dialect.
POOR
ON-SCREEN PORTRAYAL
OF NORFOLK DIALECT
As
you may recall, one of the factors which led to the formation
of FOND was the concern and disappointment often expressed
by Norfolk people over the portrayal of their accent in films
and on television.
It
was our view that the writers and producers of programmes
set in East Anglia, who would make every effort to ensure
the historical accuracy of their work in every other respect,
paid scant regard to the need to ensure that the language
spoken by actors portraying local people was equally authentic.
We
have continued to express our views on this issue whenever
possible, and we have taken a number of opportunities to raise
the profile of the Norfolk Dialect through the media, including
taking part in the current BBC Radio 4 ‘Voices’
project.
Our
continuing aim is to record and promote the dialect which
is such an important part of the history and character of
the region.
FOND
CELEBRATES ITS FIRST TEN YEARS
1999–2009
It
was on the afternoon of Sunday, 3 October 1999, that some
fifty people from all corners of the county gathered in the
Village Hall at Yaxham and decided to establish an organisation
which would strive to preserve the unique sound of the Norfolk
dialect.
Under
the chairmanship of Keith Skipper, a constitution was agreed,
an organising committee elected and FOND was in business –
with a figure of international repute in the field of linguistics,
Norwich-born Professor Peter Trudgill, as its president.
As
if to order, a few weeks later the BBC film All the King’s
Men appeared on our screens, prompting Skip to comment:
“Perfect timing, eh? FOND flexes its muscles as another
big-name television production makes a mockery of the Norfolk
tongue. All the King’s Men from Sandringham assembled
proudly, then marched into the same old murky Mummerzet waters.”
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| NORFOLK
DIALECT AND ITS FRIENDS |
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The
story of FOND’s efforts to improve the handling of our
dialect by the broadcasting media, talks and seminars at county
level funded by a £24,600 Local Heritage grant, plus
school visits and sound-recording in the community for the
Norfolk Archive Centre is told in Norfolk Dialect and its
Friends – with ten years of FOND memories recalled
by Robin Limmer – has been published by John Nickalls
Publications, of Suton, Wymondham.
The
foreword is by Keith Skipper and the book is designed by Ashley
Gray.
The
book is also a compendium of feature articles which have appeared
in The Merry Mawkin over the past ten years, including
a miscellany which sings the praises of our county in the
twin series ‘What Norfolk Means to Me’ and ‘Norfolk
by Adoption’.
Norfolk
Dialect and it’s Friends is
printed in the popular A5 format, has 224 pages and is illustrated
with over 120 monochrome photographs, and is available direct
from FOND.
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leave your comments or any questions in the FOND
Guestbook –
as we’d like to hear from yew, tergether! |
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