News

The latest phase of Yours South Lynn will commence this week consisting of 18 brand new homes

The dwellings will comprise 2 three bedroom houses...

Morston Assets has successfully negotiated planning permission for residential development at Copenhagen Way, Norwich.

The outline planning permission is for 4 No. apart...

Lang Loan selected as preferred development option by Midlothian Council

Land owned by Morston Assets, as a part of the Str...

West Straiton selected as preferred development option by Midlothian Council

Land owned by Morston Assets, as a part of the Str...

Yours Business Networks Gateshead Welcome Another New Tenant

We have another new tenant moving into Yours Busin...

Wolseley decides to stay at Alysham Road, Norwich

Wolseley UK Limited have signed a new five year le...

Savills Edinburgh appointed to market Midlothian development site

Morston Assets has appointed Savills Edinburgh as ...

John Bailey Recognises the Community Spirit at Your Business Networks Kings Lynn

10th April 2012

When EDP journalist, John Bailey visited Your Business Networks’ South Lynn development, he was so excited by what he saw, and the planned expenditure, he has decided to include it in his campaign to bring back the 50's cartoon character, Mr Crabtree. Below is his article discussing why he is so passionate about this illustrated icon, and how Yours Business Networks community spirit creates the perfect space for generations to once again enjoy the fun of fishing.

            "Regular readers of this column will be aware that I am heavily involved with the Crabtree Campaign...bringing back the 1950s cartoon character, Mr. Crabtree, into modern-day fishing. Back then, Mr. Crabtree, created by Bernard Venables, took his son Peter fishing throughout the year. The cartoons were serialised in the Daily Mirror and came out in book form, probably one of the more successful publications in angling history. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been running a competition for new Peters to take part in an angling series that we are just about to start filming. Personally, I was absolutely blown away by the response. Privately, I was hoping that perhaps a hundred or so children might take part but, in actual fact, we received well over five thousand comprehensively put together applications from children aged between eight and thirteen. The standard or writing was generally excellent. The photographs were superb, too. Many, in fact perhaps the majority, even included video clips of themselves. And, amazingly, a very large percentage of the applicants were made up of girls, too. So, we’ve got our Peters and our Petronellas.

            What this makes you realise is that there are so many children out there desperate to fish, really wanting to do something in the countryside that is hands-on and totally proactive. We are not looking at a generation of children that are simply content to sit glued to computers. They want to get out there, just like we did, and live real life in the raw. It seems that the lessons Mr. Crabtree taught Peter fifty or sixty years ago are still the lessons kids want to learn today.

            Last week, I visited the beginnings of a large housing development on the outskirts of King’s Lynn. The buildings already in existence were beautifully varied and intriguing. The land around them had been sensitively landscaped. Everywhere there were flowers and freshly-planted trees. There was no graffiti and absolutely no litter. The site is set to expand dramatically over the next few years and Kimberly, in looking after the site, took me onto a vast derelict sprawl that will soon become a hive of life and activity. She was desperate to point out that this will become a development with a difference. It will have a heart and a soul. The residents will be encouraged to feel part of a proper community. We came to a bridge where a river runs through it all. And this is where I and Crabtree come in.

            We will certainly be filming one of the episodes around this extraordinary off-shoot from what must be the Great Ouse. Of course, there’s a huge amount to do on this piece of water to make it a really viable fishery at the centre of this exciting new development, but that doesn’t matter. In fact, the more there is to do, the better. With any luck, helping to create a fishery at the heart of this new community will enthuse dozens, scores, even hundreds of new King’s Lynn Crabtree kids. If everyone concerned can get this right, this stream – it’s not much more – can become an important part of the beating heart of this intelligent and sensitive new development. Hopefully, it will give these kids a real stake and true pride in where they live. It will give them something to do during weekends and holidays, a real purpose and reason for living where they do. Why, after all, did the kids riot in the summer of ’11? Perhaps if they’d loved their surroundings, they wouldn’t have torched them.

I remember back to me and my mates at the turn of the 60s. There wouldn’t be a weekend, a summer evening or a school holiday when we wouldn’t be down on the water. Holkham Lake was a favourite. I’d literally run down the track, through the forest, scaring the deer, to get to my swim and chat to my fishing mates. Nowhere was dearer to me than Letheringsett Lake. All of us from Holt way used to gather there and fish for the miniscule roach, always praying that a pike might come along. More dangerous were Cley sluice gates at the foot of the River Glaven. The perch there were massive and I guess there was always a danger of falling in and being swept away by the tide. But none of us ever did. We learnt those important lessons of survival through fishing. Hopefully, the kids in King’s Lynn will do the same.

How to develop friendships. How to face real challenges. How nature really works. That’s what Mr. Crabtree taught my generation. Hopefully, by following in his footsteps, these vital and these fun lessons will burn just as brightly once more.

Please do follow my fishing fortunes and upcoming adventures of Mr. Crabtree by reading my blogs at www.kingfisherapartments.co.uk. These are exciting times and it is good to think that angling is about more than simply catching fish.”

When EDP journalist, John Bailey visited Your Business Networks’ South Lynn development, he was so excited by what he saw, and the planned expenditure, he has decided to include it in his campaign to bring back the 50's cartoon character, Mr Crabtree. Below is his article discussing why he is so passionate about this illustrated icon, and how Yours Business Networks community spirit creates the perfect space for generations to once again enjoy the fun of fishing.

"Regular readers of this column will be aware that I am heavily involved with the Crabtree Campaign...bringing back the 1950s cartoon character, Mr. Crabtree, into modern-day fishing. Back then, Mr. Crabtree, created by Bernard Venables, took his son Peter fishing throughout the year. The cartoons were serialised in the Daily Mirror and came out in book form, probably one of the more successful publications in angling history. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been running a competition for new Peters to take part in an angling series that we are just about to start filming. Personally, I was absolutely blown away by the response. Privately, I was hoping that perhaps a hundred or so children might take part but, in actual fact, we received well over five thousand comprehensively put together applications from children aged between eight and thirteen. The standard or writing was generally excellent. The photographs were superb, too. Many, in fact perhaps the majority, even included video clips of themselves. And, amazingly, a very large percentage of the applicants were made up of girls, too. So, we’ve got our Peters and our Petronellas. What this makes you realise is that there are so many children out there desperate to fish, really wanting to do something in the countryside that is hands-on and totally proactive. We are not looking at a generation of children that are simply content to sit glued to computers. They want to get out there, just like we did, and live real life in the raw. It seems that the lessons Mr. Crabtree taught Peter fifty or sixty years ago are still the lessons kids want to learn today.
Last week, I visited the beginnings of a large housing development on the outskirts of King’s Lynn. The buildings already in existence were beautifully varied and intriguing. The land around them had been sensitively landscaped. Everywhere there were flowers and freshly-planted trees. There was no graffiti and absolutely no litter. The site is set to expand dramatically over the next few years and Kimberly, in looking after the site, took me onto a vast derelict sprawl that will soon become a hive of life and activity. She was desperate to point out that this will become a development with a difference. It will have a heart and a soul. The residents will be encouraged to feel part of a proper community. We came to a bridge where a river runs through it all. And this is where I and Crabtree come in.
We will certainly be filming one of the episodes around this extraordinary off-shoot from what must be the Great Ouse. Of course, there’s a huge amount to do on this piece of water to make it a really viable fishery at the centre of this exciting new development, but that doesn’t matter. In fact, the more there is to do, the better. With any luck, helping to create a fishery at the heart of this new community will enthuse dozens, scores, even hundreds of new King’s Lynn Crabtree kids. If everyone concerned can get this right, this stream – it’s not much more – can become an important part of the beating heart of this intelligent and sensitive new development. Hopefully, it will give these kids a real stake and true pride in where they live. It will give them something to do during weekends and holidays, a real purpose and reason for living where they do. Why, after all, did the kids riot in the summer of ’11? Perhaps if they’d loved their surroundings, they wouldn’t have torched them.
I remember back to me and my mates at the turn of the 60s. There wouldn’t be a weekend, a summer evening or a school holiday when we wouldn’t be down on the water. Holkham Lake was a favourite. I’d literally run down the track, through the forest, scaring the deer, to get to my swim and chat to my fishing mates. Nowhere was dearer to me than Letheringsett Lake. All of us from Holt way used to gather there and fish for the miniscule roach, always praying that a pike might come along. More dangerous were Cley sluice gates at the foot of the River Glaven. The perch there were massive and I guess there was always a danger of falling in and being swept away by the tide. But none of us ever did. We learnt those important lessons of survival through fishing. Hopefully, the kids in King’s Lynn will do the same.
How to develop friendships. How to face real challenges. How nature really works. That’s what Mr. Crabtree taught my generation. Hopefully, by following in his footsteps, these vital and these fun lessons will burn just as brightly once more.
Please do follow my fishing fortunes and upcoming adventures of Mr. Crabtree by reading my blogs at  www.kingfisherapartments.co.uk are exciting times and it is good to think that angling is about more than simply catching fish.".These are exciting times and it is good to think that angling is about more than simply catching fish.”