At the Council's Annual Meeting on 20 May the Chairman announced that it was looking into the possibility of getting a village sign for Breckles, 'so that Breckles would feel less of a "poor relation" when compared with Stow Bedon!'

The first village signs in England were commissioned by King Edward VII in the early 1900s, when he was Prince of Wales "to encourage community interest and appreciation of their villages." They were carved in the Queen's Carving School on the Sandringham Estate.

In 1920 the Duke of York (later King George VI) mentioned village signs at a Royal Academy banquet, and the Daily Mail set up a competition for the design of signs. Over 500 entries came in, showing how the idea caught the imagination of villages.

Today well over 5000 villages have their own individual signs, and Norfolk tops the county list with over 700.

Stow Bedon joined the club in 1990, but Breckles has missed out. Now the Council is challenging the residents of Breckles to come together to raise the funding, agree a location, and make suggestions for the design of a sign to put their village well and truly 'on the map!'

The first step will be to form a Working Group to do the investigation and to suggest a plan of approach. If you would be interested in joining this, or have any suggestions to make, please contact the Clerk, Julian Gibson, or any of the Parish Councillors.