Guests at the events were given a masterclass by Ray Craven, the Master Butcher for Morrisons, before having to cut and cook their own beef.
The event was attended by Directors of the supermarket chain and Nick Herbert (Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and Jim Paice (Shadow Minister for Agriculture) to discuss food sourcing and the efforts of Morrisons to use local farms as suppliers.
The Conservatives are demanding honest 'country of origin' labelling which would require products carrying the UK flag to be born, reared and processed in Britain. George said "the campaign for honesty in food labelling is extremely important to British farmers and consumers who are currently suffering due to shoddy laws and opaque labelling practices. Customers want to buy British and it is encouraging to see big firms like Morrisons taking positive steps and using local suppliers."
Photo: George with, from left to right, Nick Herbert, Jim Paice and Master Butcher Ray Craven.
Raising many hundreds of pounds for Help for Heroes and the Bursary, the event has been hailed as a triumph by attendees. ""The evening was a perfect of illustration of what The Norfolk Way is about: celebrating Norfolk's spirit of local self help, enterprise and excellence. The evening was about people of all ages and backgrounds coming together to support, and supported by, local entertainment, food and drink entrepreneurs to raise money for young entrepreneurs and our much valued service personnel. We will be making this an annual event."" said George Freeman, Founder of The Norfolk Way and Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Mid Norfolk.
Organisers have already confirmed the event will be held again next year on Friday 12 November 2010.
Over 150 people of all ages raised over £500 for Help for Heroes and the Bursary, and enjoyed a real family affair in the stunning floodlit barn of Hunter's Hall with: local fiddle band Rootsmusic, sparklers for the children, local hog roast, local beer from the Beeston Brewery, cider and juices from Breckland Juices, and toffee apples and donuts from Devilish Donuts.
The new Rural Enterprise Bursary has been founded by George Freeman in conjunction with local entrepreneurs. The scheme will provide financial support to young people living in rural areas of Norfolk to encourage rural entrepreneurship and bring new opportunities to Mid Norfolk school leavers. "We need to inspire and encourage a new generation of Norfolk entrepreneurs" said Ali Clabburn of Liftshare, who is supporting the scheme.
Photo: Over 100 people braved the gale to support the Norfolk Way Bonfire Party
The Norwich Research Park boasts the world renowned John Innes Centre and Institute of Food Research, adjacent to the biomedical research campus at the Norfolk and Norwich hospital, and the UEA Centre for Climate Change. Together, these centres represent a world class cluster of excellence in the key technologies which will shape the world's ability to meet the rising challenges of shortages of food, water and energy, healthcare and environmental degradation arising from the world population explosion. Combined with Norfolk's tradition of innovativeengineering around the Lotus site at Hethel, agricultural training and development at Morley and Easton, world class agriculture, and finance for innovation in Norwich, we have the building blocks to be the Silicon Valley of the next wave of 'Clean' Technologies.
George, an adviser to the Iceni Fund which supports innovative companies on the Norwich Research Park, and a Director of Elsoms Seeds, has spent14 years in technology venturing before deciding to stand for Parliament. He founded and runs 4D Biomedical and 4D Cleantech technology advisory businesses, and The Norfolk Way, an innovative project to raise the profile of Norfolk's innovation potential and campaign for a more organic approach to development in Norfolk based on a more diverse rural economy.
For more details on The Norfolk Way and George's campaigns to promote a new approach to Norfolk's economy, contact george@thenorfolkway.co.uk or call 01842 829 748.
Photo: George supporting Norfolk's global leadership in Food and Crop Science at the John Innes Centre and Institute of Food Research on the Norwich Research Park.
"People are deeply disillusioned and turned off by the way politics is conducted these days. A new generation of us face the task of rebuilding trust in Parliament and MPs. That can only be done by hard work at the grass roots - putting people and place before party and getting out and listening to people's day to day concerns."
Launched in the Griffin in Attleborough, the evening is intended to be an informal chance for local people of all political persuasions and none to drop in and meet George and air their concerns. "Over 40 people came to the first event which was very encouraging. Most people dont want to join a political party or go to a political meeting but everyone on Thursday seemed to value the chance to talk through their concerns and find out what I was hoping to do for them if elected. It was also a fun and civilised evening, supporting our local pubs which the Government are neglecting. This is a small way I am trying to re-connect politics with the people we are here to serve."
George is looking to take Politics in the Pub around the whole constituency over the winter months - if you would like to suggest a pub in your neighbourhood which he might visit, please email george@thenorfolkway.co.uk or call 01842 929 748.
"Our local Police need our suport. Like so many communities in Britain, parts of Dereham have been experiencing serious anti-social behaviour and drug and drink related disorder and crime. A small number of people - sometimes even one family - can wreak terror on whole communities. It is essential our Police are given the freedom to fight criminals, and the public given the safeguards to help them."
Norfolk has a great tradition of community self help and volunteering. But too often we lose out on the funding which goes to the big cities. Project Rainbow in Watton is a great example of people voluntarily making a huge difference to their community. They need our support.
George is riding the 130m bike ride in 5 stages, each one promoting a different theme of The Norfolk Way campaign (previous stages promoted the EDP's Shop Here scheme, Post Offices and Pubs.) The tour comprised 25 miles from Litcham to Watton:
- Litcham:seen off by Mike Fuller, owner of The Village Butcher, top local butcher selling all seasonal local produce.
- A thriving village with Post Office, butcher, pub humming with activity as people bought weekend provisions.
- Necton - Met Frank Woodward, Chairman of Necton Parish Chairman, Jane Harding, Chairman Lt Dunham Parish council) and the landlord Dave at the Windmill pub
- Heard about serious local issues: day centres, need for a roundabout on A47, village flooding, and anger at the costs of government "consultations".
- N Pickenham - Met landlord Mike, Councillor Jill Ball and Wil Smith, young entrepreneur founder of TTSR Ground Maintenance, and visited the American War Memorial.
- Heard how the village has lost its Post Office, but a resilient pub (good Sunday lunches), and local councillor fighting to protect services.
- Met Wil Smith - an inspiring example of a young Norfolk entrepreneur building a business from Pickenham
- Ashill - visited Ashill Community Centre and youth club, meeting manager Joice.
- Looked around Ashill's fantastically well equipped community centre with catering, entertainment and sports facilities, and the great youth club helping to provide some amusement for youngsters, and heard how hard it is to raise funds to maintain this facility many villages would love to have.
- Watton - visited The Surge community centre and met:
- Carla Keen, Fran Leveridge, and Harriet from award winning Watton dance troupe Dance Unleashed,
- Fiona Southward, founder, Bev Page, George Boulter from Ecobugs (young environmental voluntary group of students at Wayland High School addressing waste, litter, recycling and environmental issues - keeping the school clean from litter & promoting pollution awareness),
- Tony Abel, Paul and Marion Adcock, Julian Horn, Cllr Claire Bowes and Jan Godfrey (Wayland Partnership)
- PS Ogbourne and PCSO Joe Jermy.
Meeting Head Mervyn Rolfe and students on a visit to Wymondham College, George praised the concept of state boarding schools of which Wymondham is a rare example, and the local Governors, Teachers, Pupils and Parents who make it such a success.
"We need to get away from the stale '2 tier' education system and encourage a diversity of schools to cater for different needs, expand choice and highlight different approaches to driving up school standards" said George.
"Wymondham College is a great example of a state school which is delivering an excellent education within the state system with an ethos of excellence, choice and mixed provision which we need more of".
An amateur Charity Concert was held at Salle Church on Saturday 24th October in aid of the We Care Appeal which now stands at £950,000. There is now a big push to reach the £1 million mark.
A great show was put together by The Old Wild Rovers and David Hardy who sang sea shanties and traditional and popular folk music supported by Norfolk's finest and funniest performers. Special visual effects of a golden maritime age brought the evening alive as well as a fantastic light show performance outside the church.
The aim of the EDP We Care Appeal is to raise £1 million to establish an enduring Charitable Trust, the Norfolk Millennium Trust for Carers, which gives practical and financial support to carers in Norfolk.
'For most people it is a rewarding experience and they do it because they want to. But there are times when the sense of frustration or sheer exhaustion makes their task almost too much to cope with.'Lady Mary Colman, President of the appeal.
For further details please contact Tom Harrison of the Old Wild Rovers (Tel: 07785 731804) or Paddy Seligman, Chairman/Trustee of the EDP We Care Appeal (Tel: 01263 768339).
