The Broads.
The smallest parish on the register and the least interested in growing. Seven hundred people, most of whom know each other, on a landscape nobody else farms.
The ground it covers.
The Norfolk and Suffolk Broads and the coast from Cromer round to Southwold. The boundary follows the landscape rather than the county line, which is why it looks wrong on an administrative map and right on a soil one.
It meets first Saturday of the month, morning. A boatyard staithe at Ludham. Two meets a year are held on the water, which is either charming or a health and safety incident waiting to happen.
Neil Bircham is the warden. Reed cutter and marshman. Has been doing a job most people assume ended in 1930. The wardenship is unpaid, was not appointed by us, and can only be ended by the parish itself.
- 741
- members
- May 2025
- opened
- First Saturday of the month
- cadence
The details.
The parish
- Ground
- The Norfolk and Suffolk Broads and the coast from Cromer round to Southwold
- Members
- 741Register at 30 August 2026.
- Rank by size
- 11 of 12
- Opened
- May 2025
- Cadence
- First Saturday of the month, morning
- Venue
- A boatyard staithe at Ludham. Two meets a year are held on the water, which is either charming or a health and safety incident waiting to happen
The warden
- Warden
- Neil BirchamA volunteer member, not staff, and not paid.
- Day job
- Reed cutter and marshman. Has been doing a job most people assume ended in 1930.
- Confirmed by
- The parish, at a meet
- Can be stood down by
- The parish, at a meetNot by us. That is deliberate.
Everything on this page is the parish’s own, published by its warden. We host it and we do not write it.
What it actually does.
Reed and sedge
Neil takes members out on the cut in winter. It is cold, wet, and oversubscribed every year.
Eel and pike talk
Which is more interesting than it sounds and involves several people who should write a book.
Flood watching
A shared log of water levels that predates the parish and got adopted by it.
On the water
Two meets a year by boat. Life jackets are compulsory and the warden checks.
The next three things in the diary.
Published by the warden. If it says nothing is in the diary, nothing is in the diary.
Monthly meet
Ludham staithe, 10am. Last outdoor one before the clocks go.
Monthly meet
Ludham, 10am, indoors.
Reed cutting day
Twelve places. Waders essential and genuinely not optional.
Who runs it.
One volunteer and a register. There is no third layer.
Neil Bircham
Reed cutter and marshman. Has been doing a job most people assume ended in 1930.
The parish
741 members, of whom about thirty-one come to any given meet, which is a completely respectable turnout for anything.
What members of this parish said.
Seven hundred members and I think I have met about a hundred of them. That is a decent proportion.
I read the minutes, I have used the lending list twice and I have never been to a meet. Nobody has ever made me feel odd about that.
Not in this one?
Placement is by postcode and moving takes a tap. Twelve parishes, all free.
