The year is 2002 and we are staying at a B&B in Great Yarmouth, using it as a base for touring around various places in Norfolk and Suffolk.
Clicking or tapping the photos below will take you to the relevant article. A link on each page will bring you back here.
Tuesday 20 August 2002. We left Billingford Mill and headed for our next source of interest and wonderment. Which we found at a disused World War II aerodrome, now a museum. With free entry no less.
The Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum turned out to be an absolute gem. This part of England was home to many squadrons of the RAF during World War II and saw much action as the German Luftwaffe either flew over on their way to or from bombing raids, or flew intentionally to RAF bases to knock them out of commission.
There were displays of aircraft standing all around representing many different periods and many different countries' air forces.
Given that Suffolk and Norfolk were on routes used by the Axis forces to and from bombing raids and that many of our own returning fighters and bombers would be trying to get back whilst shot up and badly damaged, the surrounding countryside has more than its fair share of crash sites, some of which have been excavated. Here a pile of twisted and battered aircraft parts, laboriously dug out of the ground were stored, some awaiting appraisal and identification.
A Vickers Valetta C2 used for VIP transport with the RAF in Malta, Egypt and Cyprus. The Valetta entered service in 1950, replacing the DC3 Dakota.
This aircraft was open to visitors and I went inside to take a look. This is one of only eleven aircraft built. The C2 was a specialised VIP transport. The bulk of the RAF's Valettas were C1 variants which had been designed for a number of roles and internal configurations, including troop carrying, wounded transports and glider towing. Internal fittings were made to be easily removed and fitted as required for different roles. Production of the C1 totalled 211 aircraft.
Inside the C2, the seating was arranged to face the tail of the aircraft. Typically they could seat between 9 to 25 passengers.
Every passenger comfort catered for... Ventilation controls and outlet and a button to call the steward's attention.
More displays could be found in the museum's large buildings. Gun turrets from medium to large bomber aircraft.
Tail gunners in particular were extremely vulnerable. Squashed into tiny turrets with knees up at chest height, there wasn't much chance of making a fast getaway in case of disaster, and after several hours cramped into position, you would be very stiff, freezing cold, and grateful of any assistance to get you out and straightened up even when the plane landed without having seen enemy fighters.
There's no such thing as a junk corner in a place like this - just collections of, as yet, unidentified parts and items without context.
This Spitfire wasn't a real aircraft, but was one of the many replica props built for the filming of the 1969 movie, The Battle of Britain.
There were many glass cases filled with Airfix or Revell 1/72 scale plastic model aircraft and I could have happily stood drooling over the many kits I remembered building as a boy.
The Gloster Javelin was the world's first delta winged twin jet fighter. This example dates from 1958 and was used to support the Zambian Government against Rhodesia.
Monday 19 August 2002. So far on this day we had been to Lowestoft and Oulton Broad, where we had lunch and we had now driven the short distance to Carlton Colville, where the East Anglia Transport Museum can be found.
This is a working museum and usually has a couple of trams running on a road circuit. Today it was the turn of the Blackpool Standard tramcar No.159, which had been one of two such tramcars in Blackpool that had been decked with exterior lamps in a decorative design to be used during the resort's famous Illuminations every autumn. They were retired in the 1960s. In the centre is an Amsterdam tramcar, No.474 and bringing up the line of vehicles is an ex-London trolleybus, which has a road circuit of its own with a added loop, necessary in it's case because you can't drive trolley buses from the rear end...
So of course we made a dive for the good old Blackpool tram, coming as we did then from Blackpool. This model of tram had been replaced on the Blackpool Promenade route by the double-decked "Balloon" trams in the 1930s when pretty much all of Blackpool's trams, both single and double-decked were replaced. The replacements became some of the oldest public transport vehicles in continuous service and were not replaced themselves until 2012. Some of them still run as part of a Heritage Tram service along Blackpool's seafront.
Inside the Blackpool tram. Ornate lampshades, wooden decking and a row of seats backed to the windows with twin seats along the other side of the tram whose backs tilted either way so that passengers could sit facing the direction of travel whichever way the tram was being driven.
Along the ceiling ran a cable that operated the bell to request the driver to stop at the next tramstop. Whilst the tram was driven by electricity this cable was merely attached to a lever which dinged the bell at the back of the driver's cockpit - at either end of the tram!
Blackpool Standard 159 on the road circuit. This model of tramcar was built between 1923-1929. In Blackpool they were regularly used on the routes inland, known as the Marton route named for a district of Blackpool.
As the tram returned to its starting point we hopped off and straight onto the Dutch tram from Amsterdam. This had required a bit of work to convert it to be able to be driven from either end. Routes in Amsterdam have terminus loops allowing the tramcars to turn to face the other way whilst always being driven from the same end and in keeping with most UK tram systems, the one at Carlton Colville required the tramcar to swivel the pole round on the overhead wire and be driven from the "rear" end.
The Amsterdam tram had some sideways seating and also plain wooden single seats arranged to face each other along the central part of the tram cabin. Straps allowed taller standing passengers to remain upright during hard braking or sharp bends whilst children and short people could practice their rolling landing techniques...
There was also a little narrow-gauge railiway that you could ride on, drawn by a diesel locomotive seemingly built by some engineer who hated beauty in all its forms... Possibly it started life working deep underground in a mine or something.
There were a few sheds, packed with nostalgic items dimly remembered from my youth. Like this Flit spray. Before the days of aerosols this is how you sprayed those pesky bugs. With a hand pump. Flit was made by Esso which made me wonder could you just give a decent squirt in the general direction of a bug and then strike a match to scorch the thing at a distance?
In another shed I found a small collection of electric battery-driven milk floats. We still have one that comes down our road once a week. It sometimes goes downhill so slowly we wonder whether it will make it back up and we don't live on any steep gradient. I remember as a lad it was a regular sight to see one being pulled back to the depot by a horse or in later years, a van.
Not that they were ever designed to go like the clappers... In the 1950s milk came in glass bottles and 24 bottles came in metal crates so they had to carry a fair bit of weight. Batteries were a lot less efficient then and themselves added a fair bit of weight. Controls were minimal. Steering wheel and two pedals - one for forwards and one for reverse with another pedal or a lever to set a parking brake.
The London trolleybus. I can just about remember going on trolleybuses in Manchester, though it would only be as a special treat, as buses between home and Manchester were ordinary diesel engined buses. The quiet due to lack of engine noise was strange but the best part about seeing them was waiting for sparks as they passed under the supports holding the twin wires up.
Monday 19 August 2002. Having left Lowestoft, we travelled round about two miles to Oulton Broad where our first job was to have a spot of lunch.
Oulton Broad is one of the famous Norfolk Broads - though really it is more correct to call it a Suffolk Broad. The Broads (a neat way of getting around the county problem) were thought to be natural features until the 1960s when it was proved that they were the result of peat workings in medieval times. Local monasteries had excavated them, selling the peat for fuel - for burning on fires basically - to local communities. Norwich Cathedral alone took 320,000 tonnes a year.
At some point sea levels rose and flooded the excavations. Bad news for Pete and Doug, who were shovelling in the pit that day, but at least their names were and will be remembered... Windpumps, often mistaken by visitors as windmills and dykes were hastily constructed but the flooding continued until the area looked like that of today with broad lakes, reed beds, marshes and groups of young men falling overboard from boats whilst totally bladdered.
The area became known for boating holidays quite early. Small yachts were available for hire from 1878, Harry Blake opened an agency for yachting holidays in 1908 and the familiar firm Hoseasons made an appearance shortly after World War II. Boats on the Broads these days vary from preserved old trading wherries, to small day-hire boats like those pictured in the foreground, all the way to modern electric cruisers as the Broads Authority is continually adding charging points at mooring places.
At the east end of Oulton Broad is Mutford Lock which links the freshwater Broad to the saltwater Lake Lothing. The lake stretches through Lowestoft and then opens to the sea.
Looking across the lock gates to the Wherry Inn, named after the large sailed trading vessels. All other boats on the Broads must give way to sailing vessels as they don't have accelerators or brakes and whether they can dodge you depends almost exclusively on the whims of the wind and your skill or stupidity whichever applies.
Depending on the direction the wind is blowing it is often the case that sailing boats can only progress along the rivers by tacking to zig-zag across the width of the river. We had booked a boat ourselves, but not for this day - that joy was still to come. For now we sat and relaxed waiting for the afternoon opening of a nearby transport museum. Which we will see in the next article!
Monday 19 August 2002. We are staying in Great Yarmouth for a week and after a relaxing day in the town yesterday, we wake on Monday morning ready for a bit of exploring.
So we set off after our customary trip to the beach hut for coffee and make our first stop of the day at Lowestoft just down the coast. It is the most easterly town in the United Kingdom and consequently the first town to see the sunrise every day. Well... on the days when the sun isn't blocked by clouds, rain, fog, snow, and vast alien space ships... The photo shows the East Point Pavilion from where you can sit in complete dry and strain to see the sunrise through the clouds, rain, fog, snow... (I may have exaggerated about the vast alien spaceships...)
As with many seaside fishing villages, the harbour has turned more into a marina for pleasure craft owned by people who rarely visit and even more rarely actually take them out to sea.
The Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club. Founded in 1859, the clubhouse of 1902-3 superceded an earlier one of 1866 that the club quickly outgrew. Meetings and races are held both at sea and on the easily reached Suffolk and Norfolk Broads, the nearest of which - Oulton Broad - we shall see in the next article.
Me, wistfully wishing I could afford to buy a boat and moor it and ignore it here... The yacht club does advertise its membership and mooring rates as competative, so I really should look wistfully at more exclusive marinas, perhaps in Monte Carlo or Portofino. At least I've now grown out of looking wistfully at the Marina in Stingray...
Lowestoft railway station. Opened as Lowestoft Central Station by the Great Eastern Railway in 1847, it was the eastern terminus for lines from Ipswich to the south and Norwich to the north west. A second station, Lowestoft North, was closed along with the direct line from Lowestoft to Great Yarmouth in 1970. It is now a residential site - Beeching Drive.
The station is half a mile from the main centre of town and they were originally separated by green fields along a cliff top. We walked through today's streets to the main shopping street.
In fact we walked up the shopping street further into the town than we had on previous visits and found the old part of the town. Here we found the old High Street with buildings kept in the character of the old town.
Narrow alleyways known as "scores" led from the High Street to where the fishermen had their huts in the old days. The name here suggests the brewing of beer may have taken place somwhere near! Malsters Score twists and turns - turning to the left at the far end of this photograph. In the past because of these blind turns, it was known as a dangerous place to walk at night and there were instances of robbery particularly of sailors using the score to return to their ships.
Spurgeons Score has no such twists and turns, but starts as a stepped alley and continues today down a long straight street. In the past dwellings would be much more crowded than they are today...
South Flint House is faced with knapped flints, a feature of many older buildings in this part of the UK. This one goes back to the 1500s.
Here and there what is obviously a building of greater age sits amongst the more modern box-shaped shops and whilst this is no different to almost every town in the country the sight of a more attractive and less severe building does make you wish that modern architects could apply a little more creativity into their work these days.
Inside the old pharmacy. The old shelving had been retained and preserved but had, of course, modern-day products on the shelves. I suppose most of us buy liquid soap these days, but I can still get nostalgic about a sudden whiff of Cusson's Imperial Leather soap bars and was amazed once in a "living museum" at the familiarity of cakes of pink carbolic soap that I wouldn't have smelt since early childhood in the 1950s at my grandparents' house. Not that I'd particularly like to go back to living like that, but it brought back memories of Mum scraping a cake of dark green Fairy soap on collars and cuffs before putting shirts in the washing machine.
