Last chance to see - Victor Willing - Closes 11 Jan

Victor Willing (1928-1988): Revelations, Discoveries, Communications at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester brings together over twenty enigmatic paintings and drawings, including a selection of rarely seen early paintings.

Willing, the late husband of artist Paula Rego, was once described by Sir Nicholas Serota as ‘a fiery comet which would eventually guide us all.’

Born in Egypt, Willing moved with his family to England in 1932 and studied at the Guildford School of Art (1948–9), and at the Slade School of Fine Art, London (1949–54). As a student, he met Francis Bacon, (who gave him a copy of Friederich Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy, which became one of Willing's favourite books) and admired the work of Picasso and Matisse.

In 1957 after embarking on an affair which led to the conception of the first of their three children, he moved to Portugal with artist Paula Rego, whom he eventually married in 1959. He worked in her father's business during this time and painted very little. He subsequently destroyed much of the work of that period.

He and his family returned to London in 1974, settling permanently there, and he began to paint again as a way of supporting himself. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, his paintings from the late 1970s were made after hallucinating their images, possibly a side-effect of the medications he was taking at the time.

Willing and Rego, like many of their generation were interested in Surrealism and the role of the subconscious in art. Both underwent Jungian analysis. As he later explained ‘All my life I’ve tried to recapture the intense pleasure in painting and drawing I had as a child, when I did battles with people going -Aaaaaarrgh!'

In many of Willing's paintings, a situation is presented as a scene to be played out by an absent protagonist. Primitive shelters and furniture, as settings suggestive of the isolation of the artist, are motifs that he explored in many works of this time.

He described the process of painting as 'a revelation, simultaneously discovery and communication.'

In the 1980s Willing was recognized as an important and established artist, but his health was worsening. He painted on a smaller scale at this time, with a series of women's heads being the last works that he completed prior to his death.

This is the first solo show in a public gallery of Willing's work since his retrospective at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1986.

For links to Willing's work held by the Tate Gallery click this link Willing, Victor

Admission:
Full price £7.50, Child £2.30, Family £17, Students £4 Tuesdays 10am to 5pm half price, Thursday evenings 5 to 8pm

Location:
Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TJ

Website:
http://www.pallant.org.uk/

Jingle Bells - or was it just the Trimphone..?

It's fifty years today since the Queen made Britain's first ever national trunk call.

She rang up the Lord Provost of Edinburgh from Bristol telephone exchange - 300 miles away - addressing him "This is the Queen speaking from Bristol. Good afternoon, my Lord Provost".

To commemorate this year's anniversary, some of the original engineers are returning to the exchange to re-enact the call. They'll be using state-of-the-art video-conferencing technology, so - alas - this time Edinburgh definitely won't be able to do their bit from the 'home-office' wearing fluffy bunny slippers and a hotel dressing gown...

Notably, the Queen didn't sign off her call with 'Merry Christmas' (or 'lol' - whatever that means), as in those days Yuletide hadn't already started on 6th November (when this year's Bond Street lights were switched on by Kelly Brook) but had to hang on for a more sedate mid-December kick-off.

Locally though, this year's Christmas season is already in full swing, with lots of Christmas markets and events happening this weekend

For full details see:

http://www.northnorfolkradio.com/local/index.php

A special local highlight will be the Medieval Fayre at St Nicholas Church, Salthouse (pictured below in previous blog) to be held on Saturday 6th December (11am-4pm). This will include a Father Christmas, a juggler and live music all day with King Henry's Band playing a wide variety of early instruments. At 5pm there will also be a Mummers' Play and Medieval Carols with Kelling Consort of Voices.

In Holt the lights are on in the gallery and we are furnishing Byfords with a roaring trade in hot soup, home made Christmas cake and tree-shaped choc-chip cookies.

As a special treat for our non-local customers, here is a sneak preview of this year's Holt lights, to get you in the festive spirit (you'll just have to imagine the soup, cakes and cookies).

NB If like me you live several light-years from a BT exchange and you've got 'tortoise' rather than 'hare' broadband, mute the sound & let this clip buffer once through (whilst you do a few air-pirouettes on your office chair, pat the pet dog or grab a quick refill for your coffee cup) then un-mute, click play once again and watch it all the way through in smooth, non-stuttering comfort - ah bliss!

White Christmas in Salthouse (a month early!)

This week, Christmas hit North Norfolk - a month early - with scenic snow falls in Salthouse on Sunday and hog roasts, mulled wine and carol-singing at the now famous festive lights switch-on in Holt on Wednesday.

Accordingly, our in-house snapper cast off thermal mittens and braved frostbite to capture a few timely snaps for those of you not lucky enough to be here (or get a parking space after the 'barricades' went up on lights night).

There was a credit-crunch-busting atmosphere in Holt with a great turnout of families on parade to make the most of this free event.

We did not see Auntie Pearl but Razz the clown gamely entertained the troops outside Benbows with his trusty conertina. Meanwhile, a top-hatted eight foot stilt-walker strode through the town, shadowed by a scuttling entourage of diminutive lantern-bearers.

Fewer 'Star Wars'-style light sticks and flashing LED rabbit ears may have flown off the stalls than in previous years, but the spectacle of intrepid juniors scaling the ice-wall outside the Nationwide Building Society more than made up for it. (Maybe someone told them there was a child trust fund pinned to the top).

PS Many thanks to all those customers who braved the crowds and dropped in to the gallery to share a spicy cracker, mince pie and glass of wine with us. It was lovely to see you!

Holt Lights switch-on: Snap the ‘crack’ for Pop!

Calling all budding photographers – Holt Christmas Lights committee is offering prizes of champagne and notoriety for the best shots taken at this year’s switch-on, scheduled for 6.30pm on Wednesday 26^th November.

Entries will be judged by world famous wildlife photographer David Tipling and Peak District National Park official photographer Andrew Midgley. The winning shots - along with their ‘highly commended’ counterparts - will be exhibited at the Photographer’s gallery from December 12^th. In addition, the two best pics (one from the actual switch-on night and one from the following few days) will net their snappers a bottle of bubbly each.

Closing date for the competition is midnight on 30^th November.

For further details see: http://www.holtchristmaslights.org/photo_comp.html

For a fuller flavour of what is on offer at this year’s switch on, check out the hog roasts outside Budgens and Sidalls, roast chestnuts at Fish Hill and the obligatory hot dogs and burgers outside Barclays bank.

To accompany your munching, there will be a variety of family-friendly entertainment on offer in four different zones of the town as follows (don’t forget, Holt town centre will close to all traffic from 4.30pm on switch-on night, so don't get caught out!):

On the Stage

5.30 Father Philip & the churches
5.50 North Norfolk Radio Link up live then:
5.50 Gresham's choir - Mark Jones
6.10 North Norfolk Radio games and crowd interaction
6.30 Counting down to switching on with North Norfolk Radio - Church bells start ringing, fireworks
6.40 Cromer Pier team
6.50 North Norfolk Radio finish off
7.00 First academy of dance
7.20 Winston the singing farmer
7.40 End of stage shows

Apple Yard

5.30 Stilt Walking & fire juggling
5.40 Lanterns
5.50 Razz the clown & Auntie Pearl
6.20 Rigagig-gig fiddle & dulcimer
6.30 Dave Harper - Bagpipes
7.00 Rigagig-gig fiddle & dulcimer
7.10 Town Crier - Tony Nelson
7.30 First academy of dance
7.50 Winston the singing farmer
8.10 Cromer Pier Team

Chapel Yard

5.30 Dave Harper - bagpipes
5.40 Winston the singing farmer
6.00 Cromer Pier Team & Lanterns
6.10 Town Crier
6.30 Rigagig-gig fiddle & dulcimer
6.40 Prep school choir
7.00 Razz the clown & Auntie Pearl
7.30 Stilt Walking & fire juggling
7.40 Rigagig-gig fiddle & dulcimer
8.00 First academy of dance
8.20 Winston the singing farmer

Lees Yard

5.30 Rigagig-gig fiddle & dulcimer
6.00 Prep school choir
6.10 Lanterns
6.20 Senior school choir
6.50 Town Crier
7.00 Stilt Walking & fire juggling
7.20 Cromer Pier team
7.30 Razz the clown & Auntie Pearl
8.00 Dave Harper - Bagpipes
8.20 Rigagig-gig fiddle & dulcimer

The Art of Remembrance (1914-1918)

This week marks the 90th anniversary of the Armistice, which brought World War I to an end.

The Western Front of World War One was a short train journey away from central London. The British government took advantage of this by commissioning paintings based on scenes witnessed at first hand by the leading artists of the day.

They sent artists to cover other aspects of the war as well - on the home and diplomatic fronts.

The intention was to use these images for propaganda purposes, and also as a way of commemorating the war and the people caught up in it.

Many of the artists fulfilled this brief admirably, some also taking the opportunity to examine the moral issues surrounding the war in the process.

Many special exhibitions have been staged by the National Museums, to commemorate this anniversary. They offer a fascinating insight into the art of war:

Click here: http://www.art-ww1.com/gb/visite.html for an interactive guided tour and directory of the art and painters of the First World War.

Click here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/wars_conflict/art/art_frontline_gal.shtml for a tour of the BBC's History Trail on the Art of War and Conflict, including picture analysis of Totes Meer, by Paul Nash, a quiz on art in wartime and useful links to many national museums.

Click here: Special Displays for a link to Last Post: Remembering the First World War at the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms (6 November 2008 – 28 February 2009)

This exhibition offers a fascinating insight into the story of the Post Office during the First World War.

It follows the stories of soldiers and spies, machinery and medals, commitment and communication and looks at how the Post Office responded to the war in getting mail to those serving or being held prisoner around the globe.

Here come the Pearls - a Ladies' Nite 1950s Style

Sheringham Little Theatre is calling all local 'Desperate Housewives' for a ladies' night with a difference next week...

Not so long ago housewives had a number of very good reasons to be desperate. Not only did they have to look after their families in an age of depression, war and austerity, but they did so without the consumer durables that we now consider essential.

With humour frequently in its sights, Archive Film: Housewife’s Choice (U) is a programme of films from the BFI National Archive that explores the lives of British housewives from the 1920s to the 1950s. The programme includes documentaries, cinemagazines, propaganda films and adverts. It also features films by two of the women who helped to shape the British documentary movement of the 1930s and 40s – Ruby Grierson (1904-40) and Kay Mander (1915).

The film will be introduced by film historian Stewart Orr.

Event Date: Fri 14th Nov 2008, 8.00pm Tickets £5.00

Reader's Wives - 50s Style...(what our grannies really got up to)

To get you in the party mood, here's a 'Good Wife's Guide' appetiser from Housekeeping Monthly, published 13th May 1955, to give you some handy tips on how to (really) please your man...:

1. Over the cooler months of the year prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.

2. Prepare yourself. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.

3. Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash hands and faces, comb their hair and, if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.

4. Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment, without you. Instead try to understand his world of strain and pressure.

5. Don’t complain even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day.

6. Listen to him. Let him talk first – remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

7. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.

8. Don’t ask questions about his actions or question his judgement or integrity. Remember, he is master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.

9. Remember: A good wife always knows her place...

Halloween - a Horrible History

Fascinating facts, folklore, and some fab fireworks thrown in for good measure...

Halloween was originally a Celtic holiday celebrated on October 31st. The ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts roamed the countryside on Halloween night and began wearing masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as human.

Jack-o-lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain holiday. Pumpkins were later adopted into the tradition when Europeans arrived in the New World. They took seeds back to Europe where they quickly became popular.

The Irish are also believed to be responsible for instigating the tradition of 'Trick or Treating': townsfolk would visit neighbours - in preparation for All Hallow's Eve - and ask for contributions of food for a town feast.

Orange and black are the traditional colours of Halloween. Orange is associated with the autumn harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.

Halloween the movie was made in only 21 days in 1978 on a shoestring budget. The film was shot in the springtime and used fake autumn leaves.

If you see a spider on Halloween, it is said to be the spirit of a loved one watching over you.

The common little brown bat of North America, myotis lucifugus, is the longest-lived mammal of it's size, with a life span averaging 32 years. Don't worry though, there's no need to stay indoors after dark: it eats insects, chomping its way through a staggering 1,200 mosquitos per hour at peak feeding periods.

In the USA, Halloween is the second biggest seasonal money-spinner behind Christmas. Each year 2 billion dollars are spent defensively stocking up on trick-or-treaters' candy (the same amount that Canada has pledged to combat global warming!)

Halloween Events & Fireworks - North Norfolk

Blickling Hall Friday 31st October

Halloween Spooktacular!

Timed entry between 6pm & 8.30pm. Family Halloween event with spooky story telling and ghoulish happenings in the Hall. Children’s fancy dress competition and seasonal food in the Restaurant. Adult £7.50, child £4, family (2 + 2) £21 Booking advisable on 0844 800 4308

Felbrigg Hall Friday 31 October, 11am – 3.30pm

Halloween Trail. Follow the trail around the grounds and solve the 'spooky' clues. Normal admission prices apply. £1.50 for the trail. No booking necessary.

Holt Country Park Friday 31st October-Sunday 2nd November

Gruesome creatures trail, from Visitor Centre, also Toddlers pumpkin trail, 10am-4pm free.

Bewilderwood, Hoveton Friday 31st October

Giggling Pumpkin Parade and launch of Bewilderbats, 10am-4.30pm adults and children over 4 years £10/concs £7.50/children (3-4) £5, family ticket £45, 01603 783900.

Saturday 1st November and Sunday 2nd November

Monster Party, old fashioned party games, Twiggle disco and all the fun of the treehouse adventure park for final open weekend of the season, 10am-4.30pm (last admission 3.30pm) £10 (five-59), senior citizens (60 plus) £7.50, children (three-four) £5, under threes free/family ticket £45 (six people, one of which must be an adult, extra person £7.50).

Letheringsett King's Head Friday 31st October

Children's Fancy dress Halloween party 5-7.30pm.

North Walsham, Sadlers Wood Friday 31st October

Friends of Sadlers' Wood Halloween event, spooky stories and chestnut roasting over bonfire, meet by the dip in the woods, 5.30pm.

Overstrand, White Horse Friday 31st October

Fancy dress Halloween party, led by the Audio Junkies, 7pm.

Aylsham, Bure Valley School Saturday 1st November

Fireworks display, barbecue, toffee apples, gingerbread men and hot drinks available, gates 6pm, Guy Fawkes competition 6.30pm, bonfire lit 6.45pm, fireworks 7pm £3.50/children £1.50 advance from JP Post and Martin's in Aylsham, on gate £4/children £2.

Corpusty Saturday 1st November

Traditional family bonfire and procession, refreshments and tombola available, procession 6pm, bonfire and fireworks 8pm. Collection for local charities.

Sheringham Sports Field Saturday 1st November

Firework display organised by Sheringham & Beeston Scouts, bar, food and hot soup available, gates 6.30pm, display 7.15pm £2/children £1/family ticket (two adults, three children) £5 advance from Blyth & Wright, Whistle Stop and Starlings in Sheringham, on the gate £3/children £2/family ticket £10.

Spixworth, Grange Farm, Buxton Road Saturday 1st November

Firework display organised by 1st Spixworth Sea Scouts, barbecue and side stalls, gates 6-9.30pm, bonfire lit 6.30pm, displays 7.15pm and 8.15pm £3/children (five-13) £2 advance from Spixworth Post Office and Co-operative Store or £3.50/children £2.50 on gate (under fives free).

Worstead Village Hall, playing field Saturday 1st November

Firework display, children's entertainer Stevie Spud (village hall) 5.30pm, performance of fire stick twirling and dancing by Amber Hale, 6.30pm; children's firework display 6.45pm; main display 7pm £3/accompanied children £1.

Bodham Playing field Sunday 2nd November

Fireworks display and bonfire, barbecue and soft drinks available, gates 6pm, bonfire 6.45pm, fireworks 7pm £2/children £1/family ticket £5 (two adults, two children).

Meeting ‘The Maestro’ - virtuoso of local colour

North Norfolk painter Derek Inwood talks to Hatfield Hines’ Clare Hatfield about life, work and the art of simplicity.

CH: What is the trigger for you, which sparks off the idea for a picture?

DI: My work is about colour. It starts with a mood and that gives me a colour.

CH: Where do you prefer to work?

DI: I capture the mood on the spot by taking oil pastels with me, and then work up canvases in the studio. Sometimes I do local scenes straight into oil paints.

CH: How would you describe your style of working?

DI: I am a natural painter. I basically like looking at things – I am interested in the art of looking and seeing through the eyes.

CH: Which subjects most interest you?

DI: There is nothing complicated about my work. I like to paint figure compostions on the beach, boats, groins, passing ships.

CH: What most excites you about the process of making a picture?

DI: I like to take a flat surface and then transform it into a painting just with colour. Just with colour you can create space and relationships between things in a scene. You can create people, sky and people doing things.

CH: How do you feel your work has changed over the years?

DI: My work has slowly evolved rather than really changed over the years – it has always been about colour.

For more information about Derek Inwood, and a catalogue of available works, access Derek's artist profile page at:

http://www.hatfieldhines.com/artistProfiles/DerekInwood.html

Derek Inwood runs from 1st to 29th November, 2008.

Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11am-5pm; Thursdays: 11-2pm

Colour is good for you – it’s official!

Japanese scientists have proved that colour is good for you in a recent study.

In an experiment conducted at Kyoto University Hospital and published in the Japan Journal of Nursing Science - a test group of adults were first biochemically measured for stress. They were then shown a variety of colour images of natural landscapes and re-measured.

In the experimental group after viewing the colour images, the negative mean mood score decreased.

Also, 40% of the subjects were shown to have had their mood changed to a more parasympathetically dominant state.

This is the opposite of the stress-building ‘sympathetic state’ which governs the ‘fight or flight’ reaction and instead promotes rest and sleep and is asociated with encouragement of healthy digestion, relaxation of the muscles, slowing of heart rate, calming of breathing, lowering of blood pressure, and improved immune system function.

Conclusion: a healthy dose of art appreciation before bedtime can be the perfect antidote to the credit crunch!

It's a shard life - the perils of Paris a La Boheme

Norwich was transported back to 1830s 'Garret Paris' last night in Ellen Kent's latest touring production of Puccini's La Boheme.

Set against a classical amphitheatre backdrop, the opera follows the love lives of Rodolfo - a penniless poet - and Marcello - a struggling artist, who eke out their creative crust in a Montparnasse studio along with friends Colline - a philosopher - and Schaunard - a composer. As Rodolfo falls for neighbour Mimi - a sickly seamstress who drops by to borrow a light - so Marcello rekindles old flame Musetta - now mistress of rich diplomat Alcindoro.

The Eastern European soloists gave bravura performances, especially Ruslan Zinevych as Rodolfo. His diminutive stature (he still fell a matchbox short of Mimi despite stonking 2.5" cuban heels) belied a tremendous, warm, emotional voice which captivated the audience. Also noteworthy were the sonorous Petru Racovita as Marcello and Maria Tsonina as Musetta. Tsonina's wholehearted physical acting, which included table dancing, chair-toppling and plate smashing (shards of which flew down over the edge of the stage into a very startled string section of the orchestra - perhaps payback for a slightly off-key harp performance during Act I...) was a perfect balance for Mimi's poignant, more sombre scenes.

Taken from the stories of Henri Murger, Puccini's characters are based on real-life inhabitants of the Latin Quarter: Rodolfo on Murger himself, Musetta on Mariette, a popular artist's model (whom Murger described as having 'a neat figure, plenty of coquettishness, a dash of ambition and hardly any education') and Mimi on a young, pale, sickly girl called Lucile. While Murger's Mimi was a small, delicate-yet-mercenary 22 year old, whose blue eyes contained 'an expression of almost savage brutality,' Puccini's Mimi is - rather - a tragically doomed, saintly beauty.

The audience - which gradually succumbed to Mimi's contagious, consumptive cough - were also gripped by this production, enriched by smoke effects, snow and fire.

To see venues and book tickets for this touring production, click on the link below:

Full Diary

Bourne dancer: local lad spotlights in Dorian Gray

This week, a dark myth of 'celeb' culture exploded onstage at Norwich's Theatre Royal, in Matthew Bourne's latest dance spectacle: the ultra-stylish black-and-white fairy-tale, Dorian Gray.

The production (based loosely on the 1890s gothic masterpiece which finally did for Oscar Wilde) - sees Dorian reinvented for the noughties as a fame-hungry waiter-on-the-make.

Discovered by fashionista Lady H. (Bourne's vampification of Wilde's corrupting mentor, Lord Henry Wotton) and top photographer Basil (played by Taverham's own Aaron Sillis), Dorian is catapulted to fame amidst the glitterati as poster-boy for new men's frangrance 'Immortal'.

As Gray's billboard image (which replaces the portrait in the original tale) becomes an icon of youth and purity, celebrity snares him in a fraught bisexual triangle. This plays out through a revolving set which carries the audience on an odyssey from bedroom to bathroom, from gallery to studio and from opera house to posh party. As Gray's fame grows, his poster crystalizes into an evil doppelganger and the stud-made-good embarks on a one-way journey of debauchery, drug-fuelled excess, and murderous rampage.

Bourne, in his 21st year in the business, admits that this unsympathetic piece - which has met with much negativity from reviewers - is 'different' to his usual productions - including the celebrated all-male Swan Lake and double Olivier-winning Play Without Words.

However, audiences have disagreed with the critics in their droves: August's sell-out premiere performances in Edinburgh made Dorian the biggest dance hit in the Festival's history. In Norwich's smash run, the audience - which included comedian Stephen Fry - was similarly enthralled, as the Calvin-Klein-clad company of 11 played out their homoerotic horror-story of vanity, violence and serial-killing. Definitely not one for the squeamish!

Click on the link below for a full-length audio interview with Adam Sillis:

Listen: Feature-length interview with Aaron Sillis

Shore Thing - another 'splash-hit' for Holkham

Hundreds of starstruck locals vied for coveted 'movie extra' places at Holkham this weekend, after London production team Celador Films - of Oscar-nominated Dirty Pretty Things fame - put out a casting call via Radio Broadland.

As cameras rolled, seventy new Norfolk stars were born on the same vast beach where Gwyneth Paltrow famously strutted her stuff at the end of Shakespeare in Love. But a little goes a long way in modern cinematography: movie-effects geeks multiplied their hand-picked squad of locals into a 500-strong search party, pivotal to a key scene in coming-of-age tale, The Scounting Book for Boys.

The shooting session repeated the spectacle seen in Holkham and Cley in November 2007, when UEA-trained Director Saul Dibb recruited hundreds of extras to appear in smash-hit period costume drama The Duchess, starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes.

Dibb - keen to show off the best assets of the local community - hired Hunstanton's Emma Dent as Knightley's body double for bedrom scenes with lusty love-interest, Earl Grey. He also cast Fakenham mum-of-two Catherine Farrell for key 'extras' role as the wet nurse to whom Knightley surrenders illegitimate baby Eliza in a major scene, shot on Cley Marshes at a bleak 6.30am.

With some of the biggest, best and most memorable natural landscapes in the British Isles, Norfolk is no stranger to the silver screen. Blockbusters Stardust, Atonement, 007's Die Another Day, Shakespeare In Love and The Dambusters have all immortalised Norfolk locations.

Churchill’s Torpedo Boat Hits Home of Red Herring

Ship lovers were spoiled for choice at last weekend’s Maritime Festival, held at Great Yarmouth’s Historic South Quay.

A sweep of the dockside took onlookers through centuries of seafaring - from the sedate tall ship, Mercedes, right up to the present day with Caistor Lifeboats’ Bernard Matthews II – Britain’s fastest lifesaving vessel, notching-up a wave-slashing top speed of 40 knots.

Especially for the Festival, the Mercedes played host to The East Norfolk Militia. The local re-enactment group brought the sights, sounds, smells (and smoke!) of the 1800s vividly to life in a crimson-clad quayside parade which included drills, bayonet charges and live musket practice.

The star attraction for naval history buffs was MTB102, the 1937 motor torpedo boat which - as part of the hastily assembled ‘little ships’ fleet - crossed the channel some eight times during ‘Operation Dyndamo’: the

evacuation of troops from Dunkirk.

She later carried Winston Churchill and General Eisenhower on their review of the greatest armada in world history: the 5,000-strong fleet assembled in readiness for the epic D-Day landings.

There was also homage paid to Great Yarmouth’s fishing heritage. Landlubbers were welcomed on board the herring steam-drifter Lydia Eva, and treated to views of Horace and Hannah – the town's very last seaworthy shrimper – as she sailed up and down the river. The vista recalled the industry's heyday at the close of the 19th Century, when 100 boats a day put to sea to bring home pink and brown shrimps for holiday-makers’ teas.

_______________________

NB: True History of The Red Herring

Yarmouth is the recognised home of the red herring: fish smoked for a week, to turn a deep, brownish red.

Already well-know by the time of the 16th Century, the red herring was the principal export of Britain's fisheries for over 300 years. The strong-smelling snack - reputedly a great thirst-producer - was often found on the bars of public houses: hence its absorption into the crime fiction genre. The canny criminal, when cornered in his drinking den, would grab a reeking fish on his escape, to literally throw the dogs off the scent - or so the story goes...

North Norfolk artists 'up in arms' over summer sails

North Norfolk's landscape painters were crestfallen this summer to find picturesque Weybourne village lacking its landmark.

For the whole of the holidays, Weybourne Windmill - the 1850's towermill once allegedly occupied by WWII nazi spies - had to be sketched minus its famous sails, which had been removed due to damage.

However, this week two giant lorry-mounted cranes rumbled into town, to take their part in a major re-hang.

Artists touring the area in the autumn will be cheered to find the local landscape once again fully intact.

Top image © Evelyn Simak

Hailstones batter Fish Hill in August!

High summer continues to mystify the tourists with yet more bizarre weather…

Last week’s gallery browsers came armed with wrist straps dangling mini-umbrellas and mac-in-a-sacs. Larners must have done a roaring trade.

However, this week’s clientele were in dire need of Dad’s Army style hard-hats from Muckleburgh when hailstones the size of golf balls pelted down on them as they dashed across the High Street and under the awning for cover.

Every cloud has a silver lining though – especially if you are a coastal art gallery. Good thing we had just taken delivery of a new batch of extra-large weather-proof carrier bags!