Changing Environment

  Abbey Pottery Revealed, King St. 28.10.09, B.Heriz

Work is growing apace in the renovation of King Street.  This old shop facade was revealed last week.   There is an article in the 30.10.09 edition of  the Mercury about riverside developments in Cobholm, which could begin in 18 months time:  Bure Harbour Quay will provide flats and town houses on the riverfront, though Cobholm residents are being asked to give their views first before planning permission can be granted. 

Also announced in the Mercury is news about Great Yarmouth’s historic Vauxhall Bridge, with hopes that it can be restored as a pedestrian gateway to the town. Norfolk County Council engineers, who are working on a feasibility study looking at a range of options for the River Bure bridge, have been given vital extra breathing status by the scheme’s potential funder.

Far-reaching changes in the built environment will suddenly be upon us and it would be nice to collect an archive of images before these take place.  Any contributions would be welcome – please email jpgs to b.herizsmith@btinternet.com, or  log on to the site as a contributor to start posting for yourself!    Drawings/paintings  would be very welcome indeed, just email to the above address if help is needed to scan or photograph images for uploading to the site.

  Renovation in Progress, King Street, 28.10.09, B.Heriz

Seaside Sensation at Central Library Galleries

`Hanging Cone’  by Jane Hall, 18 x 24 in, acrylic on canvas

Jane has worked as a professional artist since graduating with a BA (hons) in Art History and German from Nottingham University in the late 90s. After several group shows in the Norfolk area, this year she will be holding her first major solo show, Seaside Sensation, at Great Yarmouth Library (12 – 21 November 2009 .) The event is being sponsored by NWES, Bookers of Great Yarmouth and Great Yarmouth Glass.

“Above all, I am interested in colour and realism and capturing the essence of my subject in a modern way, while at the same time celebrating the inherent nostalgia evoked by the traditional British seaside holiday, with all its buckets and spades, sandcastles, ice creams, fish and chip shops and amusement arcades.”

Jane is represented by the Chelsea Art Gallery in London.  To contact Jane:  tel. 07903 580399. Her website is www.jane-hall.co.uk.

Norfolk Open Studios 2010

If you are an artist living and working in Norfolk and you want to raise your profile and sell your art, then now is the time to apply to be part of Norfolk Open Studios 2010 .  Each May some 250 studios, backrooms, sheds and summerhouses are open to explore as more than 360 artists invite visitors to see them at work, join a workshop or demonstration or attend a private view. It is an opportunity for artists, groups of artists and galleries to raise their profile, showcase their work and form lasting relationships with the region’s art lovers. Last year more than 27,000 people visited a studio taking part in the scheme buying an estimated £222,000 of work.

In 2010, Norfolk Open Studios will run from Saturday 22 May – Sunday 6 June.  Any artist living or working in Norfolk can apply to take part. The application fee includes a listing and image in the Norfolk Open Studios brochure and website, other promotional material and advice about how to encourage people to attend. It also includes the opportunity to take part in a taster exhibition and the chance to engage with other artists in the region.

The deadline for applications is Friday 11th December 2009. For an application form please visit www.nnfestival.org.uk/openstudios or contact Kat Stapley, Visual Arts Administrator at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, on 01603 877757 or Katherine@nnfestival.org.uk.

The Archaeology of Great Yarmouth

The Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society is presenting a study day at the Priory Centre on the 14th November, 2009, 10.00-17.00 hrs.  The day’s schedule includes the following talks:

The Great Yarmouth Borehole Project by Ken Hamilton (Norfolk Landscape Archaeology)

The Coat of Arms of Great Yarmouth by Ron Fiske (Norfolk Heraldry Society)

Regeneration by Stephen Earl, MBE (Conservation Officer, GYBC)

What Geology Reveals …….. by Dr. Peter Hoare

Flegg’s Archaeology and the Historic Environment Record by Dr. Andrew Rogerson (Norfolk Landscape Archaeology

The Herring Fishing Industry at Great Yarmouth by Dr. Mary Fewster

Tickets  are £6 adult, £5 concessions, free for under 18s, and are available at the door or from Margaret Gooch, click here to email.

Quill creative writing group competition

Quill Creative writing group met last Wednesday to hold the  presentation of prizes for their annual competition The pic shows the group with the three winners ie: myself Sue Ellis, Tamara Minns, and Charles Huggett.

1st prize Tamara Minns

ENIGMA

The sea was spawned before time began,

Long before God blue-printed man

No greed, no poison, no manic wars

Just moonlight shadows on virgin shores

Men of learning throughout history

Have marvelled at its mystery

Searching for answers till their demise

Of a roaring monster in disguise

The mayflower fathers prayed the sea

Would sail them to religious liberty

When they turned their backs on a divided realm,

They knew their God was at the helm.

Sailor there’s no need to pray

The sea won’t heed a word you say.

No songs of praise sung on the quay

Can quell it’s thirsty savagery

Sometimes friend, more times foe

Heaven determines which way it shall flow.

Mother wash those tears away

Your boy would have it no other way

Will the sea remain when time has gone?

Yes mankind is weak, the sea is strong.

2nd prize Sue Ellis

HAIL THE SEA

Hail to the sea, all Mighty, all Powerful,

I salute you!

In awe of your splendour

I bow to thee.

Your beauty, your vastness, and magnificence,

Have inspired many to write reams.

Yet, you hide secrets.

In your deep waters many creatures call their home

Plant life with splendid colourful beauty

Hails another world.

An underwater wonderland is there to be discovered.

If I delve beneath your surface

Breaking through

the calm stillness of your glassy waters,

Dive downward into darkness

Lit only from above with rays of sunlight

That penetrate,

Your depths.

I’ll uncover your secrets.

Secrets

of that other world

Hidden from view.

Yet beware!

Danger lurks.

Your currents can turn,

your mood change

You can refuse to welcome intruders

rebelling from prying eyes

In your fury you can rise up unexpectedly,

Sucking innocent crafts into your towering waves

Destroying all in your rage.

You have my respect

Oh mighty sea

One day you could engulf our lands

And rule the world.

3rd prize Charles Huggett

Waves

In angry turmoil, seas crash and thunder

Water torn, white and ragged

Tops exploding, blown asunder,

Violent crests, sharp and jagged,

Onwards thrusting to the land

To crush it, mark it, with their brand.

Surging, rolling, undulating

Waves rise and swell in endless charging

Like ranks of cavalry unabating

Constantly contracting and enlarging

Desperately spending force to reach

That once distant, nearing beach.

Lapping gently on silken shore

Lazily running, they slide and slither

Softly now, with little bore

They procrastinate and dither

Pausing briefly to kiss the strand

And roll small pebbles on the sand.

A mystery too deep to fathom

Waters just as old as time

Flood and ebb in constant rhythm

Unceasing majestic and sublime

In all its moods uncomprehending

The sea must roll, it’s task unending.

The Great Yarmouth Local History and Archaeological Society

The Great Yarmouth Local History and Archaeological Society was founded in 1888. With a membership of 150, the Society is a charitable organisation whose aim is to promote the Local History and Archaeology of the district and to secure the preservation of historic buildings. The Society publishes a newsletter and journal and runs a programme of eight lectures between October to May and summer visits.

The first meeting of 2009-10 season is on Friday 16th October at the Central Library, Tolhouse Street , when photographer and historian Trevor Burlingham is delivering a lecture on East Anglian Defences in 1940.

For more information  and how to become a member click here.

Poetry Competition for Quill

Quill Creative writing group are having a presentation tomorrow 14th Oct. of a Trophy cup to the winner of the 2009 Ernest Peaford award. Their yearly poetry competition for their members. They were lucky to have the poems judged by Rupert Mallin. The winner for the second year running is Tamara Minns with her poem called “Enigma” . Second place goes to myself with my poem called “Hail to the Sea”, and third place goes to Charles Huggett with his poem called “Waves”. The theme this year was on The Sea and there were 14 entries. Ernest Peaford’s son Peter will present the trophy and framed certificates to the three winners. We are hoping to have a photograph printed into the Great Yarmouth Mercury to mark the occasion.

Further news, One of our members Susan Wooden has been chosen as a runner up in the poetry competition to commemorate Herring Day. Her poem will be read out on Sunday Oct 18th at the celebration at the Time and Tide museum. Well done Susan.

The Case For Blogging

I do hope everyone involved in grassroots cultural and community activity contributes to this free site. You don’t have to post just adverts for future events – though these are appreciated. I’ve run Rupert’s Blog for nearly five years (over 1,300 page entries – from photos to long articles). If you are researching Great Yarmouth’s Dissenters’ Graveyard or the history of drinking beer in the borough, I’m sure you’ll find articles on my blog appear in your Google findings.

Unlike FaceBook, a blog is not just the moment. On a blog or website – like EastCoast Net – a huge body of work builds up. This body of work is not only its own history but essential reference material for others. I give you just one example. In various countries prior to - and during – staging the Olympic Games, homeless people are literally “disappeared” for the event. Via a blog I heard of UK plans for “hotwashing” London’s homeless off the streets of the Capital for the 2012 Games. I blogged a small article on this strategy – like many other bloggers. Suddenly, you put “hotwashing” in Google and the concern for this appalling plan is growing rapidly. 

Blogging – as a memory as well as a notice – is very important. Use it. Write a piece in response to mine!

Rupert Mallin

Great Yarmouth Guild of Artists and Craftsmen

The Great Yarmouth Guild of Artists and Craftsmen will celebrate its 60th Anniversary with a show of 200 paintings at the newly refurbished Exhibition Galleries at the newly refurbished Central Library. The exhibition is open from 16th – 24th October, 10.00 – 17.00 hrs. (closed Sundays).

Dance and Drama Schools for the Young

Young Dancers at Town Centre Music  Festival 2, photograph by Manuel Seixas

So many young people in Yarmouth and Gorleston benefit thanks to the dedicated teams which run the various local dance and drama schools for the young.

11 yr old Caitlin Smith was one of many from the Freestyle Dance Company who won prizes at a recent international dance competition in Kent . The Freestyle Dance Company is a street dance and hip hop based dance school which holds classes on Tuesdays at the Casstle at Alderman Swindell School and Thursdays at Wroughton Infants School. For more information telephone Esther on 07837 455020.

Two pupils from the Dancers School in Gorleston have won places for professional training, Charles Carter at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London and Oliver Chapman at Bodyworks Dance College in Cambridge. 19yr old Lewis Smith from Bradwell, also a former pupil of the Dancers School, has graduated from Performers College to become one of the stars of a Sky TV reality show. All three former pupils are returning to work with Dancers School on dance routines for their performance “Written in Dance” at Britannier Pier on 16th and 17th October, 2009. For more information about the Dancers School click here.

Two pupils at Dusmagrik Productions are also about to start their professional training, Robert Houchen at the Guildford School of Acting and Charlotte Barker at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. For more information about Dusmagrik Productions click here.