Sunday Circus at Time and Tide

Roll up, roll up! Meet Rollo the Clown for fire eating, magic and escapology. Visit ‘Showtime’, our circus exhibition and hear a talk on the history of clowning by Great Yarmouth’s Don Stacey. Have your face painted and join in with circus themed crafts and dance. Tap your feet to live music from Great Yarmouth Youth Brass Orchestra and enjoy tasty treats in the delightful Silver Darlings cafe. 10am – 5pm, museum admission only.  Sunday 8th August 2010

Showtime: Great Yarmouth’s Circus Story

Time and Tide, 27 March – 31 October 2010

You may be familiar with Great Yarmouth’s maritime history, but did you know that it also has a long history as a circus town, and is home to a world-renowned circus building?

The first circus came to town in 1845, though the event is best remembered for tragedy. Nelson the Clown was performing a publicity stunt, sailing down the river Bure in a bathtub pulled by four geese, when the surge of the crowds gathered on the bridge caused it to collapse; 79 people, mainly children, were drowned.

Several circuses passed through the town throughout the 1800s, performing in wooden buildings constructed for the purpose, until in 1903 a permanent building was opened. The Hippodrome on St Georges Street was built for George Gilbert, who had turned to circus management after an injury meant he could no longer perform. The Hippodrome is still a working circus today, the only circus building in the UK to still be used for its intended purpose, and one of only four across the globe to feature a ring which can sink to be flooded for spectacular, water-based finales.

Showtime: Great Yarmouth ’s Circus Story at Time and Tide celebrates the town’s rich circus heritage. It features paintings, posters, props and costumes from two local collectors, as well as from the museum’s own collections. Peter Jay , who has run the Hippodrome since 1978 is lending props from his own backstage museum. The town is also home to Don Stacey, who over a lifetime of involvement with the industry, has amassed the largest private collection of circus memorabilia in the UK .

Also on display are a new series of paintings by Katherine Hamilton, based on a recent residency at the Hippodrome.

Showtime Events

Friday Talks Last Friday of the Month, 11.30am

Museums at Night Saturday 15 May, 6 – 10pm

Rollo’s Circus Skills Workshops Mondays 26 July – 30 August

Circus Sunday 8 August, 10am – 5pm

Admission: Monday – Sunday 10am – 5pm

Adults £4.50

Conc. £3.80

Young Person (4-16) £3.30

Time and Tide, Museum of Great Yarmouth Life, Blackfriars Road, Great Yarmouth, NR30 3BX01493 743930  www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk

Great Yarmouth’s Circus Story

‘Showtime’, a vibrant exhibition about the history of the circus in Great Yarmouth, opens at the Time and Tide Museum on Saturday 27th March and will run until 31st October.  Items of marvellous memorabilia collected by Peter Jay, owner of Great Yarmouth’s Hippodrome, and Don  Stacey, are included in the exhibition, along with studies by Bruer Tidman and paintings by Katherine Hamilton of the modern day circus .

Amongst the related events at the Time and Tide are Rollo’s Circus Skills Workshops on Mondays between 26th July and 30th August, and Circus Sunday, 8th August, 10.00 -17.00 hrs.   For more information about events visit www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk.

Visitors to the exhibition will receive vouchers for £2.50 of a full price adult seat at the Hippodrome.

The Time and Tide Museum on Blackfriars Road, Great Yarmouth, is open Monday – Sunday, 10.00 – 17.00 hrs.  (Note: Winter opening hours from 2nd November 2010- 31 March 2011 are 10.-16.00 hrs Mon-Friday and 10.00-16.00 hrs Sat. and Sun.) 2010 admission to the Time and Tide museum:  adult  £4.50, concessions £3.80, young person (4-16) £3.30.  Discounts are available for pre-booked groups.  For more information tel: 01493 743930 or visit Norfolk Museums website www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk

For full information about all the museums in Great Yarmouth, with admissions times and prices , click here and download the 2010 Great Yarmouth Heritage Quarter Guide.

Half-term Events at the Time and Tide

Spring half-term activities at the Time and Tide,  from craft activities to storytelling, there was lots on offer. For further information please contact Jonathon Tooke at Time and Tide on 01493 743930.  Workshops  run from 12.00-16.00 hrs.

Our Choice: We Know What We Like

Our Choice: We Know What We Like opens at the Time and Tide Museum on November 7th to 28th February 2010. The exhibition features art works from the Great Yarmouth Museums Collection, each of which has been chosen by local people and community groups – a rare opportunity to see wonderful works that are seldom on display.

   Gorleston Pierhead by Batchelder

Great Yarmouth Museums Service has a history of working directly with the local community to shape and inform the work it does. Many local people joined in the discussions which gave our community a voice in the creation of the Time and Tide. They helped to choose the stories that are told through the displays and collections. In creating the Our Choice exhibition the Museum Service has once again been able to encourage people to get involved with the collections and the museum, this time by choosing the art works that you can see in the exhibition.  Each participant has written a few words explaining their choice, and giving an insight into why their chosen picture caught their eye, and the thoughts and memories it evoked. 

Opening Hours:  Mon – Fri: 10am – 4pm  Sat & Sun: 12noon – 4pm

Admission to the exhibition (only) £2.20 (all categories). Admission to the shop and cafe is free.

Read Herrings Poetry Competition for Herring Day!

Holy Mackerel! A poetry competition for Herring Day!

Local people were invited to make a contribution to the Time and Tide Museum by submitting a short poem about the humble herring for National Poetry Day on the 8^th October.   The winning  poem is reproduced on the new text panel for the  iconic Yarmouth Bloater King sign (see image)  unveiled at Time and Tide’s annual Herring Day on Sunday October 18^th . Entries were judged by published Norfolk based poet Esther Morgan.

Winner of the Read Herrings poetry competition for Herring Day 2009:

My Silver Darling

By Charles Huggett

Skin tanned and burned by the keen east blow

Burnished rosy cheeks shine and glow

Back complaining and feet sore

Hands chapped bleeding red and raw

Still you can laugh and share a smile

Although you know in a little while

The next herring catch will land

So you stand ready knife in hand

To gut and wash the silver throng

And so you work all day long.

Your clothes are coated in silver scales

And glitter my eye assails.

Like sequins on a fine ball gown

Or diamonds set in a royal crown.

Transformed from dull and dowdy starling

To my shiny glistening silver darling.

But no ball will glimpse her sparkling clothes

Just a small dark pub in the Yarmouth rows!

The Bloater King in person

Summer Wednesday Evenings at Time and Tide

Getting Here

Eastern Angles Theatre Company

2 for 1 Ticket Offer for ‘Getting Here’

Time & Tide, Wednesday 22 July 2009, 6pm & 8pm

Getting Here is an entertaining show inspired by stories from East Anglia’s Polish and Portuguese communities. See it at Time and Tide next Wednesday and take advantage of this special offer – only £7 for two tickets!

To book, ring the Box Office on 01473 211498 and quote ‘Time and Tide 2 for 1′. www.easternangles.co.uk

Your Ocean

This is a touring exhibition from the National Maritime Museum which will be running at the Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth from 18th July to 27th September, 2009, 10.00 to 16.00 hrs. daily.  Normal museum admission.  

For more information about this and other events (talks, theatre, workshops, carol singing and lots more!)  go to the Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service website here.