Great Yarmouth - Gas Holder and Naval College

I noticed the gas holder on the skyline when walking on the beach so, on Sunday morning, we walked along to the Barrack Road Gasometer. No longer used but a Grade II listed building rebuilt here from a previous location in 1885. It has an external circular frame supported by columns which allowed the enclosed gas container to rise and fall on a floating water reservoir. We had been told about the Naval Hospital and ventured through the gates to have a look. We were greeted by a resident who gave us lots of details about the building and allowed us to take some photos - it is only open to the public generally on Heritage days. It is a Grade II* listed building completed in 1811. It was commissioned by the Admiralty to care for the sick and wounded of the Royal Navy's North Sea Fleet in its battles with the Napoleonic French Navy. It has also been used by the Army as a barracks and hospital, and has taken in casualties from the Battle of Waterloo and the Indian Mutiny. From 1863, the Hospital treated Royal Navy servicemen suffering from mental illness.In 1958, it became an NHS psychiatric hospital (St Nicholas Hospital) before closure in 1993 and sale for private development as houses and apartments.

Great Yarmouth - Winter Gardens and Disappointing Sunrise

Great Yarmouth Borough Council plans to breathe new life into the town’s Winter Gardens, which has stood forlornly on the front for many years, waiting for the necessary cash injection. Around 170ft long and 83ft high, the greenhouses were bought it from its rival resort of Torquay in 1905 for the princely sum of £1,300. It cost £1,115 and ten shillings to transport the Winter Gardens 350 miles by boat and then reassemble it in Yarmouth. A business plan is now looking for external grant funders, including the Heritage Lottery Fund. The total amount of cash required is thought to be £4million - £3 million for structural repairs and £1million for fit-out.

We were hopeful of a good sunrise but a bank of cloud proved a bit too heavy to give good colours. However this started to clear soon afterwards giving beautiful morning light. Our hotel room is marked on the last image. 

Great Yarmouth - Tony Ray-jones Exhibition and Evening Lights

We started our weekend in Great Yarmouth with a visit to the Time and Tide Museum and an Exhibition of Tony Ray-Jones photographs. Photographer Tony Ray-Jones, who died in 1972 at the early age of 31, exerted an enormous influence on the development of British documentary art photography. He is characterised by images in which the subjects are not interested in the photographer and are often looking out of the frame. In the evening, I looked for such images when photographing the bright lights on Marine Parade and came up with the first image here.

The last two images are taken on the beach looking c. north and south towards the two piers

Paxton Pits: Birds in the Sunshine

Beautiful sunny day at Paxton Pits yesterday showed off the colours of the birds and was very welcome to all after so many cloudy days, The water level was very high so the Shovellers were unable to dabble on the edges for food and used the feeding method of rotating fast in a group to create a vortex and bring up edible material from the bottom of the lake.

Paxton Pits: Grebe Versus Fish

We watched a Great Crested Grebe catch a fish (carp apparently from the long dorsal fin and barb above mouth) and was having great difficulty swallowing it when a Common Gull swooped down to pirate the fish. But it was too late as the grebe had dived and, when it surfaced, had lost or swallowed the fish

Cambridge Snow: Umbrellas

A few more from my walk round Cambridge Backs on Sunday - wonderful variety of umbrellas on display.