Suffolk Art
Suffolk is a county that has been either the birthplace or home to numerous artists; John Constable, John Duval, Thomas Gainsborough, Alfred Munnings, Philip Wilson Steer and George Stubbs, to name some of the more famous. In the present day there is Maggi Hambling. But she is not the only successful woman artist to come from the county. There was the sculptor, Elizabeth Frink and in the seventeenth century, the successful Mary Beale, who was born near Bury St. Edmunds.
There is more on Suffolks public collection of art here.
Loss-Making Libraries
In an earlier post, I questioned whether we needed libraries. Now it is reported in Saturday’s East Anglian Daily Times that readers’ or should that be non-readers’ owe Suffolk County libraries £72,000.
Surely, the sooner we reduce public libraries to reference only, the better. We can’t afford them!
Cycle Race’s £1.5m Boost for County
Yesterday, this was the front page headline in yesterday’s East Anglian Daily Times. It was a good day out and shows that if you put on a show in Suffolk, people will attend.
As we have the Great North Run, today, would it be an idea to have Great East Run!
The Missing Links in East Anglian Railways
Travelling from east to west or vice versa by public transport is difficult in East Anglia.
Peterborough-Ely-Ipswich is not too bad with a fast train every two hours and bits and pieces in between. But now that the rail line is being upgraded to carry more freight, it surely should be possible to improve this service and the very much related Ipswich-Cambridge service I use about twice each week.
On the other hand Kings Lynn-Norwich-Great Yarmouth is only possible by Ely, as the line from Kings Lynn to Norwich via Dereham is long gone. And it takes over three hours compared to the hour and a half for the fast trains between Peterborough and Ipswich! So who in his or her right mind would go by rail. People like me, who have no alternative, I suppose!
I doubt that the Kings Lynn-Nowich missing link will ever be built, but as Kings Lynn will become a Thameslink station in a couple of years, there should be an increase in the variety and frequency of services into London and beyond. Hopefully, this will also mean increased frequencies btween Ely and Kings Lynn, which might make the Kings Lynn-Norwich-Great Yarmouth journey a lot easier.
There is also another missing link that a lot of people feel should be reinstated and that is Cambridge to Sudbury. If this line was to be reinstated, it would link the Marks Tey to Sudbury branch to Cambridge, via Long Melford, Cavendish, Clare and Haverhill. A station at Haverhill would be a bonus for me in my state, but then the town has grown substantially since it lost its rail link in the 1960s. I do think though that the sums don’t really add up for this line, but it would be a nice must-have, if we start expanding railways again. Schemes like this do seem to be getting the nod again in Scotland!
Since I originally wrote this piece yesterday, I’ve found this web site of the Norfolk Orbital Railway. They are proposing a reconnection of the railways from Wymondham to Sheringham along disused and heritage lines. This would be a welcome addition to the infrastructure of Norfolk.
Completing the A11
If the A47 Acle Straight is a problem in East Norfolk, then the much delayed Elveden bypass is a problem at the south west corner of the conty.
Local MPs are trying to get the project moving again, but I’m not hopeful, they’ll have any affect.
Just as at the Acle Straight, there is a rail alternative for those travelling between Cambridge and Norwich, but it needs more capacity and a more frequent service. At least though Cambridge is to get extra platforms, which may help.
But the rail route can’t take the freight for Norfolk, that comes off the A14 and the M11!
Walking Around Clare
Before and after the Tour of Britain, I had a chance to walk round Clare, which is a pleasant village dominated by a church, that is very typical of the Stour Valley.
Scotland and London Get the Pope, Suffolk Gets the Tour of Britain!
Today, the Tour of Britain came to Clare, which is a village a few miles from where I live.
I asked one of the local officers about it and he definitely felt we’d got the most entertainment and the better deal.
There was quite a few people on the streets of one of Suffolk’s most pleasant villages, as this video shows.
After the excitement, I went down the pub and had a half of Aspalls, before returning home for lunch.
Looking back on today, I’m rather pleased at how the video has turned out. It’s the first real one, I’ve done since the stroke and it’s a lot better than some I’ve tried. But this was done with my trusty Fuji S5700 and Windows Movie Maker.
Why We Are Short of Trains in East Anglia
Yet again, there has been a serious level crossing accident in East Anglia. At least the twat in a sewage tanker, who seems to have been the cause of the accident, has been held on suspicion of dangerous driving.
The knock-on of these accidents, is that yet another small diesel multiple unit, which are the backbone of rural services in Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire, is lost or at least out of service for several months. The line I use regularly between Ipswich and Cambridge, is in desperate need of a two-coach unit to replace one of the trains, which is only one coach an totally inadequate, but this accident probably means that replacement is far in the future. I hope we don’t lose one of our trains to replace the one lost in the accident.
Royal Mail to Abolish Counties
Well not quite, but they are going to remove the county line from addresses.
Just out of curiousity I looked up the address of their ground on Ipswich Town’s Web Site.
Ipswich Town Football Club
Portman Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP1 2DA
United Kingdom
So it would only mean one line disappears in this case, but I suspect there are few in the UK, who don’t know that Ipswich is in the County of Suffolk. Incidentally, there are people in Suffolk, who would say that Ipswich is in the County of East Suffolk, which was merged with West Suffolk to form Suffolk in 1972, when Ipswich lost the County Borough status it had gained in 1888.
So the address of Ipswich Town, if the pre-1972 rules applied woiuld now be exactly the same as the Royal Mail is now proposing.
Ipswich Town Football Club
Portman Road
Ipswich
IP1 2DA
United Kingdom
So it might not make much difference to many here in Suffolk, but I can imagine that others might be not so relaxed about it.
What annoys me about addreses, is that I moved here nearly twenty years ago and my bank still haven’t got the new address on my statement correct. But the Royal Mail usually gets it delivered correctly.
So does it all matter? No!
Understanding UK Regional Accents
There has just been a discussion about regional accents in the UK on Radio 5. Apparently a survey has shown that the Geordie accent is the easiest to understand and is often chosen as the voice in sat-navs.
That’s as maybe, but what bright spark put the call centre for the Child Support Agency for East Anglia in Northern Ireland. Suffolk people couldn’t understand a word that was said. My late wife, C, was a barrister and this caused her a lot of grief, as some of her clients couldn’t get their finances sorted at all.
The Anonymous Widower 