We’re getting a sudden rush of new books arriving, heralding the start of the Christmas book season. As ever, it’s a challenge to keep up with these, so here’s a brief overview – we’ll try to bring you more thorough reviews over the next few weeks.
(Apologies if you’ve already read this – it was sent out last week with a formatting error, so hopefully this version will be easier to read!).
A Norfolk Rhapsody
Ralph Vaughan Williams in King's Lynn
In early 1905, thirteen months into his enthusiastic collecting of folk songs, Ralph Vaughan Williams came to West Norfolk expressly to hear the community’s traditional songs and note them down from the singers. Through their songs he created great music which speaks to audiences across the world. It was a week Vaughan Williams never forgot and recalled clearly when he returned to the King’s Lynn nearly half a century later.
Celebrating RVW’s 150th anniversary this year, authors Jill Bennett and Elizabeth James retrace his steps, find out more about the people he met, and see how his music was infused with the melodies and ideas he heard in the yards, the workhouse and the pubs of old King’s Lynn.
This is a super, large format book that includes the words and music for many of the folk songs RVW collected. It will be popular with music lovers and anyone interested in the history of King’s Lynn.
A Norfolk Rhapsody: Ralph Vaughan Williams in Kings Lynn by Jill Bennett and Elizabeth James
Paperback 262 pages; 280x216mm; Poppyland
ISBN 9781909796942; RRP £19.95
Wells-next-the-Sea
The Long Last Century 1859-1999
The Beat Goes On
Popular Music and the City of Norwich 1955-60
In the period from 1955 until 1960, a revolution occurred within the culture of young people in Britain—a revolution of music, fashions, habits and beliefs, but especially of music.
In this book, the author draws on his own experience as well as contemporary written sources to describe the development of a ‘teenage’ culture in the city of Norwich during the early days of rock ‘n’ roll.
Charting the careers of many local musicians of the late nineteen-fifties (no matter how brief), he provides an insight into the influences and cultural changes that took place in Britain during this time.
The Beat Goes On: Popular Music and the City of Norwich 1955-60 by Colin Miller
Paperback 198 pages; Poppyland
ISBN 9781909796980; RRP £12.95
Sir Robert Seppings of Fakenham
From Rural Messenger Boy to Surveyor of the King's Navy
A boy, born in the small town of Fakenham in rural Norfolk, was an unlikely candidate to later hold the position of Surveyor of the Navy, the top shipbuilding post at the Admiralty. He first came to prominence when serving as Assistant Master Shipwright at Plymouth where he invented a system that did away with the back-breaking task of lifting a ship in dry-dock in order to repair the bottom strakes of the hull. After promotion to Surveyor, he introduced a method of strengthening the hulls of wooden ships to a degree never before achieved anywhere in the shipbuilding world. Seppings was the ablest of all the men who held the post of Surveyor of the Navy and was arguably the greatest builder ever to construct wooden ships.
Peter Elphick’s careful and meticulous research uncovers this unlikely back-room hero of the Napoleonic wars.
Sir Robert Seppings of Fakenham: From Rural Messenger Boy to Surveyor of the King’s Navy by Peter Elphick
Paperback 156 pages; Poppyland
ISBN 9781909796935; RRP £12.95
Norfolk 40 Coast and Country Walks
This is a wonderful selection of short to medium walks covering the whole county. Each walk is well described with a map and location information, mostly with durations of 1-3 hours.
The Suffolk edition of this booklet has been a best seller for several years, so this is a very welcome addition to the Pocket Mountains range, and great value at £6.99.
Norfolk 40 Coast and Country Walks by Jo Sinclair
Paperback 96 pages; Pocket Mountains
ISBN 9781907025921; RRP £6.99
2023 Tide Times Booklets
Our tide times booklets for 2023 are now available, following the same formats and pricing as in previous years. Extra trade discounts are available for packs of 10 and 100 – see our website or call for details.
Norfolk Tide Times 2023
32 pages; ISBN 9781913415075; RRP £2.99
Suffolk and North Essex Tide Times 2023
32 pages; ISBN 9781913415082; RRP £2.99
