Heritage Open Day 2025

An account of my Heritage Open Day, with lots of pictures.

Yesterday was King’s Lynn Heritage Open Day 2025 (Downham Market will be having their equivalent this coming Sunday, and I may pay a visit). This post looks back at the day. This post of course covers only a fraction of the sites that were open for the day – the official brochure listed 58 sites.

HERITAGE OPEN DAY

I set forth from home at about 10:15, intending to see a few things before doing my stewarding, and then either go home or look at a few more places after stewarding. I started with a look at some of the classic cars in the Tuesday Market Place…

My next port of call was the Guildhall of St George on King Street, a building that dates from the late 14th century, meaning that it was over 200 years old when Shakespeare came to town (this guildhall includes a theatre that has been staging live performances for over six centuries, and the Bard of Avon was among those to visit in that capacity).

The frontage of the Guldhall of St George

My next port of call was another guildhall, the Guildhall of the Holy Trinity, which also serves as King’s Lynn’s Town Hall.

The massive front window of this guildhall, viewed from inside…

After this I headed to the river front, and Sommerfeld & Thomas, some of which was open for viewing for the first time.

I then headed along the river front and past Custom House to King Street.

Back on King Street I made a quick visit to the What a Hoot Distillery. I did not purchase anything there, though until I saw the price I was briefly considering their golden rum.

I then visited numbers 23-25 King Street, once private residences, now a solicitor’s practice – the two houses were joined together in 1989.

My last visit before heading towards the Bank House for my stewarding commitment was to another solicitor’s building, a regular port of call of mine, because it is Norman in origin and therefore among the oldest in King’s Lynn (the oldest building in the town is All Saints Church, Hillington Square, also Norman).

The stewarding, at the Bank House, was not especially difficult, although the placing of the hotel’s coffee machine was unhelpful, and a lack of functioning lighting restricted the portion of the cellars that was open to the public. My fellow steward then disappeared without telling me anything somewhat less than half way through our slot, and the Bank House being popular I never had a long enough quiet spell to be able to make a phone call, so had do all the stewarding myself. I waited until both stewards for the final session had arrived before taking my leave, and opted to head for home.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Some of the photographs here relate to Heritage Open Day, others are my usual sort…

This little bus was stopped outside the Bank House when I photographed it. It was too close to the beginning of my stewarding slot for me to ride on it.

An Announcement re Heritage Open Day 2o25

Details of my stewarding commitment for this year’s Heritage Open Day (Sunday 14th September). A picture gallery from today at work.

This post, with a gallery from today at work, is going to be a brief one.

HERITAGE OPEN DAY 2025

King’s Lynn has its annual Heritage Open Day on the second Sunday in September. On this day various interesting buildings are opened for public viewing. This year that second Sunday is the latest possible date – the 14th. In order to ensure that the day runs smoothly stewards are required at the various buildings. Stewards will tell you about the history of the building, will monitor numbers, and at some of the busier and/or more problematic sites will engage in a measure of crowd control. I have been one of the stewards for some years now, and of course made myself available again this year. I have recently found out where and when I will be stewarding. For stewarding purposes the day is divided into thirds – 10AM to Noon, Noon to 2Pm and 2PM to 4PM. I will be stewarding at the Bank House Hotel, whose chief attraction is a remarkable cellar system, dating back to times when rather more goods arrived in and departed from King’s Lynn than the King’s customs guys ever knew about, between noon and 2PM. I am delighted to have been given this venue.

PICTURES

The majority of these were scans. Unlike on Tuesday, when I told you which was which, I leave it to you to see if you can tell…

Lot 150 (four images total). These are high value because they are mint. Although they are quite hard to tell apart each is a slightly different colour.

Heritage Open Day

Yesterday was Heritage Open Day in King’s Lynn. I had a stewarding commitment at the Pilot’s Office between 10AM and Noon. This post looks back at the day.

THE PILOT’S OFFICE

I arrived at the Pilot’s Office at 9:45 as intended, and had the opportunity as I had hoped to have a quick look around before Heritage Open Day started. Unfortunately the other steward did not turn up, so I was on my own in that regard (fortunately the conservancy board were doing a good job inside the building) until the two stewards for the 12-2 slot arrived. About 130 visitors went into over the course of the time I was there. No one had seen fit to tell me that the conservancy board were being very cautious about how many people they would allow up the tower at any one time, so some people had longer waits than would be ideal, until I realized the problem and started warning people about the issue. The weather was co-operative (weather like we have today would have been a disaster).

The view from the top of the tower, looking towards The Wash.

THE NORMAN HOUSE

This is one of my old favourites, and I revisited it as soon as my stewarding commitment ended. It is on King Street and houses a firm of lawyers. The Norman stuff is not readily apparent from the street.

THE LYNN MUSEUM

The Lynn Museum was open free of charge as part of Heritage Open Day. I took advantage of this. There are a number of famous regular exhibits, notably ‘Seahenge’, and at the moment (though not for very much longer) there is also an exhibition about the moon.

This model of the moon is absolutely huge.

HERITAGE OPEN DAY GENERAL

I end this photo dominated post with a few random shots from Heritage Open Day.

A Game of Two Halves for Bryce

An account of yesterday’s match between Manchester Originals and Northern Superchargers yesterday and a photo gallery.

Yesterday’s second match in the Hundred ‘double double header’ was Manchester Originals against Northern Superchargers. In the Women’s match the Originals were already out of the tournament, but wanted to go down with guns blazing.

THE ORIGINALS INNINGS

The Originals won the toss and decided to bat. Laura Wolvaardt and Beth Mooney gave the innings a fine start, scoring 60 together before Wolvaardt was out to the 47th ball of the innings for 26 (21). Mooney went on to play a truly magnificent knock, and her second wicket partner was Kathryn Bryce. They added 67 together in 43 balls, of which Bryce’s share was 13 (21). With ten balls to go in the innings Originals skipper Sophie Ecclestone instructed Bryce to retire and went out to bat herself in the hope of giving the total a final boost. Ecclestone faced five of the last ten balls and scored 6 runs. Mooney was closing on three figures, and found herself facing the last ball of the innings on 98*. She got the ball away and she and Ecclestone went all out for the two, but a direct hit throw ran Ecclestone out, leaving Originals with a final score of 151-3, and Mooney 99*. A crowd of over 12,000 gave Mooney a richly deserved standing ovation for her innings. The only wicket taker was left arm spinner Linsey Smith, who also conceded 32 from her 20 balls. Bryce was recorded as ‘retired out’, and hers was the first such tactical retirement in the Hundred (women’s). Some will consider it controversial, but for me it was perfectly legitimate, and I also note that Ecclestone did not ask anyone else to go into bat in that circumstance – she did so herself.

THE SUPERCHARGERS REPLY

Both openers for Superchargers were out cheaply. First to go was Davina Perrin, caught by Bryce off Kim Garth for 7 (9) to make it 13-1. That brought Phoebe Litchfield to the crease and she was in form from the get go. Hollie Armitage was second out, caught by Wolvaardt off Bryce for 9 which made it 45-2. Litchfield and new batter Annabel Sutherland looked capable of turning things round, but Garth produced a superb ball to bowl Litchfield for 45 and make it 86-3 after 64 balls. The moment that effectively sealed Superchargers fate came on the 80th ball of the innings, when Bryce had Sutherland caught by Eve Jones for 26 to make it 102-4. 50 needed of 20 balls, and the most likely person to score at that kind of rate just dismissed was the equation. Georgia Wareham and Bess Heath did their best, scoring 22 together off balls 81-90, which meant the ask was 28 of the final 10 balls. Off the 91st ball of the innings Heath essayed a reverse sweep against Ecclestone and succeeded only in finding the hands of Dani Gregory to 124-5. That brought Alice Davidson-Richards to the crease, and the next four balls yielded eight runs, meaning that 20 were needed off the last five balls. Ecclestone now decided that rather than give the Superchargers the chance to exploit the extra pace of Lauren Filer she would entrust those five balls to Bryce’s medium pace. Off ball 96 Davidson-Richards edged through to Mooney and that was 132-6. Kate Cross was stumped off ball 97 for a first baller, which meant that Bryce had a hat trick, having taken a wicket with the last ball of her previous set of five balls, and now with the first two of this set. Superchargers 132-7, needing 20 off three balls. Lucy Higham got a single off the 98th ball of the innings, and Georgia Wareham gave Bryce her fifth scalp of the innings, being caught by Fi Morris for 25 (18). That was 134-8 with one ball to go, and Linsey Smith managed a single, meaning that the final margin was 17 runs. Bryce’s final figures were 20 balls, of which 11 were dots, 13 runs conceded and five wickets taken – quite some way to make up for being tactically retired with the bat. Mooney who had followed her 99* with a blemish free keeping performance was named Player of the Match. Full scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Heritage Open Day 2023

A brief account of Heritage Open Day 2023, with a large photo gallery.

Yesterday was King’s Lynn Heritage Open Day 2023. The fixed element of my day was my stewarding commitment at The Bank House, where I was scheduled to be between 12 and 2. I opted to go in early, soak up some of the atmosphere of the occasion, do my stewarding and then seen how I felt at 2PM.

THE PRELIMINARIES

I started at the Tuesday Market Place, where there is always a classic car display. It was while planning the next stage of my day that I realized that I had failed to bring any water with me, so I found a shop where I could buy some. In King Staithe Square, very close to the Bank House I spotted a very old London Transport bus and noted that it was running 35 minute tours with the first at 11. I decided this would be an interesting experience, and did a bit of walking around looking at things to fill in the time. I then planned on arrival back from the tour to go to The Bankhouse, reacquaint myself with the cellars which are the main feature there, and then do my stewarding duties.

STEWARDING

I ended up with the outside duties – keeping tally of how many visitors the site got, giving people directions, answering questions, keeping eyes on things that people sensibly deemed inappropriate to take inside, and occasionally taking rudimentary crowd control measures – if a lot of people had gone in and not many had come out in a particular period I would make people wait until more people had come out – overcrowding was definitely a potential problem, especially since in the fierce heat (Cambridge, an hour south by train, recorded 32.5 Celsius and I suspect the temperature in Lynn was not much if any less) a building whose main feature of interest is a cellar complex was naturally an even more popular port of call than usual (and even in ordinary years it is quite popular). I also had to make sure the paperwork, which was laid out on a sloping roof of what had once been a coal store was all present and correct, which was not entirely a trivial matter, since the nature of the surface on which it was displayed meant that so much as a breath of wind resulted in stuff ending up on the ground. At 2PM I was duly relieved, and offered the new steward some advice. I decided to head home at this point. I enjoyed my stewarding, but it was draining in such heat.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are the pictures I took on the day…

All Time XIs – Match Ups 24

Continuing my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I selected for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another. Pictures from Heritage Open Day.

Welcome to the latest instalment in my extended analysis of how the all time XIs I selected for each letter of the alphabet fare against one another. The Fs take their place in the spotlight today, with 16.5 of a possible 25 points already banked. This post also comes with a two part picture gallery.

THE Fs V THE Gs

The Gs have the better opening pair, but not by as =much as raw figures make it look: Fredericks was left handed whereas both Gs openers are right handed, and also Fry’s average of 32 on early 20th century pitches is would equate to considerably more on modern pitches. Conversely Flower at number three outranks Grace the batter by a lot less than the figures suggest, and Grace also offers a genuine bowling option. Gower outranks Fletcher, but the difference in batting averages between Faulkner and Graveney is more than made up for by the different pitches they played on and the fact that Faulkner provides a bowling option. Gilchrist hugely outbats Foakes, though Foakes wins the keeping side of their match up. Fender and Grace were two of the greatest captains to feature in this series, and I just award Fender the laurels in this epic match up. The Fs have the better pace attack – of the Gs three pacers only Garner would merit a place in the Fs XI. George Freeman retired in 1875, to concentrate on his auctioneering business, and although he would undoubtedly have paid more per wicket on modern surfaces he would still have been utterly outstanding. Ferris’ test bowling average of 12.70 converts on my rough and ready scheme for Victorian to modern to someone averaging 19.05 today, while Foster the third seamer clearly outranks Gregory as a bowler. While Grimmett and Gibbs rank as the two best spinners in this contest, Flowers, Fender and Faulkner are a trio of genuinely front line options. The Gs do of course have Grace as their own extra bowling option. This is an epic contest, but I think the pace bowling resources of the Fs plus Fender’s captaincy tip the scales their way: Fs 3, Gs 2.

THE Fs V THE Hs

The Hs dominate the batting, winning every match up down to number eight in the order. However, the Fs have a massive advantage in the bowling department, with Hammond the H’s only back up bowler behind the front four. Holding and Hadlee might be a fair match for Freeman and Ferris, although Ferris’ left arm gives the Fs an extra point of difference, but Hammond the bowler is miles behind Foster. While I would give Harmer the verdict over Flowers, Fender and Faulkner both probably outrank Herath. Bowlers win more than batters, so I score this one Fs 3.5, Hs 1.5.

THE Fs V THE Is

This is a non-contest with the Fs dominating the batting, having the better skipper, the better keeper, far the better pace attack, being outpointed only in the spin department, and that not by nearly enough to affect the outcome: Fs 5, Is 0.

THE Fs V THE Js

The Fs have a clear advantage in this one as well, but less so than in the previous case. No team with the mercurial talents of Jayasuriya, Jessop and Mitchell Johnson available can be completely dismissed, so I score this Fs 4, Js 1.

THE Fs V THE Ks

The Ks have the edge in batting, and they like the Fs have six authentic bowling options. The Fs are ahead in spin bowling with R Khan and Kumble both being leg spinners, whereas the Fs have an off spinner as well as their two leggies. The front line pace trios are very hard to separate, although all three of the Ks speedsters bowl right handed, so they lose on lack of variation. Kallis is his side’s sixth bowler, and I rate him less valuable to the cause in that department than Faulkner, his equivalent. There is very little between the captains, two of the best ever in that role. I think the slightly more varied bowling attack will just be enough for the Fs – Fs 3, Ks 2.

THE Fs PROGRESS REPORT

The Fs scored 18.5 of a possible 25 points today, putting them on 35 out of 50 so far, 70%.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Part one of today’s photographic selection features pictures taken while stewarding at Greenland Fishery during yesterday’s rescheduled Heritage Open Day (should have been the 11th, but the death of a ludicrously over privileged old lady necessitated a postponement and yesterday was the new day chosen. A number of stewards were not available for the new date, hence some of us being relocated (I was originally due to be at the Red Mount Chapel).

One of the upstairs rooms still has remains of the original 17th century artworks on show.

Part two of the photo gallery is some of my more typical photography….

All Time XIs – The Letter L

A couple of pieces of news and a continuation of my exploration of the All Time XIs theme with a team whose surnames all begin with L.

Before I get to the main meat of this blog post – another variation on the all time XIs theme I have a couple of pieces of news to share.

HERITAGE OPEN DAY

Yesterday I got the news of my stewarding commitment for Heritage Open Day (Sunday 11th September), and I regard it as a plum posting: the Red Mount Chapel, between 10AM and noon. I have visited this remarkable place a number of times, including during last year’s Heritage Open Day.

PRESS COVERAGE OF WNAG

Your Local Paper have produced an article about the Beer Festival at Stewart House raising funds for the West Norfolk Autism Group.

Now we move on to the main meat of the post, a look at the greatest cricketers to have surnames beginning with the letter L.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

Bill Lawry (Australia). A dour left handed opener, his test record speaks for itself.
Marnus Labuschagne (Glamorgan, Australia). One of the best contemporary test match batters in the world. He generally bats at three, but I am moving up one place to open due to the number high quality batters I have to accommodate and the fact that there are not many regular openers of quality who had surnames beginning with L.
Brian Lara (Warwickshire, West Indies). The only person to twice hold the world record individual score in test cricket and one of only two (Bradman being the other) to simultaneously hold the world FC and test record individual scores.
VVS Laxman (India). A monumental 281 vs Australia in 2001 helped set up only the third instance of a team coming back from being made to follow on to win a test match. He was part of a massively strong middle order, playing alongside Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly in their prime.
*Clive Lloyd (Lancashire, West Indies). A shoo-in for the captaincy of this side, as one of the two greatest West Indian skippers ever (Frank Worrell being the other). 110 test matches yielded him 7,515 runs, and he quite often only had to bat once because of the immense strength of his West Indies side.
James Langridge (Sussex, England). A left arm spin bowling all rounder, his international opportunities were limited by him being a contemporary of Hedley Verity who had first dibs on the left arm spinner’s spot. Nonetheless his test averages were the right way round, while in the course of his long first class career he averaged 35 with the bat and 21 with the ball.
+Gil Langley (Australia). One of the many great wicket keepers produced by Australia over the years. He was the first keeper to make as many as nine dismissals in a single test match, a feat later equalled by Rodney Marsh and bettered by Jack Russell.
Ray Lindwall (Australia). One of the greatest of all fast bowlers and a handy enough lower order batter to have scored two test centuries.
George Lohmann (Surrey, England). The cheapest wicket taking average of anyone to have claimed 100+ test wickets – 110 at 10.75 each, also by far the quickest strike rate of any taker of 100+ wickets at that level – one every 34 balls.
Jim Laker (Surrey, Essex, England). For my money the greatest off spinner ever to play the game. 193 wickets in 46 test matches, at 21 a piece. His absolute peak was the 1956 Ashes when he took 46 wickets at 9.60 a piece in the series, including a test AND FC record match analysis of 19-90 at Old Trafford. In the tour match for Surrey v Australia he took 10-88 in the first innings of the match, bowling 46 overs on that occasion. His most shattering single piece of bowling came at Bradford in 1950 when playing for England against The Rest he took 8-2 (one of the singles being a gift to Eric Bedser) as The Rest collapsed to 27 all out.
Dennis Lillee (Northamptonshire, Australia). A former holder of the record for most career test wickets – 355 in 71 test matches. He was at least two great bowlers – a fire and brimstone quick in his younger days, and a superbly accurate fast-medium bowler late in his career.

This team has a strong top five, albeit one of them batting out of position, a great all rounder, a great keeper and four great and well varied bowlers. Two genuine quicks in Lindwall and Lillee, a very crafty medium pacer in Lohmann, Laker’s off spin and Langridge’s left arm spin represents a strong and superbly balanced bowling attack.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

I considered two specialist openers in addition to Lawry. John Langridge, brother of James, scored 76 first class hundreds and tallied over 34,000 FC runs but never gained an England cap. The other possibility, as a rebuke to Cricket South Africa for their treatment of her, was Lizelle Lee, hounded into international retirement by her board. However, although I recognize that there is an element of a gamble in playing a regular number three as an opener I would challenge any who insist on selecting one of these openers to say who out of Lara, Laxman and Lloyd you will drop to accommodate Labuschagne in his preferred number three slot.

Another fine middle order batter who had to miss out was the little West Indian battler Gus Logie.

The choice of James Langridge as all rounder meant that two high quality left arm spinners missed out: Tony Lock and Jack Leach. Left arm wrist spinner Jake Lintott may well merit consideration for this XI in a few years time, but he has played very little long form cricket as yet.

The best quick bowlers to miss out were Bill Lockwood and Harold Larwood. Lockwood was one of the pioneers of the slower ball, but as fine a cricketer as he was he could not dislodge Lindwall. Harold Larwood had one great test series (the 1932-3 Ashes when he claimed 33 wickets), but otherwise a fairly ordinary international career, and could hardly therefore be seen as a challenger to the consistent excellence of Lindwall and Lillee. Brett Lee was quick but somewhat erratic, reflected in his slightly high test bowling average. Geoff Lawson had a patchy career and was not worth serious consideration.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Our look at the letter L is at an end and it remains only to produce my usual sign off…

Heritage Open Day and Post Ashes

An account of Heritage Open Day, details of some events involving my role as branch secretary of NAS West Norfolk, and a look back at The Ashes,

INTRODUCTION

This post looks back at the Ashes and Heritage Open Day, and forward to some other events. I have plenty of photos to share as usual (calendar will be finalized later this week). I start with…

HERITAGE OPEN DAY

I was due to steward at Lath Mansion from 2PM to 4PM, and was well aware that I would not be able to keep going for the whole six hours of Heritage Open Day, so I decided to have an early lunch at home and then head for the town, aiming to have an hour in town before my stewarding stint began. Thus I arrived at the Tuesday Market Place at about 12:40, picked up a brochure for the event and proceeded from there.

P1270290 (2) — This is the place where I stewarded.

I took time to look at two of the oldest cars the classic car display first of all…

I decided that the only places I would visit prior to heading to Lath Mansion were the Norman house which these days houses a firm of solicitors and the Ouse Amateur Sailing Club, at the latter of which I consumed a pint of Ghost Ship. I then headed by way of The Lower Purfleet, the river front and St Margaret’s Lane to Nelson Street, and familiarized myself with Lath Mansion before starting my stewarding stint. Stewarding done it was time to head home. I am looking forward to be being involved again next year.

P1270306 (2) — Lath Mansion starts here picture wise.

P1270326 (2) — Not quite Faberge (!), but an ornamental egg.

THE ASHES – THE MOST UNDESERVED 2-2 SCORELINE IN HISTORY

I got back from Heritage Open Day just in time to listen to the last knockings of the fifth Ashes test match at The Oval. Jack Leach finished with 4-49, while Broad had 4-62 as Eng;and completed victory by 135 runs. Leach has surely ended any argument about who is first choice spinner for England in red ball cricket – Matt Parkinson, Dominic Bess and Amar Virdi would all merit consideration should England opt for two front line spinners, while Liam Patterson-White of Nottinghamshire warrants consideration for the future (in a few years time he may well be ready to step in Jack Leach’s shoes, although at present there is of course no vacancy for a slow left armer). Sam Curran, whose left handedness gives the pace attack an extra element of variation was also a big plus, and Archer’s man of the match winning first innings bowling confirmed his stellar status. The batting remains problematic, with Denly seemingly able only to score runs in the second innings, Bairstow unable to buy a run against the red ball and Buttler not doing enough to warrant a place as a specialist batter. The only reason England’s lack of a decent opening pair was not even more cruelly exposed than it was in this series is that Australia fared even worse in that department, with Warner setting a new record low aggregate for an opener who has played 10 innings in a test series (surely that means a final “good riddance” from test cricket for him). At a minimum Sibley needs to be brought into the top three, enabling Root to go back to four, Pope to come in for Buttler and Foakes to get the gloves in place of Bairstow (his batting has always been much more of a selling point than his keeping, so consistent failure in that department should not be tolerated).

In truth England were thrashed at Edgbaston, outplayed for most of Headingley and thrashed at Old Trafford, while having just the better of Lord’s and managing to beat an Australia who basically did not turn up at The Oval. In terms of the next Ashes series, in 2021-2, whoever is England captain for that will need to achieve something last achieved by Ray Illingworth in 1970-1 (Brearley in 1978-9, Gatting in 1986-7 and Strauss in 2010-11 were all retaining, not regaining, the Ashes), and only achieved prior to that by Stoddart (1894-5), Warner (1903-4), Douglas (with some important advice from a sick Warner, 1911-2) and Jardine (1932-3). One can only hope that whatever he might say in public Ed Smith does not con himself into believing that England actually merited the 2-2 scoreline – they certainly did not. Propagandizing may be acceptable, buying into one’s own propaganda is invariably disastrous.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The “Yes I Can” event takes place at The Corn Exchange on Tuesday. Following the success of their Autism Friendly Youth Group, the library will be holding an Autism Friendly Adult’s Group, with the first session 5PM to 6:45PM on September 30th, and sessions being twice monthly, on a Monday near the end of the month and on a mid month Wednesday. NAS West Norfolk will be continuing to run a ‘drop in’ group at the Scout Hall on Portland Place every Wednesday.

Adult Social Group — An Infographic I created about the new adult social group at the Library

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

P1270212 (2) — Not quite the last butterfly of the year (I have a red admiral on my camera from today), but this comma cannot be far short.

Cricket and Other Stuff

Cricket, in the course of which I make a very radical suggestion for dealing with England’s top order woes, and a few other things, including Maths and Public TGransport.

INTRODUCTION

As well as some stuff about the state of play in the current England vs India series I have a couple of mathematical problems for you and some of my own photographs at the end.

ENGLAND’S DREADFUL START

England won the toss yesterday morning before the fourth test match of the five match series against India at the Ageas Bowl, ~~Botley~~ Southampton. This was the last thing they managed to do right for some considerable time. At last, with the scoreboard reading a barely credible 86-6, Sam Curran, inexplicably dropped from the last test match and now returning to the fray, emerged from the pavilion. Much of the carnage was more due to good Indian bowling than bad batting, although Jennings (already on borrowed time for my money) will not want to see replays of his LBW (however good a piece of bowling it may have been padding up to one which would have uprooted the middle stump otherwise never looks good). Fortunately England’s tail managed to produce a diplodocid (see picture at end of this paragraph) proportion of the innings. Curran, making the ridiculous decision to drop him from the previous game look positively ludicrous, racked up 78 before he was last out, the total hvaing reached a semi-respectable 246.

Diplodocus — This is why I described the contribution of the England tail as being of diplodocid proportions.

India are currently 135-2 in response. Only once in test match history has a side come back from 0-2 down to take a five match series, in 1936-7 when Australia’s comeback was fuelled by scores of 270, 212 and 169 from Don Bradman in the course of those last three matches. In 1894-5 Australia levelled the series at 2-2 after being 0-2 down but Andrew Stoddart’s England rallied to win the decider.

England’s continuing top-order woes need to be addressed if they are to avoid surrendering a series on which they seemed nto so long ago to have a vice-like grip. Rory Burns must come into the side in place of Jennings. I would also bring Pope back but place him lower in the order. brief interjection – BIG NEWS – Kohli Is Out! Also, thinking about the need for top order runs I now tender a suggestion far more radical than Rory Burns – there is one England opener who has making stacks of runs all over the place of late – the one and only Tammy Beaumont! The way they have performed thus far none of the current top order are entitled to object to that suggestion.

Yes going with two new openers would be a colossal gamble, but they could scarcely fare much worse than Cook and Jennings have in this series.

A COUPLE OF MATHEMATICAL TEASERS

Both of these, from my usual source, are very easy problems which have tripped a number of solvers up. I give them in the reverse order to which they appeared:

And

HERITAGE OPEN DAY

Heritage Open Day this year is Sunday September 16th. There will be some 60 sites open in the King’s Lynn area, and if you there on the day do make sure you visit. If you happen to visit the cellars at the Bank House between 12 noon and 2PM I will be one of the volunteers you encounter.

TWO STORIES OF BRITISH PUBLIC TRANSPORT DAFTNESS

I start this section with the more minor but also more personal of these stories. Today I made my travel arrangements to Sheffield for a cousin’s wedding. I checked bookings from King’s Lynn to Sheffield, and the cheapest ticket would have cost me £68.20. Knowing that a ‘plan B’ was available I then checked out bookings from Peterborough to Sheffield and lo and behold up came a ticket for just £38.50, which when the two bus tickets on the ExCel are added in amounts to £51 all up. In other words to have travelled by train from King’s Lynn all the way to Sheffield would have cost me 33% more than the combined bus/ train route I am actually taking. Now of course not everyone booking this journey would have known of the alternative, and I wonder how many people have been swindled in this.

My second story of public transport daftness is that The Elizabeth Line (aka Crossrail) will not now be coming into service until nearly a whole year later than planned (more here).

PHOTOGRAPHS

The pictures here are of items I purchased at our auction on Wednesday (it was reasonably successful, with a few big sales, and a lot of items finding buyers).

Lot 121 – I scanned these items rather than photographing of them.

Under a viaduct and over a bridge — A photograph of the item taken this morning

360 — Two of the four items in this lot were of sufficient interest for me to consider bidding, the Nobel Prize cover, and the one that really settled it, the Classic Locomotives.

Classic Locomotives FDC — The main cover photographed this morning.

Classic Lcomotives stamps II — The first of two close-ups of the stamps (the reflectivity of the protective covering makes this a challenge).

Classic Locomotives other side — The ‘cover’ part of this item contains a lot of information when opened up (see also next picture for the other side).

The Ouse Amateur Sailing Club

The final post in my account of Heritage Open Day – dealing with the Ouse Amateur Sailing Club.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the final part of my account of Heritage Open Day 2017. Once I have published this post I will be creating a page to make this series of posts more accessible, but for the present my account of the day consists of:

Overview – covering the whole day and indicating which aspects of it would receive dedicated posts.
27 King Street – Focussing specifically on the building where I did my stint as a volunteer steward.
2 Hampton Court – A mainly photographic account of a unique experience at a property that is currently being renovated.
The IFCA Boat – My visit to the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority research vessel moored at the pontoon jetty.

SETTING THE SCENE

After two hours volunteering at 27 King Street I was feeling drained because of the level of interaction involved in the process. I therefore decided to head to the Ouse Amateur Sailing Club on Ferry Lane, which opens it doors to non-members on Heritage Open Day, and where I could spend a bit of time on their river view terrace and decide whether to call it a day or to head home.

AT THE CLUB

My pint purchased I duly headed for the terrace. The weather was too chilly to permit staying outside for too long, so I made periodic trips back inside to warm up. I resolved the decision of what to do next in favour of calling it a day, and headed for home having had a good day.

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