Tag: old buses

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.
This is on the ceiling of the room at the top of the tower.
The frontage of the building on to which the Pilot’s Office was tacked in 1864, the former public baths.

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.

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…

The old bus on which I took a tour.
The furthermost point of the tour – Castle Rising castle
The paperwork at the Bank House.
Some pictures from the cellars.