You see the people who travelled to Norwich from the Low Countries in the 16th century to escape religious persecution were called Strangers. They were tradespeople, weavers and the like and they added richly to the tapestry of Norfolk life and many became leading citizens.
Rolling the clock forward a couple of hundred years and another stranger became a leading Norwich citizen. Gunter Stern was a young boy when he escaped the Nazi regime in Germany and found his way to Norwich where he later became Sheriff after changing his name to Joe Stirling. It's a wonderful story that formed the basis of Phyllida Scrivens' book Escaping Hitler. Do get hold of a copy of you can, better still catch one of Phyllida's excellent talks/presentations. Incidentally Joe's son Ian lives in our village.
So I should be doing a dual blog. But one is enough I hear you say. So for those of you who don't come from around here (Norfolk), I hope you find that something on my ramblings about the village resonates with Strangers. Of course I I am referring to people living outside Norfolk as Strangers and not those coming into the county.
I haven't found any ancestors that came from the Low Countries but I haven't given up searching. I'm surprised that we don't have more street names or family names in Norwich with more of a Flemish twist.
So welcome to my blog whether you are familiars or strangers. Actually I made the familiars bit up.
*. *. *
Phew the beat goes on. Sorry that should read the heat goes on.
I'm struggling with the high temperatures. Last evening I thought it would be cool enough to do some gardening but, despite it being 7 pm, I was still sweating like a sweaty thing.
They had an article on the local news about people going to Lowestoft to see the sun rise on the longest day of the year.
For those who don't know the area (strangers) Ness point at Lowestoft is the most easterly place in the UK. It's where the sun comes up first.
Now I have an unwritten bucket list that I've just added a madness to. It's to go to Ness point on both the longest and the shortest days of the year. To see the sun rise on both. Knowing my luck both days will probably be cloudy with no noticeable sunrise.
The winter one won't be much of a problem apart from the obvious. I once lived in Lowestoft and it can be fearsomely cold in the winter. It would be a matter of having a pootle down with sunrise being around 8 am and sunset well before 4 pm. That's under eight hours, which admittedly is a pretty long time in what will be a fairly deserted seaside town and probably a very cold one.
But summer well that's a different kettle of lobsters. Then the sun will be up around 4.30 and not down again until 9.30 and that's a massive 17 hours. Now what to do in Lowestoft for 17 hours. I could of course get a bus and go somewhere else for the day but would that be cheating?
I'll have another think about this later in the year. Today we are going to a different seaside and will tell you where later.