And inside St Peter Mancroft Church was a giant inflatable world suspended high above the nave.
Gaia is a 6 metre in diameter touring art installation created by Luke Jerram which depicts the planet earth from NASA images. The idea is to underline the fragility of the planet and the feeling of awe experienced by astronauts floating in space.
It was a sobering thought to know that man/woman has gazed at the moon from earth for centuries but is only in modern times that we have been able to gaze at earth from space.
If you want to see Gaia which is impressive you will have to hurry up as it leaves Norwich after today.
I took a few photographs to help illustrate my words. Hope you enjoy them.
* * *
It's amazing what you come across when you trawl through social media. A couple of days ago I came across the following:
Wishing Eileen Ash a very happy 110th Birthday tomorrow. Eileen is the oldest living International cricketer having made her first appearance for England in 1937. She also worked for MI6 during the Second World War and used to live in Thorpe St Andrew but currently resides in a care home on Heigham Road in Norwich. The gymnasium at Hewett School is named after her.
What a tale she could tell. Apparently Eileen is still sprightly. Her prized possession is a cricket bat signed by the greatest batsman of all time - Australian Sir Don Bradman in 1949.
Eileen was born Eileen Whelan and played Test cricket both before and after the Second World War, making her debut against Australia at Northampton in June 1937, and playing her last game against New Zealand in Auckland in March 1949. A specialist bowler, she took 10 Test wickets and also played domestic cricket for the Civil Service, Middlesex and South of England.
She was employed by the Civil Service from the age of 18 and was seconded to MI6 during World War Two and went on to work with the organisation for 11 years. She was born in London but retired with her husband to Norwich. She also enjoyed playing golf until the age of 98.
In 2011, she became the first female test cricketer to live to 100 years old. She was made an honorary life member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Eileen would often talk about the days when cricketers had to travel to Australia on boats.
And it gets even more remarkable. At the age of 105 she was still regularly doing Yoga and also passed her driving test. To mark her 100th birthday she took a flight in a Tiger Moth and in 2018 opened a sports hall named in her honour at the Hewett Academy in Norwich - a school attended by both my sons.
In January of this year at the age of 109 she became one of the oldest people in the UK to receive a COVID 19 vaccine.