Only problem is that by the time you start reading, I will have written and published this and so you won't be able to stop me.
With over 1,000 blogs in the can so to speak I am in danger of repeating myself. So a bit of a travelogue today and a bit of a memory from the 1970s.
Perhaps somebody else will remember a man who was referred to as The Mad Hatter of Weybourne. We are talking early to mid 1970s here. His real name was Patrick Townshend.
In my role as editor of the Norfolk Family History Magazine - Norfolk Ancestor - I receive articles and news from all over the world with a Norfolk connection. One of our volunteers - Heather Etteridge - sent me an article for a previous edition on Black Sheeps of the family (or should that be Black Sheep of the Families?). Well Patrick Townshend was definitely a black sheep of the famous Townshend family. That's the one that had Turnip Townshend. Guess why he was called Turnip Townshend? Surprisingly because of his strong interest in farming turnips and his role in the British Agricultural Revolution. I suppose he could just as easily have been called Celery Townshend or Beetroot Townshend. But enough of him.
Patrick Townshend I believe was one of his descendants. He owned an antiques' shop (that's a shop that sells antiques and not an old shop) in Weybourne. He would regularly dress up as the Mad Hatter which was all very well but there was a touch of danger in this as he would then stop vehicles on the main coast road and harangue the drivers.
He was brought before Cromer Magistrates on a number of occasions for causing a nuisance. I still remember the chairman of the bench saying: "Mr Townshend, we have seen rather a lot of you in this court."
"But M'Lud I'm always completely dressed," came the reply on one occasion.
Patrick Townshend always referred to himself as the "black sheep of the family." His brothers were high achievers. He wasn't. In fact he only opened his antiques' shop on a whim and to people he liked. I never tested this by going there. I would love to hear from anyone reading this who remembers him or knows of him. I suspect he is now long gone but his nuttiness lives on in my memory.
Yesterday we had a long walk in North Norfolk centred on Weybourne. I was trying to remember where the Mad Hatter's shop was but came up with a blank. Wherever it was it is long gone. But Weybourne Station is certainly now looking at its best after all the lockdown and COVID stuff. We had a cup of tea and slice of cake there and watched one of the steam hauled dining cars saunter past.
There were flowers everywhere and as I always say "if you want somewhere to look nice leave it up to volunteers." Weybourne Station is part of the North Norfolk Heritage Railway which runs from Sheringham to Holt and (not surprisingly) from Holt to Sheringham and which is staffed by volunteers. Sheringham station is right in the middle of the town and a 10 minute walk to the seafront. Weybourne Station, however, is quite a distance from the centre of the village and even further to the sea and the same applies to Holt where the station is a fair walk from the town centre. Nevertheless next time we are in North Norfolk we will get a day Rover ticket even if we just go up and down the line.
I hope you like some of my photos of Weybourne and the surrounding area. Stupidly my camera battery ran out whilst I was on Weybourne Station so I will have to do some more photographs of that on our next visit. But better than relying on my photography, pay it a visit if you live in striking distance.