Beccles Library Activities and Events

Beccles Library Activities and Events

The following activities are run regularly at Beccles library:

Thursdays - 9.45am - 11.45am
Family Playtime: from birth to four years old

Thursdays - 2.00pm - 3.00pm
Top Time

Fridays - 2.00pm - 2.30pm
Baby Bounce and Tot Rock: from birth to one year old.
Find out more about about Bookstart here

Sundays - 10.30am - 12.00pm
Fun Time Craft Activities: for children of all ages

This summer children have had the opportunity to take part in this year's reading challenge ... Team Read. All they had to do was read 6 books...

Congratulations! Children who have finished this years reading challenge (Word, 58Kb)

Presentation of certificates: Sunday, 14 September, 2pm

Sunday 12 October, Drawing Event
Illustrator Carol Liddiment will be at Beccles library. Come along and join in the fun.Please contact Beccles library for more details. The Big Draw official website.

Top Time: Open House at Beccles Library
Open House is a group with different weekly themes, everyone welcome, with tea and biscuits provided 2.00pm - 3.00pm. No booking required, just come along on the day and join us.

4 September - Reading group
The Book Group will be discussing “ Holes”, by Louis Sacher. Just call in to Beccles Library for a copy to read before the meeting. The reading group is the first Thursday of each month.

11 September - Talk
Local Historian David Lindley will be speaking on "The Life and Times of Five Beccles Mayors".

18 September - Relax and chat
Come along and have a natter.

25 September - Family history
Do you want help in researching your family tree? This is a new drop-in session on the fourth Thursday of each month to help you get started, or to assist you in retrieving information. Just drop in for further details.

On the second Thursday of the month we are welcoming people who would like to speak on their hobby, interest, holiday or any subject they enjoy. If you would like to come along as a speaker later in the year Mel Goodwin at Beccles Library would be very pleased to hear from you.



Children's Activities at Beccles Library

Baby Bounce: from birth to one year old.
Every Friday 2.00pm - 2.30pm

Family Playtime: from birth to four years old.
Every Thursday 9.45am - 11.45am

Fun Time Craft Activities: for children of all ages.
Every Sunday 10.30am - 12.00pm

All part of the Suffolk Children's University

For further details of these events please contact Beccles Library.

Opening Hours
Monday 9.30am-5.00pm
Tuesday 9.30am-5.00pm
Wednesday 9.30am-1.00pm
Thursday 9.30am-5.00pm
Friday 9.30am-7.30pm
Saturday 9.30am-5.00pm
Sunday 10.00am-4.00pm
Holiday opening hours

Beccles Library
Blyburgate
Beccles, Suffolk
NR34 9TB

Telephone: 01502 714073 and 01502 716471

Email: help@suffolklibraries.co.uk

Location map

Suffolk libraries direct - renewals, catalogue, your library record

Harleston Library Activities and Events

Harleston Library Activities and Events

Services at Harleston Library

• Books for loan - information, education, leisure
• LARGE PRINT books Books on tape
• Language courses on tape
• Information service
• Community Information
• Book request service
• Internet Access (free)
• Videos
• Automatic doors
• Car park

Events for the
National Year of Reading

Do you have special memories of Harleston?
On Friday 12 September, between 2.00 & 3.30pm come to the library and share them with us over a cup of tea. We can help you put your memories on the internet for the whole world to share!

Regular Events

Baby bounce and Rhymetime
Every Wednesday at 10.30 am in school term.

Under 8's storytime
Every Wednesday in school holidays at 10.30am

For further details of these events please contact Harleston Library.

Opening Hours
Monday 10.00-1.00; 2.00-7.30
Tuesday closed
Wednesday 10.00-7.30
Thursday closed
Friday 10.00-1.00; 2.00-7.30
Saturday 9.30-1.00
Holiday opening hours

Harleston Library
Swan Lane,
Harleston,
IP20 9AW

Telephone: 01379 852549

Email: harleston.lib@norfolk.gov.uk

Location map

Parish website:
www.harleston-norfolk.org.uk

norlink.norfolk.gov.uk - renewals, catalogue, your library record

Diss Library Activities and Events

Diss Library Activities and Events

Services at Diss Library

• Books for loan - information, education, leisure
• LARGE PRINT books
• Books on tape
• Language courses on tape
• Information service
• Community Information
• Book request service
• Internet Access (free)
• Recorded Music
• Videos
• DVDs
• Photocopier
• Automatic doors
• Disabled person's WC
• Disabled person's parking
• CD Roms for sale
• Spectacles for sale

Events for the National Year of Reading

Do you have special memories of Diss?
On Friday 26 September between 2.00 & 3.30pm come to the library and share them with us over a cup of tea. We can help you put your memories on the internet for the whole world to share!

Children's Activities at Diss Library

Regular Events
Baby Bounce & Rhymetime
every Friday in term time
10.30am

Story time for under 8's
Friday mornings in school holidays.
10.30am
All sessions start at 10.30am.

For further details of these events please contact Diss Library.

Opening Hours
Monday 8.45am-5.00pm
Tuesday 8.45am-1.00pm
Wednesday 8.45am-7.30pm
Thursday 8.45am-5.00pm
Friday 8.45am-7.30pm
Saturday 8.45am-1.00pm
Holiday opening hours

Diss Library
Church Street
Diss, Norfolk
IP22 4DD

Telephone: 01379 642609

Email: diss.lib@norfolk.gov.uk

Location map

norlink.norfolk.gov.uk - renewals, catalogue, your library record

* * * * * *
What's On in Diss? visit
for a list of Diss Events

* * * * * *

Southwold Library Activities and Events

Southwold Library Activities and Events

Tuesdays
9.00am - 10.00am
Baby Bounce and Tot Rock. A Bookstart activity

Thursdays
6.30pm (once a month)
Reading Group

Sundays
11.30am - 12.15pm
Storytime for under seven year olds
12.15pm - 1.00pm
Childrens fun group for seven to twelve year olds
1.00pm - 3.30pm
Internet training sessions. Please book

First Sunday of month
2.00pm - 3.30pm
Book sale.
Fill a plastic bag for £2.00 (bring your own bag) or a jute bag for £3.00.

Sunday ICT sessions
1.00pm - 3.30pm
If you are unfamiliar with the internet and would like a one to one training session or sessions this is the thing for you. From complete beginners to those who would like guidance on email or particular websites. ICT sessions are half an hour long and you can come back as many times and you like. To book a session please phone or visit Southwold Library.

Southwold Library Reading Group

Children's activities at Southwold Library

Storytime
11.30am - 12.15pm every Sunday for under seven year olds.
Stories, crafts and colouring to a theme each week.

3 August Running stories & craft;
10 August Racing stories & craft;
17 August Ball stories & craft;
24 August Tortoise & hare stories & craft;
31 August Rowing stories & craft.

Children's Fun Group
12.15pm - 1.00pm every Sunday for seven to twelve year olds.
Crafts, games and fun to a theme each week.

3 August Make your own Olympic mascot;
10 August Design a sports magazine;
17 August Egg box racers;
24 August Sporty puzzlers;
31 August Design your own sport/game.

Click bookstart logo for latest details

All part of the Suffolk Children's University

For further details of these events please contact Southwold Library.

Opening Hours
Monday Closed
Tuesday 10.00am - 1.00pm, 2.00pm - 6.00pm
Wednesday 10.00am - 1.00pm, 2.00pm - 6.00pm
Thursday 10.00am - 1.00pm, 2.00pm - 6.00pm
Friday 10.00am - 1.00pm, 2.00pm - 6.00pm
Saturday 9.30am - 1.00pm, 2.00pm - 5.00pm
Sunday 11.00am - 4.00pm
Holiday opening hours

Southwold Library
North Green
Southwold, Suffolk
IP18 6AT

Telephone: 01502 722519

Email: help@suffolklibraries.co.uk

Location map

Suffolk libraries direct - renewals, catalogue, your library record.

Halesworth Library Activities and Events

Halesworth Library Activities and Events

Click here for list of latest events

Children's Activities
Stories and crafts for children are available in the library

Click here for list of Bookstart children's activities

All part of the Suffolk Children's University


Waveney Women's Health Information Centre

C.A.D Carers Action for Dementia

For further details of these events please contact Halesworth Library.

Opening Hours
Monday 9.30am-12.00pm
Tuesday 9.30am-5.30pm
Wednesday 9.30am-5.30pm
Thursday Closed
Friday 9.30am - 6.00pm
Saturday 9.30am - 5.00pm
Sunday 10.00am-3.00pm
Holiday opening hours

Halesworth Library
Bridge Street
Halesworth, Suffolk
IP19 8AD

Telephone: 01986 875095

Email: help@suffolklibraries.co.uk

Location map

Rooms for hire
Open gallery space available for displays and exhibitions.
Library space available for meetings when the library is closed.

Suffolk libraries direct - renewals, catalogue, your library record.

Lowestoft 1550-1750, David Butcher

Lowestoft 1550-1750

David Butcher

Boydell & Brewer of Woodbridge has just published Lowestoft (Suffolk) author David Butcher's latest book, a 354 page hardback entitled 'Lowestoft, 1550 - 1750 : Development and Change in a Suffolk Coastal Town', with 24 in text half tone illustrations and six line maps, the book is priced at £50.00.

www.boydell.co.uk

Lowestoft has grown from a small urban community to become Suffolk’s second largest town; and this book provides a vivid picture of the town and its inhabitants during the early modern period. Making full use of surviving documentation, in particular the parish registers, it begins with an overview of Lowestoft’s medieval history, then proceeds to investigate topographical development, demographic features, occupational structure, social geography, house-building and interior décor, wealth and inheritance, maritime pursuits, agriculture, local government, education and literacy, religious affiliation, and urban identity. Wherever possible, the town is set into a national and European context, and its maritime nature fully brought out.

David Butcher's other published works have included:
1975 - Waveney Valley (East Anglian Magazine, Ipswich)
1979 - The Driftermen (Tops'l Books, Reading)
1980 - The Trawlermen (Tops'l Books, Reading)
1982 - Living from the Sea (Tops'l Books, Reading)
1987 - Following the Fishing (Tops'l Books, London)
1995 - The Ocean's Gift (Centre of East Anglian Studies, UEA, Norwich)

Loddon Library Activities and Events

Services at Loddon Library

• Books for loan - information, education, leisure
• LARGE PRINT books
• Books on tape
• Language courses on tape
• Information service
• Community Information
• Book request service
• Internet Access (free)
• Videos
• Disabled person's WC

Events for the National Year of Reading

Do you remember the 1948 Olympics?
Come and have a cuppa and share a memory
Wednesday, 17 September
1.45 - 3.30 pm

Refreshments provided.

Local History Group
There is a permanent display of the local Community Archive (COMMA) project, including a slideshow of Old Loddon. EDP & Beccles and Bungay Press articles from the 80s accompany the display.

Regular Events
Evening Reading Group 3rd Wednesday of every month

Local History Group

There is a permanent display of the local Community Archive (COMMA) project, including a slideshow of Old Loddon. EDP & Beccles and Bungay Press articles from the 80s accompany the display.

Baby Bounce and Rhyme Time, Songs and rhymes for pre-school children and their carers

2nd and 4th Mondays
10.30 - 11.00 am

Come and join the fun and meet some new friends at the library!

For further details of these events please contact Loddon Library.

Opening Hours
Monday 10.00-1.00; 2.00-7.30
Tuesday closed
Wednesday 10.00-1.00
Thursday 2.00-7.30
Friday 2.00-7.30
Saturday 10.00-1.00
Holiday opening hours

Loddon Library

31 Church Plain,
Loddon, Norfolk
NR14 6EX

Telephone: 01508 520678

Email: loddon.lib@norfolk.gov.uk

Location map

Parish website:
www.loddon.org.uk

norlink.norfolk.gov.uk - renewals, catalogue, your library record

Bungay Library Activities and Events

Bungay Library Activities and Events

Mondays	10.00am - 12.00pm	Scrabble Club
Tuesdays	1.45am - 2.15pm	Baby Bounce ( Bookstart)
Tuesdays	2.15pm - 2.45pm	Tot Rock ( Bookstart)
2nd Wednesday of month	1.30pm	Reading Group
Wednesdays during term times only	9.30am - 11.30am	ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Classes
Thursday during school term time	9.30am - 10.00am	Storytelling ( Bookstart)
Fridays during term times only	9.30am - 11.30am	ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Classes
2nd Saturday of month		Open Gallery Crafts
Last Saturday of month	9.00am - 5.30pm	Giant Book Sale
Alternate Sundays	11.45am - 12.45pm	Children's Craft Sessions
Alternate Sundays	11.00am - 2.00pm	Sunday ICT sessions (booking required)

Take part in this year's reading challenge ... Team Read. All you have to do is read 6 books.

Volunteers will be in the library every day (except Sunday) between 10.00am - 12.00pm to listen to you talk about your books from Wednesday 23 July until Monday 1 September.

Sunday ICT sessions
Alternate Sundays 11.00am - 2.00pm.
If you are unfamiliar with the internet and would like a free half hour, one to one training session with an experienced member of staff, this is the thing for you. ICT sessions are limited to a maximum of three, no prior knowledge required! To book a session please speak to a member of library staff at Bungay Library.

Sunday Children's Craft Sessions
Alternate Sundays 11.45am - 12.45pm.
Free! Suitable for Children aged 3 - 12, join us for an hour of cutting, sticking and general craft fun. Help us make displays to brighten up our library and start projects to take home!

ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Classes
Contact Bungay Library about joining beginners or intermediate classes.
Run on Wednesdays and Fridays, 9.30am - 11.30am, during term times only.
There may be a small charge for this course.

Reading Group
2nd Wednesday of each month 1.30pm.
Join our 'Bungay Library Reading Group'. Each month we pick a novel one of us has previously enjoyed, read it and discuss the month after! Previous novels have included; 'Northern Lights' 'The Time Travellers Wife' 'The Jane Austen Book Club'.

• July "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult
• August "The Story of Lucy Gault" by William Trevor
• September "Something Might Happen" by Julie Myerson

Open Gallery Crafts
2nd Saturday of every month.
Do you enjoy crafts? Scrapbooking, knitting, card making? If so, join us for some peace, quiet and empty tables with space to spread out. Meet other like minded ‘crafters’ and share ideas or skills. £2 per session, including a cup of coffee.

Giant Book Sale
Last Saturday of each month 9.00am - 5.30pm.
Grab some bargains!

Scrabble Club
Every Monday 10.00am - 12.00pm
Board etc provided.

Children's Activities
Click bookstart logo for latest details

For further details of these events please contact Bungay Library.

Opening Hours
Monday 9.00am-12.30pm
Tuesday 9.00am-5.00pm
Wednesday 9.00am-12.30pm
Thursday 9.00am-5.00pm
Friday 9.00am-6.00pm
Saturday 9.00am-5.00pm
Sunday 10.00am-3.00pm
Holiday opening hours

Bungay Library
Wharton Street
Bungay, Suffolk
NR35 1EL

Telephone: 01986 892748
Fax: 01986 894008

Email: help@suffolklibraries.co.uk

Location map

Suffolk libraries direct - renewals, catalogue, your library record.

North Suffolk Skills Centre, Halesworth

North Suffolk Skills Centre, Halesworth

If double maths on a wet Thursday afternoon fills you with dread, then the trial of a new qualification in the north of the county may be of interest.

Around 30 high school pupils from the Halesworth area get to leave the classroom every week to develop new skills on their way to an Engineering Diploma.

The range of subjects on offer includes car mechanics, engineering, brick laying, plastering, hairdressing and catering.

The venue for the training is the new £2 million state-of-the-art North Suffolk Skills Centre in Halesworth.

The centre is helping to address the needs of students who prefer to study more practical subjects as opposed to the traditional three Rs.

'Ground breaking' scheme
Graham Lane, who chaired the development panel for the Engineering Diploma, had a tour of the centre and spoke to staff and students to learn more about its role in piloting the brand new Diploma in Engineering course.

Mr Lane described the educational work being carried out at the Skills Centre as 'ground-breaking and inspirational'.

"All the evidence shows this is going to be a mainstream qualification. Already Cambridge University says it's prepared to take the diploma as entry for an honours degree course.

"I think the diploma is the most exciting reform in this country since secondary education began in 1902. The children clearly enjoy their studies at centres like these and I think one of the main issues could be the future demand for places which at the moment are limited."

Based in the grounds of Halesworth Middle School, the multi-million pound centre sees Lowestoft College, Leiston, Bungay and Sir John Leman high schools working together to provide a range of training opportunities.

It was this successful partnership that meant the centre was specially selected by the government as one of only a few in England to stage the new courses.

source: www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk

www.northsuffolkskillscentre.co.uk

The Budica Within, by Elaine Sassoon, buy from SCOTTS Gallery Café, Lowestoft

"The Budica Within"
(ISBN 978-1-852-97-097-0)

This book was written by Elaine Sassoon and produced by Andrea O'Hare.

We are selling this book for the charity. Alongside this Michelle Payne who has done life casts in connection with the book has kindly lent three unique breast casts that will also be displayed along with lots more information about the breast cancer and reconstruction.

The display will be at SCOTTS Gallery Café, Lowestoft, until the end of February 2008.

We would like as many people as possible to pop along and show their support by buying a copy of the book. All proceeds from the book sale go to the charity.

Elaine Sasson is a Consultant Plastic Surgeon in Norwich who specialises in reconstructive surgery.

Please show your support by popping along and buying a copy!

For further information please contact James Scott on 01502 576 000 or visit www.scottsgallerycafe.co.uk where you will find our other contact information.

Scapegallows, Carol Birch - book review

Scapegallows

Carol Birch

New South Wales, 1817. Margaret Catchpole, a Suffolk woman, is stranded at a settler’s homestead as the floodwater draws in, and she finds herself facing death - as she has several times before.

She looks back over her life - the complex and stormy partnership with Will Laud, a ‘hell-born-babe’, that led her into the world of smuggling and in to a double life. After Will is forced to flee the country, Margaret is taken on as a nursemaid by the wealthy Cobbold family, but a crime against them means she is tried and sentenced to hang.

She avoids death but when an elaborate gaol escape fails, Will is shot dead and Margaret captured. Sentenced once more to hang, she looks death full in the face. But she doesn’t die. Her sentence is transmuted to transportation for life to Australia.

The novel explores a deeply divided society. Ironically, by reaching the lowest depths and being cast out by the society which spawned her, Margaret finds her true role as an independent pioneer in a young colony.

(Virago £14.99)

Simon Barnes: How to Be Wild, book review

How to Be Wild - Simon Barnes
by Leena

A fair number of books about wilderness have come out in 2007. I have yet to read the others, but I’m guessing How to Be Wild is at the most accessible end of these. A record of a year in the life of a keen amateur naturalist, it is a collection of personal anecdotes and general observations, divided into short, snappy chapters and told in a chatty, colloquial style (some may find the swearing a little unnecessary) with occasional raptures thrown in (as here, on nightingales: ‘It is the song of everything: it is the song of all birds: it is the song of all life: it is the song of the earth, and of the heavens, too’).

How to Be Wild is a needed reminder that in the modern world it is far too easy to cut ourselves off from the wild, and that we are hurting ourselves by doing so. It reminds us to seek out - and watch out for - the wild in all places. Barnes contrasts his recollections of the Luangwa Valley in Zambia with scenes from his home in Suffolk, and neither of these places is declared the more valuable for being more or less wild. Not surprisingly - considering that Barnes has also written a book titled How to Be a Bad Birdwatcher - this book is brimming with bird-talk, and birds are an excellent emblem for the kind of nature-awareness that he advocates.

The birds twittering in a suburban garden are part of ‘Unofficial Nature’: seemingly ordinary, (too) easy to forget, but none the less wild for that. The food we eat bears little resemblance to its source; we are so isolated that our healthy fear of danger is transformed into a fear of all things remotely natural. ‘We lose our sense of trust in the wild world: we begin to forget that we need it. We impoverish ourselves and then we begin to consider it an enrichment.’

In my case Barnes is preaching to the converted, but he has inspired me to start birdwatching. If he calls himself a ‘good bad birdwatcher’, I am a very bad bad one - ever keen to get my ancient pair of binoculars and observe birds doing strange things in the garden (sparrows squabbling, a pigeon chasing away a squirrel and being chased away by two squirrels in return, a young crow destroying our flowerbeds by delightedly throwing blue - always blue - flowers in the air, a lazy falcon lounging in the garden-chair and wondering why dinner isn’t served straight in his mouth…) but that’s more or less the extent of my expertise.

Barnes, on the other hand, is very convincing about the joys of recognising and naming. After all, naming and categorising are essential parts of the way we experience the world: being unable to call something by its name makes it all the easier to ignore. Little by little anybody can be ‘rehabilitated’ and learn to understand the natural world better.

All that said, the book have done with some trimming: it is a little repetitive in places - a complaint that Barnes seems to anticipate, pointing out that nature repeats itself too! - and peters out towards the end, as there is no natural conclusion. (Pun somewhat intended, but not quite.) The mish-mash of anecdotes, trivia, and environmentalist credo is held together by sheer enthusiasm, and this enthusiasm does sweep the reader along, but the work - and the argument - might have been even stronger with a firmer structure.

Final Verdict: Naturalists might be looking for something more scientific, and those who’d benefit most from reading this book will probably suffer from slight trivia-exhaustion at the end of it; but How to Be Wild is an inspiring read all the same. It isn’t a feel-good book - Barnes is realistic about environmental disasters - but it makes you feel that little bit better, more hopeful and optimistic about the future.

As the author puts it himself, ‘If we love wildlife, we want wildlife to survive. That colours our view of what we see; changes our way of looking at the world. We see a place of infinite fragility, peopled by infinitely vulnerable beings. . . . But behind that, there is also a fierce sense of joy: a joy that is bellicose, confrontational, determined. This is too good. Too good to lose. No, they shan’t bloody ruin it. Not this.’

Short Books, 2007; hardback, 282 pp.; £12.99; ISBN: 9781904977971

The History of Great Yarmouth

The History of Great Yarmouth
by Frank Meeres

Published by Phillimore & Co at £17.99

This town has inspired some of Britain's greatest writers and now a new book is telling Great Yarmouth's extraordinary story.

Author Frank Meeres has invested the knowledge acquired during a decade as the borough's archivist into The History of Great Yarmouth.

From the arrival of the first fishing huts to Scroby Sands windfarm, the book details more than a millennium of amazing change.

“Next year is the 800th anniversary of the town receiving its Royal Charter so I thought now was a good time to get a history of the borough into print,” said Mr Meeres.

“I suppose I have been researching the book for the last 10 years in my job and it took two to three years to write.”

“There were still discoveries I made while writing it that surprised me, perhaps the biggest of all was the number of people who died in the Great Plague of 1665. The town's population was recorded as falling by 25pc during the summer of that year in the parish registers.”

“Ports like Yarmouth were particularly vulnerable to outbreaks of disease with the number of strangers coming in and most of the local plague outbreaks started in the town.”

“There was always the threat from the nature too - Yarmouth was built on a narrow spit of sand and the boundary between the sea and land has always been fragile. Dickens memorably wrote that it was mixed up like toast and water in David Copperfield.”

Fishing and then trade was the basis of the Yarmouth's prosperity and by the Middle Ages the town was one of the richest in England.

Robinson Crusoe author, Daniel Defoe, was full of praise for the port in his book A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain.

When the writer visited Yarmouth in the 1720s he was stunned by the number of boats in the harbour describing how it was possible to walk across the river on a “floating bridge” of ships.

Until the arrival of the railway in the Victorian era it was easier to transport goods by sea than land and Yarmouth had close trading links with the Low Countries.

There was a strong Dutch influence in the town with the large numbers fisherman and tradesman from Holland,” added Mr Meeres.

“Their influence was reflected in the architecture, such as Dutch gables of the Fisherman's Hospital and the Norfolk dialect.”

“Now the outer harbour will restore that historical link and provide greater prosperity to the borough.”

It was the Georgian fashion for taking the waves that first brought the bright and breezy pleasures of the English seaside to town.

From the first few bathers the succeeding decades saw Yarmouth slowly develop into the popular tourist resort it remains to this day.

“Tourism was given an enormous boost by the arrival of railway, which enabled working class families to start visiting the town,” explained Mr Meeres.

“The peak period for visitors was probably from 1900 until the second world war, but Yarmouth still remains enormously popular - the Pleasure Beach is one of the top five visited tourist attractions in the country.

“Perhaps, as concern grows over the environment, the era of cheap flights will come to an end and more people look to reduce their carbon footprint by taking holidays closer to home.”

“I think Yarmouth has been very successful at preserving its heritage despite all the change it has seen. The town wall is one of the ten best preserved in the country and the Tolhouse is the oldest domestic building in Britain.

“Yarmouth has seen rapid expansion and periods of decline, but the town has always been able to pick itself up and start again.”

If two together are sitting on a privy …

If two together are sitting on a privy …

Well there’s a phrase I don’t expect you thought you’d see in this blog!

It comes from a book that has been published recently, the proceeds from which are being donated to three charities of which the BRPS is one.

The book is ‘Daniel of Beccles - Urbanus Magnus The Book of the Civilized Man’. Based on a translation of a 12th century document setting out protocols, manners and morals for society.

The line in my title comes from this excerpt ….

“… Eventually, it would be time for the inferior to wait on the lord as he went to bed.

” … When he sits on the privy in the usual way, take in your hands hay or straw, pick up two bigs wads of hay in your fingers and press them well together. You should prepare to give them to your patron when he wants them. Let the wads be given to him as you stand, not bending the knee. If two together are sitting on a privy, one should not get up while the other is emptying himself. (1266-79)”

The book covers a whole host of issues, and much of the content is as relevant now as it was then. You can read most of the foreword to the book by clicking the link below to continue this post.

To give you a taster, the foreword reads as follows:

“Whatever the motive, whether snobbery, etiquette, social acceptability, custom, parental guidance or simple courtesy, sensitivity, or awareness of the other how to behave has ever been at the centre of society. Manners and morals have reflected as well as created civilisations and social classes. What people do and how they do it has been at the heart of human life and indicative of the powers and relationships within it. In the 12th century, political power was not only with the monarch but also the church. The latter possessed huge lands, was the main provider of education, and ecclesiastics were often holders of high secular office. Society reflected these facts.

“It is possible that Urbanus Magnus was written both for novices as well as boys and men seeking to be accepted in higher society. It seems to want an ordered society knowing good manners and Christian morals and acting by them. A postscript asks that Daniel of Beccles enjoy the joy of heaven: secular and religious combined.

” … What is certain is that Urbanus Magnus is a ’stonking good poem’ fascinating to historians, scholars, the curious, and very relevant to us today. There is sound advice as to how we should behave let alone those of nine centuries ago.

” In this book we have a ‘feast of fat things’. Help yourself and be sufficiently intrigued …. to continue the hunt for the man and the manners of Daniel of Beccles. I am sure he did not ‘excavate his nostrils by twisting his fingers’.


“Receive gifts from great men with gratitude”

“While food is hidden in your mouth, let your tongue not minister to words”

“Sitting at table as a guest, you should not put your elbows on the table”

You can buy the book, which would make a great fun Christmas gift, by calling or emailing The Gazette Bookshop, gazettebookshop@hotmail.com, 01502 712688.

All profits are to be donated to three charities of which BRPS is one.

The British Retinitis Pigmentosa Society

The Female Gothic in Elizabeth Bonhote’s “Bungay Castle”

Bungay Castle, Elizabeth Bonhote

Elizabeth Bonhote’s 200 year old novel, Bungay Castle, is an example of one of the earliest formats in Gothic Literature, the Female Gothic. Bonhote utilizes the unique abilities of Female Gothic to explore the role of women in the society of her time.

In Female Gothic, images of the castle and its related structures can be said to symbolize the patriarchy and the feminine body. As such, her female protagonist’s experience navigating these structures allows her to move from innocence to experience. While on the surface this character is merely exploring the castle, these actions are paralleled on another level by the exploration of herself and society. This exploration allows her to assert her independence as a sexually adult woman.

As a child, tales of ghosts associated with the real Bungay Castle stirred Elizabeth Bonhote’s imagination; legends stemming from the castle’s past created in her a desire to explore their place of origin. These explorations through the castle’s history and lore helped to form what Bonhote would later become as a woman. In her novel , Bonhote creates a young girl named Roseline who wonders what tales the castle might reveal as she ventures forth to explore the source of its subterranean groans and rattlings. From this point her destiny becomes driven by her own actions, as this exploration leads to her future mate.

However, Bonhote’s Roseline is far from the typical fainting Gothic heroine. In creating Roseline, Bonhote shuns the voyeuristic victimization of women which characterizes much of the Male Gothic. Roseline wishes to explore the constrains of Bungay Castle, even when her more traditional counterpart, Madeline, is afraid (47). In doing so, Roseline discovers he future lover imprisoned in an underground apartment.

With Roseline, Bonhote defys the expected sex roles, assigning her the role of the hero when society would have expected her to play the damsel in distress. The fairy tale elements of this story are taken as far as a sort of reverse Rapunzel story where the male is literally locked in a tower and the female is the rescuer.

Bungay Castle holds true to the Female Gothic genre’s aim to socialize and educate its female readers, as well as its tendency to express criticism of male-dominated, patriarchal structures. Bonhote’s portrayal of Roseline’s love interest, Walter, applies such criticism by challenging traditional stereotypes of masculinity. In her description, Bonhote feminizes and infantizes him (75) and does not allow him a “manly” scene when he stops Roseline’s marriage to the Baron (164). In fact, Walter wears a red dress and instead of by some how of strength, he stops the marriage because of his resemblance to the Baron’s deceased wife.

Bonhote portrays sensibility as the more plausible answer to conflict. Even the opening paragraph of the novel paints a violent male-dominated world, wherein Bungay Castle is a solitary refuge. It could be assumed, if the castle is to represent the female body, that Bonhote views women as the refuge from a flawed patriarchal structure; femininity could be considered a fortress, protecting matters of the heart and hearth within.

As a continuation of this feminine ideal, Bonhote ends her story with Roseline and Walter destined to live the remainder of their lives in a state of perpetual innocence and youth (233), which some could argue to be traditionally feminine qualities. This view allows for a true “fairy tale” ending to the story.

While both the real Bungay Castle and the novel it inspired may have been abandoned to moss and decay, they both remain shadows of timeless themes which continue a source of exploration in our present world.


Source - www.terryheath.com