Cultural Geography Blog

  Early on in my teaching career in King's Lynn , I taught quite a few of the families who were involved in the fairground business: showmen (and women) who ran fairground rides and the related stalls, as did my wife, who was also involved in traveller education for a while. The first show in the year is the 'Mart', which takes place in King's Lynn around Valentine's Day, and has been held for over 800 years! It takes over the Tuesday Market Place, and attracts thousands of visitors. Here's a drone film flyover of the Mart from a few years ago. One of the families I taught back then was the Appletons, and a week or so ago there was an interesting programme on this family and the patriarch 'Nipper' Appleton. Fairs like this are very much part of British culture.  As a child in Rotherham we had the 'Statis' fair (probably from Statutes) which was held in the Autumn out near the old Millmoor ground. When I later lived in Hull while completing my tea...

  Coming to King's Lynn for the next month or so... This consists of projections which will be shone onto 4 key buildings in the town between next weekend and the end of November. I shall be heading over once the clocks have gone back to take a look at this... More details here. The impact of the 2020 national lock-down has shown us that change can be made and some positive effects have been experienced including people commuting less and becoming more aware of their environment… Can this be the beginning of an influential change? The work aims not to emphasize the problems of climate change, but highlight some of the solutions and provide empowerment through awareness. The project draws on research from Drawdown, a 2017  comprehensive plan to reverse global warming , developed by an international coalition of leading researchers, scientists and policymakers. Their report ranks the top 100 ways to reverse climate change, with #1 being the most effective in sequestering carbon ...

Mark Steel has been touring the country for quite a few years now, doing his 'In Town' shows. He does a lot of research, and wanders around the town, and then does a show where he gently explores some of the local culture, including quotes from bulletin boards and online discussions. A sort of cultural geography / sense of place type approach to a comedy show. King's Lynn was the subject of a recent show. As a resident of the town for ten years, and having spent twenty years working there and teaching a few thousand of its residents, I know all the references here, and was amused to hear someone shout out "this is West Norfolk" when Mark referred to King's Lynn as being in North Norfolk... as he pointed out - if you go North from Lynn you end up in the sea, so that must make it fairly north within the county... also plenty on the rabbits of Hardwick Roundabout and a passable accent... Listen to the show here. Some more clips and bits from previous s...