Sunday 12 September 1976

Mum’s Diary

E went to help at riding stables. P. took her & Nicola at 8:30. I went to St P in am – Ken – Saw lots of people afterwards. Went to Mums for tea. Went to B Rd in evening. Jack Burton preached – had BBC man there to take photos during service ‘quite good.’ Several people spoke to me. Lots of pain all day. 2P.

Roger’s/My Diary

Liz spent all day at the riding stables helping with the horses. After lunch we went to grandmas. All the trees have been dealt with. This evening Alan went to a meeting then to SPOTSOC. Tricia went to church & mum went to Bowthorpe Rd. I watched the Brothers then the start of a legal film.

Notes

Helping at the Riding Stables

E refers to my younger sister Liz (Elizabeth). Mum noted that she went to help at the riding stables. In my diary, I noted that she spent all day at the riding stables helping with the horses. Liz was quite seriously into riding at this time and went most Saturdays. While initially Liz went riding in Drayton, she recalls mainly doing this at two stables, Palomino Riding School in Mousehold and Redwings Riding School in Frettenham, see Chapter 122. However, I don’t know which stable Liz went to on this occasion or even if it was one of these.

Liz riding while on holiday in Colwyn Bay in 1975

Nicola Drury

Nicola refers to Nicola Drury who was our next-door neighbour at that time. She lived at 190 College Road and we were at 192, see Chapter 117. Liz and Nicola were friends but Liz does not recall going riding with her.

Liz does recall going to Keswick Riding School a couple of times and wonders if she might have gone there with Nicola. Located at 2 Bridle Lane Norwich, Keswick Riding Stables closed in July 2022 following the retirement of owner Christine Hewitt aged 78. The business had previously been run by her father.

A Lift There

P refers to my older sister Tricia (Patricia). At this point, she was 18 and was able to drive, see Chapter 127. Mum noted that Tricia took Liz and Nicola to the riding stables at 8.30 am.

St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church

Mum attended the morning service at St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church (St P). This was the church mum and my siblings attended at this time, see Chapter 124.

Mum noted that the morning service was taken by Rev Ken Elworthy (Ken) who was the church’s junior Minister at that time.

News cutting with notice of Methodist services on 12 September 1976. This confirms that the speakers at St Peter’s Park Lane were Rev Elworthy in the morning and Rev Ream at night

Rev Kenneth F Elworthy

Kenneth (Ken) F Elworthy was born in 1943 and he entered the Methodist Ministry in 1966, see Chapter 124. He was sent to Park Lane by the President of the Methodist Conference and had a specific focus on young people and students, serving as chaplain to the University of East Anglia. One thing he became known for was a “Punch and Judy” show although he only took this up after his time at Park Lane. After leaving Norwich, he went on to serve in Gant’s Hill and the Isle of Man. He appears to have died on the Isle of Man in May 2019 following a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease. He was married to Heather and they had three children Peter, Nicola and Tabitha.

Rev Ken Elworthy in 1989 from interview for St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church 50^th anniversary vid e o

Lots of People

Mum noted that she saw lots of people after the service. The background to this was that mum had had surgery for a kidney stone at the beginning of August, see Chapter 116. After she came out of hospital, she did go back to the morning service at St Peter’s but, on the two occasions she attended in August, she left during the last hymn. I assume the reason for this was to avoid over-tiring herself but, knowing my mother, I am sure she also did this for maximum dramatic effect! She had not been to morning service on the previous two Sundays. On one occasion, she noted being too tired and, on the other, she went in the evening. Given this, this explains why lots of people wanted to take the opportunity to speak to her, probably for the first time following her surgery.

Sunday Afternoon Tea

In my diary, I noted that we went to grandma’s after lunch. Mum noted that we went to grandma’s for tea. This was our usual practice throughout my childhood and teenage years, see Chapter 122.

Tea

Based on my family’s working class background in Nottinghamshire, we tended to refer to our meals as dinner and tea. However, given that we had moved to Norwich in 1960, and possibly because we were becoming more middle class, some of that usage was changing and family members sometimes, and perhaps increasingly, referred to a midday meal as lunch, see Chapter 92. However, we continued to refer to an afternoon or early evening meal as tea.

On this occasion, mum referred to going to grandma’s for “tea“. Interestingly, I noted that we went to grandma’s after “lunch“.

Starkey comics have produced this really excellent map which shows how people refer to evening meal in different parts of UK and Ireland. It is interesting that “*tea*” is the common form in the north including Kirkby whereas there is no clear majority in Norfolk. This map has been accessed from the Brilliant Maps Facebook page

Trees

Grandma’s house and gardens in Drayton were surrounded by very large pine trees. These were problematic in that they shed cones and needles meaning these had to be cleared before the lawns could be cut, see Chapter 126. In addition, they were huge and there was an increasing risk that they could come down in a storm potentially falling on the house. So, grandma had most, if not all of them, cut down. I believe this is what I meant when I said they had been dealt with.

Bowthorpe Road Methodist Church

Mum noted that she went to the evening service at Bowthorpe Road Methodist Church (B Road). She noted that a number of people spoke to her. At this time, mum was increasingly going to one service at St Peter’s and another at Bowthorpe Road. Factors behind this were that she got on very well with the Minister at Bowthorpe Road, Rev Malcolm Carter, but got on very poorly with the senior Minister at St Peter’s Park Lane, see Chapter 124. I don’t think it is a coincidence that Rev Ream was the speaker at St Peter’s that evening.

Originally opened in 1974, this church is now the base for the Chinese Methodist church in Norwich, see Chapter 79. A new extension was built in 2018 but it was built out of position so there was a possibility that it would need to be demolished. However, it seems that that fate was averted in 2020.

Bowthorpe Road Methodist Church in 2022 showing new extension

News cutting showing Rev Malcolm Carter (second left) at the opening of the new Bowthorpe Road church in 1974.

Jack Burton

Rev Jack Burton was the preacher. He was quite well-known because, although he was an ordained Methodist Minister, he worked full-time as a bus driver, see Chapter 124. I believe the BBC featured him in one of their programmes and that is why the “BBC man” was there to take photos during the service. Mum considered the service quite good. On another occasion, mum said she found his talks interesting because he sometimes raised his voice which was different from the “one note” used by Revs Ream and Elworthy.

Jack Burton was born in Norwich in 1939. He studied theology at Handsworth College in Birmingham and served as a Minister in Glasgow and Littleport in the early sixties. However, he then left full-time Ministry becoming a “worker-priest” employed as a bus driver by Eastern Counties. He wrote a number of books and was a columnist for the Eastern Daily Press. He married his wife Molly in 1961. In the late eighties, he became Sheriff of Norwich. In August 2023, he died aged 83. I have been reading his book “Transport of Delight” each morning for a year or so and am in the process of finalising a post about this.

Photos of Rev Jack Burton from local news cuttings including driving a bus (left), with his book “*Transport of Delight*” (centre left) and as Sheriff of Norwich (centre right). Right – front cover of “*Transport of Delights*”. This book follows the form of a one- year diary from September 1974 to September 1975

Pain

Mum noted that she lots of pain all day for which she took two paracetamol (2P), see Chapter 116.

SPOTSOC

Alan refers to my younger brother. I noted that he went to a meeting and then to SPOTSOC which was a youth group at St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church, see Chapter 124. The name was an acronym for St Peter’s Over Twelve Society but it was usually written Spotsoc. I also noted that my older sister Tricia (Patricia) went to church, by which I presumably meant St Peter’s, while my mother went to Bowthorpe Road Methodist Church.

Television

I noted that I watched “The Brothers” and the start of a legal film on TV, see Chapter 122.

News cutting with TV Guide for 12 September 1976

“The Brothers”

I recall “the TV series “The Brothers” which was shown between 1972 and 1976, see Chapter 122. It told the story of the Hammonds who ran a road haulage firm. It was directed by Philip Dudley, Lennie Mayne, Ronald Wilson, Timothy Combe, Mary Ridge, Quentin Lawrence, Eric Price, Roderick Graham, Vere Lorrimer and Christopher Baker. The series starred Jean Anderson, Glyn Owen, Richard Easton, Robin Chadwick, Patrick O’Connell, Jennifer Wilson, Derek Benfield, Hilary Tindall, Gabrielle Drake and Colin Baker.

It was on BBC1 at 7.25pm for fifty minutes. I think I watched it most Sunday evenings. “The Brothers” was fairly popular. In August 1975, the celebrity opening the Drayton Festival was Jennifer Wilson from the cast of “The Brothers”, see Chapter 116.

“Anatomy of a Murder“

I believe the legal film I watched the start of was the film on Anglia, “Anatomy of a Murder”. The film on BBC1 “The Go Between” could not be described as a legal film.

I am not sure why I only watched the start of it. I did not record having anything else to do. Perhaps, I just didn’t like it. It was on Anglia from 9.05pm and only finished at midnight. Another option is that I did not like it enough to think that the grief I would have got from mum for staying up late and watching an X-rated film was worth it!

It was a 1959 film directed by Otto Preminger and starring James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O’Connell, Eve Arden. Kathryn Grant, Joseph N Welch, George C Scott, Orson Bean, Russ Brown, Murray Hamilton and Brooks West.