So Bad It’s Good

January 20, 2024 ~ beetleypete ~ 46 Comments

For almost 60 years, The Louis Tussaud House Of Wax was a feature of the Norfolk seaside resort of Great Yarmouth. Once social media was used to mock the poor quality of the exhibits, the failing museum achieved cult status for a while, with people travelling from all over the country to see what were described as the worst waxwork models in the world.

With the elderly owners unable to afford better exhibits, and interest in the wax museum declining dramatically, it was closed down in 2012.

Here are some examples of what was on offer.

Queen Elizabeth II

Princess Diana.

Prnce William

Pope John Paul II

Michael Jackson

Adolf Hitler

Winston Churchill

Margaret Thatcher

The Beatles

Elvis Presley

Gressenhall

March 26, 2017 ~ beetleypete ~ 44 Comments

All photos can be enlarged for detail.

With nice weather this afternoon, I decided to take Ollie somewhere new. Just west of Beetley is the village of Gressenhall. Although slightly smaller than Beetley, it does have a definite centre, with a small shop and assorted houses that are clustered around the village green. The brown building on the left is the community centre and children’s playgroup.
Ollie fans, please note. He flatly refused to be in a single photo today!

On the far side of that green is a duck pond. But there were no ducks in residence today.

Gressenhall is 2.5 miles from Beetley, and can be accessed via a safe footpath, away from the traffic. It is the place where we can find our nearest pub, The Swan. A reasonable walk of about twenty-five minutes.

Opposite the pub is our nearest shop and post office. This small shop keeps old-fashioned opening hours, and the post office inside is only open on Monday afternoons! It is something of a hub for the local community, and is usually full of people chatting to each other, as they buy their newspapers, wine, or fresh produce. The owners live above the shop, and manage to keep it going in these difficult times for small businesses.

Gressenhall is mainly known for the Farm and Workhouse museum. This museum is just at the end of the road where we live, so we prefer to think it is in Beetley. However, the main road is the dividing line, so it is really in Gressenhall.
http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/Visit_Us/Gressenhall_Farm_and_Workhouse/index.htm

I hope that you enjoyed this snapshot of village life in central Norfolk.

Muckleburgh Part Three: Other exhibits

November 1, 2016 ~ beetleypete ~ 35 Comments

The famous Willys Jeep. The workhorse of the Allied armies during WW2, used for everything from transporting wounded, to carrying supplies.
All photos are reduced files, but can still be clicked on for detail.

An American half-track personnel carrier and support vehicle. They could be adapted to carry larger guns, and also for use as anti-aircraft gun platforms. One of the most widely-used vehicles of WW2.

British Rapier anti-aircraft missile delivery system. Since 1971, this has been the primary anti-aircraft weapon used by the UK, and remains so to this day.

A Hawker Siddely Harrier aircraft. Developed in Britain, and also used by many other countries. This was famous as the ‘Jump-Jet’ fighter-bomber, from its capability to take off and land vertically. It was used on land and at sea, and saw service in the Falklands War against Argentina.

The infamous German V-1 jet-propelled bomb, and a Royal Air Force radar installation behind.
Developed during WW2, this was launched from bases in northern Europe, and targeted against London from 1944. A simple device, it carried just enough fuel for the short journey to Britain’s capital. When that ran out, the bomb would drop out of the sky, with a devastating impact on anything below. Also known as ‘The Flying Bomb’, or ‘Doodlebug’, the appearance of these in the sky would terrify Londoners, due to the random nature of the eventual target.