At our May meeting we were entertained by Juliet Webster. Juliet recited a poem written by her great aunt Honor Elwes, which told the story of a holiday in a yellow caravan. This was during May and June 1912. This was no normal caravan, from illustrations it appeared to be a box on wheels pulled by a horse and had been borrowed from a local firm of furniture removers. The caravan contained a stove and sleeping accommodation.
Honor was accompanied by her friends Judith and Wyn, all three were in their early twenties. Plus two dogs and a gentleman called Mr Canon who looked after the horse.
The holiday was planned as a circular tour from the west of the county, so the first challenge was to get up the hills in Dersingham and Snettisham.
Along the way they were mistaken for tinkers and another time for Suffragettes. At one stop they were moved on by the police. The caravan had a cooker so they mostly cooked for themselves enroute. The cooking of a cornflour pudding was mentioned.
After Snettisham they went to North Walsham, over several days, via Docking, Burnham, Holkham, Wells, Kelling Heath, Cromer and Northrepps.
At some points in the journey, they were able to park the caravan in the grounds of houses belonging to friends, which also gave them the opportunity to dine with their friends.
From North Walsham they headed for Hingham via Stoke Hall and Dunston Common. From Hingham to Shipdham then Swaffham and Narborough then home from whence they had started two weeks before.
At times they had to hire an additional horse to get up the hills. They also crossed two rivers at Horning and Surlingham this included caravan and horse!.
Following an entry into a literary competition the poem was published by Poppyland.
The subject of our July talk will be ‘Weather’ by Graham Bell.
Judy Leggett