Thursday 14 Sept
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Saturday 16 Sept
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Sunday 17 Sept
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4. Train trip to Wells-next-the-Sea
When making their original bookings, family members had the choice
of either travelling from Walsingham to Wells by Coach or via the
‘Wells & Walsingham Light Railway Co’s narrow-gauge railway
(open and closed carriages), so perhaps it wasn't surprising that everyone chose the latter!
By the time we reached the station (long concrete platform; no
buildings), the train and its carriages was waiting for us, and we all
chose our positions; some sitting in the 'closed' carriages, whilst
others sat on the open versions.
Once everyone was on board, and tickets had been issued, the train
set off (with a long too-ooo-oot on it's whistle) on its (and our) journey,
towards Wells.
Although the weather earlier had been 'not too bad', not long after the
train had left Walsingham, the weather had begun to deteriorate
(getting overcast and a lot cooler), and to put it 'mildly', those of us
without coats were a little bit on the uncomfortable side of freezing!
The train rattled on, through such lovely countryside; green with lots of
fields, past hedgerows of fruit and berries of all kinds, the odd
building, lanes devoid of any traffic, and apart from the sound of the
train, no other noise from the countryside. Along the way we passed
huge, ripe blackberries, together with really black gigantic heads of
elderberries, just dangling in their thousands on hundreds of bushes
just outside arm's reach, and apart from the chugging of the train and
the rattling of the carriages on the rails, the only other sound I heard
was our ladies asking whether the train could be stopped so that they
could pick the berries and other hedgerow fruits to make jams,
jellies and chutneys etc.
Meanwhile, the train just chugged on, just giving a sudden
tooo-ooooo-oot from time to time as we passed by a crossing or
under a bridge, or by a stopping place. All too soon, the train slowed
down as we neared Wells station, and then it got slower, then
s l o w e r then s l o w e r, then it stopped -
ssssssssshhhhhhhhhh! and not long afterwards, we arrived at Wells
station (this one had a Signal Box with its own Museum, and there
were other carriages etc nearby), and then everyone disembarked.
By the entrance gate stood a man, who spoke to me, and it turned
out to be Bryan Harman, who had driven up from Great Yarmouth to
be with us all for the rest of the afternoon's proceedings.
What was even better, was that Bryan (a Powditch descendant) had
never met Maureen Jones (a descendant via the same line), and so it
was that they were both able to meet, and at Wells, too, the birth-Town
of most of their Powditch ancestors!
Soon afterwards, with everyone back on the Coach (we had been
met at the Station) Roger drove us down to Wells, where he dropped
us off opposite St. Nicholas' Church, at Wells-next-the-Sea.
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Thursday 14 Sept
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Saturday 16 Sept
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Sunday 17 Sept
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