The Jenny Lind

Jenny Lind by Eduard Magnus

I should think practically everyone in Norwich knows what you mean when you say 'I'm going to the Jenny Lind.' Do you?

Many years ago when my children were small, I had cause to visit 'The Jenny' in Norwich. I am referring of course to the children's hospital, an attractive red-brick building on a garden-like corner plot in Unthank Road. I did not know then that the land was a gift from Mr. Jeremiah Coleman, nor did I know why it was called the Jenny Lind and apart from the welcoming sight of a beautiful dapple-grey rocking horse, I have little detailed recall of its interior or why I was there.

The children's hospital left that site and was incorporated into the West Wing of the newly-built Norfolk and Norwich Hospital at Colney in 2001. Still called the Jenny Lind, it tends to over 60,000 in- and out-patients a year, a far cry from the 51 and 250 it took on in its first year in 1854. Since then it has cared for over 4,000,000 children from across the region.

Its history began back in 1847 when the Swedish singing sensation, Jenny Lind first came to Norwich. An international star who had toured America with the famous P.T. Barnum, who had flowers thrown at her feet by Queen Victoria, and was admired by great composers of her day, was in the city on a provincial tour of England! The streets heaved with people, church bells rang out and she even had a gun salute. Her concerts were sell-outs and after her wonderful welcome and performance, she arranged to return two years later. True to her word and whilst staying with Bishop Stanley of Norwich, she gave two more concerts at St. Andrew's Hall donating the takings to charity. A children's hospital was sorely needed and with the money, an old house in Pottergate, Norwich was bought which opened to its first young patients and mothers due to give birth in 1854. This they called The Jenny Lind Infirmary for Sick Children and it was only the second in the country devoted to children after Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. It was when this building became delapidated and out-grown that the purpose-built hospital was established on Unthank Road.

Jenny Lind herself had been discovered by chance when a passer-by in Stockholm heard her singing. At nine years old, she subsequently became the youngest person ever to gain a scholarship to the Swedish Opera House and it was after Hans Christian Andersen wrote a story called The Nightingale about her that forever after she was known as The Swedish Nightingale. Born out of wedlock, moved between different relations as a young child, Jenny suffered ill-health and anxiety at the age of seventeen shortly after taking the operatic world by storm. She lost her voice and it was only with careful nursing that she recovered it. Perhaps it was gratitude that led to her generosity wherever she performed around the world. Certainly Norwich will never forget her and many youngsters and their parents have cause to give thanks to a modest yet world-acclaimed soprano who never forgot to think of others less fortunate than herself.

Jenny Lind wrote to the chair of the hospital management committee:

“Of all the money which God allowed me to give away when my poor throat could call an audience to listen to it’s production. None has borne a more nobler fruit than the Jenny Lind Hospital of Norwich.”

Johanna Maria "Jenny" Lind born 6 October 1820 died on 2nd November, 1887 in Herefordshire England.

Loch Neaton

Whoever would have thought that we in Norfolk have our own Loch? We have meres and lakes as a rule, so what's the story behind Loch Neaton at Watton?

It begins in 1875 when the privately owned Thetford and Watton Railway Company decided to extend the track of the 'Crab and Winkle Line' across low-lying land at Neaton, a hamlet on the outskirts of Watton.

In order to build up the embankment, Scottish navvies excavated enormous quantities of earth from two areas leaving them with deep depressions locally known as 'the ballast holes,' one of which filled naturally with freshwater from the nearby River Wissey and with it, the idea was born to use this new facility for recreation for the local community. Loch Neaton Pleasure Grounds.

A group of businessmen got together and turned the whole area into a leisure park with boating on the lake, diving boards for swimming, fishing, bowls on the green and a concert bandstand which was used for very many years. There was also an area for playing quoits and a later acquisition of land saw the addition of separate tennis courts for men and women and changing rooms for bathers.

Loch Neaton Park was administered by a committee of townsmen, and in 1906 was conveyed to Trustees on behalf of the town for all time, for the benefit of the people of the town and the surrounding villages. Using money raised locally, its facilities were gradually improved. Fairy lights were strung from the trees, sporting events added to the calander and every Whitsun they organised a marathon race.

Time and changes in recreation and expectation have wreaked many changes since. The railway line has gone and all the park's leisure facilities have disappeared though fishing is allowed and the grounds are still used as a picnic area.

With the introduction of regular park-runs as a modern feature, a new generation of people is being introduced to the lake that became a loch in honour of the Scottish labourers who accidentally created it so long ago.

Loch Neaton today

Vancouver

George Vancouver Statue on Purfleet Quay, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, photographed by Graham Taylor

November, 2021

Sent by the Royal Navy, from 1757 to 1798, Captain George Vancouver commanded one of the greatest geographic surveys ever undertaken, exploring and charting the coastlines of North America from the vicinity of San Francisco northwards, and including what are now the American States of Alaska, Washington and Oregon as well as British Colombia, Canada. Those charts were so detailed and accurate that they served as the key reference for coastal navigation for generations. During his journeying, many place names were named after friends and acquaintances such as Mount Baker, Mount St Helens, Whidbey Island, Burrard Inlet and more. Perhaps what many people do not realise is that George Vancouver was born in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, England, the sixth and youngest child of his Dutch-born father John, Deputy Collector of Customs. A very responsible position in what was then a very important trading port.

At age 13, he entered the Royal Navy as a ‘young gentleman’ future candidate for midshipman, a role he took up aboard HMS Resolution on Captain James Cook's second voyage searching for Terra Australis. He was also on the third voyage aboard HMS Discovery. After 9 years service in the West Indies he was given command of the new ship Discovery named in honour of Captain Cook’s old vessel, and went on to complete the survey for which he is best known, sailing by way of the Cape of Good Hope and Australia, Tahiti and the Hawaiian Islands. As well as surveying coastlines, Vancouver also collected botanical samples.

HMS Discovery 1879

George Vancouver was 35 years old when he surveyed the Pacific Coast of Canada and spent only one day on the actual site of what would eventually be called Vancouver. He would surely have been proud to know that the growing port settlement would,100 years later carry his name. Unusually, there is also a second smaller but older Vancouver, lying only 300 miles away across the Colombia River in Washington, USA.

George Vancouver, outside City Hall, Vancouver BC.

Vancouver BC, lies between Burrard Inlet to the north and the Fraser River Delta to the south, opposite Vancouver Island, and is just north of the US state of Washington. It has a fine natural harbour, one of the best in the world, facing the sea and mountains. After serving 25 years in the Royal Navy, Captain Vancouver’s early retirement was not a happy one as he was involved in several legal disputes against powerful opponents which weakened his health. For a man so renowned, he died in obscurity at the age of 40, less than three years after completing his remarkable voyages. His grave is in the churchyard of St Peter's church, Petersham in the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames. Both cities of Vancouver have erected fine statues to the man who literally put them on the map so very far away from his birthplace of King’s Lynn.

Sculpture of Captain George Vancouver, Vancouver City, Washington USA by Jim Demetro

Captain George Vancouver, National Portrait Gallery