Ask the mercury looks at Gorleston photo and Wheels Festival

Published:
6:00 AM January 8, 2022

More readers have sent in questions for Ask the Mercury.
Ask the Mercury is the perfect chance for our readers to ask us the questions that matter the most to them, big or small, about Great Yarmouth and Gorleston and surrounding villages.
We will then go away and do our very best to answer them.
 

Peter Ayre from Bradwell asked: “In the Mercury from December 17, there is a photograph of a view from Yarmouth beach in 1960 that was recognised by Linda Davies of Cambridgeshire.

“We have seen this displayed on the boards around the new Marina construction site and have been puzzled as to its location.

“There doesn’t seem to be any view like this from the beach in Yarmouth where properties are so close to the beach and sea wall.

“Can the Mercury help to identify the view and put our minds at rest?”

We have had another close look and it seems the image was listed incorrectly in our archive as “Yarmouth beach”, when it does appear to be the Pier Hotel in Gorleston.

The small balcony at the front and the pattern of the grate, as well as the positioning of the windows and even the steps leading down to the beach make us feel certain it is the Pier Hotel.

Milton Warnes asked: “Why is the street by the Royal Mail office called Laughing Image Corner?”

Digging into the Mercury archives this question last surfaced in 1998.

It is understood the name derives from a cottage that stood there with two inset figures.

The cottage was demolished in 1912 and the figures disappeared.

According to Great Yarmouth Mercury files it was something of a paradox that the figures should have prompted the name Laughing Image Corner. For, as one story goes, they were set in niches on the front of the cottage as a grieving father’s memorial to two children who had died.

Mark Sewell asked: “Will the Wheels Festival be coming back this year?”

A previous Great Yarmouth Wheels Festival with Debbie Hagan from South Walsham in her Nissan Figaro
– Credit: Sonya Duncan

As luck would have it, Great Yarmouth Borough Council (GYBC) announced on Tuesday that the classic car festival will be returning this summer.

A GYBC spokesperson said: “Great Yarmouth Wheels Festival will return to Great Yarmouth seafront on Saturday July 2 & Sunday July 3 with thanks to Visit Great Yarmouth and Joyland for sponsorship.

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