In 1974 I moved to live in Cromer with work as a reporter on the Eastern Daily Press and North Norfolk News newspapers. During my stay there I kept a regular diary and the extracts below are taken from the journal written at the time. I have only mentioned work and personal related matter relevant to North Norfolk as I still spent quite a bit of my time in Norwich. Reading through the entries over 40 years later I am sorry that I didn't record more details with regards to the landscape and area as a whole. The entries strike me as rather mundane - as much of my working life must have been. I have also left out personal details of friends and relationships as I felt these would be of no use or interest to anyone. I have also included a section of notes at the end to act as not only an explanation but also to reflect on my views then and now.
Monday March 11th
My first working day in Cromer. The main thing that struck me was just how friendly the people are, apologising for walking into you in the street and things like that. Got up at 9 am and had a hurried breakfast before going into the office at 9.30 am. My first job was to go out with the photographer Norman Taylor to Sidestrand where a chap's bungalow was practically hanging over the cliff. Did a story about how he has another being built. By the time I did that it was time for a laisurely lunch and I returned to the flat to make some soup. Spent the afternoon chasing up a number of small pieces and left the office at about 5 pm and drove to Norwich
Tuesday March 12th
When I got into the office I found two letters. One was from Maurice Beales thanking me for the work I had done in Norwich. Once again had a hurried breakfast. It was quite a busy morning in the office with two main stories to cover. One was a mock fire exercise at Bacton and then I went to see a coastguard who is leaving the area. During the afternoon I went with Norman Hicks for a tour of Sheringham and Cromer. We visited the coastguard station and then the lifeboat station at Sheringham. Everybody was once again very friendly and helpful, a feature of this place. I cooked myself tea at the flat and then had a general tidying up session. The TV went wrong so I had to have an evening listening to records.
Wednesday March 13th
A day of hard work. Made the usual round of office calls which is helping me to get to know who works and who is important in various organisations. My calls were broken up by a call from Colin at the Coastguard station to say that a Russian ship had sunk off the Dutch coast. I paid him a visit, got the details and sent them over to Norwich. The whole afternoon was taking up typing up stories from the various villages. At 7.15 pm I left for the gang show at Sheringham Little Theatre. I found the venue fairly easily, although I had to pop into a pub on the front to get directions and have a swift half. The gang show didn't turn out to be the bore I had expected and I actually enjoyed it. Got back to the office to find Norman there and we went to the Red Lion and stayed there well past closing time, drinking and talking to a very friendly chap by the name of Bob Mills. The more I see and learn abut Cromer, the more I like it. I am really going to enjoy working and living here.
Thursday March 14th
On getting to work I wrote a report of the scout show from last night and then went down to court to cover what were primarily smallish driving offences. Found the magistrates friendly and approachable. I returned to the office to write the copy up before lunch. At 2.15 pm I returned to court - this time to the juvenile section where there were three cases. By the time I had returned to the office, written my copy and sent that and an archeological piece over to Norwich, it was past 6 pm. Spent the evening at The Crown Inn, Sheringham, with friends and then got a takeaway from the Cromer chinese.
Friday March 15th
Today's work was mainly centred around Holt. The journey was much shorter than I anticipated and I was there in plenty of time for the court sitting. Court didn't last very long and I was soon back in the office.
Sunday March 17th
Drove to Mundesley for a rescue crew presentation. It went on for some time and by the time I got back to the office it was after midday. At 1.20 pm I took a news parcel down to the station and in the afternoon went to Suffiled Park to cover a sea scouts penalty kick competition. Had a strange phone call around 10 pm from a woman asking me to be prepared for a big news story and to be ready to go out within the following 20 minutes. A few minutes later a man phoned to say some boys had been ejected from Cromer cinema for smoking cannabis. I phoned up both Cromer and North Walsham police but didn't really get any useful information. I phoned up the news desk in Norwich but they didn't seem excited about it either. So decided to drop the matter until the morning.
Monday March 18th
Not a lot going on news-wise. Typed up pieces from the weekend, wrote about coming films and spoke to some chap who had a grouse about his neighbours. In the evening I went to the council offices in Overstrand Road for the Cromer Tennis Club agm. I was first there, but it turned out to be an interesting meeting despite lasting under an hour. Once again the people were very friendly. After chatting with the secretary I returned to the office and sent over copy
Tuesday March 19th
In the morning I went out with Norman to Ringer Farm at Banningham to see a road that had been churned up. Spent most of the afternoon working on that by phoning a number of people up. Eventually got hold of the man accused of churning the path up and he seemed very reasonable.
Wednesday March 20th
Spent some of the morning writing a longer story on the path problem. The bloke who had churned it up wasn't happy with what he read in the EDP. Mid morning I went to Cromer Secondary Modern School to do a story about the girls under-16 hockey team who have won an area competition. Spent the rest of the day on various village type stories which really do eat up the time. At lunchtime went down to the chinese and had an excellent business lunch for 64p. I left for Holt at 7.30 pm. Went to the church hall only to find that the meeting was at the Shire Hall. It turned out to be quite amusing and gave me a lot of interesting info on the counci. Went with Peter Anderson to the Red Lion for a couple of drinks.
Monday March 11th
My first working day in Cromer. The main thing that struck me was just how friendly the people are, apologising for walking into you in the street and things like that. Got up at 9 am and had a hurried breakfast before going into the office at 9.30 am. My first job was to go out with the photographer Norman Taylor to Sidestrand where a chap's bungalow was practically hanging over the cliff. Did a story about how he has another being built. By the time I did that it was time for a laisurely lunch and I returned to the flat to make some soup. Spent the afternoon chasing up a number of small pieces and left the office at about 5 pm and drove to Norwich
Tuesday March 12th
When I got into the office I found two letters. One was from Maurice Beales thanking me for the work I had done in Norwich. Once again had a hurried breakfast. It was quite a busy morning in the office with two main stories to cover. One was a mock fire exercise at Bacton and then I went to see a coastguard who is leaving the area. During the afternoon I went with Norman Hicks for a tour of Sheringham and Cromer. We visited the coastguard station and then the lifeboat station at Sheringham. Everybody was once again very friendly and helpful, a feature of this place. I cooked myself tea at the flat and then had a general tidying up session. The TV went wrong so I had to have an evening listening to records.
Wednesday March 13th
A day of hard work. Made the usual round of office calls which is helping me to get to know who works and who is important in various organisations. My calls were broken up by a call from Colin at the Coastguard station to say that a Russian ship had sunk off the Dutch coast. I paid him a visit, got the details and sent them over to Norwich. The whole afternoon was taking up typing up stories from the various villages. At 7.15 pm I left for the gang show at Sheringham Little Theatre. I found the venue fairly easily, although I had to pop into a pub on the front to get directions and have a swift half. The gang show didn't turn out to be the bore I had expected and I actually enjoyed it. Got back to the office to find Norman there and we went to the Red Lion and stayed there well past closing time, drinking and talking to a very friendly chap by the name of Bob Mills. The more I see and learn abut Cromer, the more I like it. I am really going to enjoy working and living here.
Thursday March 14th
On getting to work I wrote a report of the scout show from last night and then went down to court to cover what were primarily smallish driving offences. Found the magistrates friendly and approachable. I returned to the office to write the copy up before lunch. At 2.15 pm I returned to court - this time to the juvenile section where there were three cases. By the time I had returned to the office, written my copy and sent that and an archeological piece over to Norwich, it was past 6 pm. Spent the evening at The Crown Inn, Sheringham, with friends and then got a takeaway from the Cromer chinese.
Friday March 15th
Today's work was mainly centred around Holt. The journey was much shorter than I anticipated and I was there in plenty of time for the court sitting. Court didn't last very long and I was soon back in the office.
Sunday March 17th
Drove to Mundesley for a rescue crew presentation. It went on for some time and by the time I got back to the office it was after midday. At 1.20 pm I took a news parcel down to the station and in the afternoon went to Suffiled Park to cover a sea scouts penalty kick competition. Had a strange phone call around 10 pm from a woman asking me to be prepared for a big news story and to be ready to go out within the following 20 minutes. A few minutes later a man phoned to say some boys had been ejected from Cromer cinema for smoking cannabis. I phoned up both Cromer and North Walsham police but didn't really get any useful information. I phoned up the news desk in Norwich but they didn't seem excited about it either. So decided to drop the matter until the morning.
Monday March 18th
Not a lot going on news-wise. Typed up pieces from the weekend, wrote about coming films and spoke to some chap who had a grouse about his neighbours. In the evening I went to the council offices in Overstrand Road for the Cromer Tennis Club agm. I was first there, but it turned out to be an interesting meeting despite lasting under an hour. Once again the people were very friendly. After chatting with the secretary I returned to the office and sent over copy
Tuesday March 19th
In the morning I went out with Norman to Ringer Farm at Banningham to see a road that had been churned up. Spent most of the afternoon working on that by phoning a number of people up. Eventually got hold of the man accused of churning the path up and he seemed very reasonable.
Wednesday March 20th
Spent some of the morning writing a longer story on the path problem. The bloke who had churned it up wasn't happy with what he read in the EDP. Mid morning I went to Cromer Secondary Modern School to do a story about the girls under-16 hockey team who have won an area competition. Spent the rest of the day on various village type stories which really do eat up the time. At lunchtime went down to the chinese and had an excellent business lunch for 64p. I left for Holt at 7.30 pm. Went to the church hall only to find that the meeting was at the Shire Hall. It turned out to be quite amusing and gave me a lot of interesting info on the counci. Went with Peter Anderson to the Red Lion for a couple of drinks.