The Postcard
A postcard bearing no publisher's name that was posted in Great Yarmouth using a ½d. stamp on Sunday the 23rd. September 1917. It was sent to:
Mrs. Cowland,
'Mansfield',
South Mimms,
Nr. Barnet,
Middlesex.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Dear Auntie,
We are spending the
weekend here to finish
up our holiday.
I shall come and see you
in a few weeks time.
Hoping you are both
quite well.
With love,
Eva."
Great Yarmouth Minster
The Minster Church of St. Nicholas is the minster and parish church of the town of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk. It was built during the Norman era, and is England's third largest parish church, behind Beverley Minster in East Yorkshire and Christchurch Priory in Dorset.
It was founded in 1101 by Herbert de Losinga, the first Bishop of Norwich, and consecrated in 1119. It is cruciform, with a central tower, which may preserve a part of the original structure. Gradual alterations effectively changed the form of the building. Its nave is 26 feet (7.9 m) wide, and the church's total length is 236 feet (72 m).
In December 2011, the Bishop of Norwich officially designated it a Minster Church. It is not only used for religious services but is a hub for various other regional and civic events, including concerts by choirs, orchestras and other musical ensembles, art exhibitions and, during festivals and fayres, the church opens permitting stalls and traders inside. It is also a Grade-II* listed building.
The Building
The building, very possibly the town's oldest, is also its most visible, historic landmark. It sits in the central area of Great Yarmouth, close to the house of Anna Sewell.
The Transitional clerestoried nave, with columns alternately octagonal and circular, was rebuilt in the reign of King John. A portion of the chancel is of the same date.
About fifty years later the aisles were widened, so that the nave is now, rather unusually, the narrowest part of the building.
Immediately adjacent are two main graveyard areas: the Old Yard lies directly east behind the church, while the very substantial New Yard stretches for about half a mile to the north.
Early History
A grand west front with towers and pinnacles was constructed between 1330 and 1338, but a plague interrupted building extension plans. In the 16th. century the ornamental brasses were cast into weights and the gravestones cut into grindstones.
Within the church there were at one time 18 chapels, some maintained by guilds, others by private families, such as the Paxtons. At the Reformation the chapels were demolished and the building's valuable liturgical vessels sold off, the proceeds spent to widen the channel of the harbour.
During the Commonwealth period, the Independents appropriated the chancel, the Presbyterians the north aisle, while Churchmen were allowed the remainder of the building. The interior brick walls, erected at this time to separate the different portions of the building, remained until 1847.
Recent History
During the Second World War, the building was bombed and nearly destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt by the architect Stephen Dykes Bower and re-consecrated in 1961.
The current pipe organ, obtained from St. Mary the Boltons, West Brompton in 1960, replaced the former organ destroyed in the bombing of the Second World War.
On the 2nd. October 2011, the Lord Bishop of Norwich Graham James raised St. Nicholas to the status of a Minster Church, so marked on 9 December 2011 during the town's Civic Carol Service. Its formal title is now the Minster Church of St. Nicholas, Great Yarmouth.
The Westland Wessex Crash
On the 13th. October 2014 a memorial stone was unveiled at the Minster to commemorate the deaths of thirteen people in the 1981 Bristow Helicopters Westland Wessex crash.
On 13th. August 1981 the helicopter lost power to the main rotor gearbox, going out of control during the ensuing autorotation. The flight was carrying 11 gas workers from the Leman gas field to the Bacton Gas Terminal in Norfolk. All people on board were lost.
The helicopter commander, Ben Breach, sent a distress message reporting that he was ditching due to engine failure. Radar lost the aircraft three seconds later. A Royal Air Force Search and Rescue Westland Sea King left RAF Coltishall at 15:47, sighting floating wreckage from G-ASWI at 15:57. There were no survivors.
Efforts to recover the wreck were delayed, meaning that the wreck was beyond recovery by the time salvage operations started.
There was insufficient evidence to explain either the loss of power or loss of control that caused the aircraft to crash. The inquest into the deaths of those on board recorded an open verdict.
The Nueva Gerona Hurricane
So what else happened on the day that Eva posted the card?
Well, on the 23rd. September 1917, the Nueva Gerona Hurricane struck the northern coast of Jamaica. Heavy winds damaged crops and structures on plantations, and nine people were killed when high winds struck Port Antonio.
The United States Weather Bureau issued warnings along the Florida coast from West Palm Beach to Boca Grande.
The Sinking of the Medie
Also on that day, the French troopship SS Medie was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Algeria by German submarine SM UC-27 with the loss of 250 of the 626 people on board.
The Death of a German Flying Ace
Also on the 23rd. September 1917, during an epic 10-minute dogfight against six aircraft of the Royal Flying Corps, German flying ace Werner Voss was shot down and killed in his Fokker triplane by British ace Arthur Rhys-Davids.
At the time of his death, Voss has 48 victories and was the second-leading German ace behind Manfred von Richthofen;
Voss would eventually be the fourth-highest-scoring German ace of the Great War I.
Asima Chatterjee
The day also marked the birth in Calcutta, British India of the Indian chemist Asima Chatterjee. Asima was a noted researcher into organic chemistry and phytochemistry.
His work lead to the development of drugs to treat epilepsy and malaria. Asima died in 2006.
Knut Haugland
Also born on that day, in Rjukan, Norway, was Norwegian explorer Knut Haugland.
Knut was a resistance fighter in Operation Gunnerside during World War II, and a member of the Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947.
Knut died in 2009.
