A Day In King's Lynn

 After a morning of lifting the dismantled old bedroom furniture into the loft, with more help from Julian, [Bob was out till 11.30] the three off us went to Kings Lynn for the day. We had a filling lunch at Roasta, went to an art exhibition [it is KL Festival week] and walked round the town, along the riverbank, and visited the Minster. Recent heavy rains caused serious flooding in a couple of areas - and they were sectioned off, with red and white chains across the pews.

The Minster is currently celebrating the 650th Anniversary of Margery Kempe - a significant medieval mystic [author of the first spiritual autobiography in English] Born in the year that Julian of Norwich experienced her 'Shewings', Mrs Kempe visited J. on a number of occasions.

There is an interesting new statue* of Margery in the Minster. “A Woman in Motion” is a sculpture depicting Margery Kempe, created by sculptrix Rosemary Goodenough. Margery was an avid pilgrim, journeying to holy shrines across England, in Europe and all the way to Jerusalem. She is depicted as wearing a wide-brimmed hat typical of medieval pilgrims. Reflecting her arduous journeys and selfless giving of alms, Margery’s clothes are “although plentiful, very clearly torn and patched but still with an element of grace and elegance”. Although a wife and mother [of fourteen children!], Margery was determined to wear white as a sign of her chastity and devotion to Christ. This was reflected by the artist as “given her determination to wear white, for which she was persecuted and prosecuted, I have made her robes white but her dress is silvery aluminium as I wanted to give a nod to her love of finery”. Regarding Margery’s posture, the artist states that “Margery’s head is bent in prayer and her ‘top-knot’ is my way of denoting indomitable spirit, both secular and religious”.

As well as the Minster, we also went to The Fermoy Gallery - it is Kings Lynn Festival time, and we enjoyed looking at the art.

I'm not as keen on modern art as Bob, but I did see some pieces I liked, particularly those by Eric Ravilious.

There were excellent drawings from WW1 [Brangwyn's pictures of soldiers at Ypres] and art from WW2 [John Piper's ruined Coventry Cathedral]  and in between these two, art from the 20s and 30s. [Jacob Epstein, Vanessa Bell, Frank Dobson - and perhaps a little less popular these days, Eric Gill**]

We came back via Downham Market, to drop off a parcel for Bob's sister with her MIL. Then on the way home, made a quick stop at Bexwell. It is three years since we first visited the War Memorial here. Back then, I was concerned that the wooden panel was not weathering well. I'm glad to see the new memorial is made of strong metal, and much more visible. There are the two Victoria Crosses, and statistics about the different planes which flew from the nearby WW2 airbase.

A lovely day out as a family - Julian's Grandfather was in the RAF, and it was good to remember him as we stood quietly in the sunshine.

*I looked at the statue for quite a while and couldn't make it out - then I read the info panel about the hat and the topknot and it began to make more sense. Maybe if I had 14 children to cope with, I'd pack my bag and set off on a long pilgrimage of quiet meditation! 

**Seen in isolation, much of Gill's art is amazing - but once one knows what an odious and perverted person he was, it is hard to have the same appreciation of it. Can one separate the art from the abuser?