Frank Meeres – författare

Norwich has a rich and fascinating history. An important Anglo-Saxon market town at the time of the Norman invasion, it grew to become one of the leading cities of England by the early Middle Ages and second only to London in the 16th and 17th centuries. It retained its importance until the Industrial Revolution when, although it was overtaken in size by the new manufacturing towns, it maintained its reputation as one of the most radical and progressive of cities. In this book the author skilfully combines the latest historical and archaeological findings with a quarter century of original research into the city archives to provide a lively narrative together with a superb selection of illustrations. From its beginnings he describes the city’s growth and government and the many dramatic episodes in its life. He looks at the lives of many of its famous residents but, above all, describes the life of the ordinary people through the centuries– how they earned their livings, their living conditions, with problems of poverty and health, their schooling and how they enjoyed their leisure time. A recurrent theme in the book is the constant flow of people and ideas between Norwich and its neighbours on the continent of Europe. This book will be warmly welcomed by local historians, while its attractive style and presentation will ensure its popularity with the general reader, whether resident or visitor.

Yarmouth & Gorleston History Tour is a unique insight into the illustrious history of these two Norfolk towns, both now part of Great Yarmouth, which face each other across the River Yare. This is an exciting guided walk around the towns, their well-known streets and historical places, and explains what they meant to local people throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century. Readers are invited to follow a timeline of events and watch the changing face of Yarmouth and Gorleston as Frank Meeres guides us through the local streets.

Norfolk was truly a ‘front-line county’ during the Second World War. Its people served in all branches of the forces, and the threat of invasion and the reality of air raids affected everyone.Alongside Norfolk men in the Norfolk Regiment in France, Singapore and in the Far East, this book examines those serving in the Navy, Merchant Navy and the Air Force as well as the vital role played by women in the armed forces, the Women’s Land Army, and many other jobs. The daily life of children and adults is also explored, including the effects of food and clothes rationing, measures taken to prepare the community in case of invasion, and life at school in wartime.Two important themes in wartime Norfolk were those of child evacuees and of the United States Army Air Force. Norfolk people experienced both sides of the evacuee situation: children came to the county from the London area, while children from the Norfolk coast were evacuated to the Midlands. The American presence in the county has left a rich archive of personal papers and photographs, now held at the Norfolk Record Office, along with diaries and letters of Norfolk people.Beautifully illustrated with contemporary photographs, this book draws on this material and reminiscences of those in the county to enhance the enthralling story of life during the Second World War.

Norwich Through Time contains 180 photographs of Norwich, of which 90 are old photographs. Some printed in a sepia tone and some printed in full colour. These photographs are printed alongside a contemporary full colour photograph which illustrates the same scene. The contrasting illustrations show how the area has changed and developed during the last 100 years. The photographs illustrate shops, schools, garages, churches, houses and street scenes, each photograph is captioned and the book has an introduction which gives a brief overview of the history of the town. As you browse through the photographs, you will notice the increase in the number of vehicles on the road, shops that once sold new goods are now estate agents or charity shops. Green fields have been transformed into industrial estates, houses or ring roads.

Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, as well as Peterborough City Council, all lay claim to a part of the Fens. Since Roman times, man has increased the land mass in this area by one third of the size. It is the largest plain in the British Isles, covering an area of nearly three-quarters of a million acres and is unique to the UK. The fen people know the area as marsh (land reclaimed from the sea) and fen (land drained from flooding rivers running from the uplands). The Fens are unique in having more miles of navigable waterways than anywhere else in the UK. Mammoth drainage schemes in the seventeenth and eighteenth changed the landscape forever – leading slowly but surely to the area so loved today. Insightful, entertaining and full of rich incident, here is the fascinating story of the Fens.

What was life like for Norfolk people during the First World War? This book sets out to answer that question, largely through contemporary sources: letters, diaries and journals, together with a wide range of visual material. It looks at life on the battlefronts throughout the world, as well as men serving at sea and in the air. It focuses on the home front, too, and the widening contribution of women, both in such traditional roles as nursing and in a vast range of other occupations.The book considers many other issues, such as conscription, conscientious objection, air raids, fear of invasion and the dangers of war to local fishermen. It describes how these dramatic events affected the lives of ordinary people; their patterns of work, diet and social behaviour.The author also discusses the careers of world-famous Norfolk figures, such as Edith Cavell, the nurse who was shot by the Germans, and others who deserve to be better known like George Roberts, the Labour MP for Norwich whose strong support for the war gained him a seat in the Cabinet but drove him away from his former friends in the Labour Party. However, the book's main emphasis is on how men, women and children in the county lived, and sometimes died, during the four years of the Great War. After a chapter on 'strangers' within the county - refugees, prisoners of war and enemy aliens - the book ends by looking at how individual communities chose to remember their dead.The author is a well-known local historian who has long had a particular interest in the First World War. In a gripping narrative he has skilfully combined these two areas of expertise to produce a very readable contribution to the history of Norfolk. It will appeal as much to the younger reader interested in the past as to those senior citizens for whom that great conflict and its aftermath is still a living memory.

Great Yarmouth dates its official ‘birthday’ from 1208, when it received its first royal charter, but people have lived in the area for many thousands of years. Its prosperity has rested for centuries upon the ‘silver darlings’ - the herring, upon trade, especially across the North Sea, and in more recent times on tourism and the leisure industry. This book sets Yarmouth in its environmental context, discussing the dramatic effect of rises and falls in sea levels and changes in climate upon the town and its surroundings.It looks at the proud contribution of Yarmouth and its inhabitants to national and international events, and includes details of the men and women of the area who have made a difference to their country in a variety of ways, with brief biographies of 30 people with close ties to Greater Yarmouth, from Saint Fursey to Myleene Klass, a remarkable set of role models for the inhabitants of the town of today and tomorrow. Above all, however, the book considers the lives of ordinary people, at work and at play. Profusely illustrated, it includes many fascinating photographs from the 1860s to the late 20th century, almost all of which have never before been published.Unlike most works on Yarmouth, this book looks at the entire area that has always been closely connected to the borough and that now makes up Greater Yarmouth, with a chapter on the history of Gorleston, and chapters on the villages and former villages to the north and south of the central area – and where the majority of the inhabitants of Greater Yarmouth now live. This book brings alive the history of Greater Yarmouth. It will be invaluable to the many people, whether residents or holiday visitors, who have ever wondered what it was like to live here in the past.