Partridge video 1996

Hilgay Raft Race 2011

Just a few pics I've extracted from the video with the movie to follow this week. Keep checking and well done everybody raising funds for Help For Heroes.

A Trip on the Bure Valley Railway

This week we took grand-daughter Grace for her first train journey. The Bure Valley Railway runs between Wroxham and Aylsham on 15" rails. She had a whale of a time and this is just a snippet of the forty-five minute trip.

Hilgay Raft Race 2010

Mouldy Old Bangers are go!

Childrens Convoy 2009

The House That Ate The Balloon!

I told the story of last weekend. Sunday morning 7am I looked from the lounge window to see the balloon in the distance and thought I'd film it as it seemed to be heading straight for the house. IT WAS! But as you'll see from the footage, when it flew right overhead I'd accidentally hit the pause button and missed the best part. As a consolation though, as it disappeared from view, it seemed to be eaten up by the bungalow opposite! Watch.

Garden Chicks!

Here's the part of our garden where a pair of backbirds have nested and reared two youngsters. This five minutes took the best part of two hours footage!

50 Years Since The Beeching Cuts - Video

High Tides & Bad Weather

Saturday 22nd November and already we have snow with blizzard conditions and a high tide that's flooded the marina area. Here's my trip down to the mooring. Not so long ago I was strolling down here in shorts and flip-flops!

ECTC Childrens Convoy 2008

After a damp start the convoy left County Hall Norwich this morning as planned at 10am and despite the weather many people turned out to wave them on their way. By the afternoon the weather had brightened at Pleasurewood Hills so we hope that they all had a great day out. I'm sure they did.

Wally Flies Low !

Here it is then - my 1993 bungy jump in the rainforest of Cairns in Australia. It's a fantastic adrenalin rush which leaves you floating on air AFTER you come down. I've often been asked if I'd ever do it again to which my reply is "like a shot!" Notice how I don't so much fly as plummet!

Wally's Eighties Steam Up !

It's been a while since I posted anything new to the Video Library. Here's one I dug up recently filmed at the Weeting Steam Rally in the 80's. Can't remember the exact year. Perhaps soemone will remind me. I was booked to open the event and at the same time, the late Dick Joyce and an Anglia film crew were there to cover the event which lasted two days. As you may detect from the footage, it was at a time when I was 'trying' to grow a beard. It turned out to be so ragged that the beard went but the moustache has stayed ever since!

RAF Coltishall DVD last orders.

It's now been two years since I brought out the first edition of my souvenir DVD "I Remember RAF Coltishall". That was followed by the Archive Edition after the closure in November 2006. Copies have gone round the world and it's still selling around Norfolk. Jarrolds and the Origins shop at the Forum in Norwich, Barnwells shop in the Market Place in Aylsham, Express Print in the Market Place at North Walsham. We're now coming to the end of the last run so I think we'll stop production at that point. It was a worthwhile excercise and my only regret has been that I didn't anticipate the call for such a product. When we did, after everyone kept asking me if there was such a thing, all we could get hold of was amateur home-cam material. Added to which the RAF kindly let me strap a camera to the car and drive round every part of the station so we have a running tour of just what the base was like as operations ended. We could have got more flying and aircraft shots too but the addition of the station's photo archive was a big plus. Mick Jennings was a massive help and his book 'RAF Coltishall - Fighter Station' boosted sales again this last Christmas. Mick is happily retired in Oz now (Have you bought that boat yet Mick?)
So - for anyone who might like to grab one of the last copies of the DVD - here's a sample of the contents. To make enquiries go to Blog History in the right hand column and click RAF Coltishall.

Ben On The Mike