Cromer & District on Film and Video

We thought we'd gather together some film and video material on local history themes. We'll gradually be adding items and continuing the process. Through the autumn, winter and spring you can also enjoy local talks for the Friends of Cromer Museum at the Community Hall, third Friday evening of each month.

The RNLI celebrates its 200th anniversary in 2024. The Norfolk Shipwreck Association began somewhat earlier, in 1804; the documentary 'The Cromer Lifeboats 1804-2004' was made for the bicentenary year, to mark 200 years of lifeboats in Cromer. In due course, the Cromer station would become part of the National Institution. The young Henry Blogg in our picture took over from James "Buttons" Harrison in 1909, and would go on to win three gold medals and four silver medals of the RNLI. Some of those involved in those rescues, including Henry' Shrimp' Davies, speak here.

The documentary 'Cromer in the Second World War' was first shown in 2011, and released as a DVD. We've now released this version for direct viewing on the web; it has lost about 60 seconds from a national film library which we can't use because of copyright restrictions, but otherwise is identical. We remain grateful to the many Cromer residents, several of whom are no longer with us, who contributed their recollections of that time.

Quite a lot of material has come in since it was first shown - for instance, we now know most of the soldiers who lost their lives when the bombs fell on Lyndhurst Hotel. You can find that information on the WW2 page of this website.

In 2020 a lot of Cromer folk embarked on a project to commemorate 75 years on from VE Day, 8th May 1945. Part of the plan was to create a river of poppies from one of the windows of the church. We were asked to keep a video record of the making of the thousands of poppies. Because of the pandemic, the plan didn't come to fruition until 2022 and the weeping window was put in place for the weekend of the Platinum Jubilee, 2nd-5th June. It's introduced by extracts from the video "Cromer in the Second World War".

The stories of the north Norfolk towns over the last 1,000 years have been built largely around their fishing communities.This video brings together what we know of those stories, as the 'Crabs' of Cromer and the 'Shannocks' of Sheringham earned their living from the sea. Run time 67 minutes. If you'd like to watch it on your TV, go to your Youtube channel and search for 'Poppyland Publishing'.

At the local talks series for the Friends of Cromer Museum on Friday evenings, photographer Paul Damen gave a presentation on 'How Cromer was Photographed'. He's put the talk together as a video which you can watch here. If you'd like to watch it on your TV, go to your Youtube channel and search for 'Poppyland Publishing'.

The story of Clement Scott and Poppyland goes back to his first visit to the area in 1883, probably at the behest of the Great Eastern Railway, keen to promote visitors to north Norfolk. His popularisation of 'Poppyland' led to many significant developments in the area. Runtime 45 minutes. You can also view it on TVs with YouTube ability; search for Poppyland Publishing.

Landscape historian Chris Barringer was an inspiration to many local historians across the county of Norfolk. Here he take us to the villages he wrote about in his book 'Exploring the Norfolk Village'. Runtime 45 mins. You can also view it on TVs with YouTube ability; search for Poppyland Publishing.

Committee member of the Friends of Cromer Museum Paul Damen has put together for us a short sequences of Cromer images from the last ten years. You may spot groups of people on the promenade and in the town! Runtime 8 minutes. You can also view it on TVs with YouTube ability; search for Poppyland Publishing.

It's a couple of years since Gareth Davies came to talk to the Friends of Cromer Museum about the Victorian showman Pablo Fanque, a native of Norwich. A fascinating life story which Gareth has now made available to us as an on-line Powerpoint. Runtime 42 mins. You can also view it on TVs with YouTube ability; search for Poppyland Publishing.