This month, make time for scientific and historic deep dives and showing your love through dance
says Melanie Cook of www.VisitNorwich.co.uk
I always think February is an awkward sort of month – we’re many days past Christmas, yet it’s the same until spring, when we can look forward to lighter evenings and blooming fauna. But here’s the good news… this February, we’ve got very different events to perk us up, get us out, get us moving, and get us thinking. Here’s what we’ve got to look forward to.
Norwich Science Festival is an annual event, which moved to February this year from its usual autumn outing. Falling in half-term with plenty of family things to do, the exciting programme will certainly keep the kids happy (and busy!) for a while. It may even teach them a thing or two! But it’s not all about the kids, there are also over 18’s events through the Festivals’ Science After Six programme. Norwich Science Festival definitely makes sure all bases are covered.
So, between 11-17 February get ready for some thrills, laughter and learning.
I love the Festival for giving us thought provoking debates, but also for giving us things to smile about. And they certainly know what makes children tick! The headline event, Rude Science, takes place at Norwich Theatre Playhouse on Saturday 18 February (7yrs +, 11am-12pm and 2.30pm-3.30pm, tickets £13 for adults and £11 for children, plus a booking fee).
Rude Science is a brand-new show from BBC Gastronaut Stefan Gates, which will reveal everything you have ever questioned about revolting science but have always been afraid to ask! Brought to life through stunt rockets, sneeze machines and more, the show covers everything from zits and burps, to farts and scabs. Apologies, I hope you’re not reading this over breakfast!
For families with children ten years plus, head to The Auditorium at The Forum for Adventures in Sound (13 February, 1-2pm, £4). Here, Adrian James Acoustics will take the audience on a fun interactive journey through unexpected experiences about the world of sound. James will explain things like what are acoustics? How can we see sound? What do our ears look like inside?
At Norwich Theatre Playhouse, 15 February (7.30pm-9.15pm, tickets £17-21 plus a booking fee) see It’s a wild life: tales from television. In this fascinating show hosted by TV presenter Dr George McGavin, the audience is drawn in to discover the world of wildlife through his own personal travels. And he’s been everywhere! From the tropical forests
of Papua New Guinea and Borneo, to caves in Thailand, jungles in Belize and
the savannahs of Tanzania – hear about the incredible discoveries and the adventures he’s had.
In Norfolk, we’re lucky to have huge skies and plenty of places without interruption of light pollution. So, at this after dark event, get ready for a one and a quarter mile walk along the Norfolk Coast Path on the Stargazing Walk with Mark Thomson (15 February, 6pm-8pm). Beginning at Burnham Deepdale, spend two hours on the coast discovering the night sky – this is going to be amazing. Tickets cost £10 and the event is recommended for children aged 10 years and over.
Families with children 12 years plus will be interested in another headline event: Hot times in deep time (The Geological Record of Earth Climate with Professor Chris Jackson), on 17 February at 1pm (tickets £7, Blake Studio, Norwich School). Here, Professor Chris Jackson explores how the geological record of climate change can help us understand the current and future climate.
Later the same day, enjoy an author event (7pm, tickets £12, Blake Studio, Norwich School): Lessons in Chemistry: Bonnie Garmus in conversation with Naomi Wood. This is an evening which will draw on all your emotions. Set in 1960’s America the bestselling debut novel Lessons in Chemistry (which has been translated into 40 languages), tells of a genius chemist – Elizabeth Zott – who confronts sexism in science, then finds herself the unlikely star of one of the most popular cooking shows on US TV. The book has been described by Waterstones as ‘undoubtedly one of 2022’s most gloriously enjoyable debuts’. Don’t miss this opportunity for an entertaining night out, meet Bonnie Garmus herself and buy a copy of the book for her to sign.
As mentioned earlier, Norwich Science Festival is great at over 18’s events with its Science After Six programme. On 16 February (7pm, Blake Studio, Norwich School, tickets £8.50), experience a live recording of the Science Shambles Podcast where world leading scientists chat about – science. This podcast is fun and accessible science for all, covering cutting-edge research to popular science books and documentaries. Helen Czerski will be in discussion with materials scientist and engineer Professor Mark Miodownik. There will also be a book signing.
If you’re a real romantic and are looking for a way to show your love in a more unconventional manner, then you’ll be adored forever with this unusual Valentine’s evening. Strictly eat your heart out! As part of the Science After Six series surprise your loved one with Boogie on the Brain (14 February, £15, 8pm, The Halls, Norwich). Join Dr Peter Lovatt – a former professional dancer and a leading dance psychologist – as he explores the secrets of cognitive psychology behind dance. And why we LOVE to dance. Throughout the evening, Dr Lovatt will teach simple dance routines so everyone can let their hair down and get involved. I’m intrigued to know the science behind the Argentinian Tango, which has to be the most passionate dance ever. And the jive – which is possibly not so.
To have missed the news in June 2022 about the discovery of the shipwreck HMS Gloucester, you must have been hiding under a rock! As I mentioned last month, the news went global, which was hugely exciting for Norfolk.
This month is our opportunity to see some of the incredible finds from the wreck for the first time and learn the full story of the discovery of the ship. How it was identified, how it could have changed history and what happens next.
From 25 February – 10 September make sure you have tickets (included with admission to the Castle) to the hottest exhibition this year. And tell all your friends. Do not miss The Last Voyage of The Gloucester: Norfolk’s Royal Shipwreck, 1682. My advice: book as soon as you can.
This is truly an incredible story. And it’s beyond wonderful that in Norwich, the City of Stories, the exhibition will – for the first time – allow the public to see artefacts from this 17th century royal shipwreck, which was discovered off the coast of Great Yarmouth in 2007 by Norfolk brothers, Julian and Lincoln Barnwell, and their friend, James Little.
The future King of England and Scotland, James Stuart, travelled on HMS Gloucester when it sank in the North Sea off the coast of Norfolk on 6 May 1682. The discovery has been described as the most important British maritime discovery since the Mary Rose, due to the age and prestige of the ship, the condition of the wreck and the accident’s political context. Do not underestimate how big a story this is.
The exhibition is in two parts; the first being the story of the Gloucester, the fateful events of 6 May and what it was like to have been aboard. The second reveals the timeline and actions around the wrecks discovery, how the artefacts have been preserved, the site as a research subject, and the research to follow.
Highlights will undoubtedly be the ship’s bell which, in 2012, confirmed the identity of the wreck. And the personal possessions of the passengers and crew, reminders of a disaster that cost hundreds of lives. Visitors will see wine bottles encrusted with barnacles, the ship’s navigation tools and personal items, including a pair of spectacles along with their wooden case, combs and clay pipes, all of which have survived centuries on the seabed.
The story is supported with a digital element – a film exploring the discovery of the wreck, a 3D diver’s eye tour of the wreck site and a specially commissioned animation examining the circumstances of the sinking of the ship.
There will also be loans from prestigious museums in Britain and Europe with key paintings, documents and objects associated with the maritime, political, cultural and social history of the period to set the wider context for the Gloucester’s story.
The Last Voyage of The Gloucester: Norfolk’s Royal Shipwreck, 1682, has been created by Norfolk Museums Service and UEA in partnership with Norfolk Historic Shipwrecks and The National Museum of the Royal Navy. The objects rescued from the Gloucester wreck site appear in this exhibition with the permission of the Ministry of Defence and Norfolk Historic Shipwrecks.
The University of East Anglia’s project ‘The Wreck of the Gloucester: The Life and Times of a Seventeenth-Century Third-Rate Warship’ will produce a biography of the Gloucester frigate across its full career from 1654 to 1682 and from inception to salvage.
Funded by The Leverhulme Trust (2021−24), the Gloucester Project is researching the life and times of the only surviving third-rate Cromwellian warship and aims to revolutionize understanding of the Gloucester’s unique significance at national and international levels.
For more information see www.gloucestershipwreck.co.uk and follow the Gloucester Project on Twitter @gloucesterwreck
Full details of everything mentioned here, and loads more ideas can be found at www.visitnorwich.co.uk
Full details of everything mentioned here, and loads more ideas can be found at www.visitnorwich.co.uk
