The Artist, Mark Tanti -  AKA Demograffix -  from Norwich has added his layout lines to the block colour areas of the wall.

Then on Saturday Morning 14th December 2024, as the painting came down to ground level, the crew set aside a few hours during which they invited family and friends to come and join the party!

Special mention here of Marc and Irené and their family; Lee and Jo and their boys; Dean Wilson; (Karen asked me to include myself here...so here goes!) Roy Kelsey and members of Ernie's Memorial Art Group. It was brilliant to see such enthusiasm for the project and sincere thanks to you all for all your support of this and many other projects over the years..

Great Yarmouth Borough Councillors, current and past, enthusiastically joined with family and friends to apply some paint under the guidance of Mark the Artist.

Current Nelson Ward Councillors Kerry Robinson-Payne and Michael Jeal (both also former Mayors of the Borough), and Tony Wright, former MP for the Borough were joined by Marlene Fairhead, former Councillor and Mayor. We are sincerely grateful to them.  All of whom have, over many years, been stalwart supporters of Ernie.

The project crew also brought Jamie and Andrew, the photographers and  Josh, the videographer to record the event and shoot some interviews, which we understand will be made into a documentary at a later date.

Permission has been granted for us to include the images and footage on here, so watch this space!

This documentary is now live on Reprezent Project's Facebook pages (link provided above, at the top of this page) .

And for those who cannot access these, I have been assured that a copy of the documentary will be made available to me for inclusion on this page. Watch this space!

And the following two images are snips from Reprezent's Facebook Post .

(Click here to go to Reprezent Project's Facebook content ...

 once you are on their post, scroll down to 13th December for the start of the post about Ernie's Mural)

Well Done Mark and Aimi at Demograffix;  Ruben, Tony, Paolo and all the team at Reprezent Project; the generous Owner of the Building Whose Gable End Hosts The Mural; Josh, Jamie and Andrew; Dean and everyone involved in bringing this fantastic tribute to completion.

Sincere and heartfelt thanks from all of us to all of you. A wonderful job and a great tribute to all your skills, and, of course, a wonderful tribute to Ernie. Made in Great Yarmouth!

The title of the Mural "Keep A Bright Light" was one of Ernie's sayings and this is symbolised by the rays of light falling across Ernie's shoulders from above and behind him. Mark has done so well to incorporate  many things which illustrate Ernie's life and times:

"The Lydia Eva (YH89)", which features in Ernie's large-scale oil paintings. Lydia Eva is the last surviving steam drifter of the herring fishing fleet based at Great Yarmouth.  My own observation here, Mark: you've captured the style and the colours in the sky and the harbour mouth exactly as Ernie had depicted them in his painting. Great Skill!  Ernie's painting of Lydia Eva can be seen in Book 1 of Ernie's two books "My Thoughts On Canvas" and "My Thoughts On Canvas, Book 2".   link to Ernie's Books

"Ernie The Potter". One of Ernie's Limited Edition Tankards. Hundreds of Limited Edition Tankards were designed and hand made by Ernie and the small-but-perfectly-formed team at Great Yarmouth Potteries, and collectors worldwide eagerly awaited what would be the subject of the next one!

Ernie's kitted out here in his trademark blue fisherman's smock and blue corduroy Breton cap which he wore on a daily basis at the Potteries.

The Tartan Scarf, whose folds echo the waves in the harbour mouth, complete with embroidered herring, symbolises the way, in the bygone era of the great East Coast Herring Fishing Season, during the Autumn months each year, Great Yarmouth was filled to bursting with Scottish fishing boats and their crews who were following the shoals of herring down the coast from fishing towns as far afield as Orkney, Shetland, Aberdeen and Stornoway amongst many others.

The Lifeboat connection:  Ernie and Karen spent their lives promoting Great Yarmouth, in all its forms. They were also enthusiastic supporters of charities and organisations such as schools and clubs in the town and around the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Lifeboat Stations were amongst the supported organisations which were close to the hearts of Ernie and Karen and they engaged in many fund raising activities in support of the Lifeboats.

And finally...a mention of the dabs of clay and the hand-drawn logo in the top right corner of the Mural, and the seagull on the left.

The clay represents the "Go Potty" classes that Ernie and Karen would host at Great Yarmouth Potteries. Individuals and groups of novice potters would be guided by Ernie in the principles of throwing their first fistful of clay on the Potter's Wheel.

Each budding potter would go home with their creation and a Certificate of their Achievement, signed and dated by Ernie. He would complete his  signature with an artistic flourish:  the "self portrait" cartoon drawing that you see here.

We created a logo from that sketch used it to "watermark" the pages in his books, along with his trademark seagull that you see represented on the top left corner of the Mural.

Ernie always featured seagulls in all his outdoor paintings and, during the weekend of the Great Yarmouth Annual Maritime Festival (of which Ernie and Karen were founder members), Ernie would work on his latest painting in his marquee on Historic South Quay. He would invite any visitor who would stop by to watch him paint, to join him at the canvas to paint in their own seagull under his guidance. There, their contribution would remain forever.

"Lost" - by Alison Atkins    is the name of the bronze sculpture on the plinth in the grass verge here and it depicts two well-worn swills. This is the name of the baskets, unique to Great Yarmouth, which were used until around 1960 to carry herring from where they were landed.

The swill is made from willow and  hazel and is created with three handles: a central one, for it to be carried when empty and one at each end to enable two people to carry it when loaded.

Three fully loaded swills would hold approximately a cran. The cran itself has a story to tell. It is a unit of volume measure and has been subject to review over the years.

Up until 1815, here is how a cran was measured (very scientific in the day, I guess!).

The ends were knocked out of a herring barrel and it was stood upon the floor (or other convenient surface). Herring were loaded into the barrel until it was "heaping full". Then the barrel would be lifted clear, the herring falling through the open bottom onto the floor in a heap - assisted,  you see now don't you?,  by knocking out the ends of the barrel first !

Then, in 1816, the Commissioners for The Herring Fishery fixed the cran's capacity at 42 gallons "Old Wine Measure". This turned out to be insufficient because it unsatisfactorily short-filled the barrel when it was pined.

Pining is the process of leaving open the filled barrel for a few days. During this time, the salt reacts with the juices from the fish, causing the fish to shrink. So, in 1832 the volume was raised by the Commissioners to 45 gallons.

Finally, in 1852, the contents were given, not in Old Wine Measure, but in Imperial Measure by the Commissioners as 37 and a half gallons.

The bronze sculpture which you see here was originally installed in 2004 in Middlegate Garden, close to the Nelson Museum on Historic South Quay as part of a Community Enhancement Project. It was stolen from that location in 2011, and recovered hours later due to close co-operation between Norfolk police and local scrap dealers. Two men were arrested.

 The sculpture was then loaned to Time and Tide Museum for display, from where it has been installed on the plinth that you see here.

It would be appreciated if you could please visit these external links to further info and photographs.   Thank you: