....and with my back to the Mural  Wall, looking south.

Looking south along Blackfriars' Road with my back to Ernie's Mural Wall.

On the right, the restored portion of the Medieval Town Wall. The location of the Garden Gate is at the end of the light-coloured topmost restoration, just beyond the lamp post.

Next on the skyline comes the high red-tiled roof of the Herring Smokehouse buildings that Great Yarmouth Potteries occupied for almost 40 years.

Then the tallest building in the distant centre is the roof of the South East Tower at the end of Trinity Place/Friars Lane which was where Ernie and Karen began their business - Great Yarmouth Potteries .

Here is the view of the location of the Mural dedicated to Ernie from the Great Yarmouth Potteries Entrance on Blackfriars' Road. Ernie and Karen ran Great Yarmouth Potteries for almost 40 years until their retirement in 2017.

You are looking north, past the wall of the Jewish Cemetery, across Alma Road, the Children's Playground and the Blackfriars' Road Car Park.

The white gable end in the distance, with the scaffolding in place (November 2024), will host the giant Mural. It sits at the north end of the Blackfriars' Road Car Park in the shadow of St Spyridon Church on St Peter's Road.

St Spyridon Church has been in the care of the Greek Orthodox Community for many years, but was originally St Peter's Church, where Ernie was christened in 1947.

A closer view of the house gable end and St Spyridon Church, from the middle of Blackfriars' Road Car Park, with the wall being prepared (November 2024) for Ernie's Mural.

At this point, I thought you might like to see the location of Ernie's Mural in more context.

Here is a section of the Medieval Town Wall, recently restored.

Located in one of the oldest parts of Great Yarmouth along Blackfriars' Road, between St Peter's Road to the north and the junction of Blackfriars' Road and Camden Road to the south.

The left hand end (south end) of the wall in this photograph was the location of Garden Gate, one of 10 gates and 16 towers in 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; 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 Andrew, the photographer 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!

Click here to go to the Facebook Page of Great Yarmouth Nelson Ward

Well Done Mark, and Ruben, Tony, Amy and all the team at Reprezent Projects, 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.