More Tales of the Unexpected

So another memory of the early days at the Adam, we were approached by ITV Anglia to use the Adam for a weeks filming. They paid us well and we used the money to send James to St Christopher School. Well I think it paid for his uniform. I can’t for the life of me remember which episode it was. I believe they are being shown again so maybe you might recognise the old place.

The downstairs bar was getting packed every night & Roger needed more bar space so we engaged a builder Blackie Fenn (of Al Jolson fame) we were friendly with Blackie and his wife Pat and he had a good reputation. Blackie started to knock through the solid flint walls at the back of the bar where the sink was originally, he had to do it in the afternoons when we were closed because of the noise and dust. It took several days as the wall was so thick. We would take the children out for the afternoon. One day we returned and Blackie was sitting outside the pub looking very pale & shaken!! He said he has seen a ghost of a monk !!! He was adamant and would not go back inside without us…….Eventually the passage way was open and stairs put in, although the height wasn’t great Roger was used to stooping behind the bar but us girls could manage. We had a bar built using wood from a part of a Wherry and Trevor Hall made us a fabulous beaten copper bar. This had to be cleaned most days but was my pride and joy. I believe a landlord since removed it and sold the copper. It really was a great addition and soon the top bar began to be popular with the trendy set!. David Turnbull, Mike Davenport, Keith Honeywood, Peter Cross, Barry Boswell, Dave Dowson & his brother Terry, Roger Ward, Robin Warden, Alan Boswell, Roger Carr, Barry Howes, ( who later managed it for us) Sniffer Clarke, Stuart Clark Dick Foxhall and of course Jimmy Archer, Barry Howard & Roger McKee (Mac). Many more who will come to mind I expect during my ramblings… Many employees of Jarrold”s Printing, teachers from the Norwich school, Sauls woodyard, Norwich Motor Company, Lawyers, Accountants, Artists and con men, would all frequent, we had them all.

We had two darts teams and a cribbage team. I felt like I was always making sandwiches and sausage rolls. The two darts teams A & B, one serious players like the BT boys who were only interested in the technical side and beating the crap out of the opposing team ( and beer consumption) and the other the silly team the likes of Dowson & Davenport, what they got away with was well……say no more… the team got suspended more than once & I was always writing to the brewery begging them for another chance after their pranks upset the opposing teams. One chap a guy called John from Yarmouth who was in the serious darts team was convicted of murder!

One morning I woke up and went through into our living room with Jooles in my arms. I noticed the window on my right which looked over the Great Hospital, it was the private hospital in Norwich before BUPA, I looked to see where my houseplants were and found them on the ground below a ladder with the window open. Suddenly I realised we had been burgled. They had taken the contents of the till, left on the dining table the night before and our stock of tobacco & cigarettes. We were shocked and it made Roger get a safe. I wonder if that same safe is there today. A secret hiding place……

We had a new customer a charismatic guy called Twan Cuppens!!! One day he was very generous and treated everyone in the bar to drinks. He ran out of money and asked Roger to let him off until he could get in again. Roger being hesitant asked if he could leave identification but Twan did better than that – he gave Roger this extremely attractive, very expensive Rolex as collateral. Roger was so scared of losing it he slept with it that night! Of course the lovely Twan came back and another friendship began. After that I would often find notes from Roger that he had given tabs to customers and we had a mixture of junk watches in the safe, they never came back!

We would often have people come in with vegetables from their allotments or game birds from their shoot and we would trade for food and drinks. It worked really well. Ken Blacklock a rather posh well dressed gent used the pub at lunch times. He was MD of Mann Edgertons car sales. He would always park the newest model in our car park which was wonderful for our esteem. He liked wine and Roger would get him carafes of Paul Masson wine – horrible stuff but that was before wine ever became fashionable, that came in the mid eighties. However the carafes were nice and I used them for candles and flowers around the pub. Our dentist Robert Cobb once came in and ate the whole vase of daffodils – I was speechless!

As if we didn’t have enough to do. On Thursday afternoons whilst we were shut Roger would load the car and take bottles of beer around to the Great Hospital. As well as the private part there was, as is today a retirement home. We had many “in mates” as we called them that could use the pub but many others were elderly and unable to walk. So Roger would do his delivery service for them. We always said we would put our name down for a place in the Gt Hospital after we retired… I think there is still time Roger…. One of the old residents was murdered in a bungled burglary which brought the police in and the pub was closed for a while whilst investigations went on. ( and a bit of boozing went on).

Joolia fondly remembers her view over the Gt Hospital to this day and indeed her & Gary were married in St Helens church instead of Norwich Cathedral.

One night we had this very debonair chap come in, well spoken RAF type called Mike Hamlin, he was Colin Chapmans pilot at Lotus Cars Hethel. He was attracted to my sister Cece! Being the protective big sister I was very sceptical as we didn’t know him well and she was only 18! However he was to become my beloved brother in law. They have been married for over 40 years and have four amazing beautiful daughters. Mike was trusted by Colin and Hazel Chapman and often did the school runs bringing the Chapman children in for an odd coke and crisps occasionally. Not sure I should say that but ……. Mike always had the latest Lotus car. He was always getting parking tickets as he parked it out front of the Adam…. however the not so posh beaten up cars nearby never got tickets – something we could never understand. One Sunday Mike was late picking Celia up from the Adam, I’m sure it was a Sunday as the band had packed up and gone, Mike has gone to to Le Castellet for the pre practice race near Toulon. We got a call eventually from Mike. Colin Chapman had heard a plane had crashed and didn’t know if it was Mike. But it was Graham Hill who had taken off 10 minutes after Mike. All airports around London had been closed due to fog and Mike was the last one to land at Stanstead. Sadly Graham crashed two miles short of Elstree, Hill’s plane had crashed killing him and five others on board.

My good friends the Mason family, we had some fun times with them, some trying to get served under age. The fabulous Civil War Society members, David & Joan, Sons David, Mike, Steve and Daughter Dee( Dianna) and great friends Anna Thorsen & Nick & Penny Bussey. Dee went on to marry the handsome Brian Bunce, we were all devastated when Steve drowned on the Norfolk Broads in 1976 sailing with Richard Edmunds and Bobby Hook.

Another horrible memory is that of my friend Phronsie who disappeared leaving her baby Michaela. Never to been seen again. They mystery is still ongoing. I am in touch with her family but we have never found out what happened to her. She is obviously dead but how or who … well that’s another very long story that I will tell later.

Just a few shots of some of the regulars. Can you spot yourself? Sadly many are no longer with us. Photo credit Seth Reeder & Anthea Cawdron

The photo of Cow Tower was taken in 1974 long before the addition of the Riverside Walk and housing.