New podcasts series celebrates the counties and people of East Anglia

March 8, 2021

Greater Anglia and its community rail partnerships today launch a series of podcasts celebrating the people and places of East Anglia.

‘Lives on the Lines’ invites listeners to take an audible journey to discover majestic coastlines, the phenomenal wildlife of broads and fens, breathtaking cathedral cities and magical market towns of Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk – and meet the people that make them such unique and special places to live, work and visit.

Special guests include Hugh Somerleyton, who discusses his ambition for rewilding a large area of the region through the WildEast movement, Laura Howarth, Archaeology and Engagement Manager at National Trust Sutton Hoo, who explains how the discovery of an Anglo-Saxon ship burial on the site revolutionised our understanding of early England, Dr David Waterhouse, Senior Curator of Natural History & Geology at Norfolk Museums Service who reveals the secrets of North Norfolk’s fossil-rich deep history coast, and Mark Bills, Director of Gainsborough’s House Museum, who sheds light on the life and work of one of England’s greatest landscape painters, Thomas Gainsborough.

They are joined by local tour guides, museum curators and some of Greater Anglia’s volunteer station adopters, who share their experiences of living and working in the region and help to tell the story of each county’s unique landscape, culture and history and divulge some of its secrets.

There are six episodes in total covering six of Greater Anglia’s branch lines that are supported by a community rail partnership. They are the Hereward Line between Ely and Peterborough, the Bittern Line between Norwich and Sheringham, the Wherry Lines between Norwich and Great Yarmouth / Lowestoft, the East Suffolk Lines between Ipswich and Lowestoft / Felixstowe, the Gainsborough Line between Marks Tey and Sudbury and the Mayflower Line between Manningtree and Harwich.

Greater Anglia’s Customer and Community Engagement Manager, Alan Neville, said: “We are delighted to launch our first podcast series which offers a way to discover more about the region while we can’t travel for pleasure right now.

“Hopefully, when travel restrictions ease, the podcasts will help to inspire people to come aboard and discover the wonders of East Anglia for themselves and could even be used like a guided audio tour as the scenery rolls by.

“On behalf of Greater Anglia and our community rail partnerships, I would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who helped to make this series possible, especially all the guest collaborators who have helped to build a fascinating insight into our region.”

The podcasts were created by Fresh Air Productions and are produced and narrated by Katherine Kerr. They can be found at smarturl.it/livesonthelines