Meet the man visiting all of Norfolk’s village signs
Summer is a time for going on holiday, visiting beaches and relaxing – but not for Andrew Tullett. He plans to spend his summer photographing every village sign in Norfolk.
Visiting Diss on Friday, he said: “There are more than 500 village signs standing throughout Norfolk – it must be one of the biggest free art galleries in the country.”
Andrew has photographed more than 330 signs so far, driving and cycling 1,600 miles to get to them, setting himself the challenge of taking all the photographs by the end of the summer.
The 43-year-old moved to Attleborough from Scotland when he was 16 years old. His father developed an interest in Norfolk’s village signs after the move, taking many photographs in the early nineties.
“It’s been interesting to look back at those photos and see how many have changed since then,” said Andrew.
He left Attleborough to study at university but returned to Norfolk 15 years ago. He now lives in Norwich with his wife and two children.
Norfolk has more village signs than any other county but Andrew believes they are under-appreciated.
“Every sign is unique,” he said. “Unfortunately, hardly any of them have a plaque to explain what they are showing.
“This is a real shame when so much time, effort and money has been spent by each community to celebrate their village.”
When asked what makes a good sign, he added: “I like the colourful carved signs and the ones that tell a good story.
“Diss’ sign, for example, tells the story of how King John plotted to kill a local woman who’d spurned his advances by poisoning her with a boiled egg.
“Eventually, I’d like to put all the photographs and stories together in a book to share with everyone. I think the signs deserve to be all in one place so people can read about them and their history.”
For information, go to the Facebook page ‘Signs of a Norfolk Summer’.