Wednesday 8 April 2009

Vancouver Quarter



Now, why would a shopping area in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, UK, be named after a city in Canada? Well, of course it wasn't, it was named after one of King’s Lynn’s most famous sons, Captain George Vancouver, famous for exploring the North West coast of North America. He has cities in Canada and the USA named after him - and also a shopping centre in his town of birth!

So the Vancouver Quarter is a collection of modern-for-Lynn buildings (built in the 1960’s) which has all the shops you might expect for a Market Town this size. But it’s also a centre where things happen. Today as I walked through the town, the local radio station had set up a stand, and one of the Dj’s was there playing music and handing out balloons to the youngsters. An Easter Bunny was there dancing to the music and giving out chocolates. There were a number of small kids having their faces painted, and a group of young, maybe 10 year olds, were dressed up in fairy costumes. To be honest, I’ve no idea if these were part of the show, or their parents thought it would be fun to dress them like that!! A bit further along there are a couple of small carnival rides - when I went past not having much custom, but certainly adding to the brightness of the place.

And it seems that there is often something to see or do here - over the Christmas period there was a ice skating rink put up, and for one day there were reindeer - real live reindeer - in a pen waiting to take Santa Claus on a ride round the town. There have also been a “rock” climbing structure, rides, and various displays over the course of the year.

I guess it comes with being a Market Town that we get people from the area visiting us, and so these things are viable. I certainly know that it makes the town centre a fun place to be a lot of the time:)