It was quite a bitter pill to swallow having to come home from holiday on Saturday, 23rd August 2025, because my wife was in such pain with her legs. I know that makes me sound like a dreadful husband, but we had looked forward so much to spending a fortnight in our beloved Yorkshire, catching up with folk we haven’t seen for a long time and visiting all our favourite haunts. But after a week of sticking with it, we conceded defeat on Saturday morning and set out on our long and very painful journey for my wife – and it felt to be a low point in both our lives that we’d had to forfeit our holiday, even though we knew that it was the right thing to do.
Given the fact that we were back in Norfolk, and I had the gift of a Sunday when I was not working, we headed to Great Yarmouth during the afternoon. The main reason for our visit was to watch the East Coast Truckers parade along the promenade in the resort.
A group of Truckers from East Anglia started doing charitable work in 1986 in conjunction with schools for children with special needs to give them a trip out, travelling in the trucks. The East Coast Truckers became a registered charity in 2000 and today, over a hundred trucks transport children to Pleasurewood Hills theme park in Lowestoft, they bring Norfolk to a standstill as the convoy snakes its way from Norwich to Lowestoft and the highlight of the return journey includes the parade of trucks on the promenade
It was quite emotional standing on the promenade on Sunday evening as the traffic was cleared away and crowds of people stood in eager anticipation with dozens of marshalls and Police Officers ensuring that folk were kept safe. Soon after 6pm I could hear the sirens and blare of air horns in the distance and looking down the prom I could see the lights in the distance of the approaching convoy.
Within minutes we were absorbed in the event as excited faces looked down on us from the truck, the noise was unbelievable, as each truck had its air horns blasting, the crowds were waving and cheering and the children in the trucks were loving being the centre of attention. There were mock number plates in the front window of most cabs with the name of the driver and the name of the child on display. It was one of the most emotional events I have attended in a while and I confess to standing there with tears rolling down my face.
If ever you find yourself in Norfolk on the August Bank Holiday Weekend I can recommend spending a couple of hours on a Sunday evening watching this amazing spectacle. We have dozens of photos and some videos of the evening and whenever I’m feeling down, I can watch the films to lift my spirits. I felt quite sad as we drove to Great Yarmouth, because all I could think of was what we had missed out on. If we had stayed in Yorkshire, we would have never shared this special experience and I was reminded of the saying that every cloud has a silver lining.