In late September 1923, the Gazette published two accounts of travels in Europe, both were in two parts appearing in consecutive weeks.
‘Angling in Norway’ – Tiverton Ladies Experiences, at first seems rather obscure, at least to a non-angler. However, for a period of time from the mid 1800s in to the early years of the 20th century, Norway was the destination of choice for salmon fishing in the summer. It was the subject of a painting by John Singer Sargent and of several books. A good description can be found here:
https://fieldsports-journal.com/fieldsports/fish/salmon-fishing-in-norway-the-golden-age
The second destination is less surprising. Thomas Cook organised the first package tour from the UK to Europe in 1858 and this heralded the birth of mass tourism in Switzerland. The country had already been visited by pilgrims, adventurers and rock climbers since the beginning of the 19th century. In 1923 ‘In Switzerland’ by a Tivertonian, includes descriptions of the tourist attractions which remain much the same today, including ‘up the Jungfrau’.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Museum has very few items relating to Norway. We do have ‘handling collections’ which can be borrowed by schools and other organisations and in one of those is a 3-D Viewmaster which some of you may remember. Unfortunately the disc with photos of Norway had been handled a bit too much but the accompanying booklet remains.
Norway Viewmaster Booklet
HMS Hermes was affiliated to Tiverton and the photo shows the ship at anchor in an unamed Norwegian port in early 1976.
HMS Hermes docked in Norway
These, Swiss designed, colourful discs fit inside a wooden frame which is then covered with glass, giving 6 different ‘Wakouwa’ board games. When the game came up for auction in 2006, paperwork included in the lot suggested that the game was considered too expensive to be marketed widely in the USA. We are lucky to have an example in the Museum. However, its Swiss inventor, Walther Kourt Walss, became much more famous for his later creations – the little push up jointed animals and characters often known as Wakouwa toys, still available today (we even have some in our gift shop!)
Wakouwa Games
Wakouwa or Push Up toys in the Museum Gift Shop