Jono's Tourism

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Jono's Tourism

I provide Tourism services for Lichfield City, including guided tours, themed day packages and coach
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Providing Tourism services for Lichfield City including guided city tours, themed day and overnight packages and general information about anything to do with visiting Lichfield City!

04/12/2024

It’s a pleasure for me to sponsor a seat at the Lichfield Garrick, and they’ve put a lovely post on their page about my sponsorship and some very kind words about my love for Lichfield, the Garrick and, of course, my love of David Garrick himself!
If you’d like more information on how to sponsor a seat, have a look at their website:

www.lichfieldgarrick.com/support-us/individualgiving/sponsor-a-seat

03/12/2024

I paid a visit to the Quill and Scholar restaurant on Tamworth Street last week to sample their out-now Festive menu.
It’s the same restaurant where I was the quiz master for their charity quiz recently, and it was great to be back, you always get a warm, friendly welcome.
The menu consists of the usual starter, mains and dessert choices and has been specially selected for the festive period.
I started with the Pork Terrine (a terrine is a ‘chunkier’ version of pate) which came with a sweet apple and prune chutney, cucumber and a garlic crouton. My partner was delighted with her Devon crab croquette, surrounded by a brown crab sauce, with winter coleslaw and seaweed, the croquette was light but with a satisfying crunch, and crab is always a special treat!
For the main course my partner chose pan-fried sea bream (continuing the sea based theme!) with prawn potatoes, prawn and white wine sauce and wilted kale which she said was delicious, the fish was full of ‘nutty’ flavour and the skin was nicely crisped.
Being the Festive menu I opted for the woodland-raised bronze Turkey (my first of this season!) which came with roast potatoes, chestnut stuffing, bread sauce, cranberry sauce, port gravy and, of course…Brussels sprouts! There’s nothing like the first Turkey meal of Christmas, it was very filling and comforting - ideal for a cold late November evening.
I still had room for a dessert though and I couldn’t resist the luxuriant, indulgent blackcurrant mousse, black cherry compote and a tuile (a baked wafer). My partner chose the Basque cheesecake, with poached autumn berries. She said it was very light, smooth and creamy.
We finished our meals with two floater coffees, and we both agreed we’d had a lovely meal, with lots of festive undertones, and in a friendly, warm atmosphere.
The festive menu is £39.50 for three courses, to include coffee and tea.
More details can be found on the Quill and Scholar website (link below) where you can also book a table. Alternatively call in to the Quill and Scholar at 12-14 Tamworth Street or ring them on 01543 471402.

https://quillandscholarlichfield.com/menu/christmas/

The Quill and Scholar, Lichfield

02/12/2024

Jack and the Beanstalk will definitely get you in to that Christmas spirit!
Another fabulous Lichfield Garrick Panto this year, full of excruciating gags, pop songs, catchphrases (Bostin!), slapstick capers and the cutest dog you will see on a stage this Christmas!
Led as always by the fabulous Sam Rabone as Dame Trott (take a look at the photos below - I’m sure Dame Trott is pointing directly at me on one of them!), aided and abetted by his laughter partner-in-crime Ben Thornton as Billy Trott, and with strong support from Gill Jordan as the Black Country Fairy Sugarsnap, Joe Feeney as the evil (well, not that evil!) Luke Backinanger, Clarice Julianda as Dave the Talking Cow (best not to ask!) and, of course, Cherry the dog.
Two hours of great family fun at the Garrick, the full house loved it when I saw the show last Thursday and the customer reviews have been excellent.
The Panto is directed by Daniel Buckroyd, Artistic Director at the Garrick, with musical direction by Tom Wood (Uncle Tommy!) and the script is written by Paul Henry, producer at Evolution Pruductions, who have been producing the pantos at the Garrick for the last nine years - and that consistency clearly shows in the professionalism and quality of the best Panto in the Midlands!
Tickets are very sparse from now until Christmas but it’s always best to check the website, there are still seats available currently but I recommend you get in quick - they won’t last long!
Click the link below to see if you can book your golden Garrick seat:

www.lichfieldgarrick.com/events/jack-the-beanstalk-2024-pantomime -and-times

Lichfield Garrick Sam Rabone - Pantomime Dame Evolution Pantomimes

01/12/2024

My last Lichfield event of the day was Seasonal Strings by the Highly Strung String Quartet at the Hub at St Mary’s.
A whole host of festive favourites, with compositions from Bach and Beethoven through to Chris Rea and Shakin Stevens!
There was even some audience participation while we joined in on the Twelve Days of Christmas, along with the appropriate actions - not sure if we helped or hindered them!
Great fun though with four very talented musicians and the perfect way to start off the Christmas festivities at the Hub.

The Hub at St Mary's Highly Strung String Quartet

01/12/2024

Lichfield Christmas Lights Switch on, Market Square, Sunday 1 December.

Guildhall Lichfield

01/12/2024

The monthly Producers Market, usually held on the Market Square, is along Minster Pool Walk today, Sunday 1 December, until 4pm.

01/12/2024

The Lichfield Cathedral School Christmas Fayre at the Bishop’s Palace, in the cathedral close. On until 4pm today, Sunday 1 December.

Lichfield Cathedral School

01/12/2024

Lichfield Market Square all ready for the Christmas Lights Switch on at 5pm, today Sunday 1 December.
Live music all afternoon until 5pm.

Guildhall Lichfield

30/11/2024

🎶Chestnuts 🌰 roasting on an open fire 🔥 🎶
It’s nearly the season to be jolly, and you can roast your own chestnuts with a fine selection from the Lichfield Fruit and Vegetablble stall on the Market Square today, Saturday 30 November.
There are also dates, cabbages, carrots, apples, oranges and, of course, that other seasonal festive favourite - brussel sprouts!
My pick of the week this week is the Sharon fruit, native to Israel. Also known as the persimmon, or kaki, fruit it is shaped like a large tomato, is orange in colour, and tastes similar to a mango. The skin can be eaten but often it is removed and then the flesh scooped out with a spoon, you can add it to yoghurt, a fruit salad or serve with ice cream as a dessert with a difference!
Jake and the team will be on the market square till 3pm, please pop along and try out the wide (and unusual) range of fruit and vegetables on offer!

Lichfield Market Fruit and Veg
Lichfield Markets

29/11/2024

They’ll be Bluebirds over the White Cliffs of Dover…tomorrow, just you you wait and see…
The Spring 2025 brochure for the Hub at St Mary’s is out today and I’m sponsoring two lovely events commemorating VE Day in May 2025!
Firstly, the wonderful Ockbrook Big Band will get you In The Mood with musical memories from the 1940s on Saturday 3 May at 7.30pm.
Secondly the fabulous Bluebird Belles will toot our flute with the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy from Company B on Sunday 4 May at 3pm (to include a cream tea).
I’m sponsoring both events, which will be the perfect way to celebrate the anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) 2025.
Book tickets for the Ockbrook Big Band , priced at £18pp, at the Hub’s website at:

https://thehubstmarys.co.uk/events/the-ockbrook-big-band/

Book tickets for the Bluebird Belles, priced at £20pp (to include the cream tea) at:

https://thehubstmarys.co.uk/events/cream-tea-with-the-bluebird-belles/

Will see you there in May 2025 - so We’ll Meet Again - but I know when!

The Hub at St Mary's
The Bluebird Belles The Ockbrook Big Band

28/11/2024

If you’re going to the Lichfield Garrick to see the fabulous Panto this Christmas- look out for my sponsored seat!
My seat is on the front row of the stalls, A15, the seat I sat in to see (and be picked on by!!) Michael McIntyre in 2022 (I can name drop with the best of them!).
My friend Gill sat behind ‘my’ seat the other night and took a photo of it to send to me, and I also feature on the Garrick’s website promoting the sponsorship scheme - you just can’t avoid my ugly mug in Lichfield l!
So if you’re sitting in, or behind, seat A15 this Panto season please take a photo or selfie, tag me in and I’ll share on my page for you!
If you’re at the Garrick for Jack and the Beanstalk tonight, Thursday, please look out for me - though I won’t be in seat A15 today.
Seat sponsorships cost from £250 and you can find out more on the Garricks’s website at:

https://www.lichfieldgarrick.com/support-us/individualgiving/sponsor-a-seat

Lichfield Garrick
Sam Rabone - Pantomime Dame

27/11/2024

Auction Cafe update on Market Street - including the just released opening date!
The Auction Cafe, by Richard Winterton Auctioneers, is making good progress at number 34 Market Street (next to the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum) - and I’ve just heard this morning that the official opening date will be…
Monday 9 December.
It’s a fantastic, historic building and I’m looking forward to having a look round inside when it opens!

Richard Winterton Auctioneers

26/11/2024

This 1910s postcard shows Bore Street from the St John Street junction looking down towards the Guildhall.
On the left is the Jones and Co garage, which was demolished in the 1960s and is now where Bill Tandy estate agents and the Asia One nail salon is.
To the right is the Prince of Wales pub, most latterly the Feria bar, now awaiting refurbishment. Further down on the right is the Palladium theatre, more recently the Wilkos store, and now Poundland Lichfield.
I love these ‘then and now’ postcards, showing what has changed, but also what has remained the same, from the Lichfield of 100+ years ago!

Guildhall Lichfield
Bill Tandy Estate Agents

25/11/2024

A visit to Number 1 Duart House on St John Street this morning, it’s serviced accommodation, set over two floors. A lovely, historic building, the apartment is called Samuel’s, in honour of Lichfield’s most famous son Samuel Johnson, and I provided them with some of my vintage postcards of Lichfield which they have framed and put on the wall - they look fabulous!
The apartment is available for rent via Spires Accommodation and is ideal for those wanting a short to medium stay in lovely Lichfield!
More details about the apartment are on Spires website at:

www.spirescorporateandleisurestays.co.uk/rentals/samuels

Spires Accommodation
Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum & Bookshop

19/11/2024

I really enjoyed being the Quiz Master at the Quill and Scholar on Tamworth Street on Monday evening, for their Charity Quiz.
The questions (not compiled by me!) were quite hard and certainly caused lots of debate by the teams!
The food was great too and we had some smooth vibes provided by the New Vintage group, who perform regularly at the Q & S each Sunday afternoon.
There was a charity raffle too with fabulous prizes provided by a lot of local companies including Poquito, Poms Brunch, Trinity Brewery, Nero Bianco, Darnford Moors Golf Club, Apiarist Gin, the Whippet Inn and the Lichfield Garrick (4 tickets for the Christmas Panto!).
Always good to perform as Victorian Jono, whether for walking tours, talks…and now. quizzes!!

The Quill and Scholar, Lichfield Poquito Darnford Moors Golf Club Lichfield Garrick The Apiarist Co Trinity Brew Co. Nero Bianco Poms Brunch The Whippet Inn NewVintage

17/11/2024

Four vintage postcards of Whittington and Whittington Barracks / Soldiers' Home.
The village postcard shows Main Street, with the Dog Inn on the right, posted date is unclear, but from the 1910s. The two barrack's postcards show the main entrance, the card was posted in July 1906, and the Sergeants Mess, which was posted in August 1906. The last card shows the old Soldiers' Home, the building has now been demolished, the card is undated and unposted.

The Staffordshire Regiment Museum The Dog Inn Whittington

16/11/2024

Another fabulous selection of fruit and vegetables are on display at Jake’s stall on the Market Square today, Saturday 16 November.
My pick of the week this week is the sweetly-named Custard Apple!
It’s a tropical fruit, part of the Annona genus, and is also called the sugar apple, Cherimoya and bullock’s heart.
It’s a healthy fruit and tastes like a sweet, creamy banana, with a hint of mango. It can be used in desserts, ice creams and yoghurts.
There you go - my posts are not just promoting the local market stall but are educational too!
Jake and the team will be on the historic Lichfield Market Square until 3pm, be sure to pop down today - and don’t forget to pick up a Custard Apple 🍏 or two!

Lichfield Market Fruit and Veg
Lichfield Markets

15/11/2024

The latest edition of the Lichfield and Burntwood Independent newspaper is a great read - especially as it features…ME!!
I’m on page 10, helping to promote my friend Alison’s new Italian cookbook, which was launched recently at the Hub at St Mary’s.
There are lots of other local groups and organisations featured too, including my friends at the Grace Cares charity; the Lichfield Garrick; Richard Winterton Auctioneers and more. It’s good to see events being promoted at Chasetown and Burntwood too.
I picked up my copy from the Co-op Food store at Boley Park, and enjoyed reading it with a mug of cappuccino T the in-store Insomnia cafe - perfect!

Lichfield Live Richard Winterton Auctioneers Grace Cares MangiaMangia Lichfield Garrick The Hub at St Mary's Burntwood Town Council

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Videos

Lichfield Town Crier, Adrian Holmes, officially opening the 80th exhibition of the Lichfield Society of Artists today, Friday 18 October. The exhibition is free entry and is on until Tuesday 22 October in the lower floor of the Lichfield Guild Hall on Bore Street.

Not Something You See Every Day! The Mayor of Lichfield, Councillor Sam Schafer, unveiling the bust of Samuel Johnson at 10 Bird Street last week!! Keep watching till the end as Sam takes the cherry-picker upwards, rather than back down! #lichfield #SamuelJohnson

Many thanks to my friend Adrian, Lichfield’s Town Crier, for his impromptu ‘shout’ outside the clinic of Cathedral Hearing, an independent audiologist, run by Laura this morning. Set in the wonderful Grade II listed mid-16th century building, 6a Sandford Street, Laura is now taking bookings for appointments. Love the ‘photo-bomber’ who walked right in front of Adrian as he started the shout ha ha! #lichfield #history

Thunderbirds are Go! The Thunderbirds 54321 exhibition, currently on display at the Hub at St Mary’s, was featured on the Central ITV news recently. The free exhibition is on at the Hub during usual opening days / times and runs until 2 November 2024. If you’re a child of the 60s or 70s it will definitely bring back some happy memories!

Jono Bids on Binoculars!

Me bidding on a set of opera binoculars at the sporting edition of BBC1’s Bargain Hunt, recorded a couple of months ago but broadcast last Friday. It was a sporting celebrities special edition and Paralympians Dame Sarah Storey and Richard Whitehead bought a pair of opera glasses for £12. Thanks partly to my bidding (you can see me waving my hand like a madman at the back of the auction room!!) it made £40 - though I’d backed out before then ha! Their expert was Kate Bliss, presenter was Natasha Raskin-Sharp and the auctioneer was Richard Winterton of Richard Winterton Auctioneers at Fradley, Lichfield. Got to love an auction, I bid on three items on the day and didn’t win any of them - better luck next time! #auctions #lichfield Richard Winterton Auctioneers

My 15 seconds of fame!!

Talking about Richard Winterton Auctioneers, I appeared (very briefly!!) on Friday’s episode of BBC1’s very popular Bargain Hunt programme, filmed at Winterton’s Auction House at Fradley. I bid on a lovely little silver-plated Vesta (matches) case. I’m at the back of the auction room and stopped bidding when it reached £35 as that was, as they say in the auction business ‘all the money’ in my opinion. They also filmed the celebrity sports personalities on that day so I’m hoping to be featured again when they show that episode later in the schedules! Richard Winterton Auctioneers

Four Historic Lichfield Buildings

For Staffordshire Day, this was the video that I and my friend David Gough put together for Staffordshire Day in 2022, telling the history of four well-known Lichfield buildings. The video was created for Staffordshire Libraries. #StaffordshireDay Staffordshire Libraries Enjoy Staffs

Balloonist crashes at Lichfield - not an April Fool!! I’m always listening out for Lichfield on TV programmes and this clip is from the Antiques Road Trip, featuring Jane’s Braxton. James Sadler (1753 - 1828) was a former pastry chef who later became one of the earliest balloonists, taking to the skies only a short while after the much more famous Montgolfier brothers. Although he was quite good at launching his silk-made, hydrogen-filled ballooons skywards he was not quite as good at landing them safely, on one occasion he and his balloon were dragged two miles across the countryside when it landed and he also crashed close to Lichfield in 1785. On this occasion he was thrown out of the balloon and it then disappeared up into the sky, never to be seen again! Lichfield’s own Samuel Johnson was fascinated by the early flights of the balloonists from 1783, stating that a day barely went by without the mention of ballooning in the journals of the day. Samuel provided a financial subscription for another balloonist, Vincenzo Lunardi, the team at the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum provided a blog about Sam’s love of ballooning (and other scientific inventions), read more below: https://sjmuseum.wordpress.com/2022/09/02/inventor-a-finder-out-of-something-new/ Find out more about James at: https://aboutmanchester.co.uk/so-who-was-james-sadler/ Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum & Bookshop Antiques Road Trip

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Four Historic Lichfield Buildings

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