Prospective customers reading closure notices at the Labas Minimart, King's Lynn. The shop, selling mainly East European goods was closed by order of Magistrates due to the sale of vapes of illegal strength, vapes containing THC (the psychoactive constituent of cannabis), and illicit tobacco, as well as selling vapes to children. Following numerous complaints, a raid led to the seizure of over 400 illegal vapes, 13 packs of illicit cigarettes, and an hiding place used to conceal them.

A mural of the Blessed Virgin cradling a bottle of beer on the rooftops of Boston, Lincolnshire. The image appeared overnight, shortly after a vodka still situated on the edge of town exploded killing five Lithuanian men.

Dr Victoria Bateman, academic and economist presenting her thesis called Brexit Leaves Britain Naked, in which she postulates on why she believes the UK leaving the EU is an error. Whilst speaking, Dr Bateman strips off her clothes and invites the audience to sign her body in a gesture of support.

Ali Dent OBE, and assistant Fred of Dent's Butchers Hilgay, Norfolk. The shop has served the village since 1900.

 “I was born here, I was born in this house, I've been in this shop all my life. I want to get a bit of time for me and the wife. You don't get your holidays when you live at the shop and work for yourself”.

Small World food store on Peterborough market, owned by Param Singh. Param has been running the stall since 1988 when he took over from his father who had ran it from 1971.

Palm Sunday service at St Michael's Church, Swaton,Lincolnshire Held on the Sunday before Easter, the event commemorates the arrival of Jesus into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey before His attendance at the Last Supper.

Palm Sunday service at St Michael's Church, Swaton,Lincolnshire. Held on the Sunday before Easter, the event commemorates the arrival of Jesus into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey before His attendance at the Last Supper.

A demonstration in Boston, Lincolnshire, calling the invocation of Article 50, which would initiate the process of the UK leaving the EU. It was finally granted by PM Teresa May on 29th March 2017 sending a formal notification to the European Council and triggering the two-year period for withdrawal negotiations .


A Tullos threshing machine up for sale at a dispersal auction of the late Jessie Watson, farmer of Littleport, Cambridgeshire. Mr Watson purchased the vehicle in 1946 and paid for it to be transported to the Fens by train from Aberdeen, Scotland. Then it required three workers to operate it and another to tow it by tractor. Today, its tasks can be completed by one person.

In the Fens, a slow and relentless transformation is unfolding, one that stretches far beyond the soil itself. The agrarian farmers, once the heartbeat of the flat, fertile land, are dwindling. As they pass away their modest plots are increasingly amalgamated into the vast, faceless holdings of large agricorps.

Each death marks not only the loss of a steward of the land but the quiet unraveling of a rich cultural tapestry that has defined the region for half a millennia.

When the late Jessie Watson of Littleport, Cambridgeshire purchased a Tullos threshing machine in 1946 he transported it by train from Aberdeen to the Fens. Then it was a symbol of modern engineering ingenuity; requiring three workers to operate it and another to tow it by tractor. Today, its tasks are managed by a solitary operator, an illustration of how technology has streamlined labour while stripping away the human bonds it once fostered.

The Labour government’s new plan to impose inheritance tax on farm sales is poised to accelerate this erosion, piling financial strain onto families. For generations, farmers like Watson handed down not just land but a legacy and a rhythm of life tied to the seasons.

The tax makes succession untenable, forcing heirs to sell not to neighbours who might honour those traditions, but to agricorps that see the soil as little more than a balance sheet.

As these corporate entities sweep in, the patchwork of fields that once bore the imprint of individual hands is giving way to a sterile uniformity, erasing the dialects, folklore, and quiet pride that thrived in the shadow of the hedgerows.

For further reading see Justin Partyka's photographs of the agrarian farmers of East Anglia.

 

A tribute to Margaret Thatcher at St Mary Magdalene Church flower festival, Gedney Lincolnshire. The memorial features coal, a handbag, a miniature No 10 door, and a book on the Falklands war.