Staffordshire Daily Photo

Devils' territory

2012-02-27T20:52:00.001Z

The story of Devils Lane sounds like it good be a good one. It doesn't sound like the sort of name that the local community chose for its lucky-charm value...!

On a rainy day, this lonely country lane (in Longsdon, just outside Leek) makes for a sobering walk.

Shenstone ladies

2012-02-26T23:22:00.000Z

Few football teams play in pink, and I know of only one for sure - the women's team in this picture! However, Shenstone Ladies FC are proud to play in pink, and are a pretty good team at that.
Today I saw them beat league leaders Florence Ladies (in purple), to go third in the Staffordshire County Women’s League Division Two.

Link: Staffordshire County Women’s League Division Two

Triffids on the common

2012-02-25T14:53:00.002Z

Rough Close Common is a pretty boggy piece of ground at this time of year, so the dog-walkers who use it must pick their steps carefully.

These tussocks protruding out of the marshy land make the place look oddly sinister in my opinion - like small triffids on the move.

Save The Coachmakers

2012-02-24T20:43:00.001Z

The Coachmakers Pub is one of the iconic watering holes of Hanley. It’s a strange little place that looks exactly like what it is – a nineteenth-century former terraced home.
Each of the little bars in the pub is tiny, hardly big enough to take a couple of benches.

However, a huge shopping mall is earmarked for this site – so the Coachmakers is heading for the demolition yard.
The estimate is that it has two years of life left – so get your orders in now…

Link: Countdown for the Coachmakers

'Womb to grow'

2012-02-23T21:02:00.002Z

Shops that use puns in their title have an irresistible draw for me, as readers of this blog will know. Dunno why, because some puns can be really terrible.

This one is witty through (‘womb to grow’ – ‘room to grow’ – geddit?).
Womb To Grow is a maternity clothes shop in Lichfield, and it’s nice that it has a smile on its face.

In memoriam

2012-02-22T20:31:00.000Z

This brass plaque, nailed into a tree by the road through Winkhill, tells its own sad story. Peter, just a teenager, died on this spot, presumably in a car accident.

I guess his family or friends must have seen this 'roadside memorial' as they are called as a special tribute; and fixed it to the tree themselves. Over the years, the bark has begun to grow again around it.

Staffordshire is no worse nor better than any other county for road accidents, but even recently, one person a week was dying on our roads, many of them youngsters.

Turnover Bridge

2012-02-19T20:37:00.003Z

Turnover Bridge, as it’s called, crosses the Trent & Mersey Canal at Meaford (near Stone).
It’s called Turnover, because the path switches from one side of the canal to the other, and you have to cross the bridge to ‘turn over’ to the other side…

Tixall Church web

2012-02-17T20:21:00.001Z

My photograph doesn’t show it as well as I’d hoped, but the thing you see in it that appears to be a piece of old hanging thin muslin rag, is in fact an enormous old spider’s web. It sways softly high up in the roof of Tixall Church.

It hangs just above the highest window in the west wall of the church. So it’s no surprise that the cleaner can’t get to it…

Hurst Towers

2012-02-15T15:28:00.000Z

‘Hurst Towers’, as this well-known building is known, is a rather impressive private house in the countryside outside Biddulph, standing on the road near Biddulph Grange.

The tower-top does function as a room itself, I believe. So, if you want splendid isolation, that would be a place to get it I suppose.

Bow Street Runner

2012-02-13T20:04:00.000Z

The Bow Street Runner pub in Tamworth was given a Russian theme some years ago, being billed at the town’s first ‘vodka bar’.
Yet, the Russian hammer & sickle seems to me strangely at odds with the heritage name of the pub (the ‘Bow Street Runners’ were the precursors of England’s formal police force – which, in turn, was founded 200 years ago by the town’s then MP, Robert Peel).

But, branding moves on, and the sign may be due a new look. The pub’s disco has recently been named ‘Decadence’.
I wonder what a new sign with that theme would look like.

Link: Bow Street Runner

Underground pathway

2012-02-11T20:03:00.001Z

This curious passageway, which leads under a private house in Wetley Rocks (near Leek) is, in fact, a legal public path. I can only think that the house-owner, wishing to extend the building on his/her property went ahead with their extension, but respected the law of the land enough by creating this access route under it.
Even more weirdly, the other end of the passageway emerges in the house-owner's garden, before the path leads off into fields.

Sometimes I really am fond of the eccentric laws that England has maintained - for hundreds of years.

Snow is still with us - as you can see.

Iced windows

2012-02-09T19:56:00.001Z

Winter's back! I spoke too soon a couple of weeks ago when commenting that winter might be over.

A friend of mine showed me these windows in her (unheated) living room. Brrrrr!

Railway niche

2012-02-07T20:26:00.001Z

There’s a tarmac path that runs behind the town of Kidsgrove. Cyclists use it a lot, as it’s part of the ‘Sustrans’ national cycle network.

It’s actually what’s left of a section of the now dismantled ‘Kidsgrove Loop’ railway line.

Once one realises that, then the purpose of the niches in the side of the embankment wall becomes obvious. Railway workers would scurry into them to get out of the way of any approaching train.
The same concept is applied even in today’s road tunnels. Nothing changes!

German solders’ cemetery

2012-02-05T20:36:00.001Z

The German solders’ cemetery on Cannock Chase is beautifully tended, it has to be admitted. Apparently, young Germans come over every year to help look after it.

Most of the bodies of the German soldiers who died in captivity, or were shot down, in the UK during the two wars were eventually transferred to here from all over the country. There are even the graves of a few German internees who also died in captivity.

Link: German Military Cemetery at Cannock Chase

Plague stone

2012-02-03T20:38:00.001Z

This ‘plague stone’, as it's called, is actually a type of medieval cross (such as you find at butter-crosses). It must have been broken at same point, as they were normally much taller.
This particular marker at Leek was used by people during the medieval Black Death; they would leave food here for the dying and infected so that they did not have to come in contact with them.

I was surprised that it stands in such an incongruous place – just outside the Birchall Playing Fields at Leek. But, maybe this is the original spot on which it stood. Maybe.

However, the plaque on the modern base in front of it (which told its story) has disappeared. As you can see.

Squirrel stand-off

2012-02-01T12:59:00.002Z

Squirrels seem to be confused by the weather this winter. Apart from the week of snow we had in December, it has been relatively mild, and on my walks I have seen squirrels a-plenty darting about. A neighbour of mine curses them for being out and ripping up the flower-bulbs in her garden.
But shouldn’t they have been in hibernation?

This guy is one of the incredibly tame squirrels that zip around the paths and trees outside Tamworth Library. Someone leaves out nuts for them, and the local cats seem to ignore them, so they are just unafraid. In fact, this chap just stood and stared at me in a sort of human-squirrel stand-off.

This photo is part of the City Daily Photo Monthly Theme for February; the theme is animals.

Moat in the landscape

2012-01-30T16:46:00.000Z

Unexpected features in the landscape often have an explanation – they’re not always just lumps caused by land shifting over time (as I once thought).

This platform in the land near Hilderstone turns out to be the remains of the foundations of a medieval manor house. The steep dip is due to the moat that was constructed around it.

It’s amazing to me that such an ancient formation in the land has survived so long – and it puts a different aspect on the landscape when one is walking past it.

Poundland

2012-01-29T20:18:00.002Z

The discount store ‘Poundland’ recently opened in Stoke-on-Trent’s main shopping centre in Hanley. As you can see, it dominates the central square of this shopping area.

The fact is that Hanley’s retail area is the biggest and most viable in the whole of the county of Staffordshire, so Poundland’s amazing prominence here is a sign of the times I suppose. Tough times indeed!

Bottle oven 'hatches'

2012-01-27T20:03:00.005Z

Stoke’s few remaining bottle ovens are now very valued, though hundreds were pulled down in the sixties. They are all Grade 2-listed now, I think.

And it looks like this one has decided to revenge itself on the new-build movement by growing, or even popping, out of a new block of flats! Sort of like a chick hatching out of an egg, I thought.

In fact, this housing association here in Hanley has built two blocks of flats around this bottle oven, and even enclosed it in its own protective atrium.You can't see properly because of the shadow on the glass, but if the light were right, you could see the whole shape of the oven through the glass.

One of the residents kindly allowed me into the block, and showed the structure to me up close. It’s beautifully preserved.

It's Spring! I think.

2012-01-26T20:25:00.001Z

Daffodils! The first of the year for me, though I've already seen snowdrops, and there are primroses a-plenty this year too.

If daffodils are the first sign of Spring, then this winter, by my reckoning, must have been one of the shortest I've known. I estimate it lasted just six weeks.

But never under-estimate Winter. It could come back to bite us!

Underwear as overwear

2012-01-25T20:06:00.004Z

I guess I am fashion-challenged.
The latest puzzle for me is women wearing what once was underwear as ‘daywear’.

Woollen tights, that formerly were worn under a skirt or, at the least, covered partly by a long-ish jumper, can now be worn with no covering at all.

(You might argue that this 'underwear becoming overwear' started with the tee-shirt, which was once only for wear under a shirt. It's now, as we all know, perfectly acceptable at pretty much anytime!)

Anyway, I suppose I'll get used to it.

Lambs out!

2012-01-24T20:31:00.004Z

The lambing season has been under way for quite a few days now, and the first lambs are already out in the fields.
Luckily for the little ones, the weather has now turned much milder.

Waterlogged field

2012-01-23T20:14:00.000Z

We’ve had lots of rain, as well as the high winds; and in low-lying areas, the roads are flooded and the fields waterlogged.
Fortunately, it’s been a constant drizzle, and not the flash downpours that cause the really severest flooding incidents.

The rain doesn’t look like stopping though.

Wind on the water

2012-01-22T21:26:00.001Z

The wind has got up to speeds of 40mph in the past few days, so it’s been pretty blowy – uprooting trees and barging at loose fences.

At this spot, known as the Broad Water, this section of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal (at Tixall) is so wide it looks more like a river than a canal. Nevertheless, its surface should be as calm as a canal's usually is.

However, you can see here how much the blustery wind was whipping up waves on it today.

Blackburn House

2012-01-21T16:14:00.000Z

Blackburn House is a sight to send terror into an ordinary man’s heart. This is the home of the regional tax office, and its waiting rooms are full of very uncomfortable visitors.

I was reminded of its presence, partly because it’s the highest building in Hanley town-centre, and also because the Inland Revenue keep sending me letters rather forcibly alerting me to the fact that my returns are due on the 31st of this month.

I must finish those returns… sometime... soon!

Pitt Monument

2012-01-20T15:02:00.003Z

This great column, the Pitt Monument, towers over the public path that goes around the Sandon Hall Estate in mid-Staffordshire. It’s a tribute to the great British prime minister of the early nineteenth century.

It’s rather amazing: as it’s hidden in a forest, and obscured by tree-tops mostly, so you’re on it almost as soon as you see it

Link: Walk around Sandon Estate

Regeneration

2012-01-19T20:58:00.000Z

‘Regeneration’ (which, a cynic might say, is a modern form of slum clearance) is rabid in Stoke-on-Trent. Over the past few years, there have been great swathes of nineteenth-century homes and factories knocked down in a quest for a better and customised future.

Of course, a lot that is good goes too. Old people have to leave properties they’ve lived in much of their lives, and a unique industrial landscape is disappearing - though (to be honest), it wasn’t much-loved.

One thing that will be missed, as part of this familiar environment, is – the porch tiles. Terraced homes in the Potteries have some really interesting decorative tiles, which no doubt will be smashed to pieces as the bulldozers move in.

Bartley Gorman funeral

2012-01-18T15:29:00.001Z

Bartley Gorman, the most famous bare-knuckle boxer of this era and ‘King of The Gyspies’, died on 18 January 2002, exactly ten years ago. This photo was taken at his funeral, when mourners turned up in traditional carriages.

He was a bit of a local hero in Staffordshire, not just to travellers, but to many in his adopted home of Rocester. He’s even mentioned with honour on the Millennium Panel in nearby Uttoxeter Town.

Another local lad, the film director Shane Meadows, was going to make a film of Bartley’s life, but it never came off.

Link: Bartley Gorman

Picture House, Stafford

2012-01-17T15:13:00.000Z

The ‘Picture House’ pub in Stafford is a lovely example of a chain doing a surprisingly thoughtful job in taking an old building and refurbishing it sensitively.

This Art-Deco building was, until fairly recently, the town’s cinema, but the new owners have kept a lot of the features – including the period glass signage out the front - which is in this photo.

The inside, ie what was the huge old auditorium, whose floor is on an incline down to the bar below (where the screen would have been), is a cinema-goer’s delight - being full of old cinema posters and silver photos of stars of old Hollywood.

Link: Picture House, Stafford

Alice In Wonderland

2012-01-16T17:48:00.003Z

The New Vic Theatre’s Christmas-play Alice In Wonderland has been playing to packed houses, even at the evening sessions; and its season isn’t over yet.

I assumed, when I saw the bar was packed with adults as the evening started, that all the kids had already gone in. But, nope – the auditorium was 90% adults too. It sems the kids prefer the daily matinees, which are also nearly sell-outs.

I guess the interest from adults is down to the clever illusions in the production. It’s all, er, obvious how the trickery is done, but somehow one believes in it, because the director really gets the actors to believe in it too, and it's kinda like mass-hypnosis…
Personally though, I must say I thought the performance was all a bit fast and furious. However, I guess if I was nine years old, I’d have loved it a lot more. Which is the point, after all!

Alice In Wonderland plays at the New Vic (near Newcastle-under-Lyme) until the 21st.

Link: Alice In Wonderland review

Frosty tree

2012-01-15T19:48:00.000Z

Brrrr! It was frosty this morning - all the car and streets covered in a sparkly layer.
But the sun came out, and thawed the frost to patches.

Life-size train-set

2012-01-14T15:03:00.003Z

The Statfold Barn Railway was completely new to me when I saw it for the first time walking a path out in the middle of nowhere – so, quite a surprise!
It’s owned by an enthusiast, who runs his collections of trains there, but it’s not open to the public except for three days a year - and one has to book a ticket months in advance..

According to Wikipedia, it’s one-and-a-half miles long. Quite a train-set.

Link: The Statfold Barn Railway

Stafford frieze

2012-01-13T15:03:00.001Z

There are many mysteries out there for the curious observer like me (and they can’t be solved by Google, neither). This frieze on a building in the town-centre in Stafford is destined to be (I suspect) forever a puzzle.
What does this half-man/half-lion figure represent? There’s no particular clue on the building itself, nor can I think of a classical myth with such a figure.
Are there any local social historians out there who might decipher this riddle?

Birthplace of the famous

2012-01-12T20:14:00.004Z

The Parks Country Inn near Uttoxeter is a rather nice place to eat, for those who can afford it.
I was told once that it was the birthplace of one of the Bamfords, the family that owns JCB (the world-famous firm that makes earth-moving equipment, based in Uttoxeter) – but I can’t find confirmation of that on the internet. Yet.

I was just reminded of this ongoing puzzle by the news recently that JCB has opened a Story Of JCB exhibition at its factory in Rocester. Sadly, the exhibition is not, generally, open to the public.

Link: The Story Of JCB opens

Radio Mary

2012-01-11T16:04:00.014Z

Radio Mary are a really excellent band – you’ll find them gigging in pubs around East Staffordshire.
Kevin Hand is the inspirational song-writer, and the musicians backing him really know how to make his songs work.

And it’s not surprising Kevin’s original songs are so good (and so perceptive): in the late 1980s and the 1990s, he was the guy behind Yeah Jazz, one of the great folk-indie outfits that 'never quite made it'.

(PS - sorry to the others in the band, whom I couldn't squeeze into the pic. Pub was too crowded...!)

Link: Radio Mary / Yeah Jazz

Saint Chad portrait

2012-01-10T20:17:00.003Z

St Chad is the most important saint associated with Staffordshire. Basing himself here at Lichfield, it is reputed that he converted the Anglo-Saxon Midlands to Christianity.

But, he originally came from the north-east of England… and it was there that I found this modern portrait of him.
I rather like its strange, disjointed panels, and primitive approach. I guess the artist (whose name I couldn’t find out) was trying to evoke a stained-glass piece.

It was part of an exhibition in the so-called ‘art-church’, St Edmund’s Chapel in Gateshead. This small town-centre church is used by artists to display their work, though it does have services of course.

Tamworth flowers

2012-01-09T17:38:00.000Z

Tamworth is a prettier town than most people think – well, around the old town anyway. I really like the fact that the council maintains the flower-beds around the castle, even now, as you can see, in deep mid-winter. It's amazing to see such a colourful display in January.

Trouble is, there was some really ugly new-build put up alongside the heritage parts of the town. St Editha’s Square is a good example of the mess you get when you mix, without thinking, some very ugly new shops alongside venerable heritage.

A most mysterious place

2012-01-08T19:31:00.001Z

Lud’s Church – in the ‘Dark’ Peak District - is a very odd place. It’s a natural rock chasm, about one hundred yards in length and fifty feet in depth. Two people can just about walk abreast along it, and, as you can guess with such a narrow and deep cleft, little direct sunlight ever penetrates, so its sides are covered in moss.

There are all sorts of legends about it, including the fact that it might be the main setting for the medieval poem Gawain And The Green Knight, but, for me, it’s just the being there that is so impressive.

Mind you, if you do go there, I’d wait until it dries out. The constant rain of the last fortnight has turned its bottom into a quagmire.

Links: Gawain Poem / A Walk to Lud's Church and back

Mucky Duck

2012-01-07T16:17:00.002Z

Ah, the Mucky Duck…! Many a pleasant hour has been spent in here by members of the drinking classes in Leek.

Yes, I know the official name is the Black Swan, but Leekites would just look puzzled if asked where it was, and know it only as the Mucky Duck.

Dr Johnson broods

2012-01-06T12:59:00.001Z

The literary genius, Dr Samuel Johnson, broods over his home-town of Lichfield. His statue is right in the centre of the market-place next to the parish church, so it really is integral to the town.

It’s a bit unfair to make him look so gloomy. Yes, he did have really bad bouts of depression, but it came and went, and a lot of the time, he was full of energy, and a booming vitality.

And, as we know – he was full of clever and witty sayings. One of his I like it because it relates to what I and other bloggers in the 'City Daily Photo' family are doing:
The world is not yet exhausted: let me see something to-morrow which I never saw before.

Link: Selected sayings of Dr Johnson

Fallen tree - whipped away!

2012-01-05T16:54:00.003Z

The high winds last night and today have brought down a number of trees.

However, I was amazed to see how quickly the council’s emergency services responded. A few hours after this tree had collapsed, blocking this country lane in Saverley Green, it had been shifted, cut-up ... and the remnants removed!

In the day, the lane would have been blocked for the whole day, if not longer.

Gravestone warning

2012-01-04T20:27:00.000Z

The verses one can see on old, rural gravestones are generally amateur efforts – from the mason himself, sometimes – but, even though they don’t count as ‘great poetry’, they can get you with their simple, but profound lines.

This stone for an 18 year-old, in Brewood churchyard, reads:
Time was I stood and viewed the dead,
And look’d at them as thou do’est me;
In time, thou' l lie as low as I;
And others stand and look at thee.

Hmm. Made me think.

Study-areas shrinking

2012-01-03T10:38:00.005Z

Libraries – to me – are valuable places. Not only are they places for me to get hold of books (and even CDs) I can’t afford to buy, but they are places I associate with my youth. In my parents’ crowded house, the only place I could go to study for school-homework in peace was the local library.

Yet, most libraries that I know of in Staffordshire (fearful of being shut I guess), have reduced their ‘quiet areas’ - and some have no study sites at all. The spaces have been turned over to story-telling areas or computer-zones. And, even where there are study areas, they tend to be squeezed into some cold, small rooms that usually double as something else.

So – thank Goodness for Hanley library. This study-table, in its reference section, is one of half-a-dozen in the section.
Mind you, the best study-area in the county must be at Tamworth Library. The whole of the top floor is given over to study there - and there's even a coffee machine!

What I don’t understand is: what do youngsters do now when they want peace in which to study? Do all kids have their own bedrooms now? Maybe they do…

Walking together

2012-01-02T22:08:00.000Z

‘Walking Together’ is the name of this terrific and startling sculpture in Abbots Bromley Church. It’s huge, as you can see, and is quite a surprise, because one doesn’t really see it at first. It hangs over the main-door and one passes right under it and into the body of the church before even thinking to turn round to see it.

I guess it’s quite a good symbol for thinking about the twelve months ahead. 2012 is going to be rather a tough year, and, for many, a bit of companionship during it will definitely be helpful.

New Year's Day Bridge Jump

2012-01-01T23:50:00.002Z

The Mappleton New Year’s Day Bridge-Jump & Raft-Race is not exactly a centuries-old tradition – it was only dreamed up just under thirty years ago, after a drunken session by some local lads in the pub… But, it’s turned into one of the area’s big Eccentric Events, and this year’s activities were as daft as ever!

Two Santas make their way
to the finish line

The competitors sail a raft a few hundred yards downstream on the River Dove to Okeover Bridge, run up on to the bridge itself, leap down into the water, swim to the bank, and then sprint across the field to the local pub, the Okeover Arms. Fastest team there wins.
All fairly straightforward – apart from a river now surging with the recent rains, a thirty-foot drop into very cold water, and a run across the muddiest field ever. Just what you need after a NYEve party the night before!
But the British like a bit of daftness, and there were the maximum entries possible this year.

It’s a lovely, very local event with most of the population of the surrounding villages turning up to cheer on the various Santas, spacemen, super-heroes etc, who are all in costume to add to the festive nature.

All passed very safely, thank Goodness; though it’s possible that this year’s event may be the last, as the present organisers say they can no longer commit to all the work and preparations needed. Which would be a shame.

Incidentally, this is a sort of cross-border activity - most of the race is in Staffordshire, but crosses into Derbyshire for the finish. None of the promotion mentioned that it's a race across two counties, but I'm sure some wit will mention it one day.

Link: Mappleton Bridge-Jump

The last of - the year

2011-12-31T22:04:00.002Z

So – goodbye to 2011. It won’t be mourned much, but at least those who read this post will have survived it…

Gothic abbey

2011-12-30T16:04:00.002Z

These wintry days create some (literally) Gothic looks - the ruins of the medieval Croxden Abbey in east Staffordshire near Hollington are ideal for a good 'horror' photo, especially as light is falling (which it does around 4.00pm).

Croxden is a great set of ruins incidentally. In the middle of a large tract of open country, one can just walk on to the site easily, as, even though it's owned by English Heritage, it is open for members of the public to access freely.

Link: Croxden Abbey

Longton Spitfire

2011-12-29T16:15:00.001Z

The Spitfire plane saw its 75th anniversary in 2011. There was supposed to be a series of celebrations across the year in north Staffordshire - mostly because the inventor of the Spitfire, RJ Mitchell, was born in Talke, near Newcastle-under-Lyme.
However, the celebrations never really took off in number.

There are a number of already-established monuments though. This mural in the shopping centre in Longton is one.

Forbidden Planet

2011-12-28T23:34:00.000Z

It's pretty colourful in a comic book shop - but Leigh the upstairs assistant never fails to add even more vibrancy with her multi-shaded hair. In this photo, her hair is fairly muted; it's usually even more varied. Still, green, blue, yellow, red and turquoise is enough to be going on with for the Christmas shift.

The Forbidden Planet shop (in Hanley) has two floors of comic books, graphic novels, anime and associated product. There's something for all - even cheapoes like me who buy the 50p back-issue comics.

Link: Forbidden Planet

Beech bridge

2011-12-27T12:43:00.002Z

I’m a fan of bridges.. of any sort really, even motorway underpasses. It’s something about the tunnel effect (passing from one world to another), and also the different perspectives caused by the two levels, one looking down from above and one looking up from below. I wonder if this is something Freudian about me. Er-hem.

Anyway, whenever I hear Robert Frost’s poem which starts Something there is that doesn't love a wall, I sometimes think – yes, but no-one can dislike bridges, surely?

Especially bridges like this one – with age and character. It's on the country lane leading down to Beech Caves, at Beech.

Kinver's rock houses

2011-12-26T09:48:00.001Z

The Kinver Rock Houses are just one of the sights you’ll see if you walk along Kinver Edge – a great walk after any heavy Christmas. The ridge runs high over the surrounding land and has terrific views, though I’d check wind-speed before venturing along there!

As for the rock houses, which are built into the hillside, they were lived in until the 1950s – believe it or not - and now they are managed by the National Trust.

Link: Kinver Edge & Rock Houses

Nadolig Llawen

2011-12-25T12:09:00.000Z

Nadolig Llawen is ‘Merry Christmas’ in Welsh.

But whatever your language is - A Happy Christmas to You All!

(Why a Welsh sign? Just because it was there I suppose!
A number of Welsh people moved to Staffordshire – as did Geordies and Poles – seeking work in the local coal-mines.Some stayed, even when the last mines closed – as this Christmas light on the side of a house near Dilhorne shows.)

Garrick Theatre

2011-12-24T21:31:00.001Z

The Garrick Theatre in Lichfield was purpose built, and the authorities are said to be very proud of it, but it’s a building that’s never quite endeared itself to me. I guess it doesn’t ‘think’ like a theatre to me; it seems a bit too much like offices.

Anyway, it always does a decent pantomime (I’m a sucker for pantomime) – A Christmas Carol is playing right now, and it's incredibly hard to get tickets with most nights a sell-out.

Link: Garrick Theatre

Frosty cross

2011-12-23T12:14:00.000Z

The mild autumn has turned into a blowy, drizzly… and now frosty… December.

This churchyard cross at the wonderful Norman church in Tutbury shows not just the frost on the spider-web, but the collection of victims gathered by its resident arachnid.

General Martin monument

2011-12-22T15:01:00.000Z

As you walk through the countryside around Gibridding Wood (near Hawksmoor) you come across this lonely little monument which sits on the side of a hillock opposite the wood itself..

It was erected in the late nineteenth century as a tribute to a Major-General Martin, who was killed when he fell from his horse while out riding at this spot.

At one point, it stood on its own, but now it has this fence built around it - which spoils it slightly as the inscription is now very hard to read.

It’s an object of real interest locally, and there will be a talk on it given at a meeting of the Cheadle & District Historical Society next April.
I’m pretty sure the room will be full that night.

Ship Inn & South Pole

2011-12-21T15:55:00.001Z

The polar story of The Ship Inn (at Wincle) seems a good one to tell in this present wintry weather.

The ship on this pub-sign is not just any ship but The Nimrod, which carried Ernest Shackleton’s expedition to the South Pole in 1907-9. The group included the young Sir Philip Brocklehurst, from nearby Swythamley Hall.
The expedition, sadly, had to turn back just 100 miles from the Pole, and Philip was badly frost-bitten, but it was clearly an experience which stayed with him.
And that explains the pub-sign!

Link: Brocklehurst at the South Pole / Ship Inn, Wincle

Sally Army do Christmas

2011-12-20T15:22:00.004Z

I’m a fan of The Salvation Army.

Ever since I saw at close-hand the unrewarded work they do on the streets with the down-and-out, I am full of admiration. They did it without fuss, without pushy religiosity, and with real compassion.

And – as for the sound of a Sally Army brass band playing carols (like this one in Meir)… well, nothing can be more cheering than that, as we come up to Christmas!

Steady snowman

2011-12-19T15:23:00.002Z

The snow is fading now, but it has been thick enough – and crunchy enough – to make great snowballs, to go sledding, and, of course, to build snowmen.
This plucky little fellow was remaining steady, despite the growing thaw around him.

Duties in the snow

2011-12-18T17:18:00.000Z

The snow came back overnight, with a fresh fall to thicken the previous, wilting layer.

It was fairly cold early on, so I was surprised and touched to see this couple out at Wetley Rocks churchyard. They were determined to tend a loved one's grave out there, and no snow or freezing cold was going to put them off.

Snow sticking

2011-12-17T16:51:00.000Z

The snow is sticking in certain sheltered places, such as this woodland edge near Okeover.

Once again, thank goodness for the Ramblers’ Association, the group that is nearly always the one that maintains platforms like this one. Walking across this piece of boggy ground would be a wet and cold experience at this time of year without it – no matter how brilliant your boots.

First snow of the year

2011-12-16T17:46:00.001Z

First snow of the year… We’ve had a few gusts of sleet, but this was the first that stuck. The tips of the hills look great, but a shot up-close tells the story better, huh?

This is the arbour at the Dorothy Clive Garden at Willoughbridge.

Link: Dorothy Clive Garden

Stafford Knot - on a mug

2011-12-15T17:22:00.001Z

The Stafford Knot is the symbol of Staffordshire, but strangely you won’t see it on many decorative items. It’s mostly used as an official logo on government property.

So, I was charmed to see this mug, with a Stafford Knot embossed on it, in squeezed up against the window in a carpenter’s shop. Sadly, it was buried under a huge lot of unsorted items, and it was too difficult to reach (yes, I did ask him if I could buy it, even though he was very surprised to be asked).

Cupcake Christmas

2011-12-14T14:33:00.001Z

What is this current fad for cupcakes? It seems to me that there has been a minor craze – you get cupcake ceramics, cupcake-themed woollens, cupcake decorations, and, er, real cupcakes. To eat.
I even saw a burlesque show with cupcakes. That was odd.

And now, cupcake Christmas-tree balls - as observed in a tea-room in Uttoxeter.

I don’t even like cupcakes.

Dark lake

2011-12-13T19:57:00.003Z

Aqualate Mere is (I'm told) the largest natural lake in the Midlands. It's near the village of Forton, not far from the Shropshire border.
It's a quiet place, a nature reserve, which includes the large wood around the lake, and is a lot used by bird-watchers and walkers.

It's a good place to see the seasons change.

Link: Aqualate Mere

Imprisoned nativity

2011-12-12T15:17:00.003Z

This nativity scene seems oddly poignant, placed as it is, behind a plastic screen and some bars. I guess the screen protects it from vandals; it’s placed right in middle of the town centre at Cheadle.

The ‘bars’ are the railings that ring the small garden space here, but they seem to make their own, rather affecting, political comment.

Abandoned 'ramparts'

2011-12-11T14:04:00.001Z

These 'raddlepits' rise like grim, abandoned castle walls out of a ridge near Wootton in the Weaver Hills in east Staffordshire. Up there, I only saw sheep and what appeared to be semi-wild horses, so these ruins are not visited much.

In fact, they are what remains of the lead mines hereabout; I guess that they are giant kilns built into the hillside over deep shafts.

The term raddlepit is used also at a Derbyshire lead-mine, so I thought a raddle-pit might actually be a denotation for a lead mine, but I haven't yet found any evidence of that.

Locomotive pub

2011-12-10T15:37:00.001Z

The Locomotive Pub's sign (at Heron Cross in Stoke-on-Trent) reminds one that the nearby rail-line once had a station here. Now of course, the rail-line is a high-speed inter-city track, surrounded by high walls, and you'd never know that once local trains stopped near this point.

I really like the sign though. It's really been creatively designed - despite the loose lettering...

Skull & crossbones

2011-12-09T23:27:00.000Z

The skull-and-crossbones is one of the favourite flags of convenience flown by canal boat owners on local waterways. I spotted this one near Penkridge.
I presume it means that all boarders will be repelled with force…!

The oatcake lives on

2011-12-08T23:27:00.002Z

When oatcake shops disappear, then we shall really know that an era has finished. For now though, there are a few left in Staffordshire.

The traditional Staffordshire-oatcake is a savoury pancake style wrap for grilled bacon & cheese. The oatcakes (without fillings) are made at specific shops, which are usually open only Thursday to Sunday morning, working through the night to supply demand.

The humble oatcake has sustained many a local working-class diet for hundreds of years. One can imagine workers - many of them women - pouring out of this adjacent old textile factory in Leek, and picking up the fresh oatcakes on their way home.
And, they must be eaten fresh. They are fairly horrible even a day later.

Puzzled plants

2011-12-07T22:55:00.005Z

The weirdly mild weather has confused some plants. For example, the local newspaper is reporting that some daffodils are already shooting (...well, news is slim at the moment!).

At Draycott Plant Nurseries, Carolyn and Neil were checking out these two plants, a euphorbia and a hebe, which, similarly, were puzzled by the weather and keep budding.

The horticulturalists say that it only needs one good frost and – all will change. But, still, it’s odd while it lasts.

Link: Draycott Plant Nurseries

Spooky rail conductress

2011-12-06T12:56:00.002Z

This rather spooky lady turns out to be a mannequin, though she does seem to have a very fine head of hair for a railway conductor. She's one of the exhibits at the small museum of artefacts at the Foxfield Heritage Railway site near Blythe Bridge.

It's a fun little museum, composed mostly of local records and pieces, and I guess a real railway enthusiast could spend a happy hour here.

Tribal images

2011-12-05T23:25:00.001Z

If you've got a tattoo studio - flaunt it! At least, that seems to eb the motto of Tribal Images, a tattoo parlour in Hanley.

Egypt comes to Cheadle

2011-12-04T22:15:00.006Z

Cheadle had its fun-day - when the Christmas lights were switched on, and charity stalls were set up.

I saw this little funfair-ride being set up in the car-park. It brought an unusual sense of exotica to the town.

Isn't it strange how Egypt and Egyptology still cuts it with show people? Hmm.

Quiet woman

2011-12-03T11:10:00.001Z

It doesn't come more male-chauvinist than this, does it? This pub-sign implies that the only really quiet woman is one who has had her head cut off - though it's (jokily) suggesting that the name just might refer to a type of headless ghost one often reads about.

But... the pub has been there (in Leek) for years.

Winter smoke

2011-12-02T23:14:00.001Z

There has been a quarry at Cauldon Low for years and years - you wouldn't think the land had so much to give. At one time it was limestone, now they want the 'aggregates' (for road-building mostly).

In winter, this lonely part of the moorlands - there can only be a dozen houses or so - is fairly grim, and the quarry's smoking stack is the only sign of life.
Yet, it does have one major attraction: it has one of the most unusual pubs - the Yew Tree - in the county, and possibly the country.

Bell tolls on AIDS Day

2011-12-01T23:14:00.001Z

The 'Staffordshire Buddies' group works specifically for those living with HIV in the county, and was behind today's marking of World AIDS Day locally.

At Keele University, the students sold cup-cakes and collected donations - but what was very affecting was theat the bell in the chapel (the building behind the stall) tolled on the hour every hour.

Link: Staffordshire Buddies

Christmas lights

2011-11-30T00:58:00.000Z

Leek's Christmas lights display seems to be one of the best I've seen this year. They have kept it simple - just decorations, and no flashing reindeer (thank Goodness)!

The organisers have made a decision to keep the lights this silvery-white colour, which I approve of. Red & green combos, and cosy oranges are of course attractive and seasonal - but silver-white, the colour of frost, is still my favourite shade of the season.

Autumn tree

2011-11-29T20:15:00.000Z

The extraordinary autumn has produced a real feast of colour, and it’s hard to stop snapping away.

Still, I felt I had to photograph this tree at Froghall.

Elizabethan house collapsing

2011-11-28T19:30:00.003Z

Sinai Park House looks like it’s falling down in this picture. In fact, that’s only half the truth – yes, it’s in a pretty bad state (and one set of eaves, to the left in this picture, did indeed recently collapse), but it’s a lot better than it was. In fact, the wing you see on the right is now lived-in, following some hard-worked restoration.

The fact is that the couple who bought it are putting their life and savings into putting it back into some kind of shape – but it’s tough going for them. Despite being Grade II listed, and five hundred years old, and in a brilliant location overlooking the Trent valley, help has not always been there for this lovely manor-house (which is located near Burton).
At one point, it was used as a barn for livestock…

It’s not open to the public yet, but there are occasional tours – often for ghost-hunting groups. The house is stuffed with ghosts apparently.

Link: Sinai Park House / Staffordshire Paranormal Group visits Sinai Park House

Hedgehog parking

2011-11-27T15:21:00.000Z

Yes, I did a double-take at this sign too, which stands in the yard outside the Rock House Cottages (in Foxt).
I had visions of small hedgehogs lining up their carriages here.

And then the penny dropped. These are holiday cottages, each cottage quaintly named after a species of the local wildlife, including Badger, Dormouse… and Hedgehog.

Link: Rock House Farm Cottages

Spratts fish food

2011-11-26T15:17:00.002Z

These old tin advertisement-signs are disappearing now, and you’re more likely to see one in a curio shop than you are up on a wall anymore. So this one is pretty rare!

At one time, Spratts was THE big name in animal food. They were the original makers of ‘Bonio’, an odd, bone-shaped, amazingly popular biscuit for dogs.

Curiously, this sign remains only where it is because it is aligned to a pet-shop - that is still trading from this same spot in the West End of Stoke after all these many years.

Blood red waters

2011-11-25T20:12:00.001Z

It looks as though blood from a battlefield is being washed away in this stream, but the fact is that the waters around Kidsgrove all go this orange-red colour. It’s due to the iron workings locally, and water is sifting the particles through the ground.

Sometimes the colour can turn a very thick vermilion, particularly near the Harecastle Tunnel on the local canal – and unwary trippers coming through on their narrowboats can look quite apprehensive!

Saracenic in Stoke

2011-11-24T00:23:00.002Z

It looks proudly like the sort of Indo-Saracenic architecture made in British India. This building rises coolly above its rather ugly surroundings in Stoke town centre.
I always am thankful to see it – Stoke town needs this spot of glamour in it, it really does.

In fact, it is (I think) the former Co-Operative store; and is now a set of business offices.

Comic kissing gate

2011-11-23T00:12:00.008Z

You can’t help but laugh on seeing this little kissing-gate. It is all alone in the field – no fence either side of it – yet, strangely, the sign on it encourages ramblers to pass through it..

It reminds me of the very funny scene in the spoof cowboy film Blazing Saddles, where the good guys erect a toll-gate in the middle of the desert plain – the cunning plan being to slow down the bad guys who are galloping towards them…
Sure enough, the bad guys (who are stupid, thus proving they are bad) queue up at this toll-gate in the middle of nowhere, additionally swearing and cussing when they realise they have to use ‘correct change’.
The scene is surreal, very funny, and – now I see – imitates real life!

Alien gates

2011-11-22T00:12:00.002Z

I’m not sure I much like these school gates at Waterside Primary in Hanley. There’s something very cold and prison-like about them, and the thin, weedy structures coming out the top of them resemble nothing so much (to me) as alien antennae or unfriendly CCTV.

I haven’t been able to find out the symbolism yet, though the school is called Waterside because it is next to the canal, and it prides itself on an environmentally-friendly policy. I guess the wave-forms could symbolise water…

Anyway, I pity the poor children who have to go through them every day.

Auburn autumn

2011-11-21T15:33:00.002Z

Another autumn spectacular at Cannock Chase!
I know it looks as though I’ve dabbled with this picture in Photoshop, but this is just how it came out. It was just before sunset, so the light was that special colour already.

Chorlton Mill

2011-11-20T10:05:00.009Z

This is the closest you’ll get to Chorlton Mill. This fifteenth century water mill - at Stableford, which is in north Staffordshire - is now largely hidden from public view, being absorbed now into a private house’s property.
But you can still see it from the public footpath.

The rail carriage that never moves

2011-11-19T19:29:00.002Z

When you eat at the Spot Gate Inn, near Stone, they say you “eat the old-fashioned way” for the restaurant dining area consists of two original Pullman railway carriages sited in the pub’s rear garden.
There is the plush armchair seating that you’d expect – and you get a ‘window view’ of course. There are even occasional train sound-effects!
It’s an odd experience…

Link: Spot Gate's Pullmans

Blurred trees

2011-11-18T23:25:00.001Z

This photo was a complete accident - taken in too low a light, and so is somewhat blurred as you can see. It should be just deleted.
Yet I kinda like it. The pastel shades, the 'pointilliste' strokes making up the leaves on the ground and the indistinct shapes remind me of paintings produced around 1900.
Sometimes these 'failed experiments' have a life of their own.

Jack Baskeyfield VC

2011-11-17T22:32:00.001Z

As the nights draw in, grim shadows take the places of what were once friendly landmarks. This forbidding shape is in fact a statue of Jack Baskeyfield VC, who died in action in World War Two.
The statue now stands at Hanley’s Festival Heights retail park.

There is some affection in the area for this young man, who came from here and who was only 24 when he died at the Battle of Arnhem in a last-ditch rearguard action. A local school is named after him.
The fact that his body was never found shows how hopeless his situation was – and how brave he must have been to have kept on fighting.

Link: Baskeyfield VC

Bust has a joke

2011-11-16T19:12:00.001Z

This bust peers out of a high barn window looking up the country lane near Swythamley Park. The barn was empty, so I guess whoever placed the bust there was having a little joke with possible passers-by…

The figure does seem familiar though. Is it the French writer, Honore de Balzac?

Speeding train

2011-11-15T18:54:00.000Z

Train lines criss-cross Staffordshire, just as canals do. Being at the heart of England, the transport revolution of the early nineteenth century really took off here.

That means that one is often walking over crossings for one reason or another. As I approached this crossing a train whizzed past in front of me.

Hall in need of love

2011-11-14T17:25:00.001Z

I came across Whitehough Hall purely by accident in the middle of nowhere, having got completely lost on a walk around Ipstones, in the Moorlands district (this happens to me a lot).

It was one of those breath-taking moments, being unexpectedly and suddenly faced with this great old building. It dates to the 17th Century. I really love it.

Someone is doing it up now, as it had lain derelict for a while; but it will be a labour of love, as I can imagine it will be hugely costly to restore it.
Another hall nearby, Sharpecliffe Hall, was in a similar position, but is now flats I believe.

Katyn Memorial

2011-11-13T10:47:00.000Z

The Katyn Massacre Memorial will no doubt have a ceremony at it today, today being Remembrance Sunday.
The memorial is hidden in a small copse on Cannock Chase, and - though there is a sizeable Polish community the county - it’s a bit of a puzzle why it’s placed there, but it is, so that’s that.

If anyone needs to understand the horror of brutal & totalitarian ‘politics’, I do recommend they see the film ‘Katyn’. It tells the story of the Second World War massacre in which the Soviets shipped thousands of Polish officers and professional people (who had already surrendered) to a forest – and simply shot them all.
It was politics in the raw – Stalin had decided that Poland would be easier to manage with the middle-classes out of the way. The logic is impeccable, the results horrifying.
The Russians only admitted that Stalin had done it in 1990. No wonder many Poles still fear Russia, and are happy to be in the European Union.

The film of Katyn is not gory incidentally. Instead it quietly but effectively blisters one’s spirit to its core. One is shaking afterwards.

Spectacular autumn

2011-11-12T12:52:00.002Z

'They' (whoever they are) say the autumn is going to be spectacular. Well, as you can see, on Cannock Chase the autumn colours are already making a splash.

Incidentally, the same amateur weather-forecasters point to the early flowering of holly berries as a sure sign that it will be a really hard winter. I leave you to judge the truth of this.

Armistice Day

2011-11-11T00:04:00.001Z

Already it is the 11th November again - Armistice Day. A day for two minutes silence at 11am.

A lot of remembrance wreaths have already been placed, including this one in Blythe Bridge. Somehow, it's very special, as Number 350 is just a very ordinary and quite small terraced house, yet the owner seems proud to have the plaque attached to the front wall, and to allow the wreath to be placed there at this time of year.

Sergeant Ernest Egerton was lucky to have survived his brave actions. Most holders of the Victoria Cross either die in the action or of wounds incurred.

Link: Egerton VC

Bettie Brewer

2011-11-10T12:09:00.000Z

Burton Albion’s mascot didn’t have much to cheer until a few years ago – the ‘Brewers’ were in the doldrums of non-league. Then, along came Nigel Clough (now manager with Derby County) and slowly but surely the club thrived. It’s now in League Two.
On Saturday (12th November) they play - at home – against Oldham in the first round of the FA Cup.

What’s interesting is that the mascot, Bettie Brewer, is quite distinctly female. Albion has made a point of trying to be a family club, and wanting to attract women to watch games.
Bettie does have a male counter-part, Billy Brewer, but it’s still an interesting aspect of the club’s philosophy.

Ceramic 'employees'

2011-11-09T13:03:00.000Z

The British Ceramic Biennial comes to an end on Sunday (though one of its exhibitions, at the Potteries Museum, continues a little longer).
As I said in a previous review, I was a bit disappointed with the overall achievement – especially with the grandiose claim that the Biennial was going to ‘raise the profile of ceramics’ - but some works that were on show were fascinating.

This work by Lawrence Epps is called ‘Employees’. It shows his interest in what happens to people who become part of the corporate world…

Anyway, despite my misgivings, I hope it does come back to Stoke on Trent in two years.

Blacks Head

2011-11-08T20:07:00.003Z

I was surprised to see The Blacks Head in Tean still sporting its long-time name. A lot of these kinds of pub-names are now deemed politically incorrect, as they hark back to a time of widespread racial prejudice.
For example: ‘The Black Boy’ at Cobridge, whose sign showed a young black lad in servant’s livery, closed for economic reasons some time ago, but had had issues with the community…

The story of the ‘Labour in Vain’ pub in mid-Staffordshire is the daftest, as its sign related to a folk-tale of two ignorant peasants trying to wash clean the first African lad they ever came across. The sign was taken down in 2003 as politically incorrect, but put up again in 2009 (as it was re-interpreted as ‘part of local tradition’).

It’s all very confusing, and is part of the problem that anyone has in trying to ‘correct history’. (Should we leave statues up of Oliver Cromwell – whose troops massacred so many in Ireland? It’s a moot question).

But I do notice that the pub-owners here in Tean have not attempted to put up a pictorial pub-sign. Neither has another ‘Blacks Head’ – the one in Stoke.
It’s probably for the best.

Link: Labour In Vain sign restored

Steak/Stake out

2011-11-07T12:57:00.002Z

This did make me laugh, I'll admit it. A lot of shops (especially hairdressers) have punning names, and some are funny, some not.

This one from a burger takeaway in Leek I thought was very clever - mostly because it's so apt. It works on nearly every level...