Hot WW1 day

At the annual Draycott Fayre, we found a gentleman in full World War One uniform, explaining the function of a forward-position observation dugout. It was a fascinating, fear-inducing insight.
The poor man was incredibly hot in his heavy uniform & cap - but refused to take even the jacket off ... "out of respect".

Garden golf course

There is something very practical about this householder's use of a small front garden.  He or she has installed a putting green!
Very practical.  No need to drive to the golf course; fresh-air and exercise on tap (albeit, ummm, limited amount of walking); and minimal maintenance (artificial grass, you see).
I'm strangely impressed by the thinking...

Listed triangular prism

This milepost is, believe it or not, a listed building. But, it's not unique among mileposts in being listed, and sometimes they describe the listing as of a 'group of mileposts'.
Made of cast-iron, usually around 150 years ago, and now maintained by county highways teams, they are still much loved.   Believe it or not.

Incidentally, I tried to find a name for its shape, which is a three-dimensional triangle with a slanted end-face. Such a shape has no exact name.  The nearest that the Internet could come up with was 'Triangular Prism'.

This post was featured on the City Daily Photo's Theme Day pages 

Protest music is back

Radical protest bands have been a bit thin on the ground since the demise of Red Wedge, the movement that Billy Bragg and Paul Weller famously created in the eighties.

But... now we have Headsticks, a Stoke-on-Trent band that don't pull their punches demonstrating their disillusion and anger with 'modern Thatcherism'.
I wonder if they will be the first of many.  In this age of unemployment and low wages, it seems likely.

Headsticks was one of the bands at a small roots festival, Cloggerfest, in Draycott-in-the-Moors.

Old SCFC bus gets the attention

This old bus had pride of place at the Draycott Fayre Vintage Vehicle Rally this weekend - on a very, very hot day...

Unbelievable, as it is so small (holding only a two dozen seats), yet true -- this tiny bus was chosen as the open-top vehicle to carry the triumphant Stoke City team in parade around the city in 1972, after the team won the League Cup.
The bus company which owned it, Lymer's of Tean, simply took the centre-part of the roof off the bus, and the players squeezed up through the resulting hole.  It's rather different to what goes on in triumphal processions these days!
(If you don't believe me - check the photos from that day by clicking here)

The curent owner of the URE Fishtail, as it's known, is Ray Hine, who bought it; and restored it to its present condition.

History for all

Community history days are fun occasions, when folk donate their old photos and old documents of a place, and then the rest of the district comes along and remininisces - or stares in fascination. They are useful to the local historian too, as a lot of identification of scenes from the past goes on.

Older people explain to younger what was where, and who did what - and so on - much to the young people's surprise. "Did that really happen here?" they seem to wonder.

This one took place in Draycott Church (in Draycott-in-the-Moors, that is. There are two Draycotts in Staffordshire). A great way to use a church, incidentally.

Transport fans rally round

Attending a vehicle rally - especially one with vintage cars and agricultural machinery - is one of the ways we English love to spend a Saturday afternoon. The owners turn up with their beloved and ancient machines, and we the public pay for the chance to inspect them, very often staring meaningfully at their engines and asking obscure questions.
To be frank, it's a bit of a mystery to me..! But such fairs definitely are popular.

The 1962 Metropolitan car in the photo here was at the Draycott-en-le-Moors fair at the weekend.