Foxfield light railway 2017

Posted on April 17, 2019April 17, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blythe Bridge, Foxfield railway, Life, Light railway, Photos, Random photos, Staffordshire, Steam engines, Trains, VisitingLeave a comment

Random photos of trains and train parts (not the propeller), from 2017.

Foxfield Railway is out in the countryside off the A50 between Caverswall and Blythe Bridge. Its an old coal/mineral line which used to haul coal up a steep slope from a mine then down a less steep incline into the outskirts of Blythe Bridge. The main railway line runs nearby.

Foxfield is worth a visit over the summer months when it is open to visitors mainly at weekends. You can take a trip on a train, visit the engine shed where most of these photos were taken. Visit the cafe for a simple menus of hot and cold food, or visit ” the one legged shunter , the bar selling real ales. The bar is named after the dangerous job of shunting. Men would sometimes get trapped between train waggons, losing legs or sometimes worse!

Peeling paint

Posted on April 16, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Life, Paint peeling, Photography, Spode, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Stoke-upon-TrentLeave a comment

I’m thinking of painting something like this. It’s a window in one of the buildings at spode. Goodness knows what the paint is made of. It is just so old. The wood looks dry and decaying. The putty holding the glass in is probably made with lead. Surprisingly the window looks quite clean and the building opposite is reflected in it. Capturing the detail will be a challenge.

Today at Spode site

Posted on April 15, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Crumbling, Dasies, Flowers, Industrial archeology, Life, Pansies, Peeling Wood, Photographs, Poem, Poetry, Spode, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Stoke-upon-Trent, WallflowersLeave a comment

Flowers and old wood

Blocked up windows and peeling paint.

Dasies and dianthus.

A history in brick and slate.

Clay and pottery.

Caged in but released,

Renewed and Revivified.

Pansies and wallflowers shining,

their sunlit faces turned to a bright, chilled sky.

Crumbling with asbestos innards,

But able to be proud again.

Timothy Trow memorial day

Posted on April 13, 2019April 13, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Choirs, Life, Local archives, Local hero, Memorial, Music, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Stoke-upon-Trent, Timothy TrowLeave a comment

Timothy Trow was a tram conductor who tried to save a young girl who had fallen in a local canal, he drowned while trying to save her. He is recognised as a local hero. Today, 13th April is the anniversary of his death.

I sang with two choirs to commemorate his death by the Memorial stone laid near to where he died on London Road, in the West End area of Stoke on Trent. Singing a song about his life by a local song writer. We then had went over to the local Methodist church, a decendant of the girl who was saved read a piece about the incident. The choirs then sang three more songs.

There were images selected by the local archives department on display inside the church. In all it was a very poignant day.

Bottle oven / pizza oven….

Posted on April 8, 2019April 8, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bottle kiln, Hotel, Life, Pizza oven, Pot bank, Pottery, Spode, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trent, Stoke-upon-Trent8 Comments

A replica bottle oven is growing on the grounds of Spode at the moment. It’s going to be a pizza oven at the hotel on the Spode site.

Around the other side of Spode near the Church Street side is the base of an original bottle oven which had been demolished years ago. There are very few real ovens still standing in the city. Many were knocked down or fell into disrepair over the years. Where hundreds once stood and smoke stained the city sky less than fifty are still standing and many of these are in danger of being lost to the history of the city, county, and country.

Even now buddleia and other shrubs are growing in between their bricks, pulling the ovens down in continued dereliction. Hopefully some can be conserved.

For those who don’t know bottle ovens are bottle shaped buildings containing a central kiln which the oven surrounds. Pottery was stacked inside the kiln and fired by stoking fires under the ovens with coal.

Canal boats

Posted on April 7, 2019April 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Canal, Canal boats, Countryside, Etruria, Industrial landscape, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Town, Trent and Mersy canal9 Comments

Pictures of the Trent and Mersy canal, these photos are by a friend. The painting is up in the warehouse next to the summit lock ,number 42 on the canal at Etruria.

Canal boats allow you to travel around the countryside without having to use a car except for going to your departure point and parking up. Canal cruises are usually circular so you travel around or along a route and return to your starting point. There are famous routes like the Cheshire ring which can be done over a few days. There are also hotel boats where you have a cabin but all the chores are done by a housekeeper.

There are apparently more canals in Birmingham in the English Midlands than there are in Venice.

Some canals and rivers run either side by side or into one another. The landscape can either be countryside, industrial or town buildings, it just depends where you travel. There is much more information available from the Canal and Rivers Trust.

Photos of Warhorse

Posted on April 7, 2019April 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beauty, Photos, Play, Power, Sculpture, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Theatre, Warhorse2 Comments

I wrote about going to see Warhorse last week, but I did a drawing because we were not allowed to take photos.

Then I found these photos on line. I think they are publicity shots which are allowed to be shared. If they suddenly disappear you will know why.

They just show the beauty and also horror of the play. Such strong sculptural images.

Sculpted Steel

Posted on April 7, 2019April 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blacksmith, Blacksmiths forge, Etruria, Etruria forge, Etruria Industrial museum, Jessie Shirley's bone and flint mill, Life, Sculpture, Sculptured steel, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

Charis Jones is a blacksmith and sculptor who runs Sculpted Steel at the Etruria Forge in Etruria Stoke-on-Trent. She is based in the Forge and can be contacted to commission sculptural work. She created a large cat sculpture for our garden.

This weekend she was demonstrating her skills during a steaming weekend at The Etruria Industrial Museum. Home of Jessie Shirley’s bone and flint mill.

The beam engine that powers the flint grinding pans is steamed about once a month.

As with other places in the potteries this is one of those hidden gems that people don’t know about but which are fascinating to visit

Photos courtesy my friend Lorraine.

Waiting room gallery

Posted on April 7, 2019April 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Fine Art, Life, Longport, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Waiting room gallery2 Comments

If you go into Longport in the potteries (Stoke-on-Trent) and turn off the main road towards the station you will find a new artists led gallery.

The place only opened up this weekend but they have had lots of visitors and sales. There is art by a number of local fine artists for sale. I could not resist asking if I can place some work there and maybe hold an exhibition there.

The gallery is across the road from a shop called cherished chimneys which sells ornamental chimney pots, there was also a sign for a teapot exhibition on another building, and the station building at Longport is also being used as a gallery.

Despite losing City if Culture for 2021 I think artists in the area are proving just what a cultural, artistic city we are.

Minton exhibition

Posted on April 5, 2019April 5, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bret Shah, Ceramics, Hans van Lemmen, Minton tiles, Penkhull, Pottery, Pressed tiles, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Stoke-upon-Trent, Tile press, TilesLeave a comment

Tonight we went to the opening of an exhibition based on Minton tiles.. This is being held at the Winkhill Mill at Swan Street in Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent.

Bret Shah and Hans Van Lemmen on have produced a book of patterns based on designs by Minton tiles. Also in the exhibition are examples of tiles. There are 3d printed tiles where the different patterns are built up as layers. You can wear glasses that obscure your vision so you see as if you are visually impaired The 3d tiles give you an idea of the shapes used on the flat tiles. There is also a chance to see tile presses where dry clay dust is used to produce blank clay tiles. However the mill is also looking ar producing encaustic patterns on the tiles.

Later we visited St Thomas’s Church at Penkhull. The floor of the church is covered in minton tiles in the area by the altar.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Staffordshire