Wonder of the World

This year we had a pre-Christmas family get-together as Graham will be on holiday in South America. He is visiting a friend in Chili and then going on to walk part of the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru. Sophia was presented with a light up globe to see where he was going.

A church at Cheadle

On a recent visit to Cheadle Staffs, we had a mission to visit the Roman catholic church of St Giles. Our first glimse was the 200 feet high spire which dominates the small market town. The interior of the church is not beautiful but very rich in colour and design. Built in 1846 with the generosity of the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury living in nearby Alton towers, it was designed by Pugin with no expense spared. I hope the images will inspire you to go and see for yourself, but go armed with £1 coins to operate the lights!

On a cold day there were lots of nice teashops and a small indoor market in the town.

Also an interesting reclamation yard nearby which warrants another visit to this area for photographic opportunity.

www.lesoakes.com

More Fireworks

Last Saturday I attended an event in Congleton Town Hall 'Young Artists of the Year', as my granddaughter Victoria had an entry submitted from her school. We were very proud when her painting of the theme of 'Fireworks' was chosen as winner in her age group. In fact both grandmothers disgraced themselves by cheering!

This is the 11th year of this competition organised and sponsored by Dane Rotary Club, Siemens and Weavercraft at the Victoria Mill Arts (VMA) centre.

Bonfire Bonanza

Congleton Park bonfire organised by Rotary and Lions club seemed so much bigger than I remembered it from when I last attended 7 years ago. My eldest son Jamie and his friend looked after me. I love the parent role-reversal now - worth all those years of 'toil'!

The atmosphere was great and the rain kept away enabling me to try out the firework setting on my camera.

Guy Fawkes bungling meets Chinese brilliance!

Lakes Train Trip

Having purchased my first rail 'rover' ticket for the North west I set off to ride the Cumbrian coast line via Manchester, Barrow in Furness to St Bees for a couple of nights. I don't think it had changed much since we set off from here to do parts of the 'coast to coast' walk 20 years ago. For those who need a 'sea' fix I've included a video as the tide was in and waves were crashing.

The second day I travelled back to Ravenglass for a ride on the little train up Eskdale to Dalegarth, where I pottered around sheltering in St Catherine's church during a rainy period and then exploring the valley up to Stanley Force.

The next 2 days I met up with a friend in Cockermouth and our activities ranged from tracking down a marble altar from a local POW camp, a very blustery walk along Maryport prom, and a picnic on the shore of lonely Crummock Water.











The final leg of my journey was riding the Carlisle / Settle line and home via Leeds and Manchester. All in all I got my money's worth from my 4 day rail ticket.

Alderley Edge

Last Friday our U3A Photo Group had an outing to local National Trust Woodland at Alderley Edge. We had chosen a wonderful day for the light was perfect and we all learned a lot from each other as we snapped away and compared photos - such is the wonder of digital cameras. Instant gratification. Our lunch together after the walk at The Wizard pub too was very sociable.

Biddulph Old Hall

Recently I attended a meeting of the Congleton Historical Society. The talk was on the restoration of Biddulph Old Hall which is only a few miles outside Congleton but in Staffordshire. A few years ago I had been to a similar talk by the Biddulph History Society and I was interested in any recent developments. I had always vaguely known that the Biddulph's at the hall , a strongly Catholic and Royalist household, had been beseiged by Cromwell and his merry band of Roundheads during the Civil war. Then in 2005 had seen the part restoration on TV.

With great enthusiasm the current owners Nigel Daley and Brian Vowles have been grant aided and the hunting tower although still scaffolded is now safe and they are planning to raise further funds to restore the interior. As well as reading and viewing rooms they want to develop a prayer room which hopefully will be consecrated by both the Roman Catholic and Protestant faiths, which can be accessed by the general public.

They have also undertaken extensive family history research and found some very interesting and almost breath-taking connections. A book has been commissioned so watch this space.