May 1st – Welcome back to the old Oak Park bowling green. This old, neglected facility – overlooked by the bright, perfect club green in the middle-distance – has been a pond since at least last November. Now spring is here, and drier weather, it’s drained and the grass is growing again.
It’s sad that nobody seems to care for this once pristine public space.
November 27th – A little further on, I was cutting through Oak Park when I noticed the old bowling green was flooded, and illuminated by the floodlights of the current bowls club. I couldn’t resist the chance for a photo. Immediately after I took the first shot, somebody switched all the lights off, giving me another opportunity to experiment with long exposure night photos. I’m really beginning to get the hang of this…
Jun 12th – Chasetown Memorial Park is a place I hadn’t noticed before. Passing at 6pm on a dull weekday evening, I caught the sight of a bowls match in progress, and stopped to take a shufty. I love watchig bowls, and I think its decline as a sport played in municipal parks is terribly sad. Like village cricket, it’s a gentle, genteel thing, and very relaxing to watch. This seems a well kept green and I did like the Memorial Park. The war memorial itself is sombre, as you’d expect, but beautiful. Chasetown is often a place ignored passing through, but there are gems here, and I’m sure, more I’ve yet to discover. Right next door is the wonderful former mining college, now community hub, and a fine facility indeed. Inside is a small but touching display of mining mementos and ephemera.
If these photos seem a bit… odd, it’s because my camera battery went flat and died, so they were taken on my phone.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 