November 13th – I wanted to take some pictures of Darlaston War Memorial with it’s proud array of wreaths and keepsakes, but perhaps fittingly, there were a class of primary school children there with their teacher, explaining the thing, was was heart-warming and most welcome.
Instead, I took a shot of the metal poppy ornamentation on the railings of Kings Hill Park, yet another beautiful feature of a remarkable place.
We shall never forget.
June 30th – Spotted near Wednesbury, this lovely black cat that I’m sure a passing witch must have left behind. Prowling the perimeter of it’s territory, it peered at me cautiously before settling down to stare me out through the railings.
A lovely puss that clearly takes security duties very seriously indeed!
October 30th – In Wall, I noticed these pumpkins for Halloween which cheered me up no end on a dull afternoon ride.
I love to see carved pumpkins – or swedes, like we did when I was a kid as we never saw anything as exotic as a pumpkin – and these brought a splash of colour to the quiet village.
Nice to see kids doing something creative. I hope they had pumpkin soup with the contents!
November 3rd – intrigued to note that the Kings Hill Methodist Church in Darlaston is still undergoing extensive work to convert it to flats 12 months after the conversion started. This is clearly no cheap, quick fix – the work has involved relining the roof, with all the tiles removed and replaced, skylights added, and I was pleased to note today all the lead stolen from the front gables had been carefully replaced.
It’s been fascinating to watch this transformation and I’m keen to see the results. What I thought would surely be some bodge has turned out to be respectful, skilled and so far, very sensitive to the original building.
Meanwhile, the metal poppies in the railings of the adjacent park are a wonderful touch, especially at this time of year.
January 2nd – This was one of the things that cheered me up in Lichfield. The railings around Minster Pool. Someone with an idea, some blu-tak and a small pair of googly eyes. The expression is beautiful. I only noticed it by chance.
I don’t know who did the deed, but I thank you. You made me grin from ear to ear, and chased my black dog away. So now I’ve preserved your random act of happiness and shared it for posterity.
Thank you.
October 31st – Since it’s coming up to Remembrance, it’s a good time to feature these poppies, on the railings of Kings Hill Park in Darlaston. They make me smile every time I see them; beautifully made, I think they’re beautiful, and they make me smile overtime I see them.
April 18th – Between Harlaston and Clifton Campville, there’s a small, Catholic hamlet called Haunton. There’s a church, a small convent, a huge old folk’s home that used to be a private school and a lot of odd architecture. This is a tiny place, but it has surprising corners.
In the churchyard today, I noticed this railing remnant being consumed by two separate trees engaged in a slow, determined tug of war. I was fascinated in the distortion, and wondered how old the railings were.
I swear that if you put your ear close, you could hear the trees grunting…
December 11th – In the midst of an industrial Darlaston winter day, flowers. Outside the derelict, doomed Kings Hill Methodist Church, a beautiful rose grows from the scrub, bringing welcome colour on a grey day. The building is thought to have been sold to a developer, and may be under threat of demolition, which would be a shame.
Not 10 metres away, flowers of more permanence – metal poppies complete the detail on beautiful new railings, erected as part of the refurbishment of Kings Hill Park. They are gorgeous. The designer should be very proud.
Brightness can be found even on the dullest days.
December 3rd – A better day today. The bug had receded, and I took a day out for rest and paperwork. I took a spin up into Brownhills at lunchtime on an errand, and took the opportunity to check out the canalside at Silver Street. I note work clearing the scrub on the land formerly occupied by Silver Court Gardens has been taking place, which may indicate someone’s got plans. At Silver Street itself, the area of canal bank laughably termed a ‘marina’ in development documents of the day is looking considerably down-at-heel. The paving is breaking up, the barriers rotten and falling down. The greenery is nice, of course, but the open space really could do with a bit of a refurbishment. This seemed likely in 2007 when the new bridge was unveiled, but any plans for environmental improvements seem to have faded.
It would be easy to blame Walsall Council for this, but it belongs to the Canal and River Trust, who don’t really seem bothered over it. I know local Councillors and others have fought hard to no avail to get the barriers replaced, and local volunteers work hard here litter picking.
It’s ironic that as these moorings decline, they’ve recently been so well used by boats.
It’s all a bit sad, really.
October 28th – 6:00pm, Walsall Bus Station. Oops. The bus was touching the railings, and I suspect the driver was touching cloth. Although no significant damage appeared to have occurred, the bus was halted here for some time.
Ironically, the advert on the side is promoting bus driving as a career.
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