Tag: Victoria park

February 24th – I’ve featured this remarkable tree in Victoria Park a couple of times, and it’s still growing, still consuming the railing that stands in its way. Having now totally encased the lower rail, one can almost hear it grunting as the upper rail is distorted by gentle, insistent and constant hydraulic pressure.

Despite the things clearly impeding it, the tree seems well enough. The way it has formed around its barriers reminds me very much of pyroclastic flow. It’s like slow, cold organic lava.

February 17th – Darlaston, again. What a difference a day made. Spring was in the air, the sun on my face and warmth in my heart.

Shame about the trees in front of St. Lawrence’s Church. They make it impossible to get a decent angle on one of the finest churches hereabouts.

February 16th – No matter how grey, Victoria Park in Darlaston is always a joy to the heart – and since the Community Payback crew has been working here clearing the overgrown scrub, the surrounding architecture – itself remarkable – is now once again part of the overall atmosphere.

Thanks are due to Kate ‘Ganzey’ Gomez and others who pointed out that my wee, crumbling shed that I spotted last week – centre right – was actually for the town fire engine. Read about it here (scroll right down).

January 28th – And this is the thing with Darlaston – it takes your breath away. It was around 5:20pm, not yet properly dark, and the view through Victoria Park over the mystic bridge was just superb.

I’m a Brownhills lad, through and through – but I do love this place too. It has heart, and soul, and surprising corners when you get to know it. Just like Brownhills.

These are my places, and here my heart will always lie.

Thankfully, the camera got its act together for this one…

January 20th – Another gorgeous but brittle cold morning commute. The ice and a very, very light dusting of snow were evident on the canal as I cycled up to Bentley Bridge, but the canal itself looked superb in the hazy sun.

Further on, the mystic curved bridge at Victoria Park looked stunning, too. In recent winters, we haven’t had many days like this. This year is really making up for the deficit.

December 8th – I noticed it particularly in Victoria Park, Darlaston; this was now a winter place, and the low sun was doing it justice. It was only morning, but looked almost like the golden hour. Days like this, the light is like honey all day. 

This sun, the weak but beautiful one we’re blessed with for the shortest days of winter, lights the red, red terracotta of the Black Country wonderfully, and there’s no better place to enjoy it than Darlaston.

October 22nd – Spotted in Darlaston after a tipoff by [Howmuch?] – what I must presume to be a World War Two air raid shelter. Just opposite the police station on the edge of Victoria Park, by the Table Tennis Club hut (itself a remnant of life during wartime, perhaps) not really concealed at all, but easy to miss. Two blocked entrances hint at what lies beneath.

I find is surprising and unusual that such a public curiosity survives.

Do any of the Darlaston contingent who read this know more about it? Is there a shelter down there still, or has it been infilled? How big ws it? Was it public, or just for the boys in blue over the way?

A fascinating thing.