As often is the case, the Bank Holiday was one with mixed weather. So, I took a ride on the Ribble Valley Railway shown in the pictures below, and then went to the Odeon to watch Xmen: The Last Stand. The reviews I read for this film described it as reasonable but not up to the same standard as the 2nd, which (according to that particular reviewer) was the best of the three.
Personally, I think that they wanted to wrap the franchise up before it became boring and stale, and that was why they made this. It was visually engaging and the dialogue was fairly believable, but there seemed to be dynamics only between the characters central to the plot, with a lot of extras thrown in to fill the screen up a bit. In other words, too much room was made for the action at the expense of telling the story well.
Tracks I'm Listening To Right Now
Monday, May 29, 2006
Ribble Valley Steam Dock Railway
The Ribble Valley Steam Railway is a recently formed attraction that runs on the Preston docks railway when it is not being used for its primary purpose serving the bitumen plant there. It has a reasonable collection of smaller locomotives as shown in the pictures. It runs at weekends and Bank Holidays and seems to be particularly popular with either young families or retired couples, but anyone interested in industrial or transport history, or who is just stuck for somewhere to go for the day will find it worth the trip.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
The Square in front of "the Church of the Crooked Spire", Chesterfield
St Marys and All Saints Parish Church in Chesterfield attracts visitors due to the crookedness of its spire, but it is a fine building too.
St Marys, Bottesford
The church at Bottesford is huge, compared to the size of the villages it serves
St Johns, Spittlegate Parish, Grantham
This church and tower is built on a small parcel of land, with the rectory below.
Spittlegate House, Grantham
Spittlegate House is on the main London Road, and is not far from the old workhouse location (which is near the railway).
A Day to Drive
Since it was a Bank Holiday weekend, the roads didn't appear to busy, and I had some time off work, I decided to take a trip around some of the towns, cities and villages identified in my family history research.
Setting off from Chorley at 5.30am, my route took me down the M61, M60, and M62 east-bound through Leeds, after which I picked up the A1(M) southbound, skirting Doncaster. This road had light traffic and took me all the way to Grantham, my first stop.
Grantham is famous for its connections to Sir Isaac Newton and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It has also retained a semblance of its historic identity, despite the attempts of chain retailers to give it mass-produced shop facades like the rest of featureless British towns these days. Its market still straggles down the centre of a road in the town centre 2 days a week, and its ancient buildings and monuments are carefully preserved.
I was interested in Grantham, since that was where my 4th great grandfather Joseph Walker (1782-1853) died. He ended up in the workhouse there, presumably when he became too infirm to make a satisfactory living in his trade as a journeyman shoemaker. The workhouse was in the parish of Spittlegate, though the churches in this parish didn't appear to have burial grounds. No records in the library cast any further light on my ancestor, though there is a reasonable file of material about Grantham's various workhouses and poor Law administration.
From here, I took the A52 to Bottesford, where Joseph had lived and worked after coming to Lincolnshire from Chesterfield, Derbyshire. His son Joseph (1825-1852) was also a journeyman shoemaker, living on Queen Street. St Marys was the church where all the usual family ceremonies took place, but after Joseph's death, the family made their way back to Derbyshire via Nottingham.
I followed in their steps, driving through Nottingham and on to Mansfield, and thence to Chesterfield, Buxton via Chatsworth House, Stockport, Manchester, and home - a 320 mile round trip.
On my next trips, I intend to see Somercotes and Riddings, and Toxteth Park (where my mums family came from before moving to Barrow in Furness).
Setting off from Chorley at 5.30am, my route took me down the M61, M60, and M62 east-bound through Leeds, after which I picked up the A1(M) southbound, skirting Doncaster. This road had light traffic and took me all the way to Grantham, my first stop.
Grantham is famous for its connections to Sir Isaac Newton and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It has also retained a semblance of its historic identity, despite the attempts of chain retailers to give it mass-produced shop facades like the rest of featureless British towns these days. Its market still straggles down the centre of a road in the town centre 2 days a week, and its ancient buildings and monuments are carefully preserved.
I was interested in Grantham, since that was where my 4th great grandfather Joseph Walker (1782-1853) died. He ended up in the workhouse there, presumably when he became too infirm to make a satisfactory living in his trade as a journeyman shoemaker. The workhouse was in the parish of Spittlegate, though the churches in this parish didn't appear to have burial grounds. No records in the library cast any further light on my ancestor, though there is a reasonable file of material about Grantham's various workhouses and poor Law administration.
From here, I took the A52 to Bottesford, where Joseph had lived and worked after coming to Lincolnshire from Chesterfield, Derbyshire. His son Joseph (1825-1852) was also a journeyman shoemaker, living on Queen Street. St Marys was the church where all the usual family ceremonies took place, but after Joseph's death, the family made their way back to Derbyshire via Nottingham.
I followed in their steps, driving through Nottingham and on to Mansfield, and thence to Chesterfield, Buxton via Chatsworth House, Stockport, Manchester, and home - a 320 mile round trip.
On my next trips, I intend to see Somercotes and Riddings, and Toxteth Park (where my mums family came from before moving to Barrow in Furness).
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Cropduster's New Single
Yes, Cropduster have returned to the studio and put another CD together. Hear it at their MySpace page.
Reading List
Well, since I last updated, I've read The Belfry Witches (a kids book), Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer, and Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.
The Belfry Witches wasn't the type of book I used to read as a child, but it was nonetheless entertaining. Kane and Abel, is a classic, that juxtaposes the fortunes of two men, one born with every advantage, and the other with just his ambition and determination.
Starship Troopers is a good read - I haven't seen the film - and stylistically different from the other novels I've mentioned in this blog. It's subject is the near extinction of the human race through warfare with an alien race, but its tone is light.
Yesterday, I bought No Mercy by Colin Forbes, and read the first 45 pages in the pub. It opens well, with a couple of different angles to capture the imagination.
The Belfry Witches wasn't the type of book I used to read as a child, but it was nonetheless entertaining. Kane and Abel, is a classic, that juxtaposes the fortunes of two men, one born with every advantage, and the other with just his ambition and determination.
Starship Troopers is a good read - I haven't seen the film - and stylistically different from the other novels I've mentioned in this blog. It's subject is the near extinction of the human race through warfare with an alien race, but its tone is light.
Yesterday, I bought No Mercy by Colin Forbes, and read the first 45 pages in the pub. It opens well, with a couple of different angles to capture the imagination.
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