England

Armed Forces Day 2013

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Nottingham recently played host to the fifth Armed Forces Day and as it was right on my doorstep, I decided to head along. It was a fairly overcast day which did eventually brighten. There was a parade heading off from Nottingham Castle towards the Market Square, where I was, a Drumhead Service – which I learned is a church service conducted in the field with drums acting as an altar  -plus a fly past by the Red Arrows and RAF Typhoon aircraft.


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The Tower Bridge Exhibition

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Whilst contemplating what to see next in London, I came across the website for the Tower Bridge Exhibition, and thought that it would be a good place to take photographs of the city, if nothing else. The entrance is at the North West Tower of the Bridge and admission costs £8 for adults. It was a lot busier than I was expecting, but the queue moved along very smoothly – clearly the staff are used to big crowds. You head up to the walkway in a lift and then view a presentation with a (vaguely amusing) video portraying Queen Victoria in conversation with the architects who designed the Bridge. You can then continue on your way to the actual walkway in order to admire the views from 42 meters above the River Thames.

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Museum of London

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After paying a visit to Postman’s Park, I headed over to the Museum of London. You enter via an escalator on the right of the road and then across a walkway. Entrance is free, though I did buy a “Highlights” book for £5. The Museum traces the history of London from before the city itself existed right up to the present day.

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Postman’s Park, London

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On my same visit to London when I saw The Tempest I decided to pay a visit to the Museum of London (post to follow). But whilst researching it and the area I discovered that Postman’s Park was close by and, intrigued, I thought I’d keep an eye out and see if I had time that day to  pay the park a visit as well. As luck would have it though I happened to be walking to the Museum on the right side of the road to pass by the entrance to the Park and not wanting to miss the opportunity to have a look while the weather was behaving itself, I headed in.

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Theatre Review: The Tempest at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

I go to see a lot of theatre but I never really write about the productions here, even though I write about the attractions that I visit tangentially all the time. Mostly it’s because I can never hope to guarantee a set time when these blogs posts will appear (it’s been over 3 weeks since I saw this production!), and partly because, quite rightly, you can’t take photographs during a production. You can however take pictures of the outside, so have a nice picture of the Globe before we continue. Continue reading

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The Framework Knitters’ Museum

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For the past few months I’ve been doing some serious research into my family tree. I’ve managed to get quite far back already – late 17th century for some branches – and am now busy filling in gaps and making it into a more coherent document, with the aim of eventually putting it into a book form for any of my family who are interested. One of the areas I particularly like exploring is the occupations of my ancestors. They pretty much all worked in manufacturing of one kind or another – hosiery menders, labourers, lace machine workers, or were domestic servants. One occupation in particular that comes up a lot on my mother’s side of the family is Framework knitter. Having only a vague idea of what that meant I did the usual Google search and discovered not only a definition, but also that there was an actual Framework Knitters’ Museum right here in Nottingham, the website of which you can find here. Naturally I decided a visit was in order.

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Worcester Part 3: The Commandery

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I visited The Commandery on my trip to Worcester on the recommendation of a friend who thought it would be exactly my kind of place – and she was right.

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Worcester Part 2: Worcester Cathedral

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On my recent trip to Worcester I decided to visit Worcester Cathedral. I had the faint idea that I’d been there before on another trip but that would have been at least a decade ago and I certainly don’t think I took any photos.

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Worcester Part 1: Tudor House

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I visit Worcester a fair amount but mainly to visit friends for birthdays, births and on this occasion a christening, so it’s rare that I have the opportunity to play tourist in the city.

This time however I actually had must of a Saturday to visit some of Worcester’s tourist attractions – Tudor House, Worcester Cathedral and the Commandery. (The last two will feature in later posts).

I had been on the Tudor House’s website and noted that it was conveniently next to my hotel – Ye Olde Talbot Inn.

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Southwell Minster

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Despite living fairly close by (well, roughly a 40 minute bus journey away) I’d never been to Southwell Minster before and decided to rectify that in January. Thankfully I had chosen a day that was cold but otherwise bright, and before the chance of snow was something to worry about.

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