Sidmouth's Glorious Shop Fronts

Monday 23 June. We were in Sidmouth for the afternoon, prior to going along the coast to book into our hotel in nearby Seaton. The other week I was reading a book about shops and how they had changed during the 20th century and it mentioned that Sidmouth had kept many of its original shop fronts despite the rest of the country demolishing all the architectural heritage and plastering gaudy plastic all over the place.

And without having to look too hard to find examples of this conservation, we just stumbled across them. Loads of them! A place to indulge that shop front fetish!

All windows had panes of glass the small size of those of the shop on the left at one time. It was impossible to make larger panes. Most of them would not have been as perfect glass as this either - they would have had the "bubble" in the middle. It wasn't a bubble so much as just a thicker bit of glass and because there was no alternative people had to put up with the distorted views when looking through. Later plate glass started to become available and shop windows could be a lot larger. It was still not possible to produce a single pane to cover a shop front though, so columns of wood or cast iron separated windows into several panes as seen on the right of the photo.

Shopkeepers wanted to draw customers into their shops, so they used tricks such as this recessed window. Besides allowing would-be customers to shelter from any rain, it gave the feeling that you were already in the shop. You also had a choice of views of the goods in the far right portion of the display.

Not really a shop, I know, but I'm digressing for a moment here, because I remember this Costa outlet as The Ship Inn. It was a pub the last time I was in Sidmouth and an old one at that. From pints of bitter to buckets of coffee - what a huge shame.

Mr Trump has been providing food and drink to the people of Sidmouth for over 200 years and in that time has been successful enough to buy up the premises next door and knock them through into a large shop. There would have been no pre-packaged groceries for three quarters of his time. He would have weighed out goods like cereals, sugar, flour and butter and even biscuits from large square tin boxes that he probably placed in or near the window as they would not go off as quickly as butter in the sunlight.

What I can't see here, which surprises me a little, is any evidence of shop blinds - those huge canopies that were on rollers and were let out over the windows on sunny days in an attempt to keep the interior cool. There were no refrigerated display units until the 1960s. Butter came in half-sized barrels and ran out over the marble slab they were placed on. Grocers used to scrape it up anyway and put it in waxed paper bags to sell. When people start to talk about the good old days, just remind them about eating rancid butter and sieving the lumps out of milk...

"Stag" Menswear. Ah yes, that conjures up a different type of image these days than I expect it did when the shop was first named... Another offset window but this time with a little arcade that shoppers could walk into to look at the window display. It took them ever farther along towards the door!

Now, I had started to write "I've no idea whether Fields is still family owned..." but then I dragged myself out of my 1950s reverie and Googled it. And, oh joy! It is still family owned. Their website proudly (and justifiably so) welcomes you to "one of the few select, family owned and managed, independent department stores remaining in the UK".

And you can't see it all in my photo - it occupies more frontage to the right up the street around the corner. This is what the very best and most prestigious shops in any town would once have looked like. Check out that clean and well maintained shop front above the ground floor level and then compare that with the sorry state of most chain stores in your own town once you get above the plastic signs with their mis-spelt "Kwik Krap" lettering. Fields: long may you continue.

I turned the corner myself and found this tea rooms on the opposite side of the street to Fields. I love the sign on the side of the shop on Ebbons Court but even more so, I love that side window with the bowed glass. That would have been hellishly expensive when first put in place. (It would still be hellishly expensive now I should think!) I'm sure that originally the tea room (or whatever kind of shop formerly occupied the building) would have made a great feature of that window. It reminds me of Piccadilly Arcade in London, though it's not quite as large as the bowed panes there.

And I'll finish this time with a photo of Hayman's Butchers. Rabbits and game birds would have once hung where the flower baskets now hang and there would probably have also been a couple of trestle tables outside laden with meat. All of which is no longer socially acceptable these days where people either don't eat meat, or don't want to think about where it comes from. Indeed, many youngster have no idea where it comes from - having had conversations with students along the lines of:

"Do you know where milk comes from?"
"A bottle..."
"Yes but before that?"
"A supermarket..."
"Before that?"

Silence and confusion... As for myself, it is a source of some pride that I can say that no hummus or couscous has ever passed my lips...

If you're ever down Devon, go and have a look at the shops of Sidmouth!

Devon & Dorset 2014 Index

An Afternoon in Sidmouth, Devon

This week we had a few days in Devon (with a foray into Dorset on Wednesday). We motored down on Monday morning, arriving in Sidmouth late lunchtime.

Sidmouth is a pleasant seaside town with sandstone cliffs at either end of a Promenade that edges onto a pebble beach. Many of the hotels along the seafront have balconies and hanging flower baskets for colour. A low stone wall separates the Promenade from the roadway and affords visitors a cheap and cheerful spot to sit if the benches are all taken up. Deck chairs are also available at a small half-day rate.

Solid-looking square wooden posts support huge lanterns, though the method of illumination is a bit more modern these days than that of the time the lanterns were first installed! Sidmouth is proud of its past. It was there at the time of Domesday, then being recorded as Sedemuda. George III's son, the Duke of Kent and his Duchess arrived with their infant, later Queen, Victoria on Christmas Day in 1819. Their visit was marred by tragedy as within a month the Duke had died of fever, not helped by the excessive bleeding by doctors trying to cure him. His Duchess was left penniless after his death, due to his debts. Left without any income and unable to flee home to Germany as her daughter was in line for the English throne, she begged the Prince Regent for help but he left her without a penny, doomed to watch all her furniture, horses and other possessions taken away by her creditors. Earlier during the visit, the window of the room in which the Duchess and baby Victoria were in was shattered by a bullet fired by a local boy at a bird. Whilst obviously anxious that the incident should not be repeated the Duke and Duchess asked that the boy not be punished.

At the eastern end of Sidmouth the river Sid flows out into the English Channel. Here is a small collection of moored boats, both fishing boats and more modest boats as seen here. The coast is pretty much a straight line here. It was not possible to build a harbour due to the lack of shelter. The pebbles of the beach have had to be replaced as the sea washed them away during storms in the 1990s.

Luckily whilst we were there the weather was a lot kinder. This small dog was enjoying the sea, going in several times, sometimes dodging, other times being swamped by waves, but always going back into the water for another go!

The cliff at the eastern end is that of Salcombe Hill. It forms part of Devon and Dorset's Jurassic Coast. The red-brown of the cliffs leaches into the sea at this point turning it a deep russet colour. Erosion is a constant threat.

The River Sid, looking inland from the river mouth. A short distance inland it passes through the village of Sidford, where the river can still be crossed by the old ford.

Devon & Dorset 2014 Index

Creeping Bentgrass at the Fylde Vintage and Farm Weekend

Last night we headed out to (and round and round) Wharles - a tiny village in the Fylde countryside - looking for a huge field with a marquee where Creeping Bentgrass was playing.

Regardless of the fact that their website said it was the third annual event, it was actually the fifth year that we have done this event! The last few years we have done the Saturday night but this year we were asked to perform on the Friday night to help bring a few more people in.

That said a lot of the regulars came in later saying that they thought we would be there on Saturday as usual and had only just heard we were already up and playing! This event is always a good night for us and last night was no exception. A great reception from an enthusiastic audience.

Blackpool's Syndicate aka ABC Theatre

On Satuday as I was walking through Blackpool with camera at the ready I stopped to take a photo of the old Syndicate night club building.

I always think of it as the ABC Theatre, but it started life as the Empire Theatre and Opera House in July 1895. The opening performance included turns by Miss Maggie Duggan, who was a male impersonator and also Mr Quinton Gibson, who impersonated females. If they had only got together they could have saved a lot of bother...

Plagued by financial problems the Empire closed in 1900 to be turned into the Hippodrome and opened as a circus, but ten years later was refurbished inside with a raked floor which allowed use as both a cinema and variety theatre. Associated British Cinemas (ABC) took over the building in 1929 but a planned rebuild was interrupted by the Second World War and it was 1963 before the theatre was rebuilt and opened in grand style with a lavish Summer Season show called Holiday Carnival and starring Cliff Richard and the Shadows, who released an extended play album (EP) also named Holiday Carnival.

The stage had a revolving section built into it. Some of the greatest names from the 1960s and 70s played there, including The Beatles, Morecambe and Wise and many more. ABC used it to stage the televised Blackpool Night Out shows during the 1960s.

Then in 1981 the cinema became a triple screen cinema and that was the end of the live shows, though the stage, orchestra pit and dressing rooms still existed at this point. The name changed again to Cannon (1986) and MGM (1993) but at the end of 1998 the cinema closed for good. Four long years later it reopened as the Syndicate nightclub after a massive refurbishment that saw all of the theatre interior and workings removed. It closed in 2007, reopened and stuttered along for special events and a spell as a Polish night club.

The council have plans for a car park for a few years before it turns into something else. One idea has been for a high quality hotel to try to woo conference trade back to the Winter Gardens. We shall see.

At the moment, the Syndicate cladding is coming off and some of the old decorative brickwork from pre-1963 days is being uncovered. There was a lot of feeling in the town that the building should not be lost, but conversion to almost anything else would have been prohibitively expensive. The days of variety shows that I remember with such affection are sadly all but gone. Britain's Got Morons (sorry - "Talent", though that is patently untrue...) is about the last bastion of variety these days.

Very, very, sad.

Return to Blackpool Attractions Index Page

Blackpool Gateway

Yesterday morning I trundled up to the aspirationally-named Blackpool Gateway to take a few photos.

The old bus station multi-storey car park has been refurbished and, in sunshine at any rate, looks quite striking. The entrance to it is still hidden round the back which has perhaps contributed to it being a bit quiet. There are cheaper places to park too, although some of the private providers can be like rottweilers. If you have to enter your car registration number into a machine, double check you've got it right and then keep your ticket for a good month in case you need to prove you paid. I remember the good old days when the entire length of the Promenade from Starr Gate to the Manchester Pub was free parking. Nostalgia's not what it used to be...

This is the new council offices block. I'm still trying to get my head round the new two-way, ex-one-way, systems, but do have to admit this looks quite good.

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Creeping Bentgrass at Myerscough College 2014 Open Day and Country Fair

Following our Saturday night at Coast Riders Diner, we were up early to play at Myerscough College's Open Day and Country Fair on Sunday. Thousands of people attend this annual event and for safety it is a no-car zone during the day. Apart from a few tyre-screaming motor sports activities taking place in specially designated areas, that is!

So we were on the campus before 9:00am and set up opposite the entrance to the Stumble Inn - Myerscough's bar. I'd taken the special edition unpainted Stratocaster with me and played it early on in the day. Lovely to play it again, though the standard Strats give me a more controllable tone I find and I was back on the cherry red guitar after lunch.

Tables and chairs had been set up outside the Stumble Inn and ensured we had an audience for the entire day. The rain managed to stay away apart from one brief shower and the sun was kind to us too!

In fact the only downer came a couple of days after when a friend of Fran's reported that she was talking to someone who had been to the Open Day.

"Oh, did you see Fran's husband and his friend playing music?" she had asked.
"Well, there were a couple of old geezers..." came the doubtful reply.

Creeping Bentgrass at the Fylde Car Club Meeting

Saturday night saw us once again at the Coast Riders Diner venue, playing for the Fylde Car Club as they met prior to the next day's display at Cleveleys.

They brought a great line-up of classic cars with them - I always thought that a car became vintage when it reached 25 years old. But thanks to an anonymous comment which I checked on the Oxford Dictionaries site, I now know they are 1919-30. Given that cars become and will always become rare once they reach a certain age, I quite liked my "wrong" version... Anyway, I'm thankful for learning something new!

This is the first incarnation of the Ford Capri. A two-door version of the Consul Classic with a streamlined rear window - the Classic had a window that sloped inwards like the 1960s Anglia. The bright red really pops and red is an infamous colour for fading over time.

Another 1960s car, the Triumph Herald. As a teenager a couple of my friends had these in the seventies in various states of disrepair. I remember one which had a huge hole in the floor and you had to rest your feet on the bulkhead in front of you whilst watching the road fly past beneath your legs... It was a bad idea to go out in this car on wet days because spray from the wheels shot into the car interior, particularly when the wheels turned to go round a corner! This example was in much better condition!

We were there to play a bit of music though and enjoyed ourselves playing to an audience that sang along, clapped and shouted for more.

When we play Status Quo's Rockin' All Over The World audiences always do the "Quo Dance", testing out their hips and waists with gusto! We were unable to see the cars at Cleveleys the following day due to our playing at Myerscough College's Open Day - a report of that to follow later. But we'll catch up with the classic cars later in the year at Fairhaven Lake near Lytham.

Heskin Hall Steam Fair 2014

Saturday night, Spring Bank Holiday weekend saw us driving out Chorley way to Heskin Hall where they had the big steam fair on over the weekend.

With a large number of steam traction engines, tractors, classic cars and much more this is a great day out for those with a machinery fetish, or just those who like to feel nostalgic about how things were just a few decades ago.

We were headed for the massive marquee - I'm sure this gets bigger every year... This would be the tenth year we have done this particular fair. It's been at Heskin Hall for eight years and the first two years were in a field not too far away.

Last year we had difficulties in making ourselves heard at the far end of the marquee without experiencing feedback problems, but this year the dance floor was set up in the middle of the marquee and we set up at the side of it and had a great night with no problems with the sound.

With ten years playing the same event there were lots of people waving to us as they came in during the evening and lots of new faces as well. Some great comments from members of the audience when we finally bowed ourselves off stage after an incredible four and a half hours solid performing!

Brougham Castle Sketch

I really should get out and mow the lawn, but today started with a bit of a doodle...

This is Brougham Castle, near Eamont Bridge in Cumbria. Drawn from a photograph that I took in 1985, it was the favourite of several castles owned and restored by the remarkable Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke. She thought life in Elizabethan times just a bit too modern for her tastes and elected to live as though it were the 13th and not the 17th century. Her diaries tell of her struggle to claim her rightful inheritance in a time when women were expected to stay in the shadow of their family or husband. She died at Brougham Castle in 1676.

A couple of scans show different stages of the sketch.

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Farewell to the Thomson Celebration

Well, farewell hopefully just until the next time! It's Friday 10 April 2014 and we have to be out of the cabins by 8:00am so that the crew have a chance to get them back to pristine order in time for today's embarking passengers.

Last night we had our final night in the Horizons Bar with Tomas and Maris. We have become good friends over the years since we first met them. I hope we get to meet up again.

We are out of the cabin a bit early and head up to the Lido Deck for a first mug of coffee before breakfast. It's not properly light yet and we seem to be pretty much the only ones out and about on the deck. The port lights of Tenerife's Santa Cruz are still burning, though it won't be long before they sky grows light enough for them to be turned out.

Behind our ship the Delphin is already disembarking passengers into a waiting coach and containers of provisions wait to be unloaded. A Fred Olsen Express catamaran ferry glides slowly into her berth.

We finish our coffee and head down to Deck 4 to the Meridian Restaurant for breakfast. Then before long it is time to head off the ship to find our luggage for the coach journey to the airport.

It's fully daylight by the time we leave the ship. We find it has been nosed in up to the end of the dock and this gives me the opportunity to take a photo of the Thomson Celebration as it would be seen by the hapless occupants of a soon-to-be-destroyed row boat...

One of our suitcases is patterned so as to be immediately found. Miss Franny takes a seat so as to better direct me on my search for the other... The trip back to Blighty is uneventful and on time and a long and happy (I hope!) retirement looms before me. Our next cruise will be on Thomson Majesty in a few months and we are planning a short break in South Devon once the English weather turns a bit warmer.

Colourful Coasts Cruise Index

Leisure in Lanzarote

Thursday 10 April 2014. The last day of our cruise around the Canaries is a day on Lanzarote. We awake in the port of Arrecife and after breakfast we bounce down the gangway and onto a coach as we have an excursion booked.

This will be a morning tour and sets off with a trip to a shop... Just about every sort of souvenir you can think of and of course this includes fridge magnets. There's a free "glass of wine" that's a small plastic beaker with an eighth of an inch of liquid in it. At 9:30 in the morning it's still more wine than I want to drink...

The first real attraction is at the Mirador del Rio with a viewpoint that looks across the Straits of Rio to a small island, La Graciosa, on which an incident occurred that inspired Robert Louis Stevenson's book Treasure Island.

The fall of the cliff face is spectacular, plunging down to the sea in a sweep of barren rock. The viewpoint itself is fairly spectacular as well, being burrowed into the cliff face.

Designed by the artist Cesar Manrique, it is a delight, with a whitewashed interior with almost no sharp edges anywhere and a feeling of light, space and peace about the place. No mean feat when several coach loads of eager tourists turn up at once...

Little artifact collections decorate the place. Stones, plants, earthenware pots. It's just a touch misty which makes the view across the straits a little subdued. Never mind, we're being herded back to the coach for the ride to our next stop.

This turns out to be an aloe vera plantation. That's not an aloe vera plant above, it's a cactus with a flower, the desert rose, about to blossom. This was one of those stops that seemed to be a half-desperate "please spend money here". There was an extremely boring talk about aloe vera. It may well be someone's idea of heaven to travel to far-flung places and learn about household products, but sadly it left me cold... Aloe vera is edible apparently and after using a huge knife to strip and divide small bars of the leaves for us to nibble on, the company owner and living partner of our coach guide passed them round. It was a bit like nibbling a small bar of hotel soap, though with a nastier aftertaste... and... spit!

Final stop is at Jameos del Agua, another natural feature enhanced by the skill and artistry of Cesar Manrique. In this case it's a tunnel formed by a lava flow that at this point blew out and formed a hole which we descend by way of steps.

We let the rest of the tour go ahead and stop for a drink in the bar. Before us is a short length of the lava tunnel which now holds a pond in which resides a species of small white blind crab, unique to this site. They like deeper water, so it's lucky the water in the pool is crystal clear. Even so, they are so far beneath the surface they could be white blobs of paint most of the time until all of a sudden you see through a relatively ripple-free bit of water and make out just for a second that they are actually crabs! Being blind, they don't wave back or react in anyway to the curious tourist. They just huddle together saying in crab talk, "I feel like I'm being watched..." "Watched? What's that?"

Drink finished, we make our way through the tunnel and come out to climb out the other side where we arrive in a landscaped garden complete with a blue pool. A choice of steps lead up from this second hole in the tunnel up to a terrace and shop.

Snatched from the coach window as we drove back into Arrecife, this is the wreck of the Telamon, which started life in the UK in 1954 as the Temple Hall and was wrecked here in 1981, proving to be beyond salvage.

Colourful Coasts Cruise Index

Creeping Bentgrass at Witton Park, Blackburn

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Witton Park, Blackburn, playing in the courtyard from the doorway of one of the stable units. The weather was kind to us this year but in the past we have found it necessary to have somewhere we can nip back into to shelter equipment from rain!

Slightly smaller audience than in past years. We weren't sure whether people hadn't heard about the event or whether it was that the cafe that used to occupy the corner building has now gone. Though others said it was quieter throughout the park than usual on that day.

The Glee Club over at the mobility scooter stable were in fine form though!

Eight Inch Record

Yesterday we had a run up to Lancaster to GB Antiques and I came across a couple of 78 rpm records to add to the collection.

These were a little unique to my collection as they were not the usual 10 inch record. Nor were they the longer-playing 12 inch record used for most classical music and some dance music.

They were eight inches in diameter. Labelled "Long Playing" because the centre label on the disc is much smaller than usual allowing the playing track to go closer to the middle of the record, the example pictured is on the Edison Bell record label and is a 1930 recording of The Plaza Band playing the popular tune The Cuckoo Waltz with the B side being Come On, Baby. And what a bonus! It had its original brown paper sleeve!

Birthday Party in Chapeltown

Last night Creeping Bentgrass played for a 70th birthday party at the Chetham Arms in Chapeltown.

We once wore red shirts to our first gig at this pub and they were the exact shade of the wallpaper. We just blended in and the audience were treated to two floating heads... We thought we might be safe with these shirts!

It was a good night and when we started a few of the pub's regulars were looking in at the door to the function room. I like to think they were impressed by the music rather than them going "What on Earth...?"

Driving through the Lancashire countryside late at night, I was dying for a bag of chips... No chippies open at that time of night and skinny ex-frozen french fries from an all-night papier mache burger bar just don't hold any attraction. Nipped out this morning for a walk along Fleetwood prom and had my supper for lunch! Result!!!

Wild Hairy Scots With Big Bent Swords

I spent a day up in Edinburgh this week, doing one of the occasional training session I still do for Jisc infoNet. I travelled up the night before and whilst walking up the Royal Mile I had a sudden flashback to a former life as a longbowman at the Battle of Bannockburn with a huge hairy Scot coming at me, waving a sword!

Then I realised it wasn't June 1314, but the last day of April 2014! I blinked. Again... No, there was definitely a huge hairy Scot waving a sword! Only one thing to do in fact.

Say hello, have a chat, take a selfie! Nice guy! Always gets a seat on the bus...

Foggy In Morocco

Wednesday 9th April 2014. 4:00am. Around two hours after we got to bed. The Thomson Celebration is on her way to the port of Agadir in Morocco. We have spent a day at sea and spent the night in the Horizons bar with Tomas and Maris providing the entertainment. After they finished we started nattering for a while and so it was a late night.

Now it's four o'clock in the morning. I know this because some huge monster just surfaced and roared at us! There it goes again!!! No... wait... and again... no it's the ship's hooter! It's pitch dark. I get out of bed and inch a curtain aside. The ship's lights show a blank wall of yellowy grey through the window. We've run into fog! A ship's hooter is not a quiet thing and - as ships' hooters go - that of the Thomson Celebration is an outstanding example! It goes off once a minute for several seconds. This lasts perhaps half an hour (or it might just have seemed like that...)

Once it stopped we managed to get back to sleep for a good ten minutes until it started again...

Again it didn't last all that long and we woke up refreshed and ... well we woke up... to find that Agadir was a bit grey and murky that morning! We weren't planning on leaving the ship anyway. I have an aversion to shopkeepers dragging me bodily into their shops and a finger in the eye often offends. Safer to stay on board. Once when we were here one shopkeeper told me I had a nice smile. For all their love of bartering he didn't seem inclined to want to enter into negotiations for me to produce it again...

So we spent the day reading and eating. I did consider running up to the gym to laugh at the people in there, but it seemed like too much effort. At lunchtime we looked through the restaurant window and saw the coast at the side of the ship quite clearly. But once back up on Deck 8 it was still foggy! There'll be more to write about tomorrow...!

Colourful Coasts Cruise Index