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Published: February 10th 2014
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Lifeboats
SOS - Sup Our Soup Function Friday 31st January was a very very wet and a very very cold day so we rugged up in woolly hats, scarfs, gloves and water proof coats and headed to Albrighton. First call was the library to send out the latest Blog page and say goodbye to Anne one of the librarians who had taken early retirement. The council run libraries here in the UK are suffering from severe cut backs as all councils struggle to contain rising costs and it is feared that some libraries may close or be amalgamated .
Then after a nice Latte we headed to St Marys to help out with the monthly 'One Day' sale before heading to the 'Red House', which is a community facility that hosts a variety of events, where we enjoyed a great meal of homemade soup & crusty bread rolls. The lunch was a fund raising event for 'Lifeboats' the organisation that provides rescue boats across the UK. We were offered a selection of 7 different homemade soups with crusty bread rolls served to you at your table and yes there were seconds and all for a cost of £3 per person. The dining room consisted of
6 tables for 6 with table cloths and flowers. The tables were kept full and operated like a revolving door, as people finished and left the room others were waiting to take their place. The 'Lifeboats' also ran a raffle and had 'Lifeboat; branded goods for sale. This is a great fund raising idea.
Monday 3rd February was a clear day with a very cold wind but we decided to head for Telford town centre which is approx. 10 miles from Albrighton although going by bus it's a lot further as you go 'All around the Wrekin??'
Telford is a created town built in the 60's & 70's to encourage people to move further out of the already built up areas around the Midlands. Telford houses about 150,000 people and is surrounded by several industrial parks providing lots of local employment.
The bus terminal in Telford is located at a very large shopping complex and to our surprise the shopping centre is the High Street, they have built the town around the shopping centre, so no High street shopping, no High street Banks and no old Churches. The centre had very few vacant shops, all the major
banks were represented and it had a library, train station and all major department stores. The centre consisted of several connected wings each with its own street name, so it was just like an undercover High street.
On
Friday 7th February we were presented with a bright sunny day, no wind and a blue blue sky so we headed off to the bus bound for Wolverhampton and then a bus to Bridgnorth. Bridgnorth is an old market town with a high and low town and is situated on the river Seven, which given the comments at the start of this Blog was at a very high level. A Cliff Railway operates between the High & Low towns which saves the steep walk. We spent the day wondering along the high street, spent some time browsing through the Friday street market before a lunch outside in the sun in the Castle Gardens. The castle at Bridgnorth was built in 1101 but was demolished after a battle in 1646 and all that remains are the ruins of the Great Tower.
As most of you may have seen on the news, or not as Australia is rarely mentioned in the UK, the UK has experienced the wettest December and January on record. Parts of Somerset, Devon, Cornwell, Kent and South Wales have been flooded out since the week before Christmas and last night, Thursday 6th February, flood levels in Somerset rose by a meter overnight, and there is no let-up in sight and on Tuesday 4th February high spring tides and severe winds and rain washed out the main rail line from London to Penzance which runs parallel at times to the coast line especially at Dawlish where the sea wall, which collapsed, formed part of the train line.
Here in the Albrighton area it has been wet at times and is damp underfoot and low level fields are turning into mini lakes but we personally have been spared any flooding and it has not affected our ability to walk everywhere or travel by public transport. Also as you can imagine all the rivers are at straining point with the level of water with some reaching the tops of their banks.
WE WOULD ASK YOU TO KEEP ALL THOSE AFFECTED BY THE FLOODS IN YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS
AS WE WILL BE PRAYING FOR ALL
THOSE AFFECTED BY THE BUSHFIRES IN AUSTRALIA ESPECIALLY THOSE IN THE GIPSLAND AREA
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