Eye to Eye Contact

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TFB and his roadmap out of lockdown are still driving. The vaccine programme is still on track and grounds for optimism, although bizarrely the age criteria seemed to drop 15 years in one fell swoop. I have now been for a first jab. Outdoor sport is on the verge of a resumption, so my goalkeeping career can press on for the last minute surge into Gareth's squad for Euro 2020 or should we say Euro 2021 now. Jordan Pickford's injury woes have created an unexpected vacancy. As capacity crowds look unlikely here or anywhere else in Europe, it could be a good way in to spectate. I will happily bench warm and add my experience. Mr Pope can do all the hard work. We now know it will April before non-essential shops can open and the hair grows longer by the day. The Welsh are back in the saddle on the grooming business and there is some speculation that the 2021 FA Cup Final could be trial event for the return of fans. We will see. In the meantime we continue with our exploration walks, but spend huge periods of time at home.

We climbed to one of the higher pieces of ground near where we live to look down over the city. There is development everywhere. The two businesses to be in it seems are construction and parcel delivery. The ground is all torn up below our vantage point, as yet more new homes near completion. The woods where stand have been saved, but the open grasslands are now swallowed under a sea of mud or bricklaying teams. There were many local objections to the plans, but it seems profit won out and the plans for the 2000 + houses are now well underway. There are fences everywhere, indicating the next piece of land in the development phase. The mini shopping precinct is already occupied and causes chaos. The access appears ill conceived and cars snake out of the various drive through fast food and coffee establishments. There was clearly a plan, but not a very good one. It seems unlikely we will walk this way again soon. We press on across to the cemetery, where a legend of soul looks over his adopted region. Charles Edwin Hatcher is not a name on the tip of everybody's tongue. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Charles became better known across the world as Edwin Starr. He was brought up in Cleveland, Ohio and had a string of hits with the Mowtown label - War, SOS and Headline News - before relocating to the UK. We possibly know him best from his 1979 UK hits, H.A.P.P.Y. Radio and Eye to Eye Contact - staples of the dancefloor down Philmores in the NEPSR. He made his home in the western suburbs of Nottingham and died from a heart attack in 2003. He was just 61. The gravestone is inscribed with Agent 00 Soul in reference to his debut single in 1965. Keep the faith.

Edwin is laid to rest on Wilford Hill, but his image is very much alive on a wall in Beeston town centre. The local District Council in conjunction with businesses funded a mural on the rear of the shopping precinct, which features Edwin and two others who formerly resided in NG9. Paul Smith, British fashion designer, was born in Beeston in 1946 and opened his first clothing store in the city centre in 1970. He has done rather well since and still has local representation at a flagship store in a grand Georgian building on Middle Pavement. The third subject of the mural is Richard Beckinsale, the deceased star of the comedy series Porridgeand Rising Damp. The street art is the work of French artist, Zabou. Street Art has become a bit of a thing in NG9. There is quite a bit around the town if you look carefully, ranging from a work to commemorate the Canary Girls of the Chilwell munitions works to other TV stars. Boon rides his motorbike on the side of the Star Inn. However, the pub has a more famous connection to the wonderful world of Auf Weidersehen Pet. The series were made at the former Central TV Studios on Lenton Lane and the pub was used as Barry's local and a meeting place for the lads in Series 2. It was meant to be in Wolverhampton, but remains a top class real ale destination just round the corner from the Edwin Starr mural. A lot of other scenes from the opening sequences in Series 2 are Nottingham based - Moxy goes over the wall in Hartley Road and Neville goes looking for work on a "Newcastle" building site in Landmere Lane, West Bridgford. I have added a few more photos of the Beeston Street phenomenon, albeit cheating a bit with photographs I took on a walk earlierin the summer - there is a limit to how far I can walk. A full tour of the Street Art is now available as a download map guide from the local Civic Society.

Beeston borders Nottingham University and under normal circumstances has a thriving student population. However, things are far from normal and over by the University all is quiet. A few folk wander around the Highfields Park in the bright sunshine. It was originally laid out in the 18th century, but received a makeover in the 1920s to allow a better focus on the new Nottingham University Trent Building. The land around the Highfields Estate was bought by none other than Jesse Boot and Morley Horder created a landscape to showcase his Trent Building design. A key element was the Boating Lake, which covers the foreground towards University Boulevard. The boats were not sailing today and the facilities are very much seasonal in non COVID times. The water could best be described as a bit choppy. The Trent Building sits imposingly on the hill. The white limestone building is topped off with a clock tower. It was opened by King George V in July 1928. The Students Union Portland Building next door was all quiet too. 2020 was a less than ideal year to start your full student experience and almost certainly a disaster on the social side of things. We headed back across towards the Lakeside Arts Centre. The last time we were there, we looking at LS Lowry paintings. Alas, not today!

Highfields Park is a mere dot on the landscape map compared to the larger Wollaton Park nearby. Wollaton Park is a mammoth 500 acres and features a golf course and a deer park. It is somewhat reduced from the original 800 acres by land sales over the years. The Park was originally open, but Henry Willoughby's decision to enclose it in the 19th century required a 7 mile red brick wall. A village was also removed from the map in the process. The majority of the red brick wall is still intact today, as well as plenty of high fences and gates to keep the resident deer herd from going walkabout and having a night on the town. Of course during the annual Splendour Music Festival, they have a free grandstand ticket.

The centrepiece of the Park is Wollaton Hall. It was built in the 1580s as a home for Sir Francis Willoughby. The Willoughby family derived their huge wealth from exploiting the coal reserves on their land. Coal mining and Wollaton are not the first connections you draw, but I was always amazed at the slope in my friend's lounge in his house just outside the Park at the bottom of the hill. Historical settlement apparently - nothing to worry about! The original Willoughbys were also big cheeses in the courts of the Tudor royals and one of the family, Sir Hugh, went off searching the Arctic for new trade opportunities. He travelled across the Barents Sea in general direction of the current Murmansk and Archangel and reached the White Sea, thus opening trade with Russia. He identified an island known as Willoughby's Land, although there seems some doubt today what he actually saw. The original expedition aim was to seek a route to China and India, so it didn't quite meet the objectives.

The proximity of industrial Nottingham eventually led to the house fall out of favour with the family and it was let out to a succession of tenants. By 1881, it was vacant. The 11th Earl, Michael Willoughby, eventually flogged off the Hall and Park to Nottingham City Council in 1925. The City Council opened it as a Museum in 1926. Today, the Hall still houses a Natural History Museum - dinosaurs and stuff. The outer buildings are home to the local Industrial Museum. The grounds and Park have open access to explore and are full of the local folk enjoying their recreational facility. The enclosed gardens behind the main Hall feature the Camellia House, an early example of an iron glass house from 1827. The film devotees will tell you that the Hall was used as the "Wayne Manor" in the 2011 movie, Batman "Dark Knight Rises". The village of Gotham .... Gotham City .... ironically lies a few miles south across the River Trent. We set off for the long walk home. The end of lockdown can't come soon enough.

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Photos

Beeston
Edwin Starr Mural

Beeston
Paul Smith Mural

Beeston
Richard Beckinsale Mural

Comments

[Rainyb]

Thanks for sharing. I too have had my 1st jab, not sure when I'll get the 2nd one.