ABC Wednesday: X

ten kisses
mark the spot
unknown

© 2010 gerald england

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Weekend Reflections in a bauble

The classic self-portrait in a bauble is something I've attempted before but with no great success. This monochrome image is the best I've achieved this year.

I wish all my visitors a Merry Christmas.

For more weekend reflections visit Newtown Area Photo.

ABC Wednesday:W is for Winter Wood

This was the view through my window last Saturday morning.

Please note I may not be too active online for a while as my computer was taken away today for repair. For the time being I am borrowing my wife's computer. It runs a lot slower than mine though and I've no access to all my photographs and data (although they have all been backed-up on to DVDs).

Visit ABC Wednesday for more W posts.

ABC Wednesday V is for Vladimir Yarets

Walking through St Helier, Jersey, I came across this motorcyle and thought to myself, "I've seen that somewhere before".

The motorbike belonging to Vladimir Yarets, a native of Minsk (Belarus). He is aiming at a Guinness Book world record to be the first deaf person to do a round the world trip on a motorbike. In 2007 he was in Auckland, New Zealand and I remembered it from the post on Auckland Daily Photo.

His round-the-world trip was started on the 27th of May 2000. Currently he has traveled through more than 69 countries and covered a total distance exceeding 302,279 km. More information on Vladimir Yarets' website.

More photographs from my own trip can be found on Jersey 2010.

Visit ABC Wednesday for more V posts.

Shamrock #16

A new issue of Shamrock is now online. Shamrock (No 16) has a big selection of Hungarian haiku in English translation, as well as an international section, an essay on haiku and copyright, as well as a haibun and a book review. It also features the winning poems from the IHS International Haiku Competition 2010.

Well worth reading.

Shadow Shot Sunday:Stockport Bear Pit

A cold Monday morning in Stockport. A strong sun casts low shadows. In the background is Mersey Square, the front end of the Merseyway Shopping Centre built over the culverted infant River Mersey. In the foreground are the icy steps leading into the bear pit which overlooks the emergence of the Mersey. Bear baiting was abolished in the 1830s but prior to that bears were kept in large caves cut into the sandstone at the foot of High Bank Side.

For a more extensive and coloured view of this scene see Geograph.

For more shadow shots visit Hey Harriet.

Weekend Reflections: Santa in Distress

I was on the bus into Manchester when I spotted Santa in Gorton.

For more weekend reflections visit Newtown Area Photo.

ABC Wednesday:U is for Upper Brook Street Unitarian Chapel

The Unitarian Chapel, Upper Brook Street, Manchester, a Grade II* listed building, was recently described by the Victorian Society as one of the ten most endangered Victorian buildings in England & Wales.


The former Unitarian Chapel has been owned by Manchester City Council since the 1970s. Opened in 1839 it is the first known example of a Gothic nonconformist chapel and believed to have been an early collaboration between Sir Charles Barry and AWN Pugin before they worked together on the Palace of Westminster. Yet despite its national significance, the chapel has been neglected for decades, resulting in 2005 in the removal of its roof. The chapel is now open to the elements and largely a ruin.


It was constructed between 1837 and 1839 out of sandstone, with a slate roof. It is in English neogothic style. The building has seven narrow bays, with buttresses and a lancet in each bay. The west end has a giant moulded archway, with an arched doorway at the ground floor with a window above. On the east end there is a rose window. The corners are square, with pinnacles. The inside of the chapel had galleries on three sides, and a ribbed, vaulted ceiling. The attached two-storey Sunday School is in the same style as the chapel, and has a triple-gabled north side, with large arched windows on the first floor. It also has a canted apse on the west end, and a lean-to porch.


The chapel was originally constructed for the Unitarians and was used for burial rites until at least 1857 (although the chapel has no graveyard), as well as baptisms until at least 1912, and marriages until at least 1916.


The chapel was sold in 1928 and subsequently used as a Welsh Baptist Chapel. It was then used as a Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall in the early 1970s. The most recent use of both the chapel and former Sunday School was for the Islamic Academy of Manchester between 1974 and 2006, when it was used as a mosque, teaching centre and for outreach work in the Asian community. The chapel is currently vacant, whilst the Islamic Academy still occupy the Sunday School.


Keith Williamson was there the same day as I but unbeknown to each other and took this view from the top floor of the Aquatics Centre Car Park.

More information and photos can be found on Wikipedia.

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ABC WednesdayT is for Todmorden Town Hall

Todmorden Town Hall was designed by John Gibson and opened in 1875. It straddles Walsden Water, a tributary of the River Calder, and was situated in both Lancashire and Yorkshire until the administrative county boundary was moved in January 1888.

This view down Halifax Road from St Mary's churchyard shows the Southern aspect. One interesting external feature of the town hall is the pediment. The fine carved stonework has two central female figures on a pedestal. The left hand one represents Lancashire (cotton spinning and weaving industries) and the right hand one Yorkshire (engineering and agriculture).

This second view shows the Western side on Burnley Road towards the market and bus station. Plans have recently been approved for an extensive refurbishment of the exterior and interior of the building and turning the basement into a café and heritage exhibition space.


Looking back from the market we see that the Northern aspect of the Town Hall has a contrasting semi-circular shape. St Mary's church can be seen on the right.

For a wider, coloured view see Geograph.

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