A day spent in the past..

Hand cart - canal connection ...

Yesterday, Himself, Floyd, Fletcher and Me took ourselves off to Blist Hill (Victorian Town) open air museum in Coalbrookdale.  Joe and I had visited here years ago with our previous dogs, Sam and Mac, and I had been many years before that with Mum, Dad and my brothers, Bob and Dave.  The museum is similar to that of the Dudley Living Museum in that they have created a Victorian town which includes, butchers, bakers and yes, candle makers, as well as a Lloyds Bank, a Post Office, drapers, grocers and chip shop and pub of course.  There are well over 50 exhibits that range from the  cobblers shop to a blast furnace and a ironworks.

The Victorian Chemist/Pharmacy that was used for the filming of the BBC2 programme ' Victorian Pharmacy' presented by the social historian Ruth Goodman.

A pair of fine dray horses (Clydesdale's) drawing the brewers 'dray' around the town

The Post Office manned by a Mr. Alladay who explained that this was not work for women as we are too flitty and our brains couldn't cope with figures - I said that I admired his ability to dig a hole for himself...

Joe sitting for a charcoal portrait in the Victorian park

SOMEONE, is eating all the pies and it is not the Boys!

Many of the cottages have the requisite outside loo and attached pigsty, many occupied - pigsty's, not loo's...

The Victorian Fair - Joe has a go at the shooting gallery and wins 4 out of 5 shots

The HAY inclined plane.  204' drop to the river below from a short canal arm that serviced a mine.  Tub boats were used. The laden tubs could be lowered to the river in  4 minutes.

Man and dog checking the canal.

Mixing it up...

As well as a display of the local classic cars, motorbikes and tractors Stourport Steam Fair really mixed it up by including the likes of the following; 

Billy Goat Gruff, strutting his stuff

Alpacas

Rescued donkey's - often bought as companions for horses but too bolshie for the job so rehomed..

A trampoline that caught Joe's attention - I think he thought it would suit the nude trampolining for the over sixties club..

Steam at last..

and more steam

ahhh..

a baby (model) traction engine/steam roller

and preserved and restored lorries

A bit of a memory lane moment

I used to have the 'Singer' version of this car - late 1970's, badge motors, minimum income, you know the story.  It was full of 'pudding' by the time I owned it but it went to Scotland, and the West Country and I loved it!

Mum, and younger brother David, had one of theseTriumph Herald's.  Mum's version was two tone green, Dad set light to it - accidently - so that was the end of that which lead her on to a Morris Marina...yuk!   Brother David had a drop head version and I remember loading Sarah our Basset Hound and Dudley my GSD into the back for trips to the local country park 1976 ish..

A Honda Benley, the motorcycle I owned when I passed my motorcycle test

Wolsley 1500 - Joe owned one of these in the very early seventies

These cars were all on displayn at the Steam fair so we had a wander down memory lane...

Forget Gardner's...

You can forget Gardner, Lister, National, Russell Newbery and Kelvins, we've found the engine for the new boat!  And here it is...

A 12 cylinder V made by Mercedes, once the guts and go  for a WW2 German Panther tank.

 or, perhaps we go all patriotic and opt for this  Leyland tank engine that was once a key part of a British Chieftain tank...

Look at the exhaust as this engine is put through it's paces

I jest of course.   We saw these at the Stourport Steam Fair yesterday.  The owner of the engines, started them up on the hour to demonstrate and the roar of these engines filled the show field - Floyd was not impressed!

Escape

Next week we are hoping to escape the marina life and get out on the cut again.  The Droitwich canals beckon..  Nb  Yarwood, our new boat, will be started on the 18th July so next week is our best opportunity to escape the attractions and benefits of 'shore power' and venture out again. Yippee!!

Buying Bits for a Boat

Yesterday we went to see the boatbuilder to have a look at the CAD drawings for the new boat and decide on porthole positions and details like the size of the deck hatch, where the anser pins are to be located and the type of dolly's we want.  The drawings will be finalised by the end of the week and we will be signing them off, signing a contract and parting with the first stage payment. 
Later in the day we took ourselves into Kidderminster, initially to look at laptops but whilst there we found a suitable cooker for Yarwood , and the fridge I wanted, so we bought them.

Bosch Easy access Logixx fridge (KTR18P20GB)

The fridge is a 230/240 domestic fridge.  On Caxton we opted for a 12v fridge but the new boat will be equipped with a battery bank that will cope happily with running the domestic version.  This particular model appealed because it is an 'easy access' fridge, the shelves are actually drawers that pull out so I wont be required to kneel on the galley floor peering into the depths of the fridge looking for that elusive with piece of stilton, tomato....

Cannon (C50LCIW)

 There are a number of cookers that do not 'come' with LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) kits so the choice is necessarily more restricted.  Having identified the cookers that were available to us we set about a careful  examination, swinging on doors, pulling off knobs... no not really. 

Mrs Practical, that would be me, looks at the robustness of the knobs/buttons, are they going to be  pain in the preverbial to clean?  Do the doors shut with a satisfying clunk - you would think I was reviewing the latest offering from Mercedes instead of a bog standard cooker - how easy is it to keep clean?  The best of the bunch was the Cannon and we managed to get it in a 500mm width instead of the 600mm. 

So that is two items off of the white goods list done and dusted; now the decision on the washing machine, tumble dryer and dishwasher..

Hanging on the wall..

Whilst in Essex last week visiting my Mother and Brother I took the time to also visit my Cousin  Daphne.  Hanging on the wall at Daphne's house was a tapestry featuring a Thames Sailing Barge.  The tapestry was made by Alexander Wright my great grandfather, (Mother and Daphne's maternal Grandfather) who crewed this boat in the early part of  the 20th century. 

Tapestry of Thames Sailing Barge GLENBURN by Alexander Wright

'Glenburn' was built at Upnor on the River Medway by a chap called James Little in 1904. She was capable of carrying 48 ton, a crew of only two operated her and she was owned by Samuel Brice a sand, clay, gravel merchant.   My Mother remembers tales of her 'Grandad' sailing to Vange on the Thames in Essex to load with bricks from the Vange brick fields - now defunct, this would fit with the business of the owner quite neatly.

Glenburn was registered in Rochester and there are Mercantile Navy Lists (crew records) of her up to 1934 but no record of her now so she has probably long gone.  My Great Grandfather, Alexander Wright, continued as a lighterman on the Thames and Medway until the economic depression of the 1930's and his advancing years put paid to that line of work.  He still maintained his contacts however because my Mother was often taken aboard the barges as a small child for a trip to Maidstone and back carrying barrels of beer for the local brewery.

I was just thrilled to find this family connection to Thames Sailing Barges and pleased to be able flesh out a little of the background detail to the tapestry!!