Combe Hay

Footpath to the old cricket pitch, Combe Hay.

Fuji  E900 stitched with I.C.E. click picture to enlarge

Sunday walk, Combe Hay.

 

Sunday walk, Combe Hay.

The Mall at Cribbs Causeway

 

We went shopping at the Mall Cribbs Causeway today; it’s the first time we have been shopping together on a Saturday for years.

It’s one of the benefits of retirement, though the Mall was busy it was quieter than we expected.     And I couldn’t resist a few snaps of the excellent Christmas displays

 

  

 

Happy Christmas to all our friends

Bath Xmas Market 2008

Where is he!

A found him!

Father Xmas at the Village Christmas Party

More Here

Is this Englands Oldest Mrs Christmas!

Mrs Joan Long who at 89 must be one of the oldest female Father Christmas’s in England.
Has been standing outside United Reform Church in Argyle Street, Bath at Christmas collecting for Christian aid with the choir for a number of years.

Bath Gas leak

Traffic problems on Lansdown

Area of the leak

A large part of Bath around Nelson Place East and London Street was closed shortly after 1pm today to check a gas leak believed to be in the Chinese takeaway.
Traffic was in gridlock from Lansdown to the paragon as the main access to the A4 was closed.

Dodgy Sat Nav!

If these Swifts were meant to be 

flying South this afternoon.

why were they heading West!

Shepherd Boy

 Tabitha taking part in the School Musical today.

John Straffen

One of the regular search term looked for on this site is John Straffen who died in November last year as Britain’s longest serving prisoner.

I had photographed the graves of the two girls Six-year-old Brenda Goddard and nine-year-old Cicely Batstone that he was accused of murdering in 1951.

As I was working near the cemetery today I visited the graves today to stand in silence for a few minutes and wonder what they would have been like if they had lived, as they would like me be approaching retirement.

I thought I could do them a little justice with a better picture than the original snapshot here.

The Wikipedia Article on the case.

Union passage Bath

Until the mid 60s the Farr family had a shop at the top of Union Passage in Bath.
It sold newspapers, sweets and paper dress making patterns and closed when the block was demolished.

Missed it!

 

The famous Christmas Market at Bath offered  

seasonal shopping, fine foods and family fun.

But you just missed it because it ended today.

Aneka Rice in a Squirrel helicopter.

 

Aneka Rice in a Squirrel helicopter.

Misty Morning, Combe Hay.

Misty Morning, Combe Hay.

Stall Street Bath in the 60’s

One of my old snaps of Stall Street in the 60’s, things to notice, 1 open to traffic, 2 The fountain was still there (now in Terrace Walk), 3 The Peter Richards Fashion Shop, 4 The Macfisheries van (Bath had three fish shops).

Taken from McIlroys Department Store.

The George Hotel Frome

We had our usual monthly trip to Frome last week, and as usual had lunch at the George Hotel.

Most towns have a place that the locals eat; in Bath it’s the Waverley Café just off Kingsmead Square.

The George Hotel serves similar high value home cooked meals with a sense of humour. 

The Somersetshire Coal Canal

We're very lucky to live in such a beautiful village, Wendy and I try to walk a couple of miles a day so yesterday we walked around part the Somerset Coal Canal.

This is part of the Bulls Nose a group of 22 locks opened in 1805 that was carrying over 1000.000 tons of coal a year by 1820, but it lost its trade to the railways in the 1870s.

 More Details of The Canal Here

3d in the Christmas Pudding!

When I was young it was the tradition to put silver 3d bits in the Christmas pudding.
I think it stopped when real silver coins vanished; it looks like this one still has the pudding on it. 
Darling Deli on Combe Down have reinvented the idea by putting a silver locket in one its Christmas Puddings.

Can Can Girls

In June 2007 I photographed Baths own Can Can troupe, called Can Can de Genevieve.

The group includes ITV West reporter Rachael Royce who has just returned from a week with the army reporting from Helmand Province in Afghanistan                          

 The Group can be contacted via this Site

S.W.P.P. & B.P.P.A . Nikon Pro Imaging Event in Bristol

I paid a visit to the SWPP & BPPA Nikon Pro Imaging Event in Bristol today but had more fun photographing the other photographers than the models!

Maybe that why I’m a news photographer!

 

“Yep just as I thought Brain Dead”

Cathy Shipton, Nurse  Lisa (Duffy) Duffin  checks out Sam, Cathy played Duffy in 124 episodes of Casualty between 1986 and 2006 but still failed to find any signs of brain activity!