Street Art weekend just days away and new Beeston Map progresses

Jeanie Barton and her colleagues have been working behind the scenes so to speak preparing to pull off a great artistic venture. Her poster says it all:

A leaflet just emailed to me by Judy Sleath, Chair of Beeston & District Civic Society, lists the eight street art locations around the town you can visit. This has enabled me to mark all the location onto the new maps below.

Feedback on my new look Beeston Map confirmed what I suspected — that including EVERY retail unit on one map A3 size had the potential to be confusing  and so it turned out to be. As a result I have stripped out service providers who you need an appointment to see and all estate and letting agent bar C P Walker & Son, who support the map with by placing an advert.

One problem was the size of The Square, which I have now enlarged in the latest draft version (see below), but that has meant tweaking the map. It is still crowded, but seeing people staring intently at a draft copy, then asking questions, was reward enough.

For the Beeston Festival next month I hope the map will be joined by a vertical banner showing all four sections of the map seamlessly joined together. It is still not too late to comment as I am now parking the map until Monday week (25 June).

The map will also mark all the Beeston Street Art locations, for which I have created a fun marker on the basis that what we are about to see on the streets of Beeston is a visual arts explosion!

You can see street art locations marked on the maps.

PS. I know I have still to mark the new gin place on Chilwell Road and change / add a couple of names (eg. new Hive occupants Mr. Perfect Pets and Trendy Nippers Boutique — who get their own blog post in the next day or two complete with pics).

Beeston Vertical Heritage Map

Another work in progress (maps always are). I have a few other things I want to add.

If you compare this vertical map to my other two Beeston vertical maps you will see how I have shifted vertical and horizontal street lines to accommodate the information I include. I could reduce the height of this map because of the space I have created by excluding most pubs and cafés, but for now I am leaving it as it is. I like the white space.

As with all my maps I try to pull in the Trent and University. Perhaps it has suited some to ignore them (an observation I will return to when I write about a book, The River Trent by J H Ingram, published in 1955, which I bought in Oxfam for £3 last week).

Just click on the map to enlarge.

A few photographs of Beeston's everyday heritage, which few notice. 

Beeston maps get Pokémon Go

I have updated my Civic Society Blue Plaques map to show changes to Y5 and Y36 bus routes plus drawing attention to how Pokémon Go uses blue plaques, war memorials, pubs, churches etc. as locations. I discovered this when our 17 year old grandson came to stay a couple of weeks ago and he whizzed around Beeston zapping Pokémon balls using the previous addition of the map.

To enlarge the maps below, just click on the map.

Welcome to Your Pocket Companion to Beeston

Since I first created a Beeston Underground style guide to the town's pubs and cafés map in 2013, it has undergone a number of changes. I have described my latest version as a 'Pocket Companion to Beeston' and will incorporate a reverse side so that it can be published.  It has been created A3 landscape size, but prints perfectly well in A4 landscape, albeit the text and images are smaller, but readable. My maps are always created to print in mono as well as colour.

It now includes all Beeston's blue plaque locations and some additional shops. Feedback is always welcome. My aim is to have some printed copies available for the Beeston Heritage Open days weekend, 10–13 September 2015.

I think I can fairly claim to have been publishing the most up-to-date map of Beeston pubs & cafés there is since 2013 and today I have added Time for Tea Vintage Tearoom to the map. This wonderful tearoom is tucked away in a little end of terrace house on Wilkinson Street, right beside Broxtowe Borough Council offices

It is the creation of Emma Smith (left), who is being helped by her mum, Jane Blake (right). The are making cakes and selling loose leaf teas. Click on the picture to enlarge it and read today's menu!

You can find a link to Time for Tea on Facebook. I wish them well. The smell of baking cake from the back of the tearoom was so so teatime. Go soon. You won't be disappointed. This could become Beeston's answer to Nottingham's Lee Rosie Tearoom (opposite the Broadway Cinema).

A new market comes to Beeston

I enjoy life in the slow lane. Always have. Rush along and you miss things. Even I miss things going slow, as I will explain later. Right now, join me on a Saturday morning amble last weekend into Beeston to get fresh fruit and some Sicilian Treats to take to my daughter on the Sunday to have with our tea after a day spent canal walking in North Warwickshire, where she lives.

I couldn't resist the chance to photograph David selling his runner-beans on the Wollaton Road at the entrance to the allotments and two ladies stopping to buy some of his lovely looking beans. If it were not for the fact that I grow my own runner-beans I would have bought some too. I could write a whole story about how important runner beans have been to me throughout my life. Perhaps I will.

At the bottom of the hill, where Wollaton Road becomes Station Road is The Square or is it Beeston Square. It is called both, even Town Square and across from the side I was on I could see the market. When I first began shopping in Beeston in 1996, the market was tucked away behind (Beeston) High Road. In some ways I liked it more. Nothing fancy or twee about it. Then the middle classes left bread and pies to working-class bakers and butchers. Hallams,  Barnsdale and the Homemade Bakery on the High Road still have this quality, but a good few of the stalls in The Square (which is what I call it) are middle-class 'artisan', who give the impression that no customer is ever quite good enough for them. They have a 'I will serve you if I must' attitude and their bread and pies are fancy and clever. They are playing at trade and that is what I do not like about them. Rant over, but I mean every word.

On the left side of the entrance to the Tesco car park off Station Road is this blue plaque. I wonder how many of us notice it? I added Beeston's blue plaques to my town pubs & cafés map a few months ago, but there were still a couple I had not located and my search for them added another reason to my Saturday amble. 

But I was drawn to Tesco's not just to shop, but because I knew they were hosting a new 'indoor' craft market, charging stall holders a small sum and then putting the income towards local good causes. There were still a few spaces available as you can see, but this was the first one and it is August. Come the autumn and Saturdays begin to get colder, I am sure all the available stall spaces will be taken.

There was Lisa with her 'JaneyDesigns' card stall, who caught the mood perfectly. A lovely looking stall.

Next to her was Capricorn Woodwork run by Chris Hopkinson. The picture below captures some of the detail and I was sorely tempted by the large bowl, but where would I put it? There comes a point where surface space is one's home is limited and we reached it long ago. These objects are tactile, to be held and stroked.

This was the StashApparel stall with its wonderful mannequin. A sign described their clothes as 'Trendy, edgy womans wear'. From the empty hangars I could see that they had attracted a few buyers by the time I arrived, just before mid-day.

The last stall might be described as a temporary Saturday branch of My Fabric Place, who have a shop on (Chilwell) High Road. In charge were Iain and Emma, who had brought along what seemed like a lorry-load of fabrics. The picture below os of the fabrics on the table Iain and Emma are standing behind.

There was also a face painting stall with a couple of youngsters being turned into animals and aliens, and I had passed several out in to town, as I had made my way to Tesco, but we live in an age when photographing children has become a no no, for understandable reasons, and children are being air-brushed from  history. It is something I have written and blogged about in the past. Perhaps it is another topic I need to re-visit.

By the main Tesco entrance from the car park were singers Percy and Rob, who go by the name of 'Adoring Fan' in honour of the one fan they know that have. They were belting out the songs and good with it. They told me that they were involved with a local charity called Mindset, which 'seeks to run a variety of social and activity groups for the benefit of socially excluded people, drawn on the skills, experience and knowledge of socially excluded people themselves. We aim to provide opportunities for people in Nottingham and the surrounding area and to improve their mental health through musical, creative and gardening activities'. 

I left Percy and Rob, very impressed with what Tesco was trying to achieve and full marks to them. Tesco is making a real effort to wins hearts and minds in Beeston and, with me at least, they are succeeding. Their glass, atrium like. walkway beside Station Road, opposite the now closed bus station, makes a great communal space and I wish their Saturday craft fair venture every success. I am sure it is a space which could perform many other functions.

Earlier on I mentioned that I was also going to try and find a couple of Beeston blue plaques I had yet to locate. Thanks to a Beeston Civic Society member involved with the scheme, my missing blue plaque location on Nether Street was located. Nether Street crosses Station Road and had I looked at the street signs this would have been obvious. The openstreetmap website also shows this, so I have no excuse for not finding the missing plaque on my own.

The sign above the first floor windows reads 'General Baptist Chapel, erected 1806, enlarged 1856'. To see the photograph larger, just click on it.

On the wall in front of the old chapel, now a day nursery, you will see this plaque. I think it speaks for itself. To find out more about Beeston's blue plaques visit the Beeston & District Local History Society website.

I walked back via Foster Street so I could visit the library and took in the full glory of the Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption. It is one of the finest buildings in Beeston and I love how it stands there, solid, making a statement. I have yet to go inside, but I will before too long. I have mentioned it before. And around the back of the church is a little oasis of quiet. As I mentioned in a recent blog, I am not religious (I do have a faith and have a piece I am working on about why Socialism is a faith and a way of trying to live).

Next to the church stands another building I am never quite sure what to call. Is it Broxtowe or Beeston Town Hall, or just 'Council offices'? On top of its roof is what I would describe as a bell tower. I have no idea what it houses, but it is a pity that the Council has chosen to surround it with radio masts and other clutter. I would have then down tomorrow if I was in charge. It is little things like this which tell you a great deal about those in charge.

From the town hall/council offices  I crossed the road and into the library before walking down Quart Road, pass the Pearson Centre, over Wollaton Road and onto Albion Street in search of my final 'missing' blue plaque, which I found in plain sight, opposite Sainsbury's petrol station. How could I have missed it for so long? Now I will see it every time!

I walked up Wollaton Road and home, having got what shopping I needed, discovered a new market and found two missing blue plaques. I met a few folk along the way. David was gone, having sold all his runner beans I am sure. At some point I would like to walk around the Wollaton Road Allotments. I see that the Allotments are taking part in the 2015 Heritage Open Days scheme and will be doing guided tours between 9am and 4pm on Saturday 12 September. Susan and I will go. In the morning I am helping the Beeston Civic Society with the stall in the Pearson Centre. Something to look forward to and blog about.

A Beeston wander prompted by a new Beeston based blog about 'urban wanders'

This post is by way of an experiment and is based on a map and photographs of where I wandered to. Nowhere was new to me, but I did see things unnoticed before. I was prompted by a friend who also lives in Beeston and, like me, used to live in Lenton. Richard (that is his name) has started a blog called The Nottingham Urban Wandering Collective.

Richard invited me to contribute and this post is shared with the new blog. More will be revealed as you look through the pics, but first my route map, which I hope is self-explanatory:

To see the map in more detail, simply click on it and it should enlarge. Now for the pics by location, running from 1 — 10.

1. The well used public footpath between Central Avenue and Wollaton Crescent, which I use regularly, looks about ready for a trim. I missed a couple of opportunities to photograph footpaths on yesterday's wander. I have fought a few footpath campaigns in my time.

Locations 2 and 3 of my wander have been posted to The Nottingham Urban Wandering Collective and relates to the old Humber factory and Queens Road Methodist Church, with its terracotta beehives above one its main entrances, plus a blue plaque by The Queens pub.

4 is a 'plastic bag factory' on Lower Regent Street (I have imbedded a caption in the photograph, a first for me). It looks in desperate need of some TLC. It must have been very impressive at one time and could be again, but two locals who passed me by as I was photographing it, described it as 'an eyesore' and 'ugly'.

5 are locations all close together at the eastern end of Nether Street. I love the way the two trees have grown together and I did find the blue plaque to George Wilkinson. There is meant to be a second Nether Street blue plaque, but I have yet to find it. I suspect I can't see it for the looking.

I am sure that John Clifford School has its champions, but the buildings are awful and the main entrance is ugly and forbidding. I would hate to walk in through these gates every day. Suspicion is poisoning our education system. The building has clearly reached the end of its days and needs replacing. Having been to meetings in the school only strengthens my belief that the pupils and staff deserve a new school ASAP.

6. Until this wander I had never taken in The Star Inn sign before, which looks like a night-time view of Nottingham's Council House. With the star shining above, perhaps the sign portrays a hope of better things to come. Having noticed it, I like it almost as much as the Commercial Inn sign on Wollaton Road, which I have referred to in a recent post.

Location 7 on Middle Street was on my list simply because I wanted pics of both. The war memorial seems isolated where it is and deserves a more prominent position. Perhaps with the coming of the Tram it could be moved to the new Interchange, where it would be seen by a lot more people every day. I did go down West End and found the blue plaque there, which is a bit of a disappointment. It really tells you nothing other than this was where Beeston's 'oldest buildings' were (are?). The spot on West End needs an information panel with images.

Location 8 marks Church Street with its two plaques and just tucked inside the churchyard by the gate is the Crimea War memorial. It's a lovely spot and I never been there once and not seen passers-by stop, sometimes reading the names, as if just to remind themselves of who they are. The Middle Street war memorial deserves to attract the same kind of attention. I recently blogged about the Boer War memorial in Broadgate Park, which is the grandest of the three. All should be seen by any visitor coming to Beeston.

9 is the shops beside the Interchange and The Square. I suspect a good other folk in town of Saturday were enjoying the sight of a tram caught up in work on the track, which meant the tram was parked up so to speak with a lone security guard to protect it, but it did me the opportunity to take a view from the tram towards The Square and I have to say I think it looks impressive. Enough I think to tempt passengers passing through to come back and have a closer look at Beeston town centre and that has to be good.

I rather like the stone slabs with an image of a wheelchair engraved on them and put down at the spots where wheelchair passengers should wait.

The Square was busy with a people looking at display panels and waiting for a on-stage performance by the community theatre group Excavate about the Chilwell munitions factory tragedy. The image below is from their website:

It appeared to be reminiscence theatre, drawing on the recorded memories and memoirs of the workers and families of those caught up in what happened in 1918. 

Next Saturday will see The Square and Broadgate Park alive to the sounds and sights of the 10th Beeston Carnival between 10am and 4pm (Summer Fete starts in Broadgate Park at noon). A fun day for sure. Let's hope the day is warm and sunny as yesterday.

10. My wander ended in the O'Liva café with a fine black Americano coffee and a small 'Sicilian treat' and a second one I took home to Susan (it's in the brown paper bag). For just over £3 it has to be the best value coffee and treat in Beeston. I could have chosen other favourite haunts like Mason & Mason, the Local not global deli, Fusion or the White Lion, but on this occasion O'Liva was close to where I needed to shop before walking up Wollaton Road and home. 

Altogether, I was out wandering for a good part of the morning. I wonder where my next wander will take me?