Where Have You Just Been?

[Gloria]

We have been to the Steam Fair at Heskin Hall near Eccleston. Loads of old landrovers, cars, steam engines and tractors. It carries on tomorrow and well worth going if you are looking for somewhere to go.

[PanBiker]

Eva Mae's christening at Ghyll Church then a catch up with family at the reception at Rolls Merlin suite. Eva Mae was a very good little girl at the church and for most of the day, she is Sally's half cousins little girl. A nice day all round.

[Big Kev]

Shooting a wedding in Oswaldtwistle for most of the day then down The Cellar Bar, to catch the second half of my son's gig. A good day all round really

[PanBiker]

A circular on my bike, a few more mile in preparation for the coast to coast in August. Barlick, Brogden, Middop, Martin Top, Rimmington, Gisburn and back home, just 13 and a bit miles. Stopped on Gisburn Road for a natter with Thomo who was in his garden, a bit of a chat about the book launch at Earby History Society yesterday and a look at some interesting demob papers from after WWI.

[Tardis]

Lichfield. Much of it be-decked with yellow ribbons for Stephen Sutton, though it didn't really lessen the Lichfield Bower

[Tardis]

RAF Cosford

[PanBiker]

Not just been but an apt post for today. Ten years ago on the 5th June 2004 myself and my lad Dan were in France for the 60th anniversary of D-Day. We made the trip on my motorbike, I picked Dan up from the house he was sharing with his mate in Leamington and we got the early morning fast ferry that was operating at the time from Folkestone to Boulogne. 45 minutes later we were on French soil by 7.00am.



Two and a half hours later and we have covered the 150 miles or so down the coast and have just entered Normandy.



Here's Dan looking suitably bleary eyed, I think he had been asleep on the pillion for part of the journey down the coast. We stopped here for a brew and something to eat before pushing on for Pegasus Bridge.



This is the original bridge that was stormed in the opening battle of the D Day invasion in the early hours of the 6th June 1944. It is preserved in the field alongside the museum which is now sited in the field that was the landing target for the gliders that delivered the troops preceding the attack and subsequent capture of the bridge. A replacement bridge installed in 1994 now spans the Caen Canal.



This is the Cafe Gondree adjacent to the bridge, this was the first house in France to be liberated by allied troops. The Granddaughter of the owner in 1944 still ran the Cafe in 2004. She was little girl hiding in the cellar during the fire fight for the bridge and emerged after the battle to be given chocolate by one of the men from the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry that captured and held the bridge.

Following our visit to Pegasus Bridge we travelled on to the Merville Battery which was subjugated by the Paras in the early hours of D Day. This was targeted as it's position dominated the coast and particularly Sword Beach. It was essential that these two key targets were captured and neutralised before the landing craft hit the beaches. The capture and holding of Pegasus Bridge secured the only crossing of the Caen Canal which protected advancing troops from the western landing beaches from counter attack from German Panzer Tanks located East of the canal. Neutralising the Merville Battery removed the greatest risk to the landing craft and troops disembarking on the British and Canadian beaches.

We stayed in France for three days and visited all of the invasion beaches and a good number of the cemeteries and memorials. Accommodation was so scarce in the area that I had to book 3 separate campsites for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We ended up 50 miles inland on one of them but it was no real problem commuting up to the coast each day. We were only packing and carrying sleeping bags as for convenience I booked on Eurocamp sites with walk in tent facilities. A bit nomadic but needs must at the time. It was a fantastic road trip at a poignant point in history.

There will be far fewer veterans this year than there was in 2004, I wish them all well and thank them for the freedom we enjoy today.

[Stanley]

Nice post Ian, couldn't be more topical....

[PanBiker]

Nice bike ride, Gisburn, Bolton by Bowland, Tosside, Wigglesworth, Paythore, Horton, Bracewell and home. 26.3 miles with a few friends. Few more miles for us for the Coast to Coast.
There is big cycle event on today and we have had the riders following us (generally passing), going the other way and crossing our route. We saw some lads who were sorting a puncture and they said there were two routes one of which was 100K. Some fairly young kids as well, pegging up the hills as if the didn't exist!

[Travis]

Our first Fun Day on the field at Salterforth today since we decided to join the organising team. We have a fantastic but very tiring day. If you were there I was the man liberating you from a few coppers at the gate. I was most impressed by the seven year old who ran a fell race this morning and then ran the "Drag" race this afternoon. An amazing young man, well done.

[Stanley]

Pic of you in the BET next week?

[PanBiker]

Further to my D Day post above I heard a nice snippet during the BBC's coverage of the events last Friday. Arlette Gondree who was the little girl I mentioned in the house next to Pegasus bridge received a bar of chocolate every year on the anniversary from the infantryman that gave her the chocolate on D Day. She reciprocated with a bottle of wine each year as offered by her Father on the day, (I incorrectly said that it was her Grandfather). This annual exchange apparently continued each year until the death of the soldier a few years ago.

[David Whipp]

A meeting with the Environment Agency yesterday afternoon about their ending the contract with Pendle Council for maintenance and management of watercourses in the borough.

The operations manager for Lancashire and Cumbria made it clear that the EA aren't going to renew the contract, but did hold out the prospect of the borough council having an enhanced role working "in partnership" with the EA.

He stated that the EA's maintenance teams were paying fortnightly visits to clear trash screens and the like, and claimed that they would maintain the level of service previously provided by the council. However, we produced evidence to show that branches stuck in the culvert entrance at Clough Park had been there for 3 weeks, despite the issue having been reported to the agency. (Under Pendle's watch, the debris would have been cleared when found.)

I reported that the Yorkshire team had said that they would merely do a 'winter walk through' of watercourses; with no regular inspection of potential blockage sites. EA staff present said we'd have to discuss that with them directly.

I underlined the advantages of the council leading a multi-agency approach to reducing flood risk and quoted the reduction in risk at Ghyll Meadows and the work taking place in Earby as examples of flood alleviation which wouldn't have happened without our involvement.

EA reported that, although budgets (and staff) had been cut previously, funding had been restored to previous levels. I offered projects in Pendle as opportunities for investment and cited opening up the culvert in Clough Park as an example of work that could be carried out.

[Stanley]

Well done David. As you know I have been flagging up the flood danger for many years, particularly the Clough culvert. We have the example of July 1932 for what can happen and it is still an accident waiting to happen. Keep at 'em!

[Bruff]

Down to Cheltenham to see the in-laws this weekend gone. Town very busy as the food festival was on, but then again it's festival after festival in that town - jazz, literature, science, even the Gold Cup is called the Cheltenham Festival.

Took the opportunity of seeing the latest Banksy that has appeared there, on the back of the GCHQ/NSA revelations. The artwork is on a house quite near GCHQ, and it's more or less set up for the work with gable end, phonebox and satellite dish. It appeared overnight back in April. Banksy admitted to it being one of his the other week.

http://www.streetartnews.net/2014/04/ba ... am-uk.html

Richard Broughton

[PanBiker]

I like that one Richard, fits in well with the former Bletchley Park lads.

[Bruff]

Got a photo of me in the booth on the phone with my back to the camera. We popped down at about 10 on a Sunday morning and there was a steady stream of folk looking at it/getting photo's etc.

There's a pub over the road from it. Apparently, regulars there have taken to phoning the booth on occasion and if it's answered putting on their best 'Russian' accent and saying: 'This is Yellow Hen; is the line now secure?'

Richard Broughton

[David Whipp]

Not as exciting as Bruff's brush with Banksy...

Site visits for tomorrow evening's area committee meeting. Amongst other things, committee members visited the proposed location of the new access onto Mosley Street from the Memorial Gardens. We also had a look at a problem property in the area which I'm asking the committee to take action on.

Here's some guttering hanging off the gable end (the downspout has already fallen off).



And here's the hole in (what was) the kitchen roof.



Both pictures by Claire Teall.

[Stanley]

Amazing how good buildings can be neglected like that.
Have received the tickets for the Fellsman. Susan and I board at 09:00 on July 9th at Blackburn and have a three hour ride to Appleby with Full English Breakfast. That will be nice..... Same on the way back with dinner arriving at Blackburn at 19:40. A good day out?

[LizG]

To the Melbourne Aquarium with a 7 year old, a 6 year old and a 5 year old. It's very well designed and caters for their short span of attention. The last exhibit is the penguins and I felt quite sad; they stood there like the captive penguins in Happy Feet. I hope they weren't as sad as they looked.

[Stanley]

They look so helpless....

[Wendyf]

We enjoyed seeing Bellowhead last night at the Royal Hall in Harrogate. I wonder if Postman Pete was there too...he hasn't been on the site for a while .

[Stanley]

He's alive and well and trotting round Barlick!

[David Whipp]

I'll let you guess...

[PanBiker]

I know, I took my kids to the top of that a good number of years ago.

I came back from a week in Norfolk yesterday. It's a top coat cooler up here or if you want it in numbers about 6 degrees of separation!