WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Bodger]

An interestig series of short films from 60/70 yrs ago,
http://vimeo.com/album/2895588/page:9/s ... :thumbnail
one about a family in 1945 West Riding,
http://vimeo.com/album/2895588/video/39643232

[Tripps]

Thanks for that Bodge. You do seem to have the knack of finding interesting stuff on the web. I just watched the 'Thoroughbred' film and was surprised to see the date 1940. I had tried to guess it before I saw the date, and was torn between the 1910's and the 1920's. The class differences were certainly well defined at that time. I wonder what Piketty would have made of the inequality then.

[Tardis]

Today in 1944, Rome was finally liberated

[Bodger]

Building the Boulder dam, about 16 mins in see a guy reversing the truck steering with his feet, 22 mins in planing the edges of 50 ft. plates, 26 min. vertical lathe machining 30 ft, dia pipes. no wonder the Yanks could put a man on the Moon !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2FMiSYGH9w

[Stanley]

David, he identifies that period as one of the high points in history of inequality but it improved later between 1950 and 1980, can't think why....
Anniversary of 'D' Day and people are bickering on the site about the Memorial Garden. Can't help wondering what those who died would think about it... I suspect they would be baffled!
Nice to see Mary Brennand getting well-deserved recognition for her work with Bosom Friends in today's BET. Too often local heroes are unsung....

[Tardis]

Bradley Wiggins has cancelled the "Ride with Brad" according to the B&E and Lancashire Telegraph

[Tizer]

Just for interest I made a montage of the front pages of 12 British newspapers on 6th June 2014, 70 years after D-Day. (Images of the front pages are available every day of the year on the BBC news web site.)

[PanBiker]

Came across this today, then and now on the D Day landing beaches:

D-Day Landing Sites Then And Now: 11 Striking Images That Bring The Past And Present Together

[Stanley]

The Long Ing development story in the BET.....







Barlick was looking very summery yesterday!
I've been meaning to mention for a while the empty shops. The two in the Majestic Row show no signs of life. The chocolate shop opposite had a notice in the window earlier this week saying 'Opening Soon' but no mention what as and Malcolm Sterratt's office in Church street has a notice saying it's going to open as a 'vintage shop' whatever that is. Ashworth House still swamps us with unwanted images. The Pink Pamper and the nail bar in Newtown are still empty and no signs of life. Quite a high proportion of empty shops, not a good sign.

[David Whipp]

A negative notice.

Reports of dead ducks in the canal last night. An early (to me) morning walk along the canal towpath didn't discover any dead ones in the water.

There were a couple of new clutches of ducklings and the large group of cygnets looked to be doing well. (I thought there were 5, but a resident on Avon Drive told me there are 8. Will check my photos to see if I can count heads.)

[Big Kev]

Barlick was looking very summery yesterday!
I've been meaning to mention for a while the empty shops. The two in the Majestic Row show no signs of life. The chocolate shop opposite had a notice in the window earlier this week saying 'Opening Soon' but no mention what as and Malcolm Sterratt's office in Church street has a notice saying it's going to open as a 'vintage shop' whatever that is. Ashworth House still swamps us with unwanted images. The Pink Pamper and the nail bar in Newtown are still empty and no signs of life. Quite a high proportion of empty shops, not a good sign.

It is a shame to see so many empty. Kate and Scott closed Yogies last week and Decisions will be moving to the old Railway PH very soon, that's another 3 empty. Hopefully these smaller premises will be easier to let than the bigger properties in Majestic Buildings.

[David Whipp]

Claire Teall was out earlier than me and didn't see any dead ducks; she does confirm that there are eight cygnets.

The shops in the Majestic Buildings are the most difficult to fill in Barlick. The owners insist on ten year leases; even if a business closes before the end of a lease, the owners can still be drawing rent - even though it's empty. When we've asked about using vacant units for temporary activities, there's been a blunt response.

One of the shops being vacated by Decisions is to have an interesting new occupant; a 'teaser' campaign has begun in the lead up to the opening (look out for the booklets around town). There's also talk that an existing business may be 'up-scaling' into vacated Yoghies.

Generally, Barlick's town centre remains more buoyant than similar sized centres. Even though some don't survive, there are new businesses setting up in shops falling empty.

[Big Kev]

Claire Teall was out earlier than me and didn't see any dead ducks; she does confirm that there are eight cygnets.

The shops in the Majestic Buildings are the most difficult to fill in Barlick. The owners insist on ten year leases; even if a business closes before the end of a lease, the owners can still be drawing rent - even though it's empty. When we've asked about using vacant units for temporary activities, there's been a blunt response.

One of the shops being vacated by Decisions is to have an interesting new occupant; a 'teaser' campaign has begun in the lead up to the opening (look out for the booklets around town). There's also talk that an existing business may be 'up-scaling' into vacated Yoghies.

Generally, Barlick's town centre remains more buoyant than similar sized centres. Even though some don't survive, there are new businesses setting up in shops falling empty.

Where did the dead duck report come from? Was it a wind up?

It is noticeable that the smaller shops are let much quicker than the larger. I did notice that Marquis Photography had also moved out of Newtown, another large shop. Is it worth approaching the owners and asking about partitioning the larger shops? I understand they could well be taking rent on an empty premises but it must be better to be occupied...

[Pluggy]

Claire Teall was out earlier than me and didn't see any dead ducks; she does confirm that there are eight cygnets.

The shops in the Majestic Buildings are the most difficult to fill in Barlick. The owners insist on ten year leases; even if a business closes before the end of a lease, the owners can still be drawing rent - even though it's empty. When we've asked about using vacant units for temporary activities, there's been a blunt response.

One of the shops being vacated by Decisions is to have an interesting new occupant; a 'teaser' campaign has begun in the lead up to the opening (look out for the booklets around town). There's also talk that an existing business may be 'up-scaling' into vacated Yoghies.

Generally, Barlick's town centre remains more buoyant than similar sized centres. Even though some don't survive, there are new businesses setting up in shops falling empty.

Interesting, our Church has the upstairs of the Majestic building on a 99 year lease. Dealing with the landlord has had difficult moments, he tried to impose even more draconian terms and conditions on us in 2012 but we dug our heels in and we reached a compromise. He wanted us to pay half of the upkeep of the building because we have half the floor area. Hardly fair since most of the value of the property is in the commercial properties downstairs and the potential use of the upstairs is very limited. It can't really be made into flats since it has few windows and its a listed building with particular emphasis on the facade remaining unchanged, The upkeep is expensive enough for a charity, because the T&C states the outside upstairs must be maintained to a high standard and that is entirely our concern, It has to be painted a minimum of every three years. The upstairs had lain desolate for several years before we took it on, it has little commercial value. The only access is by small entrances at the sides of the chops near the rear of the building and up stairs. The roof is probably the major upkeep expense, The valley gutter is forever leaking. Until a few years back before the library put up anti-climb measures we had a lot of problems with kids climbing onto the roof and damaging tiles. The library has a low roof and the ridge is only a couple of feet from our valley.

We took it as the commercial premises downstairs had been complaining because he'd put their rents up and he wanted us to subsidise the shops. He's approaching retirement and we thought his pension pot was maybe a little lacking..

[Stanley]

One solution might be for multiple occupancy of larger premises like the antiques centres in old mills which have one head rent and multiple businesses in them. My mate Robert let Masson Mill to Edinburgh Woollen Mills on that basis.
I hadn't realised Yogie's had stopped trading. Pity, they had aimed for a high standard and deserved to succeed.
Personal communications asking questions about what was going on in the Memorial Gardens thread. All critical of the objectors. I don't think they realise how much harm they are doing themselves.

[Thomo]

It would be interesting to know just who owns the Majestic building, or is this a secret?

[Stanley]

Philipe Massa crashing in the Grand Prix and taking Perez out. How the hell did they both walk away?

[Pluggy]

Back in the seventies, they wouldn't. The cars are an order of magnitude safer these days. The drivers compartment is immensely strong and the rest of the car is designed to absorb impact. The tracks are safer too, 4 layers of tyres between the crash barrier and the wall beyond helps.



It probably isn't prudent to mention the Majestic's landlord's name in a public forum. Its owned by a trust I believe and the bod we deal with is the head honcho.

[Bodger]

Normandy, then & now, click on pic to change time,
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign ... nteractive

[Nolic]

Interesting that Ofsted's assessment of a service can change from "Outstanding" to "Inadequate, requiring improvement" as soon as politicians start to get squeaky bums. For Birmingham schools read Haringey and Baby P. Terrible organisation that is supposed to be independent of political influence. Nolic

[plaques]

Work has started on clearing the old Glen Mills, North Valley Rd Colne. From the way they are going about it I don't think it will be long before they get round to demolishing the chimney. Some of the remaining factory roof is covered with asbestos sheeting so this may slow them down a bit.

[Stanley]

Correction. I note that the nail bar in Newtown is still trading....
Comrade, I note that nobody is suggesting giving the Birmingham LEA enough funding to do a proper job....
P. Get pics of the chimney now please.....
The realisation that there comes a point when the duvet core has passed it's sell-by date!

[Bruff]

''..........nobody is suggesting giving the Birmingham LEA enough funding to do a proper job''

Birmingham could only get involved with any schools under their control; some of the schools identified are Academies and there is no local authority oversight of these - the employer is the Board of Governers or Foundation Trust or whatever and ultimately they are accountable to the Secretary of State for Education (SoS) in Westminster. I think this is what the coalition call 'encouraging localism'. There is also something amusing about seeing an SoS at DfE who yearns for all schools to be freed to do as they wish, suddenly getting all uncomfortable when those freedoms take them into uncomfortable areas and then frantically looking for where the buck stops. [Look, I know New Labour set the ball running on Academies, but this Government has taken up the baton with a gusto, to which we must also add their support for Free Schools].

Personally, and I've said much of this before, there should be none of this Academy, Free, Private, Grammar, Faith School business. There should be local primary, junior, and comprehensive secondary schools and you go to them, whoever you are and whatever your means. None of this shipping your kids next door, or lying to a Church, or private coaching for an 11+. I'd like schools under local control and local accountability, with motivated and engaged pupils, parents, staff and the wider community. We don't need some 'here today, gone tomorrow' careerist politician in Westminster telling them what to do.

Faith schools are a bug bear of mine. The local primary school here in Hoylake - the only primary school in Hoylake - is a C of E school whose website boasts on the homepage of their instilling 'Christian values' in pupils. Well forgive me, but as an atheist I would not want any Christian values instilling in any children I may have had - they can do all that of their own accord of they wish. And so if I were true to my principles, I would not see my children attend their local school - they'd have to schlep off to the town next door. Folk can practice any religion they want in the privacy of their own time and circumstance and thank goodness they can. But it has no place in state education, outside of its quite legitimate study as theology/RE.

Richard Broughton

[Stanley]

Richard, I couldn't agree with you more. The connection between religion and schools started when the monasteries were the only place you could get educated and after the Dissolution, with the rise of the grammar schools many of the teachers were still displaced monks and they naturally saw religion as being a key component of education. We have never got beyond that and I suppose that the other key component of the mixture of education and religion goes back to the Jesuits who based their evangelising on the education of children and the setting up of the first universities. It was a natural progression to allow RC, CofE and Jewish faith schools which originally were restricted to those faiths but as education became more subject to state control and funding gradually became mixed schools but with a religious base. I can remember my mother taking me to a convent school when I was about 9 years old and had to leave my first CofE school, Hope Memorial, and the nuns frightened me to death, luckily I finished up in a very relaxed CofE school, St Thomas'.
I agree totally with your list and hate this plethora of 'academies' etc. which I'm afraid I see as the government abrogating control and therefore responsibility for education, a subtle form of outsourcing (which I also hate!).
We live in the 21st century, not the 15th and it's time we faced up to this. Disestablish the Anglican church and divorce schools from religion, just as they have done in America.

[Tizer]

Mrs Tiz spent most of her teaching career very successfully in a secondary modern school in a big town (they still had the sec mod and grammar system in Buckinghamshire). When the school was told it would be closed she looked for a post elsewhere and found what looked like a great place, a small C of E school in a rural area. It all seemed great until she started and found it was run by a headmistress and her clique who had very strict views on religion - they were like C of E equivalents of the fundamentalist muslims! Fortunately, I'd just started up a publishing business and couldn't cope with it all by myself so she ditched the teaching job and joined me.