Celebrating Wibs' 40th birthday

Well we wondered if it was actually going to happen, but at the last minute the big fella came up trumps and organised a great meal for closest friends at the Sirloin in Hoghton.








As always Bev had made sure all Paul's past 40 years were well documented with a number of photo boards which featured all of us to some extent, bringing back many happy memories of past celebrations, holidays and general mucking about.

Bev had also made a fabulous cake, with Paul featuring dressed in camouflage as he tries to capture that perfect picture of a bird, proving that there is talent in the Webster house after all!


For once I managed to get everyone on camera at some point in the evening, and this included Carole and me too. The meal was fantastic and we had a great time reminiscing and generally taking the whatsit out of what is after all a top mate.

Manchester Velodrome visit

The National Cycling Centre, more commonly known as Manchester Velodrome, was built ahead of the 1996 Commonwealth Games, and along with the stadium, which is now Manchester City's home, it has become one of the Games' enduring legacies.

Britain's re-emergence as a dominant world power in cycling is in part due to the excellent facilities in Manchester, and I had the chance to go and visit this evening with the camera club, with the aim, hopefully, of taking some decent pictures.

The session we'd gone to photograph was devoted to a local club, who appeared to be a decent standard - certainly much to good for my photography as more often than not as they were just too quick for me!

We had access to all the seating areas, and without an audience I had time to set up the tripod to build this 180° panorama.



There were plenty places to look for photos inside the track circuit, from the racks of bikes to the track itself, but sports photography is more difficult than it looks and many of the images ended up being deleted once I got them on the computer.

A handful did come out quite well though, and as hopefully there'll be another visit in a few months, I may get chance to learn from my mistakes and have another go.

A fire drill with a difference!

Over the summer with the lighter nights, the camera club itinery includes a number of evenings out, but so far they've always fallen on days when I've had something else on. This week though the plan was to visit the local fire station, so I was pleased to coming along, even though I hadn't seen beyond the opportunity to take pictures of fire engines.

After a little confusion about the arrangements, the guys really came up trumps for us by changing into their gear and setting up a full drill in their practice area round the back of the station. Although the rain never stopped, it was quickly forgotton in a fast-paced hour or so where there was so much going on it was difficult to keep up and see the different picture opportunities available.




From a photography point of view, this was a real test in composition, swapping lenses frequently as the exercise developed, all the time trying to keep camera body and lenses relatively dry and the glass free from splashes.




The fire crew used water directly from the river behind the station (incredibly the hosepipe ban extends to fire crews too, at least when training), and simulated tackling a high level fire using the tower in the corner of the training area. This involved setting up the ladders quickly, and climbing through a window area to tackle the 'blaze'.

What I hadn't expected was the structure to the exercise; beforehand the station manager on duty called a drill and set out the objective of the exercise, then control was taken over by the watch manager, who was also being shadowed by as part of their training. Each firefighter had specific responsibilities, whether managing the water supply, laying hoses, supporting the ladders and of course directing the water jets.

Suddenly a series of whistle blasts sounded, this indicated that the 'building' was no longer considered safe, so all the firefighters in the tower had to exit quickly. Even here there were strict procedures to follow: I noticed only one firefighter was allowed on the ladder at any one time, and the ladder was always supported by another. With everyone accounted for, they then set up a ground-level jet, which could continue to douse the flames from a safe distance, and could even be left alone while efforts were concentrated elsewhere.

At the end of the exercise, the equipment was dismantled and dried, the hoses rolled up and the fire engine packed. After this the watch manager and station manager talked the team through the exercise, highlighting what worked well and what could have been better. To the untrained eye though, it was a very impressive display, especially as many on the team were new starters.

I wasn't aware that a number of the crew in Darwen are retained firefighters, having other jobs and careers too. They have to respond to a paging within five minutes to deal with the full range of emergencies alongside their full-time colleagues, and this makes the evening even more humbling. We talked about the anti-social behaviour fire crews experience, like hoax calls, which surely wouldn't happen as often if people could see exercises like this.

Historical Heysham

The little church at Heysham in its picturesque and dramatic setting overlooking Morecambe Bay must be one of the most important historical buildings in Lancashire, if not the country. It's certainly an impressive sight. Even though the ruined neighbouring St Patricks Chapel is probably older, St Peters, although modified over the years, is still fully intact and still in use today as the parish church.

Parts of the church date back to the 7th century, around the time St Cuthbert settled on Lindisfarne in Northumberland, and the bulk of the church is from the 14th and 15th century.

The site shares some similarities to Lindisfarne, being an isolated rocky outcrop overlooking the sea, and being reachable over dangerous sands at low tide (although in Heysham's case there are other ways to get there!).

St Peters is a grade 1 listed building and a scheduled monument - a nationally important historic building afforded additional protection above ordinary listed status.

There's a simple walk to be done around the headland, which takes in the very old and also the modern (power station and ferry terminal), in a circuit of only a couple of miles. From a photography point of view there's plenty photo opportunities, and if the light's right it's well worth a visit.

An afternoon with Jules and the pups

Today we'd arranged to go over at Lightwood in the Lakes to see Julie for the afternoon, however first I had an unexpected appointment with the dentist, having chipped a tooth over the weekend. Not particularly pleasant, especially when he explained that although he'd filled it for now (for forty quid), in six months' time it would need a crown. Terrific. Luckily as far as the blog's concerned there's no photo of this particular inconvenience!



Anyhow, from then on the day improved even though half my face felt numb for most of the afternoon (soup for dinner at the cafe at the Lakeland store in Windermere was not one of my finest hours). Julie's been nursing a litter of nine labrador pups over the last few weeks, all of which have names relating to chocolate bars, such as Twix, Buttons, Aero, Crunchie etc, and even (my favourite) the Milky Bar Kid!

Although five now have new homes, there are still four at the farm, though another two are leaving later this week.





We don't see Jules (or Ann and Barry for that matter) as often as we should, so it was a good opportunity to catch up, take some photos of the pups (although not surprisingly they wouldn't stay still!), and enjoy a great evening meal at the superb Masons Arms down the hill at Bowland Bridge - highly recommended.

Afternoon tea at Northcote Manor

As a treat to ourselves for our 40th birthdays, in the afternoon we headed over to Northcote Manor for a treat, where we'd booked afternoon tea.

At lunchtime we made our way to Clitheroe for a light lunch first at the Emporium, however the additional chips we'd ordered proved much more than we bargained for... not a wise idea given that we were due at Northcote Manor at four.









When we got to Northcote, we felt OK if not especially hungry, and when the food arrived we took a sharp breath - there was loads to eat! As well as the four different types of sandwiches each, there was a delicious selection of cakes including sticky date cakes, victoria sandwiches, Eccles cakes, chocolate cakes and scones with jam and cream.



Of course it was too good to leave, but by the time we finished we felt well and truly stuffed! (picture posed by Carole!)

Digging up the spuds

Since the beginning of April I've been trying my luck with growing some vegetables in a small plot around the side of the house. I'd planted about a dozen or so potatoes as well as a couple of rows of onions, and today would be the moment of truth as I dug the first ones up.












So far so good! I was hoping for perhaps a few more but there's at least half a dozen decent sized potatoes under each of the three plants I've lifted so far - should keep us fed for a few weeks!

Another birthday cake

Back home after our holidays and over at Jean & Kevan's for tea - plus another birthday cake!

Look what happens when we're going home!

Early morning on Skye, as we've a long drive to get home - and look at the weather!


This is the best view across the bay we've had all week, a pity we've had to wait until the morning we leave to see it.

Our house for the week has been wonderful, in a superb clifftop location, superbly kitted out and perfect if you want a week away from it all. Perhaps a little too remote to be practical, but nevertheless ideal for pulling up the drawbridge for a week.

Had the weather been better then we'd have taken a boat trip to Loch Caruisk and done a fair amount of walking, but it was not to be. Even so, the facilities inside the house meant we weren't stuck for things to do - and we've both come away feeling really relaxed, which was the main objective.

Hopefully the weather will be a little better at home for our second week off?

Finally some nice weather!

Our final day on Skye and at last the weather was set to improve enough for us to go for a little walk in the afternoon. Carole had her eye on the Blue Shed Cafe, at Torrin, the next village along. Torrin is close to the shores of Loch Slapin, a beautiful sea loch which extends right to the heart of the Cuillins, and the road hugs the coastline in a huge semi-circle around the head of the bay.

We parked close to the bridge at the head of the loch where there was room to leave the car without blocking the road, and walked the couple of miles or so along the road up to Torrin village. The Blue Shed is exactly that - a large wooden shed-like building painted a vivid shade of blue, which makes it visible from the road several miles away.

It's hard to imagine a huge passing trade here, but there were customers in when we got there, and an impressive selection of cakes and tray bakes to choose from too. So far the skies had remained overcast, but the forecast sunnier weather finally made an appearance which meant the return walk was much brighter and the scenery more spectacular.

Down by the shore the layers of seaweed deposited by the tide were exposed to the elements in different ways, giving each stripe its own colour, and this combined with the pebbles on the beach made for an interesting foreground and by far my best pictures of the week. What a difference a bit of sunshine makes!

Although facing a different bay entirely, these mountains are alongside the ones we can see from the house. Bla Bheinn on the left here is, at 928m, one of the largest in the Black Cuillins, and it can be seen behind the beach on the Elgol side of the coast at Camasunary. The next mountain pictured is Garbh-beinn at 808m and further round is Belig, slightly separated from the rest and a little smaller, at 702m.

Back at the house, the improved weather meant we could at last have our barbecue, though I had to light it around the back where it was sheltered, but it did meant that at last we could have our drink on the terrace!