Trips & Adventures – 30 January 2020

The BBC has suspended plans to wind down its Red Button text services. Its shutdown was due to start today (30 January), but the BBC has called a halt to the closure and TV sets will continue to carry text services – keeping alive a tradition started by the launch of Ceefax 45 years ago. Walter from Out In The City was relieved to hear the news and was heard to say: “If things don’t change, they will stay as they are”.

Today members of Out In The City travelled to Irlam Railway Station which has been restored to its former glory. After the opening of the railway between Manchester and Liverpool in 1873, Irlam required a station. A magnificent red brick ticket office was designed to serve the passengers.

In 1894, to accommodate the newly built Manchester Ship Canal, the line had to be raised to provide clearance for ships. Elevating the platform, the original station was demolished and the present ticket office was built on the other side of the tracks.

After years of welcoming passengers the station was closed in the 1970s and was left to crumble. The once derelict building has now been lovingly restored. Local residents have formed the Friends of IRlam STation to improve the area and develop a hive of community activity.

We had lunch hosted by Jo and her staff in the railway cafe. The staff are very friendly and helpful and the food was really excellent and the cakes amazing.

Patrick also gave a very informative talk about the history of the station and Jo told us some historic local information about Irlam and Cadishead, an area that produced goods such as candles, basketwork and steel.

For more photos please see here

 

Trips & Adventures – 23 January 2020

We met at Yates for a lunch time meal. The food was fabulous (although by 12.00 noon they had already run out of jacket potatoes). After an hour or so of incidents and accidents, hints and allegations, laughter, tears and the odd pint, we set off on the short walk to Godlee Observatory.

This can be seen from Sackville Park, and is located in a tower on the roof of one of the University buildings. It was given to the city of Manchester by Francis Godlee when construction was completed in 1902. The dome is constructed out of papier-mâché, and famously survived the bombings during the Second World War.

We met our tour host who for many years has been a regular member of the Manchester Astronomical Society, one of the oldest astronomical societies in the country, having become independent in 1903.

The society meets every Thursday with the aim to encourage the study of astronomy for both the newcomer and seasoned observer alike.

We went up lifts, walked down corridors, went from building extension to original building and eventually reached Floor G of the Sackville Street building. There are meeting rooms where we were entertained by our tour host with his interesting and informative talk. We “caught a falling star” by handling a piece of meteorite which had landed in Brazil over 4,000 years ago.

The highlight was entering the actual observatory, accessed by climbing up a spiral staircase and going through a trap door, and seeing the Godlee double telescope made by Grubb of Dublin.

Lots of fantastic photos can be seen by clicking here

 

Trips & Adventures – 16 January 2020

The train trip from Manchester to Wakefield (via Leeds) was uneventful, but we did manage to get a photo of Peter, our famous Out In The City official photographer. He is normally behind the lens so rarely features on this website.

We walked from the train station to the Hepworth Gallery which is an art museum which opened on 21 May 2011. The gallery is situated on the south side of the River Calder and takes its name from artist and sculptor Barbara Hepworth who was born and educated in the city.

The Gallery cafe was really busy but we managed to sit together. Most of us had chicken burgers with three-times fried chips and coleslaw and the usual hand crafted coffees, whilst others had the gluten free and vegetarian options.

Specifically, we wanted to see the exhibition – Alan Davie & David Hockney: Early Works. The exhibition brought together around 45 paintings and works on paper by Alan Davie and David Hockney, many of which have not been seen publicly for decades.

Pairing early works by the late Scottish painter Alan Davie (1920-2014) and David Hockney, the gallery sets out to acknowledge Davie’s influence on the younger Hockney, who took what he needed from the older artist and moved on.

Cocks, bums, breasts, bits of bodies and various abstract symbols feature in two related painting exhibitions. “We 2 boys together clinging”, were more than random painterly mutterings, but were open provocation in the art of the early 60s. While Hockney was being openly gay, and quoting Walt Whitman, Davie had begun adding brushed-on phrases: Mango Time, Peach Time, Banana Time to otherwise abstract canvases. You can take these, I suppose, as sexual euphemisms.

We then made our way on the free bus to the city centre to view the cathedral and have refreshments in the cathedral cafe, before heading home.

The latest “Crap Towns” survey report suggests that six of the ten worst places to live in England are in Yorkshire. Wakefield is a “cultural wilderness” according to this survey. Of course, that is easy to counter. It’s just not true. So let’s be positive, let’s celebrate this special region of the UK and let’s ignore anyone who says any differently.

Trips & Adventures – 9 January 2020

Happy New Year everyone! As we say goodbye to the ‘tens’ we here at Out In The City wish you all a fun, fruitful and fabulous start to the next bloody decade.

After lunch and drinks at the Moon Under Water we took the short walk to the People’s History Museum on the left bank of the River Irwell.

The current exhibitions included “Disrupt? Peterloo and Protest”, “Overspill: the history of the Manchester slum clearance” and “The Unfurlings – a banner display”.

After looking round the exhibitions and some of the more permanent displays we retired to the Left Bank Cafe for teas and coffee.

In the Out In The City Annual Awards the prize for the campest walk goes to Walter:

The best dancer goes to Tony:

The best photographer goes to Peter (but we don’t have any photos of him).

The prize for the best shopkeeper goes to Owen:

and the best item in the Co-op goes to: