Trips & Adventures – 24 January 2019

Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire on the River Severn. It is easy to get to, as it only took one hour and six minutes on the train from Manchester Piccadilly, and there is so much to see.

Shrewsbury is a market town whose centre has a largely unspoilt medieval street plan and over 660 listed buildings, including several examples of timber framing from the 15th and 16th centuries. Shrewsbury Castle, a red sandstone fortification, and Shrewsbury Abbey, a former Benedictine monastery, were founded in 1074 and 1083 respectively by the Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, Roger de Montgomery. The town is the birthplace of Charles Darwin and is where he spent 27 years of his life.

We visited the Castle (which unfortunately was closed until mid-February) and climbed the tower which provided a panoramic view over the town. Of course, it was time for lunch and we found a very nice pub “The Bull”. Shrewsbury is one of the few places in the UK where independent shops outnumber the big chains.

You can easily explore the town centre on foot and we went to the Abbey, St Chad’s church and the Museum and Art Gallery. There were many old streets, passages and alleys and we spotted “Grope Lane” on our travels.

Next to Shrewsbury Cathedral was a lovely cafe called the “Orchard Cafe”. Age UK meet there once a month for a meal out, and we sampled delicious cakes with our coffee. The locals confirmed that the town is not pronounced “Shrohz-ber-ee” but should be pronounced “Shrews-ber-ee”.

We ended up tired and museumed-out, but wanting to come back to explore more.

 

 

Trips & Adventures – 17 January 2019

After dining at the Moon Under Water, we took the short walk along Deansgate to the John Rylands Library.

Although the Library was named after a man, it was founded by a woman. Enriqueta Rylands opened her Library in 1900 as a gift to the people of Manchester 18 years before some women achieved the freedom to vote. Its collections contain previously unheard stories of women from around the world.

The current exhibition is “The Women Who Shaped Manchester”. The gallery showcases a variety of items from poems, letters and books to handwritten manuscripts. Together they tell remarkable stories of how women have been perceived and sought to challenge the status quo.

Too little ink has been spilled telling the stories of exceptional women from Manchester’s past – from the mill workers to the protesters who galvanised the streets. We delved into the sepia-tinted days of 19th and 20th century Manchester seeing the city through the words and actions of extraordinary women. We were amazed by their feats as they paved new paths with their dedication and determination.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to photograph the exhibits as some were sensitive to light. One extraordinary letter was from Winston Churchill where he was clearly worried that women would disrupt a meeting at the Free Trade Hall. He wanted the women to sign an agreement confirming best behaviour or be excluded from the building!

We read Emmeline Pankhurst’s stirring letter that speaks for those prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of equality. The exhibition captures the passion and strength of these pioneers, and we were inspired by the Women Who Shaped Manchester.

We had another opportunity to dress up. I’m thinking of changing the name of the group from “Out In The City” to “Hat In The City”.

We also looked at the reading room and historic toilets in the basement before retiring to the café for refreshments and cakes.

Trips & Adventures – 10 January 2019

The day started well – the Northern Rail train arrived early (!) – and the day continued well. We travelled comfortably from Manchester, enjoying some refreshments, and arrived in York at about 11.40am.

Peter had been a resident in York when he was a student in the mid-1960s, so he acted as our guide. We headed for the York Arms that, back in the day, used to be a gay pub (apparently only on a Wednesday when there was an R in the month).

The York Arms is a traditional pub and we settled in one of the back rooms with an open fire and without muzak. The food came in super-sized portions and was served on large plates. It not only tasted great but was very reasonably priced. The sticky toffee pudding tempted us but we had to admit we were too full.

We posed for photos outside the York Minster before making our way to the Yorkshire Museum to view the Jurassic World Exhibition. There were some hands-on exhibits and Peter impressed us with his expert knowledge of ammonites and crinoids (sea-lilies). The largest ammonites have reached over three metres across. We handled a bone from the neck of a pterodactyl which was possibly 130 million years old! The greatest fun was putting on the virtual-reality glasses and feeding tree branches to a dinosaur.

We also viewed the various exhibits from Roman times when York was known as Eboracum to more modern times, as well as the library and reading room. We always take an opportunity to dress up:

Our final stop was Bailey’s Tea Rooms where we managed a cake as well as our tea and coffee.

Trips & Adventures – 3 January 2019

We were heading to the Odeon cinema to see “Bohemian Rhapsody”,  the story of the life of Freddie Mercury (lead singer of pop combo Queen), but we stopped off at one of the oldest pubs in Manchester.

The Briton’s Protection has stood proudly on the corner of Lower Mosley  Street and Great Bridgewater Street since 1811 and is famed for its enormous whisky collection. The pub grub was also pretty good and was washed down with a pint of Yakima Gold – they also house an extensive range of real ales.

This is a conversation pub – there is no “background” music – and we reminisced about pubs with flagged flooring, spittoons and sawdust. We debated the big issues in life like why there was no apostrophe in the pub sign – “Britons Protection” – and we resolved to correct this iniquity.

In the corridor leading to the larger rooms at the back of the pub, there is a mural of the Peterloo Massacre. This is the only place in Manchester to commemorate the 1819 protest for parliamentary reform, in which 15 demonstrators were killed and 700 more injured by the sabre-wielding cavalry who charged the 80,000 strong crowd.

It’s not hard to see why The Briton’s Protection has been voted Best Pub in the Pride Of Manchester Awards for two years on a trot.

It’s only a short walk (but unfortunately up a lot of steps) to the cinema, but we found comfortable seats waiting for us and we settled down to watch the feature. The film was fabulous. Farrokh Bulsara (Freddie Mercury) was depicted as a talented showman and perfectionist but the film didn’t shy away from showing his arrogance and extravagant lifestyle.

We learnt a lot about Freddie but the biggest surprise was that one member of our little party came out of the closet as the owner of all the Queen albums on CD!