How is your Blood Pressure?

Last month in the Clarendon Shopping Centre, the local Rotary Club, on behalf of the Stroke Association were measuring people's blood pressure.

St Thomas the Apostle (2)

In February I showed you the rear view of St Thomas the Apostle on Lumn Road.

Here now is a view of the front.

Building work proceeds on Reynold Street

The story began in January when we first heard that the JNH Store was to be demolished to make way for flats.

By March it was ready for demolition. By the end of the month it was on its way and before long it was gone altogether.

In May the foundations were down, and now the building work is proceeding.

Pedestrian Crossing

This pedestrian crossing on Market Street is probably the busiest in town.

Buses from Stockport stop outside the new Subway Sandwich Bar and people cross to reach the market by the Crown Pole.

Brookfold Farm

This is Brookfold Farm which lies between Godley Green and Hattersley.

The view is from the bridge just past the old turntable.

Bandstand 1999

A few months ago I showed a picture looking down on the bandstand in Hyde Park. Later I showed another picture looking up at the bandstand.

This picture was taken in August 1999 by Frank Bennett ARPS and is reposted here with his permission. It first appeared on the Images of England website, run by English Heritage. The site has lots of photographs and details of listed buildings.

I shall be using more of Frank's photographs over the coming months.

Potted Palm

Anyone want a potted palm?

I spotted this for sale at the same as I was looking at the sunflowers.

I know what I'd prefer.

Turntable

Follow the Trans Pennine Trail eastwards; continue on the line of the old railway track and you'll come to this point.

A few hundred yards beyond here is where the track met the main line at Godley East or Godley Junction as it was originally known. A high fence bars your way and walkers need to turn around here. I can't say for certain as my historical knowledge of the area is non-existent but it looks as if this circular earthwork probably housed an engine turntable. Now it is neglected and overgrown.

Reykjavik: Laugavegur

I'm away at present so Pamela of Secret Tenerife is posting here the pictures considered but not selected for the City Exchange Theme on May 1st.

This third of three photographs from Reykjavik shows the quieter end of the main shopping street, Laugavegur.

You can see more photographs and read an account of my day in Reykjavik on my 2005 Cruise Journal.

Tomorrow it is back home to Hyde.

Nuuk: Kuussuag

I'm away at present so Pamela of Secret Tenerife is posting here the pictures considered but not selected for the City Exchange Theme on May 1st.

This second of two pictures from Nuuk show Kuussuag, the road leading out of town towards the airport, beyond which there is little but icy wilderness.

You can read an account of my day in Nuuk on my Cruise 2005 site.

Chania, Crete

I'm away at present so Pamela of Secret Tenerife is posting here the pictures considered but not selected for the City Exchange Theme on May 1st.

Now for somewhere completely different. This is a street in the Municipality of Chania in Crete. The name is pronounced Hania and sometimes spelt as Xania.

You'll find sixty pictures of Crete, including one of Giorgious, the horse we are riding behind, on my Crete 2006 site.

Another good website is Welcome to Chania

St Petersburg: Trollybus on Nevsky Prospekt

I'm away at present so Pamela of Secret Tenerife is posting here the pictures considered but not selected for the City Exchange Theme on May 1st.

St. Petersburg was one stop on our 2006 Baltic Cruise. So far you can read about Copenhagen, Warnemünde, Stockholm and Tallinn. I hope to add accounts and pictures of St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Gdynia and Oslo when I find the time.

Reykjavik: Frakkastígur

I'm away at present so Pamela of Secret Tenerife is posting here the pictures considered but not selected for the City Exchange Theme on May 1st.

This is the second of three photographs from Reykjavik. Having walked up Skólavörðustígur to the Hallsgrímskirkja and visited the modern Lutheran church, I made my descent down Frakkastígur.

You can see more photographs and read an account of my day in Reykjavik on my 2005 Cruise Journal.

Nuuk: The Colonial Harbour

I'm away at present so Pamela of Secret Tenerife is posting here the pictures considered but not selected for the City Exchange Theme on May 1st.

This is Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. This first of two pictures looks out over the colonial harbour where people are already gathering for tenders back to the cruise ship. Others are walking down the road that leads to the Greenland National Museum. On the right hand side of the picture is a school and on the hilltop is the monument to Hans Egede.

You can read an account of my day in Nuuk on my Cruise 2005 site.

Oslo: City Centre Trollybus

I'm away at present so Pamela of Secret Tenerife is posting here the pictures considered but not selected for the City Exchange Theme on May 1st.

This is Oslo which now has its own Daily Photo blog, but didn't at the time. Today is Norway's National Day, a fact I wasn't aware of when choosing today to post this particular picture; serendipity prevails it seems.

Oslo was one stop on our 2006 Baltic Cruise. So far you can read about Copenhagen, Warnemünde, Stockholm and Tallinn. I hope to add accounts and pictures of St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Gdynia and Oslo when I find the time.

St Petersburg: Inside the Hermitage

I'm away at present so Pamela of Secret Tenerife is posting here the pictures considered but not selected for the City Exchange Theme on May 1st.

Today we are in St. Petersburg, being shown around the Hermitage Museum. The place heaves. It is said that if you were to spend a minute looking at each exhibit on display in the Hermitage, you would need 11 years before you'd seen them all. We had three hours and were herded through at a rate of knots. This ornate passageway is just a corridor!

St. Petersburg was one stop on our 2006 Baltic Cruise. So far you can read about Copenhagen, Warnemünde, Stockholm and Tallinn. I hope to add accounts and pictures of St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Gdynia and Oslo when I find the time.

Stonepit Reservoir nearly ready

It looks as if Stonepit Reservoir is almost ready to be returned to the anglers. I took this picture a few weeks ago, so it may well be open again by now.

Big issue seller

Outside the entrance to Clarendon Shopping Centre by the Market you will always find someone selling the Big Issue.

He turned his back to me when he saw my camera.

Flat on Fire

What do you do when your neighbour's flat goes up in flames?

Well if you are a photographer, you grab your camera and take pictures.

Frank Bennett is a retired professional photographer who lives in the Newton area of Hyde. I shall be posting a number of his pictures here over the coming months.

The winner of last week's Caption competition is Ex-Shammickite for

"Stay in line please... for the world famous canine finger lick blessing."

Runners-up are Julia for

"When's my turn? I'm being very good"

Isabella for

"Hey, I'm counting here...He's got two more pieces than me!"

and Kaz for

"So this is why we got down from the mantelpiece?"

Contact me privately with your snail-mail address and a postcard will be on its way.

Frank and his wife Edna are now back in their flat which only suffered smoke damage.

#400 -- a signpost

This is Hyde DP's 400th post.

The signpost here directs travellers on the Trans Pennine Trail off the old railway line and up over the hill towards Broadbottom.

Save our Scout Group

The pictures today are not mine but are courtesy of the website of 3rd Gee Cross (Holy Trinity) Scout Group

The same January storm that destroyed some of our fencing and uprooted a large tree at the bottom of the avenue also did immense damage to the scout hut on Hill Street.



The group is now operating out of Holy Trinity Church.

Scout leader John McKenna tells me

We are fighting hard to raise £120,000 being the cost of a new headquarters. To do this we need as much support and backing that we can get; to date we have had a good response with one ex member actually donating from his own pocket £5,000; that along with £1,600 from ward funds and £1,000 from the Gee Cross WI if we can keep that level of support going then it is every chance we should be able to have the new building started, if not completely finished this year.

If you want to support their cause please visit their website.

Sunflowers for sale

Sunflowers for sale at a local shop.

Foundations laid

The previous photograph in this series showed the ground cleared.

Now the foundations have been laid and revealed is an hitherto unseen aspect of a corner of the Central Methodist Church.

Subway

The sandwich chain "Subway" opened their Hyde branch on Friday 13th.

We paid it a visit the other Saturday. It has a couple of tables for eating in and is wheelchair accessible. The food was delicious although not exactly inexpensive.

Whilst certainly a lot healthier than somewhere like McDonalds, we are probably more likely to take our custom to Sizzlers, the Baked Potato Man or Bosuns, but we certainly won't rule out a return visit.

Save The Theatre Royal

A critical meeting takes place next week. Muriel from Theatre Royal Onward tells me there is

a very special open meeting at Hyde Town Hall on Monday the 14th May at 7.30pm. It is make or break time for the theatre. Make because we have the chance of leasing the theatre. Break because we need tangible evidence people will want to use it so we know we will make sufficient profit. People attending is the way we can positively see this evidence, even though it has been shown in our surveys and promotions etc. We need lots of people to show the papers, the funders, the Council how thrilled they'd be if it opened.

To see more pictures of the theatre, check out the ones I took last year at the Heritage Open Day

Dogs: Caption Competition

Today's picture is a caption competition.

The winning caption will get a small prize and there'll be postcards for the best runners-up. The post will remain open for entries until Saturday.

I'll announce the winners next Sunday.

Spring Flower Show

Last Saturday when we went for our tea and toast at the Methodist Church, we found these flowers decorating the wall.

They were there as part of the Spring Show hosted by Denton Chrysanthemum and Dahlia Society and Haughton Green Gardening Society being held that afternoon.

Seven Springs Charity Stall

I've shown you a charity stall on the market before. The last one was in aid of Breast Cancer Care.
This one is in aid of the Seven Springs Summer Camp for Guides and Brownies.

Bridge WJP 2/129

I have no idea of the significance of this label. Is this bridge #2 or #129? What does WJP stand for? I think BRB stands for British Railways Board.

Somewhere there will be a database which will enable those in the know to immediately identify the location of this bridge.

Here it is on Google Maps

It takes Green Lane over the top of the now disused railway line from Woodley to Broadbottom.

Bullrushes

This is a little stream that runs between Commercial Street and the ABC Wax factory.

Reykjavik: Hallsgrímskirkja from Skólavörðustígur

Today is a DP Theme day. There is some confusion as to the nature of the theme. It was originally billed as "post a picture from another city", but later it was billed as "show something that looks as if it belongs in another city" which is the theme we went with last year at this time. I reposted last year's picture yesterday.

I asked other blog authors to help me choose from a list of five cities, the one I would post a picture of today. The winning city was Reykjavik. This photo shows the Hallsgrímskirkja from Skólavörðustígur. An account of my day in Reykjavik can be read on my 2005 Cruise Journal.

I plan to post a couple more photos from Reykjavik, and others from Nuuk, St Petersburg, Oslo and Chania, later this month.

100 blogs have participated in this month's theme: ~~ 1 Sydney's Sally visits Kurnell ~~ 2 Singapore's Zannie posts flowers ~~ 3 Tokyo travels in time ~~ 4 Shanghai hides a secret ~~ 5 Kyoto has visitors ~~ 6 Evry thinks New York ~~ 7 Keropok Man brings Sydney to Singapore ~~ 8 Grenoble visits Bilbao ~~ 9 Nelson displays Budapest ~~ 10 Dubai goes to New York ~~ 11 Kuala Lumpur goes to Penang ~~ 12 Melbourne thinks Brighton ~~ 13 Joensuu goes back in time ~~ 14 Paris goes to San Francisco ~~ 15 Stavanger thinks Mississippi ~~ 16 Sharon hails NYC ~~ 17 Tuzla seems all at sea ~~ 18 Budapest displays Nelson ~~ 19 Bastia goes to London ~~ 20 Szentes twins with Markgröningen ~~ 21 Newcastle upon Tyne thinks New York ~~ 22 Kitakami goes to Fereriwo ~~ 23 Jakarta has a statue ~~ 24 Anderson goes to Americus ~~ 25 Tenerife thinks Venezuela ~~ 26 Bath is in New York ~~ 27 Torino thinks Beijing ~~ 28 Stayton goes to Portland ~~ 29 Montréal goes to Köln & Lyon ~~ 30 Naples, Florida thinks South of France ~~ 31 Carol is lost in St Paul ~~ 32 Buenos Aires posts a question ~~ 33 Mazatlan thinks Middle East ~~ 34 Kate is home in St Paul ~~ 35 Seoul goes to Inchen ~~ 36 Boston goes to Granada ~~ 37 New York's Ming is in Europe ~~ 38 Wellington thinks of Hiroshima ~~ 39 Villigen thinks Texas ~~ 40 Phoenix goes to Santa Fe ~~ 41 Greenville thinks Rome ~~ 42 Los Angeles thinks Asia ~~ 43 Hamburg goes to Paris ~~ 44 Sydney's Nathalie returns to Paris ~~ 45 Albuquerque goes to Holbrooke ~~ 46 Hyde goes to Reykjavik ~~ 47 Arradon goes cycling ~~ 48 Baziège goes camping ~~ 49 San Diego thinks Barcelona ~~ 50 Mainz doesn't need to go anywhere ~~ 51 Nottingham goes to Sydney ~~ 52 Tel Aviv goes to Ceaserea ~~ 53 Seattle's Kim thinks Paris ~~ 54 Stockholm thinks Scotland ~~ 55 Honolulu thinks Mexico ~~ 56 Rome thinks New York ~~ 57 Lyon thinks Venice ~~ 58 Hong Kong goes to Vancouver ~~ 59 Cape Town goes to Dinan ~~ 60 Auckland goes to Wellington ~~ 61 Brookeville is at a museum ~~ 62 Manila's Anne shows skyscrapers ~~ 63 Toruń goes to Ostróda ~~ 64 Cork goes to Denton, Texas ~~ 65 Moscow thinks London ~~ 66 Joplin goes to Stuttgart ~~ 67 Asheville thinks London ~~68 Madrid goes to Slovenia ~~ 69 Oulu posts a balcony ~~ 70 Baton Rouge thinks France ~~ 71 Selma, Alabama thinks Mexico ~~ 72 Manila's Pusa goes to Subic ~~ 73 Wailea has joined a circus ~~ 74 Adelaide goes to Pisa ~~ 75 Cheltenham goes to Tetbury ~~ 76 St Louis thinks Ireland ~~ 77 Madison's Chris thinks Thailand ~~ 78 Vantaa thinks Helsinki ~~ 79 Bucaramanga goes to Paris ~~ 80 Sequim's Lavendar Lady has been and come back ~~ 81 Vancouver thinks England ~~ 82 Monte Carlo goes to Platja d'Aro ~~ 83 Menton goes to New York ~~ 84 Cypress goes to Spring ~~ 85 Monmouth County goes to Poughkeepsie & Louisburg ~~ 86 Ocean Township goes to New York ~~ 87 Seattle's Susan goes to San Diego ~~ 88 Truxillo goes to San Salvador ~~ 89 Chandler thinks Tuscany ~~ 90 Luxembourg goes to Berlin ~~ 91 Miama visits the Everglades ~~ 92 London goes to Dublin ~~ 93 Selma, NC goes to Fayetteville ~~ 94 Jerusalem goes to Nyanga ~~ 95 Belfast goes to Paris ~~ 96 Hayle goes to Lourdes ~~ 97 Ioannina thinks Spain ~~ 98 Saarbrücken thinks Ireland then goes to Calpe, Spain ~~ 99 Lubbock goes to Glasgow ~~ 100 Omaha goes to Antigua