P h o t o B l o g

Wednesday, 23 January 2013

ABC Wednesday: Bridge, Birds and Boats


Today's post for ABC Wednesday is B for "Bridge, Birds and Boats" and shows Portland Basin in Ashton in the snow.

The canal is the Ashton Canal which connects Ashton with Manchester. The bridge crosses the entrance to the Peak Forest Canal which runs to Hyde, Marple and Derbyshire.

The wind has kept this stretch of canal from freezing but the canal to the left and the canal around the corner straight ahead have both frozen over.


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"Bridge, Birds and Boats" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "B" posts from around the world please follow this link.

Monday, 21 January 2013

Frozen Canal


Today's post shows you that my world has been overtaken by winter. Much of Britain has had heavy snowfalls over the last few days, while Ashton had escaped with no more than a few snow flurries. This morning was different, however, and the town woke to a layer of snow. It was not very much snow, but it was the most that the town has had so far this winter.

The photo shows the frozen surface of the Peak Forest Canal in Dukinfield, a few yards from Portland Basin and the Ashton boundary. Not many narrowboats are on the move at this time of year but there will be none at all today! This is a problem for anyone wanting to take their boat to Portland Basin Marina to pump out the toilet tank, top up with diesel or use the dry dock for maintenance. It also means that a group who were going to hire a boat for the day will have to make other plans.

The weather is expected to stay very cold for the rest of the week, but with no more snow expected over that period.

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"Frozen Canal" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.

Monday, 14 January 2013

Not the Church Inn


This is not the Church Inn at Hurst Cross. It used to be, but no longer. Like several other former pubs in Ashton, it has been converted into a convenience store.

The building originally opened as a pub around 1850 and it is not difficult to see why it was named the Church Inn. It stood just a few yards from St John's Church on Kings Road, or Lower King Street, as it was called at that time.

At least the building survives and has been put to new use, unlike the Miners' Refuge pub almost opposite, which was simply demolished a few years ago.

See Google Street View of this location which at the time of posting, still shows the Church Inn as a pub..

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"Not the Church Inn" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.

Monday, 7 January 2013

Prince of Orange


The Prince of Orange pub is a prominent landmark in the centre of Ashton, standing on Wellington Road almost opposite the railway station and near the bus station and council offices.

The pub dates from around 1817 although it was completely re-built in 1926 after it was taken over by Robinsons brewery. Its Tudor-style timbered gables were a popular feature on pubs built between the wars (such as the Broadoak Hotel).

The Prince of Orange pub could well have been named after William, Prince of Orange, who would have been well known in Britain, leading a Dutch government in exile, and who died a few years before the pub was built.

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See Google Street View of this location.

"Prince of Orange" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.

Monday, 31 December 2012

Photo View of 2012 - part two


As the year draws to its close I have been taking a look back over some of the photos that have appeared here in 2012. Part one appeared yesterday and part two today - in the final hours of the year.

It was a disappointing year weather-wise with some really hot days but also with more than our usual share of rain and dismal days.

The second half of the year included the Heritage Open Days which included the opportunity to enjoy a guided tour of the historic Parish Church and to climb the church tower to get a different perspective on the town.

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Part one can be seen here.

Thank you for visiting this blog during 2012. I wish you all the best for 2013 and hope to have the pleasure of your company here during the year.

Happy New Year  to you all!

"Photo View of 2012" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.

Sunday, 30 December 2012

Photo View of 2012 - part one


As the year draws to its close I am taking a look back over some of the photos that have appeared here in 2012.

Among the images are pictures of the Olympic Torch being carried through Ashton, the archaeological dig and historical re-enactment at Newton Hall and the Whit Friday brass band contests.

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Part two will be posted tomorrow.

Monday, 24 December 2012

Christmas Lights


Christmas Eve's view of My World shows the Arcades shopping mall in Ashton with its festive lights helping to get shoppers into the Christmas spirit!

Merr  Christmas  to all followers of this blog! Thank you for visiting.
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"Christmas Lights" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.

Thursday, 20 December 2012

Going places


This week's Sky Watch simply shows what you might see unexpectedly when casting your eyes upwards. It is not unusual to see a vapour trail (or "contrail") as an airliner passes high overhead. It was rather surprising to see three in what appeared to be close proximity.

Of course, even though it looked as if these planes were close together, there would have been differences of thousands of feet vertically between them.

Planes fly fairly low across Ashton on their way to land at Manchester Airport. However, Ashton is also under several of the higher level air corridors. The plane to the right has most probably come from London and is heading towards North America over part of the Arctic. The two heading in the same direction may be heading for somewhere like Schiphol or Frankfurt.

A useful website which will show you where the planes you can see have come from and where they are going is flightradar24.com. When you look up and see planes flying in all directions, it is sometimes interesting to give a thought to the places where all those travellers are going!

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Sky Watch is a regular weekly feature on this photo blog. It links with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!


Monday, 10 December 2012

Christmas Trees


"Wanna Christmas tree? Pot plant, perhaps? A bit of greenery to brighten up the home on these dark and cold December evenings?

"What's that? No, sorry - that big one with the lights on over by the Town Hall isn't for sale. Besides, you'd have a job to get it into the taxi. Now - how about this nice one at the front?"

This week's view of My World shows a cold Ashton Market with only a few hardy shoppers braving the wind while others take refuge in the Market Hall or the Arcades mall. However, I'm sure that, when Christmas gets closer, the tree trade will become brisk!

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"Christmas Trees" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.

Monday, 3 December 2012

Mossley Station


Mossley Station is just two stops up the line from Ashton, but the area surrounding it is very different. The railway runs along the side of the Tame Valley and Mossley os surrounded by the steep Pennine hills.

A damp December evening provides the atmospheric setting, as the lights reflect on the wet car park and platform, and the darkening outline of the hills forms the backdrop.

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"Mossley Station" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.

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