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After much preparations and worrying whether my mother would be allocated to a Nursing Home for respite care, which thankfully, the Social Services placed her in Fieldgate Nursing Home for ten days, so that I could go on holiday with Wallace Arnold. After reading at Evensong on Sunday 22nd July, it was a very early to rise on Monday 23rd at 5.30.am, well in time to make final security checks to the flat and to catch the coach to Wolverhampton via the South Mimms Interchange located on the M25 motorway. En-route to South Mimms, we had some pick-ups, one at Alton, two at Farnham, and two at Aldershot, where we had a 1¼ hours delay, because of a mix-up from head-office about a pick-up at Petersfield, which the driver didn't have on his list. So the party had to travel up to Aldershot. However, we just made our connection with ten minutes to spare for our coach to Wolverhampton. At 11.45 we were off! We had an hour's drive, and stopped at a place called Daventry in Northamptonshire, for an hour's lunch. Quite an interesting and compact town, with many shops and old buildings, with cobbled streets. I had a light Ham Salad lunch in one of the many cafés with a cold drink, as we had a very warm day. At 2.pm we hit the road to Wolverhampton, via the Spa town of Leamington, and Warwick, the historical town with its awesome and magnificent castle, which dominates the Tudor town. At 3.30.pm we arrived at Wolverhampton staying at The Connaught Hotel, till our departure on Friday 27th. The hotel with its many rooms, was comfortable with a fine dining room with bar and lounge, also lift and stairs to three floors of bedrooms. My room was nice with colour TV, coffee/tea making facilities, shower/toilet, wash basin and telephone. On Tuesday 24th, after a cooked breakfast, we had a 9.30.am full day tour to the Iron Gorge Museums. Our first stop was at Blists-Hill Open Air Museum, which is a Victorian town. There, they had many shops with working factories and cottages depicting what life was like in the Victorian Era, and the people who worked there were dressed in costumes in the early nineteen hundreds. We had 2½ hours there, which involved a lot of walking and the time went quickly, as there was so much to see because the museum covered quite an extensive area. Next stop was the Coalport China Museum, where they had a fine collection in the restored buildings of the Caughley and Coalport China Factories, which you could imagine the hardships of Victorian factory working life. I saw a lady at work hand-moulding flowers from wet clay to which she made easy, although with quite artistic detail, also there was a glass-blower at work making paper-weights. After our visits to Blists-Hill and Coalport, we made our way to Ironbridge, a small idyllic town of the Iron Industry which owes its name to Abraham Darby, who built the famous cast iron bridge in 1779, spanning the river Severn. Here they have an indoor exhibition covering the whole history of the Iron Gorge, and a forty foot scale model of the river valley as it was in 1796. We stayed there for 1½ hours, and travelled to Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron and Darby Houses. Unfortunately, we had only about 1¼ hours, as our coach driver wanted us to arrive at our hotel for evening meal and to avoid the rush hour evening traffic. However, this Museum was made famous around the world for superb art castings, consisting of fountains, gates and garden furniture, and incorporates the birth of industry, and the people who lived and worked there during the industrial revolution of the Victorian era. We got back to our hotel at 6.30.pm in time for our evening meal, so all in all we had a very fulfilling and interesting day which involved a lot of walking. After our evening meal and relaxing from our full day's outing to the Iron Gorge museums, it was another 9.30.am coach trip to the town of Brother Cadfael's Shrewsbury and the Severn Valley Railway from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster. We arrived at Shrewsbury around 11.30.am, on a beautiful hot sunny Wednesday 25th. Quite a few of us wanted to visit the famous Abbey, which our coach driver John kindly dropped us off at the car-park opposite, while the rest of the party explored the town centre. We had an hour at the Abbey, founded by the Benedictine Monks in 1083. Points noted were the beautiful west window, built with tower in 1380, and reglazed in 1814. The War Memorial, bearing the name of Wilfred Owen the poet, who was killed in the last few days of the first world war, and lived in Shrewsbury. The original Norman Arches built in 1083, the only 11th century work left in Shrewsbury, and the effigy of the Earl Roger de Montgomerie, founder of the Abbey and close relation to William the Conqueror, and was buried in the Abbey in 1094, and the Benedict Window reminding that this was a Benedictine Abbey. The town itself, was compact and in some parts quite hilly, and arrayed with hanging baskets of flowers above the shops and walled flower beds, and there were numerous buildings noting the castle, which is now the Shropshire Regimental Museum. In all we had 2½ hours in this very interesting and multi-architectural town. After leaving Shrewsbury, we headed to Bridgnorth, home to the Severn Valley Railway, which runs through some beautiful Shropshire countryside to Kidderminster. We arrived at our hotel at 5.45.pm well in time for our evening meal. Thursday 26th, we had a free day to ourselves. I wanted to spend the morning in Wolverhampton, and the afternoon in Birmingham. I must say that the public transport network was plentiful, with frequent bus services surrounding the areas of Wolverhampton. The Parish Church of St Peter, is a most impressive large church, but unfortunately it was locked, but inside the memorial and fabrics must have been very interesting. The town centre had many fine buildings with plenty of museums. I made my way to the Metro (Trambus) station. Here they have a tram service which runs every 6-10 minutes to the heart of Birmingham, which took 30 minutes, in the latest modern air-conditioned trams to Snow-Hill. Upon arriving there, the City was arrayed with multi-national people, and modern buildings among the numerous shopping precincts, on a very hot and sunny day. Somehow I was guided by the Holy Spirit to the Cathedral of St Phillip. This grand 18th century building set in the heart of the City Centre. It was built between 1709-1715, by the Architect Thomas Archer. Once inside, you are struck by the peace and tranquillity of Our Lord. The Cathedral has points of interest: the west tower with a peal of twelve bells; the High Altar Cross, which has a chunk of Crystal Quartz, that radiates light in all directions, designed by John Donald in 1963; three stained glass windows by Edward Burne-Jones 1885-7 depicting the Ascension, the Crucifixion and Birth of Christ. After a quick snack lunch I had a walk down Colemore Row and into Victoria Square, to the magnificent Council House, the Municipal Offices of the City. From there I looked at the many other buildings to Moore Street, and caught the train to Warwick. I only had an hour there of this lovely town and castle, but I enjoyed my day's travel. On Friday 27th, it was time to say farewell to Wolverhampton and to head home on another hot sunny day. By coincidence, we had a 1¼ hour stop for lunch at Warwick, so I had the opportunity to go inside the Castle. Truly wonderful (must be for £11.50!) but well worth it, for the five museums and spectacular views from the tower of the Castle grounds and panoramic views of Warwick town. Had a lovely traffic free journey home apart from the congested M25 motorway evening rush period. Whilst I was on my five day break, Mum had a most pleasant and enjoyable stay at Fieldgate Nursing Home. The staff there have looked after her really well and were very kind. Many thanks to John and Janet Johnson for their kind offer of transport to and from the Nursing Home and also to Fr Malcolm's visit, whilst mum was at Fieldgate. Leon Bartosiak |
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page last updated 31 AUGUST 2001 |
