Halfway to the Emirates
This road is halfway between my house and the Emirates.
Ramsey Walk, Islington
Perhaps Ipswich fans, should all go and pay homage on Tuesday.
Street Sculpture in Ipswich
I have always liked street sculpture and feel it is something that brings art to everybody, or in the case of Minsk in Belarus to the people. There are some of the Belarus street statues on this page. I must add to this page, as I have lots of photos from when I visited the city to support England.
Ipswich has some good street sculptues or statues, which tend to be on the popular side of culture. Here’s the Giles family in the Buttermarket.
The Giles Family, Ipswich
It was erected as a tribute to the cartoonist Carl Giles, who lived in the town. Does any other cartoonist have a statue of his famous characters? Or do they have the street named after them?
You might think a statue of cartoon characters is unusual, but the other two popular statues in the town are those of Sir Bobby Robson and Sir Alf Ramsey. Can any other town boast two statues to their football managers, but none to any of their footballers? I doubt it!
Here’s Sir Alf, on the touchline for the World Cup victory in 1966.
Statue of Sir Alf Ramsey, Ipswich
And then there is Sir Bobby in a much more animated pose.
Statue of Sir Bobby Robson, Ipswich
There is also a sculpture trail for Ipswich. Is Ipswich unique in not having any full-size statues of military or royal and often obscure figures in the town centre? There is only one statue of a prince in the town and he was Russian. But Alexander Obolensky is not rememberedso much for being a prince as for scoring one of the greatest tries in the history of rugby.
Remembering Sir Bobby at Ipswich
Last night I went to Portman Road to see Ipswich play Real Valladolid. I’d always intended to go, but because of the death of Sir Bobby Robson, I went a little earlier. There’s also the advantage that if you get the timing right you can park for free in places near to the ground. I parked in Berners Street which goes up the old Ipswich Hospital in Anglesey Road. It’s a lovely old building and I wonder how many of the new hospitals we recently built will look so good when they are a hundred years old.
I also went past the pub and the offices where I spent time as I designed and wrote the software system that made my reputation and most of my money in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Queen's Head
Like many other pubs it is now closed. They changed the name to The Victoria, but that didn’t seem to help. I still remember Ron Topple’s pies, which we used to eat every day for lunch. All that gluten! Would my life have been better, if I’d been diagnosed as a coeliac early. Nobby and I spent a lot of time in the bar there discussing software and the finer things of life.
Pearl Assurance House
The offices were actually quite nice and I think I worked there for perhaps about three years before we moved most of the development to the other side of the town.
I was surprised how quiet the town was with just a few people drinking outside cafes in the sun. Even the pub I had a drink in was virtually empty. Sky was playing a news feed about Sir Bobby.
There was a crowd around Sir Bobby’s statue in Portman Road.
Crowds in Portman Road
Stuart White of the BBC was interviewing a very interesting lady, Pat Godbold. She was secretary not only to Sir Bobby R9obson and also to Sir Alf Ramsey. They always say that behind every great man is a great woman. But can any secretary lay claim to be behind two such legends? She actually served every manager from Sir Alf to George Burley.
Stuart White and Pat Godbold
She has an amazing tale to tell. This sad story in The Independent shows the true side of Sir Bobby’s character. It also shows how we can forget our heroes.
Sir Bobby’s statue was bedecked in scarves and flowers.
Sir Bobby's Statue
Tributes Under the Statue
I do have a video of Pat and Stuart White and I may put it up. But I suspect there’ll be a much better version on the BBC tonight.
The football was a bit of an anticlimax and I thought the crowd would have been larger. But Ipswich won 3-1, with a couple of good goals from Pim Balkestein and Connor Wickham. The third was one of the best own goals I’d seen in years.
Flags at Half Mast for Sir Bobby
The Anonymous Widower 