Thank Heavens For Sir Bobby!
I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to listen to the Popefest on the radio and it was a great relief when I found that Radio 5 Live, were doing a program on the cancer research centre that Sir Bobby Robson helped to fund!
What a refreshing and uplifting program and yet another reason to celebrate one of the finest Englishmen of the last few decades! He will certainly have or have had more effect on the lives of ordinary people all over Europe than the current Pope.
We can all learn a lot from how Sir Bobby carried on until the end.
He was a selfless man with true humanity, who probably never did anyone any harm! He certainly never meant it, if he did! And to say that about a man, who worked in one of the most ruthless professions is extraordinary.
We will never see his like again!
Tourism Will Increase by 60%
This report was on the Press Association web site.
The value of tourism to the UK economy is set to rise by more than 60% to £188 billion by 2020, according to a report.
The number of jobs supported by tourism is predicted to increase by 264,000 to 2.89 million in the next 10 years, the report commissioned by VisitBritain added.
The amount of spending per year by overseas residents is likely to almost double from £16 billion now to £31 billion in 2020.
It is all good news, but are places like Middlesbrough ready for it. In my travels recently, London, East Suffolk and Newcastle certainly are.
The Castle, Newcastle
As you would expect Newcastle has a castle.
Newcastle Cathedral
Newcastle Cathedral would not be considered a large church.
Newcastle Cathedral
I didn’t get a chance to go in as it was shut.
Outside is a typical statue of Queen Victoria.
Queen Victoria Statue, Newcastle
There seem to be lots of statues of Queen Victoria, many of which have a very similar pose. Did some sculptors do job lots?
Grey’s Monument, Newcastle
I hadn’t realised how important a politician Charles Grey was until I went to Newcastle. I hadn’t realised that he had been a character in Saul Dibb‘s film about the Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, the Duchess.
You can’t miss the monument erected to him in the centre of Newcastle.
I have just been talking to a friend and they put me right aboiut Grey. His 1832 Reform Act was very important and when he was Prime Minister when slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire.
For trivia, Earl Grey tea was named after him and he had sixteen children with his wife and at least one other.
Around Newcastle City Centre
I walked down from St. James’ Park to the centre of Newcastle.
These days city centres look very much the same with steel and glass shopping centres, although Newcastle does have quite a lot of grand stone buildings in an area called Grainger Town.
Stone Buildings in Newcastle City Centre
This is just a side street and there are a lot of grand building still left in the area, although T. Dan Smith and John Poulson would have probably knocked the lot down if they hadn’t got charged with corruption.
Luckily sense was seen and the area is now being restored.
But that didn’t stop this hideous edifice being erected by the Co-Op.
A Hideous Edifice
Can a building like this have ever looked good? Even as a set of drawings!
Do I have one abiding memory of Newmarket City Centre?
Yes! I’ve never been to a place with so much smell of chips and burgers.
The Sage Gateshead
The Sage Gateshead dominates the south bank of the Tyne with The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts.
I didn’t visit the building, so I can’t comment about the inside, but it certainly looks a good building to me.
The Bridges of Newcastle
If Newcastle has one unique feature that distinguishes it from all other cities in the UK, it is the bridges across the Tyne.
The bridges in order as you go from the mouth of the Tyne upstream or from east to west are as follows.
- The Gateshead Millennium Bridge or the Blinking Eye Bridge was opened in 2001 and is a foot and cycle bridge by the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. The bridge opens every day and some of the pictures show this.
- The Tyne Bridge was opened in 1928 and is a classic through arch bridge like the larger and much wider Sydney Harbour Bridge, which was opened four years later. Both bridges were built by Dorman Long in Middlesborough.
- The Swing Bridge was built by Armstrong to allow large warships access to his works on the Tyne.
- The High Level Bridge was designed by Robert Stephenson to allow both road and rail traffic to cross the river. It opened in 1849.
- The Queen Elizabeth II Metro Bridge is a modern bridge opened in 1981 that carries the Tyne and Wear Metro over the river.
- The King Edward VII Bridge, opened in 1906, carries the main East Coast Main Line.
- The Redheugh Bridge carries the A189 over the river. It was opened in 1983.
A lot of these bridges have been designed to allow large ships up the Tyne. Now though, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge has effectively stopped this.
Purists will say why have I called this the Bridges of Newcastle rather than the Tyne Bridges, especially as Newcastle is only on one bank of the River. But most people will know of Newcastle and many will not know the name of the river.
Newcastle Station
Newcastle Station is unusual in that it is built on a curve, but as you’d expect from an area which boasts William Armstrong and Robert Stephenson, it is not a station without a lot of very good ironwork.
When I arrived I couldn’t find a tourist office for a map. However, I did find one later when I asked at the railway information desk.
Newcastle from Peterborough on the Train
On Saturday, I went up to Newcastle for the first time since 1968. I’ve passed through it several times since, but I’ve never actually spent any time in the city. But as Ipswich were playing Newcastle I thought it was too good an opportunity to miss to take a visit.
I could have driven it, but I felt it would better let the train take the strain. Or rather the train from Peterborough.
InterCity 225 Train at Peterborough
I had a good run to Peterborough in just under an hour and was able to park in the car parking close by the station. This is not always the case, as parking at Peterborough seems to be a bit limited and also a bit expensive. Surely, if you want to encourage rail travel you must provide lots of parking at an affordable price!
But on Saturday it was only six pounds for the whole day and there was plenty of space.
The train was also on time at both ends of the journey.
The only problem with the train was that I had to travel backwards in First. But I did like the free coffee, although they weren’t too sure about which of the snacks and meals were gluten free. So I declined.
The Anonymous Widower 