King Lear

This week I took my camera to Watermead Park which is just to the north of Leicester.

The park consists of numerous lakes and ponds surrounded by meadows, woodland and reed beds which were reclaimed from disused sand and gravel pits in the early 1980s. Both the River Soar and the Grand Union Canal run through the park and the place is haven for bird watchers and fishermen.

One of the lakes is named after King Lear, the legendary 8th century BC king of the Britons on whom Shakespeare based his tragedy. Lear (or Leir) was said to have given his name to Leicester and after his death was reputedly buried in a chamber beneath the River Soar somewhere close to where the park is now.

There's a concrete sculpture showing the final scene from Shakespeare's play mounted on a raft on the lake. Normally the raft is visible but with the recent rains, water levels were high and the figures appeared to be floating on the water.

A kneeling King Lear mourns his daughter Cordelia while the
Earl of Kent and the Duke of Albany look on.

Below are a few more pictures of the park.

Open at last

The Silver Arcade in the centre of Leicester has at last reopened after a major renovation and it looks fabulous.

It’s a Grade II listed Victorian shopping arcade dating from 1899, the only surviving four storey arcade in the country. For a long time it was home to many small independent shops but has stood empty for the last 13 years. Although it still retains most of the original features it now has a new glass roof and a new glass lift as well as various other sympathetic improvements.

The Silver Arcade was designed by Amos Hall who was in practice at the Leicester based architecture firm of Isaac Barradale (see: http://breaking-cover.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/retail.html).

Something completely different…

Autumn is truly here. The leaves on the trees are turning red and gold and the days are getting colder. On a walk in the country this week I spotted these amazing fungi and thought I'd share them. I've no idea what they are but they are rather lovely.

Seen this week…

After my encounter with the DeLorean (see my last blog) I came across another unusual vehicle whilst wandering about the town this week. It’s a 1911 tower wagon that once belonged to Leicester Corporation Tramways. It’s normally to be found in the Abbey Pumping Station Museum where it’s lovingly cared for by a team of volunteers, however it was in the town centre to help see off Leicester’s bid to become City of Culture 2017.

Apparently Leicester rock legends Kasabian later made a surprise appearance at the festivities but I didn’t wait around long enough to see them.

I thought I might include some pictures of the Abbey Pumping Station I took one overcast day earlier in the year.

The pumping station was opened in 1891 to pump Leicester’s sewage to treatment works at nearby Beaumont Leys. It closed in 1964.

The pumping was done by four beautifully decorated beam engines which were built in Leicester by Gimson and Co.

Back to the future…

Oh dear, the blog seems to have lapsed a bit of late. I've no excuse and even my recent holiday only accounts for a couple of weeks though more on that some other time. Just to get me back into the swing of things I thought I'd share this with you. Spotted this morning in Leicester outside the Phoenix Cinema, a real live De Lorean complete with hover board and flux capacitor.

The car belongs to a gentleman called Mark Sutton who was raising money for Parkingson's disease and was kind enough to let me take these photos.

The car is available for events.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Earlier in the year when they first announced that there was to be a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream amongst the ruins of the old house in Bradgate Park we optimistically bought tickets. I say optimistically because as everyone knows you can’t rely on the sun to shine through an English summer and we’d probably end up watching from under brollies.

But how wrong we were. Sunday 14th July, (not quite midsummer night) proved to be an idyllic summer evening. Perfect for a picnic and a play. It’s a beautiful place and made a fantastic backdrop. Even the resident peacock entered into the spirit of the evening and joined in as though on cue.

The performers were from the Chapterhouse Theatre Company and were excellent despite some competition from a light aircraft which decided to circle overhead for a while.

Theatre goers armed with hampers and cool boxes picnic in the sun.

A keen Shakespeare fan eagerly awaits the first act.

The house is famous as the childhood home of Lady Jane Grey and the performance was dedicated to her, as 460 years ago she would have been half way through her ill-feted nine day reign.

A grassy knoll and minimal scenery turn Bradgate Park into a stage set.
Below are some scenes from the play.

For other postings on my blog about Bradgate Park see:
http://breaking-cover.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/thinking-time.html or http://breaking-cover.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/old-john.html

A quiet corner

I thought it was about time I got my camera out again so I took it to the area around Leicester Castle. Despite being adjacent to the busy De Montfort University Campus, it forms a quiet little corner away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

The normans built a motte and bailey castle in about 1068. Later the defences were rebuilt in stone and a Great Hall was added. Little remains of the original castle which fell into decline by the end of the fifteenth century. The gateway and walls shown below can still be seen and it is possible to climb up to the top of the castle mound. The Great Hall remained and was later used as a court house, though the present frontage was added in the seventeenth century. The nearby church of St Mary de Castro, was founded in the twelfth century as a collegiate chapel attached to the castle.

On a more personal note, the writing has been going well and I have now asked the members of my writing group if they will give my novel a read through and a few have agreed which is great as everyone is so busy. They always give a fair and honest critique so I await their comments with nervous trepidation.