ABC Wednesday: M for Mancunian Maharajah

In 1872 the owner of Belle Vue Zoo, James Jennison, bought Asian elephant Maharajah in Edinburgh from a travelling circus for £880 (£30,000 in today’s money). The plan was to travel south to Manchester by train but the 8 year old elephant was not enamoured with the idea of public transport, ripping the roof off of his compartment with his trunk.

So instead elephant keeper Lorenzo Lawrence and Maharajah spent 10 days walking the 200 miles to Belle Vue Zoo. Maharajah spent 10 years at the east Manchester zoo where he was a popular attraction, giving rides to visitors and helping out with day to day work which included pulling around carts of bricks and foodstuffs.

Mancunians and other visitors can now pay their respects to Maharajah here at the Manchester Museum. An elephant to never forget...

Linked to ABC Wednesday.

Ruby Tuesday: Outdoor living at Cotswold Outdoor

We are a long way from the Cotswolds but Cotswold Outdoor stores are a synonymous high street name across the UK, specialising in clothing and kit for walkers, mountaineers and skiers. 

Their North Face clothing and equipment range covers base layers to hats and gloves and quite a cool looking range of rucksacks, boots and  ski wear too. I covet the Parkway jacket but at £280 I can only dream, likewise the bitsy jacket at £100. But there is the Karina hoodie at £40 which I could buy, and there are always options for bargains too (which are a hit with me). You just click on The North Face discount . 

Or you can pop into the Cotswold Rock Bottom store on Oxford Road, as illustrated in today’s photo. The other local branch of Cotswold Outdoor is on Deansgate. Elsewhere in the north west there are three in Cumbria and the Lake District, one in Liverpool, another in Preston, Chester and even one at Bridgemere Gardens in Nantwich, Cheshire. There are about 60 in total across the UK. 

A friend told me only last week how much she enjoys shopping at Cotswold Outdoor, due to the friendly and knowledge staff who are themselves outdoors enthusiasts and keen to hear your adventures and share their own. A cut above the usual disinterested and demotivated lowly paid shop assistants that other high street and large companies employ. My friend purchased a lovely blue reasonably priced headtorch, then couldn’t resist a Rab jacket she spotted on the way out. She had to ask the staff to escort her from the premises before she bought more items ... 

Taking part in Ruby Tuesday.

Monday Murals: Panda on the wall at Band on the wall

There has been building work at the back end of Band on the Wall for a while now. While BOTW, one of my favourite venues, had a refurb and reopening back in autumn 2009, it seems there are still further plans round the back?

It's amusing to see this Panda on the Wall there. Paint my Panda is a small UK based arts organisation run by artist Claire Rye who has been involved the graffiti scene for 15 years.


Linked to Monday Murals at the Oakland Daily Photo blog.

Early evening at Chets

Early evening at Chetham's School of Music, established thanks to Humphrey Chetham (1580–1653). To this day "Chets" is a specialist independent music school in Manchester's medieval quarter.

Linking with the Weekly Top Shot in Seattle at: www.theviewfromrighthere.com/blog/?p=8241 .

A monochrome monolith? Pearl Assurance House

Pearl Assurance House on the corner of Clarence and Princess Streets is a white stone monolith completed in 1955 and I rather like it. It replaced a more ornate 19th century building that was bombed in World War II. 

The rather grand looking Stanton Travel Agency used to take up much of the ground floor, but it's long since been a you-know-who coffee place and a camera shop (Jessops), although that has closed this year.

Some interesting views and information on the preceding building and its usurper at: http://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/tours/tour5/area5page78.html

Taking part in Black and White Weekend at: http://blackandwhiteweekend.blogspot.co.uk/

Oktoberfest this weekend

The Manchester Food and Drink Festival's fortnight is almost up but it goes out with a bang and a bier keiler from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th October. It's a tribute to the world famous Munich Oktoberfest, although a cider festival, wines and cocktails have also seen centre stage these past couple of weeks.

I wonder what German-Mancunian Friedrich Engels would make of this in the city he was first sent to 170 years ago, to work at Victoria Mill in Weaste? Or German-Mancunian Charles Hallé who arrived in Manchester six years later?

Rural Thursday: Wizard's woodland walk

The magic of a woodland walk on a sunny early autumn day at Alderley Edge. The woods here have a certain mystique about them, as well as the more famous sandstone rocks which have inspired many a story. Josie Whitehead's poem is among these:

"...Now at Alderley Edge stands a very large stone
And here, by this rock, stood the wizard, alone.
When the farmer returned, he called loudly and said:
Stop here one moment. Please don’t ride ahead..."

You can watch an animated version of the full Wizard of Alderley Edge poem by Josie.

Linked to the Rural Thursday blog.

ABC Wednesday: L is for Lass O'Gowrie, UK Pub of the Year

Two weeks ago the Great British Pub Awards named The Lass O' Gowrie as UK Pub of the Year and also the Best Live Music and Entertainment Pub. 

The Charles Street pub did amazingly well to win two such prestigious awards. It has always retained a traditional pub feel but also embraced many modern twists such as a lively theatre showcasing a range of new talent.

So who is the said lady of Gowrie? The name comes from a piece by Scottish poet Carolina Nairne which was a favourite of the Scottish landlord in the late 19th century when the pub opened. More at: www.thelass.co.uk   Personally I have popped in from time to time with friends and colleagues ever since the late 1980s. 

Linked to ABC Wednesday .

Labour-ious, victorious?

The Labour Party conference is in full swing at GMex. 

The Manchester Guardian sums up better than I could. "Labour is entitled to feel pretty upbeat about its prospects as it meets for its conference in Manchester this week. The government's centrepiece economic austerity strategy is deeply unpopular. The two coalition parties are increasingly at one another's throats. The Tory party is dangerously out of touch, as the "plebs" row illustrated so exquisitely. Labour meanwhile leads in the opinion polls by an average of 10 points(though one poll on Sunday had the lead as low as five) and is poised to capture a Tory parliamentary seat next month – something it has not done in a by election since 1997."

I'm aiming for a Green-Red coalition in 2015 and a fairer, more equal society...

Today's post is linked to the Our World Tuesday blog.

Monday Mural: Flying Yorkshireman

Although I am not a rugby fan I was struck by this poster advertising the Rugby League play offs which are currently taking place. The final is on 6th October.

I was pleased to see that the medieval War of the Roses (1455 to 1487 between the House of Lancaster and the House of York) has been put behind us and that Yorkshire- represented by this Leeds player, has a prominent place in the old Lancashire capital of Manchester.  Linked to Monday Murals .

I knew little of rugby league (generally northern England and working class) nor rugby union (generally southern England and upper class/private schools) until my research for my 2007 book Wembley: Stadium of Legends by Tomsett & Brand (Dewi Lewis Media).
(www.amazon.co.uk/Wembley-Stadium-Legends-Pete-Tomsett/dp/0954684397)  In my book research I discovered some fine illustrations of 1940s and 1950s Cup Final programmes featuring Lancastrian and Yorkshire rugby league giants (below) which today's mural reminded me of.