Inaugural Stratford Home & Garden Show a great Success

Words & Images by Chris Roberts/WiderViewPhoto.co.uk 

The inaugural Stratford Home and Garden Show took place last week on the Alscot Estate with Alscot Park house as a backdrop. The estate is based 3 miles south of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire at the north end of the Cotswolds.

Steve Brookes on Stage

The show was run and managed by BBC Gardening presenter Steve Brookes and his partner Stephanie Lester via their Blooming Marvellous Events Ltd company. Steve is a born and bred in Stratford-upon-Avon and was determined (with Steph) to create and run a home and garden show with great attention to detail and a diverse range of quality exhibitors.

Emma Holman-West

The venue of Alscot Park was key too and had the spectacular grounds, lake and house backdrop to give the event the necessary style and ethos needed for a new show.

The show couldn't have happened without the support of Emma Holman-West and her Alscot Estate
team. Emma was born and grew up on the estate and the West family has been in the West family for over 250 years.

Emma is a great local supporter of businesses and over 150 use some of the business units dotted around the estate grounds.

Toot Vintage Tearooms

The Alscot owned The Bell at Alderminster was one of the exhibitors and they did a roaring trade in the hot weather of locally brewing beers.

The show was laid out with the initial exhibitors in 3 large marquees with the other exhibitors in stands and gazebos in the splendid grounds, which fortunately drain the water away exceptionally quickly, which helped with the Saturday brief but torrential downpour.

There was a large selection of nurseries on show, including sponsor Blenheim Nurseries, as well as

Blenheim Nurseries

many more from around the Warwickshire and Cotswolds areas and beyond.

The food vendors were of an interesting variety with a vintage ice-cream van (Annie's Antics) supplying tasty cold ices etc.. as well as hog roast, pizzas along with the Toot vintage tearooms with the great view of the lake and house. This was offering a Tea at the Savoy style experience.

Zimbolic figures outside tearoom

Outside were a couple of creations by exhibitor Zimbolic of Toad in Toad Hall style figures.


One of the key options for show visitors was being able to visit and explore the Alscot Park gardens and the splendid ancestral home of the West family.

Visitors had the options of looking around the outside of the house and the planned gardens as well as

Alscot Park and Gardens

great views back across the lake to the busy show.

The variety of stalls and exhibitors included a Children's fun tent, a plant & product creche,a rural crafts marquee (including woodturning, thatching, basketmaking and beekeeping) a Demonstration Theatre with talks on subjects such as Bee keeping, gardening tips from host Steve Brookes, easy entertaining by a master chef and savoury pizzas (which were great as I tried a sample).

The show was a great success over the three days and the town will be looking forward to the 2015 event taking place on July 17, 18 & 19th

For a chance to view the full set of the images i took at the event please go to my Flickr feed

Birmingham Disability Sports Fest

Words and Images by Chris Roberts/WiderViewPhoto.co.uk

The 2nd Birmingham Disability Sports Fest launch took place last weekend at the Fox Hollies Leisure Centre in Birmingham, and was officially opened by Paralympian and BDSF Ambassador Jordanne Whiley. Jordanne won the tennis doubles at Wimbledon as well in 2014.

The Sports fest is a week long programme of events where clubs across the city encourage participation from people with a range of impairments

Delivered over 9 days from Saturday 12th to Sunday 20th July, a programme of 44 sports taster sessions will take place across the city, aiming to encourage individuals of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to have a go at sports that they may never have tried before.

In particular, emphasis has been placed on making the sessions family-friendly so that can everyone has the opportunity to join in.

This year, for the first time, organisers of the campaign have coordinated a menu of Inclusive Workshops which will provide introductory training for volunteers, coaches and leaders keen to develop their understanding, knowledge and skills when working with individuals or groups with an impairment. 

On the launch day the taster sports available included:

• Inclusive Cycling
• Boccia
• Table Tennis
• Street Dance
• Electronic Rifle Shooting
• Badminton (outdoors)
• Swimming

Here are some images of people taking part and enjoying what was on offer.

This was covered by me on behalf of my friends at CMA Video

Large Crowds enjoy Stratford River Festival

Words and Images by Chris Roberts/WiderViewPhoto.co.uk

The sixth Stratford-upon-Avon River Festival, took place last weekend on the riverbank opposite the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, on the River Avon. The event is organised by Stratforward, the town’s Business Improvement District, which represents nearly 500 shops, cafes, restaurants and other businesses.

Shanade

Since it was established the River Festival has grown to become one of the region’s leading free festivals and a record breaking crowd of nearly 50,000 revellers attended the event.

For two whole days over July 5th and 6th weekend the riverside came alive with a large array of boats, both powered and unpowered (rowing boats and canoes) and a large range of stalls and entertainment for children.

For those older there was a great program of bands and performers, mostly local groups, leading up to the headline act on Saturday night of the Haggis Horns, a jazz funk band.

Rozie T Dance Academy

Of the groups I saw perform special note should be made of Caitlin D Project, Shanade, Bunsen Honey (the later two from Leamington Spa) and By Lantern Light.

Of the performers the Rozie T Dance Academy gave a wonderfully athletic performance in front of a packed crowd in deck chairs and standing room only.

After the headline band had finished a illuminated boat parade took place going from twilight to dark in front of packed crowds on both banks of the river. This was followed by a firework show.

To see a full set of images have a look at my Flick Feed

Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park

Words and Images by Chris Roberts/WiderViewPhoto.co.uk

The 4th round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship took place at the picturesque and undulating circuit of Oulton Park, Cheshire. For the 1st time since 1997 the championship used the longer International layout.

Turkington moves to the top of the Leaderboard Turkington with son and team boss Dick Bennetts Colin Turkington has reached the top of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship for the first time since his 2009 title success, claiming a dominant double victory at Oulton Park today (8 June). The 32-year-old dictated proceedings from the outset, securing pole position in a damp qualifying session on Saturday ahead of MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save’s Jason Plato and Honda Yuasa Racing’s Gordon Shedden. eBay Motors went on to enjoy a one-two finish in Sunday’s opening race in perfect conditions as Turkington held off a sustained challenge from team-mate Rob Collard. Collard got the jump on Plato and Shedden off the line and was able to protect the sister BMW ahead of him in the opening laps. The duo gradually pulled clear and although Collard remained in touching distance for the entire race, he was never close enough to make a move on Turkington. Plato and Shedden held station behind with the former completing the podium positions. Turkington doubled up in commanding fashion as he stormed to his fourth win of the season in the Turkington leads team mate Collard and Austin second contest, whilst fans’ favourite Rob Austin reached the rostrum for the first time in 2014 with a second place finish. Collard impressed again with another podium as he moved into the championship top five. Irishman Aron Smith scored a second career victory in the final showdown, leading from lights-to-flag in treacherous conditions after a deluge of rain descended on the Cheshire circuit shortly before the start. Despite coming under intense pressure throughout, the VW driver brought the car home to claim a maiden success for Team BMR. Shedden took second to move within nine points of Turkington in the standings; completing a trio of top five finishes for the Scotsman. Shedden’s team-mate Matt Neal endured a forgettable weekend, however, as the Honda driver could only muster a best of 12th place and he now risks being cut adrift from the main contenders. Reigning champion Andrew Jordan didn’t fair much better as he not only relinquished his lead in the standings but slipped some 25 points back after collecting his lowest event points haul since 2011. A full set of images can be found at my Flickr feed

Demolition and Recycling the Environmental way

Words and Images by Chris Roberts/WiderViewPhoto.co.uk

With the emphasis on recycling all products these days R.Collard Ltd (Eversley, Hampshire) have been very forward thinking with their services. In March 2014 they opened a new Recycling centre at their Eversley depot, which allows them to sift through the collected spoil and sort out into various components (paper, cardboard, metals, electrical, hardcore etc..

This can then be sold onto clients for re-use.

They have a large fleet of tipper trucks, diggers, dozers and low load transporters ready to move any equipment to their next job.


On a neighbouring quarry they have a full set of hard core sorting and grading machines, with sorted spoil re-used in road and building construction in the region.

A recent  commission was to demolish an old Midland bank premises next door to Portsmouth
Railway station in Hampshire. This had restrictions about footpaths and strict health and safety precautions were taken at all times (particularly as the clients offices - Portsmouth Council - were opposite the site).

With hot and dry conditions this meant that the partly demolished building had to have have regular dosing with high pressure water jet.

With the site having restricted access the equipment was delivered and installed on site at 4am to avoid issues with the public and traffic.

Dad Rob Collard with final guidance for his son Ricky

As a counterpoint the owner Rob Collard was been competing in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship for over 10 years, initially with his own team http://www.collardracing.co.uk and now the WSR/EBay Motors BTCC team.

His two sons also compete with elder son Ricky (17) competing in the Formula Ford GB series, which supports the BTCC. Younger son Jordan (14) competes in the Mini Max Series Super One British Championship.

For full set of images can be found on my Flickr feed

GWR Steam Railway 1940s Weekend

Words and Images by Chris Roberts/WiderViewPhoto.co.uk

STEAM train enthusiasts and nostalgia fans took a step back in time to the 1940s as the Gloucestershire Warwickshire railway transported visitors back more than 70 years, when it held its wartime weekend at the beginning of May 2014.

The sites and sounds that people around Cheltenham and Toddington would have seen and heard during the 1939-45 conflict were available; there was a genuine Sherman tank at Toddington station 

There were displays on wartime on the railways in Gloucestershire at Winchcombe Station and an RAF operations room was opened at Toddington station.

Visitors were encouraged to don appropriately nostalgic dress, whether it be khaki or a demob suit, or a tea-dress and 1940s curled hair. Some might even use gravy browning and eyeliner pencil on their legs to simulate stockings which were in short supply.

The train service included several steam trains as well as a diesel car set and was busy all weekend with enthusiasts.

For more information about future themed events visit http://www.gwsr.com/ 

To see a full set of images from this event visit my Flickr feed