The Victorian Society Top 10 Most Endangered Buildings 2015

This is Griff, older readers may remember him from Not the Nine O'clock News, he's rather passionate about saving old buildings - as we all should be and The Victorian Society are.

So when the Victorian Society asked for the use of a few pics of Kimnel Hall I couldn't really refuse.

Anyway The Victorian Society Top 10 Most Endangered Buildings 2015 is kind of like a roll of shame listing properties heading for demolition due to neglect. Head on over and take a look, you may be shocked.







The Victorian Society
Daily Mail
Guardian
BBC
Independent
ITV
Daily Mirror


The full set of the shots can be found on my Flickr album

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Bolton from the air, again - June 2015

A last minute diversion minutes before preparing to land at Barton gives me rather fittingly photos of my home town, on what was my final trip out.

I've pottered over Bolton many times, hit the search button if you fancy a gander.

Anyway on with the final bunch with a shot of Bolton Parish Church and a curving view of Bradshawgate, Bolton



The local council flog postcards of this next view or something very similar and as a kid at school we had to do a project on Bolton - mine from memory consisted mostly of postcards of Bolton Town Hall and Le Mans Crescent.



Interesting view this one, I suspect most people don't realise the Bolton Town Hall contains a internal court yard.





Bolton Market Place with its half built crane for the construction of the new cinema in the town centre - which is strange as I know of a least 4 in the town centre that got demolished, two relatively recently. Sadly Bolton Council is run by.......





Anyway they seemed to be doing a bit of a returf down the road at the Reebok, sorry Macron Stadium, I still can't get my head round the change of name. Anyway lets hope Bolton Wanderers have a better season than the last few shockers.



The massive Horwich Loco Works, soon to be demolished.....



So I'm going to finish with a shot of Rivington Pike, a bit deceiving this picture - as all would know that have walked up it.



End of an era, thanks Tiger.


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Sheffield, from the air - June 2015

Wrapping up my what now is my final flight I took a spin over Sheffield with my intrepid pilot, Pugwash.

I've fallen in love with Sheffield over the last year with it's wonderful street art and the many derelict industrial sites ripe for urban exploration - so time for some aerial photography.

Now I'm not a football fan, but I do like a stadium, first off Hillsborough famous to many for all the wrong reasons.



Obviously we had to snap Bramall Lane



Then the now derelict William Stones Cannon Brewery, which I had pottered round a few months before.



and on round the city









Owlerton Greyhound Stadium



I bloody love Sheffield


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Park Life 2015, Heaton Park - from above - June 2015

Not a lot to say, big music festival, two pictures from above.

Please click on the pictures, you can zoom in and expand and they are rather cracking if you do.






Rather like them.

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Game Over - June 2015

Went for a potter in the plane on Sunday, not sure for how long - 4 hours perhaps ????

Pugwash at the helm as always, Derbyshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Manchester, Yorkshire, Lancashire, we had a jolly good time and stopped off for little light lunch at a airstrip in South Derbyshire (name fails me at this moment in time).

So this photo, after years of on/off flying with Pugwash is it, done, dusted, game over.



I remember when we raced round the country in the Round Britain Rally, when we walked along the beach eating our ice creams.



I remember that day Pugwash announced he would fly to Canada and back and he did and won the Britannia Trophy - Britain's top aviation award - buy the book here.

I remember that instruction manual he passed me in March 2011, page 1.....



But I forgot how bloody dangerous this pastime is and 2 days later Pugwash left his office early for a potter (thankfully without me).



With Pugwash walking away with scratches, possibly soiled underwear

The Manchester Evening News wrote it up in this article.

An investigation will be done, as they do, I have no doubts in Pugwash's flying and the maintenance of the plane - which for me makes the accident worse.

But for me I think I'm going to quit whilst I'm ahead and wrap things up with some photos over the next few posts.

Thanks Pugwash and take it easy Tiger !

Tindog once said "though he clearly is a lunatic. You'd have to be to fly for no reason", I beg to differ.

But never, say, never......

Crash photo taken from the Manchester Evening News - purely for my blog - Copyright for this photo is with MEN, Manchester Evening News and a link to the full article is listed on my blog above - no infringement intended.


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Alton Towers, after the accident - June 2015

On route, we popped by Alton Towers, this had been a spot I wanted to grab some photos of for such a long, long time.

However on the 2nd June 2015 a shocking accident occured on the ride known as the Smiler, a number of those injured are described as having life changing accidents. The park at our time of passing was closed, although the hotel seemed to be open.

Car parks empty, the park empty of guests we hovered above.

 

Then we noticed the cable cars moving, the carousels moving, even the now infamous Smiler ride illuminated - the park however was as I said, empty.















We moved on, lets hope the injured can - when we visit a theme park we go for the thrills and the scares and we presume everything will end well, putting our trust in the park operator after paying over our hard earned cash.

As I type this Smiler will remain closed for the forseeable future.

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Lotus Hall aka Cuckoo Hall, Wales - from above - February 2015

It had been a long time and after reading a report by Dugie I hatched an idea.

I hadn't been flying for a while, time to contact Captain Pugwash, I love it when a plan comes together !!



After sitting in the once again gridlocked Manchester afternoon motorway traffic for a good half hour the race was on to get down to Wales before the light started to fail.

As we flew towards the mouth of the River Mersey towards Wales the clouds started to move in - this could have been a wasted journey but the gods where with us it would seem, just.

The long abandoned Lotus Hall aka Cuckoo Hall. The hall was once owned by a man who had a passion for Lotus sports cars and for some weird reason he had a wild collection of Cuckoos which roamed his vast country estate (so it says here). Rumour (total bollocks?) has it that one day the owner went on the rampage, jumped into a dark green Lotus Elise and proceeded to mow down a large (?) flock of his beloved Cuckoos.

The poor wife of this gentleman called the local police, who (I'm sure this is complete and utter shite) took a dim view of this shenanigans and the man spent the rest of his days in a lunatic asylum. After struggling to pay for the upkeep of the house and stable blocks the now lonely lady moved to Cuba - as you do.

The property was up for sale for £15 million and was finally sold at auction a few years later for under £1.5 million and nearly four years on it still sits awaiting renovation.



Originally built in the 1850s, the building sits in 18 acres of walled garden, that itself surrounded by over 5000 acres of parkland.











And that was that really, so we went for a play in the mountains.





More pics of the hall on my Flickr

Big thanks to Captain Pugwash must be given.

Photos later used in a number of newspapers and by the Victorian Society

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Camelot - The End, from the air - June 2014

After popping round to see the fall of Camelot back in June 2013, we decided to take a nosey from the air a year on.

All the rides are now gone, bar the roller coaster Knightmare, the haunted house gone and in fact not much of the place is left.



"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with S"





Anyway more pics on me Flickr

Damn shame, I loved this place when open and closed.

Whittingham Asylum - The End, from the air - June 2014

The end is nigh....

An overdue flight out and first base was, well that's the next post, but we moved swiftly over Preston to the monster asylum that is Whittingham Asylum - or was.

Once upon a time we jumped over the fence, then another time we took a potter round in the plane.

Anyway, if anyone doesn't know the bulldozers are in. The end of Whittingham Asylum is weeks away.

We flew back.



 













Not a lot to say really, perhaps going, going, nearly gone ???