Parsonage Farm

Christmas Eve

The dawn Christmas Eve saw my sons and I off on our annual Chrismas Eve shopping trip early in the morning where I stopped and took this shot of the dawn.

Happy New Year Everyone 

Wall of History

A couple of weeks ago I wrote on the reopening of Camp Hopson Department store an of the restaurant being refurbished. As you walked into the old restaurant you bassed a display cabinet with old newspaper clippings about the store going back to when it first opend and some of the recepts from that time. When the restaurant reopend the cabenet was gone but on one wall was a huge mural with enlaged clippings from the cabinet for you to read on a wall of history

Photos from different eras 

Closer view of the poster.

Taking Part in Monday Mural

Grand Opening

My wife & I along with my son headed to Newbury a few weeks ago to Camp Hopson where they were having a grand opening after weeks of refurbishing the department store. The entrance in off the carpark was lined with banners

 

Thought it looked very welcoming 

After a quick look round it was upstairs to the Terrace cafe which had gone through a transformation and a new name

I loved the decorations using crockery 

and had to take a couple of photos especially the teapots 

Out on the main stree the food market was back, these cupcakes looked really scrummy 

Along with dishes like this 

Or fresh baked bread

but you can never have enough cake

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday

Growing Newbury Green

Newbury Food Market

We were in Newbury on Sunday and after coming out of Marks & Spencers we found Northbrook Street was full of market stalls, on a closer look I noticed it was a food market

 The large stall opposite was selling all kinds of fresh made Bread

 Looking up the street towards the cenrter of town

 The other way towards The Broadway

 Think the shed on wheels was selling smooties of something

 Shot on the fly you could get a curry here

The Gluten Free Company selling Fudge and all things Gluten Free . Me well I went to my favorite bakers for a pasty to take home for lunch.

The Clock House

The Clock house is a prominent feature just off what used to be the London to Bath road in Newbury. It replaced a previous feature which I will have to tell you about in another blog. The Clock house stands in the area known as Broadway which joins on to Northbrook Street and at one time was in an area called Speenhamland

When it was first built there was a public telephone behind the door where you could sit and talk to the person on the other end. There are also some stairs leading to the clock.

 

There is no longer a telephone inside but the place is still an important landmark in Newbury

 

 

Remembrance day Parade

On remembrance day I went to Newbury  with my wife. Like many other towns & villages up and down the country it had it's parade which I went along to watch. It's the first time I have seen one in a long time

 After the service the parade started with the Royal British Legion

Next up seem to be the church choir as that was were they were off to next,they were followed by the town council and mayor who were walking slower than a funeral procession

 These two guys were ex forces and were barking out orders you could hear in the next town

another shot of the mace bearers

The Veterans part of the parade

Hero's from the past

and a few of the more able bodied still marching on

just like they were still in the forces

Sargent's at Arms

The Army marches through

Later after the church service the army marched down Northbrook Street taking a salute from a Senior officer as they went by.

Taking part in Our World Tuesday

Newbury Sky

Different scene today, Newbury last Sunday Morning at the Food Fair they had along Northbrook Street. Sky's were a bit dark as you would expect for the beginning of November.

 Market Place

And the Town Crier

MINI Coffee Shop

Spotted this at the food festival in Newbury on Sunday

A MINI Coffee Shop

I thought it was well cool, shame I did not have one as the prices were ok as well.

Have a Great Day

Mural at the Library

Found this one a few years ago outside Newbury Library but I thought a revisit in order to take some photos of it. As you can see it is quite long so I took a series of frames to give a better idea as it what it was about which is a timeline though Newburys history

Fist frame shows the start of a timeline in 1248

second is the the Newbury Martyrs and the battle of Newbury

Third shows the battles of Newbury

Fourth is the Kennet & Avon Canal

Fifth shows Horse racing and the US 101 airborne at Greenham

 And the last is the 3rd Battle of Newbury in 1996

Taking Part in Monday Mural