Devizes September & October 2017

There’s never a dull moment in Devizes!

We arrived in time for the last public consultation on the Wharf Area and were glad to have the opportunity to add our thoughts on its future development.

I managed two cinema visits to see Judi Dench as Victoria and the Christopher Robin film.

We have joined the Towpath Task Force and volunteer every Thursday. We have edged and weeded locks, painted picnic benches, and filled in potholes.

 

  

We attended the Wiltshire Museum AGM met up with friends and came across this item about Queen Matilda.

We attended two MacMillan coffee mornings one here at the Marina and one at the Museum.

Devizes books Literary evening are always an unmissable event. September was on the theme of Cats and October as you would expect was a Spooky evening.

We attended a lecture on Passchendaele at Devizes Books and listened to a hilarious talk by Rosemary Hawthorne at the Assembly Rooms, entitled “Did Jane Austen wear Knickers?”

Avebury Manor put on a Apple event. It was very well attended but we found it a little underwhelming.

The 16th was the 30th anniversary of the “big storm.”  Here the sun was red and the sky yellow! Very bizarre!

Probably the most exciting afternoon was attending the Titanic Auction. A letter was being auctioned with an estimate of £60,000 to £80,000. We went to view on Friday afternoon and inevitably got chatting to Alan Aldridge (as yet no relation) and his wife.

Panels showing previous saleroom exhibits

The Titanic memorial wall

We were a little surprised to see the letter featured on the BBC News at Six on Friday night.  Good national publicity for Aldridges and Devizes.

We had front row seats for the auction. The cup and saucer and dish I wanted both were way above my £25.00 limit!

The tension heightened as the letter came up for auction. There were Internet bidders and three phone bidders as well as collectors in the room. There was a pause at £80,000 then a telephone bidder came in at £100,000 and the hammer came down!

Alan offered this flag to Tony but as Tony explained it was bigger than our boat!

 

 

Kircudbright, Scotland 7 October 2017

Pronounced Kir coo bree

Having received my Fathers record in WW2 I am following in his footsteps.He was posted to Catterick Camp and from there in February 1944 aged 19, was sent to the MOD training area near Kircudbright. It is known as the “Artists town” for obvious reasons, and today it has a number of art galleries selling paintings and craftwork.

The harbour and marina

 

The museum interior and garden

 

Main Street and the castle

The MOD still uses the land today from here to Dundrennan

Dundrennan Range is a weapons testing range on the Solway Firth, near Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway, in south west Scotland. It is part of the Kirkcudbright Training Area, 4,700 acres (19 km2) of farming land acquired by the British Army in 1942 to train forces for the invasion of mainland Europe. The area includes a 15 x 19-mile (31 km) sea danger area. The range takes its name from the nearby village of Dundrennan.

We had chosen the right weekend to visit as the ranges were not in use – no red flags were flying.

                   

From the guard at todays military HQ we were directed to the site of the wartime camp. Deep in the woods at Netherlaw there were a couple of dilapidated buildings left. We walked down to the beach.

 

And then to the village of Dundrennan

A very satisfying few days in beautiful countryside. Well worth a second visit.