Flower Wednesday

Just a few flower photos from recent walks around the smaller show gardens at the Trentham Estate, Stoke-on-Trent and the Museum Gardens at The Brampton, Newcastle-under Lyme.

 Magnolia

 Clematis

 Lily

 White Foxglove

 Water Lily

Rose

 

Joining in with Riitta for her Flower Wednesday.  Do follow the link and visit Riitta and see who else is joining in this week.

'I sat for an hour in a tree shadowed walk'

'I had been over to Newcastle-under-Lyme to visit the family dentist and afterwards I sat for an hour in a tree shadowed walk called The Brampton and meditated on the war.  It was one of those shimmering Autumn days when every leaf and flower seemed to scintillate with light and I found it very hard to believe that not far away men were being slain ruthlessley.  It is impossible, I concluded, to find any satisfaction in the destruction of men whether they be English, French, German or anything else, seems a crime to the whole march of civilisation.'

Vera Brittain 1914

from Testament of Youth pub 1933

The words above, from Vera Brittain's book Testament of Youth, were the inspiration for the statue, by local artist Andrew Edwards, which sits on a bench on The Brampton in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.

 The statue although influenced by Vera Brittain's words isn't actually of the writer herself but more of a depiction of women of that time.

 In her hand she clutches a letter, her head slightly bent, as she reads the words

'The King commands me to assure you of the true sympathy of His Majesty and The Queen in your sorrow'

 Secretary of State for War

 The statue, which is slightly larger than life size, is meant to depict everywoman, all those mothers, daughters, wives and lovers left at home and who suffered loss during not only this war but others too.

The bench and the statue, which was unveiled on 11th November 2014, were placed close to a copper beech tree that had been planted a few years before by Vera Brittain's daughter Baroness Williams of Crosby who will always be remembered as Shirley Williams MP.

Vera Brittain was born just a short distance from The Brampton on a leafy, tree lined street.

Her father was an industrialist who owned paper mills in Hanley, now the city centre of Stoke on Trent,  and in Cheddleton, a village between Stoke-on-Trent and Leek.

The family eventally moved away from Newcastle-under-Lyme living first in Macclesfield in Cheshire and then Buxton in Derbyshire.

Vera Brittain lost her fiancee, Roland Leighton, her brother Edward and  two close friends Victor Richardson and Geoffrey Thurlow to the war and as a consequence became a feminist and pacifist as well as a writer.  Testament of Youth is probably her best known work.  She also wrote Testament of Friendship about her friendship with the novelist Winifred Holtby whom she met at Somerville College, Oxford, plus other works including a couple of novels. 

Here is more about the life of  Vera Brittain

Five on Friday

It's Friday so once again I'm joining in with  Amy at Love Made my Home for this week's Five on Friday. 

On Tuesday we needed to visit nearby Newcastle-under-Lyme.  It is a small market town just four miles from the city centre of Stoke-on-Trent and is quite a lively town because of its close proximity to Keele University.

After a wander aroud the  centre we went up to The Brampton which is in a lovely area of the town.

  There are some beautiful old trees along the roadside and in the park and of course the Borough of Newcastle Museum and Art Gallery. 

 There is a garden, pond and aviary in the grounds too. 

 

Below are five things I spotted whilst strolling around

 1.  The Universal Woman - of WW1,  based on a passage from Vera Brittain's autobiographical book Testament of Youth in which she describes a moment in time when she sat on a bench on The Brampton and pondered about how peaceful it was and hard to believe that men were fighting and being killed just over the channel.  I'm going to write more about this sculpture by Andrew Edwards and the Vera Brittain connection in my next post.

 2. Tom Brown Tivey (1892 - 1966)

He served with the 5th North Staffordshire Regiment and was awarded a Military Cross for bravery after he was wounded in 1917.  He did return from the war and worked as a lecturer at the North Staffordshire College of Building. He was also a novelist writing several 'who-done-it' books. The statue was carved from what remained of an old Horse Chestnut tree by local sculptor Anthony Hammond as a tribute to all those from the area who fought in WW1.

 3. The Russian Cannon
The cannon dates from 1840 and was captured at the end of the Crimean War c.1856.  It was presented by Samuel Christy MP to the Borough of Newcastle.
 

 4.  The Market Cross (part of)
 First erected in 1820 in front of the Guildhall in the town centre the column was moved to its present position in 1984 after repair work had been carried out

5.  Ceramic Mosaic 
Made by the children of the local Chesterton Primary school to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the second World War. 

Click on the link below to find other bloggers who are joining in with 

Five on Friday

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Flower Wednesday

Today I'm joining in with Riitta for her Flower Wednesday.  Do use the link to visit Riitta and to see other bloggers' posts too.

Since my last post on our garden the lupins have come into flower.

 

 They were given to me many years ago by a friend and they come back every year.

 We keep them in pots and stand them on gravel.  If we didn't they would be eaten by slugs and snails very quickly.

We have to keep them well watered too especially in very hot and dry weather

It is worth caring for them though as they certainly make me smile every day when they are in bloom.

 

In the Garden

I mentioned in my last post that we had been busy putting up a new fence.

 The old one was falling apart and rotting in places.  It needed to be replaced.

I've never thought of us as trend setters but several neighbours have been to look at it and a couple of them are having the same fencing.

View from the front of the house.

You can see what remains of the old fencing leaning against the shed.  I loved the colour of it, I think it was called sea grass but I'm geting used to the new one.  

Meanwhile around the garden things are changing so fast.

 The peonies in the front garden are doing well this year.

Some of the petals are dropping off the blooms now though.

 French Marigolds

 Snap Dragons

 The Aquilegia and Geums are still flowering.  I've finally remembered that the Geum with the red flower is called Mrs Bradshaw.

 Lungwort brought by a friend from near Chesterfield when she visited last week.  Taken from her own garden.  I hope it survivesbecause I know that bees love it. It seems to be withstanding the transfer so far.

 I love the Tamarisk tree at this time of year.  It has been quite severely pruned but still looks healthy thank goodness.

The yellow rose is still always the first of the roses to flower.

In the green house the tomatoes and courgettes are coming along, ditto lettuce and beans.  Some of the courgettes have been planted outside in the raised beds.

It has been warm enough for both cats to snooze outside.  Max is quite fragile now and doesn't stray very far.

 Max by the pond watching the frogs

Chloe snoozing on the seat before we tackled the fence.

It has been warm enough to sit outside and certainly for strawberries and ice cream.  The ones above are from the supermarket but they are Staffordshire grown so quite local.

 It looks as if it won't be long before we will be picking our own.

Five on Friday

It's Friday so once again I'm joining in with  Amy at Love Made my Home for this week's Five on Friday. 

It has been a busy week this week as we have been  putting up a new fence at the side of the house and it was delivered in several parts so we've had to wait in for deliveries. It is almost finished now and I'll photograph it for a garden post in a few days time.

Meanwhile we did take a couple of hours out this morning to have a walk around the lake at Trentham so I've chosen five things I saw on the way around that made me smile. 

1.  Flag Iris - I love the bright yellow

They are all out now and looking lovely in huge clumps at the side of the lake.

2.  Hawthorn or May blossom looking wonderful in swathes of white along the banks of the River Trent near the path between the river and the lake.

Don't cast a clout until May is out.  It is out and looking wonderful.

3. Reed Mace 

covered in cottony fluff in which the seeds will be dispersed.

4.  A New Fairy has appeared in the Dandelions display.

5.  Cow Parsley - I love its frothy whiteness at this time of year and with the white blossoms on the Hawthorn bushes the whole riverside and lake side looked as if was covered in white, summery snow.

Click on the link below to find other bloggers who are joining in with 

Five on Friday

Have a lovely weekend everyone.