Newcastle placeholder
October 1st, 2017
Glasgow – shipbuilding and architecture on film
November 12th, 2016
Films
All Our Working Lives – The Shipbuilders.mp4 (download and play)
Original 1984 documentary of one hour then a half hour update programme
British Connection Clydebank – Kelso.mp4
BBC Alba – subtitles in English – Clydebank forms the first half hour
Dreaming the impossible: Unbuilt Britain – A revolution in the City
BBC Four 58m59s
The Secret History of our Streets – Duke_Street.mp4
BBC Four – subtitles – 59m22s
Aberfan remembered III
October 29th, 2016
https://www.alangeorge.co.uk/AberfanDisaster_Page2.htm
On the evening of October 21st 2016 I drove from Merthyr to Cardiff to hear the Aberfan Memorial Lectures by five members of the London Geological Society. My recordings of the talks are linked below, split into the relevant parts:-
Introduction by Paul Maliphant - Development and Projects Director, Mott MacDonald Ltd
Aberfan remembered II
October 24th, 2016
The morning of Friday 21st October 2016 arrived cold, crisp, clear and sunny. I drove from Merthyr Tydfil via the nearby village of Troed-y-rhiw to a busy Aberfan already filling with cars and parked on a steep street before walking quickly up to the cemetery for the 0915 memorial service. I was handed the leaflet below on approaching the memorial area. (see footnote)
Despite the chill in the air, as the morning wore on the sun’s warmth won through and before long it was a lovely morning up on the hillside on this sad occasion.
Aberfan remembered
October 21st, 2016
“Blame for the disaster rests upon the National Coal Board” – Inquiry
“Chairman . . .
Could anybody before Tip 7 started — not necessarily a surveyor or an engineer or anything of that kind — could I walking up that mountainside before Tip 7 began fail firstly to see that there was a stream on the land which later became covered by Tip 7? If I used my eyes at all, could I possibly fail to see it?
A. – You could not fail to see it, my lord, no.
Q. – What about the spring you have been referring to? Could a lawyer, with no knowledge of these expert matters at all, taking a country walk up that mountainside, fail to see the place of the spring you have spoken of, or (if the weather was dry) that there was a place where in wetter weather a spring probably ran — could you fail to see that?
A. – He could not fail to see it, my lord, no.
Q. – Those are the stream and the spring, we understand, you tell us later on were covered by Tip 7?
A. – Yes, my lord.”
Paragraph 98 – Evidence of the slinger, Mr. D. B. Jones
Golden rules – scratchpad thoughts
April 30th, 2014
A considered look at artistic composition.
a) a winding path, brook, river or canal which leads the eye into the distance.
Stonebridge Park estate
St Paul’s Cathedral sightlines
February 25th, 2012
29/11/16 – This article is rather out of date. If the sightlines are important to you please keep an eye on this webpage:-
London View Management Framework
UPDATE: 25/11/16 – and another one Manhattan Lofts Stratford
If the following is the result of the present building restrictions supposedly preventing visual clutter obscuring or degrading the views of St Paul’s Cathedral from well known landmarks around London then why bother? They have clearly been watered down to the point of no return. I thought they were intended to PROTECT the views of St Pauls from a set of established points around London including Primrose Hill. Who is responsible for this change? Ken or Boris? How is this protecting the view of St Pauls from Parliament Hill? I am horrified.
The best exposition I have seen on TV about the St Pauls sightlines has been from Andrew Marr in his series Britain from Above when he devoted a whole section of the programme to the Abercrombie plan for London and to the subject of sightlines.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/britainfromabove/stories/buildingbritain/3dmodelling.shtml
Rosebury Avenue – former Metropolitan Water Board HQ
February 1st, 2012
On my Lubetkin visit to the capital last year, across the road from LSE Rosebury Hall where I was staying, I noticed this magnificent building, origin unknown to me until serendipity played a hand while going through some old Look and Learn magazines from the 1960s I came across this article (large graphic) showing it to have been the headquarters of the Metropolitan Water Board.
Streets in the sky – Park Hill – The One Show
September 10th, 2011
While attending the Sheffield Heritage Open Day (HOD) I chanced upon Roy Hattersley seated outside the main entrance to Park Hill . . .
Simon Gawthorpe with Roy Hattersley at Park Hill
Heygate Estate – Elephant & Castle
August 16th, 2011
Thought for the day – Regeneration is social cleansing
In my continuing quest for béton brut (raw concrete) I wandered along to what’s left of the Heygate to snatch a few shots.
