Blog Day The Tenin Technique

How could I not come back for this momentous occasion in CDPB history? And what is a party without punch? So, here I am!

Hello everyone. How have you been? Good. Me? I've been OK. Busy. Not picked up my camera since New Years Eve, until last week. It felt very strange actually but the break from snapping pictures has done me good. I'm still not ready to come back to Cheltenham Daily Photo yet. One day maybe. But I am starting to take photos again. And reminding myself why I liked photography in the first place. Anyway. Today isn't about me.

Today's special Blog Day is to celebrate the start of this wonderful community, 5 short years ago, by our great leader Eric Tenin, with the first daily city photo blog - Paris Daily Photo. The challenge for this unique theme day is to take a photo in the style of the 'Friendly Parisian', either on the ground or at a jaunty angle. This is my tribute to Eric - Cheltenham Town Hall as seen from the pavement.

Check out who else has come to the anniversary party by clicking here.

All White

Its hard not to show Cheltenham's Regency buildings every day. There are so many and they are a big part of the town. This one is quite typical in design and style - four floors, a wrought iron balcony, stones stairs leading to the imposing front door, simple architectural details, crisp white paint. This one also has the benefit of facing onto Imperial Gardens, behind the Town Hall, and is in one of Cheltenham's best locations.

In

Yesterdays cobbles lead up to Cheltenham Town Hall! I've posted a lot on this building in the past, but this is a different view. I think all of us have revisited places and buildings while blogging. To find out more about the Town Hall click on the label below.

Town Hall Detail

This photo may look familiar to some of you. Its a close up of this photo from last Tuesday. The Town hall is covered in carved detail like this, but its not until you look for it that you really see it. As you can see the photo is in black and white (nothing like pointing out the blatantly obvious!) but I took it using the dreaded manual settings! I'm getting there slowly! Anyway, that's it. Got to get some more photos today, I have nothing to show you tomorrow. Nothing!

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Blooming Lovely

The Town Hall (at a funky angle) in full bloom. Yet again the gardeners behind Cheltenham's parks and gardens have pulled off a fantastic summer display, with yellow flowers at the top end of town, pink and blue a bit further in, and red, white and blue in the town centre. As the summer progresses I'll show you more of the flowers.

The Town Hall looks great at the moment, just in time for the Music Festival, which is lucky as it is one of the main venues for the fortnight long musical extravaganza. We went last Friday night to see one of the first performances, and it was brilliant. We saw The John Wilson Orchestra performing Hollywood Rhapsody, a celebration of film music. The 70 strong orchestra were breathtakingly good, with such a rich sound. They played music from all sorts of films - MGM studio productions, Star Wars, Gone With The Wind and Harry Potter, to name but a few. And the best part was that this was a preview before the orchestra heads to The Proms in London!

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Marley In Birmingham

As you may have noticed I've been AWOL over the weekend. One of the reason being our trip to Birmingham (about 50 miles North of Cheltenham) to surprise AJC for her birthday. Phoebe and BFF had been plotting and planning, the result was me and Phoebe sitting in the bar of the hotel where AJC and BFF were staying. Surprise AJC! We went to a great restaurant, Metro, but due to me working yesterday and rubbish transport links (no trains or buses after 9.15pm from Birmingham to Chelt!) we had a fleeting visit, but we enjoyed ourselves none the less. Here are a few photos of our whistle stop tour.

The Council House building in Victoria Square

Mirrors in the Metro Bar and Grill

'Iron: Man' statue by Anthony Gormley in Victoria Square.

The Town Hall all lit up

BFF - thanks for inviting us, it was great to see you both.
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Stone Stairs

It's been a long time since I've posted a black and white photo, time to rectify that. These stone stair leads up to the entrance of Pizza Express, opposite the Town Hall. I haven't eaten there in quite a while but the food is good and the restaurant is really nice. I like the simple design of the railings. What do you think?
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Steps And Railings

Steps and iron railings like these could be in front of Regency houses in Bath, London or Edinburgh but obviously these are in Cheltenham. The town houses on Imperial Square have a great view, they overlook Imperial Gardens and the Town Hall, and they are one of the towns best examples of fine architecture.
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Winter Garden

The "big freeze" continues. The temperature fell to -10c the other night, the snow is still on the ground and the roads are icy. We really aren't used to this here, a cold day or two is the norm. Though it is nice to get home in the evening and get warm. I've had to have several glasses of Port to keep my temperature up!

Today's photo shows a snowy Imperial Gardens, just behind the Town Hall. The area used to be the site of the Winter Gardens. The glass roofed building was used for concerts, exhibitions and housed a cinema. The building opened in 1878 and was demolished between 1940 and 1944, partly because its glass roof may have been a target for bombers in the Second World War, but mainly because it was in a poor state of repair. It would be a great if a similar building could be reinstated on the Gardens. I think it would make a fine addition to Cheltenham.

I'm getting cold again. Where's the Port?

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Autumn Clean Up

The Borough Council horticulturalists are hard at work, clearing and tidying the parks and gardens ready for the winter months. This was the scene in Imperial Gardens, behind the Town Hall. The gardeners were just out of the photo, hard at it. I'm not sure if that truck is big enough for all the fallen leaves though, as the area is surrounded by trees. One strong gust of wind and the place will be covered again!

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Birds Eye View

From the top of Leckhampton Hill you get a clear view right across Cheltenham. Here I've cropped the photo to show you just the town centre. See if you can spot Eagle Tower, the top of the Regent Arcade shopping centre, the Town Hall, Municipal Offices, the Library and Cheltenham Boys College.

I'm away for a few days. I'm hoping Blogger magic will make this post appear like...well...magic! I'll catch up with you all at the end of the week.

How It Should Have Been

This is the kind of weather I was hoping for on Monday (to take autumn photos in) but it rained. Back at work yesterday and this was the weather (typical.) I had to take this one while I was at a red light in town. Not only was the sky bluer than blue but the light was perfect. I like this photo, I'm really pleased with the shadow on the building and how all the elements came together. Nothing like blowing your own trumpet!

And I know you all want to know about Pizza Express. It's opposite the town hall, it has a grand double staircase at the front, inside its stylish and, more importantly, the pizza's are good!

I've just found this wonderful autumn treat for you all. It'll take less than two minutes of your day. It's worth it. Make sure you have the volume turned on. Enjoy.

Bookworm Heaven

The 59th Cheltenham Literature Festival is taking place in and around town at the moment, with authors, journalists, famous faces and bookworms coming out to play. The event was started in 1949 by a small group of friends and was the worlds first literature festival, it is now one of the worlds biggest celebrations of writing, attracting tens of thousands of visitors. Over the festivals 10 day run there are 350 events featuring debates, interviews, readings, book signings and workshops. This years festival has former BBC journalist Kate Adie and Rebus author Ian Rankin as Guest Directors, responsible for the programme of the weekend events.

I'm not a very book-ish person, I prefer non-fiction books filled with useless facts, so I have never been to anything to do with the festival. Until this weekend. Phoebe and I went to The Centaur, at the Racecourse, to see Doctor Who re-inventor Russel T Davies and John Barrowman, who plays Captain Jack in the series. It was a really entertaining evening, they were both interviewed and talked about their respective books, and then answered questions from the audience. Neither of them were giving anything away about the upcoming Doctor Who specials in 2009 but it was still an insightful evening.

Most of the festival takes place at the Town Hall and in these tents behind the building, in Imperial Gardens. This large tent is a temporary Waterstone's bookshop and also the venue for book signings, a great place for celebrity spotting. The festival draws some big names, this year the famous faces include James Bond star Roger Moore, former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, Hollywood legend Tony Curtis, Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison and Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He opened the event last Friday, glad he wasn't busy sorting out the financial crisis! He has got a book to sell, perhaps he needs a few extra quid in these hard times!

Open Air Art

Every summer the Imperial Gardens, behind the Town Hall, plays host to the Open Air Art Exhibition. The event runs for four weeks, and each week each of the 25 different panels display a different artists work. The artists are made up of people who belong to local art clubs or people who paint for a living. All of the paintings and drawings are for sale, with the money going directly to the artists. It is a great opportunity for locals to showcase their work and each week there is always something new to see. When Phoebe and I had a look last week we were surprised at how high the standard was, there were several pictures that even I would have paid out for!

Do you have anything like this where you live?

Bright Lights

I've had my new camera since Christmas and I just realised I hadn't tried out the 'night' mode yet. So last night I headed into town and got snapping, and this is the result. This is the Town Hall which it sits on Cheltenham's One-way system. There wasn't that much traffic but I still managed to get an interesting shot. The colours in the original photo were a bit flat so I've played around with the contrast to enhance them. I think it looks ok. Watch out for more after dark photos soon!

Spa Water

This was my other choice for Theme Day (I know. I'm milking it!) The photo shows the place you can try Cheltenham's Spa Water in the Town Hall. I've told you about the Town Hall before but didn't really mention this. To the left of the entrance hall of the building is this, the Central Spa. It opened in June 1906 to allow visitors and Cheltonians alike to drink the Cheltenham Spa water. The octagonal counter and urns are made by Doulton, although only one of the urns now has a tap for trying the water. As I've said before, the water is quite salty and doesn't taste very nice, but I suppose this is why people used to think it had medicinal properties!

Pigeon Spa

Cheltenham owes it Spa town status to the humble Pigeon. According to tradition, Cheltenham's spa water was discovered in 1716 because local people noticed pigeons pecking at the salty deposits left around a spring in a field on the south of the town.

William Mason, the owner of the field, started to charge for the medicinal water and created the towns first Spa. In 1739 Masons son-in-law, Henry Skillicorne, created a deeper well on the site, installed a pump and built a brick canopy to shelter the drinkers of the water. As the site developed he constructed a Spa building and linked the well to the town with a walk way of trees, later known as Well Walk. The popularity of the Spa grew and the water was bottled and sold in Cities around the country. In 1788 King George and his family visited the Spa and this secured Cheltenhams popularity and its Spa status.

After the regal visit the Spa became known as the Royal Well (now the area occupied by the Ladies College). By the turn of the 1800's the Royal Well was supplying water to about two thousand visitors a year, and this success lead to nearly a dozen other Spas opening in and around Cheltenham by the 1850's. As the century moved on the water tasting and bathing continued but in the early 1900's the Spas began to close and the buildings were used for other businesses. Today you can still try the spa water at the Town Hall and the Pitville Pump Room, having tried it myself I can tell you it is salty and not very pleasant!

Without the pigeon, the bird that some people call 'rats with wings', who knows how different Cheltenham's history might have been.

Town Hall

I've learnt something new today. While doing a spot of research into the history of Cheltenhams Town Hall I discovered that the Town Hall was built as an addition to the Winter Garden and not the other way round. This may not be an earth shattering discovery but as I am a proud Cheltonian I'm disappointed with my own lack of knowledge. Anyway...the Town Hall sits in Imperial Square, on the north side of Imperial Garden. On this site there used to be a Winter Garden (a large glass and steel building used for concerts, demolished in 1940 and considered a white elephant to the Council) and in 1900 it was decided that Cheltenham needed a larger function building after the demolition of the Assembly Rooms. In 1902 construction work started on Gloucester architect Frederick William Waller's design of an impressive Baroque style building. Behind the foundation stone, still visible today, a bottle was placed containing coins and the days newspapers, as was tradition then. The complete build took a year and two months and cost £45,000. The main feature of the Town Hall is the main hall, measuring 92 feet by 52 feet and 53 feet high, with Corinthian columns, balconies and sprung floor. In 1906 the Cheltenham Spa was opened inside the building and has an octagonal counter and large urns. You can still take the Spa water there today but nowadays you have to serve yourself! Having tasted the water once (once was enough) I can tell you its best described as warm and salty! The Town hall can accommodate 1000 people and now holds banquets, concerts, live shows, balls and many other events. I've been to several different things at the Town Hall, the best being a fantastic New Years Eve party with indoor fireworks and 20 foot high flames shooting into the air! That was a good night.