Back In The Habit

This post is because I wanted to, not because its a good photo. I was doing my paparazzi bit in Imperial Gardens! Well, its not every day you see a nun. Unless you live in a convent. Or are a nun. But then you would be a nun if you lived in a convent! Anyway. I last posted nuns, two for the price of one, here. And check out the comments there too for some nun-related jokes. The main reason for wanting to post this photo? So I could use the title! I'm easily pleased.

All Saints Church

As I mentioned yesterday, today it is more of All Saints Church. The Catholic church on All Saints Road has some wonderful carved details and lots of interesting pitched roofs. Instead of trying to choose one photo today I thought I'd treat you to four! The first photo is of the stone detail above what was once the main door to the church, it is now sectioned of with railings, I guess to preserve it.

All Saints was established in 1868 by a group of local people keen to create a style of worship not generally found in Cheltenham, that followed the 19th century Oxford Movement.

The church itself was designed by John Middleton. Middleton's original design included a tower with a large spire, but although building and decoration of the interior continued for many years, the gable roof to the bell-tower was not completed until 1992, but without the spire the architect designed over 100 years earlier.

And finally the Crucifix in full that I showed you part of yesterday. Impressive.

Jesus Christ

This imposing carved statue of Jesus Christ stands on the corner of All Saints Church. This is just a taster of the amazing stone work on and around the building. More tomorrow. But for now...

A follow up to yesterdays post...

Its amazing what you can find out if you ask a question. Yesterdays mystery musical instruments are an Indonesian Gamelan, as many of you said. Knowing this, I found out the following from the Cheltenham Festivals website.

"A gamelan (translated as ‘hit with a hammer’) is an ensemble of percussion instruments on which the traditional music of Java and Bali is played. It usually consists of metallophones (xylophones) and gongs, the best ones made of bronze, and mounted on beautifully carved and painted wooden frames. It has a distinctive and melodic sound and accompanies dances and all-night shadow-puppet plays in Indonesia.

The Cheltenham Gamelan was made in the foundries outside the Royal City of Surakarta (Solo) in central Java, Indonesia. The lovely white roses carved on the wooden frames were designed specifically to complement the Pittville Pump Room, although one of the wood carvers was apparently somewhat baffled as to why anyone would want what he took to be cabbages on their gamelan!

Many aspects of playing the gamelan match targets within the music curriculum, the most obvious being playing by ear and from memory, learning about pitch, dynamics and tempo, and taking part in group performances. As a result the Cheltenham Gamelan is becoming an increasingly popular resource for all key stages in schools.

As well as a thriving schedule of schools’ workshops, the community gamelan players meet regularly to develop their interest in this beautiful music. It enhances other skills such as listening to others and working as a team, and is therefore ideal for corporate functions, team-building exercises and parties. With no previous experience participants can, within a short time, play a real Javanese composition and have a lot of fun along the way."

So now we all know!

Underneath The Arches

This is St Mary and Corpus Christi Church in Down Hatherley, a little village somewhere between Cheltenham and Gloucester. The site of the church dates from around the 15th century but the main church building is from 1859.

That is it really, just look at the pretty little church!

Punching The Sky

Today is a 'let the photo do the talking' day. This is St Lukes church steeple with Leckhampton Hill in the background.

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Encouraging All

"Encouraging all people to become fully committed followers of Jesus Christ" is the slogan of Cambray Baptist Church. Best of luck with that one! Can you tell I'm not religious?! I'm not against people believing in whatever they want or finding strength and comfort in a higher being, but its a tall order trying to convert all people. I bet lots of people are happy not to be encouraged.

Whatever you think about religion and the people there-in they know/knew how to build impressive churches. This one is a bit plainer than the normal heavy stone and spire-topped ones that are common right across the UK, but it is none-the-less a fantastic building. It looms large and stands proud on Cambray Place, right next to the High Street. The building dates back to 1855, although the first Cheltenham Baptists were formed in 1690 and used to worship in a disused malt house. The congregation that became Cambray Baptist Church was formed in 1843 and the then churchgoers raised the money to build this building.

What are your thoughts on religion and church buildings?
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Top Tip

As a complete contrast to yesterdays post here is the sign outside the neighbouring St Paul's Tavern. Forget churches, this is my kind of religion! What wise words!

The St Paul's area of town has a large student population, mainly due to the rows of terraced houses that are rented out as student accommodation and the fact that one of Gloucestershire University campuses is in that part of town. Although the pub claims to be a local it is more or less a student pub.

So, have any of you got a top tip? The best suggestion will win a prize! Oooo! Winner to be announced on Saturday.

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St Paul's Church

What can I tell you about the unusual looking St Paul's church? Well, its in one of Cheltenham's most deprived areas - St Paul's, its Cheltenham's only Greek Revival style building, it was designed by John Forbes and dates back to 1831, and was the towns first 'free' church. I think that covers the basics.

It has some really interesting architectural features - some that are familiar to Cheltenham, others that are unique.

These days the church promotes itself for the work it does within the community - offering help to struggling families, youth clubs for young people and workshops for locals. St Paul's really is at the heart of its community.
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Easter Bunny

Its Easter Sunday, the day the fluffy bunny leaves Easter eggs, its also the day to do with something religious but that has gone the same way as Christmas. Anyway, this rather overdressed rabbit is in the shop window (excuse my obsession) of Vinegar Hill. The shop at the end of the Prom opened at the end of last year and sells overpriced accessorise (notice the price in the basket) for the home and garden, though their Christmas stock was nice their Easter goods are a bit OTT!

Enjoy Easter day and don't eat too many chocolate eggs!

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Egg-cellent Window

Hope you are enjoying the Easter Weekend. This Easter themed window display is in the Orange store (mobile phones, not fruit!) on the High Street. Its very colourful and captures the main (non-religious) features - eggs, chicks and bunny rabbits!

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Chick

Its Good Friday, time for all things Easter related! These little yellow chicks make an annual appearance at this time of year, decorating cakes and shop displays. I don't actually know anyone who has one apart from me, and I didn't until yesterday ( I 'borrowed' this one from a display where I work!) Here in the UK we don't tend to go in for lots of Easter decorations, its all about the chocolate eggs! Yummy!

More Easter related photos over the weekend.

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Steeple

Not a lot to say today. I can't even remember the name of this church (standards are slipping!), although I do know its in Montpellier Street, opposite the Ladies College. I just like the way it points straight up to that blue sky. If I can think of the name I'll update you all, as a taster its more than likely called St 'somebodys' Church!

UPDATE....

Thanks to Tash at Palos Verdes DP for doing the job for me! She found the name of the Church, its St Andrew's. And the spire was built in 1885. I told you my standards were slipping! Thanks Tash.
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Pancake Day

How could I resist this one?! Another day, another shop window. This is from one of my favourites in town, the clothes shop White Stuff. Their window displays have featured on Cheltenham DP before and included the drunken gingerbread man and the squirrel headed mannequins.

For those that don't know, or have forgotten, today is Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day. Its the day before Ash Wednesday and signifies the start of Lent. The idea is that you eat up all the things that are forbidden during the period of Lent - eggs, fat, sugar - these are made into a batter and fried into flat...um...pancakes! It seems here in the UK its the one day of the year we have pancakes, unlike other countries who have them year round, like France and America. I'll be having some this evening, covered in lemon juice and sugar, very traditional!

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Gods Window

A photo from neighbouring Tewkesbury today, as I need to get out and get snapping in Cheltenham. This is one of the stained glass windows of Tewkesbury Abbey. I'm not sure what this one depicts (any ideas?) but the detail and colours are amazing. If you think that when this was created there were no computers, no special technology aiding creation, just man made skill, it is even more impressive. It must have taken many weeks, if not months, to create this marvellous window. God knows how they did it. Actually, he probably does!

Click on the photo to get an even better look at the detail.

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Deerhurst Flower Festival - Day Two

More of the beautiful flowers at Deerhurst Flower Festival. As I mentioned yesterday this years theme was Sounds Of Song And Praise. The photo above shows the flowers that represent the Gates Of Jerusalem Hosanna. The end of the pews were decorated with red gladioli and bright yellow sunflowers, creating a colourful walk way down the aisle. The photo below is part of the display entitled Resounding Bells Of Time. I'll show the bells tomorrow.

Salubritas et Eruditio

This is the Coat of Arms and Insignia of Cheltenham. This one is above the main entrance to the Municipal Offices but there are others around town.

So what does it all mean? Well, starting at the top and working down, the pigeon at the very top is sitting on a blue stripped sphere and this represents the discovery of the fountain of spa water by a pigeon that made Cheltenham famous. This is sitting on top of a wreath of Oak leaves. The two open books, either side of the silver cross, on the blue band represent education, particularly Pates Grammar School and Cheltenham College. The silver cross shows religion. The two pigeons represent the flock that gathered at the spa water spring. The Oak tree at the bottom is there to represent the tree lined Promenade and streets that Cheltenham is also known for. And finally the towns motto - Salubritas et Eruditio means "Health and Education".

And so ends today's lesson! Does your town or city have a motto?

Bethesda Choir

One thing that photos can't capture is sound. And this photo doesn't convey the lovely sound coming through the open doors. As I walked up Great Norwood Street I could here singing and as I got near to Bethesda Methodist Church I discovered the source - choir practise. I stopped for a bit and had a listen, pretending to fiddle with my camera, and the singers were really good. I'm sure if I had been brave enough to go in they wouldn't have minded, it wouldn't have been very religious if they'd said no! If you click to enlarge the photo you can just see the singers in full swing and also get a better look at the carving round the door.

Medieval Abbey

My dad lives just the other side of Tewkesbury and on Tuesday night he took us out for something to eat, yet more birthday celebrations involving food! As we walked back to the car my blogging head came into play and I spotted a photo op, and I had my camera with me! This is the famous Abbey framed by one of the flags still flying from the Medieval weekend, that took place in Tewkesbury last month.

This is also my first Photoshop doctored photo. Not hugely different to the original, I was really just playing around, trying to work out all the different features. Thanks Phoebe for installing the software, what would I do without you?

Stars At Night

"The stars shine joyfully to the Lord"

The words above are on the bottom of this poster, which is on the noticeboard of St Philip & St James' Church in the Leckhampton area of Cheltenham. The inspiration for the poster has come from stained glass. I'm not religious but this really caught my eye. The colours are so vivid and the more you look at it the more you see. Can you see the stars, a crescent moon, the sun setting and the sea? Or do you see something different to me?

Nun Of It

At the end of yesterdays post I asked for any insect jokes. The response was non existent (sorry Babooshka, yours was so bad it didn't count!) Although Ming made a tempting offer. He said he didn't have an insect joke but he had a good nun joke, and that he'd tell it if I posted a nun photo. Well, I like a challenge, so off I went in search of a nun. Now I don't think I've ever seen a nun in Cheltenham so I didn't really know where to look. I wandered around, did a bit of shopping, but no nuns. I was just about to head home, feeling annoyed at the lack of nuns, when who should walk round the corner? Yes, two nuns! By the time I got my camera out they were off down the High Street, but using my zoom (paparazzi style) I got a photo! Ming, over to you...

Here is my nun joke to get the ball rolling.

Three nuns arrive at the pearly gates and are met by St Peter. He says they all have to answer one question before they can get into heaven. The first nun is asked, "Who was the first man on earth." She replies, ''Oh that's easy, Adam!'' "Correct," says St Peter and the pearly gates open. The second nun is asked, ''Who was the first woman on earth?'' she says, ''That's easy, Eve!'' "Correct," says St Peter and the pearly gates open. St Peter then asks the third nun, ''What was the first thing Eve said to Adam?'' The nun is puzzled and thinks for a while before saying, ''That's a hard one.'' "Correct!"