Stanford Hall Founders Day

24-07-17

An old friend of mine (whom I’ve known since I was 8 years old) and his wife very kindly took me me on a visit to Stanford Hall, Leicestershire for the annual Founders Day motorcycle event on the 23 July. It must be 20 years or more since I last visited, and that was for the Classic VW show. I had a thing about Beetles at that time, wish I still had one. The weather has been a bit patchy over the last week or so but we were lucky yesterday, it kept dry and we even had some sunshine. I took my Olympus EPL1 with me to get a few shots of the bikes, didn’t take too many as it can be quite boring for people who aren’t taking photo’s.

Stanford Hall

BSA Golden Flash

BSA V Twin Sidecar Outfit

The BSA was immaculate

3 Wheelers

I would love one of these !

Indian

All in all a great day out with good company.

In The Garden Today

Thought I would spend the day pottering around the garden, having a slight hangover I thought the fresh air would do me good. It was a lovely sunny day but the wind was cold.

Reason For The Hangover!

 I really enjoy seeing this band they are called “The Moonlights”, and the venue had 2 beers I hadn’t tried before, well that’s my excuse.

Lavender Bud

Bluebells

Grape Hyacinth

Corn Flower

Rhododendron

Forget Me Not

Lavender

Clematis

Clematis

It’s a bugs life

I used my Olympus EPL1 with an old Helios 58mm lens and extension tube. It was quite tricky getting the shots because of the breezy conditions and really narrow depth of field. It’s lovely to see the signs of spring well underway in the garden, not so good to see the amount of work I need to do.

Nobody Told Me The Queen Was In Town !

Took a walk to town this morning on my usual route following the old Roman walkway to the centre. I thought I would take a look at the restoration work around the Cathedral area, all the roads were blocked and security guards and police were keeping people away. So I walked through the market to the clock tower and then realised what was going on.

(no that’s not the Queen !)

I’ve since found out the Queen and Prince Philip were attending a Royal Maundy service at the Cathedral and according to the Leicester Mercury paper “Her Majesty will take part in the ancient tradition of handing out Maundy Money to 91 men and 91 women – the number representing her own age in years” As I walked back past the railway station the Royal cavalcade drove past, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen the Royals. I must have been one of the few people who didn’t know this was happening today.

 

Places I’ll Never Forget (Hopefully !) #2

Bay of Riga

This was taken on the Bay of Riga near Apšuciems, (a place I have great deal of difficulty in pronouncing correctly) After a hot day it’ was lovely to walk along the beach and feel the soft cooling breeze.

A few images from my trips to town over the last few days

I took my Sigma DP1 with me on my walks to town over the last few days. It’s amazing what you can find left on the pavements and roads. I’ve gone all square for these images they just seemed to suit the format.

Solid Fuel and Me !

A load of Rubbish

At least they left it by the bin ! It was gone when I returned on my way back to home.

Back to Nature

So Green

A sign of good air quality so they say.

Tails

Daff’s in the Park

Spring Blossoms

Thursday Doors & Top Hats

Here’s my contribution to this weeks Thursday Doors over at Norm 2.0 blog. Some great doors over there to check out.

Top Hat Terrace

It was a bit dull this morning when I took this image, my Sigma DP1 doesn’t like dull very much

This one is from last June when it was a bit brighter

Info Board

The Terrace was built for Francis “Tanky” Smith, Detective Inspector of Leicester Borough Police in 1864, and according to the info board the heads represent the different disguises he used to apprehend criminals.

Just around the corner from Top Hat Terrace is a road of lovely houses now mostly taken over by the University of Leicester.

Gothic Look
 

Lovely Blue

A Bit Of Green

Great Brickwork

Well I hope you enjoy these doors, I’ve certainly learnt a bit about the city I live in by photographing them.

Slytherin !

A cold but sunny day for my walk to the city. Visited some places I knew, but hadn’t been to for a while.

This is new, I’m not a fan of pet shops.

I am a fan of electricity sub stations though.

Used to be called Zanzibar, doubled up as a roller skating rink on Sunday mornings, went there with my niece and nephew a few times. I would love to go roller skating again, but there’s not a rink nearby .

I’ve photographed this before, not sure what these things are but they are on sale for only £3.00, was tempted !

Hanging fluorescent’s