Viccy Park's as nice as Pie

gon2seed

(and me! - Ed)
I just wanted to say that the Park, with its new more open personae, is rather splendid. Gone are the rather gloomy corners, and dense shrubbery, where goodness knows who lurked.

Sped past with the blue lights and wailers on on Sunday and we unfortunately drowned out the live music from the band stand. A perfect idyl, and this is before they have added the bedding plants, which they were doing today.

Well done Stafford Borough Council.
 

TENSHON

4000th post? Whatever, I'm nonchalant..
agree, looking much better for the future. myself, sofa and upsetter are representing the forum at a stafford tourism meeting on thursday. i'm gonna suggest punting on the river sow. just imagine it...



 

gon2seed

(and me! - Ed)
Of course, in the early part of the last century Victoria Park was a veritable Mecca for boaters, the boats being hired from the boat house under the old Brine Baths. A return of the Punt would be fantastic, though I fear the weirs may provide some navigation headaches, more fun for the casual spectator though ;).
 

rich upsetter

Cuffy is the new skill
i bin harping on about using the river fer ages, seems a crying shame...lets make something happen!
found this amazing website yesterday, dunno if anyone else has seen it but theres some amazing photos going back to the 19th century.
heres one when boating exsisted on the mighty sow,

1803-0.jpg


the website is http://www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk/engine/search/default_hndlr.asp

you can spend hours on there. i keep finding amazing buildings, and then the caption says 'demolished in 60s/70s' :gonk:
 

MISS T

Forum user & abuser
Used to see people canoeing down by old Tesco.
Don't do boats myself but certainly a good way to bring tourists to the Town . Good luck with the meeting tomorrow then.
 

gon2seed

(and me! - Ed)
With you on the River Rich, but the problems of the Sow are long standing I am afraid.

Stafford stands on a marsh and its history is one of a battle against flooding. Of course the town grew up because it was a strategic crossing point of the Sow.

After the chronic floods in the 1946 (If memory serves me right ;) ) the attempts to tame the river were pepped up, the latest ones coming after the floods of winter 2000.

We have ended up with the weed strewn stream we have now, through flood prevention, increased water abstraction for agricultural purposes, and the draining of marshes upsteam. Natural weirs, and artificial ones have been removed, and this has lead to a significant reduction in the volume and depth of the river.

Now whether the flood relief work has been a success is a moot point, but I assume it is totally irreversable.

The water quality of the Sow still looks good to me, judging by the amount of life in it, and while I would love to see it deeper, less weedy, and capable of being used for water sports, I don't think it will happen. Every summer they have to send street scene operatives in with chest waders and strimmers to cut the weed, otherwise it would completely cover over, and so add to the flooding potential!!!!

An indication of the way the Sow has changed can be judged by the fact that its main tributary, the Penk, now looks like the main river, and seems to me to have retained its flow much better.

Staffordians have messed around with its river for centuries, helped by the expert advice of outsiders, always no doubt thinking they have been improving it. Whether it is less likely to flood I can not judge, but I do know it is far less attractive, and far a less useful resource.

But apparently now we have the River Walk the Sow is being bigged up, and hailed as Stafford's best kept secret. (I'm shaking my head vigorously) Some of us have been aware of it for years, walked along it, fished it, boated on it, swum in it, accidently swallowed it (3 days of leaking excessivley at both ends!) cleared litter from it, and planted new trees along it, we know its worth and what we have lost!
 

cookie_monster

Well-Known Forumite
Andreas Rex said:
That's a bit Germanic Sofa! Ja, ich denke 'Stafford Forum Picknick in der Park' ist eine super idee!
i do too....but itll have to be a dry affair, local byelaws and the like.


x
 

Doctor

Well-Known Forumite
Sofa said:
Thermos flasks of gin and tonic...?
Mmmm...that takes me back. Sitting in the cinema at afternoon weekday showings all on my own drinking G&T from a thermos and eating my sandwiches. I used to go early and settle down. Almost always no-one else would turn up but then about 5 minutes before the film started someone would walk in and I would be disapointed. After a while I realised it was the bloke who set the projector going!
 

db

#chaplife
Doctor said:
Sofa said:
Thermos flasks of gin and tonic...?
Mmmm...that takes me back. Sitting in the cinema at afternoon weekday showings all on my own drinking G&T from a thermos and eating my sandwiches. I used to go early and settle down. Almost always no-one else would turn up but then about 5 minutes before the film started someone would walk in and I would be disapointed. After a while I realised it was the bloke who set the projector going!
you actually sat in the cinema, on your own, drinking gin? :?:

how bizarre lol..
 

Kharis

Kharis
ummm that does sound good...how about mid next month, when we can surely be sure of some nice weather Mr Sofa :D
 
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