Speedwell Travel to run daytime 343 service
It was announced in this week’s Tameside Advertiser that the daytime 343 service will continue to after the 15 April 2007.
As stated elsewhere within this blog, Read the rest of this entry »
The Koffee Pot, Ashton-under-Lyne: 1967 - 2007
After 40 years of being Ashton’s famous greasy spoon café, the Koffee Pot had closed its doors on Saturday 24 March 2007. Citing increased competition and the Ashton Market fire of 2004, the café closed at 4.00 pm, ending its tenure as one of the oldest residents of what is now known as the Ladysmith Centre. Read the rest of this entry »
Manchester Evening News, 20 March 2007
Over the last fortnight, 1,000 people were interviewed in a telephone poll over congestion charging via the Manchester Evening News. The 21 March edition stated that just under two thirds of those polled were against this. However 59% stated they agreed with congestion charging - if the money was channelled towards Metrolink expansion.
For the Tameside area, just over two thirds of people were against congestion charging. 63% were in favour of this, if the money was channelled towards the Metrolink. Of the people polled, 41% travelled by car or motorbike, and 35% used public transport. Of the ten districts which make up the Greater Manchester area, Tameside people were the biggest public transport users in the survey. The most popular form of public transport was the train, with 44% of the poll. In second place was the bus.
Much noise has been made against the congestion charges over the last three months, with the implication it may have for the local economy. The greatest concern has been the number of people expecting to shop outside the proposed zone (could Glossop and Sheffield benefit?). Another has been the cost - which is something that should be taken to account (I stress this given that Tameside based employees have the lowest wages in Greater Manchester).
As a public transport user, I support the idea of congestion charging, but… (and I mean but) further investment in buses, trains and the Metrolink must be made - as stressed by the conditions made by central government. If no further investment is made, I will therefore renege on this opinion.
For the greater good, I suggest that:
No congestion charging should take place without the public ownership of local bus and rail services.
In other words, I advocate the return of Greater Manchester Transport or SHMD, or the imposition of a London style franchising system. How can central government stick to its policies properly if bus operators outside London can do anything they like with their services (see my previous post on the 343 route)?
S.V., 22/03/2007
An EXCLUSIVE from East of the M60
From the 15th April 2007, First Manchester’s 343 service from Oldham to Hyde will see the withdrawal of its commercially operated journeys. This will not be the complete end of the service, as subsidised journeys in evenings, Sundays and Bank Holiday will continue.
I can reveal that GMPTE will be discussing the alternatives during a planning meeting, which will take place on Friday 23rd March 2007 in Manchester town hall. This meeting will discuss alternatives to fill the gap, which would leave Dukinfield bus users without a direct link to Mossley for the first time since 1904 for most part of the day. The 343 is one of six services in Greater Manchester under threat from the company’s April service revisions (the others include the 387 Ashton - Stalybridge - Newton - Hyde route).
Should the gap be left unfilled, this would mean greatly extended journey times. For example, a journey from Mossley to Grotton (five to ten minutes on the 343) would be three times longer, allowing for a change at Grasscroft, Greenfield or Uppermill. Rail passengers in the Dukinfield area, who use Flowery Field station would be expected to walk, or board the 346 for Newton instead of Flowery Field.
More will be revealed within this blog nearer the time of its proposed withdrawal.
Yes folks, it’s that time of the year again, ‘Comic Relief’.
What started off a ninety minute programme has mushroomed into an evening long telethon, with linked programmes. For the purpose of this post, I would like to hear your memories of previous Comic Relief years. I shall start off with my memories.
For me, 2001 was the best year, as I spent an hour outside the Stalybridge branch of Tescos, collecting for Comic Relief, dressed as an overweight Emily Howard lookalike! Ten years earlier, I was at school, and took part in a ‘talent contest’ singing the then popular Right Said Fred song ‘I’m Too Sexy’, followed by ‘The Stonk’ by Hale and Pace. In the same year, I brought the house down at the school hall with an impression of a washing machine for a version of ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’, organised by some sixth formers.
For the next part of this post, I shall make reference to the Comic Relief songs.
My favourite was the first ever single for the said charity, ‘Living Doll’. This was a version by Cliff Richard and The Young Ones (yes, Rik, Vyvian, Mike and Neil of the 1982 - 4 sitcom… heavv-vee!) from 1986. The most cheesiest one has to be ‘The Stonk’ by Hale and Pace and the Stonkers (which was a more blatant single; a trend followed by Right Said Fred with ‘Stick It Out’). This is due to the talent contest mentioned earlier.
The Singles (note, this is not a complete list; any additions welcome):
Your comments please…
Before I begin this posting, I must point out that this posting is not going to be some fairy tale of two goats in the Ilkeston area.
This time seventeen years ago, I was staying at a farm between Heanor and Ilkeston. This was with my primary school at the time, and part of the five day holiday involved helping out on the farm from milking goats to mucking out.
On land once owned by the Miller Mundy family, Home Farm in Shipley is part of the Shipley Country Park. On one side was the now closed American Adventure theme park and the remains of Shipley Hall. On the other was Osborne’s lake, nearest to Heanor.
In 1990, when I went, most of Home Farm was used for farming holidays. Under the name of ‘Farmcraft’, families and school parties were encourage to muck out the goat pens and milk goats, as well as learn about the history of the Miller Mundy family. The hubris of Home Farm was a square, where in front of the entrance were kitchens and dining facilities. On the left hand side was the main goat pen, a smaller goat pen, and four pig sties. On the right hand was living accommodation, horse stables and a separate goat pen. At the front was further accommodation for human visitors, and the second part of the main goat pen. Behind the pig sties were rabbit hutches and a barn which was the preserve of Bully and (how original) Bull. Behind the main farm was a water tower and the former dairy. This was used as a gift shop.
Human accommodation blocks were named after rivers in Derbyshire, such as ‘Derwent’, ‘Soar’ and ‘Erewash’. I, along with three others stayed in ‘Soar’, overlooking the road into Mapperley and Heanor.
The routine involved getting up early [0700 hours] for breakfast (no change there; I did just that in 1990 as I do now for work in 2007), feeding the animals and feeding myself. After the humans’ breakfast came the mucking out duties - which seemed a better alternative to the washing up. After that we would go out for the rest of the day till there evening feeding session.
My favourite part of the holiday was working with the animals, milking the goats. Though dirty work, it was a change from seeing my more mundane surroundings - and certainly a change from my current job, in a city centre office block. The country park itself was lovely and peaceful, despite being a few minutes away from the A6007 Ilkeston Road and A609 Derby Road.
Within full view of the remains of Shipley Hall was the American Adventure theme park. Both Farmcraft and the American Adventure theme park had featured on children’s television programmes - both presented by Ross King between 1988 - 90. The former attraction, where I stayed, appeared on ‘The 8.15 From Manchester’ a Summer Saturday morning magazine programme on BBC1 (the Autumn/Winter equivalent that year was ‘Going Live’). The latter was used for ‘Young Krypton’, a children’s version of ‘The Krypton Factor’, between 1988 - 89 presented by Ross King.
If you click on this link below, you will find a picture of Home Farm itself. To the right hand side of the circular tower was/is the Soar apartment where I stayed for five days in 1990.
Home Farm, Shipley, Derbyshire
S.V., 14th March 2007
The Stockport - Stalybridge Train (1128 hours, Saturdays Only)
Is this the worst scheduled passenger rail service in Europe in terms of frequency?
Running once a week, Saturdays only, is a train with only one journey - just one journey in one direction. The train calls between Stockport and Stalybridge via three intermediate stations: Reddish South, Denton and Guide Bridge. Both Reddish South and Denton are unstaffed stations without disabled access and (wait for it) platform lighting.
Before privatisation, this line had a much better service than that of passengers travelling to Mossley by rail from Stalybridge, with an hourly frequency. In 1991-92, 12,000 people signed a petition against cutbacks to the service, which boasted a frequency of five trains a day (two one way, three the other). Now, the current service is once weekly, and passengers to Mossley are now afforded an hourly service with a two hourly Sunday service.
The latest Network Rail Draft Network Management Statement for the North West proposes the closure of Denton and Reddish South stations. The local MP Andrew Gwynne favours the launch of a direct service from the doomed stations to Manchester Victoria. This move will increase journey opportunities for Denton and Reddish residents, as they would be able to travel to Bury, Bolton, Oldham and Blackburn without crossing Manchester city centre. This plan will involve turning left at Denton junction onto the line leading to Ashton Moss and Miles Platting. However, there is one problem in that links between Stalybridge and Guide Bridge would be severed.
In my opinion, I would give 2.5 cheers to this plan (the .5 being due to the real ale lovers missing their once weekly unidirectional shuttle to the Stalybridge Station Buffet Bar). Perhaps Gwynne’s proposal could prompt the reopening of Droylsden station. Cut off from the rail network since 1968, the Droylsden area suffers from congestion between Manchester Road (Audenshaw) and Edge Lane/Ashton New Road. This would be alleviated by a reopened Droylsden station off Lumb Lane near Littlemoss (as well as the Metrolink).
To make up the loss of the Stalybridge - Guide Bridge - Denton section of the route, I would recommend retaining the once weekly train for the time being, in addition to Gwynne’s proposal. This could be replaced by a direct London service, or other services to Cheshire, starting at Stalybridge or Huddersfield. This section also offers potential for a prospective Huddersfield to London Euston route (calling at Stalybridge, Guide Bridge and Stockport stations), though subject to line access issues.
Robin Askwith Vs Tracey Temple
‘Confessions of a Diary Secretary’: ITV 1, TX 2100 hours
Last night I decided to watch the aforementioned programme on the 28th February 2007, based on the affair of Tracey Temple and John Prescott.
If broadcasters were looking for a way of doing a diary based programme (one-off drama or series), this was one example of how not to do one.
From the opening titles and captions, I thought ‘WTF’, this doesn’t look serious or refined enough. Wasting 90 precious minutes of this, the script was poorly written, lacking in real substance, and the programme had the cheek of classing itself as a comedy on the ‘End of Part One/Two/Three’ titles. Laughed? Only once! Before then, I was watching my ‘Only Fools and Horses’ DVD (’Danger UXD’ episode) which had infinitely more laughs per minute. A shorter running time would have probably helped.
I was disappointed to find it either lacked the dry humour of ‘The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole 13 3/4′ or the bawdy humour of ‘Confessions of a Driving Instructor’ (featuring Robin Askwith and Cherie Blair’s dad, Tony Booth) . I watched expecting a ‘Carry On’ style ‘nudge nudge, wink wink’ style comedy. Instead I got the filler bits between the Confessions of a Driving Instructor scenes at the golf course and the rugby match.
The result was a tawdry production lacking in humour and real substance. Hasn’t the Right Honorable member for Hull East been shamed enough without this? It tried to be Bridget Jones’ Diary and turned out to be Mr Bean’s on a bad day. Oh, and they also had the cheek to put a ‘behind the scenes’ type programme on on ITV3 - as well as advertising to similar proportions as the Jamster Crazy Frog adverts did.
If I want to see bawdy/non PC comedy done properly, I would make a trip to my local DVD purveyor for a Carry On film or On The Buses.
Verdict: 25% (’Confessions of a Driving Instructor’ featuring Robin Askwith was much better, as was the Bridget Jones’ Diary film).
