Let's save Besford House

There’s this scene in the movie, Father of the Bride.

Steve Martin suddenly discovers that the guy who has just bought his old house from him is in fact a property developer and intends to bulldoze the place to make way for more profitable apartments.

Next thing we know, our apoplectic hero is stood between his beloved family home and a wrecking ball, determined to save from destruction the house he has loved for 30 years but which he has reluctantly had to sell. He knows then that that  old collection of bricks and mortar actually means something. It’s not just a house. It’s more than that.

Now, I know this is only a romantic comedy, but right now I feel like following in the footsteps of Steve Martin and placing myself (if it should come to this) between the demolition crews and a beautiful Victorian mansion in a peaceful Shrewsbury suburb.

Only last year, Besford House, built originally as a private residence in 1893, was on the market as “a nine-bedroom detached house with a guide price of £950,000”. But it did not sell and now there is a plan on the table to demolish the grand old girl to make way for new housing.

Now, I really hate this kind of situation. It upsets me. It gives me indigestion.

The current proposal is in fact a scaled down scheme which would see the building of 16 new homes on the site. Unbelievably, the original plan was for 22 properties but this was cut back by the applicant to a supposedly more acceptable number  after (surprise, surprise) concerns about “overdevelopment”.

Anyone who knows this area will appreciate that these narrow streets were never meant for motor cars. So of course there are objections a’plenty being made in respect of potential traffic congestion. It goes without saying. But many local residents are also incensed that the destruction of a fine Victorian house can even be considered – especially in a conservation area.

“We shape our buildings,” said Winston Churchill. “Thereafter our buildings shape us.”

I would say we are greatly enriched by beautiful and historic buildings and that we should not tear them down without very good reason – very good reason indeed.

Smashed

A neighbouring county town – just 35 miles to the east of Shrewsbury – suffered more than most from this kind of corporate vandalism in the fifties, sixties and seventies.  Stafford, not as big, not as bold, not as beautiful as Shrewsbury, would nevertheless have been a heck of a lot prettier today (and have a great deal more tourism potential) had it not been for the triumph of the bulldozers and the pickaxe politicians. Take a look at photographs of Stafford prior to 1955 and see the gems smashed aside to make way for red-brick shoeboxes.

I can only think that back then, before words like conservation and preservation came into common parlance, councils were only too happy to sweep away the old, to wield the sledgehammer in favour of “a more modern look” for our towns.

And, yes, of course, Shrewsbury suffered too. No question about that. But, thankfully, we faired better than most.

Right across the country, and in just a few short decades since they sprang up, so many of these inelegant buildings of the fifties and sixties are now seen as eyesores – very often nowadays unwanted and unloved, mostly artless and heartless and now riddled with concrete cancer.

I’m not saying the proposed new housing for Trinity Street would end up that way, but what I am saying is that it would be a crying shame to lose Besford House as a means to an end. And it will be too late to do anything once it is flattened.

In recent years Besford House has been run by the council as a family resource centre and, if it cannot be sold as a private home, you would have thought it would make a nursing home or a small hotel. There has to be a future for this building.

Shropshire Councillor Mansel Williams told me: “The Besfor d House application has been put back a while, as there is a problem with the tree protection zones, which the development has fallen foul of. It’s possible that the application will be amended and will again need to be consulted upon, so there’s still time to submit an objection.

“Will it get permission? Maybe, but even if it’s refused, they will come back with another application; developers hate an open space, to them land means profit. For us, we must try to retain Besford at all costs, the rest of the site will almost certainly be developed at some point in time, as the council wants the capital receipt and the developer his profit.”

Shropshire Council planners aim to make a decision on this matter in July. But if Besford House goes it will be a loss to the beautiful Victorian suburb of Belle Vue, and it will be a loss to Shrewsbury.

Please don’t make me have to stand in front of a wrecking ball.

A Splendid Night Out With My Mother-in-Law

An article I wrote for the Shrewsbury Chronicle ....

When my mother-in-law (and we shall call her Betty because that is her name) expressed an interest in attending the Mayor’s Charity Concert, I decided I might like to pop along too.

“Oh, I really don’t think it’ll be your cup of tea,” she said, no doubt thinking about that noisy devil’s music I seem to be listening to whenever she comes round.

“Really?” I said. “Choirs, a brass band – and all in the beautiful setting of St Chad’s Church. What’s not to like?”

Besides, it would mean she would be chauffeur-driven there and back, as well as having the pleasure of my company!

Needless to say, Betty was finally convinced.

Well stocked up with fruit pastilles and chocolate buttons (yes, I know, I’m a big kid), I picked her up just after six o’clock and we headed off in the direction of the Georgian gem that is St Chad’s.

Thinking (correctly, as it turned out) that all the parking spaces around the church would be taken by choristers, musicians and organisers, I parked on the Shrewsbury School side of the river and we then walked over the majestic Kingsland Bridge, trying our best to ignore the biting wind.

We grabbed ourselves a pew right close up to where the brass band would be positioned and sampled our first fruit pastille of the evening.

Already, Betty was enjoying herself – and the music had not even begun.

Since moving to Shrewsbury last year, she has been positively lapping up life in the county town, taking in the architecture and the history, savouring quiet moments in tearooms and coffee shops, visiting Rowley’s House and the castle, going to the cinema, joining various groups. There’s no stopping her.

And now, with the daylight illuminating the stained glass windows fading, she was eagerly anticipating the concert, entitled “100 Brass and Voices” and featuring The Friday Singers, the fantastic soaring voices of the Shropshire Girls Choir, Shrewsbury Male Voice Choir, and the truly stupendous Shrewsbury Brass Band.

All four groups were excellent, providing an evening that embraced film themes, emotional negro spirituals, Irish folk music, opera, fifties rock ’n’ roll, musical theatre, a Salvation Army-type romp, and mainstream pop.

A great deal of the music was decidedly upbeat and, frequently as I looked around the audience, there were broad smiles to be seen.

Shrewsbury Brass Band (formerly the Sabrina Brass Band) blew us away with rousing, full-blooded swing while the charming ladies of the Friday Singers enchanted us with gentler melodies – a Maori tune, a calypso, a slice of Jesus Christ Superstar.

The Shropshire Girls Choir – really quite magnificent – brought us a stunning version of Over The Rainbow, Labi Siffre’s Something Inside So Strong, and a heart-melting Hushabye Mountain from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

The Shrewsbury Male Voice Choir – a fine body of men – won a round of applause when they dedicated Swing Low Sweet Chariot to the victorious Shrewsbury Town Football Club who, that very afternoon, had won promotion to League One.

And the choir also delivered a real crowd-pleaser in the form of the Tony Christie hit, Amarillo.

The evening was in aid of the Mayor’s Charity Fund (Small Grants for Small Groups) and the St Chad’s restoration campaign. And it was good to know that our money was going to such worthy causes.

On our way back to the car afterwards, the chilly wind still blowing, we strolled over Kingsland Bridge, lights reflected in the river.

“Oh, it’s a grand town, this,” said my mother-in-law.

I smiled. “Welcome to Shrewsbury, Betty.”

Shrewsbury Town's promotion to League One

I frequently write the leader column for the Shrewsbury Chronicle and I thought this one might find an additional audience with the readers of Underneath The Sideboard In The Front Room.

Scunthorpe souls in search of a scattercushion, Preston people pining for a pretzel, and Colchester kids keen on coleslaw could all be spending their money in Shrewsbury next season.

At least, that could be the case if football fans from far and wide decide to hang around the county town before and after watching their favourite team clash with Shrewsbury Town – and especially if those fans bring their families with them and make it a real day out.

That’s the thinking now of leading business figures who are looking forward to the benefits of the boys in blue and amber having been promoted to League One.

Statistics show that League One games attract far more away fans than League Two matches.

And that could translate into more cash being spent in the town.

Peter Bettis, president of the Shrewsbury Business Chamber, said promotion was “great news” for pubs and restaurants in the town.

And he added that the town could most certainly benefit from away fans bringing their families to Shrewsbury for a day out shopping while they go to the games.

Mr Bettis said the fact Shrewsbury have been outside of the third tier of English football for more than a decade could play a part in this, as many supporters and their families of League One clubs may not have visited the town before.

Families might very well fancy a day in a beautiful town while the football-crazy member of their entourage is absorbed in the match.

“There is more incentive as it is something new,” said Mr Bettis.

“It is not just the town centre, it is supporting the local economy. Shrewsbury has got a lot to offer for people who have never been here.”

The statistics are intriguing.

According to the latest Football League figures, the average number of visiting supporters in League One games in the 2010/11 season was 630 – that’s 75 per cent higher than the 360 figure recorded in League Two last year.

Now, if these figures were to be repeated over the course of next season, promotion for Town will mean almost 15,000 away fans will come to Shrewsbury for the 23 home games at the Meadow next year – that’s an increase of about 6,000 people.

So if all goes to plan, Shrewsbury’s shops could be selling bread bins to Brentford and hats to Hartlepool.

Daft as it sounds, it will do no harm at all to Shrewsbury’s economy.

Merrington Green

Saturday, April 14, 2012. It was the most glorious of mornings. So, while enjoying my Weetabix, I decided to make the most of it. I would go out into the beautiful Shropshire countryside and explore.

A couple of years back, our Dave bought us a lovely book – 50 Walks in Shropshire. And although I was full of good intentions, the truth is the book was shoved into a bookcase and pretty much forgotten about. Until today!

I picked a walk which I reckoned wouldn't kill me. (Always a good start, I think). These walks are rated as one star (likely to be shorter and easier) up to three star (caution advised). Naturally I went for a one star . . . Merrington Green, not to be confused with Camberwick Green.

Merrington is a tiny village with a medieval common. It's the next village along from Bomere Heath, north-west of Shrewsbury. It was a five-and-a-half mile walk which took me almost three hours to complete, and it took me through woodland, an abandoned quarry, across meadows and fields full of cows, along bridleways with ancient hedgerow either side . . . it was gorgeous.

It was probably the longest walk I've done for years but I enjoyed every minute.

Phew! Time to put my feet up.

The Hollies at Theatre Severn

Carol and I went to Theatre Severn on Thursday night (April 12, 2012) to see one of my all-time favourite groups, The Hollies.

I'm thrilled to be able to say that the 2012 incarnation of the band (with legends Tony Hicks and Bobby Elliott still in place) are worthy carriers of the torch, doing justice to the legacy, and putting on a proper show.

Needless to say, then, that they are a zillion times better than the poor old Searchers are these days. Myself and Tim Quinn saw the Merseysiders at The Robin 2, at Bilston, in 2008, and, sadly, they had transmogrified into a smarmy, rather embarrassing Butlins-type cabaret act.

The Hollies, on the other hand, are still delivering their music with pride, with great passion and total commitment.

Here's the review I wrote for the Shropshire Star:

History will rightly acclaim The Hollies as one of the truly great groups of the 1960s.

And they were still very much a creative force to be reckoned with well into the 1970s.

Those glory days might be just a distant memory now, but last night The Hollies proved emphatically to a packed-out Theatre Severn that – boy, oh boy – they still have plenty to give.

Only two original members remain in the current line-up: Tony Hicks on guitar and Bobby Elliott on drums.

But guitarist Steve Lauri, Ian Parker on keyboards, Ray Stiles on bass, and especially the fantastically powerful lead vocalist Peter Howarth (Alan Clarke’s replacement) bring their own considerable talents to the table.

The set featured a smattering of “reworkings” of classic recordings and I felt some of these hit the spot while others fell a little flat. Last night’s rendition of Look Through Any Window, for example, lacked the sublime jingle-jangle guitar and gorgeous harmonies of the incandescent 1965 gem, making me yearn for the original.

That said, the band, having warmed up nicely in the first half of the show, really turned on the magic for part two.

More brilliant hits brought us to the show’s climax – blistering performances of He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, and, of course, The Air That I Breathe.

Glory be! The spirit of The Hollies is alive and kicking.

The Buttermarket

Those of a certain age will remember when The Buttermarket was known by a much less romantic name: Howard Street Warehouse. In the mid-1970s the place was a wreck, plaster peeling from its walls, holes in the roof, the once-proud (but by then rather sad) words ‘British Railways’ across the front of the building, the letters of those words battered by decades of wind and rain.

But this week a new chapter begins in the long and chequered history of this great structure as its new owner announces a £1 million investment alongside the promise of 60 new jobs.

The fortunes of this grand old survivor of the canal age are about to rise again.

Just watch carefully over the next few months and see what the sprinkling of a little magic dust can do.

The place was recently purchased by Shrewsbury entrepreneur Martin Monahan who already owns three venues in the town – the Peach Tree restaurant, the C:21 nightclub, and the Spirit Champagne bar and nightclub, all of which are based in Abbey Foregate.

“I’m very excited about taking over The Buttermarket and returning it to its rightful place as Shrewsbury’s premier entertainment venue,” says Mr Monahan.

“It’s going to be a huge challenge but one that my team are certainly looking forward to meeting head on.”

His words will remind some of the huge challenge met head on some 35 years ago by another team which marched with enthusiasm into this fine and fascinating building – the teenagers who, under the auspices of the Manpower Services Commission, cleaned and swept and mended and painted until a place, unloved for so long, began to look decent again.

Today, Mr Monahan is not to be drawn on specific details about the forthcoming refurbishment, but is set to reopen the cellar part of the venue within a few months. This is tremendously exciting in itself as the atmospheric cellar – evocative of course of places like Liverpool’s legendary Cavern where The Beatles first began to captivate music fans – is simply a perfect music venue; inviting and mysterious.

Many will recall the days of the much-missed Jazz and Roots Club (hosted by the effervescent Dave Bassett) which found its home there.

If you have a feel for history, you cannot help but fall in love with a place like The Buttermarket. It was built in 1835 as the terminal warehouse of the Norbury branch of the Shropshire Union Canal. Look carefully and you can still see where the canal came in and where the butters and cheeses were loaded onto barges. Eventually, it was used as a warehouse for the nearby railways. And in more recent times it has of course been a successful nightclub.

“We’ve got some amazing ideas and plans,” says Mr Monahan. “I have no doubt that we will, with the support of Shropshire’s general public, put The Buttermarket back on the map as a major multi-purpose entertainment venue for the whole county.”

Just compare the Shrewsbury of today to the Shrewsbury of a few years ago. Now we have the Theatre Severn, the multi-screen Cineworld, the new football stadium, and The Buttermarket heading for a big comeback.

Reasons to be cheerful.

Beatles and hornets

Boy oh boy! I see the enthusiasm I expressed on this blog recently for the Bootleg Beatles has stirred up a hornets' nest. My younger brother Tony and my good friend Tim Quinn (both of whom I love dearly of course) hurled vitriol in my direction for supporting a (spit! spit! spit!) tribute band. (The Mysterons and Captain Black weren't too happy with me either, but then they are bent on the destruction of Planet Earth so perhaps I shouldn't take too much notice of their opinions on pop music).

Tony and Tim found common ground in (a) loathing the “bunch of Mike Yarwoods” who make up tribute bands, and (b) having to put up with the eccentric tastes of older brothers.

So I suppose I must apologise for (a) enjoying the Bootleg Beatles, and (b) being an older brother.

As recompense for any offence caused, I am posting the superb Show of Hands video which Mr Quinn sent me as an example of REAL MUSIC.

I'm often accused of being too easily pleased (and maybe I am) which might account for my enjoyment of the Bootleg Beatles. I don't analyse these things, guys. I just have a good time.

To eloquent ranters and oxymorons everywhere, Peace and Love.

Please follow this link to Show of Hands..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u2ill7yOZo&feature=related