2014 - Another One Bites The Dust
w/e 04 January 2015
All of this week's pictures were
taken with a Kodak DX6490
Whether you count the days, weeks, months or any
other unit of time it's a year since I last scanned through all
the images I had captured during the previous twelve months for
this selection but 2014 is well and truly over and in the words
of the Queen song we can say "Another One Bites The Dust".
Before we finally put the year to bed, there's plenty to look
back on and remember some of the places we have visited and some
of the sights and sites that we have seen. Of course there were
all the usual annual events like the Carnival and the Charter
Fair but 2014 was punctuated by many special events commemorating
the start of the First World War a hundred years earlier and
also the 70th anniversary of some significant dates in the Second
World War. Here then is our retrospective and purely personal
view of 2014.
With very few organised events in the early part of the year,
we followed our review of 2013 with a visit to Wollaton on a
dull and overcast day for our first offering of the year. We
always seem drawn to Wollaton in January but instead of walking
through the Deer Park, we went instead to Harrison's Plantation.
This was followed the week after with a return to Darley Abbey
for the third part of the monthly Village Trail which led to
a complaint from a resident re photographing private roads. A
selection of images under a cloudy sky and a complaint - the
year hadn't started particularly well but things improved with
a walk through the three parishes of West Hallam, Mapperley (above)
and Shipley which took us nicely into February.
February saw a mixed bag of images as we first of all went in
search of some early spring flowers locally after another visit
to Darley Abbey for Part 04 of the series. Images from a trip
into Derby and the Christening of our great grandson in Leicester
didn't even make it onto the website but another walk in Bramcote
Hills Park produced a set of images which appeared in the first
week of March.
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Following the earlier difference of opinion with a resident of
Darley Abbey, my faith in humanity was restored when I was contacted
by the vicar of St Matthew's Church who arranged for the church
to be opened specifically for me to get some photos of the interior
of the church. This led to a double dose from Darley Abbey and
brought the series to a fitting close. A search for more spring
flowers was quite productive image-wise around the local area
but at Osborne's Pond in Shipley Park (above) there was still
a distinct feeling of winter. By the end of the month the better
weather resulted in events starting to be organised and we attended
two on the same day with a Spring Fayre at the Erewash Museum
and a Daffodil Tea organised by the Friends of Park Cemetery.
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We were out and about again in April with trips to Forbes Hole
Nature Reserve in Long Eaton, along the Erewash Canal at Langley
Mill and to Nottingham for a look at some of the unusual architecture
on the University's Jubilee Campus.
Back in Ilkeston, we took part in the annual Christian Walk of
Witness on Good Friday, saw the local Scouting groups on their
St George's Day parade and joined hundreds of other people to
see the Beating Retreat Ceremony with the Nottinghamshire Band
of the Royal Engineers on the Market Place one evening as darkness
began to fall.
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  May was
bluebell time which meant a run out to Ockbrook Wood at Dale
Abbey (left). It was also the month we began a four part walk
along the Erewash and Nottingham Canals passing the viaduct (right)
in the process. At two-weekly intervals this took us into June.
And in June summer events were well under way despite some wet
weather. A hail storm early in the month created something I
had never seen before - a pond in our garden! The events included
a Summer Fayre in the company of the Ilson Giant in Stanton Road
Cemetery; the annual Ilkeston Lions Carnival and a "Swing
Back to the Forties Day" with more than a passing nod to
the remembrance of World War 2 at the Erewash Museum.
At the carnival and at the museum there were several old cars
on display but these were topped on a Sunday at the end of June
with a Heritage and Classic Vehicle Show in the Market Place
which featured a large selection of cars, vans, lorries, buses
and motor bikes.
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The events continued in July with the Lakeside Festival at Kirk
Hallam. We did a two part Family Walk from West Hallam where
we also saw the Well Dressing Festival but for a selection of
Well Dressings pictures this year we went to Belper. The centenary
of the start of the Great War was featured on many of the dressings.
I also found time during the month for a boys' day out in Loughborough
with the son and grandsons.
Back home the first half of the year had seen much disruption
to traffic on Nottingham Road whilst a traffic island was being
constructed at the entrance to a new supermarket. Congestion
became the norm but as the island neared completion in July some
garden ornaments took up residence and prompted calls for it
to be named Gnome Island. The supermarket is due to open early
in 2015 but the Ilson Gnome is on Twitter and even has his own
Facebook page where you can keep up with his exploits. He's been
seen around the town many times but still regards Gnome Island
as his spiritual home.
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I said this was a purely personal view of 2014 and here more
than halfway through the year, I haven't even mentioned the Ryder
Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Invictus Games or the FIFA World
Cup and as far as England are concerned that's probably for the
best. But high summer in Ilkeston meant the Summer Sounds concert
in Victoria Park, Ilkeston In Bloom, another day out at Middleton-By-Wirksworth
in the lovely Derbyshire countryside and after putting it off
for a long time because of its spread-out location, I bit the
bullet or grasped the nettle or whatever to begin another Village
Trail, this time looking at Morley. Monthly visits to Morley
took us through to the end of the year and the series should
conclude early in 2015. But it wasn't all sunshine in August
as after the morning service one Sunday morning a yew tree was
planted in St Mary's churchyard in the pouring rain to commemorate
the start of World War One.
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We were blessed in September though with, for the most part,
some fine dry weather which was particularly appreciated by the
many people who took part in the 12th annual Autumn Footprints
Walking Festival. I used photos taken from the opening walk and
others in the Festival for three weeks in September and even
had a selection of animal photos left over for the first week
of October. I could have chosen any of a number of images I didn't
use at the time to illustrate this month but opted for this one
of the Erewash Canal near Langley Mill.
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  The calm of peaceful walks by still waters
in September was replaced by the noise and excitement of the
annual Charter Fair a few weeks later but there were quieter
moments too among the autumn colours in Victoria Park. We were
to walk through the park again the following month as we retraced
a Walking For Health route from the Victoria Park Leisure Centre
to Gallows Inn.
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  November was the month when remembrance
of the two World Wars came to a head with a rededication of War
Graves ceremony in Stanton Road Cemetery (left) and services
on the Market Place on Remembrance Sunday (above) and Armistice
Day. We also started to look forward to Christmas with another
event at the Erewash Museum (right) and the switching on of the
town's Christmas lights.
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Some of the events from earlier in 2014 required a little bit
of memory jogging but as we reach December the memories are accessed
much more easily. Apart from the regular monthly visit to Morley,
it was mainly about Advent and Christmas with a visit to the
Nottingham Wonderland, the Salvation Army's Nativity Festival
in Ilkeston and of course "Our Christmas" in town and
at home. I could have picked any of a number of images from the
pre-Christmas period but on Boxing Day snow started to fall in
the afternoon and lay on the ground until the New Year. It's
all gone now but I expect we will see more of it before the winter
is over and scenes like the one above from 27th December will
be repeated several times before 2015 is over.
So as we stand on the threshold of a new year, I've noticed how
easily the term "Happy New Year" slips off the tongues
of people we pass whilst out walking, many of them total strangers.
This rhyme though from Rita F Snowdon's book "The Wind Blows"
which I came across recently expresses it in a slightly different
way and seems particularly suited to photographers who are always
on the lookout for that memorable shot.
May every day of this New Year
From January to December
Bring you, as you journey on,
Something lovely to remember.
To see the pages where I attempted to capture "something
lovely" in 2014 follow the links from the
"Favourites
2014" page which shows all the winners of the weekly
"Pick A Picture" vote.
And a Happy New Year to you all.
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