Ilkeston - This Blooming Town (Part 2)
w/e 01 June 2025
All of this week's pictures were taken with a Nikon D3300
It was nearly twelve years
ago in August 2013 that I took some photos at various places
around the town of flowers that were blooming (Dictionary:
Referring to the process of a plant producing flowers) in
beds, tubs and baskets. Before viewing the images below I suggest
you have a look at those earlier photos. I've
now revisited those same locations and taken photos from similar
positions albeit with a different camera. Pressure on the public
purse and the policy in Erewash to rewild the borough has resulted
in some changes .....
The flower bed on the corner of Lower Stanton Road and Cavendish
Road is now just bare soil.
|
All that remains of the square tubs outside the Community
Fire Station on the corner of Derby Road and Oakwell Drive are
three footprints of where they once stood.
|
The trees are a little higher at the entrance to the Rec.
than they were thirteen years ago but the training tower at the
Fire Station is still visible, The flower bed here though has
been replaced by grass.
|
Grass has also replaced the circular bed on the traffic
island at the Station Road/Chalons Way intersection.
|
The flowers that bloomed in the beds on either side of
the Cenotaph on the Market Place have been replaced by stone
chippings and the only thing blooming here is the occasional
weed that pushes up between the stones.
|
The tubs that lined the eastern side of the Market Place are
removed annually to accommodate the Charter Fair in October and
they are usually replaced after the Fair but this last year they
failed to reappear.
|
Stone chippings have also replaced the beds behind the railings
in front of the Town Hall and the area now only serves as a collection
point for litter.
|
The piece-de-resistance with five circular beds on the
roundabout at the White Lion Square end of Chalons Way is but
a shadow of its former self. In spring, daffodils add colour
around the trees but as the year progresses it's grass, longer
where the beds were than the surrounding area, that covers the
island.
|
The "window " boxes full of gorgeous flowers that once
adorned the railings all around the island are no more.
|
Likewise, the baskets that were fixed to the lighting columns
are noticeable by their absence with only the fixing brackets
still visible. The flowers all around the town in years past
were a joy to behold and surely contributed to the mental wellbeing
of many. Those same people are most likely disappointed with
the current situation but will probably still think of Ilkeston
as a blooming (Dictionary: British slang - an intensifier
often to express annoyance) town! Maybe if, and when, the
public purse strings are loosened we can look forward to the
return of the flowers.
|
