August 10, 2014

Today is Sunday in Green Green Great Britain!  We were aiming to do some site seeing in London, but there were torrential rains!  We were up for rain, but absolute pummeling does not make for the best photos ;-)  Sir Ed had a brilliant back up plan: touring Iron Bridge, a major historical area near Birmingham in Shropshire.  This is where the industrial revolution for the entire world was born.  In 1779 the first iron bridge in the world was designed, crafted, parts fired in kilns and put together.

10 museums line the narrow village street.  It is still amazing to me how narrow the streets are with shops virtually right up to the sidewalk and the sidewalk sometimes only 12 inches wide!  A walking pathway took us from one museum to the next beginning with the Gorge Museum and ending at Iron Bridge which we crossed! I learned that the Bridge was built in 1779.  The foundries, kilns, factory worker homes were all preserved. It amazed me that in Calgary houses can ‘fall apart’ after 50 years and here were 300 year old buildings standing strong and looking awesome.  As we walked along the cobblestone way, we saw homes from the 1700’s still being lived in, a factory in its original outer state (Ed said under law the owners must leave the face of the old buildings but can alter the insides) with a bike shop inside, and many homes turned into shops.

We stopped in an old fashioned pub for lunch.  I had chicken Caesar salad and a boiled egg.  Mom had to get a scone! This was the first place she forgot Sir Ed’s umbrella and we went back for it.

  Next was the Teddy Bear Museum.  It was a tiny place but full of old teddies and information. You could see the changes in stuffed bears through history and how they were used to comfort children in all different times including war!  I even saw a teddy Noddy – a character from a British comic series that we have at home. There was a display about when the two towers were bombed in America in 2001.  It said that certain of these U.K. bears were sold in masses to raise more than $600, 000.00 for families of victims across the ocean.  Awesome.

I noticed that people love dogs here, especially Yorkies.  We found a whole shop dedicated to dog and mainly Yorkie memorabilia.

The Toll Bridge Museum was right at the Iron Bridge.  That was most interesting. It described the building, casting of pieces and fitting them together of this monumental bridge.  It cost thousands of British pounds to do so, but millions in today’s dollars.  Also, for many years, there was a toll collected to cross the bridge.  It was quite funny because the bridge is not massively long.  Even Prince Phillip, Queen Elizabeth ll’s husband, had to pay 9p to cross at one point!

We stopped at Queenie’s Cupcakes for homemade cupcakes and a visit with the “Queen”.  Ok, actually it was a cardboard version of the Queen! Lovely chocolate and chocolate hazelnut cupcakes and Oasis fruit juice which seems to be really popular here.

love this sign: Make Tea Not War!! We need this in the world these days.

Sir Ed and Carol-Angela picked us up back at the Gorge Museum and drove us the back way home so we could see the kilns, original factories and all the preserved historical places. Sir Ed knows Everything about history – better than a tour guide really. I love how the English so carefully keep beautiful the original buildings, gardens and trees. With Josh and his father I even saw a pub built and established in Nottingham in the year 1010!  Possibly Robin Hood and his merry men even went there! I was too young to enter the pub, but Mr. Nathan said one day when I was of age, I could have a pint there!  It was like the hobbits in Lord of the Rings having pints inside the Prancing Pony pub. Splendid.

After a rest, Sir Ed drove us on a scenic drive to Lilleshall.  We saw loads of farmland – not like in Calgary with brand new estate homes everywhere squeezing out the farmers – real pure farmland with cool stone and wood fences entering fields surrounded by hedges.  As we entered Lilleshall proper, archers were practicing in the field and possibly competing.  They had telescopes to view the target to see where their arrows landed.  One time the Senior British team exchanged with the archers and tried the sport.  Carol-Angela said they fared really well.  

The grounds and buildings of Lilleshall are truly unbelievable.  You have to be there to really understand the castle it is…the pristine gardens and pathways, stone arches and stairs, buildings and halls. The grounds have ancient trees, perfectly groomed lawns, flowers set in circles, ancient stone statues and fountains with lush green everywhere.  Even the dining hall has a wall of windows facing out to the gardens. I have never seen anything like it in my life.

Sir Ed showed me all around. There is even a ball room that used to be an open court with stables and rooms for stable boys all around it.  When Sir Ed was only 14 years old training here, the horses were gone of course, but their hay mangers and some of the wood and stonework of their stalls was still there.  You see, the Lord of the Manner, the Duke of Sutherland, had horses and conducted fox hunts and dogs!  We visited Sir Ed’s office which is full of trophies and photos of all the British Teams he has coached and helped along to European, World and Olympic medals.  Awesome to just stand there and look around at the British Team as it has grown since Sir Ed took on the whole program and brought not just seniors along, but a whole slew of amazing young boys following!

Next we visited the gym halls.  Well they are enormous and clean! One hall is attached to the other: one with all the pits, one with all the equipment over mats.  They have 4 different brands of P Bars, 3 brands of pommels, two or more brands of rings and high bar, 2 types of spring floor, all so that the boys can be comfortable on each type of equipment that they may encounter at international competition. It is so well organized and thought out.  The spring floor is really cool – Frausen I think as well as a gymnova floor. Other equipment is Speith Anderson, Gymnova and Continental.  We walked all around the equipment as no one was training. There are mirrors and bars on two large walls for choreography, huge posters and lots of light. Can’t wait for morning training!

After our tour, I settled into my room, then we went for supper.  It is cafeteria and buffet style with lots of hot and cold choices, salad bar, dessert bar, drinks, healthy pasta, veggies and meat.  Excellent!  I had a really good meal.  

Starting tomorrow, Monday, the young squad will arrive and I will train with them (age 9-12 or 14yrs, 50 ish boys, best in all of England who represent England in competitions).  Some seniors have already started to arrive.  Nile Wilson will arrive tomorrow too.  Wow. Now for a good sleep.  It will be full on tomorrow, 6 hours per day, 2 trainings per day!