Anke: Royal Tunbridge Wells

The Polished War Memorial

I stopped by the War Memorial in passing today and had a quick chat with Ally, the stonemason tasked with its restoration.

Ally cleans and fills in the cracks.

As the monument has recently been given Grade II listed status following recommendations by English Heritage, the Council has decided to give the memorial a well-deserved sprucing up.

A stonemason, namely Ally, has been given the task of repairing the cracks, refurbishing the lettering and cleaning the stonework. Another craftsman will be giving all the brasswork and the statue itself a good polish next week so it's really going to look stunning.

The Memorial is a tribute to the fallen heroes of the First World War and was designed by Stanley Nicholson Babb (1874-1957) in 1922. It was unveiled in February 1923 by Colonel Viscount Hardinge. The plaques were added later to remember the fallen of the Second World War.

Ally cleans and fills in the cracks.

Are You Being Served?

One of the things I did seem to miss whilst I was on holiday for a week was the unveiling of Hoopers' Christmas display. If you haven't seen it yet, although from the amount of people that it seemed to stop in their tracks and even the slowing of traffic up Mount Pleasant, I presume you probably have, its all based on Sleeping Beauty by the English National Ballet. In fact I do believe that if you visit the store on the 13th of December you can see the ballet dancers in store.

Hoopers is a nice old-fashioned department store, like something from Are You Being Served?, its a store for the more mature wealthy lady about town, ladies which have probably been shopping there since it was called RW Weekes. Although perhaps not since the store was established in 1854.

Speaking of shops, it seems I also missed a bit of the progress of the Congregational Church's transformation into a Cotswold Outdoor, it looks like its going to be a nice addition to the town.

Go on, it might be horrible and rainy out there but just think of it as shopping weather and give Hoopers a look. Although trying to go inside and purchase the wonderfully elaborate outfits on display will just be met by confused looks on the shop assistants faces.

It's About Time

Standing there on Platform One staring at the tunnel mouth waiting for my delayed train to appear, the silence of a Sunday night was rudely interrupted by BONG!, BONG!, BONG!, well there was ten but I won't keep typing them. Much to my surprise it appears that during the recent restoration of our train station clock tower they've brought back the chimes of a bell. So now not only can we walk down Mount Pleasant and be able to tell the correct time but now you can listen really carefully in the dead of night and have a chorus of bells remind you that you should have been asleep hours ago.

With the end of British Summer time looming on the horizon soon, I wonder if this restoration will lead to the clock showing the correct time, as in 2004 and 2005 some bright spark turned the clock back an hour a week to early, leading to the clock appearing on the BBC News. Keep your eyes and ears open and count the bongs.

Speaking of clocks, has anyone else noticed the piece of art adorning one of the smaller domes of the Opera House? It appears that Banksy once made a trip to take the waters in the Wells. Does anyone have any information on this piece, could it be a Banksy?

I'm Croqueting in the Rain? Just Croqueting in....

Want to sit in a park this weekend? Fancy knocking some balls through some hoops with a big wooden hammer? Well you're in luck because this weekend is the Royal Tunbridge Wells Croquet Club's first annual festival of croquet. The occasion held at the Calverely Park croquet lawns is a fun social event held especially for our towns 400th anniversary that allows anyone to try their hand at the game regardless of skill and age.

On a nice warm day, which being a bank holiday weekend is probably not going to be the case, it's nice to take a walk away from the crowds to the croquet lawns at the back end of the park. Passing through the raised flower beds and roses of the Italian garden that used to home the Burmese bell, to the finely manicured grass which you can sit beside in relative peace and watch the ladies and gents in their smart outfits chatting over their cups of tea and even sometimes letting a game break out.

As you ascend Mount Pleasant, the Calverley Park Grounds tease you, peaking out from between the Great Hall and the former bank building of Carluccios, if you were walking up the hill with an agenda you could easily miss it. The Grounds were originally a part of Mount Pleasant House, where the future Queen Victoria stayed on her visits to the area. When in 1837, under the direction of John Ward, Decimus Burton converted the old house into its current form as a hotel, the grounds were kept as an open park. That was the case until 1920 when the space was purchased by the Borough Council.

Over the next few years the grounds were transformed into their present landscaped form and were provided with tennis courts and a bowling green, each with a thatched pavilion, along with a teahouse built in similar style. The bandstand, built in 1924, lost its original ornamental ironwork during a bombing raid on 26 September 1940. The bandstand's matching pavilion, opened in 1926, which surrounded it on three sides, suffered the same fate.

Now, come on it's a bank holiday weekend, get out there and explore our wonderful town, go visit Calverley Park and perhaps even discover yourselves a new hobby. Oh, and take a brolly just in case.

At Least It's Right Twice a Day

Damn the train station for making me sweat. It appears that the station clock has decided that half-past-eight is a nice time of day so its going to stay that way for the foreseeable future. But I wasn't to know this as I was walking to catch my regular train. Catching sight of the clock tower from halfway down Mount Pleasant I realised that my train was probably sitting there in the station ready to go, so off I sprint all the way down the hill round the corner and bound onto the platform like a thing possessed to witness the clock on the platform telling me in bright orange figures that it's still only twenty past. Bearing in mind it was over 30 degrees and I was dressed for work, I was rather soggy but relieved. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's done it this week.

The railway arrived in Tunbridge Wells in 1845, the main central station being built a year later in 1846. The layout has changed slightly over the years, most tellingly with the disappearance of several sidings for storing locomotives and wagons, in place of which is the car park, we now only have two lines both running through tunnels at either end of the platform for 800yds and 300yds respectively.

As the railway era began to boom, several improvements were undertaken, firstly was the construction of the new Vale Road bridge in 1907. This was a joint venture between the railway company who built the structure and the civic administration who adorned it with its finery, this widened the road giving more room for the increasing traffic. Then in 1912 platform two was redeveloped with the erection of a parade of shops above which rose to street level facing Mount Pleasant, thereby giving the almost underground feel to the station we have today.

Reading an old timetable from the opening week of service in 1846 it seems that for £20 (todays values) a fabulous steam train could whisk you to London in an hour and twenty-five minutes, compare that to todays air-conditioned journey of forty-five minutes at a cost of a measly £10, now you can't complain at that can you? Or can you...Disgusted?