Cherie's Place

Filed under Heritage, Holidays, Kent February 2010

Kensington Gardens – Albert Memorial

This was the object that I photographed as I was leaving Kensington Gardens. Well done to MTG for guessing correctly and to Sean and JHL for getting close

Wikipedia states:

The Albert Memorial is situated in Kensington Gardens, London, England, directly to the north of the Royal Albert Hall. It was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband, Prince Albert who died of typhoid in 1861. The memorial was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the Gothic revival style. Opened in 1872, with the statue of Albert ceremonially “seated” in 1875, the memorial consists of an ornate canopy or pavilion containing a statue of Prince Albert facing south. The memorial is 176 feet tall, took over ten years to complete, and cost £120,000.

Over the years the memorial fell into disrepair and a thorough restoration program had to be carried out to get it looking how it is today.

By the late 1990s the Memorial had fallen into a state of some decay. A thorough restoration was carried out by Mowlem which included cleaning, repainting and re-gilding the entire monument as well as carrying out structural repairs. In the process the cross on top of the monument, which had been put on sideways during an earlier restoration attempt, was returned to its correct position. Some of the restoration, including repairs to damaged friezes, were of limited success.

The centrepiece of the Memorial is a seated figure of Prince Albert. Following restoration, this is now covered in gold leaf. For eighty years the statue had been covered in black paint. Various theories had existed that it was deliberately blackened during World War I to prevent it becoming a target for Zeppelin bombing raids or domestic anti-German sentiment. However, English Heritage’s research prior to the restoration suggests that the black coating pre-dates 1914 and may have been a response to atmospheric pollution that had destroyed the original gold leaf surface.

Further restoration work, including re-pointing the steps surrounding the memorial, commenced in the summer of 2006. For the duration of that work, there is no public access within the ornate surrounding fence.

Tags: Kensington, Weekend away

12 Comments CherryPie on Feb 24th 2010

Filed under This & That

Media Myths About Civil & Public Services – The Index

myths6

PCS Article – Media Myths About Civil & Public Services:

TUC Articles – Speak up for Public Services:

Introduction to articles

Pensions:

Exploding Public Sector Pensions Myths Part 1 – The Attacks
Exploding Public Sector Pensions Myths Part 2 – MYTH 1 The cost of public sector pensions is spiralling out of control
Exploding Public Sector Pensions Myths Part 3 – MYTH 2 Savings could be made by replacing final salary (defined benefits) schemes by a defined contribution scheme
Exploding Public Sector Pensions Myths Part 4 – MYTH 3 The discrepancy between private and public sector pensions needs to be tackled by punishing the public sector
Exploding Public Sector Pensions Myths part 5 – MYTH 4 Most public sector workers retire at 60 on two thirds of their final salary
Exploding Public Sector Pensions Myths Part 6 – MYTH 5 It is unfair that public sector workers benefit from “gold plated” pensions
Exploding Public Sector Pensions Myths Part 7 – MYTH 6 The Private Sector props up the Public Sector

Privatisation:

Exploding Public Sector Privatisation Myths – Part 1 – Summary
Exploding Public Sector Privatisation Myths – Part 2 – The push to privatisation
Exploding Public Sector Privatisation Myths – Part 3 – MYTH 1 During the economic downturn, the best way to save money is to privatise public services
Exploding Public Sector Privatisation Myths – Part 4 – MYTH 2 The private sector costs less than the public sector to deliver services and is more efficient
Exploding Public Sector Privatisation Myths – Part 5 – MYTH 3 Competition is the best way to improve public services
Exploding Public Sector Privatisation Myths – Part 6 – MYTH 4 The private sector is more responsive to service users’ individual needs
Exploding Public Sector Privatisation Myths – Part 7 – MYTH 5 The public sector has a worse productivity record than the private sector
Exploding Public Sector Privatisation Myths – Part 8 – MYTH 6 “Back-office” functions can be outsourced without impacting on front-line services

Miscellaneous Articles:

Media Myths & the Civil Service Again (the proposed reform of the civil service compensation scheme)
Media Myths About Civil & Public Services – Part 6 (exposing the myth that civil servants are paid more than private sector counter parts)
Media Myths About Civil & Public Services – MoD Bonuses
Media Myths – MoD Budget
Media Myths – MoD Pay, Pensions and Bonuses
The Media and the Myths Revisited (Looking for a good hire? you will get a great recruit from the public sector)

Tags: PCS, Public Sector, Public Services, Trade Union

2 Comments CherryPie on Feb 24th 2010

Filed under Holidays, Kent February 2010

Departure

As I left Kensington Gardens I photographed one last thing which is behind this fence. Do you know what it was?

Tags: Weekend away

24 Comments CherryPie on Feb 23rd 2010

Filed under Out & About, Science & Nature

100 Photos 6 :: Clouds

There were some fantastic photo opportunities on my visit to Attingham yesterday. The changing sky being one of them.

Tags: 100 Reasons to be glad, Attingham Park, Clouds, National Trust

22 Comments CherryPie on Feb 22nd 2010

Filed under Out & About

Cherie’s Place – Thought for the Week

Anything that falls in the snow comes to light in the thaw.

Danish Proverb

PS: Sorry you for those who like to view my pics on Flickr, the site is down. I have resorted to uploading this picture to Wordpress. Normal service will be resumed when Flickr allows!

Update: Normal service has now been resumed

Tags: Attingham Park, Cherie's Place Thought, me, National Trust, Self Portrait, Shadow, Snow

12 Comments CherryPie on Feb 21st 2010

Filed under Anecdotes, Out & About, Science & Nature

This morning I was surprised to wake up to a thick layer of snow. The sun was already shining brightly so it was beginning to thaw. I thought it would be lovely to stroll along the snowdrop walk at Attingham before the snow had completely gone. Despite a few delays including the Jehovah’s Witnesses knocking at my door, I eventually managed to get out. The scenery on my drive to Attingham was spectacular, especially the Shropshire hills topped with snow.

As you can see, I did just about manage to get the snowdrops and snow together. There was a lot of snow in the shady places but most of it had gone by lunchtime when I enjoyed a slice of coffee cake and a warming cup of coffee. After lunch it dropped bitterly cold outside and there was a chill wind. Despite this, I had the urge to venture into the deer park even though I hadn’t intended to. I was treated to a really close up view of the deer herd and also the snow capped Wrekin. The deer seemed quite happy with the visitors until someone thought it was cool to walk right up to them causing them to walk quickly into the distance.

I came back home to reality and an afternoon full of jobs which I think I have finished now!

Tags: Attingham Park, Life, National Trust, Snow, Snowdrops

23 Comments CherryPie on Feb 21st 2010

Filed under Holidays

Kensington Palace – The Round Pond

As promised here are pictures of the Round Pond which is situated in front of Kensington Palace. You can see the exact location on the Wikimapia page where you will also notice that it is more square than round.