We had a bit of miscommunication on how we were going to get to the train station. I thought we were walking, there had been mention of Glühwein from the Christmas market…

I know how long it takes me to walk to the station and time was running short so I went on ahead and told Mr C I would meet him at the station. When I had been at the station for a few minutes there was no sign of him catching me up so I phoned to see where he was and thought there was no way he was going to get to the station on time. A few minutes later I saw him running towards the platform, arriving just as the train pulled into the station. Talk about cutting it fine. Later he mentioned that he intended that we should drive to the station!

There was standing room only on the train which meant by the time we arrived in Birmingham my left knee had become a bit stiff. This caused me to stumble on the stairs and bang my leg. Oops! The young man behind me helped me regain my balance and walked beside me for the last few steps of the stairway.

At the top of the stairway, I was impressed to see Ozzy the mechanical bull that was created for the Commonwealth Games.

This years Christmas market and Christmas lights were less impressive so I wasn’t able to take my replacement camera through its paces.

Back in Wellington we had just missed the Christmas Lights ‘Switch On’. The lights looked lovely lighting up the town. The atmosphere was lovely and uplifiting with a long queue waiting to enter the market’s late night opening event.  We visited one of the local hostelries (which was packed to the seams) for a glass of something warming before our walk home.

Highley railway station is a station on the Severn Valley Railway heritage line in Shropshire, near the west bank of the River Severn and just under a mile south-east of the village of Highley. Highley is the only staffed single-platform station on the line. Other stops with one platform are unstaffed halts.

Highley station opened to the public on 1 February 1862 and closed on 9 September 1963, before the Beeching axe closures.

Highley station was important as the transport hub of a colliery district, with four nearby coal mines linked to the Severn Valley line by standard and narrow gauge lines, cable inclines and aerial ropeways . There were extensive sidings along the line, and wagon repair works at Kinlet, half-a-mile south.

The station was inconveniently far from Highley so the arrival of a bus service seriously affected use of the station.

The signal box opposite the platform remained in use until 1969 when Alveley colliery closed and freight traffic ceased. The station site was disused until preservation.

Situated in Martyr’s Square next to Levuen railway station is the Peace Monument which was  constructed in 1925 in remembrance of the victims of WWI.

In August 1914 the German troops burned down a large part of the old city centre, including the university library and the roof of the Saint Peter’s Church. Besides that, the Germans also executed a lot of civilians. This massacre was world news.

To remember this and all the people that died during the war this Peace Monument (Vredesmonument) was constructed in 1925 and renovated in 2004 after the renovation of the entire square. In the top of the pillar there are red little windows that are lit at night, as a link to the fire that devastated the centre.

Leuven also suffered greatly during WWII.  Levuen station was bombed heavily during the period of the war. The effects of this can still be seen today, earlier this year the station and the surrounding area were evacuated when an unexploded  WWII bomb was exposed during excavation works.

After the discovery of an unexploded Second World War bomb yesterday during excavation works  along the Eenmeilaan in Kessel-Lo, Leuven’s train station and station square were evacuated, report Belgian rail infrastructure manager Infrabel, the Leuven police and Belgian rail company SNCB.

From 14:30, the Leuven station and Martelarenplein in front of it were fully evacuated and all train traffic was brought to a halt in order to allow for the Demining Service of the Belgian Defence (Dovo) to dismantle the bomb.

Leuven police also carried out the evacuation of homes within an 800-metre radius around the site of the find. The dismantling of the bomb – a British thousand-pounder (453.6kg) – started yesterday at 15.00.

]]> http://www.cheriesplace.me.uk/blog/index.php/2015/08/19/martyrs-square/feed/ 8 http://www.cheriesplace.me.uk/blog/index.php/2013/10/10/the-castle-keep-rooftop-views/ http://www.cheriesplace.me.uk/blog/index.php/2013/10/10/the-castle-keep-rooftop-views/#comments Thu, 10 Oct 2013 19:38:27 +0000 CherryPie http://www.cheriesplace.me.uk/blog/?p=11602

In the 19th century, cannon were mounted on the rooftop and fired on ceremonial occasions.

One was used regularly as the ‘noon gun’, firing at the midday in response to a telegraph signal from Greenwich Observatory in London.  After a number of accident – in one of which a gunner was killed – the practice of firing the cannon was eventually discontinued in the 1850s and the guns were later removed.*

*Information from Newcastle Castle guidebook (Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne).