Arts/Culture/Heritage Archives - Page 40 of 84

Portrait Bench South Marston Cycle Path

Jan 11, 2014 | Arts/Culture/Heritage, General Interest, Public art-sculpture, Walks and cycle paths

I just love social media! One of my Twitter and blog followers sent me this photo,which is great, as being a non-driver and bogged down in studies I don’t get to all four corners of our town.

What you are looking at is piece of public art that is also a handy bench: a perfect marriage of form and function indeed! But not just any old bench.

This here is a Portrait Bench. So now, not only do I know about this lovely bench, I also know about the concept of portrait benches and a little bit more about Swindon’s history. And it started with a Tweet!

A Mini Adventure in Public Art

Jan 4, 2014 | Arts/Culture/Heritage, General Interest, Public art-sculpture

A Mini Adventure in Public Art – Alexander House Minis public art

Coate Water diving platform Swindon

Nov 30, 2013 | Architecture in Swindon, Arts/Culture/Heritage, Parks and open spaces

The now-defunct 1935 Art Deco style diving platform at Coate Water invokes a fair amount of nostalgia in me. As a child I was sometimes taken to Langold Lake (5 miles the ‘other’ side of Worksop). This was a large country park thing – my memories are hazy as it was MANY years ago now. But I recall a swimming lake with a diving platform in it.

Swindon Town FC: Come on you reds!

Nov 1, 2013 | Arts/Culture/Heritage, General Interest, Guest Bloggers, This sporting life

Swindon Town FC: Come on you reds! “My name is Lee (@Leefer3 on twitter)…and I have been watching Swindon Town since 1975, so it’s close to forty years now.

Retro Swindon Roadsigns

Oct 27, 2013 | Arts/Culture/Heritage, General Interest

A largely pictorial post featuring various Retro Swindon roadsigns. Some are in Swindon and some are somewhat further afield.

I’ve featured them here for not much other reason than that they have lasted this long and it feels like a nice thing to have some pictures of them here. Seems like a good enough excuse to me.

Swindon’s Jubilee clock

Oct 24, 2013 | Arts/Culture/Heritage, Public art-sculpture

A wee post about Swindon’s Jubilee clock. Moved from its original town centre home, it now resides outside Swindon’s railway station.

The Magic Roundabout: a guide book entry

Oct 22, 2013 | Arts/Culture/Heritage, General Interest, The Magic Roundabout

The Magic Roundabout: a guide book entryI wrote this guide book entry in the final year of my English/Eng Lang studies at UWE. The piece formed part of a travel writing module.For my coursework portfolio I wrote, amongst other things, some stuff about Swindon:* a...

Swindon Designer Outlet Centre

Oct 22, 2013 | Arts/Culture/Heritage, General Interest

A weekend visit to the Swindon designer outlet centre or whatever it is we are calling it, has prompted me to write a view lines about it. Cos I think it’s really rather cool – and I don’t only mean for the shopping.

Richard Jefferies Victorian Nature Writer

Sep 26, 2013 | Arts/Culture/Heritage, Literature in Swindon, Richard Jefferies, Sons & Daughters of Swindon

John Richard Jefferies (1848-1887): is best known for his prolific and sensitive writing on natural history, rural life and agriculture in late Victorian England.

Swindon and iconic buildings

Sep 21, 2013 | Architecture in Swindon, Arts/Culture/Heritage, General Interest

I’ve always rather liked the Spectrum building or the Renault building as it tends to be referred to, even though the car company moved out of it some years ago.

No 10: Multicultural Swindon

Sep 17, 2013 | Arts/Culture/Heritage, Guest Bloggers, Ten things to celebrate about Swindon

Well dear readers, here we are with the last in my series of 10 things I think are worth celebrating about Swindon.

It’s not by any means a definitive list. Merely 10 things that have made an impression on me. Any one of you out there could make a completely different and equally valid list. The point being, and as Brian so eruditely points out in his post, Swindon and Swindonians – and after 20 years here I’d like to count myself as one because Swindon is definitely home to me now – has so very, very much to be proud of.

No 9: David Bent Artist

Sep 14, 2013 | Arts/Culture/Heritage, David Bent, Ten things to celebrate about Swindon

It’s something of a cheat putting David Bent artist into this list of ten things to celebrate about Swindon. Not because he doesn’t warrant inclusion – good gracious me no. Nothing could be further from the truth. No, no. What I mean by it being a bit of sleight of hand is that, when I set up this blog and created the aforementioned celebratory list a few years ago now, David wasn’t on it. Why not? Well because I didn’t know him and hadn’t heard of him back then.