Stationary in Stourport
April 2017
As you will have gathered - we are going nowhere fast.
One bonus of our predicament is that we have had an enforced stop in Stourport, and I have to say there are many worse places to be. I spent Saturday morning preparing the product list boards whilst Helen paid the local launderette a visit. As a result word got around that we were moored up and we had a steady trickle of boaters popping by to pick up a bag of preserves.
I also took the enforced stop as an opportunity to make a start on a host of outstanding repair jobs, including touching up the paint around the port side windows where, after nine years, the green paint was flaking off the silicone and revealing the old maroon paint underneath. Fortunately the base layer is intact and there is no rust.
Meanwhile Helen was having a cookathon inside and giving the fridge and freezer a baptism of fire.
For Sunday we decided to seek out a local church and decided on All Saints, Wilden, about two miles away which involved a walk back along the towpath to The Bird in the Hand pub and then off across the Stour valley. All in all it was about 30 minutes at a brisk pace.
Fortitude and Triumph
Wilden parish church was selected on account of its collection of Burne Jones stained glass windows. Burne Jones was a core part of the Arts and Crafts movement alongside William Morris, whose company supplied the designs based on Burne Jones cartoons.
Miriam
The seemingly bland church is transformed from the inside and is well worth a visit. Our visit was on low Sunday (the week after Easter) and to our surprise we found the place packed on account of a big christening party. The big congregation made for a celebratory service which was very pleasant.
One further claim to distinction is that Stanley Baldwin, three times prime minister, came form this little church!
During the afternoon we had a surprise visit by our daughter, son in law and grand daughter who came to inspect the boat and take a stroll around Stourport. The funfair was a bit big and loud for such a small person but the ice cream at The Windlass Café went down a treat.
The family come to town
Boy racers aside, it has been a lovely lazy weekend here at the head of navigation on the River Severn. Hopefully tomorrow will see the return of the engineer and the installation of a new PRM gearbox and we will be on our way. Hurray - Droitwich here we come.
6 comments:
Yes Mr Baldwin was a Wilden man. His family apparently ran the iron works in the village. That may have been the same works served by the canal link to the River Stour at Pratts Bridge not far below Falling Sands Lock. Nb Shorelark.
We are lucky enough to have some Burne Jones windows in the church at the bottom of our garden. The cartoon for one of 'our' windows is in Birmingham museum. I wish we had realised they had some at Wilden when we were at Stourport.
Good luck with the gearbox fitting.
Kath (nb Herbie)
There are 14 of them Kath - every window which is very unusual. Worth a look when you are next in the area. Contact them first because the church is locked when not in use.
I always wondered what party's wharf served and the book helen bought confirms the lock / ironworks / Stanley Baldwin connection.
Hoping it all gets fixed swiftly so we can catch up soon! We're in Worcester now, will see you both very soon ;-)
Stanley Baldwin was also related to Burne-Jones, Baldwin's mother and Burne-Jones' wife were sisters (or something like that).
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