Saturday, 6 November 2010

Scarefest 2010

Scarefest2010

The Scarefest event was great fun again this year with the maze being one of the favorites.  The fireworks and laser show where also really cool.

We are not scared


It's Dark, let the fun begin

Climbing, to warm up whilst queuing

Are we there yet.

Cool trees

Lasers

Fireworks

Spooky atmosphere

Ultra violate shooting

And a good old Camp Fire..

..to see us off...

..to bed

Still time for the traditional fire poking

A bit of breakfast before we pack to come home




Friday, 29 October 2010

Sightseeing sprint photos coming soon

Thanks for all the interest in our sponsored sightseeing sprint... we all had a great time even though we all came back really tired... Well Bob and myself did...
The photos of the sights are appearing on our Scout group photo web album, but Bob has the unenviable task of sifting the 115+ photos to come up with the definitive list of unique places. It is looking to br over the 70+ mark....

......... update Bob has now counted an he says that we have 74 sights to see them all and a few extra photos of the day. 
please follow this link to see for yourselves...
James

All set to go at Waddon Marsh

Horse Guards

Buckingham Palace

Downing Street

Trafalgar Square

Leicester Square

China Town

Covent Gardens

London Eye

Hi tea on the hi seas (lunch on a boat)

HMS Belfast

St Pauls

Waiting for a boat

Waiting for a tram

Home (sunset at Waddon Marsh)

Wednesday, 27 October 2010

London skyline

A view of london from the south.

Local History

As part of our Community Challenge we decided it would be good to know a little bit about where we live.  We often refer to the place we live as 'our home' but with a few questions asked and a little research it soon becomes apparent that 'our home' has been witness to many events and other peoples lives both great and small.  We are lucky in our locality in that we have uncovered some great stories from the past.  Some you may find interesting other are just local curiosities so read on and enjoy.

Tuesday, 26 October 2010

St Mary's



This church stands next to the Carew manor. A flint and stone church, it was built in 1387 through a legacy of Sir Nicholas Carew and the tower, porch, and chancel are from then. The Carew chapel was added in the mid 15th. A stained glass window by Clayton and Bell was given by Canon Bridges, along with the Organ Gallery by Morris & Co. There is a table-tomb to Sir Richard Carew, governor of Calais, and his wife and an alabaster monument to Sir ‘Francis Carew 1611.

The Dovecote



The Dovecote dates from the early 18th century. It originally contained about 1360 nesting boxes built into the inner face of the wall, giving it a complex honeycomb-like structure. The birds came and went through the wooden turret at the top of the roof. The large rotating ladder or potence was used by the keepers who raided the nesting boxes to provide the Carews with eggs and meat. The first floor, which is not original, was probably inserted to reduce the capacity of the building as the nesting boxes below it have been bricked up. It is not known when this was done or when the dovecote went out of use, although this had almost certainly happened before the mid-19th century.  There is a Roman Coffin on the ground floor with was found in the 1930s. It is made of non-local limestone and dates from the 3rd or 4th century.

The Plough



In 1899 the Plough was rebuilt, according to a design by architect J. T. Barker, for £5,516. However, the former coach house still exists in the stable yard. It has a blocked-up window in the northeast end through which hay would have been hauled from carts in the yard below. Unusually, the pub has large balconies (including one on the second floor), but today these can hardly be considered a useful feature: who would want to sit and view the scene along the Croydon Road for long.  The yard was described as having double entrance gates and coach house, stabling for nine horses, three loose boxes and saddle room, all brick-built and tiled, plus a granary and skittle alley. The pub's landlords are known to have leased the land directly to the west where there were some caves and two entrances in the bank of sand directly opposite. This is where the landlords are said to have stored casks of liquor, and where smugglers were reputed to have gathered.
  The Plough is a Youngs Pub and would therefore received it's beer from the "Ram" brewery said to be the longest running brewery in Briton at the other end of the River Wandle.