Street Life

Work in Beeston on the new tram route is progressing, so much so that they have now closed the high road in Chilwell for a year. The problem is that the road is one of the major routes into Beeston, so some serious re-routing has had to take place. This means that many of the minor roads around Beeston, have suddenly become major ones. Even our quiet road has become a 'rat-run'.

And of course this closure is very worrying for the traders along there. They are concerned that there will be no business for them, as people stay away. Although the pavements are accessible at the moment.

So a friend of mine called Matt, recently thought up the idea of having a street party, so locals could see that the road is still open to them and what local businesses were there.

There was quite a bit of entertainment on offer, including the traditional seaside Punch & Judy show.

The Punch and Judy man wore a very colourful jacket, which aptly was covered in Easter bunnies. There was also some street entertainment in the form of a juggling unicyclist. He tried to teach me to juggle, but I wasn't very good.

A local radio station; Capital FM, gave away lots of little Easter Eggs. I managed to get two, one of which was for Gail.

And of course there was music. A couple of bands and this delightful folk singer called Emma Bladen-Jones.  Who writes her own songs. She entered into last year's Notts Factor, and although she didn't win, it was a great opportunity to promote both herself and her songs.

All in all, it was a good day. Longterm, I hope it has helped to make everyone aware of the diversity of shops that are there, which include  several cafes, a great bike shop, tasty fish and chips and a good hairdressers. In fact you can just about buy anything you might need along there; including a tattoo.