Visiting The Past

It's always interesting to see how air travel has developed since the early 1920's, when small propeller driven plane used to fly to France and other parts of Europe. Croydon Airport seemed to be the most well known at that time.

Birmingham Airport started life in the late 1930s in Elmdon, which is part of Solihull. Elmdon Aerodrome opened in 1939, but was soon turned into an RAF base, then becoming Birmingham Airport in about 1960.

My photo shows the Elmdon Building, which was the original terminal building. It's a great example of Art Deco architecture. Perfectly symmetrical, with all the straight lines that are typical of 30s buildings. The canopies on each side were built to protect passengers and baggage from bad weather as they went on and came off the planes.

A shame that it was not possible to see the front of the building, as unfortunately that is inside the airport parameter. But this old photo from English Heritage shows what an amazing building it is. It even looks like a plane. A really lovely building, and pleased that it is still in use. I just think that it needs a bit of TLC and a lick of paint.

Hello Whitby

Here are three shots from this good old English seaside resort, that fortunately hasn't changed that much since the Victorian times.

The first shows the famous abbey which was founded by Benedictine monks in 657AD, and like Beauvale Priory here in Nottingham was closed by Henry VIII during the Reformation of the 1530s. It is a Grade I listed building and now owned by English Heritage.

The second shows the harbour area and the inlet of the River Eske. Whitby was, and still is famous as a fishing port, and we've eaten some very tasty fish and chips using local ingredients.

Also on a fishing theme is this pile of cages that are used for catching crabs and lobsters. There were loads of them all piled up, ready for the next trip out into the North Sea.