Charity shops

Isn't it amazing what little bargains you can still find in charity shops.  Normally some of them have e-bay accounts, and savvy manages, who look up what something is worth, what condition it is in before they set a price.  I find it quite amazing really, because what is given is given freely, being a charity they get cheap rent and rates, they should pass on they lucky finds to their customer.  Unfortunately everything is about making as much money as possible, so a lot of charity shops look just like normal  shops with everything itemized together, and some even colour coded, even the prices, are not much cheaper.  However you can still find bargains.  I went into one shop that had all the items nicely displayed, and in the windows items laid out to buy, at the front of the window  was a violin for £24 not bad, but on top of it where a load of little bits and bobs for 50p or so. Surely if you want someone to pay £24 for something it should have pride of place in the window, hanging or free standing, but clear of other items.  The bargains however are still there to be had so have a little roam around town and go and have a rummage, who knows what you will find.

The Olympic Torch

The Olympic Torch left Luton at 6.45am with Lewis Hamilton carrying the Torch.  Here are some pictures from the North end of Dunstable as it makes it's way to Milton Keynes and on it's way to Aylesbury.  The crowds got there early, and in the centre of Dunstable it was packed.  Kevin and I watched it on the live stream till it got to MacDonald's  on the A505, then we got our coats and strolled down to the High Street.

The final torch bearer was Penelope Green who has worked for 20 years fund raising for Down's Syndrome. She arrived wearing a pair of Golden Slippers, for her short stint to French's Avenue, before the flame goes by car, on to Milton Keynes and through Bletchley, Buckingham and Aylesbury to Oxford.  Well that was early enough for my day off back to bed.

Arlesey Bedfordshire

We went to Arlesey last weekend to visit family, it is a very pretty little place.  It is a small town that runs for 3 miles along the river Hiz.   It dates back to 1086, with it's parish church St Peter's being built in 1180 by the Monk's of Waltham Abbey.  In 1805 The White Horse Pub opened in the High Street.  We have eaten there quite regularly over the last few years, it has changed hands 3 times, but luckily the food and the staff have always been very pleasant.  In 1840 The Lamb Hotel opened, followed in 1845 by  The Three Tons, which has since closed and the land has been sold off as a housing development. The actually building has been turned into a house, but still has it's thatched roof.  There is a large fence around the other half.  In 1850 The Great Northern Railway opened linking London to the North via York. The Old Oak opened, at the time it was a thatched roof, hence the tall chimney.  All so the Brick Ground Hotel, opened it's doors, changing it's name to the Mallard it is now a childrens nursery.  Brick making was a growing industry in Arlesey and in 1852 brickworks opened by Robert Beart, of Godmanchester.  By the late 1860's 3 other brickworks had joined Bearts ranged alongside the railway.  In  1857 The True Briton Public House opened and also a tramway  from the  Arlesey and Shefford Road Railway Station to The Three Counties Asylum, to  carry construction material and later goods and passengers to the Asylum, when it opened in 1860.  The track was lifted in 1953.  On the 1st of April 1866 Arlesey Sidings Station opened, in 1886 it was renamed Three Counties Station.  Although I do not have an exact date for The Steam Engine,it is mentioned in the 1881 census, it also has a date stone on the front of the building unfortunately, the view is side on and the numbers are in the corners. The name was later changed to The Vicar's Inn.  We had the Great War 1914-1918 and like all towns and villages, Arlesey built a war memorial, to commerate  the young men of the parish, that went to war and did not return.  The Asylum was dropped and renamed hospital in 1927.  In 1922 Arlesey and Shefford Road Station renamed to Arlesey and Henlow Station.  It was closed to passenger traffic in January 1959, and for goods traffic on 28th November 1960. 1960 also saw the renaming of the hospital to Fairfield Hospital.  In 1988 Arlesey Station re-opened on the site of Arlesey and Henlow Station.  In 1992 Butterley Brick Ltd suspended production at its Arlesey plant from the 1st of October.  In 1999 after a 139 years Fairfield Hospital closed and the site sold for housing.  Work began in 2004, and the new community will be known as Fairfield Park.  This has now finished, and the brick work of the hospital has been cleaned and repaired, and sits alongside the new housing development. The Hospital building it self is a Banantyne Health Club.  This is just a brief history based on the photo's I have.  more information click here. or here.

St Peters

The Three Tuns as a private house

The Mallard

Arlesey Brickworks 1980

TheTrue Briton

Three Counties Hospital

Previously known as The Steam Engine

High speed train passing the site of Three Counties Station closed in 1959