Some missed items.

It was about the time we were having problems with the blog that we met Chas and Ann on Moore 2 Life. We are by the way now using the latest blogger interface and it is working fine.                They were heading south and we spent a few hours on board Nb Valerie eating Jaq`s chocolate cake washed down by cups of tea whilst catching up on our travels. The same day we spent a very pleasant evening on board Moore2Life playing cards and listening to to music. This all took place at Market Drayton so sorry to you both for the late mention and thanks again for a lovely evening. Also congratulations on your blog featuring in the May issue of TowpathTalk.                             

 A another catch up post also back in Market Drayton is the large number of empty retail units. Walking around i noticed a lot of them had been brightened up a little by a group called Creative Drayton. The chamber of commerce in the town obtained permission from  owners  of the 30 + empty properties for local artists to use the shop fronts as a canvas.

The Corbet Arms on the left was once a 17C coaching inn.  I noticed a very old planning notice outside to turn it into a keep fit studio but it still stands empty.  On the right the Penny farthing cycles have been painted on what was a bycycle shop. The next building up the hill was once the Unicorn pub.

While we are looking at buildings the two pictures below came to my attention while looking back at my albums trying to see what had been missed.  

On the left is the village community store in the village of Cheswardine. The store was set up  by villagers when the only other shop closed in Oct. 2008. It  is housed in an old wash-house at the side of the Fox & Hounds pub. There is quite a lot to be read on the subject of setting up this sort of project and it appears the villagers made small interest free loans and bought shares to get the shop set up. Google Cheswardine community shop if you are interested the info is there amongst the google results. The shop can be accessed from bridge 55 by walking up the hill past the Wharf pub.

  The picture on the left is The Royal Oak pub in Church Eaton a nice little village a short walk from bridge 25. The village lost it`s shop, post office and only other pub and so when the `oak` was threatened with closure 25 locals bought it. Not much information on this probably because it was more a business venture rather than a community project.