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Thursday 26 July 2007

Life with and without water

For Gloucestershire, July was unlike any other months and unlike any other Julys. It was marked by several waves of extremely stormy weather which caused serious flooding of Gloucestershire’s rivers. The river Chelt, which in normal circumstances takes the form of a small stream running through Cheltenham parks, burst its banks twice within two weeks, submerging various parts of Cheltenham. Friday, 20th July, Cheltenham witnessed some of the worst weather in years, when rain poured down from the sky non-stop for over 24 hours. Within that time more rain fell on Gloucestershire than usually does at this time of the year over 3 months. Sandford Park and the bottom of the Old Bath Road, Whaddon, Hester’s Way, Charlton Kings and many other areas in the river Chelt’s path, have been affected.






For Gloucester and Tewkesbury, the situation was even worse. The river Severn flooded large areas around Gloucester Docks as well as most of the historical town of Tewkesbury, where the flood water contaminated the water treatment plant, which supplied drinking water to Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury. As a result of that, residents of these towns as well as nearby villages had to do without tap water, which had been cut off. Many Cheltenham areas were without tap water since Monday, 23rd July.


The greatest fear though was that Walham power station on the outskirts of Gloucester could have been flooded which would have meant that hundreds of thousands of Gloucestershire’s residents would have been left without power. The emergency services and armed forces fought for three days to save the substation. As the Severn peaked, the waters stopped 2in short of breaching the flood defences. Cheltenham Racecourse became the army headquarters which moved in to help with the distribution of bottled water.


Most of Gloucestershire’s events, including many taking place in Cheltenham, had to be cancelled or postponed. Cheltenham Cricket Festival, first staged in 1872, had to be cancelled, as well as The Open Air Art Exhibition in the Imperial Gardens. The Everyman Theatre also cancelled its performances and closed, as well as the Cineworld cinema in The Brewery, and the library. Pubs and nightclubs have had to close due to health and safety reasons, and many shops and services stayed closed as without water or even power they were unable to operate.


More bad weather for Cheltenham came today, just as residents of Cheltenham were trying to come to terms with life without running water. Bowsers had been distributed in residential areas, however they were unable to satisfy the demand for drinking water. But there was some good news for Cheltenham residents today: better weather is on the way and with that the prospect of reconnecting the running water.

Saturday 21 July 2007

Get involved and submit your photos and articles

Cheltenham4u is preparing a guide to Cheltenham community. We would like to display your photos of Cheltenham, photos from Cheltenham events, simply any images relating to Cheltenham that you have taken. You can also submit a report of an event you've attended or let us know about a forthcoming event near you. We would like also to offer the internet presence to Cheltenham clubs, societies and local communities giving the opportunity to submit their details, photos and reports from events and promote their activities. To find out how please visit our website www.cheltenham4u.co.uk/admin_getinvolved.asp

Tuesday 17 July 2007

Modern public art in Cheltenham

Cheltenham Promenade is well known for its statue of Minotaur and Hare, which was created by Sophie Ryder in 1995 and acquired by public subscription in 1998. Although causing contraversy at the time the sculpture has become a much photographed feature of Cheltenham. Innitially, only a part of temporary exhibition of Sophie Ryder's art at Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, the overwhelming public response to the exhibition fuelled the campaign to retain one of Sophie Ryder's sculptures in town.



Sophie Ryder is an internationally recognized English sculptor who is known for her larger than life minotaurs, lady-hares, and dogmen. From the early 1980s, when the hare first made its appearance in her work, she has delighted in using the supple form of the animal to express energy, both coiled and released. Living since 1986 in a remote part of the Cotswolds, she has derived much inspiration from her immediate surroundings and from daily contact with animals, both domestic and wild. She defined the hare's sex as female by standing or sitting her next to that creature of myth who is half man and half bull, the minotaur.



Another example of Cheltenham modern public art is the Wishing Clock situated in the Regent Arcade. It was designed by Cotswold artist-craftsman Kit Williams, author of the book "Masquerade", and built by Cheltenham clockmakers, Sinclair Harding & Co. The 45 foot high clock was unveiled in January of 1987, costing £80,000. It is believed to be the worlds tallest mechanical clock, weighing in, just over 3 tonnes.




Minotaur and Hare and The Wishing Clock in the Regents Arcade are not the only modern sculptures in the town. To mention just some of them - Sandford Park offers the Friendship Circle, a set of shell-like sculptures cast iron by Neville Gabie, Elephant Mural, five mosaic panels by Turton and Robertson, can be seen outside Woolworth's, Drinking fountain and mosaic plinth by Emily Lawler is situated in the Winston Churchill Memorial Gardens and in Hester's Way Park a public art project, which consists of large granite boulders engraved with a language theme, ranging from government codes and baby talk to text messaging and extracts from the bible, lead by an internationally acclaimed artist Gordon Young has been installed.



There are a number of sculptures in Cheltenham which perhaps do not get the publicity they deserve. One such sculpture is Man with Ball, a bronze statue by Giles Penny, which was put up at Regency Mews, Winchcombe Street in 1999. Another example is a sculpture of a lying man in Sandford Park.





Sunday 15 July 2007

First post

Hello and Welcome to Cheltenham4u blog. We would like to introduce you to our website http://www.cheltenham4u.co.uk/ where you can browse through useful information and articles about the beautiful spa town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

In our blog we would like to bring to your attention various aspects of life in Cheltenham, topics relating to its history, buildings, art, its areas and community. Please feel free to comment and add suggestions for new topics for our blog.