Newtonmore’s Waltzing Waters to close at end of August 2011

If you’ve ever meant to catch the Waltzing Waters show at Newtonmore, but never quite got around to it, then you had better get a move on, as the nearest (and only UK) venue will soon be the Isle of Wight.

Unfortunately for me, it’s not in a corner of the country I visit much, so I’ve only seen the show a few times over the years, but it is well worth the effort.

As of this post, you have only have two weeks left to catch the show, as its 20 year run comes to an end together with the end of August 2011, after which the venue is to be razed to the ground and probably turned into a supermarket.

I don’t know how much truth there is in the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) claim that it has nothing to do with the loss, and it seems like yet another case of an NPA not doing anything to conserve an area – and conservation takes many form, not just protecting flora and fauna. It always seems to me that if something does not contribute to an NPA’s coffers, then it disappears, or is eventually replaced by something that does (eg wild camping near Loch Lomond).

It also makes the Scottish Government’s demand for a 50% increase in tourist revenue by 2015 look a bit hollow, since there seems to no mention of any campaign or attempt to retain the show or venue – nor of any refusal by the owner to participate in such a think

A tourist attraction which has been running in Newtonmore in Badenoch and Strathspey for about 20 years is to close at the end of August.

Waltzing Waters puts on shows where jets of water lit by coloured lights move to music.

The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) has called in plans to redevelop the site.

A Co-Operative supermarket and five homes have been proposed. CNPA planners have been asked to approve the plans.

In a report, park officers said Waltzing Waters had attracted significant numbers of tourists to Newtonmore over the past two decades.

They said closing down the attraction had been the owners’ personal choice and its loss to the area could not be attributed to the proposed development.

via BBC News – Newtonmore’s Waltzing Waters to close.

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Admission & Hours:

Open 7 days a week including Public Holidays
from early February through mid December.
(winter visitors please call to confirm exact dates)

40 minute shows on the hour every hour:

Daytime Shows
10 am, 11 am, 12 noon, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, 4 pm

Additional Summer Evening Shows
8:30 pm; July & August only
(call to confirm exact cut-off dates)

Adult £4.25 Child £2.50 Concession £3.75

Coaches welcome! – Special Group Rate!

According to the web site:

Around 1930, German inventor Otto Przystawik invented the first musical fountains. In 1964 his son, Gunter moved to the U.S. and continued in his father’s footsteps developing even more sophisticated designs. Today, grandson Michael Przystawik is company president of Waltzing Waters, Inc., the world’s premier manufacturer of musical fountain spectaculars.

In 1979, the newly re-routed A9 motorway bypassed some of the tourist-dependent villages in the Scottish Highlands. Businessman Alex Donald knew something really new and different was required to draw tourists off the motorway into the village of Newtonmore.

While on holiday in Florida, he witnessed the Waltzing Waters. Stunned by its beauty and emotional appeal, he knew he found the perfect solution.

In 1990, Mr. Donald brought the show to Newtonmore and the Waltzing Waters quickly became one of the most popular attractions in the Scottish Highlands.

Post closure

After the attraction had closed, the web site was altered to contain the following message:

After entertaining over 1.6 million visitors, the Waltzing Waters has celebrated it’s (sic) final season in the Scottish Higlands (sic). Concluding performances were seen 26 August, 2011. Shows continue as usual at our Isle of Wight location.

After twenty-two seasons, owner Alex Donald decided to enter semi-retirement on the Isle of Wight, where he continues to oversee the Waltzing Waters in Ryde.

Renewed plea for help to find lost TV shows

I see that another appeal has been launched in an attempt to find some of the lost TV shows from the early days of the medium.

The appeal will be launched on Saturday June 4, 20110, at a Kaleidoscope event in Stourbridge, West Midlands, and is being backed by the BBC Sound Archive and the British Library Sound Archive.

Many shows turned up from domestic sources the last time this was done.

In the early days of television, video recording was so new, and the tape so expensive, virtually nothing was archived at the BBC, and to save costs, video tape was erased and re-used. At the time, no real value was placed on the material it contained

A group devoted to the appreciation of vintage television is calling on TV watchers to search their attics for recordings of programmes feared lost.

Episodes of Doctor Who, Dad’s Army and The Likely Lads are among those of which no known copies exist.

“Many people recorded shows off the TV and radio as far back as the 1950s,” said Chris Kerry of Kaleidoscope, organisers of the Lost Shows appeal. The purpose of the appeal is to uncover those domestic recordings.”

Four missing episodes of 1950s sci-fi drama The Quatermass Experiment are among the most sought-after shows.

Four Dennis Potter dramas from the ’60s are also missing believed to be wiped by broadcaster, as is most of the first series of The Avengers.

BBC News – Plea put out for ‘lost’ TV shows

Lost UK TV Shows Search Engine

Glasgow family reunited with lost cat after five years

Another story of a lost cat turning up after a long time. I seem to be collecting them here!

This one’s rather unusual, since the cat went missing five years ago – in Hampshire.

And was then found in Aldershot.

So how did Glasgow come to be involved?

Two years after their cat, called Pinks, had disappeared, the family moved up to Glasgow. The change had an interesting side-story, as Pinks was chipped, and when the chip was read, it suggested the cat was making a 400 mile trip to home, but the truth was only that the chip database had been updated with the family’s new details, and the cat was not really far from home – or at least its home as it was when he vanished.

The family headed down south to bring Pinks to his new home, which was nice, since the 11-year old tabby’s twin brother had died a few months earlier, in February.

The only losers in the story are the staff at the vehicle recovery shop where Pinks had turned up. They had adopted the apparent stray, and named it Betty. All they have now is an empty feeding dish.

BBC News – Glasgow family reunited with cat found after five years.

Clydebuit Museum will close on October 16 2010

Clydebuilt Museum

The closure of the Clydebuilt Museum at Braehead has been announced due to lack of funding.

I had no idea this closure was on the cards, and find the news rather depressing – we seem to mention only museum closures, not openings.

In many ways though, I am not completely surprised. Having been there a few times over the years, it was like visiting a ghost ship, and despite fairly well assembled displays and interactive goodies to play with, I was usually there alone, or with only a handful of other patrons.

I suspect lack of interest rather than lack of funding is the true story (as my visits to the Scottish Maritime Museum at Irvine have been similarly lonely, and I thought the place was shut the first time I visited), which is a bit of a shame, since Clydebuilt is right beside the packed Braehead Shopping Centre – full of potential patrons, but it looks as if they are more interested in shopping than history.

BBC – In pictures: Clydebuilt

From its own web site:

Please be aware that Clydebuilt will be closing it’s (sic) doors for good in October, our last day will Saturday 16th. We would like to thank all our visitors over the 11 years we have been open. If you wish to join the Facebook campaign to try and save the museum, type in ‘Save Clydebuilt’ into the search bar on Facebook.

Save Clydebuilt | Facebook

Scottish Maritime Museum – Braehead

Specially built to house the exhibits it contains, and with various plans for waterbuses and other floating attraction during its life, these have never come to pass despite various promises.

Again, we just do not seem to be able to put ‘bums on seats’ any more – and it makes a mockery of the Scottish Government’s call for a massive increase in tourism over the next few years.

Other than the scenery, there will soon be nothing for tourists to come and see or visit – except the shops.

Ah, perhaps that’s the real master plan – a tourist separated from their money is worth more than one spending a £1 or four for admission (or even nothing for our free entry museums) and hours staring at exhibits.

(Yes, I know, I’m just an old cynic )

Only four miles from home, the cat lost for six years

Saffy the cat disappeared from the village of Torrance, to the northeast of Glasgow, six years ago. Only one year old, it seems she just wandered away one day, and didn’t come back.

The family tried to find their pet, but eventually gave up the hunt as a lost cause. As the cat had been chipped, the chances of being identified at the vet’s was likely, however, since nothing was heard, the chances of Saffy’s return declined with time.

Then, in 2010, Saffy’s owners received a call from the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), informing them that – thanks to the chip – they had found Saffy wandering in Drumchapel, only about four miles away from Torrance.

Described as ‘half-starved’ when found, she had also lost half of her tail at some point, possibly having been broken or caught somewhere during her wanderings.

Reported to be happily settling in at home, and having recognised her name when called, Saffy is also said to be staying close to home now that she’s been reunited with her family, although her owners have said it will be a while before they let her out to wander on her own again, just to make sure she’s knows where home is.

Check your borrowed pics!

I originally came across this story by chance, when a search for something else landed on a web site related to news about pets in general.

Although it was a .co.uk site, the article was illustrated by a picture of a typical, home-made, ‘Lost Cat’ poster taped onto a lamppost – an American lamppost.

I don’t know if the person that wrote the article just grabbed the first picture they could find, or chose it deliberately for a bit of fun, but I decided to blow up the image and read the text, because something didn’t look quite ‘right’ about it. My suspicions were correct, and this is what was written on that ‘Lost Cat’ poster, possibly proving it always pays to check the small print, even in a pic you borrow:

LOST CAT

REWARD if you find him & don’t return him.

Promised girlfriend I’d put up a sign.

Cat’s a total pain in the ass. Tears up furniture, craps everywhere.

CALL if you find him & want to keep him. Will pay $$$.

(Right, girlfriend will probably be ex by tonight)

Last chance to visit Kelvin Hall Museum of Transport

The last chance, ever, to visit the Glasgow Museum of Transport while it resides in a room at the back of the Kelvin Hall comes this weekend, April 17/18, 2010.

After this, the museum closes to allow preparations to begin to move the collection to its new home on the banks of the River Clyde, in the new, £74 million Riverside Museum, scheduled to open in spring 2011.

The museum has lived at the back of the Kelvin Hall for some 22 years, after moving there from its former home in Albert Drive, where it was first established in the former Coplawhill tram depot, in 1964. When it left, the building then became home to the Tramway arts centre.

To mark the occasion, there will be a series of free events taking place over the weekend, including music and dance performances, historic bus tours, a competition, and a final closing ceremony.

Disappointment

I don’t know much about the collection when it was housed in the old tram depot. I know I must have seen it, but the only thing I can think of is the accident I had at the traffic lights leading into Albert Drive. I was waiting to turn right into Albert Drive, and the lane to my left was controlled by a filter. Unfortunately, this lane was blocked by parked cars, as it always was, however, this did not prevent an OAP trying to drive his car through the 6-inch gap between my car, and the car parked in the inside lane – with the inevitable result. At least he wasn’t driving very fast.

I do remember reading about the ‘new’ museum which was to open in the Kelvin Hall, but not being a sporty type, failed to notice the matching news items about the Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena. Little did I realise that the arena was actually getting most of the Kelvin Hall for sporty types to run around in, while the transport museum was all but shoved into the broom cupboard behind it. My expectations were well and truly dashed the first time I visited, and had to go round to the back (or side in reality) of the building to find the entrance to the museum. What a disappointment on my first visit, finding the ‘new’ transport museum apparently shoehorned into an L-shaped corner of the vast Kelvin Hall, almost looking like an afterthought.

I should add by way of explanation that I was used to attending a number of  specialist car exhibitions and events that used to take place in the Kelvin Hall in those days, including the Scottish Motor Show, and because I had/have absolutely no interest in the sports arena, had not realised that it was the prime tenant.

It may have taken 22 years, and it may be yet another major Scottish architectural project that has not sought to attract home-grown talent in its creation, but at least the new Riverside Museum is said to boast all the facilities a proper transport museum should have, and that it will have twice as many objects on display as the old site.

Although I may appear to have had a kick at the Kelvin Hall museum, bear in mind I was aiming at the planners, not the collection, the museum staff, or the displays, and I will miss the former displays, in particular the reconstruction of ‘Kelvin Street’, with its homely little cinema, and the old subway display. Despite sounding glum, this is not the case, and the museum itself was just fine.

See the collection before spring 2011

Although the collection proper will not be on display in the Riverside Museum until spring 2011, many of the exhibits will still be on view at the GMRC (Glasgow Museums Resource Centre) at 200 Woodhead Road, in South Nitshill Industrial Estate.

The centre is open 10: 00am to 5: 00pm Tuesday to Thursday and Saturday, and 11:00 am to 5:00 pm on Friday and Sunday, and is closed to the public on Mondays. Note that ALL visits to GMRC must be booked in advance, and viewing is by guided tour.

Glasgow Museums Resource Centre

Frosty the cat lived on frozen peas

Frosty the cat, from BBC web site

It’s a while since we mentioned the case of the Arbroath cat lost in a container for over a month, a story that managed to have a happy ending, even though the character involved probably had little or nothing to eat, and only condensation inside the container to drink. Nine lives no more though.

A similar story passed by this week, as we learnt of another cat that survived four weeks in a cold store in Northamptonshire, and is reckoned to have survived on frozen peas and others scraps, and again, condensation, this time on the packets of food stored in the chilled warehouse. Although the warehouse was not a deep freeze, where really low negative temperatures can be maintained, it was still chilled to -2°C and was where lorries would arrive and depart to collect their loads.

Not quite as lucky as the thin cat from Arbroath, which only needed some decent feeding to get back to health, one-year-old Frosty (named after being found) unfortunately lost most of his ears… and his tail, to frostbite. However, according to staff at the RSPCA Woodside Animal Centre in Leicester, Frosty is a lovely cat with playful nature, and is expected to make a full recovery.

Staff at the centre eventually called on the RSPCA to help catch the cat, as they had tried, but it always made itself scarce, and they thought it was hopeless due to the noise and activity around the lorries arriving and departing from the store. The staff also think that this was how he came to be in the store, having stowed away in one of the lorries, and jumped out while it was in the depot.

The RSPCA managed to trap Frosty by leaving a humane trap in the area, baiting with various foods in the hope of attracting him.

Although they don’t know where he came from, it seems Frosty already has a new home waiting, once his recovery is complete.

478 mile mystery of lost cat

Sampson from BBC web site

We’ve seen some intriguing lost cat stories since we started watching the news, but at 478 miles, this could be furthest story to be arise so far, without looking for overseas stories.

Thank to being chipped – fitted with a microchip that can identify the owner from a database – Sampson was identified after being taken to a veterinary centre in Plymouth, thought to simply be another local stray. Instead, when the chip was matched to the database, home turned out to be Penicuik in Midlothian, from where he had disappeared more than a year before.

After the Woodlands Veterinary Centre in Devon had contacted the owner, she still had the problem of how to get Sampson home – another 500 mile walk just might have been a bit much to expect. She enquired at Eagle Couriers in Edinburgh, and after they heard the story, director Fiona Deas offered to transport Sampson home for free.

As with the other stories we’ve noted, this one has probably started eating into those nine lives, as he not only made it almost 500 miles to Plymouth and was eventually found fit and well, but was also a rescue cat, having been brought home by the family after a visit to a cat sanctuary in the Borders.

Arbroath cat lost in container for over a month

Socks - pic from BBC web site

Spotted another cat story in the news today, thankfully one with a good outcome after the miserable tales that we’ve seen make the news recently.

When 11 month old Socks the cat found an open industrial container, he probably thought he’d found a handy dark spot to curl up and have a quick, or even not so quick, nap. If the experts are right, cats will spend anything up to 18 hours of the day asleep, so if they disappear and go to sleep somewhere obscure, chances are no-one will notice.

That seems to be what happened back on May 13, when Socks disappeared, and his owner eventually gave up looking after putting up posters and wandering around the streets of Arbroath looking for her pet. Assuming the cat had possibly been hit by a car and was gone for good, she’d taken in a new kitten.

What they didn’t know then was that Socks had wandered into a storage container used by a local electrical business, and that it was only visited when supplies were needed. In this case, more than four weeks passed before anyone returned, and when they opened the container on June 16, they found Socks shuffling around, remarkably still well enough to come and make friends with the electrician who had opened the container to fetch some stock.

Somewhat thinner than before, at 2.1 kg, almost half his ideal weight of 4 kg, the cat was taken to the vet and put on a drip to rehydrate him. Cats are not great drinkers, and can get enough moisture from their food alone, however in this case, it’s assumed Socks survived by licking condensation from the interior walls of the container.

The Mail Online provided a fairly extensive article, complete with pics of both cat and grateful owner, Michelle Maher of Arbroath.

Socks even got a mention on Thaindian News, a news portal based in Bangkok providing an online news service for Indians in Thailand

Reminds me a phone call we had from a near neighbour a few years ago. Apparently their cat had gone missing, and they’d had no luck walking around looking for it, but then thought they could hear it crying somewhere but couldn’t pinpoint the source. Eventually they reckoned the sound was coming from our garage, and phoned to ask if we could let it out.

I’ve no idea if the cat was actually in there, it probably was, but the cats around here – even the tamest ones with collars – won’t let you within barge-pole distance if they don’t know you. If they are walking through the garden and you happen to let yourself be seen, all you see of the cat is blur as it disappears. I unlocked the garage and had a quick look, but there were so many places a cat could hide, and even an inspection pit under the car, that I decided the easiest thing to do was just leave the door wide open. As far as we know, Tiddles turned up a few hours later. He might have been grumpy after being shut in, but as it was only a few days at most, at least he wouldn’t have been starving – much.

The missing nuclear bomb of 1968

Every now and then, the release of formerly classified or secret documents manages to bubble up in the news with something genuinely interesting, and the crash of a B52 with four nuclear bombs on board during the Cold War probably qualifies.

The story was reported earlier, back in August 200, when a Danish newspaper published details claiming only three of the four bombs were recovered.

Declassified US government video of Thule clear-up

At one point, the North Pole was of extreme significance in the Cold War, as Soviet missiles would have come over the pole as the shortest route to their targets in the west. Thule Air Base was sited in the Arctic, and its radar would have provided the first warning of such an attack, and it was always assumed that the destruction of this base would be a precursor to such an attack. The Americans began to fly B52 bombers in Chrome Dome missions, armed with nuclear bombs, they circled the base and were in the air continuously, always ready to be diverted to Moscow if it was destroyed.

On January 21, 1968, a fire on board one of the B52s ended its flight, and the crew were forced to eject – leaving the aircraft to crash into the ice a few miles from Thule, with four nuclear bombs on board.

Pilots recount Thule crash

(And now you know why nuclear weapns are no longer routinely carried in aircraft, but in submarines. Stealth may be important, but being sued for a downed aircraft in today’s litigation-mad society would be unthinkable – someone would ask why a Health and Safety Risk Assessment had not been carried out, and sue for billions.)

The conventional explosives detonated in the crash, but the nuclear devices were unarmed so did not detonate, but were reported by the Pentagon to have been destroyed as a result. Following the crash, thousands of pieces of debris were collected from the site, and 500 million gallons of ice were also collected.

Documents from the time indicate that the recovered material accounted for only three of the four bombs carried by the crashed aircraft, and that there was some degree of panic over the loss, not only of the uranium and plutonium components, but of the design secrets that their recovery could reveal.

Ultimately, the Arctic environment brought the search for the parts of the fourth bomb to an end, and the search was abandoned with the conclusion that if the Americans were unable to locate and recover the materials and components, then it was extremely unlikely that anyone else would be able to access the classified materials, which would eventually dissolve.

US “abandoned nuclear bomb”

Inevitably, there have been health implications following this, which in some ways may provide an interesting case to examine in retrospect. Since those involved were unaware of the main implications, they would not be predisposed to believe they would suffer radiation based illnesses, so there should, possibly, be few cases arising from fear or expectation of such disease, and those that arise should be down to normal levels if there was no additional effect from the crash, or if there is a rise, then the crash is the most likely cause.

Unfortunately, things are never that simple, and perusal of the medical studies and claims made following the cleanup shows that there is little more than the usual claims and counterclaims of cause and effect on one side, and denial of same on the other, so no-one is really any further forward in this respect. It’s a pity that the legal and liability side of things always seems to act to ensure that we can never know the real result, as one side battles to apportion blame and compensation for people that may or may not have become ill as a result of some event, while the other side is forced to deny those claims lest it is bankrupted for something it may or may not be responsible for.

Maybe what we really need to do is stand all the lawyers at the North Pole, coincidentally on the same day as a fully armed B52 falls out of the sky?