Coventry – SteveWhittythoughts1965

January 20, 2014January 20, 2014

Coventry Cathedral (Cathedral Church of St. Michael)

On 14 November 1940 the launched 'Coventrate'. The target was to destroy the city of Coventry. As well as killing over 800 people it destroyed various areas of the city. The most famous building destroyed was the Cathedral Church of St. Michael. Dating from the 14th century all that remained was the shell of the cathedral.

The new cathedral was designed by Basil Spence. He decided against rebuilding the destroyed cathedral but build the new one along side. The new cathedral was consecrated on 25 May 1962.

Walking around the ruins on a cold Sunday morning gave off a eerie atmosphere. However, rather than left feeling sad I was left feeling hopeful. The theme of the ruins is reconciliation. Did you know that during World War II Coventry became a twin city with Stalingrad in solidarity with the Red Army defending the city. One of the items worth seeing inside the ruins is the wooden cross.

Originally constructed from two wooden beams that were found lying on the floor a replica is now on permanent display. There is another cross made from three nails from the original roof. Another cross of nails was sent to the Kaiser Wihelm Memorial Church in Berlin as a act of reconciliaton.

Overall the cathedral is worth spending time to visit. A good place to come and gather your thoughts.

For further details visit http://www.coventrycathedral.org.uk

Until the next post stay safe, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Steve

Posted with Blogsy

January 16, 2014January 16, 2014

Photo of the Week – Reconciliation

This week's photo was taken in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral.

It is a statue called 'Reconciliation.' The city of Coventry was heavily bombed during World War II. The cathedral was destroyed.

The statue was erected in 1995, the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. It shows the act of forgiveness and reconciliaton. Since the end of the war Coventry has established realtionships with Dresden and Hiroshima. A copy the statue was sent to Hiroshima.

Until the next post stay safe, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Steve

Posted with Blogsy

October 14, 2013

Balkans Day 1, 8 September – I Leave Today, What Can Go Wrong Now.

After months of planning and counting down the days the day has finally arrived to leave. I think that everybody was starting to get sick of me talking about the trip. My team I suspect were glad to see the back of me for the next three weeks. The trip has been my only focus for 2013 and it may have cost me a few sleepless nights and lost nights out.

At 7:20pm I left for the bus to take me into Birmingham. My backpack weighed heavy but it felt good to have it on my back again. No problems with the bus and I was soon at Birmingham Central Coach Station. All I need now is the coach. It arrives but was told it had pulled into the wrong bay. So everybody waited for the coach to move bays. We were going to leave late.

Once loaded the coach eventually left station. At the first set of traffic lights the driver gets off the coach and starts to check the rear indicators. This is not a good sign. We carry on until the we reach the outskirts of Coventry. The driver stops the coach, the lights had gone. Now it was time to panic as I have a connecting coach to catch. If there was a problem why did the driver say something at Birmingham. Upon advice from the garage in Birmingham the driver reset the lights. Low and behold they start to work again. Off we move towards Coventry Bus Station. What else could go wrong now.

Coventry Bus Station was chaos. It looked like that too many passengers had been loaded in Birmingham. The gentleman who was travelling with his son quite rightly was angry and refused to leave the coach. I think the driver allowed somebody to travel who was booked on another service. Anyway good fortune arrived when a woman offered to leave the coach and get another service.

We left Coventry at 22:40 over an hour later than planned. At least the coach to Gatwick Airport runs every hour, so I should in with a chance of getting on a later service. We will have to wait for the next day.

Posted with Blogsy