Friday, October 25

WME Flickr Focus - October 2024

Watch out Wolverhampton! Back off Birmingham! Black Country beware! October's photostream updates have seen the immediate West Midlands galleries resoundingly edged out in favour of arrivals from the surrounding shire counties. Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire, it's your time to shine...

Casting my mind back over years of Flickr happenings, I'm struggling to think of a month when the additions have been so lopsidedly provided by these not-so-noisy neighbours. Yes there are occasions when Exploration Extra rules the roost or Staffordshire comes strongly to the fore but this recent pattern does seem unprecedented. The upshot is that the West Midlands Exploration photostream continues its healthy march towards 7,500 pictures.

So WME Worcestershire, what have you been shouting so much about? A cacophony of Kidderminster is what I detect, aided by some musings from the Severn Valley Railway station (Birmingham Mail banners, period lamps and even a gruesomely green Halloween witch). It hasn't all been railway-related by any means, not with the Boars Head and Bear & Wolf vying for pub attention, not forgetting a Mortgage Station ghost sign from Colonial Mutual Insurance.

WME Warwickshire has made itself heard loud and clear too, all thanks to a load of Leamington Spa snapshots encompassing shell mosaics, platform views and a trio of representatives from the Windmill Inn on Tachbrook Road. The Builders Arms, Cricketers Arms (with ornate stained glass skylight) and Jet (altogether less glamorous by comparison) ensure that the pub quota is suitably beefed up beyond that Windmill threesome. 

As for WME Shropshire, my concentration has been completely on Kemberton, that small unassuming village just outside Shifnal. Springtime leaves, a Millennium map, a church lamp and the Masons Arms all combine to raise the numbers, assisted by a 'No HGVs' warning sign and the local parish noticeboard. Sticking with Shropshire (sort of), WME Telford & Wrekin tickles its tonsils courtesy of Jackfield Bridge and some Ironbridge insertions, namely noting Newbridge Road and the Golden Ball Inn.

I won't pretend that my main West Midlands constituents have been totally starved of the limelight. WME Birmingham did collect Kings Norton road signs and the Twin Towers pub from Ladywood (an Ansells relic), while WME Wolverhampton found enough stage time to admire Lady Wulfrun's statue. WME Solihull nabbed an NHS tribute from the Windleaves Road shops near Smiths Wood, meaning WME Staffordshire brings up the rear with its Landywood landings and a couple of BCN markers/bollards from the Lichfield Canal. Until November, enjoy the photos!

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