Wednesday, April 29

Aldridge

27th April and we're now onto episode eight of the 'Monday Mission' series. This time the action comes all the way from Aldridge with country lanes and cricket clubs, a dabble with the Daw End Canal and even the possibility of a Coalpool cliffhanger...

- The Old Irish Harp -
The first page of today's script stipulates an opening ride on the number 6 bus, heading down the Mellish Road passing both the Dilke and 'Aldridge Airport', an open space that was once home to the Walsall Aerodrome. Staying on board towards Little Aston, I alight at the junction with Chester Road slap bang on the Walsall-Staffordshire boundary. Top target here is the Old Irish Harp, a farmstead-type Marston's pub with a large beer garden.

- Hobs Hole Lane -
Continuing along Chester Road a little further, Mill Green muscles into proceedings with an exclusive housing development, the Plough & Harrow pub and signs for Streetly Sports & Cricket Club (which seems to be located somewhere down Forge Lane). My next directional instruction is to take Hobs Hole Lane, escaping from the main traffic for a relaxing stroll with glimpses of Druids Heath Golf Course and Nuttalls Farm.

- Aldridge Cricket Club -
I need to keep my eyes peeled for a footpath off to the left and sure enough I find the required track, emerging among the sporting facilities collectively known as the Stick & Wicket Club. Besides football pitches and a fitness suite there is a neat clubhouse although I'm most interested in the cricket field where sight screens, practice nets and boundary markings are in place ready for the new season.

- Lich Gate by The Green -
The clubhouse car park leads me onto The Green where Aldridge Parish Church and the local war memorial are close at hand. Before I can photograph those however, I'm distracted by an impressive carved lich gate on another section of The Green opposite Cooper & Jordan Primary School. The lich gate was restored during the 1980s and provides access to a small graveyard.

- Church View from the Croft -
I'm right in the heart of historic Aldridge now and the Parish Church is a fine landmark, a site of worship since at least the 13th century. The flag of St George flutters in the breeze next to the war memorial while the blossoms on Aldridge Croft make for a pretty springtime sight. Somewhat less attractive is the Aldridge Shopping Centre, a block precinct with various stores on Anchor Parade, an upstairs gym (Colossus) and some disused toilets on Court Parade that D9 would no doubt find captivating.

- Tesco in the Tavern -
There is a momentary break in the action when I pause for lunch, but upon the resumption it was time for me to tour some of Aldridge's residential housing estates. Whetstone Lane has me wandering down past the Catholic Church (St Mary of the Angels with the adjacent Friary Club) to reach Churnhill Road where a parade of shops comprise a beauty salon, a hairdressers and a kitchen design showroom. Doubling round by the Aldridge School I reach Paddock Lane for shots of the Tesco Express store based in what was the Aldridge Tavern, formerly a brick Banks's boozer.

- Winterley Bridge -
Dumblederry Lane threatens an industrial interlude although some of the factories up by Middlemore Lane seem strangely silent. I remember the 355 and 357 bus routes serving the units here but the signs these days just say 'bus stop not in use'. At Hopleys Bridge I can join the Daw End canal, following the branch out towards Rushall and savouring the spectacle of the natural world, notably some squabbling geese and a majestic crane that swooped along the towpath down by Winterley Bridge.

- Park Lime Pits -
We are reaching the climax of the show now as I exit at Daw End Bridge for a repeat showing of the Manor Arms pub and the Park Lime Pits nature reserve. My intended plot line was to follow some footpaths across to Lady Pool but I require some improvisation when detouring across playing fields at the back of the Elmwood School. Lady Pool was an attractive beauty spot but seems to be at risk of drying up completely, hence I only spotted a rather brown patch of reeds and didn't even take any photographs :(

- Ryecroft Cemetery -
There's time yet for a late twist though so Cartbridge Lane offers a taste of Goscote Valley, a green corridor of nature sites I'd like to explore in more detail. Ford Brook is one of Walsall's historic water courses and has been landscaped in part within a new housing development. A path leads me into Ryecroft Cemetery where more blossoms add a certain beauty to a solemn location (I might well have ancestors buried here somewhere) before the Coalpool Lane cliffhanger scenario takes hold. The 29 bus threatens to be the villain of the piece, and the tension builds as the clock ticks ever closer towards the start of my shift. Thankfully the Diamond 29 appeared in the nick of time and I make it to work with seconds to spare. Mission accomplished, credits roll...

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