Goin Go Anly

Rosie wanted to go to the museum today. It is ages since we have been there. Hanley is the centre of The Potteries of Stoke-on-Trent. It has an excellent Museum and lots of interesting shops and cafe's, though you do have to hunt them out. The six towns making up Stoke-on-Trent are Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton (the latter two are known as the Neck End). Collectively, these towns within the city constitute The Potteries.

Our own local cartoonist, Dave Follows, has an exhibition in the Museum at present. His famous characters, "Me an Mar lady" are the centre piece of a very interesting exhibition. This celebrates the unique and querky dialects of the potteries, where phrases like "Jo Jo Tell" and "Serry Duk" often confuse strangers in droves. ("The George Hotel" and "I apologise") See Rosies Blog
Of course, one of the most famous sons of the potteries (Josiah Wedgwood, Sir Stanley Matthews and Robby Williams aside) is Reginald Mitchell, the designer of the famous Spitfire. The Museum has an example of this historic fighter aircraft, which is in the process of being refurbished. RW388 was given to the city in 1969. It is a mark 16 Spitfire, though it came without its guns at the time.
There is a bitterly cold wind today as the weather blows in as easterlies from the Russian Step. I wonder if the swallows that are flying over the local fields and lakes to catch insects regret coming over so early from Africa?