Photo-a-Day  (Monday, 4th August, 2025)

Lovely clear picture, there must be something about the air in Standish.
Always a good photo Colin, informative and entertaining., I’ll be humming that tune all day.

Fantastic cloud formation Colin, I can just imagine their movement....and the song is one of my absolute favourites. Sadly todays song lyrics ain't what they use to be !

Good photo Colin.
I much prefer to blue sky, but we still need the rain.

I worked in Standish High Street as a young girl, visited Chadwick's Food Emporium a number of times in later years, and sometimes pass through High Street in the car, but I wouldn't have known where this photo was at first glance...it looks so different. I'll also be singing "Both Sides Now" all day and thinking, " I'll murder that Colin Traynor! ".It won't go out of my head now!

If its warm and dry I can spend hours sat on the wall at the front of my bungalow just watching the clouds floating across the sky.

' The daughter of Earth and Water ' may look light and fluffy but she weighs about 550 tons .
Good picture . Great song .

We get some fantastic clouds in Shevi, especially in the summer afternoons. These clouds look like they are actually in Shevi but photographed from Standish.

Poet, I think that, that 550 tons of water is being dumped on Standish today. Well it is a Bank Holiday Monday, what else do we expect.

The problem with Apartments is you don't feel private. Only my opinion.
Good photo Colin.

Noticing that one of the two apartment buildings is name Berystede I was intrigued to know where the name came from and came across the following:
The Standish family and the original Berystede
In 1870, the 23-year-old Henry Noailles Widdrington Standish married Hélène de Pérusse des Cars, daughter of the French Comte des Cars. The couple had estates in both England and France, but their close friendship with the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark) made a country house within easy reach of London and Windsor essential.
The choice of site was probably influenced by their friendship with the Barnetts who lived at Kings Beeches on the eastern side of Bagshot Road. The original building would have looked like the core of the present hotel, its Gothic Tudor [clarification needed]mix of styles the height of Victorian fashion.[citation needed] The choice of the name 'Bery Stede' (then two words) was appropriate as the land is shown as pasture on earlier maps. The old English word bere indicates corn or pasture land and stede means the site of a dwelling.
Berystede Lodge, standing at the Brockenhurst Road entrance, was the home of the head gardener. The stables, now the garage, housed grooms, footmen, coachmen, horses and carriages.
The Fire
The original house was destroyed by fire in the early hours of 27 October 1886. Eliza Kleininger, Mrs. Standish's maid, died in the fire. There was little that could have been done to save the house; the nearest fire services were several miles away at Windsor, Egham, and Staines, and both messenger and appliance were horse-drawn. By the morning only the walls of the house remained. The Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, came over from Windsor to see the ruins and express sympathy to the owners.

It could be quite exciting though Mutley if your an avid reader of ‘The Thursday Murder Club’.
You might have Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim as your neighbours!

Could be Dick Dastardly too Colin.

Great photo Colin that could be in Switzerland.

Colin Traynor

I preferred the Judy Collins version.

https://youtu.be/8L1UngfqojI

I’m intrigued …
What other remarkable natural phenomena do you get in Shevvy that the rest of us poor sods who only live a couple of miles away don’t get to experience Sue ? … or is it Mutley ?

Colin , you omitted to mention that following the fire , the house was later rebuilt then subsequently converted into a hotel , where , in the early stages of the Second World War , King Zog and Queen Geraldine of Albania stayed for a short time .

I’nt Wikipedia brilliant ?

Ozy, I couldn't agree more.....I wasn't going to say anything about that ridiculous statement that the clouds were actually in Shevi but were photographed from Standish.....had those beautiful white clouds have been black clouds with torrential rain and flashes of lightning coming out of them,, you-know-who would have said they were in Standish! I had to read that unbelievable comment three times this morning to make sure I was reading it correctly.

Ozy you must look at Google and Wikipedia, I mean who doesn't.
I have the up most respect for Colin and so should you.
Good photo Colin and thanks for the History.

We regularly receive flyers about here and what they call a retirement village. The photos in that flyer show residents having a spiffing time sitting in landscaped gardens; whilst quaffing wine under a very nice tree, they are a far cry from any resemblance of what is shown here on Colin's photo, actually those flats at the rear somehow remind me of Hindley Prison when seen from Bickershaw Lane.
https://www.anchor.org.uk/our-properties/standard-and-berystede-court-wigan

True Ozy and Malc, there's a world of information on Wikipedia.

Malc, King Zog of Albania was a real person. He died in 1961. I'm not saying he ever stayed in Wigan but he was a real person, as was Queen Geraldine of Albania who died as recently as 2022. And yes, I did Google it. I have every respect for Colin, as you have, but that comment about the clouds being in Shevi but photographed from Standish was nothing short of ridiculous and , to my mind, was an insult to Colin's photo. Colin actually TOOK the photo in Standish, so if anyone knows where the beautiful white clouds were, It's Colin. It is a good photo and I don't like to see it credited to another place.

I have been out all day today just looked in and seen the usual tripe re Shevvy;
Misery Mick,Muttering Mutt and Simpering Sue,
Comment daily on PaD dead on cue,
They exist in one head in the same space,
A case of each day being ready for the race,
What they come up with is naught but rot…
‘Cos they eat , sleep and P- - in’t same pot….
Shame they’ve nothing else to look forward to is it not….

Malc , rest assured that I use Wikipedia as a source of information frequently . In fact I actually donate funds occasionally for the continued upkeep of the site , as I’m sure that you do also .

Now with regards to respect . In my view respect has to be earned , and in order to warrant that respect the first step in the process must be that a person has to be scrupulously honest .

So I may not be the nicest person that you’re ever likely to encounter in your lifetime Malcolm , but I do pride myself on being honest , and on the odd occasion that I do quote someone verbatim , I tend to credit that quote to its original author .

For example … if I quoted a passage from Shakespeare for instance , I would add …
Source of information …the complete works of William Shakespeare .

Now that’s being honest and worthy of respect in my book .

But perhaps you have a problem with honesty Malc … do you ?… I sincerely hope not .

I also note that Colin hasn’t responded to my comment … so what does that tell you Malc ?

And by the way … it isn’t up most respect , it’s utmost respect .

So when precisely is your birthday Malc ? … cos I’ll go out to Poundland and buy you a Collins English dictionary mate , and who knows ? you yourself may eventually earn my respect … in a year or two … but at least you’re streets ahead of Howard .

Lincolnshire and Norfolk have the best cloud formations…the ‘big ‘ skies are noted for them..mainly because the land is so flat I should imagine.

I can’t vouch for the authenticity of the rumours Irene , but the word on the street is that the aurora borealis can be seen nightly on Miles lane in Shevvy if you stand on the motorway bridge … and I understand that the glacier behind the former Roburite works has been witnessed calving icebergs into the Leeds -Liverpool canal during the warmer months . Amazing really innit ? … Especially when you consider that we live such a short distance from the place

Not only King Zog and his Queen came to our shores during WW2 for shelter but all the Dutch Royal Family and Charles De Gaul as well…we are so good at taking people into this country- always have been but at least they went back…..mind you some of our folk went to Canada for safety….

‘Carving’ Ozy/ Eddie ‘carving’ . Write it down 100 times please. Or did you just drop it in
like. I do that sometimes…

“ Calving” of an iceberg or glacier) split and shed (a smaller mass of ice).
"glaciers were calving icebergs directly into the sea" apologies Ozy Eddy. I have never come across that word with reference to Icebergs!

THE SHEVVY PARISH HANDICAP

Entering the final furlong and it’s Miserable Mick still
in the lead with Muttering Mutt a head behind in second place and Simpering Sue in third but still in contention
Miserable Mick is the first to come under the whip but he seems to be running out of steam and he’s falling behind the other two. Coming up to the line
and the winner is… Muttering Mutt by an empty head followed by Simpering Sue in second and Miserable Mick a distant third and pulled up.

John McCurric would have had to eat his hat Dtease if he was still around..§;o))

I have enjoyed the brilliant comments by Ozy, Veronica and Dtease..Keep it up.X