Saturday 13 November 2010

Titanic

I was looking through my pictures and I realised I haven't yet blogged about a particular experience I had over summer.

In a town close to my home, Netherton, an iconic piece of engineering was built 100 years ago, the anchor for RMS Titanic. If you haven't been living under a rock, you will have seen the recent tv series on Channel 4, Titanic: The Mission. A team of engineers made it their mission to remake parts of the Titanic, and bring home the memories of 100 years ago, of the time when Britain really did rule the world in making things. For the programme about Netherton's anchor, the team recast the gigantic structure and brought it home to the people of Netherton. I went along that day to see the 20 shire horses proudly pull it to its new home, right in the middle of the town. It was so wonderful to see so many people celebrating their heritage, I always think it's a shame that we just don't make many things in Britain relative to 100 years ago. I managed to get a few pictures of the anchor, as well as the 20 horses (which in the end had to be replaced with a tractor to pull the 15 tonne anchor - hot day in august plus roundabouts in Dudley equals bad planning!)


Luke Perry, one of the four presenters from the series.




I think the anchor is currently at the Black Country Living Museum, but will soon be rehomed in Netherton, back where it all began. To read a bit more about it, the BBC published a short note about it here.


In other news (!) I hope to get some proper drawing up here again soon, I am embarking on several projects at once so it's all very much in the early stages. Watch this space for some Nigella loving and maybe some Christmas related fittle!

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