#morecambe week

[get-back-homeward]

From November 29, 1963 by Brian Lawton (via @gnocchichi​‘s tags)

they’re never beating the allegations bro

[scotianostra]

October 1st 1999 saw the sad death of Lena Zavaroni.

Lena was a Scottish child singer and a television show host. With her album Ma! He’s Making Eyes at Me at ten years of age, she is the youngest person in history to have an album in the top ten of the UK Albums Chart. Later in life she hosted TV shows and appeared on stage. She died at the age of 35 after a long battle with anorexia nervosa.

Born Lena Hilda Zavaroni November 4th 1963...( there is where it hits me, how young she was when she passed away, less than two years younger than myself, seeing it written is such a reminder of our own mortality)... in Greenock and grew up in the small town of Rothesay on the Isle of Bute with musical parents, who owned a fish and chip shop. Father Victor Zavaroni played the guitar, mother Hilda sang, and Lena herself sang from the age of two. Her Grandfather, Alfredo had emigrated from Italy.

She was discovered in the summer of 1973 by record producer Tommy Scott, who was on holiday in Rothesay and heard her singing with her father and uncle in a band. Scott contacted impresario Phil Solomon, which led to his partner Dorothy Solomon’s becoming Zavaroni’s manager.

In 1974 Lena appeared on Opportunity Knocks hosted by Hughie Green and won the show for a record-breaking five weeks running. She followed this with the album Ma, a collection of classic and then-recent pop standards which reached number eight in the UK album chart. At 10 years, 146 days old, Zavaroni is still the youngest person to have an album in the Top 10 and was also the youngest person to appear on the BBC’s Top of the Pops.

Zavaroni also sang at a Hollywood charity show with Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball in 1974, at which Ball commented, “You’re special. Very special and very, very good,” although some sources attribute the words to Sinatra. Following this, Zavaroni guest-starred on The Carol Burnett Show. She also appeared in The Morecambe and Wise Show, the 1976 Royal Variety Show and performed at the White House for US President Gerald Ford. Signed to the soul-oriented Stax Records label in the United States, Zavaroni did not make much of a chart impact Stateside despite the praise and television appearances, as her Ma album failed to chart and its title single made it only to number 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 during a four-week chart run in the summer of 1974.

While attending London’s Italia Conti Academy stage school, Lena met and became long-term friends with child star Bonnie Langford. The two starred in the TV special Lena and Bonnie.

Between 1979 and 1982, Lena had her own TV series on the BBC, Lena Zavaroni and Music, which featured singing and dancing, and included guests such as Spike Milligan, Elaine Stritch, and Les Dawson.

From the age of 13, Zavaroni suffered from anorexia nervosa. While at stage school, her weight dropped to 56 lb (4 stone or 25 kg). Zavaroni blamed this on the pressure placed upon her to fit into costumes while at the same time she was “developing as a woman.

She continued to suffer from anorexia throughout the 1980s, and in 1989 she married computer consultant Peter Wiltshire. The couple settled in north London but separated 18 months later. Also in 1989, Zavaroni’s mother, Hilda, died of a tranquilliser overdose and a fire destroyed all of her showbiz mementos.

After the breakup of her marriage, Zavaroni moved to Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, to be nearer to her father and his second wife. By this time, she was living on state benefits and in 1999 was accused of stealing a 50p packet of jelly, although the charges were later dropped.

Zavaroni underwent a number of drug treatments and received electroconvulsive therapy in an attempt to beat her anorexia. Her inquest was told that none of these had been successful in the long term. In addition she was suffering from depression and begged doctors to operate on her to relieve her depression. Although the operation would not cure her anorexia, she was desperate for it to proceed and threatened suicide (she also took a drug overdose) if it did not.

In September 1999 Zavaroni was admitted to University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff for a psychosurgical operation. After the operation, she appeared to be in a satisfactory condition and after a week she was “making telephone calls, cheerful and engaging in conversation,” even asking her doctor if he thought there was any chance that she would get back on stage. However, three weeks after the operation, she developed a chest infection and died from pneumonia on 1st October 1999.

[hacash]

ted lasso 3x02 thoughts

Listen, I think we can all agree that this episode could pretty much be titled ‘Trent Crimm: Return of the Crimm’. I’m not even a big tedpendent girl but this was definitely their time.

I loved seeing Trent back at Richmond! It’s going to be great having more of James Lance on the show: one thing I did think was that Trent had definitely lost a little bit of his customary swagger – he’s back at Richmond but he’s no longer dominating the press room, he’s very much now in the jock-dominated locker room where the Roy storyline made it clear that he no longer has that commanding power that he did in the world of journalism (James Lance’s headcanon that Trent got into sports journalism because his dad wanted him to be into football – Trent is both of that world and not of it - lives in my head rent-free), and the entire arc of this episode was a really interesting way of easing Trent into this scene.

Being a non-sports, non-celebrity, non-rich person, the one gripe I often have with Ted Lasso is it very much takes the rich celebrity jock-ish status of the team as given – of course the himbos are justified in being paid ludicrous sums of money, of course it’s funny and not unsettling that Jamie thinks of non-celebrities as ‘muggles’. So having Trent, who’ll be the first locker-room-regular to come from a more academic, working-a-regular-non-sports-job-background, will be an interesting dynamic switch.

Roy’s entire arc with Trent just stabbed me in the heart. I always knew there had to be more to the ‘you’re a colossal prick and you always have been’ line and now I feel so freaking vindicated. And whoever pointed out that Roy refused to carry on the cycle of condemning teenage players back in s2 as a pundit…argh.

AND HE CARRIED THAT REVIEW AROUND WITH HIM FOR TWENTY-ODD YEARS. (Apparently the British comedian Eric Morecambe did a similar thing: carrying an old bad review of his first television appearance with him for the rest of his life despite reaching unparalleled success in his heyday. *sniffles*)

The one thing that was slightly jarring about Trent’s return was it felt like everyone (except for Roy) was surprisingly chill about him being at Richmond, considering that he was the journalist who broke the story about Ted’s mental health problems (Keeley even mentions gunning for Trent in the S2 finale). Of course, Ted being Ted we can assume he did a lot of sticking up for Trent at the time, but this only turns us back again to the big, painful, heart-stomping elephant in the room…how much does the rest of the Richmond crew know about the leak? And if it does ever slip out, how exactly is that going to go down?

On that note, I was under the impression that we only had to suffer more of Rupert if we also got more delicious Nate angst and arcs into the bargain. The fact that this week we had Rupert’s gross manipulations and no Nate is just a slap in the face.

(Anthony Head remains so wonderfully evil though.)

Zava! I’ve been hypothesising about him since leaked pictures of the first West Ham match hit Twitter, and I’m really interested in seeing where he goes…though, I’ll be real, right now he strikes me as just a prick. And not even a dumb, amusing prick like s1 Jamie (who I knew I was going to have a grudging soft spot for back when he piped up about the snacks being shit), but just…a prick. We’ll see though. I’m also really looking forward to seeing Jamie’s reaction to Zava: if he doesn’t like sharing the spotlight with another ace, or if it’s seeing the primadonna beneath the glamour and not wanting Zava to hurt his team.

And speaking of Zava’s hire…Rebecca’s takedown of him was magnificent, and her ability to be dragged into dodgy business decisions just to one-up Rupert are being played for laughs right now…but let’s be real, this show always plays things for laughs before turning the tables on you. Which basically means: this is going to hurt like a motherfucker.

Also REBECCA WAS THE OTHER WOMAN?!?!? God, that adds so many layers to Sassy telling her she’d hurt people while with Rupert. I cannot wait to find out more about that, it’s already hurting my heart.

DANI SCORING A GOAL WITH HIS FACE. Also his puppy dog excitement about Zava, which I’m sure won’t come back to bite him in the arse later.

I love how Higgins is basically the Richmond equivalent of Varys – he has his contacts everywhere, and no secrets are secret from him.

Keeley and Barbara! Honestly, I’m quite here for where this is going – Barbara’s attitude in this ep unkind and, let’s be honest, pretty classist when it came to Shazza(? Keeley’s model friend?), but also you do need someone to be boring and sensible and check the numbers when it comes to running a business. I’m hoping they keep working together well.

And that moment when Keeley watched Roy come back to Chelsea *lip wobble*

Actually, that entire Chelsea return moment…

AND the knowledge that Roy left Chelsea and Keeley because he couldn’t bear to be left… That revelation hurt. Not even Ted batting his eyes cartoon-anime-style could take the sting out of that kick to the chest.

Jamie continuing to go from strength to strength by trying to comfort Roy (unsuccessfully) in this episode, in his own unique fashion. ‘Old people are jumpy because of the war’ was incredible.

Not nearly enough himbos in this episode, I’m sorry to say, but the scene where they react to Zava, Trent, and Roy breaking up with Keeley was a thing of absolute beauty. And Beard’s shriek at the news was both hilarious and justifiable.

I’m also fascinated by the choice to have the himbos identify the best tactic to fight back at the Chelsea match, rather than Ted – it’s the second time in so many episodes when someone else has stepped up to do something which would traditionally be Ted’s role, and I’m wondering if there’s a pattern here. (And if there is, how Ted – who’s clearly uncertain about his place at Richmond – will interpret that.)

God, I almost nearly forgot that this was the episode where we found out that Isaac is a student of kinesics (Renaissance man!) and apparently regularly checks out Roy’s arse. Here we were all thinking Colin would be confirmed queer this season…is McAdoo about to sneak in from under our noses?

Also the post-gym scenes made this the episode where I realised the Greyhounds are definitely sporting a somewhat more...athletic look this season. I may have to put together some s1 v s3 comparison pics to be sure about this. Stay tuned.

[erhangwang]

DP3 - Research Project - Mediator Spaces

Week 1:

A short presentation of Founding from the first site visit to Blackpool and Morecambe. I studied the tide cycles, relation between the beach, sea and the surroundings and represented them on the map by using a personal language. I found out the richness in the pattern of the sand and brought back samples for further testings. I am interested in using the shells from the Blackpool to explore new materials.

I am designing the three space for the next weeks:

Space 1 – Salt Erosion and Oysters (Physical Geography)

Space 2 – Buried Bunker Archaeologies (Environmental Geography) 

Space 3 – Mitigating the horror of Cockling Tragedy & time shift (Human Geography) 

[frenchcurious]

Une visite de l'emblématique hôtel Midland à Morecambe conçu par Oliver Hill, un week-end avec des amis dans nos voitures des années 1930. - source Geoff Yates via Art Deco.

[freakingoutthesquares]

Pulp Diction - Part One Words: Paul Lester, Photographer: Pat Pope Melody Maker, 27 May 1995 Transcription: Acrylic Afternoons

Starring: JARVIS COCKER as THE JUNKSHOP ROMANTIC STEVE MACKEY as THE PLAYBOY RUSSELL SENIOR as THE ALIEN CANDIDA DOYLE as THE CARE BEAR KID NICK BANKS as THE PIE-MUNCHER

From the late Seventies right up to the early Nineties, Sheffield's Pulp were critical faves whose bizarre sex-obsessed space-pop eluded commercial success. Then in 1994, their His 'n' Hers LP sold 100,000 copies, went Top 10 and almost won the Mercury Prize. Meanwhile, frontman Jarvis Cocker became Britain's unlikeliest sex symbol and all-round multi-media pundit. With their fantastic new single 'Common People' released this week, we meet the brilliant Pulp as they prepare to ascend to the next level of fame and acclaim.

PULPINTRO

He's Chris Evans' favourite artist. Greater London Radio has called him "the first pop star of the 21st century". This writer reckons he's Eric Morecambe meets James Bond. And he's described himself as "Woody Alien in platform heels". Ladies and Gentlemen, Jarvis Branson Cocker, the human stick insect in Oxfam gladrags rechristened "Pop's Mr Sex" by The Observer's "Life" magazine, has just entered the building. And tripped over some camera cable.

As stumbles go, it's pretty clumsy. Although Jarvis doesn't exactly tumble arse over tit onto the Maker photographer's studio floor, it's a trip nonetheless, a full-scale fumble of the feet, a semi-somersault. Not that Cocker seems to care. He doesn't bother to check whether the nosy bastard journalist has witnessed his miniature fall from grace, he just regains his balance and heads towards the studio table where several platefuls of sweets and sandwiches await.

The trip is all. In it, we can locate the sublime/corblimey essence of Pulp, the most modern of modern pop bands, fronted by Jarvis Cocker, the ordinary man with the extraordinary talent, the sex god with the sex problems, the klutz-icon whose Cool Quotient is raised precisely because he doesn't mind looking uncool. Thought: Jarvis Cocker has the same initials as Jesus Christ and Jimmy Corkhill.

Fact: on the night of this interview, he is spied in a quiet corner of a Menswear after-show party with a gorgeous young girl, legs akimbo, facing him on his lap, her skirt around her waist, his crotch against hers, the pair, oblivious to the drinking/drugging hordes (basically the entire population of The Good Mixer relocated to London W1), thrusting and grunting like extras from "Confessions Of A Britpop Idol".

Theory: the British public is obsessed with sex, especially public sex, at which Jarvis Cocker is (becoming) an expert. Ergo, the British public is (becoming) obsessed with Jarvis Cocker, who, after 15 years in the shadows, is Going Public with Pulp's synthetically treated, dramatically arranged, indecently graphic pop songs about public - and private and magical and mundane - sex.

PULPSEX (FOREPLAY)

A Pulp feature without sex would be like a Barry White feature without sex or a Spiritualized feature without drugs or a Snoop Doggy Dogg feature without guns or a Shaun Ryder feature without sex and drugs and guns, or a Paul Weller feature without loads of tedious meandering bollocks about old blues and soul records. But a Pulp feature - or, for that matter, a Pulp song - doesn't have to be solely about sex. It's just that, for Pulp, as it is for Jarvis Cocker, as it is (let's be honest) for us, sex is the axis around which all their/his/our other obsessions orbit.

So, yes, a Pulp feature or a Pulp song could be about knitting, just as it could be about fairgrounds or babies or joyriders or pink gloves or lipgloss or underwear. But really, once you've rubbed at the surface and scrubbed away the details of Pulp's beautiful tales of banal lives, you're left with sex, in all its gory glory. I'm not sorry about this. Neither's Jarvis Cocker.

"Is there anything in the world more interesting than sex?" the thinking woman's crumpet with the thick-rimmed spectacles repeats my loaded/"Loaded" question in his inimitably rich, deep South Yorkshire voice. "No, I don't suppose there is. Eating and reproducing are the two major motives that make animals want to do things. And I don't think it's that different with people, except that people have the ability to think about it, and have morals about it. I always thought of sex as something quite transcendental," he continues, leaning forward now. "Not that l'm into tantric sex, or whatever, but in the way that it transcends... In a world where religion isn't such a massive guiding force, sex is, along with drugs, the closest we ever get to a transcendental feeling. Especially the moment of orgasm." Oo-er, Jarvis Cock-er.

Think of the seedy voyeurism of "Babies" (from "His 'n' Hers") where the kid watches his friend's sister going at it hammer-and-tongs through a gap in a wardrobe door; of the tawdry perversions of "Sheffield: Sex City" from "Pulpintro" ("I just had to make love to all the cracks in the pavement and the shop doorways"); or the smutty ambiguity of "Little Girl (With Blue Eyes)" from "Masters Of The Universe" ("There's a hole in your heart / And one between your legs / You've never had to wonder which one he's going to fill"): Pulpsex is never the hygienic coupling you see in films, the seamless, juiceless, sexless, unproblematic sex we're all supposed to have as adults.

Jarvis Cocker is the only white pop artist currently addressing the subject of sex in an explicit manner. Historically, white pop sex has either been good clean fun (The Beatles, The Beach Boys) or its darker side has just been hinted at (The Who, The Rolling Stones) or it has been the course of much angst (New Order, The Smiths).

Today, of course, sex is dealt with in numerous black genres such as rap, house and swingbeat, only there the sex is the mechanically precise variety, all domineering men and submissive women, gleaming musculature and cool biological fusion and fission. Pulpsex is rather more fumbling and fallible than that. It takes place between streets, not between the sheets.

"I like that sort of thing," admits Jarvis. "It's good for sex to be an event, not always taking place in the same venue. It's better to go on tour, as it were. It's more exciting. Not that I'm one of those people who has to think that they're going to be discovered at any moment shagging in an alleyway, or whatever."

"Anyway," he refers back to the bump 'n' grind style of contemporary sensual poetry, "that's where most pop writing about sex falls down. It becomes like a parody of a man trying to portray himself as God's gift to women, as the greatest stud alive."

Could a white man ever get away with a line like Barry White's "Take off your brassiere, my dear"?

"No, they'd get the piss taken out of them, and rightly so."

As Pulp's popularity increases, so too does Jarvis Cocker's ability to reduce female admirers to paroxysms of pleasure at the sight of his beanpole academic frame or the sound of his lugubrious, deadpan, baritone. Thing is, they're half surrendering to Jarvis, the post-modern Englebert Humperdink (he sends them), and half laughing at themselves for doing so (is he sending himself up?). There is a similarly narrow line in Pulp's songs between the silly and the serious. Could Jarv sing a song about sex with a straight face, or does he usually feel the need to be self-deprecating about it?

"Well," he smiles, "there is always that temptation where sex is concerned to hide the IQ, to pretend you didn't really mean what you said, which is a cop-out. You have to risk looking a bit daft."

Jarvis didn't lose his virginity until he was 19, and he was apparently celibate for several years when he moved down to London from Sheffield at the age of 25 to study film at St Martin's College Of Art. For years, his frustrated lust for lust fuelled his muse. Now he's got a live-in lover, Sarah, who may or may not be the saucy girl from the Menswear party and works in a mental health centre. ("I DJ'ed there once," Jarvis tells me. "I played them lots of Madness records".) Although like all of us he's struggling to keep his coitus explosively interesting while in a steady relationship ("I don't think you can have both at once. Do you know what I mean?" Oh, but I do), he is surely having at least more regular, if not more successful, sex. Is there a direct correlation between Jarvis Having Successful Sex and Jarvis No Longer Being Able To Write Successfully About Sex?

"It depends how you measure success at sex," he says. "There isn't a score card in operation, or anything." I dunno, I got a standing ovation from my girlfriend the other night. "I wouldn't say I was having more successful sex now," Jarvis ignores me. "I might be having more sex but I don't know if it's more successful." But if it was? "Then I'd probably stop writing altogether and concentrate on shagging! If it was that good. I mean," expands Jarvis, grandly, "there is a theory that states that people create Art because they're sublimating their sexual desires in some way, or they have certain feelings of dissatisfaction which drive them to achieve certain things. So if you were really satisfied with sex and life in general, you'd probably just give up creating and concentrate on enjoying yourself."

There are few signs of a satisfied Jarvis Cocker on "Common People", Pulp's anthemic, gigantic new single whose relentlessly intense rhythm and motorik pace recall the demonic, supersonic, electronic mo-mo-momentum of Eno-era Roxy Music, and whose juggernaut keyboard riff and vitriolic sex-geek lyric smack of Elvis Costello at his most deliciously malicious (circa "Lipstick Vogue"). The narrator of this staggering piece of synthesised pop invective relates the story of a girl who wants to slum it for a while by moving into a scuzzy neighbourhood, shopping in scummy grocers and sleeping with common people like...

...Jarvis?

"Sex was never really on the cards, to be honest," says the working-class boy from Intake, Sheffield of the real life incident recalled in "Common People", in which a student from a wealthy Greek family who Jarvis met at St Martin's College outlined her plans to take a brief, vicarious holiday in other people's misery, via El Jarvo himself.

"That was just a bit of poetic license. I only knew her for a matter of weeks, and I only spoke to her a few times, but it stuck in my mind what she was saying, that she wanted to sleep with 'common people like me'."

Did she actually use that line?

"Oh no. She never actually said that to me. It was one of the things that I found quite strange when I moved to London," digresses Jarvis, reminiscing about his formative years as a fully paid-up member of the Weird Teen Club, about his days wearing lederhosen and looking like a bit-part from "The Sound Of Music".

"Because when I lived in Sheffield I was always getting flack off football fans, stuff like, 'F***ing poof'. I was always considered a bit effete. Then suddenly I came down here and, because I spoke with this northern accent, I had this air of slight earthliness. I liked that, because I'd never had it before."

"So yeah," Jarvis returns to the inverted snob-protagonist of "Common People", "maybe she did consider me a bit common." Isn't that Pulp in a nutshell: a blend of the earthly and the effete, the coarse and the camp?

"Maybe, I don't know. That's your job to say that." So you were a bit posh up in Sheffield, and you're a bit rough in London? "Yeah, maybe. Yeah."

Does Jarvis, the alienated wunderkind who has been in Pulp for over half his life, feel more comfortable back home or down here?

"I was thinking about that when we played with Oasis at the Sheffield Arena show, actually," he says, fiddling with a loose fingernail. "At the do afterwards there were loads of people from Manchester and I really enjoyed being there, because I've not socialised in the north for a long time. I've found I get on easier with northerners that I do with people that I meet down here."

Can we extrapolate from this that, perusing a list of his peers, Jarvis would be more at ease with, for example, Oasis that he would, say, Blur?

"I've got more in common with Oasis, yeah. When it comes to something like civilised conversation."

Civilised conversation? Oasis?

"Why not? In fact, the first time I ever spoke to them was when we were all in America and we were trying to get into their show in San Francisco. And we got a message saying, 'You can all come in as long as Jarvis comes onto the bus and talks to us.' So I went on and talked. They were really friendly. Unfortunately, I was in a really depressed state - it was my birthday and I was feeling a bit maudlin - and they probably thought I was a right moron."

Jarvis Cocker meets the brothers Gallagher. The mind truly boggles at this summit encounter between such diametrically opposed aesthetic schools of consciousness. I suppose Noel and Liam were busy swapping lurid tales of birds and booze while poor Jarv was left to ruminate on the shabby nature of existence, or something.

Am I right?

"Not really, no," Jarv casually leaps out of his seat to deposit a bit of nail in the studio bin. "The only real difference," he says, plonking himself back down on his swivel chair, "was that they were talking about shagging birds and I was thinking about shagging birds."

Part Two: Here

[bikepackinguk]

Day Sixty-eight

Out from the woods after breakfasting, it's back to the road once more.

Barrow-in-Furness is fortunately well supplied with some good cycle paths so it's a nice ride in the sun down into town to take in some of the sights, before heading across the bridge to see the pretty little island of Walney.

Back again through Barrow and following the cycle route, I have a few redirections as the ride along the quayside is locked off, but eventually make my way south from the town for a great ride in the sun around some lovely salt marshes rife with wildlife.

The ride hits the coast once more by Rampside with a truly beautiful view across Morecambe Bay, with thebroad running right up along the coastline.

The cycle route diverts more inland after a ways, but I opt to stick with the main road to keep on taking in the views. A few hills start to cause a bit of work to be needed, but eventually I make my way over and in to Ulverstone, with a striking view of the Sir John Barrow Monument on the hill above.

With the A590 looking particularly busy here, I opt to take the cycle route leading a little inland to avoid it. Whilst it's some nice country lanes, it also goes straight up and over the hills, meaning a very sweaty section of the journey.

Finally the hills are crested and I roll down to Greenodd, where a bridge offers a shortcut over the River Leven and a nice little ride through the nature reserve.

After a break for lunch, it's time to strike south on the B5278, which leads through some nice tunnels of trees down to Cark, before some more slogging through repeated climbs until arriving round at Grand-over-Sands.

There's a great stretch of promenade to ride along here, with some more beautiful views across the bay.

Out from Grange, it's more cycle route following in order to navigate around the busy A road, which offers a combination of nice long flat stretches along with repeated climbs up and out to the other side of Levens, where we head south once again.

Past Levens Hall, we hit the coastline once more west of Heversham, with the wind beginning to make its appearance blowing up from the bay.

The ride along past Sandside continues to be very pretty, though the strong winds are making progress more of a chore, and after reaching Arnside we're up some steep ascents to get across to the south stretch of the AONB.

The area here is very beautiful with a combination of lush forested areas and beautiful sea views, but it's also very hilly and a lot of work to keep going.

Around a corner as I approach Silverdale and there's a sign welcoming me to Lancashire! Progress!

With the evening wearing on and the legs having earned a break, it's not too much trouble to find a spot of trees here where I shouldn't be disturbed for the night. It's curious how attitudes change - on the ride up the east coast, I was very conscious about getting the tent up before Scotland and spent almost every night in my bivvy bag. After weeks of use, I'm happy to use it whenever I can now!

TTFN!

[shoeshineyboy]

door to door fibre internet salespeople are still a thing in 2023

this ask only serves to further my conviction that Britain doesn't actually exist in linear time. this is proof of that. that's 2005 coming to your door. the fact that you answered the door without a prior text from your friend/the delivery courier is proof that you're in 2009 yourself.

the biggest evidence of this is Christmas. Eric Morecambe from Morecambe and Wise has been dead for nearly forty slutty, slutty years. yet every year around Christmas I can go several days seeing him on the telly more than I see pictures of Jesus. I come home and Dad's Army's on. it's like the moment December hits people in this country spend a few hours each week eating postwar food and violently hallucinating that it's 1979.

bring me sunshine. bring me laughter. bring me linear time.

[nostalgia-tblr]

Was just forcibly reminded that my nerdery is possibly sadder than the general tumblr fandom nerd sadness when my dash informed me that the source of those "Tom Hiddleston in some sort of play" gifs I've been scrolling past for weeks/months/who-knows-really is a play about Morecambe and Wise and SUDDENLY I am interested in learning more about this production. Also I may have audibly yelped "IT'S ABOUT ERIC AND ERNIE?!" loudly enough to startle the woman sleeping on my sofa* but we don't judge such instinctive violent squees round these parts.

(*a friend is visiting ATM**, I don't usually have a woman sleeping on my sofa)

(**I was going say she's from Down South but her bit of England is so close to Scotland that it's north of most of England and thus generally referred to as The North. But it's to the south of here. The Southern North? The Northern South?)

[thelenazavaroniarchive]

25th October 2024.

𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐜𝐭 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟔. Lena appeared in a repeat of The Morecambe and Wise Show BBC 2 8:10pm. first broadcast BBC 1 at 8:10pm on the 11th February.

𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟎. The final night of Lena’s week of shows in Bangor and Belfast.

𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟏. The Sunday People mentioned that Lena would be featured in the Daily Mirror during the next week.

Later in the paper she complained that her nose was to long.

𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟓. Mike Forster photographed Lena.

𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟓. The Fulham Chronicle mentioned Lena in their TV listings for Live From Her Majesty's on Sunday evening.

They also carried an advertisement for Aladdin at the Wimbledon Theatre.

𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟐. The Sunday Mirror revealed that Lena had begged surgeons to remove part of her brain. I think the surgeons agreed but she decided it was to risky, strangely here she says the operation is to make her eat, 7 years later she denies that this is the reason and says it it to cure her depression.

𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐. A Ricky Lee Jones interview was repeated on the BBC World Service, in it she describes how My Funny Valentine is a difficult song to learn.

At only 11 years old, Lena probably learnt it in a day.

𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟗. The Kent News had an article about talent shows, mentioning Lena.

[joncronshawauthor]

🎉 7 Years and Countless Stories: Celebrating My Author Diary Podcast! 🎙️

Hello from Morecambe! Can you believe it? This week marks the 7th anniversary of my Author Diary podcast! On October 8, 2017, I nervously hit ‘record’ for the very first time, not knowing where this journey would lead. Now, 366 consecutive weekly episodes later, I’m thrilled to celebrate this milestone with you, my loyal listeners and readers. 🌟 A Journey Through the Ravenglass Universe…

[jrpneblog]

Tough finish going into the break

The second international break is almost upon us and North End face a difficult end to this little section of the season as we travel to Turf Moor on Saturday to face Burnley. The trip to East Lancashire comes on the back of a very mixed week for Paul Heckingbottom with North End having meekly surrendered at Millwall last Saturday followed by a second half power show against Watford at Deepdale on Wednesday evening. To be fair to the manager he is still sorting out his squad and in the six league games he has been in charge he has won two, drawn two and lost two. Add to this, of course, two wins in the Carabao Cup albeit the one against Fulham was thanks to that marathon penalty shootout which ended 16-15 in North End`s favour. It is not a bad start by any means considering what went before and I said when Paul was given the job that I would be more than happy if we were half way up the league at Christmas. We currently sit 21st although the league is so tight we are only three points behind Oxford who are 11th so no need to panic just yet.

Last Saturday North End put in a very poor performance down in SE16 and came away with their tails between their legs having lost 1-3 to Millwall. The Lions just seemed to be more purposeful in everything they did and they will probably not have an easier game than this one all season. Two down at half-time was not the best position to be in but when the home side made it three early in the second half there was no way back for North End. The Jordan Storey goal just before the end was little consolation for the 786 who made the long trek to South Bermondsey and I though PH`s comments at the end told a story when he had said that he saw things he didnt like for the first time since coming to the club.

It was a different story on Wednesday evening at Deepdale as North End comprehensively beat a decent Watford side by three goals to nil. It took North End a while to get going with the five changes from the team that started at Millwall but once we cracked on we played much better and put in a cracking second half performance to overcome the Hornets and breath some confindence onto the Deepdale terraces. Two goals from Mulutin Osmajic and a third from Ali McCann were enough to see North End home and dry but Freddie had to make a couple of very good saves to keep the visitors out on an evening when Deepdale roared again as the boys put in a performance that everyone associated with the club could be proud of.

On Saturday we take on high flying Burnley away from home in what looks a daunting encounter on paper given the respective form of the two sides. The Clarets currently sit second in the Championship with seventeen points from eight games. At home Burnley have won three and drawn one of their four games to date and are clearly one of the strongest sides in the division. However I think Paul Heckingbottom will see it as an opportunity to show the nation what his new team can do and at least this season we will hopefully get a committed performance unlike the 0-3 debacle we saw two seasons ago under the previous regime. This is a tough assignment but stranger things have happened and Rovers got a draw there in a fierce local derby so we should take some comfort from that and go out and show the Sky viewers what we can do.

And finally this week:- I was down at the ticket office on Thursday morning getting my Arsenal ticket. I sit in the Invincibles and the cost was £32.50 which I think is the most I have ever paid at Deepdale to watch a match in my own seat. This isn`t a criticism of the club it is just an observation because I believe the club were between a rock and a hard place when it came to pricing this fixture. Buisness was brisk and I really hope we sell out for this which could be the biggest game of the season.

.

MATCH PREDICTION -

BURNLEY (A) - League - Home Win

.

JR`s HIGH FIVES

Morecambe to beat Accrington Stanley 5/2

A £5 Stake returns £17.50 on bet365

SEASONS STATS

Returns £11.50 Stake £40.00

Percentage profit+/-loss - 71.25%

Predictions 8 won 1 lost 7

[fan-of-mulligan]

MY THOUGHTS ON GILLINGHAM 2-0 WATFORD - PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY - 2024 / 2025 SEASON 

I arrived outside Priestfield Stadium at 13.20PM before heading inside The Ticket Office to buy my ticket for Morecambe V Gillingham, which is the first away league game of the season, tickets for Swansea City and Fleetwood Town are not on sale yet, but we should find out the ticket information for both games in the next week or so, and after getting My Morecambe Ticket, I looked around The Club Shop, looking at the match-day programme by the tills, which is the same one as the programme for The Millwall Game, before heading outside and standing outside the ground.

There were a few Watford Supporters around the ground already, and in the week prior to this friendly, there has been some speculation about Jorge Hurtado returning to Gillingham Football Club on loan, and I think a six month loan deal would be a move that suits all parties, Watford will want Jorge Hurtado to go out on loan and experience playing competitive first team football, Jorge Hurtado will strengthen Gillingham’s attacking options on the pitch playing on either wing, in the attacking midfielder role or up-front, Kenny Jackett and Andy Hessenthaler both have strong connections with Watford and can perhaps tempt Watford to make the loan move happen and Jorge Hurtado may well like to come back to Gillingham on loan as well, and a six month loan deal allows Gillingham and Watford to reassess the loan in January, and either extend until the end of the season, or, Watford can recall Jorge Hurtado and send him out on loan to A League One Side in the second half of the season.

And whilst I was checking for Gillingham News and updates, I noticed that Former Gillingham Midfielder Luke Rooney has signed for Faversham Town, other Former Gillingham Players playing for Faversham Town are Stefan Payne and Callum Davies, and speaking of Faversham Town, it’s been years since Gillingham last played Faversham Town in a pre-season friendly, often this was Gillingham’s first warm up match, now, Gillingham hardly play Faversham Town in pre-season, which is unfortunate.

I then got speaking with A Gillingham Supporter I know, and we spoke about Gillingham’s impressive performance in our 0-0 draw against Millwall and Jayden Clarke stood out in the first half, had one effort on goal saved and was causing Millwall problems with his pace, and Sam Gale put in a very respectable performance playing in the centre of our defence which isn’t Sam Gale’s natural position, but Gale put in a good display at centre back against Millwall in the first half, and Jack Nolan was unlucky not to score with his effort on goal from a free kick, and in the second half, the team was disjointed with Joe Gbode on the wing, Oli Hawkins playing at centre back, and with a disjointed team, Millwall had the chance to score when Aidomo Emakhu’s effort on goal hit the underside of the crossbar and somehow stayed out.

Elliott Nevitt saw his effort on goal saved, and we spoke about the good understanding that Aaron Rowe and Elliott Nevitt have got having played alongside each other at Crewe Alexandra last season and Elliott Nevitt is going to be horrible to play against, opposition defenders are going to know that they are going to be in a game going up against him, and I made the comment that you can see comparison’s between Elliott Nevitt and Danny Kedwell, not only in there style of play, but how both players developed late to play in The Football League having played a lot of there career’s in non league football.

But the friendly against Millwall really did highlight area’s of the squad that need to be strengthened, Left Back is clearly going to be a position that needs to be strengthened, with Scott Malone leaving, it leaves Max Clark as Gillingham’s only option at Left Back, Shadrach Ogie played there on the final day of the season against Doncaster Rovers, but he has mostly played at Centre Back For Gillingham, and even at Centre Back, your asking the question is Oli Hawkins going to play at Centre Back for Gillingham, because Oli Hawkins is not the quickest, and you worry about him going up against strikers with pace ??? - Mansfield Town played Oli Hawkins in the centre of a back three so the lack of pace was not as much of an issue, but in a back four, I am not sure you would want to see Oli Hawkins play at centre back for Gillingham, Sam Gale impressed against Millwall, and we have also got Alex Giles, but if Gillingham were to get an injury to one of Max Ehmer, Conor Masterson and Shadrach Ogie, then Gillingham have no other senior centre back’s available for selection.

Dom Jefferies has signed for Lincoln City for a compensation fee, George Lapslie is on the transfer list, Ethan Coleman has not played for Gillingham in pre-season, and with players like Shaun Williams and Connor Mahoney also not at the football club for the 2024 / 2025 Season, then Gillingham have got to strengthen our midfielder options for the up and coming season.

And one player that myself, Colin and Gillingham Supporter spoke about is the possible return of Former Gillingham Midfielder Bradley Dack, and the question of Bradley Dack coming back to Gillingham will depend on the finances of this deal, if Gillingham can strengthen all the other position’s in the squad and sign Bradley Dack, then we are more willing to get the deal over the line, if the finances required for Gillingham to sign Bradley Dack means that Gillingham cannot also strengthen in other position’s, then it is more likely a no then a yes, because Gillingham need to make sure that there is quality players in the starting line up, quality on the bench, and quality outside the match-day squad to make sure that you have the depth and quality in the squad to push for promotion, in the past in previous season’s gone by, it used to be the case that if you had a twenty two man senior first team squad with two or three players to add to the squad as additional depth, that would be enough, but Wrexham, Stockport County and Mansfield Town almost had three players per position on the pitch, and that is the type of depth and quality you need in your first team squad, and I don’t think Gillingham will have that type of squad depth for the 2024 / 2025 season.

Colin mentioned that if Gillingham were to sign Bradley Dack, then Dack might have to play sixty minutes in one game, and thirty in the game afterwards and you sort of rotate Bradley Dack and Jonny Williams on a game by game basis, but that’s a lot of finances being offered to a player who has no guarantee of being a regular starter and there are questions being asked regarding Dack being fully fit for a demanding League Two Season, There is no doubting his ability, and Bradley Dack is a quality player when fit, but it is the when fit that is the serious question mark, and you then add in the finances required to make this deal happen, and could this takeaway from Gillingham strengthening in other position’s on the pitch ???

I mentioned to Gillingham Supporter and Colin that I have got my ticket for Morecambe Away, and whilst myself and Gillingham Supporter will be traveling to the game via coach, Colin will be traveling via train, Colin doesn’t like it on the coach sometimes, it can get too hot on there, especially when the air condition doesn’t work, and both methods of travel have there pro’s and con’s, for The Train, you can move about more freely, if you want to go to the pub and get something to eat, there is more freedom to do so, however, if a train gets delayed or canceled, that will affect if you can make it in time for kick off, you cannot completely fall asleep on the train, just in-case you miss your stop needed for the next connection point, and quite a few football stadiums now are no-where the train station, so you need to get A Taxi or a long walk to the ground, where as, on the coach, you have no worries about connection points so you can sleep for hours on the coach and the travel costs is quite good for the length and distance of travel, but any traffic jams and we are stuck on the motorway which is not a problem you experience on the train, you cannot have hot food on the coach, and it can get stuffy on there if the air conditioning doesn’t work.

Looking at The League Two Fixtures, Gillingham do not have any long distance mid-week away games in 2024, the one away league mid-week fixture Gillingham have got is Bromley, but in 2025, Newport County and Grimsby Town are the long distance mid-week matches, but we also need to keep checking the fixtures, because with SKY’s New TV Deal For The Football League, fixtures could be moved from A Saturday 3PM to an early or later Saturday Kick Off Time, or even moved to A Friday Night, so we have to pay close attention to the fixtures list more often then in previous season’s, and I mentioned that I know one or two season ticket holders who unfortunately cannot commit to A Season Ticket for this season because of the new deal, but they will be looking to go to as many home games as possible throughout the 2024 / 2025 season.

Mark Bonner spoke about the loan market as an option worth exploring for new incoming signings, but with loan signings, your waiting on Premier League and Championship Clubs to get some transfer business done and to sign players either on a permanent basis or on loan, so that the players Gillingham want to sign on loan are available to sign, so there probably needs to be a few signings to cause a knock-on effect for Gillingham to sign players on loan, and with the loan market, maybe Gillingham can sign a winger on loan, or, sign another striker, because one thing Gillingham cannot repeat for this coming season from last season where one or two injuries in attacking position’s means that Gillingham don’t have many attacking players on the bench to choose from to turn a loss into a draw, or, a draw into a win, which is why strength in depth the first team squad is going to be so so important.

Kick Off had been delayed by ten minutes, and Colin asked me if I was going to Southend United or Woking, and I mentioned that I am giving both games miss, that’s a long way to travel for a pre-season friendly, well, Southend United is not far to travel, but it’s money that can be used to put towards an away league game, and Me and Colin spoke about Chatham Town 2-1 Gillingham XI, A match we went to on Friday Night, and Gillingham’s Team was a complete mix and match of young players, players on trial, and players in a younger youth team age group, and Chatham Town should have won 5-1 / 6-1, and Carl Asaba was at the game on Friday Night, watching his son play for Gillingham, and it’s difficult to gage our young players accurately, because Chatham Town were on the offensive for a good eighty percent of that match, and Chatham Town would have won by a more one sided score-line with better finishing.

Colin headed off and said cya to the both of us, whilst myself and Gillingham Supporter spoke about what we wanted to see from the game against Watford, Gillingham Supporter mentioned a goal, whilst 0-0 against Millwall is a good result, we want to see Gillingham on the score-sheet, just get used to that goal-scoring feeling, and we want to see some promising performances from one or two players, results wise, whilst not the point of pre-season, if the game were to end 1-1, and we saw more from what we want to see from Gillingham for this up and coming season, that would be good.

Eventually, We Saw Gillingham’s Team Sheet On Twitter, And Gillingham Lined Up As Follows….. Glenn Morris (GK), Harry Webster, Max Ehmer, Conor Masterson, Max Clark, Harry Waldock, Robbie McKenzie, Joe Gbode, Aaron Rowe, Trial Player and Elliot Nevitt, and looking at the team and how Gillingham will line up, Robbie McKenzie will be playing in midfield, Joe Gbode probably playing out-wide, and young players Harry Webster and Harry Waldock are also in the starting line up, with Gillingham still looking to strengthen the squad, it’s a case of making do with the players we have got available for pre-season friendlies, but also an opportunity for some players to try and force there way into the first team for the opening game of the season against Carlisle United.

I said to Gillingham Supporter that I will be going to Dartford On Tuesday Night, but not going to Woking or Southend United, had Ebbsfleet United been the friendly instead of Woking, I would have gone to Ebbsfleet United, but Woking and Southend United are two friendlies I can see a lot of supporters opting to not go to, and instead either save up the money for an away league game, or decide to do something else on the two Saturday’s those fixtures are going to be played on instead.

I had saved a screen-shot of My Match Ticket For Gillingham V Watford saved on my phone, went up to the turnstiles, and was inside the ground and headed to my seat in The Medway Stand, and I was speaking to a supporter sitting behind me and we got speaking about the news on Friday that MEMS have returned to Gillingham Football Club as main sponsor and this was very encouraging news, and Priestfield Stadium will be known as MEMS Priestfield Stadium as part of the new sponsorship deal.

And we also spoke about Dom Jefferies signing for Lincoln City, Millwall were linked with Jefferies all summer, so it was surprising that Dom Jefferies had not signed for Millwall, but we knew that Jefferies was leaving Gillingham, but what Dom Jefferies leaving does, along with George Lapslie on the transfer list, and Shaun Williams and Connor Mahoney leaving highlights the need for Gillingham to strengthen our midfielder options in the transfer window, because the midfield is looking very weak at the moment.

I spoke with other Gillingham Supporters I know sitting next to me, and with George Lapslie and Oli Hawkins transfer listed, it is worth noting that Gillingham probably had to pay over the odds to get both players to sign for Gillingham in the first place, because at the time of there signatures, Gillingham were struggling to remain in The Football League and Mansfield Town Manager Nigel Clough mentioned at the time that the contracts offered by Gillingham exceeded what Mansfield Town were paying and both players wanted to move down south and closer to home, and out of the three players transfer listed - George Lapslie, Oli Hawkins and Ashley Nadesan - George Lapslie has probably got the name recognition and he is a player I can see moving on, Colchester United have been mentioned as a potential transfer target for George Lapslie, and with Southend United getting a takeover completed, they could be a potential option as well.

Jorge Hurtado was not in the match-day squad for Watford, which again fuelled the speculation that Hurtado might be signing for Gillingham, and looking at Watford’s match-day squad, I did wonder if Watford were at full strength, and maybe Watford had another pre-season friendly that was either played on The Friday, or, played on the same-day as Gillingham V Watford ??? - Steve Lovell used to do that when he was Gillingham Manager, split the squads to play two pre-season friendlies on the same-day so that more players can increase match fitness and match sharpness levels before the start of the season.

Both teams were out on to the pitch lining up in-front of The Medway Stand ready for kick off, and an interesting observation is that Gillingham have a different trial player wearing the number thirty nine shirt, It wasn’t Kamarai Simon-Swyer playing for Gillingham against Watford, so it will be interesting to find out who the player is on trial playing for Gillingham against Watford ???

FIRST HALF:

The first noteworthy moment of the match see’s Max Ehmer wrongly penalised for a foul when Max Ehmer had clearly intercepted the ball, and from the resulting free kick, a long ball down the channel needed to be headed clear and away from danger at the expense of conceding a corner by Gillingham Defender Harry Webster, and the resulting corner kick didn’t result in a meaningful goal-scoring opportunity for Watford with Harry Webster eventually kicking the ball clear and away from danger, but it is Watford putting Gillingham under pressure in the opening stages of the match.

However, three minutes into the match, And Watford created a great chance to open the scoring, when Ryan Andrews whips in a dangerous cross for Watford and Ryan Andrews cross manages to pick out Ken Sema inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area, and Ken Sema’s mis-kicked effort towards goal is dragged wide where as had that effort on goal from Ken Sema been more of a cleaner strike, Watford would have taken the lead, but the dragged effort towards goal means that Glenn Morris wasn’t required to make a save, but both wing backs for Watford linked up very nicely to create that goal-scoring opportunity.

And that early start for Watford continued in the fourth minute when a threaded pass out-wide to Ken Sema was slightly over-hit and went out of play for A Gillingham Throw, and from there, Harry Webster does really well to block a dangerous cross from Ken Sema and Harry Webster completed his defensive duties by booting the ball clear and away from danger, Watford have been targeting down the left side of the pitch - Gillingham’s Right - in the early stages of the match, and so far, Harry Webster has put in a solid defensive display against a tricky Championship Player.

But the early domination of this match continued with Watford creating there best goal-scoring opportunity of the match so far after seven minutes, Ken Sema passes the ball inside centrally towards Tom Dele-Bashiru, and Tom Dele-Bashiru takes a touch to control the ball before managing to pick out Ryan Andrews with a diagonal cross-field cross inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area, And Ryan Andrews takes a touch to control the ball before firing a low cross / shot which Glenn Morris parries and Harry Waldock gets the ball half clear and Moussa Sissoko is on to the loose ball for Watford and plays a short pass sideways towards Tom Dele-Bashiru, and Tom Dele-Bashir passes the ball inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area towards Kwadwo Baah, But Elliott Nevitt and Harry Webster between the two of them prevent Watford from creating a meaningful goal-scoring opportunity and Watford were penalised for a foul on Harry Webster after he had completed that clearance as well.

Eight Minutes Into The Match, And Gillingham created there first attacking opportunity of the game, Joe Gbode runs into a more central area of the pitch before threading a pass through to Harry Webster on the over-lap, and Harry Webster’s first time low cross had to be booted clear at the expense of conceding a corner by A Watford Defender, The Gillingham Supporter sitting next to me made a point that with Joe Gbode playing on the wing, could this be Gbode’s new position now for Gillingham ??? - With Elliott Nevitt, Josh Andrews and most likely further signings to strengthen Gillingham’s striker options, could Joe Gbode get more first team opportunities playing as a winger ???

And from the resulting corner kick, Max Clark’s dangerous in-swinging cross is punched clear by Watford Goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann and Watford managed to clear there lines, but Joe Gbode and Harry Webster linking up for the corner kick, and Max Clark’s in-swinging cross being punched clear are the first two attacking opportunities for Gillingham in this match.

But eleven minutes into the match, and Gillingham had a fantastic opportunity to take the lead, Max Clark had possession of the ball for Gillingham on the halfway line, and Max Clark threads a pass through to Elliott Nevitt, And Elliott Nevitt takes a touch to control the ball before threading a pass through to the trial player to run on to, and the trial player - who was Euan Williams - run forwards in possession of the ball inside Watford’s Penalty Area, And Euan Williams fires his effort right across the face of goal and Euan Williams’s effort towards goal goes narrowly wide of the far post with Daniel Bachmann well and truly beaten, and that is the closest that either side has come to opening the scoring throughout this match.

Harry Webster then continue’s his impressive display by putting in a strong challenge on Ken Sema, and The Watford Player was then penalised for a foul on Robbie McKenzie and Gillingham have been awarded a defensive free kick, Watford understandably are going to have the majority of the possession and have Gillingham back on the defensive, but the best chance of the match so far has gone to Euan Williams, who was so unlucky not to have opened the scoring for Gillingham.

But whilst Gillingham have created the best goal-scoring opportunity in the match, Watford had a great chance to take the lead, Tom Dele-Bashiru has possession of the ball for Watford in a central area roughly twenty five yards from goal, and Tom Dele-Bashiru skips past the attempted challenge from Harry Waldock, and Tom Dele-Bashiru has fired an low effort towards the bottom left corner of the net which goes wide, and one thing that Gillingham have done well, or have had to do given how much possession of the ball Watford have had in the match after thirteen minutes played, is that Gillingham have got plenty of players behind the ball, making it difficult for Watford to pass there way through, because Gillingham have most of our players back defending and Gillingham are compacting the central area’s of the pitch very well.

Watford continue to put pressure on to Gillingham’s Defence, And Ryan Andrews runs down the right flank in possession of the ball before passing the ball inside centrally to Moussa Sissoko, and Moussa Sissoko takes a touch to control the ball before passing the ball square towards Rocco Vata on the edge of Gillingham’s Penalty Area, And Rocco Vata takes one touch to control the ball and another touch to fire a low effort towards goal which goes wide of the far left post, and such is the domination from Watford in the opening stages of the match, Conor Masterson and Robbie McKenzie had to make crucial challenges to intercept the ball at the expense of conceding a corner kick, Robbie McKenzie having to tackle Ken Sema is the one time that Sema has managed to beat Harry Webster in the opening stages of the game, with that contest between Sema and Webster being a very intriguing battle.

Nineteen Minutes Into The Match, And Watford had a great chance to open the scoring, Ryan Andrews uses his pace to take on Max Clark and work his way towards the byline, and Ryan Andrews cuts the ball back across Gillingham’s Penalty Area, And Rocco Vata takes a few touches on the ball before seeing his effort on goal take a slight deflection off Conor Masterson at the expense of conceding a corner kick, and from the resulting corner kick, Joe Gbode clears the ball away from danger at the expense of conceding another corner kick, and Watford were unable to create a meaningful goal-scoring opportunity from the third corner kick in a row, but it is very much attack verses defence at the moment, and Gillingham are doing well to restrict Watford from seriously testing Glenn Morris in goal for Gillingham, because despite all the corner kicks, all the possession and chances created by Watford, Glenn Morris has not been forced to make save after save, and the out-field players deserve a lot of credit for compacting the central area’s of the pitch and making things difficult for Watford.

Aaron Rowe’s threaded through-ball was comfortably saved by Watford Goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann, however, down the other end of the pitch, and Harry Webster times his challenge to perfection on Ken Sema at the expense of conceding a corner kick, and from the resulting corner kick, which was whipped in by Watford towards the near post, Harry Webster smashed the ball clear over the Medway Stand to clear the ball away from goal, certainly an impressive clearance from the young right back.

But In The Twenty Seventh Minute Of The Match, Gillingham opened the scoring, and I have got to say that it was a clever free kick from Max Clark, because most of the players were heading towards the far post expecting a cross, but Max Clark threaded a pass through to Euan Williams, and Euan Williams picks out the bottom left corner of the net with a well taken finish with Daniel Bachmann diving towards the opposite corner and Gillingham have taken the lead, and arguably against the run of play - GILLINGHAM 1-0 WATFORD

It’s a well taken goal by Euan Williams, who was described as the man of mystery over The PA System, and as a player on trial, scoring certainly boosts your chances of earning yourself a professional contract and Euan Williams took his goal really well, Watford won’t like the fact that they have conceded a very poor goal from a free kick from there point of view, and we wanted to see Gillingham score a goal against Watford, and that is precisely what we have seen with Euan Williams opening the scoring for The Gills.

Watford were looking for a quick response, and Glenn Morris was well positioned to save a long ball down-field, not really been the style of play we have seen from Watford throughout this match, there have been cross-field passes and moving the ball quickly, but that was the one time that Watford opted to go route one, maybe thinking that Gillingham’s concentration levels have dropped after just taking the lead in the match.

Euan Williams had already opened the scoring for Gillingham, and the player on trial had the chance to double Gillingham’s lead when Euan Williams fired across the face of goal was a angled driven effort which went narrowly wide of the far post, and the midfielder on trial is a player who should be in the squad for Gillingham on Tuesday Night against Dartford at Princes Park, this is a good performance from the young midfielder.

But another player who is putting in a good performance is Harry Webster, who makes a crucial interception to tackle the ball out of play for A Watford Corner Kick, and from the resulting corner kick, Joe Gbode clears the ball away from danger, but the chances for the visitor’s kept on coming with Edo Kayembe’s effort on goal for Watford going wide, and efforts going wide perhaps address concerns that Watford need to sign one or two clinical strikers in this transfer window, because Watford are creating chances, but they are not hitting the target with the efforts they are creating.

And Gillingham are on the defensive, and once again, Harry Webster has made an important challenge to knock the ball out of play for A Watford Throw, However, In The Thirty Eighth Minute Of The Match, Watford should have scored for 1-1, A terrible pass from Elliott Nevitt is intercepted by Moussa Sissoko, and Moussa Sissoko threads a pass through to Kwadwo Baah, and Kwadwo Baah’s effort on goal takes a slight deflection off Conor Masterson and the ball goes narrowly wide of the near post and the ball goes out of play for A Watford Corner, without the crucial interception from Conor Masterson, Watford would have equalised for 1-1, and from the resulting corner kick, Watford had created even better chances to score, A dangerous in-swinging cross see’s Harry Webster inadvertently header the ball towards the far post and Max Ehmer slices his clearance up into the air and Moussa Sissoko wins the aerial challenge and Francisco Sierralta’s headed effort on goal is cleared off the line by Harry Waldock and Max Ehmer headers the ball off the line from Tom Dele-Bashiru’s effort on goal, and Gillingham survive the latest attacking onslaught on to our goal, But Gillingham’s goal is certainly living a charmed life at the moment.

Joe Gbode then puts in a strong combative challenge to knock the ball out of play for A Watford Throw, However, Thirty Eight Minutes Into The Match, And Max Ehmer is penalised for a foul and Watford have a free kick in a very promising position on the pitch, and I mentioned to The Gillingham Supporter sitting next to me, that if Watford can get this effort up and under, it would be very difficult for Glenn Morris to save, and from the resulting free kick, Rocco Vata’s effort on goal from the free kick hits Gillingham’s Defensive Wall, and the follow up effort from Edo Kayembe clears Gillingham’s crossbar by some considerable distance.

Forty One Minutes Into The Match, And Elliott Nevitt manages to win Gillingham a corner kick, there was a half chance for Nevitt to create a more meaningful opportunity, but Nevitt at least managed to do enough to win Gillingham a corner kick, Max Clark’a in-swinging cross is punched clear by Daniel Bachmann and Harry Waldock is on to the loose ball and passes the ball out-wide to Max Clark, and Max Clark whips in another dangerous cross which also had to be punched clear by Daniel Bachmann, and Gillingham are penalised for a foul.

And Gillingham ended the first half strong with Watford penalised for a foul on Joe Gbode, and from the resulting free kick, Max Clark’s diagonal cross-field cross is too long and goes out of play for A Watford Goal-Kick, and that was the final noteworthy moment of the first half and after one additional minute of added time, the half time score-line in this pre-season friendly at Priestfield Stadium is Gillingham 1-0 Watford.

HALF TIME: GILLINGHAM 1-0 WATFORD

I mentioned the following on Twitter,,,,,,,, Harry Webster Put In A Fantastic Performance Against Watford - Gillingham's Best Player In The First Half In My Opinion - and I have got to say that was one exceptional performance and probably one of the best individual performances I have seen from A Gillingham young player in some-time, especially when you take into consideration the level of opposition that Harry Webster is playing against, with all due respect, we have seen young players perform well for Gillingham’s First Team against Dover Athletic and Faversham Town, but for Harry Webster to play that well against Watford is an exceptional performance.

We found out the identity of the player on trial, who is Euan Williams, there were a few tweets mentioned on social media about the trial player and who he was, and I would like to see Euan Williams play for Gillingham against Dartford on Tuesday Night, it is worth taking him to Princes Park, and maybe play Euan Williams against Southend United and Woking as well.

But everyone was talking about Harry Webster’s performance, and with that level of performance, Gillingham don’t need to sign another Right Back, Robbie McKenzie probably is back up to Remeao Hutton anyway, but if Robbie McKenzie is needed in midfield and we have no back up option to Remeao Hutton, well, Harry Webster has shown with that performance that he should remain in and around the first team, because everyone was talking about Webster and how well he played against a very good Watford Side.

Gillingham will name a completely different eleven for the second half, and you just wonder with Watford, they will surely kick on and be stronger in the second half, because there squad depth will be stronger then Gillingham’s, and that was my thinking, because so many players will have to play out of position because Gillingham need to strengthen the squad in the transfer market, and there are some players unavailable due to injury.

And Gillingham Lined Up As Follows For The Second Half….. Jake Turner (GK), Remeao Hutton, Oli Hawkins, Shadrach Ogie, Sam Gale, Robbie McKenzie, Tim Dieng, Jack Nolan, Jayden Clarke, Euan Williams and Josh Andrews - Robbie McKenzie and Euan Williams were staying on the pitch, whilst Oli Hawkins starts at Centre Back and Sam Gale starts at Left Back, it is very much needs must in pre-season, but highlights the need to strengthen the squad in the transfer market.

SECOND HALF:

The Second Half started much slower compared to the first half, the ball spent more time out of play then in play and Tim Dieng is penalised for a foul, and Jake Turner is in the right place at the right time to save a over-hit pass, and the one early moment in the second half which was the first really opening for either side was Euan Williams flagged for offside when getting on to the end of a through-ball.

But the match just started to open up a bit more when Watford are penalised for a foul on Remeao Hutton, and Remeao Hutton’s quickly taken free kick was too quick for Jack Nolan to get on to the end of and Goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann is first to the loose ball inside Watford’s Penalty Area, and down the other end of the pitch, Sam Gale does exceptionally well to shield a threaded through-ball down the line out of play for A Gillingham Goal-Kick, and Sam Gale is having to play out of position at Left Back due to necessity. 

But from the resulting goal-kick, Jake Turner kicks the ball long down-field, and Josh Andrews outmuscles The Watford Defender challenging him, and The Watford Defender has to foul Josh Andrews cynically and Gillingham have been awarded a free kick right on the edge of Watford’s Penalty Area, and from the resulting free kick, Jack Nolan’s effort towards goal is heading for the top right corner and only a remarkable save from Watford Goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann has prevented Jack Nolan from scoring a sensational free kick, which would have given Gillingham a two goal lead.

But Watford had the chances to square the game up at 1-1, A Dangerous in-swinging cross towards the far post is not dealt with and Tom Ince headers the ball down inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area and Sam Gale can only slice his clearance up into the air, Jake Turner punches the ball partially clear and Antonio Tikvic is on to the loose ball, and Antonio Tikvic passes the ball out-wide to A Watford Player, who see’s his attempted cross charged down by Tim Dieng, Watford again have another chance, but they have not tested either goalkeeper in goal for Gillingham so far, and you have to applaud the defensive work from Gillingham to prevent Watford from creating meaningful goal-scoring opportunities. 

But Watford still have got Gillingham very much on the defensive, an over-hit cross to the far post went out of play for a goal-kick, and Jayden Clarke put in a strong challenge to knock the ball out of play for A Watford Throw, But Gillingham had a chance to create a really good goal-scoring opportunity when Euan Williams’s cross was cleared by Watford and there were Gillingham Players anticipating Euan Williams cross as well, and Jack Nolan has had the best goal-scoring opportunity in the second half, but Watford are understandably dominating possession and having most of the territory.

Sixty Minutes Into The Match, And Stan Skipper and Harry Bridle come on to replace Robbie McKenzie and Euan Williams, at least we know why both Stan Skipper and Harry Bridle were not playing against Chatham Town the night before, a good opportunity for two more young players to get minutes for the first team against strong Championship Opposition, Watford had also made four substitutions themselves after the hour mark to rotate there squad, and maybe bring on some of there better quality players to try and turn the score-line around into Watford’s Favour.

When play resumed, Watford put in a strong challenge on Jack Nolan which saw the ball deflect out of play for A Gillingham Throw, and down the other end of the pitch, Sam Gale made a crucial interception to prevent Watford from creating a meaningful attack, Now Harry Webster’s performance at Right Back was exceptional, But Harry Webster is a natural Right Back, Sam Gale is putting in a respectable performance playing out of position at Left Back against Watford.

Remeao Hutton then had to do his defensive duties to make sure that his back header had enough height and distance to go back to Jake Turner, however, In The Sixty Fifth Minute Of The Match, Jayden Clarke went on an impressive driving run forwards in possession of the ball before being hacked down right on the edge of Watford’s Penalty Area, and Gillingham have been awarded a free kick in a very promising position on the pitch, and from the resulting free kick, Tim Dieng’s driven effort towards goal comfortably cleared The Crossbar and was way off target.

However, In The Sixty Eighth Minute Of The Match, Gillingham managed to double there lead to 2-0, Stan Skipper cannot quite manage to cut out a pass centrally by Watford, But Tim Dieng puts in a very important block challenge and Tim Dieng manages to pick out Jack Nolan down The Gordon Road Stand Side Of The Pitch, and Jack Nolan runs forwards in possession of the ball towards Watford’s Goal, and The Watford Defender just kept backing off, backing off, backing off, and simply allowing Jack Nolan to cut inside before firing the ball into the bottom right corner of the net and Watford Goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann will believe that he should have done better to save the shot, but the defender in-front of him just kept backing off, but it’s a great counter attacking goal from Gillingham, great to see Jack Nolan score his first goal for Gillingham, OK, it’s not his first official goal because this is a pre-season friendly, but you want your new signings to get themselves on the score-sheet in pre-season and take that belief and confidence into the league games when the season starts - GILLINGHAM 2-0 WATFORD

After that goal, Watford are penalised for yet another foul on Jayden Clarke, however, from this free kick, Tim Dieng is penalised for a foul, and Jake Turner is in the right place at the right time to save an over-hit pass, and Josh Andrews is penalised for two fouls in quick succession, and now it gets concerning, because seventy minutes into the match, Joe Gbode comes back on to the pitch, and Josh Andrews is substituted, and if Josh Andrews is substituted, then he could be injured before the start of the season ??? - Also, I didn’t think a player who was substituted off can come back on in a pre-season friendly, normally that is not allowed and you cannot sub on a player who has already been subbed off, and that is surprising, and maybe Gillingham need to bring more youth team players to our remaining friendlies to ensure that Gillingham have enough depth in the squad for pre-season matches ??? - Could explain why The XI Game against Lordswood has been postponed on Tuesday Night.

After the substitution, Gillingham had a half chance to score for 3-0 when Remeao Hutton’s dangerous cross is cleared out of play for A Gillingham Throw, and In The Seventy Ninth Minute Of The Match, Watford manage to win themselves a corner kick, and from the resulting corner kick, an dangerous in-swinging cross is headed clear and away from goal by Oli Hawkins, who is going to win those type of aerial challenges all day playing at centre back.

A Minute later, and Watford had a great chance to score after eighty minutes when Number Seven For Watford curled a dangerous curling shot towards goal which was comfortably saved by Jake Turner in goal for Gillingham, and again, Gillingham had eight out-field players in and around our penalty area to prevent Watford from having the option to open Gillingham up, defensively, Gillingham have been very impressive against Watford it has to be said.

There was then a off the ball incident with Joe Gbode and Watford Player Antonio Tikvic, with both players competing against each other, and this incident saw both players booked, and moments later, Joe Gbode was penalised for a foul and Joe Gbode was certainly putting himself about in this pre-season friendly.

Eighty Three Minutes into the match, Watford managed to win themselves a corner kick, and from the resulting corner kick, Sam Gale makes a vital clearance at the back-stick, Watford are then first to react to the second ball outside Gillingham’s Penalty Area, work the ball wide and whip in another dangerous cross which Shadrach Ogie was able to header the ball clear and away from goal, good defending again from Gillingham, I think that’s what has stood out so impressively in this match, especially with a disjointed back four, Gillingham are preventing Watford from getting many efforts on goal with some very compact and solid defensive work.

Sam Gale puts in a strong challenge to win a throw for Gillingham, but eighty five minutes into the match, a high and hanging cross from Watford was comfortably gathered by Jake Turner just to relieve the pressure building on to Gillingham’s Defence, who have had to do a lot of off the ball running, compacting the pitch, and making ourselves very difficult to break down.

But it is more defensive work for Gillingham as Watford win themselves another corner after eighty seven minutes, and a dangerous cross from the visitor’s requires Joe Gbode to header the ball clear at the expense of conceding another corner, and from the resulting corner kick, Watford whip in a dangerous cross towards the far post and an attacking player at the far post wins the aerial challenge to knock the ball down into the danger zone, Remeao Hutton boots the ball partially clear and Watford are first to the loose ball, work the ball back out-wide, and another dangerous cross see’s Oli Hawkins well positioned to header the ball clear and away from goal and Gillingham survive, and Watford are not finding a way through Gillingham’s Defence from corner kick’s in this match.

Sam Gale goes on a fantastic seventy yard run forwards in possession of the ball from left back and Sam Gale’s low cross was cleared out of play for A Gillingham Throw, and it was an incredible run from Sam Gale to go on that type of run from Left Back to get Gillingham further up the pitch, Watford had a half chance to try and create a opening from open play, but an over-hit pass see’s Jake Turner dive on to the loose ball to prevent Watford from getting an effort off on goal.

And as we reached The Ninetieth Minute Of The Match, Ryan Andrews takes on Jayden Clarke inside Gillingham’s Penalty Area, and from an acute angle, Ryan Andrews has smashed the ball towards the top corner of the net at the near post and Jake Turner did exceptionally well to tip the ball around the post to prevent Watford from scoring a late goal to make the score-line 2-1 and set up a nervy finish to the match.

And after three additional minutes of added time played, Gillingham held out for an impressive 2-0 home win against Watford, and regardless if this is only a pre-season friendly, that is a very good win for Gillingham against Watford and it is the type of result which makes supporters feel more positive about Gillingham’s chances of promotion for the 2024 / 2025 season.

FULL TIME: GILLINGHAM 2-0 WATFORD

I applauded the players off the pitch after that impressive win against Watford, and made sure that I had all my belongings on me before heading for the exit, I noticed on social media that Gillingham mentioned that the attendance inside Priestfield Stadium was 2922, The Millwall Friendly was always going to be the match that got more supporters interested with Neil Harris, Dave Livermore and Adam Barrett coming back to Gillingham Football Club, and the number of supporters interested in this fixture as well compared to the interest in Gillingham V Watford.

I spoke with Diane after the game, and we were very encouraged by that performance, Harry Webster put in a fantastic performance for Gillingham at Right Back and he was my - and many supporters pick for Man Of The Match - Jack Nolan scored a well taken goal on the counter attack, unlucky not to score his effort on goal from a free kick, and there were plenty of positives to take out of that win against Watford.

Diane is also not going to Woking or Southend United, If Southend United was Ebbsfleet United instead, I would have gone to that game, but those two friendlies are not easy to travel to, and this means that Dartford V Gillingham at Princes Park is the final first team pre-season friendly that I will be traveling to, and I think that is going to be the case for quite a few other people as well.

But if we were to talk about negatives, it’s the fact that Armani Little, Jonny Williams and Ethan Coleman all didn’t play for Gillingham against Watford, and with those there not playing, and Dom Jefferies signing for Lincoln City, then Gillingham have got to strengthen our midfielder options in the transfer window, and one potential player that Gillingham could sign is Euan Williams, Because Euan Williams scored against Watford and I think Euan Williams should play for Gillingham against Dartford on Tuesday Night at Princes Park, and maybe we will need a few other trial players to play for Gillingham against Dartford, just to add more depth to the squad, because I mentioned that I didn’t think you were allowed to sub on a player who had already been substituted, and Joe Gbode was subbed off and subbed back on against Watford, and your not allowed to do that, so Gillingham might need to take a larger first team squad to Princes Park for The Dartford Friendly.

Diane mentioned that she could not stick around after the game for long, so I said c ya before catching up with Stephen in The Factory, and I mentioned that I had already got my ticket for Morecambe V Gillingham, and just need to get in contact with Peter Lloyd to book on the coach, and we spoke about the impressive win against Watford, and what the young players like Harry Webster and Sam Gale have done is perhaps raised the point that these two can add additional depth to the first team squad, and maybe we don’t need to strengthen as much in certain position’s on the pitch because two or three of the young players have shown that they can step up and play for the first team, and what this does is allow Gillingham to use the funds to sign a back up Right Back for example, and use those funds to sign another attacking player instead.

But Harry Webster was everyone’s pick for Man Of The Match, that was an exceptional performance at Right Back, and I think if Harry Webster starts at Right Back for Gillingham in The Football League Trophy, then Harry Webster would be perfectly capable of playing for Gillingham in that competition, and there will be other young players like Sam Gale, Stan Skipper and Joe Gbode who could also be in Gillingham’s Squad for Football League Trophy Games as well.

Me and Stephen spoke about The Bradley Dack rumours, and how he is still being linked with a move to Gillingham, and I think it depends on the deal, depends on the wages required to get this deal over the line, and can Gillingham sign Bradley Dack, as well as strengthen in the positions in the squad that need strengthening, if the answer is yes, Gillingham can get a deal done, if the answer is no, then it is not likely to happen, but if let’s say for example that Gillingham offer Bradley Dack £4.000 a week and Gillingham naturally are going to have to protect and be cautious with Dack’s injuries, which means not starting or playing all the time, that’s a lot of money to be paying a player who might play thirty games a season because we might need to protect Bradley Dack for when the fixtures are Saturday - Tuesday - Saturday, but to counter that, if Bradley Dack proves his fitness and can keep himself fit, he would be an exceptional signing in League Two, and with Gillingham aiming for promotion, maybe Bradley Dack wants to be part of that and help Gillingham get back into League One.

Another player linked is Jorge Hurtado, is he going to sign for Gillingham on loan, or will Watford keep Hurtado around the first team squad for now ??? - loan signings usually happen later on in the transfer window once teams start to sign players and start to strengthen there first team squads and then players on the fringes of the first team are surplus to requirements and are allowed out on loan, and I don’t see Jorge Hurtado playing for Watford this season, and if Gillingham can get a deal done to sign Jorge Hurtado, even if it is a six month loan until January, it is a loan deal that is worth pursuing, and a loan deal that can benefit all parties involved

And Jorge Hurtado would add an attribute to this Gillingham Side which is desperately needed, pace, the signings of Elliott Nevitt, Jack Nolan and Aaron Nolan have added quality in the final third, and Aaron Rowe is a very quick and pacey player, but Gillingham can do with one, maybe two additional signings in the wide area’s to make sure that we don’t repeat what happened in the second half of the 2023 / 2024 season where injuries to Jorge Hurtado and Josh Andrews meant that Gillingham had limited attacking options available, and that’s an area of the squad that does need to be strengthened to make sure that the depth and quality is there in the final third to cope with the demands of a forty six league game season in League Two, I know I mentioned earlier about the young players providing additional squad depth in attack, but when you look at the attacking players at the club at the moment, and those players are part of Gillingham’s plans moving forwards, Jack Nolan, Aaron Rowe, Jonny Williams and Elliott Nevitt are probably Gillingham’s first choice front four with Jayden Clarke and Josh Andrews as back up, Gillingham do still need to strengthen our attacking options in the final third.

But one player who is perhaps putting in respectable performances in a new position is Joe Gbode, who played on the wing against Watford, and maybe Joe Gbode could force his way into the first team on the wing then playing as a central striker and Joe Gbode doesn’t have to compete against physical defenders, and get more opportunities for the first team, after all, Elliott Nevitt and Josh Andrews are ahead of Joe Gbode in the pecking order up-front, and Oli Hawkins is still at the club, and you expect to see Gillingham still strengthen our attacking options in the transfer window, maybe Joe Gbode can get more opportunities in the first team by playing out-wide on the wing ???

I mentioned to Stephen that I will be going to The Dartford Friendly on Tuesday Night, But I am not going to Southend United or Woking, Stephen mentioned he could make it for Dartford a year ago because the friendly was played on A Saturday, but he could not make it for the mid-week friendly fixture, and it is also not long now until the season starts with Gillingham play at home against Carlisle United at Priestfield Stadium, and with the pre-season friendlies being played, everyone now is looking forward to the start of the season.

I mentioned that we still need to complete our predictions for The NoirCat Prediction League, and as I am not going to go to Southend United or Woking, either one of those weekends will be the ideal time to complete my predictions for the competition, always tricky to complete NoirCat Predictions, because you must predict every match before the season starts, so new signings after the season starts, form, who are going to be the surprise packages of the division, which big team is going to be the biggest under-achievers, none of that can be accurately predicted because the predictions are sent off before the season starts, but you like to think that Gillingham will be there or thereabouts for the 2024 / 2025 season.

I then said c ya to Stephen as I left The Factory, but the real interesting news from Mark Bonner’s post match comments after the 2-0 win against Watford was the fact that Gillingham have had conversations with Bradley Dack, but Mark Bonner also added that he has spoken to a lot of players over the last ten days, and Bradley Dack is one of many players who have been spoken to, but what was once a rumour online about Bradley Dack coming back to Gillingham now has a air of reliability to it, because Mark Bonner has mentioned that he has spoken to Bradley Dack, and that statement will certainly increase the speculation that Bradley Dack could be returning to Gillingham Football Club.

[dry-valleys]

Morecambe Bay may be the most beautiful bay in Britain.

Bill Bryson.

The area seen here, stretching from Morecambe (1-2)to Grange over Sands (8-10, with 3 and 4 having been taken in Morecambe), commands the sea crossing from Ireland and the routes inland; it has, therefore, long been fought over.

(Please see here, here and here for the other posts in my Morecambe Bay series).

For thousands of years it was home to the Britons, whose descendants live in present-day Wales, and after the experience of the Roman Empire (43AD-410 AD), Britons took back control but with a Latin lilt.

Until the Anglo-Saxons came to Britannia, leading to the southern parts becoming part of the Kingdom of Northumbria in 547, and the northern staying in the British Kingdom of Strathclyde, which withstood Anglo-Saxon attacks but was so weakened by the Vikings that it fell in 1030, some being taken over by Scotland and everything in this photoshoot becoming part of the Kingdom of England.

England itself was conquered by the Normans in 1066 and there was seemingly endless fighting between England and its neighbour Scotland, but this did come to an end with the union of crowns in 1603 and the United Kingdom in 1707, so that I happily enjoyed a peaceful April (these pictures are from March 2023 but time did not allow a post earlier).

This was, though strategic, a thinly populated area where the descendants of the Britons and Saxons eked out a living from fishing and farming, until the growth of cities and industry, when Morecambe and Grange both became resorts; the dangerous ferry and bad roads were replaced by Morecambe railway station (1889) and Grange over Sands station (1857).

The money that was being made in Manchester, Liverpool and other cities thus began to flood into these resorts, though the businessmen couldn’t get away from industry in Morecambe as, unlike Grange, it developed its own industries.

This is seen in the epic Heysham power plant; built between 1970 and 1988, it will be decommissioned between 2026 and 2028, but has been captured by me and will be in a later post.

Heysham is part of the tradition of winning a hard living from these shifting sands, which led to tragedy of 2004 when 23 men, forced to work in unsafe conditions, were drowned here. (As though there hadn’t already been enough hardship here; the war memorial records the 34 local men who died in World War 1 and the 17 from World War 2).

One of the odder things to happen here was the train derailment of 22 March 2024; I took this photoshoot on 29-31 March and, as you can see in (7), the train was there for weeks; mercifully no one was killed or injured, but it reinforces the lesson the powerful didn’t learn in 2004, that the bay should be respected. (The line was restored on 21 April 2024, though too late for my journey home from Scotland, which had to be on a rail replacement bus).

Out of these sufferings has emerged tourism, industry and commuter towns which are battling their way into the 21st century amidst ongoing hardship, especially in Morecambe.

The last battle here was in 1972-74 when bureaucrats took the northern parts, around Grange and other places to be shown in later posts, out of the historic county of Lancashire and put it into the new county of Cumbria; however, these lines on the map cannot hide that Morecambe Bay is a unified whole.

[dougrobyngoold]

A Little World Cup, Then a Walk Along the River Lune - Lancaster, England

We started the day off watching the Women's World Cup Match between England and Spain. It was a great game, with Spain coming out victorious. After the game, we went for a walk along the River Lune to the Aqueduct, where we met the two swans pictured above.

The aqueduct was built in the late 1700s to bring water to the city from the countryside. We were curious if there was still water in it, so we climbed up the stairs to check it out.

It is full of water! We decided to walk along the canal path, first going over the aqueduct and then walking back toward town.

We turned around at the bridge and walked along the path toward town.

This boat was docked along the side of the canal and someone was definitely living on board. It was for sale, wonder if the canal-side spot came with it?

As we were walking along the canal, we noticed a couple of people with binoculars wearing Lancaster Zoo uniforms. We asked them what they were doing and they told us that they were tracking a young pelican that had escaped and been flying around the countryside for the last couple of weeks. We could see him as he flew off down the river - they took off, hoping to see him land and recapture him. Apparently, pelicans are not native to this area and he was "premature" in learning to take flight. I think they had their hands full in trying to track this bird down!

It was a beautiful walk along the canal, we came across this lovely golf course on our way back.

We meandered through a few neighborhoods, once we left the canal, to make our way over to Williamson Park. This is a great spot to get panoramic views of the countryside around Lancaster.

Ashton Memorial in Williamson Park - the balcony at the base of the memorial is a great spot for taking pictures.

Looking out over the park and, in the distance, Morecambe Bay and Lake District National Park.

We stopped at The Golden Lion on our way home, the same pub where the Lancashire Witches consumed their last beer before they were executed.

Cheers from Lancashire!