Steve Mann at Gloucester Quays

After meeting Camilla for several hours to work out plans and budgets for the next stages of the Neighbourhood Plan, I went shopping ahead of the holiday.  I started with a trip up the hill to the farm shop and in the back of my mind I wondered whether I might spot a suitable scene for today's 'Derelict Thursday' challenge, which is the last one of this season.

I drove down a few back lanes and saw various odd piles of stones and a fairly run down barn with a broken corrugated iron roof.  But none of them had the right 'feel'.  So I carried along the ridge of the Cotswold escarpment to Birdlip and turned onto the old Roman road from Cirencester, where it crossed over the escarpment and dropped steeply down to the Severn Vale and on in a straight line to the city of Gloucester.

I had  to visit several shops on the edge of the city centre and whilst driving I noticed a boarded up pub covered in very colourful graffiti, which I thought I might return to if no other subject appeared.  After finishing my shopping I drove over St Ann's Way bridge, which is a modern swing bridge across the Sharpness canal.  It lies at the beginning of the docklands of Gloucester where old industrial warehouses still line the edge of the outer docks in a very derelict state.

I parked and walked back over the bridge and started to take some pictures in the rather gloomy light.  I couldn't get any other access so was restricted to the angles available from the footpath.  I changed lens and took a few images.  Suddenly I heard a voice right behind me which was rather startling. This young gentleman was telling me about a website where I could see pictures that people had taken of the interiors of these very buildings. This was very appealing to me as I like to do that myself sometimes in old mill buildings around Stroud.

There followed a very pleasant chat and I found out that Steve Mann is a post-graduate student of architecture in Cheltenham and is interested in canals.  I talked of the Stroudwater canal that joins the Sharpness canal and of the regeneration work that is happening to it.  I explained to Steve that I was trying to get a picture for the 'Derelict Thursday' challenge and then it occurred to me that I could get a portrait of both him and the suitable old warehouses at the same time.  So I asked if he would pose and he kindly agreed.  Voila!

Minutes later, after giving him my blip address, we went our separate ways.  So thank you Steve.  I enjoyed our chat and I have checked the website he told me about, which does show really good pictures of the interiors of various buildings in and around this canal side site.  I have added a couple of links below.

Gloucester Docks/Mills Dec 2011

Gloucester Docks Mills, Nov/Dec 2011

G & W. E. Downing Malthouse 2 and Silo (ABM)- Gloucester