Meeting Alex M. in Fawkes Place

Camilla and I met in town this morning to complete the picture record of the buildings, partly for the Neighbourhood Plan, but also for a presentation at the Stroud Preservation Trust AGM in two weeks.  Camilla is the chair of the trust and I am a trustee and we are preparing a visual story of how the trustees have been involved in the Neighbourhood Plan for the last eighteen months.

After climbing to the rooftops of modern buildings close to the railway to get panoramas and unusual rooftop views, we dropped down to street level.  At the centre of the town's shopping area is a rather strange open area behind the high street which is now a parking area where deliveries are made to the rear of shops.  Camilla took me down a small alley between various ages of buildings.  She wanted to show me the rear of an old Cotswold stone building which she had discovered when doing a survey of places where people live over the shops.  

This building is probably late Georgian or early Victorian, and is the rear of several small shops which front onto the High Street.  Looking at their entrances you would never guess that the building was old, which is so typical of the mixed styles of buildings throughout Stroud.  As we approached, me with my camera, Alex M. appeared in the entrance to her flat which is on the first floor.  We mentioned what we were doing and asked if she minded me taking photos and then we engaged in a long conversation.  We described the work the Trust has done over the last thirty years, especially to buildings on the High Street, and she was very interested.  

She moved here three years ago and loves living in the centre of the town, especially compared to her earlier life in a small village up on the local hilltops.  She is an artist and told us that she created a key figure of a ram used to head the Stroud Fringe Festival procession, and it started from this little back alley just a few weeks ago.

We left Alex and carried on to finish the views, one of which I have added as an 'Extra photo'.  It is from the Merrywalks multi-storey carpark looking northwards towards the Slad valley with Uplands in the distance, where Camilla lives.  A fine cup of coffee and Portuguese custard tart followed to complete an lovely few hours with a good friend.  I just have to sort out the pictures now and finish the presentation.