The Brunel Goods Shed, Stroud, from the other side

My busy day started with desk work and emails, before I had to go to town to meet Leonora, who I was introduced to at last week's public meeting about the Cheapside Neighbourhood opportunities report. She has offered to help us with strategic advice which will probably prove vital for advancing an important situation. Hugh who co-wrote the report, and presented it at the meeting would be coming as well. Excellent.

I parked the car at one of the station's car parks, beside the Hill Paul building all of which is in the Cheapside neighbourhood. It was raining hard and I only had a couple of minutes before we were due to meet at the nearby Lock Keeper's cafe, unsurprisingly sited beside the canal lock. I walked a few yards down a track in the opposite direction, as I wanted to see the this view of the Brunel Goods Shed, which the Preservation Trust has brought back into use. The office windows at the west end of the complex have been painted relatively recently so I thought I would record how they looked, and this is the only position from which to see them, unless you ae on a train.

The Goods Shed is now used by Stroud Valleys Artspace, who have leased the building from us and we are very pleased that it is in a community use again. The arch you can see is one of the four old entrances where the railway lines entered the shed to allow goods to be loaded onto and off the goods vans. It is particularly interesting as they retain the original shape and size of the broad gauge railway lines that Brunel first introduced, which were eventually changed to match the national standard gauge many years later.

It was difficult to take a picture because of the rough ground and the sharp edges of the metal fence beside the railway which I couldn't hold onto to keep myself steady. the rose hips caught my eye as thy dripped with rain, and I was surprised to see that they have survived the winter and not become bird food.

My meeting went very well, and I think we have made progress in refining a workable strategy for addressing the future development issues of this whole area. I am pleased and more confident. I then had to rush off to go with Woodpeckers to a very interesting educational course, run by the WEA (Workers' Educational Association), learning about 'Reading paintings: the shock of the new – from Degas to Dada 1863-1923', where we studied 'Naturalism: experimenting with the real, examining the work of Edgar Degas and Emile Zola'. Two hours very well spent, with six more sessions to come. I'm looking forward to it already, and even to the homework we have to do.