Ephemera, Curiosities & Bygones

This is a small bag for cannabis; I believe it is referred to as a "£10 bag" from the cost of it. They are often printed with designs, here an Uzi sub machine gun presumably to impart a macho "gangsta rap" image; I have seen others with automatic pistols and also more childish designs like unicorns and teddy bears. Sad sign of the times that so many of these seem to be lying around isolated spots.

A Great Western Railway cast iron "D" shaped solebar plate for a goods wagon. This shape was used after 1922.

A cast iron Metro Cammell solebar plate for a goods wagon, dated 1957.

Platform name sign honouring Lauren Rowles (see below). The first railway station in Bromsgrove was opened in 1840 by the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (later Midland Railway); it was rebuilt in 1969. Planned for further south than the original, the new station was mooted in 2007, but following various planning, land contamination and financial difficulties work was not started until 2014, the station opening finally in 2016. The station name signs on the platforms have been given gold backgrounds in recognition of local para-olympian Lauren Rowles who, with Laurence Whiteley, won a gold medal in the trunk arms mixed double sculls at the 2016 Paralympics.

Buried side by side, Thomas Scaife and Joseph Rutherford. Both engineers were on the footplate of a locomotive "Surprise" when its boiler blew up. Scaife died instantly, but Rutherford died the following day. The locomotive depicted is not the locomotive involved. The church of St John the Baptist dates from the 12th Century, but construction is chiefly from the 14th and 15th Centuries; it is another church on which the Victorian architect Gilbert Scott worked. In the churchyard is the base of an ancient preaching cross, and inside, the WW1 memorial bears int. al. the name of Captain Noel Chavasse, one of only three servicemen to earn two Victoria Crosses.

A work by Chris Wood entitled "Ecology Sculpture". Designed by pupils of St Alban's Roman Catholic High School, situated in the park, it depicts various birds and animals found in the park; here a heron swallowing a fish.

A work by Chris Wood entitled "Ecology Sculpture". Designed by pupils of St Alban's Roman Catholic High School, situated in the park, it depicts various birds and animals found in the park.

A work by Chris Wood entitled "Ecology Sculpture". Designed by pupils of St Alban's Roman Catholic High School, situated in the park, it depicts various birds and animals found in the park; here a woodpecker.

A work by Chris Wood entitled "Ecology Sculpture". Designed by pupils of St Alban's Roman Catholic High School, situated in the park, it depicts various birds and animals found in the park.