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Post by prestwichpotter on Jan 7, 2022 20:49:29 GMT
Terrible news…..
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Post by thehartshillbadger on Jan 7, 2022 20:52:10 GMT
Absolutely disgusting! What can be done? This is not on! |
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Post by werrington on Jan 7, 2022 20:55:57 GMT
The state of the kilns as you drive through the city are a disgrace especially those in Longton on the one way system
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Post by iancransonsknees on Jan 7, 2022 21:00:46 GMT
They're staying open, they've just restructured the staff ridiculously. It's bullshit.
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Post by thehartshillbadger on Jan 7, 2022 21:08:22 GMT
They're staying open, they've just restructured the staff ridiculously. It's bullshit. Hope so |
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Post by iancransonsknees on Jan 7, 2022 21:12:22 GMT
They're staying open, they've just restructured the staff ridiculously. It's bullshit. Hope so Lots of redundancies though. |
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Post by PotteringThrough on Jan 7, 2022 22:41:31 GMT
I did my dissertation on Gladstone and the benefits of it becoming a world heritage site. The costs wouldn’t be insurmountable and there is genuine interest in the pottery industry in terms of tourism. It would be money well spent and would support with further regeneration and the opportunity to further develop and enhance a local heritage trail, providing opportunities for further protect other sites in Longton of cultural historic stature.
Was all bullshit of course, but could be a goer - level pegging with the pyramids…
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Post by bucknall67 on Jan 8, 2022 0:54:41 GMT
They're staying open, they've just restructured the staff ridiculously. It's bullshit. Hope so My brother has worked there for 26 years as a demonstrator-throwing pots by hand. They have basically been told they will hope for volunteers to run the summer months when they are open. |
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Post by maninasuitcase on Jan 8, 2022 8:59:33 GMT
What a dire world we live in if we disavow our own heritage
Does make you wonder where our taxes go when you look at the state of the city as a whole.
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Post by ravey123 on Jan 8, 2022 9:33:07 GMT
What a dire world we live in if we disavow our own heritage Does make you wonder where our taxes go when you look at the state of the city as a whole. Coincidentally I’ve mentioned to a few people re CD moly how awful our pottery heritage type buildings look alongside the canal. Looks like nobody is prepared to take them on due to the cost of refurbishment. Nobody is allowed to knock them down either (which would be wrong anyway). So they just get left to decay and eventually fall down on their own. You can bet if they were in Winchester, Salisbury, Bath or Harrogate or any other “trendy” city the local and national government would make money available for their upkeep or development. There is a massive potential for “pottery tourism” in this city if we could have at least 5 or 6 world class Gladstone/Wedgwood type centres but I’m afraid the local government have not got the vision and national government couldn’t give a toss about Stoke-on-Trent |
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Post by somersetstokie on Jan 8, 2022 10:11:40 GMT
A Campaign might be needed, both locally and Nationally, to raise interest and awareness in our pottery heritage, with at least a few known individuals as figureheads. I am thinking of people like John Sandon and Kathy Niblett. Get something moving now to show the council that action is required.
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Post by Dutchpeter on Jan 8, 2022 10:31:38 GMT
What a dire world we live in if we disavow our own heritage Does make you wonder where our taxes go when you look at the state of the city as a whole. Coincidentally I’ve mentioned to a few people re CD moly how awful our pottery heritage type buildings look alongside the canal. Looks like nobody is prepared to take them on due to the cost of refurbishment. Nobody is allowed to knock them down either (which would be wrong anyway). So they just get left to decay and eventually fall down on their own. You can bet if they were in Winchester, Salisbury, Bath or Harrogate or any other “trendy” city the local and national government would make money available for their upkeep or development. There is a massive potential for “pottery tourism” in this city if we could have at least 5 or 6 world class Gladstone/Wedgwood type centres but I’m afraid the local government have not got the vision and national government couldn’t give a toss about Stoke-on-Trent You’re exactly right. In the 1990s Stoke attracted more tourists than Stratford on Avon, even then the potential for pottery tourism wasn’t realised. The great Pottery throw down TV Programme could have been a catalyst for pottery tourism but its seemingly not been exploited. The state of the bottle kilns is a concern too, as highlighted by a poster up the thread. The two kilns by Price and Kensington, and across from the Golden Cup pub will fall down if they decline at their current rate. |
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Post by toppercorner on Jan 8, 2022 11:04:15 GMT
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Post by toppercorner on Jan 8, 2022 11:08:46 GMT
What a dire world we live in if we disavow our own heritage Does make you wonder where our taxes go when you look at the state of the city as a whole. We know where our taxes go ... to tory donors and their friends companies. Stoke on Trent voting tory has shot itself in the foot. We're about to experience the genuine vindictive nature of Westminster. |
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Post by Vadiation_Ribe on Jan 8, 2022 12:16:18 GMT
This makes it even more shocking that so much money was spent on the Spitfire refurbishment and new display area. It does seem odd that the popularity of The Great Pottery Throw Down hasn't been capitalised on. And the new film The Colour Room. I was actually planning to visit Gladstone soon after being inspired by The Colour Room. It's one of those things I've never got around to. One time, I went to see Norman Blake (of Teenage Fanclub) and Joe Pernice live in Manchester, and Norman was still wearing his Gladstone Pottery sticker from a visit earlier in the day.  He loved it there and tweeted about how good it was. |
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Post by OldStokie on Jan 8, 2022 12:21:53 GMT
It's scandalous and so bloody short sighted; akin to the authorities in Pisa allowing the tower there to fall into disrepair and fall down. It's almost as if they prefer us to be known as the warehouse capital of the country and sod our famous heritage. No wonder people think of Stoke and what a backward lot we are. Same goes for that bloody tip that stinks like hell. If that was situated in Canterbury they would have spent a billion quid to sort it out. I reckon this decision has a way to run yet.
OS.
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Post by Vadiation_Ribe on Jan 8, 2022 12:26:12 GMT
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Post by toppercorner on Jan 8, 2022 12:26:46 GMT
This makes it even more shocking that so much money was spent on the Spitfire refurbishment and new display area. It does seem odd that the popularity of The Great Pottery Throw Down hasn't been capitalised on. And the new film The Colour Room. I was actually planning to visit Gladstone soon after being inspired by The Colour Room. It's one of those things I've never got around to. One time, I went to see Norman Blake (of Teenage Fanclub) and Joe Pernice live in Manchester, and Norman was still wearing his Gladstone Pottery sticker from a visit earlier in the day.  He loved it there and tweeted about how good it was. The spitfire refurb i do understand, the £7m on a multi-storey car park i don't. |
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Post by Vadiation_Ribe on Jan 8, 2022 12:36:11 GMT
This makes it even more shocking that so much money was spent on the Spitfire refurbishment and new display area. It does seem odd that the popularity of The Great Pottery Throw Down hasn't been capitalised on. And the new film The Colour Room. I was actually planning to visit Gladstone soon after being inspired by The Colour Room. It's one of those things I've never got around to. One time, I went to see Norman Blake (of Teenage Fanclub) and Joe Pernice live in Manchester, and Norman was still wearing his Gladstone Pottery sticker from a visit earlier in the day. He loved it there and tweeted about how good it was. The spitfire refurb i do understand, the £7m on a multi-storey car park i don't. Pottery has done far more for the heritage of the area though. The Spitfire doesn't have anything to do with Stoke-on-Trent other than Mitchell being born in nearby Kidsgrove and growing up in Stoke-on-Trent. |
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Post by toppercorner on Jan 8, 2022 12:56:24 GMT
The spitfire refurb i do understand, the £7m on a multi-storey car park i don't. Pottery has done far more for the heritage of the area though. The Spitfire doesn't have anything to do with Stoke-on-Trent other than Mitchell being born in nearby Kidsgrove and growing up in Stoke-on-Trent. absolutely, i totally agree. My point is that the council waste vast amounts of money on unnecessary ventures. They tried to get the local public excited because they spent £7m on a car park in Hanley. This money would have been better spent elsewhere, and if done correctly, would bring in more money. |
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Post by chad on Jan 8, 2022 12:58:38 GMT
What a dire world we live in if we disavow our own heritage Does make you wonder where our taxes go when you look at the state of the city as a whole. We know where our taxes go ... to tory donors and their friends companies. Stoke on Trent voting tory has shot itself in the foot. We're about to experience the genuine vindictive nature of Westminster. Because a hundred years of Labour worked really well didn’t it |
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Post by toppercorner on Jan 8, 2022 13:09:21 GMT
We know where our taxes go ... to tory donors and their friends companies. Stoke on Trent voting tory has shot itself in the foot. We're about to experience the genuine vindictive nature of Westminster. Because a hundred years of Labour worked really well didn’t it You do realise that for the last 100 years, the central govt, has predominantly been Tory. They control the release of funds to the localities. They purposefully punished the labour towns with a lack of investment, so any local govt could only do so much. When the cities are on their knees, they vote tory, and pitiful funds are released so that the locals are pleased with their 'new saviours'. See the levelling up fund. I'm always, always gobsmacked by how people don't know this? |
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Post by somersetstokie on Jan 8, 2022 13:18:25 GMT
I suggest that we cannot rely on council or Government support as a main option. A lot of funding for preservation and promotion projects would need to come from private enterprise. So do not be over critical of the paltry sums that might be made available from the main authorities. We have several very wealthy local entrepreneurs and businesses that surely, even in the current economic climate, might have the resources to back any City Heritage investment.
Edit. And while they are at it a lot more could have been done to protect and utilize historic sites that were allowed to fall into disrepair, such as the Spode factory site.
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Post by cerebralstokie on Jan 8, 2022 13:20:28 GMT
Some time ago, I was returning from visiting a cousin in Winnipeg. My return flight was routed via Chicago. There, waiting to board the plane in a state of high excitement was a group of tourists about to start their holiday in Stoke-on-Trent! Their main interest, of course, was the pottery heritage. I think they were staying at Keele and visiting the main attraction from there. Money spent on looking after our heritage, especially the iconic bottle ovens, is money well spent.
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Post by OldStokie on Jan 8, 2022 13:30:04 GMT
We know where our taxes go ... to tory donors and their friends companies. Stoke on Trent voting tory has shot itself in the foot. We're about to experience the genuine vindictive nature of Westminster. Because a hundred years of Labour worked really well didn’t it Labour were remiss with this city because we were a safe seat and I agree with you on that. However, Labour were not responsible for our downfall. That came about with the 'Thatcher Revolution', which caused the decimation of our major industries. And it was a Labour Council that saw the city changed from a smog ridden hell-hole into a smoke-free zone. I know we have pockets of terrible slum areas (which industrial city doesn't?) but being 80 years old I can assure you that the city I was born into and the one we have now cannot be compared. I sat on the top of Parkhall Hills not so long ago and couldn't believe how green our city is. All the old pit banks still standing have been turned into areas of grass and woodlands and I'm amazed at how many trees we have now. The irony of all this is that without decimating our industries and making our people poorer, we now have a much healthier place to live in. OS. |
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Post by Eggybread on Jan 8, 2022 13:30:21 GMT
We know where our taxes go ... to tory donors and their friends companies. Stoke on Trent voting tory has shot itself in the foot. We're about to experience the genuine vindictive nature of Westminster. Because a hundred years of Labour worked really well didn’t it I wouldn't bother posting any more of your political views if I were you.  |
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Post by Dutchpeter on Jan 8, 2022 13:42:59 GMT
Because a hundred years of Labour worked really well didn’t it Labour were remiss with this city because we were a safe seat and I agree with you on that. However, Labour were not responsible for our downfall. That came about with the 'Thatcher Revolution', which caused the decimation of our major industries. And it was a Labour Council that saw the city changed from a smog ridden hell-hole into a smoke-free zone. I know we have pockets of terrible slum areas (which industrial city doesn't?) but being 80 years old I can assure you that the city I was born into and the one we have now cannot be compared. I sat on the top of Parkhall Hills not so long ago and couldn't believe how green our city is. All the old pit banks still standing have been turned into areas of grass and woodlands and I'm amazed at how many trees we have now. The irony of all this is that without decimating our industries and making our people poorer, we now have a much healthier place to live in. OS. The Clean Air Act 1956 was probably the biggest catalyst to removing air pollution. Introduced by a Conservative government, not by a local council. |
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Post by somersetstokie on Jan 8, 2022 13:49:34 GMT
Because a hundred years of Labour worked really well didn’t it Labour were remiss with this city because we were a safe seat and I agree with you on that. However, Labour were not responsible for our downfall. That came about with the 'Thatcher Revolution', which caused the decimation of our major industries. And it was a Labour Council that saw the city changed from a smog ridden hell-hole into a smoke-free zone. I know we have pockets of terrible slum areas (which industrial city doesn't?) but being 80 years old I can assure you that the city I was born into and the one we have now cannot be compared. I sat on the top of Parkhall Hills not so long ago and couldn't believe how green our city is. All the old pit banks still standing have been turned into areas of grass and woodlands and I'm amazed at how many trees we have now. The irony of all this is that without decimating our industries and making our people poorer, we now have a much healthier place to live in. OS. I am not necessarily a labour supporter but I seem to remember that in the 70's and 80's what I would imagine to be a local Labour Council were very progressive in their plans for a greener environment and were at the forefront of local conservation projects in this country. The creation of the first cycle "Greenways" using former rail lines across the City and the development of the Hanley Forest Park were early examples of this imaginitive approach. |
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Post by OldStokie on Jan 8, 2022 15:03:09 GMT
Labour were remiss with this city because we were a safe seat and I agree with you on that. However, Labour were not responsible for our downfall. That came about with the 'Thatcher Revolution', which caused the decimation of our major industries. And it was a Labour Council that saw the city changed from a smog ridden hell-hole into a smoke-free zone. I know we have pockets of terrible slum areas (which industrial city doesn't?) but being 80 years old I can assure you that the city I was born into and the one we have now cannot be compared. I sat on the top of Parkhall Hills not so long ago and couldn't believe how green our city is. All the old pit banks still standing have been turned into areas of grass and woodlands and I'm amazed at how many trees we have now. The irony of all this is that without decimating our industries and making our people poorer, we now have a much healthier place to live in. OS. The Clean Air Act 1956 was probably the biggest catalyst to removing air pollution. Introduced by a Conservative government, not by a local council. You're correct. But it wasn't a Tory government that carried it out here. It was initially brought in because of the London Smog. Around here our local Labour council had to raise local taxes and fight like hell to get the funding they were entitled to under the Clean Air Act. It took many years and other projects were sidelined to carry out the legal duty to clean the place up. I remember sitting with Wilf Bloor up Audley way (best known as the local character Jabez) for a couple of hours and who was involved with it and he told me the problems they were having getting the funding. OS. |
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Post by somersetstokie on Jan 8, 2022 15:56:33 GMT
I remember in the early 1960's, a little while after the introduction of the clean air act, there were some local projects to clean up parts of the City. Certainly Longton church was one building that got cleaned and it then stuck out like a beacon amidst the rest of the dismal landscape.
London had its Smog but Stoke was an equally sooty, dirty Conurbation. It used to be said that if you could see Stoke Church from Lime Kiln Bonk it was a bad day for the Pottery Industry, as the local kilns weren't fired up and belching out Black Smoke.
Mind you in those days it wasn't just the Bottle Kilns that created the smoke pollution. It used to be so dark on Stoke Station that you could hardly see your hand in front of your face, as the glass roof was blackened by the soot from the Steam Trains.
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He loved it there and tweeted about how good it was.
He loved it there and tweeted about how good it was.
