Continuing on directly from my previous post as I walked along Weymouth sea front, I paused to make a couple of images of the “beach huts”. While these are not exclusively a British phenomenon, they are very typical, and out of season, a certain have a certain feel. In Weymouth they come in many shapes and sizes! One could also say that they are a Weymouth Invention – but I’ll come to that in another post!
The examples in the photo above are in Greenhill Gardens. This is a moderately steeply sloped garden that looks out over the prom to the sea. It’s a lovely spot and one I know quite well. For years, on Weymouth’s carnival day, I and many others, used to congregate here as one of the best places to watch the Red Arrows display. Before that it was a good place for a picnic, and from those times I remember the floral clock. With council cut backs, the gardens fell into pretty much dis-repair, but they have been recused by a local group and some love and life has been breathed back into them.
It was a pleasant surprise to see the clock mechanism still in around and seemingly restored, on display in one of the small garden buildings. More can be read about it here, apparently it is only one of two in existence! Below is one of the hands, that used to be planted up with succulents.
Below is the bed where the clock once “ticked”! In the background is a post with a weather vein in the shape of an old plane. It is a memorial to Wing Commander George Hedley Stainforth, AFC. who reached a world speed record of 406 miles an hour!
Chatter: Leica M4-P with Zeiss 35mm, Ilford FP4 Plus movie film bulk loaded, expired in 1998! Developed in FX55
S.H.O.U.T. 