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Alnwick on Lion : the Alnwick community website |
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Back in late 1997, when I started
this site, there were about three people in Alnwick switched on enough
to have webpages. Then in 2000 everyone discovered the internet and
got websites. Then they got bored with them and the sites are
starting to disappear again. We discovered the internet and now
we're bored with it. I have divided the links into different categories:
Alnwick websites
Alnwick District Coooncil got online in Easter 1997 and then left the site unchanged for almost 5 years. Now they've got a proper site but the idea of having information on a website is clearly proving a painful adjustment. Council Solicitor Tony Farrell must be very switched on to the digital agebecause the site has two guides to the Legal Section even though that's not actually the part of the Council that most people would find most interesting. The old site was divided into two sections in a way that showed a remarkable inconsistency of purpose in that it had tourism pages (Come and visit our lovely area) and economic development pages (Come and spoil our area - build a factory here) . [There's a slicker "Northumberland Welcomes Industrial Expansion" type site here although it does fall into the trap of thinking that jobs can be saved by informative events and 'partership links'] Northumberland Coonty Coooncil had a website which for years contained an exciting quiz about Northumberland. Then they introduced prizes and somehow got Steve Cram to endorse it. The prize was won by a potential visitor from Middlesbrough. All long gone now, sadly Berwick upon Tweed Borough Council dipped their toe into the water with a site which really only explained that Berwick upon Tweed meant "Barley village Twyad fortress". Now there's a bit more information. Northumberland Fire and Rescue (unofficial site) An eclectic mix of fire brigade gossip and fire engine trivia. Did you know that Alnwick fire station occupies 34.65Ha? You can also look at semi-naked firemen, if you like. One of the nation's few unofficial fire brigade sites, I would think. This is one of the sites that I was sad to see go, not least because at one stage the existence of this paragraph meant that this site was visited by people searching for 'naked firemen'. I won't gross you out by telling you some of the other things they wanted firemen to be doing. Still, hits are hits, as any web site owner will tell you. This was totally bizarre. The Northumberland Health Authority used to have a website which deserves not to be forgotten called How to be a perfect lover . It didn't have much information about Northumberland (except where to get free condoms and, I suppose, the lifestyle inferences you can draw about Northumbrians) but pages such as TOP BANANA and MAKIN' BABIES just have to be viewed. Won some kind of award apparently. Co-ool. And was so nice to see them talking about sex in an open and uninhibited way. Or was it? The Cheviot and Wansbeck NHS Trust was abolished early in 1998. In late summer 1999 I linked to its impressive website but no sooner did I do so than the cwitdept.demon.co.uk account gets closed and the site taken down. Did I do something wrong guys? Oh sorry, you've been abolished and can't answer. The Northumbria Healthcare Trust now have a site and to make amends for my distress about the loss of the C&W they sent me a special email to tell me about it. You can use it to find out about their 'care settings' (also known as hospitals) ACCTA was a talking shop for tourism related businesses which containedhave their constitution and minutes of their meetings. However there have been ructions in the world of Northumberland tourism talking shops. The Association is now under a new name, with a different committee , apparently a new website and contact information. Unfortunately the old site doesn't say anything about what the new name might be or where the new website is. And without that information it's kind of hard to update the link. Almost Unwearoutable Sock Company are based at Seaton Burn which isn't that near Alnwick. But the site's "day in the life of an almostunwearoutable sock" is unmissable. Aln Printers have gone all up market with ave now obviously decided that at the end of the day having a website wasn't worth the bother. Alnmarin They make ocean going boats in Alnwick. One of the country's largest inland boatbuilders of such craft, I should imagine. The old company went into voluntary liquidation and sold the business to someone who clearly sees no reason why seagoing vessels should be built by the sea.
Alnwick Computerware
IT company based in the market place. The strengths of Alncom
lie in its ability to diversify and efficiently coordinate the resourcing
of produces and services to meet customer's requirements. Alnwick Nursery and Garden Centre a site created by the garden centre's new owners. The site's never been updated since it was created in 1999 although I understand that the owner has now got children which probably explains a lot. The garden centre is thriving though. Alnwick Pharmacy A site which explains how they do so much more than prescriptions. There's a page devoted to incontinence supplies, how they can loan you oxygen cylinders well as providing top beauty tips and perfume advice. Mmmmm. Alnwick Playhouse , our local theatre, has recently started using its site properly. It now actually has a lot of useful information. Amblenet Run by a company called Heritage IT Marketing Enterprises which is nothing whatever to do with sado-masochism even though it rejoices in the URL of www.hit-me.co.uk . Apparently they were 'more for businesses' than the unrelated Official Amble Website Barter books Alnwick's cyber cafe (yup!) and apparently the UK's second largest second hand bookshop. Blue Beret Artists A shop in Alnmouth which sells pictures painted by local artists. Some of them are very good. They have even used artistic licence by altering the photograph of the shop which appears on the site. Bookswap A book sale business. They don't swap books, particularly, but they buy and sell them, so the name's not as good as Barter books who do actually barter books. Their slogan is "we understand people who understand books" Which is really rather meaningless as everyone understands some books, even if it is just a benefit book. Anyway, if you're in the area maybe you can pop round for some understanding. I don't know if they've actually got a shop or if it's all mail order. D.W. Elson A photographer in Rothbury who also does interesting things to photographs. Ejayar Photography A photographer based in Gosforth who has a page of Alnwick pictures on his site. Eclipse Translations A thriving local business. The site lists lots of languages which their staff can do. They do not, it seems, have anyone who can decipher the Amble accent. They do the translations for Quorn - the fungus that you can use as a replacement for meat. So this is presumably their handiwork. Greys of Alnwick have lots of information about their fishing rods. Used to have a big picture of a man standing in a river but he's been retired in favour of a photograph of some kind of fishing tackle. You don't need me to tell you how famous the Greys brand is - so you'll be excited to hear about their range of Greys merchandising including a polo shirt. There is also a list of the conditions that apply to their unconditional guarantee. HARCROS Hurrah! A successful campagin by this site. After SEVEN years the former Harcros website which referred to a non existent shop and thought that Alnwick was in Grimsby has been removed. House of Hardy They make fishing rods and the Prince of Wales loves them. They make clothing too. Their 'Taymount' jacket was recently recommended by Trout Fisherman magazine. Trout fishermen considering the purchase of a jacket should bear in mind that a note on the site carefully explains that the photograph of the jacket in the TF magazine review is actually of a completely different jacket and not the Taymount at all. That leaves you wondering if (a) TF's ha'pennyworth has much value and (b) if TF ever tested the Taymount.
John Bull Inn pub in Alnwick which sells whisky. In 2003 it was the second best real ale pub in Northumberland. Kitson Windows Window company whose site includes a Flash version of their slogan "a quote in the post not a foot in the door". I have no idea whether or not they are guided by this slogan in practice (Since I wrote that their MD has emailed me to say that they do). If they are then it seems to be a GOOD THING . [I say this because I am being plagued by other companies trying to flog double glazing etc.] Longframlington Gardens Opened in 1998, the proprietor hopes that these gardens will develop into "the pride of Northumberland". Shame she wasn't able to get the EU to give her millions of pounds. National Entertainment Company Specialists in the provision of entertainment's [sic] to the corporate, student and nightclub markets. They have a marketing concept called "the Turkey Terminators". They don't kill turkeys (wouldn't that be great entertainment though). No, the clever marketing point apparently is that if you use them then no one will think you're a turkey. It must work because last year one of Bernard Matthews's birds using their services escaped unnoticed from his factory.[That last sentence is not actually true]. They then updated the site adding that they will make sure that the event is not "fowled up" (geddit?). The site also featured lots of photographs of students on bouncy castles and tells us which students are up for a party. Newcastle Law Society members really know how to party "(wow!)", it seems. The non-turkey entertainments
they offer include giant connect four, big chess pieces -- you simply
cannot fail if you use their services. Northumbria Cottages , a local site about a company who rent out holiday cottages in Northumberland. North East Press Limited, part of the Johnston Press group, are the publishers of the Northumberland Gazette. The site used to tell you how surprisingly few newspapers they sold. Now they've decided to take this site down. Northumberland Gazette This long awaited (by me) site was launched in October 2000 has now been relaunched as "Northumberland Today powered by the Northumberland Gazette" (a misleading title as it is only updated once a week). The relaunched site has got rid of the some of the best features of the original site:
Shire Pottery Arty pottery on Prudhoe St run by Ivar Mackay, who specialises in reduction glazes. Tagish Ltd Alnwick's leading supplier of local government websites and other computery things. They also let me keep this site at the www.alnwick.org.uk address. Tailor Made Homes Alnwick based builder of timber framed houses whose aim, apparently, "is to become number one timber frame specialist in Europe". We wish them well. I always thought they were actually called Taylor Made on account of their having been founded by a Mr Taylor but apparently they aren't, or they aren't any more, anyway. Site currently disabled for "non technical reasons" at the moment. Tanners Alnwick's best pub had this site which has now been taken over by what is supposed to be a virtual pub - an idea that really works well, of course. Thompson Opticians A chain of opticians based in Alnwick. Test your eyesite by reading the swaying text on the front page of the site. In 1998 they were the sponsors of the Alnwick Fair Queen contest, when they made the finalists wear glasses, presumably trying to show that you can be beautiful and still wear glasses. The Alnwick lasses did them proud! Wild Spirit Was an outdoor shop in Narrowgate then became an ecommerce site. Now it's just a picture of 4 hills. Clark Scott-Harden Now closed down. The site used to mention tell us that they were experts in managing grouse moors and could advise about stalking. I advised people to convert their back garden. But sadly not enough people did. George F White Sort of a chain, they have 3 branches, all in in quietish, reassuringly pleasant, small towns. Never used their services myself but you get the feeling that they are the sort of agents it would be nice to use. Rook Matthews Sayer Local chain with an branch in Alnwick. Richard Sayer is a long established Alnwick businessman. According to the site their executive service includes "Directors supervision of all sales with the highly qualified experiences well-known senior sales staff". I'm obviously out of touch with Estate Agents' jargon because that makes absolutely no sense to me. Yourmove National chain with Alnwick branch. If you can't get them it's probably because they're part of the Norwich Union (or AVIVA as they're calling themselves this week. Blackshaws A garage in Bondgate Without. Suzuki took over the running of the site and it looks like they made Blackshaws remove the entire family tree of the Blackshaw family and the useful fact that the business was established before there were many cars around. Motorcare Garage and MOT centre which is still trading but has obviously got bored with the net. But this piece of advice (from their car owner's guide to the MOT) is worth preserving for future generations: "Appeals to the Vehicle Inspectorate against an item being passed for MOT when it is apparently 'worn' often cause extra unnecessary expense to the customer because a further test fee is charged to follow up the appeal. Note: MOT testing is highly specialised and requires the full concentration of the tester. To ensure that the MOT test is carried out thoroughly and in compliance with Vehicle Inspectorate Regulations, testers should not be disturbed whilst carrying out an MOT" And clearly these guys are the experts so they must know. So keep your nose out when they're doing the test and listen to what they tell you afterwards. That's their tip. ALNWICK STEW not a business but a recipe. Let me know if you try it. I assume that your average butcher will know what you mean if you ask for a forehock of bacon.
Bramley's Sandwich Bar
A sandwich bar in Market
St. In my opinion sandwich bars don't really need a website and this
comes across from the site. You can email the owner (about anything you
like except that you mustn't order a sandwich) and look at the price list.
You can also download an order form for faxing to them. My guess
is that it would be just as effective to send them a fax on plain paper
saying "please let me have 6 tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches, I'll be in
at 1pm today" . "Hello.I found your site after searching fish and chips on the web. I manage a shop at the moment.We are quite busy selling approximately 1200 ptns of fish a week and 2500 ptns of chips as well as a wide range of products .I have a brand new Henry Nuttall range and my shop has recently been refitted " Hunters Quality Meats Butchers in Paikes St. They make sausages and things, and used to have their own website but now, it appears, they don't. Let Them Eat Cake Formerly a cake shop in Narrowgate. Given the Duchess's stated desire for the castle gardens to impersonate Versailles , the name should've been a shrewd commercial move. NorthumbrianHampers.com Aka Turnbulls the butchers on Market St who are, I think I'm right in saying, the inventors of the Northumbrian Sausage. However, that's not enough for this site which now Northumbria as the birthplace of Christianity. The Bethlehem Tourist Board will no doubt be down on them like a ton of bricks when they find out about it. The e commerce facility has been about to arrive for the last 4 years. TOWN HOUSE Restaurant in Narrowgate. Their resident musician Andrew Lobb looks like an especially mad version of the Duke. Tracing your ancestors? Everybody seems to be, or at least lots of people who email me are. I don't know many old or dead people and although I don't mind you asking if I do - please feel free to do so - but you would probably be better off going to this website or, if your interest is perchance specifically with the names on the Denwick War Memorial, then go here . Alternatively why not try the very exciting and free Directory Enquiries service from BT which might know your long lost friend/relative's phone number. No dead people though. Or www.192.com might be able to help. The Official Site Download a personal message from His Grace. Send him impertinent email. Read about the history of Alnwick castle without paying the six quid entrance fee. Taunt him by saying that that Mystic Meg has predicted that his son will be like the late Marquis of Bristol. Whatever. (I felt oddly like Squirrel Nutkin when writing that paragraph). Castle Gardens Site As an act of huge selflessness the Duchess has had the castle gardens done up using (inter alia) a considerable amount of lottery money. The gardens opened in October 2001. The FAQ contains the following revealing question: Q: Is the garden mainly a building site? The gardens were designed by probably the best team of garden designers working in Belgium today, they are scheduled to open during the millennium. It is worth preserving some information from the old site which was up before the gardens opened and which explains the dream the Duchess dreamed and her vision for the project: The old site claimed that the gardens would be England's answer to Versailles. Since Versailles was where they seized Marie Antoinette and took her to be guillotined, that may be a rather unfortunate comparison for today's landed gentry to draw. To demonstrate the Duchess's common touch - she's not like Marie Antoinette at all! - she has cleverly arranged project for the project to come with a ringing endorsement from populist heir to the throne Prince Charles. The site is very vague about whether the Duchess has realised her vision for the garden to feature "speciality grass"; which is another unfortunate choice of words. It makes one wonder what Her Grace was doing when she dreamed the vision of the garden. I'm sure no speciality grasses were involved though. Northumberland Fusiliers Museum is inside the castle itself - it's all about the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. HAUNTED CASTLE . A page which, although it contains much information about the castle, doesn't seem to mention any ghost, which is rather disappointing, given its URL.
THE BAHAIS: as this site candidly acknowledges, there are not many Bahá'ís in this part of Northumberland. And the Bahá'ís who created the site have moved away now. But they've left the site anyway. Which is nice. UNITED REFORMED CHURCH This site helpfully lists all their local branches. Don't leave home without it. ST LAWRENCE'S CHURCH, WARKWORTH This is an unexpectedly good site and has good photographs of most of Warkworth. I say "unexpectedly good" because it was written by someone called Mick who calls himself "Mikrosoft". Which is nearly as bad as Alnwick on Lion. The Official Alnwick Fair website proudly mentioned the fair's coveted 1971 award and contains more animated gifs than you could ever require. They aren't bad animated gifs, you understand, there are just hundreds of them and they take ages to load. Particularly splendid is the flashing gif of the Fair Queen . Alnwick residents will know that being flashed at by the fair queen is not at all uncommon. The site had a guestbook which was only ever signed by members of the fair committee. The Alnwick International Music Festival A very good site indeed by Alnwick standards. Information, photographs, pleasing layout and everything. Including lots of national flags, to stress the international nature of the festival.
They want to re-open the railway line from Alnmouth to Alnwick and have apparently got funding to do so, although starting from the Alnmouth end. It would be better if they could start from Alnwick but that would need money to reinstate a bridge over South Road and put in a totally new bridge over the A1, (the A1 wasn't there when the line was closed in the late 1960s). The separate but related Aln Valley Railway Trust used to have their own site but that's disappeared now. It wasn't very comprehensive. In they days when Freeserve shares were valuable I joked that both sites were Freeserve accounts so maybe they wanted to fund the railway by getting two lots of shares? That joke worked much better when the shares were going up. This isn't by anyone connected with Alnwick but you can look at Carol Gerten's scan of Canaletto's painting of Alnwick Castle The picture itself hangs in the castle. You'll notice that there's a tall tower on the picture which isn't there now. Apparently this isn't artistic licence - the tower was there but the Percy family removed it in the nineteenth century. Why? Because it was "out of keeping", that's why. I mean towers/castles - they just don't go together do they? A poem by Fitz-Greene Halleck (who?) called Alnwick Castle. Tres artistic. Edgar Alan Poe reviewed it and you can read his review here if you want. Someone has done virtual reality pictures of the market square. They were done in 1996 as an art project. In 1996 the square was a tarmac car park. In 1998 the car park was closed and the square was was re-cobbled and the VR pictures look more like 1999 than 1996. A case of life imitating art, perhaps. Limericks are art. And here's one about Alnwick. Or Annick, actually (somewhere else in Northumberland even smaller than Alnwick) but there is a footnote wondering whether it might have been about Alnwick and it does do a groovy rhyme with "Titanic" whose sister ship's doors are now at the White Swan in Alnwick. Have I mentioned that before? Oh yes, I remember now . Charlies Chip Shop have an art club whereby they drag someone up from Blackpool to teach customers about Art for £45 including a light lunch (presumably a fish cake). Apparently the teacher uses the Bob Ross method of teaching people to paint. J M W Turner did a picture of the castle. An engraving of it by J T Willmore is in the Tate. If that link doesn't work (they keep shifting their database around) then go to the front page and select collections. Then search for "alnwick" and "turner". Northumberland Touring Theatre Alnwick's very own professional theatre company. Theatre Club A short site about the Theatre Club. Alnwick Choral Society have asked for a link. Their site has everything you'd expect from a website about a choral society based in mid-Northumberland. Including a table showing all their past productions. That page will be invaluable to all those who frequently argue about things like which year the ACS did Haydn's Creation (which was 1992, if you're interested).
Alnwick Stage Musical Society
have their own site too, if you're interested. Kloppengruber are a local band. You can see pictures of them playing in a venue with nice curtains (looks like a Miners Welfare Institute but actually it's Clennel Castle). As well as playing music they also spend time debating which one of them looks most like Lemmy from Motorhead, although that is my fault, it seems. Northumbrian Pipers Society - another webpage from the Colin S Bradford empire. Information about the Northumbrian Gathering features Sandra Kerr who did the voices in Bagpuss. Previous years have featured Kathryn Tickell's Dad. St Oswalds Independent School. St Michael's C of E First School Nothing to do with Marks and Spencer, this is a school with a dragon trampling patron. Who needs Harry Potter? Unless of course the school actually is Hogwarts and the St Michaels name is just a front. Ironically Alnwick Castle (digitally enhanced and blended with Gloucester Cathedral) was used as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter film). Alnwick Creative Theatre School Not to be confused with the College of Theatre Arts. Students study Drama, Improvisation, Script Work, Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Fencing, Stage Combat and Production. Also runs an agency for its pupils which promises not to exaggerate its pupils' abilities. Somehow the idea of an agency being completely honest seems a bit unlikely, especially if the honest answer is "sorry love you're tone deaf and dance like an elephant". Hunting Used to offer exclusive opportunities to go deer hunting in Alnwich (sic). Apparently "bucks of all ages (including yearlings) are expected to be if instructed by the guide for crop protection", which is always nice to know. Football Alnwick Town FC are often confused with Newcastle United because (like most teams in the North East) both teams play in black and white. Golf Alnwick Golf Club is bizarrely well known. I don't know why, except perhaps it is the famous 12th hole "Lang Whang" ("a dogleg and uphill to the green and built on a plateau"). Horse Riding Alnwick's premier riding establishment. View the map pointing to Ros who runs it. The best site to visit if you want to see the County Council's logo stolen and coloured green. Or read about the Alnwick Endurance event .
Walking #1- Shepherds walks Extraordinarly popular e-commerce site where you can buy guides to walks. The walks are all designed by a local shepherd which has made it into something of an internet phenomenon. Walking #2 A company which sells guides to walking in Nortumberland. Walking in Northumberland isn't nearly as easy as you'd think because although there are lots of open spaces here, the Dukes of Northumberland have fenced a lot of them off. I mean it isn't just the Dukes, but mainly it is. This site thanks the Duke for graciously allowing him to mention a walk in Hulne Park, Alnwick. A1 A homepage with a name guaranteed to get at the top of any list. Your guide to everyone's favourite trunk road. Alnwick Lions Club Not to be confused with Alnwick in Lion Alnwick North . I am too old to understand it properly but I still like it. A homage to South Park plis a virtual tour of Barresdale. Wesley is a Soldier in the US forces. He was in Alnwick Castle in 1993 and got up to some terribly amusing high-jinks. My goodness me! He also took a photo of the Percy Tenantry Column, and reveals in the accompanying text that he climbed 30ft up it in an attempt to defile the lion on top in a quite unexpected way. He also claims to be the father of an unspecified number of illegitimate children. He likes the Black Swan which says it all, really. Stuart's White Swan Olympic Shrine has some pictures of Alnwick and the bits of the White Swan which came from the Olympic (sister ship to the Titanic). Sherrybabe had her own page and listed Alnwick on Lion as her home town . She's taken the page down now ... aw! Alnwick Home and Hobbies Page Charlie Durnford's copiously gif-ed page. He likes the Tanners as well. Steaknife Richard Hunter lives in Alnwick and he knows that the bottles at the Dirty Bottles have been moved. Dave's Home Page Dave takes time out from his Melanie Stace shrine to tell us about Glanton. I don't know who Melanie Stace is but judging by the photograph just mentioning her ought to bring in some hits to this page. Porkmice Odd spoof newspaper site. So far as I can tell it is run by someone who is in a band . OTHER PLACES IN NORTHUMBERLAND This page has been created by Morpethnet so you can visit other websites about places in Northumberland. We all want more traffic. Want to help? Why not go back to the main page and hit "refresh" lots of times - see my counter climb. The Burglars dog is a top pub guide to Tyneside. If you agree with my Alnwick pub guide then you may agree with this one as well. Simon's Virtual Alnmouth Alnmouth is just down the road from Alnwick. I was going to write a page about Alnmouth but now I don't have to. Anyone else: Ask if you want a link added to your site. Let me know
if you find any ...or if
any links don't work. Thanks to
everyone who has pointed out new/duff links.
Pictures of Alnwick
A
Bob Mouser
Production © 1999-2005 |
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LU 20/03/05