Life Through The Camera Lens

Whitby

Whitby is one of my favourite places on earth to visit as the whole place is just so picturesque. I visited Whitby with my partner and my mum and dad on Sunday. We decided to visit as we had double celebrations, my dad was celebrating his birthday along with him and my mum celebrating their wedding anniversary (my dad always says they got married on his birthday so he would never have an excuse to forget their wedding anniversary.) The weather was glorious there wasn’t a cloud in the sky so we thought we may as well make the most of the weather and the rare occasion we were all off work at the same time.

We parked on the west cliff which cost us £7 for all day parking which isn’t too bad. We then headed straight for the Abbey and the 199 steps. The Abbey is famous because many people think that Dracula was buried here however they forget this is fiction. You can see the whole of the Whitby from the top and is a perfect place to take photographs, below are some of the ones I took while at the top of the Abbey.

Next on the agenda was a boat trip out to sea, along the harbour and to the coast of Sandsend. This trip lasted 20-25 mins and was priced at £3 per person, under 5’s free. I thoroughly ended the boat trip as this is something I have never done previously while visiting Whitby. The seas were calm and it was rather relaxing. We also managed to catch a glimpse of a seal while out at sea. It looks like it had just caught its lunch as it was bobbing up and down on the water with a seagull in its mouth.

We then enjoyed some fish and chips for our lunch which is a must when visiting the seaside. There are many fish and chip restaurants and takeaways to choose from in Whitby. We chose to buy ours from Terrys. We paid £26 for 4 portions of cod and chips which I personally think is reasonably priced. A stroll along the pier was needed before heading back to the car. On the Pier you can visit the Lighthouse and take in the beautiful sea views. The walk along the pier was such a lovely end to a lovely day with some very special people.

The Knife Angel- Middlesbrough

The Knife Angel in Middlesbrough’s Centre Square, has been a talking point amongst the people of Teesside. I kept seeing this on peoples social media and decided to go and check this out for myself.

The Knife Angel stands at 27ft And is made out of 100,000 knives that have been used in crimes or handed in during amnesty periods.The wings are engraved with the names of the victims of knife crimes. The statue was created by artist Alfie Bradley and you’ll be able to see this at Centre Square until Monday 2nd September 2019.

I visited the Knife Angel on an early Tuesday evening and its certainly attracting large crowds of people all for the right reasons.The word is spectacular and I cant even begin to imagine how much work has gone into producing this piece of artwork. It is amazing to look at but it does really make you think about knife crime and those that are affected by it.

After doing a bit of research about the Knife Angel I found out that statistically, Cleveland has the ninth highest level of knife crime per 1000 population in the UK so I’m glad this statue has came to Middlesbrough.Hopefully by doing this the number of knife crimes in the area will reduce.

I also learnt about the #savealife #surrenderyourknife campaign.This campaign is driven by change and uniting the nation to have one stance, one voice against knife crime. Each family and organisation has it’s own battle for change, but the Knife Angel and #savealife #surrenderyourknife brings them all together.

Below are some photographs that were taken whilst taking a visit to the Knife Angel.

Eden Camp

It must have been at least 10 years since I last visited Eden Camp so when my friend suggested a visit I said yes straight away. I visited with my mum ,my partner and my best friend. Not a lot had changed since my last visit other than some more vehicles added and games added in-between huts.This broke the day up and give you a break from reading/looking at information and was fun for all the family.

Eden camp is an original Prisoner of War Camp and visiting will take you back in time to wartime Britain. In 1942 the War Office identified and requisitioned a plot of land on the outskirts of Malton. They wanted to use this land to accommodate Italian and German prisoners. The Camp first became home to 250 Italian Prisoners Of War. Towards the end of 1943 the Italian prisoners moved out and the camp was used as billets for Polish forces.From mid 1944 until 1948 the camp housed German prisoners.

In 1955 the site was returned to its original owner who leased it to Malton Minerals who used the camp for drying and storing grain. in the late 1970s some of the huts were sub-let to various individuals who used them as workshops. With the sale of some the site, Stan Johnson, a local business man bought the rest of the site in 1985 to develop a crisp manufacturing plant. He was then approached by some ex-Italian POW seeking permission to look around their former home the idea of preserving the camp and opening it as a museum was born.The museum first opened to the public on 21st March 1987 and is equipped to tell the story of WW2 through the use of sights, sounds and smells.

The admission prices weren’t too bad each adult ticket cost us £10.50. We arrived just after opening so the first few huts were quite busy but as we visited the huts through the day these seemed to quieten off. Our visit lasted approximately 4 hours, the website does state to allow 3-4 hours per visit however you could stay much longer if you were looking at every item that is on display in detail.

World War 2 is one one my favourite eras in time to learn about as my grandad would always tell me of his tales growing up during the war, from getting evacuated from Middlesbrough to York to eating pickled eels and being at Middlesbrough Train station when it got bombed. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have had some of these experiences.

Below are some photographs that were taken during our visit to Eden Camp.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London- The Making of Harry Potter

I have always been a Harry Potter fan for as long as I can remember so visiting the Warner Bros. Studios was one of the most magical experiences of my life. This is somewhere I have always wanted to visit and I kept looking at this online.

The Warner Bros. Studio Tour features costumes,props and some of the movie sets from the Harry Potter movies. In total me and my partner spent 4 hours visiting however I could have spent so much longer. We paid £45 each for our tickets and these were booked well in advance. We booked these in April and visited on the 25th July as tickets do sell out quickly as we have previously learnt. We have tried to book this a few times whilst visiting London but tickets have always been unavailable on the dates we required so I was ecstatic when we managed to grab them this time. However I would say that the ticket prices are reasonable for everything your able to experience whilst visiting the studios.

There are plenty of photo opportunities whilst visiting the studios and I’m now going to share some of my favourites that I took during the day.

As you can see from the photos the day was well and truly magical. We even got to enjoy a cold, refreshing glass of Butterbeer. I couldn’t resist buying the souvenir cup to drink mine out of. After visiting I now want to watch and read every Harry Potter film and book back to back.