Paws Around the Potteries - All Change at Kidsgrove Station

 Ay up, everyone!  It's Hanley Bear here, reporting from Kidsgrove station, where a new mural has appeared to welcome people to the canal and the Gritstone Trail.  We dropped in to see it on our way back from the arboretum.

It shows Mow Cop, a Spitfire plane (because Mr R J Mitchell was born nearby), the bluebells that grow in the woods all around here, Harecastle Tunnels and the funny orange water that comes out of them, plus a canal boat and a fisherman. 

I think it looks like I'm really by the canal in these pictures, standing on the stern of the boat, then sitting on a post talking to the fisherman.  The artist has even named the boat "Kidsgrove".

Here I am with the Spitfire and the painting of Mow Cop castle.  I think they are brilliant!

I asked Grizzly who painted it.

"Look closely, Hanley Bear, and you'll see," he said, so I scurried about until I found the artist's signature in one corner of the picture.  

I saw it was painted by Mr Tom Edwards, who also painted a marvellous mural of the peregrine falcon along Pall Mall in Hanley (Me Town!).

Then I went with Grizzly and Polar to take some pictures of the new station footbridge, which is finished now, except for the lift.  One thing that had changed since our trip to London was that the old footbridge has been taken down completely now.

From the bridge, I had a good view of the station garden.  You can see that they need to do a lot of work to get it looking nice again, so I asked Polar to see if we have any spare plants or seeds to share with them.

We don't know when the lifts will be working but I hope it will be soon, as it will make the whole station accessible for disabled people who can't use steps, as well as families with small human cubs in prams and pushchairs, and people with heavy luggage.

It's great to think that people using the station in future will find it so much more accessible, and they will be welcomed to Kidsgrove by that brilliant mural.

Polar says there are all sorts of events planned for Kidsgrove and the canal by a group called Appetite, so I hope we can visit when those are happening, and I can report on them for Sonning's blog.