Coeliac UK Awareness Week 2023 - 15th-21st May

This year Coeliac Awareness Week runs from the 15th to the 21st May.

What is Coeliac Disease?

Coeliac Disease ('Celiac' in the USA and Canada) is a lifelong autoimmune condition, where the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue. In Coeliac Disease the immune system mistakes substances found inside gluten as a threat to the body and attacks them. This can trigger a number of painful, horrible, stressful and uncomfortable symptoms.

In the UK it's estimated that 1 in 100 people have the condition.

Coeliac Awareness Week 2023

Coeliac UK's mission for Coeliac Awareness Week 2023 is to highlight that coeliac disease looks different for everyone, and there are a number of symptoms to look out for, beyond the common ‘gut related issues’.  

Visit the Coeliac UK website for more information.

Living a gluten free life

Having suffered from a range of symptoms for around ten years I finally received a positive diagnosis of Coeliac Disease following some 'interesting' and in-depth tests and procedures in 2008. It came as a relief to finally have a name for the mysterious cause of my illnesses and ailments, but at the time I was only given a brief summary and told that I'd have to "cut down on bread and beer". It was only later when I met with a Gastroenterologist and a dietitian that I found out that the only treatment for people with Coeliac Disease is a strict, life-long gluten free diet.

My life as a Coeliac in LEGO form

You can read more about my gluten free journey in this case study on the This Is MedTech website - "When eating gluten-free isn’t a choice".

My Coeliacversary

This year marks my 15th year as a Coeliac! Time flies eh.

I haven't quite worked out how I'll celebrate my Coeliacversary this time around...

National Miniature Golf Day - Saturday 13th May

There are two 'miniature golf days' each year.

Playing the Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course in Skegness on National Miniature Golf Day 2015

National Miniature Golf Day is always on the second Saturday in May. In 2023 that will be this Saturday - Saturday 13th May.

The other minigolf day, Miniature Golf Day, is always on the 21st September. In 2023 that will fall on a Thursday.

Bun Throwing in Abingdon-on-Thames for King Charles III's Coronation

A report from King Charles III's royal bun throwing event in Abingdon-on-Thames.

Take a look at my blog post about the Abingdon Bun Throwing for the Coronation of King Charles III over on my other blog - the World of Bun Throwing.

To mark the royal occasion of the Coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort my home town of Abingdon-on-Thames held a bun throwing event in the Market Place on Sunday 7th May.

Abingdon holds bun throwing event to mark, mostly, special royal occasions. The bun throw for the Coronation of King Charles III was the 37th bun throwing in Abingdon since 1761. It was the 17th bun throwing held in my lifetime - I've attended all of them since 1981.

I managed to grab one currant bun on this occasion

New Adventure Golf in Wolverhampton

Jurassic Creek Adventure Golf now open at 3 Hammers Golf Complex.

A new 18-hole Adventure Golf course has opened at 3 Hammers Golf Complex.

The Jurassic Creek Adventure Golf venue is located between Wolverhampton and Stafford.

Find out more about the course on the Jurassic Creek Adventure Golf website.

Southend Pier Crazy Golf (April 2023)

A look at the Crazy Golf course at the end of Southend Pier.

The course was the 1,022nd visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Blockbuster Video Express in Westcliff-on-Sea (April 2023)

A look at the former Blockbuster Video Express store in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex.

We recently visited the old Blockbuster Video Express store in Westcliff-on-Sea. It was nice to see some of the signage was still in place, even though there was a lot of scaffolding up around it.

My friend and fellow blogger Mark Routh sent me photos of this particular Blockbuster Video Express store back in July 2020.

It's always fun to see ghost signs, remnants of old & dead brands and interesting signage while out and about on our travels. Since I found the remains of the Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester in October 2019 I've been intrigued to see the brand still has a lingering presence on the high street. The last Blockbuster Video shop ceased trading in the UK in December 2013!

Our travels have taken us to several former Blockbuster stores:

• Abingdon, Oxfordshire
• Ashton, Bristol
• Barnsley, South Yorkshire
• Basingstoke, Hampshire
• Billingham, Teesside
• Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
• Chester, Cheshire
• Chorley, Lancashire
• Clacton-on-Sea, Essex
• Colne, Lancashire
• Failsworth, Manchester
• Fallowfield, Manchester
• Felixstowe, Suffolk
• Filton, Bristol
• Great Moor, Stockport, Greater Manchester
• Hastings, East Sussex
• Leigh, Greater Manchester
• Luton, Bedfordshire
• Marple, Greater Manchester
• Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire
• Nuneaton, Warwickshire
• Oldham, Greater Manchester
• Prescot, Lancashire
• Shanklin, Isle of Wight
• Southampton, Hampshire
• Telford, Shropshire
• Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex
• Wisbech, Cambridgeshire
• Wythenshawe, Manchester

Urban Street Golf at Gravity Social in Northampton

A look at the Urban Street Golf course at Gravity Social in Northampton.

We recently visited the Urban Street Golf course at Gravity Social at Sol Central in Northampton on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The 9-hole indoor course was the 1,019th visited on our travels.

We didn't play the course, but in a first on our adventures we did win the pub quiz at the venue that evening!

Check out the Gravity Social website for more information.

The other Happy Shopper in Burton-on-Trent

A visit to a Happy Shopper shop in Burton-on-Trent.

Last October we drove home via Burton upon Trent to take a look at a Happy Shopper shop. We're lucky we did as the shop was in the process of being gutted as it's now closed. The business was being moved to a new premises over the road, where some of the old branded shelving is now in use.

Shortly after arriving home we found out the town was home to another Happy Shopper shop! We made sure to visit that one - S & A Singh on Sydney Street - at the next opportunity.

That came about on our recent trip to East Anglia where we were able to stop off in Burton-on-Trent en route to Northampton.

It was nice to see the Happy Shopper branding on the shopfront and there was a lot of it on the shelving inside.

We had a chat to the shopkeeper who had run the Happy Shopper for over 30 years and let him know we appreciated the nostalgia his shop created.

Happy Shopper shops

We've felt very nostalgic during the pandemic and one of the old brands from our childhood we thought about was 'Happy Shopper' - the name alone conjures up images of the 1980's.

A sign at the Pleasant News Happy Shopper in Wisbech (2021)

The Happy Shopper branding was changed in the year 2000 and I think it lost a lot of its charm and individuality. Many of the former Happy Shopper stores were rebranded as Premier shops.

We didn't think there would be many - or any - of the original orange and yellow branded shops still around, but we were proven wrong when we saw one in Preston in September 2020.

Since then we've been lucky enough to spot and snap a few more.

Take a look at my posts about other Happy Shopper shops in:

• Preston
• Sheffield (Sharrow Lane)
• Sheffield (Page Hall Road)
• Ilkeston
• Hitchin
• Ashwellthorpe
• Ormesby St Margaret
• Lowestoft (2011)
• Lowestoft (2021)
• Wisbech
• Sittingbourne
• Burton-on-Trent 1
• Burton-on-Trent 2

Crazy World of Minigolf Tour update - April 2023

A look at some of our recent minigolf course visits.

We've just returned from a road-trip and visited several miniature golf courses along the way.

Southend Pier Crazy Golf

First up was a Mini Golf course at Horton's in Northampton. This indoor venue was spotted by our friend and minigolf rival Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley. Unfortunately we didn't get to play it as it wasn't open during our time in the town.

Mini Golf at Horton's in Northampton

Next up was the Urban Street Golf course at Gravity Social at Sol Central in Northampton. We didn't play the course, but we did win the pub quiz at the venue that evening!

Urban Street Golf at Gravity Social in Northampton

Our next visits were in Southend-on-Sea, where we got to play the Red and Blue courses at Caddies Crazy Golf.

Caddies Crazy Golf in Southend-on-Sea

Caddies Crazy Golf in Southend-on-Sea

We also swung by the Arnold Palmer Mini Golf on the esplanade in Southend-on-Sea.

Arnold Palmer Mini Golf in Southend-on-Sea

As well as the Adventure Golf course at Adventure Island.

Adventure Golf at Adventure Island in Southend-on-Sea

We also took a wander along Southend Pier to visit the new Crazy Golf course at the end of it.

Southend Pier Crazy Golf

The next part of our trip saw us revisit our most visited courses - the Adventure Golf course on Sea Road in Felixstowe.

Adventure Golf course on Sea Road in Felixstowe

And Magical Golf at Mannings Amusements in Felixstowe.

Magical Golf at Mannings Amusements in Felixstowe

We've now been to 1,022 miniature golf courses on our travels since September 2006.

Mini-Golf at Hastings Miniature Railway in Alexandra Park

Hastings Miniature Railway in Alexandra Park, Hastings, East Sussex has opened a new 9-hole mini-golf course.

Volcano Falls Adventure Golf in Milton Keynes

A new Volcano Falls Adventure Golf venue has opened in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.

You can find the new Volcano Falls Adventure Golf at Xscape Milton Keynes.

Visit the Volcano Falls Adventure Golf website for more information.

Golf Fang Crazy Golf in Nottingham

There are plans for a new Golf Fang Crazy Golf venue to open in Nottingham.

The indoor Crazy Golf location would be created in a former industrial site between Sneinton and Colwick in Nottingham.

Visit the Golf Fang website for more information.

Lost City Adventure Golf at Belfast's Odyssey Complex

A new Lost City Adventure Golf venue is opening at the Odyssey Complex in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The new Lost City Adventure Golf course will be the brand's second location in Belfast.

Visit the Lost City Adventure Golf website for more information.

Allstars Battle Bar in Colchester

A new venue with Crazy Golf is opening in the former Argos shop in Colchester, Essex.

Allstars Battle Bar in Colchester will be home to a Crazy Golf course among other indoor sports and games including axe throwing and shuffleboard.

Free minigolf in Canary Wharf, London

There's a free play minigolf course in Canary Wharf, London.

The pop-up course is in place for the summer.

Visit the Canary Wharf website for more information.

Boom Battle Bar in Colchester

There are plans for a new Boom Battle Bar venue to open in the old Debenhams in Colchester, Essex.

The new Boom Battle Bar in Colchester would be home to a minigolf course.

Visit the Boom Battle Bar website for more information.

A Woolworths ghost sign in Northampton

We spotted this ghost sign on the old Woolworths store in Northampton on our recent visit to the town.

You can still see the outline of the lettering on the building on Abington Street.

Other former Woolworths shops

It's fun seeing old & lost brands, ghost signs and retail relics. I took a look at the ghost signs on a former Woolworths store on Blackpool promenade in September 2021.

We saw a Woolworths ghost sign in Nuneaton in May 2022 too. That was a nice surprise!

Like the Blackpool store, the Nuneaton shop site had also most recently been a Poundland and a TJ Hughes.

We also saw these old Woolworths trolleys in use at Bolton Market last year!

The last Woolworths shop in the UK closed in January 2009. Every so often remnants of the brand become visible again.

We visited the Woolworths in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent in September 2020. That store still had the signage in place and we'd originally spotted it while driving through the town the previous November.

We took a look at an old Woolworths store in Brunstane, Edinburgh in August 2011. That was a Big W Woolworths store at The Jewel retail park. It's long gone now.

You can however still see an old mosaic tile logo at the former Woolworths on Stamford Street Central in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester.

Interestingly, there's a playable Woolworths Pick n' Mix Crazy Golf hole at the Teezers Retro Golf course in Coventry!

Accessible Adventure Golf at Lappa Valley in Cornwall

There's a new fully accessible Adventure Golf course at Lappa Valley in Cornwall.

The new 12-hole Adventure Golf course at Lappa Valley in St Newlyn East, Newquay relaces an old Crazy Golf course and has been designed to be fully accessible for wheelchair users and visitors with limited mobility.

Visit the Lappa Valley website for more information.

Adventure Footgolf at Stonham Barns

Smugglers Pass Adventure Footgolf is opening at Stonham Barns in Suffolk this month.

The team at Stonham Barns Golf Park in Suffolk have created a new way to play 'golf' - Adventure Footgolf!

The game is a cross between Adventure Golf and Footgolf.

Footgolf is already a marrying up of elements of football and golf, and played on Pitch & Putt / Par-3 layouts.

It'll be interesting to see the new invention when we next swing by Stonham Barns.

Stonham Barns offers a number of ways to play a round of golf

We've played miniature golf at Stonham Barns on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour several times over the years. The first time was in August 2007 when the old Crazy Golf course became the 33rd place we played.

Crazy Golf at Stonham Barns in 2007

We played the Smugglers Bay Adventure Golf course there in April 2019 when it became the 506th we've played and was the 815th visited overall.

Smugglers Bay Adventure Golf at Stonham Barns

 

Visit the Stonham Barns Golf Park website for more information.

Pubs of Stockport during the coronavirus pandemic

A look at Stopfordian Pubs.

Three years ago today we photographed The Kings Tap on Station Road in Cheadle Hulme. It became the first of 265 pubs, bars and clubs we visited in the borough between April and the 4th of July when the first lockdown ended.

Pub number 1 - The Kings Tap on Station Road in Cheadle Hulme. A lovely Art Deco building. We'd never seen it shuttered before the lockdown

We visited each of the pubs while on our daily outdoor exercise between Wednesday 1st April and before pubs were allowed to reopen with social distancing measures on Saturday 4th July.

It gave us something to do during the lockdowns and it was interesting to see the variety of architecture, different signage, parts of the town we haven't been to for a long time and other parts of the area we've never been to. I documented the pubs on Instagram using the #StopfordianPubs tag.

At the 265th pub on our lockdown 'pub crawl'. Not a drop was drunk on our daily walks in April, May, June and July