Cheltenham Odeon dies

The Cheltenham Odeon was born in 1933. Originally, it was a one screen giant but in later years it was split into 7. This week, they are taking it down. There's a photo-history here . For pictures of this Art Deco masterpiece in life see here. Here's my pictures of the half demolished building.

For the proposed, rather bland replacement, see here

Dowdeswell

I'm not sure if Dowdeswell Nature Reserve still exists. It's on the maps. and Geograph has a photo of a sign but the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust doesn't mention it and when I got to the site of the photo, I found the sign had been removed with a saw.

The reservoir itself was still there. Its life has been undistinguished. Originally part of the waterworks for Cheltenham, it became redundant when the Mythe Water Treatment Works took over. The next job was to protect Cheltenham from flooding. It doesn't fulfil that mission particularly well because substantial tributaries off the Chelt join below the dam.

The dry side of the dam

The concrete overflow spillway is visited by local artists following a prolonged spell of dry weather

Further down the spillway. The yellow sign promises deep water

A curious tree by the old filter beds

Scottish Independence Referendum

The result should be known around breakfast time next Friday. This would be the perfect day for the Government to release any embarrassing news. Do make a point of checking for other stories especially if the result is "Yes". If you have an interest in a particular branch of government, do check the appropriate web site on Friday.

Here's a search for National Statistics due out on that day. Also, individual departments may publish interesting documents outside the National Statistics scheme. E.G.: You can see that DWP plans to release Discretionary Social Fund Data 2012-13 by Local Authority from https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/list-of-scheduled-upcoming-ad-hoc-statistical-releases