LINCOLNSHIRE

THE RIVER TRENT AT GAINSBOROUGH

Many years ago the River Trent was the last view I had of Gainsborough, as with my family I started the long journey to a new home in Sydney, so it seemed fitting that when I returned to the town in 1985, it was the River Trent that first welcomed me back again.

I had turned off the A1 at Bawtry and soon saw all the familiar names of the small villages as I headed towards Trent Bridge and it wasn't long before I was making the left hand turn into Bridge Street....it wasn't long, too, before memories gave way to reality ! Where was the Co-op, Silver Street and the Market Place ? Before I knew it, I was approaching Ropery Road but I couldn't see Rose Bros anywhere. However I soon got my bearings and arrived at my uncle's home with no further problems.

The Riverside has certainly changed. This is a photograph of how it used to look.

My next visit was in 2005 and this time I was well prepared for all the changes after reading the comments in the Gainsborough OnLine forum. It was good to meet up with some of the members there and find that although we had never met, we were good friends.....and this time I had a really good camera so here are a few photographs from this visit and also from another one I made in 2007. There are so many photographs that I will start with the Trent in this posting and continue with other parts of the town in later entries.

Approaching the Bridge, Trentport presents an attractive entrance to the town from this direction.

The Bridge is a little different to when I lived here - no stone balustrades.

Looking towards where Lea Road School used to be - the building is still there but it is no longer a school.

My thanks to Jack for the two photographs below.

The old downrun riverfront is now on its way to becoming an asset to the town, I only hope that bureaucracy doesn't ruin it for everyone !

A view from across the River of some new and not so new buildings.

The power station was something new since we left, too.

The River is no where near as busy as it used to be but you still get the occasional barge pottering along....

.....and if you are lucky, you sometimes see a whole parade of vessels.

The one thing I really wanted to photograph was the aegir but in spite of checking the times in the local newspapers, it was the wrong time of the year for a really good one.

While I was definitely there in plenty of time, all I saw was a gradual increase in the flow of the water which didn't even cause a ripple let alone a full blown surge of water....