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Stafford West Midlands village
April 22, 2014by David Herd
Visiting a friend in prison.
Stafford West Midlands village
Stafford West Midlands village was a pleasant train ride from London, but why go to Stafford you may well ask? Well apart from being a nice West Midlands village there is a prison there where a good friend of mine was residing as a guest of Her Majesty.
Stafford was founded in about 700 ADby a Mercian prince called Bertelin who, according to legend, established a hermitage on the peninsular named Betheney or Bethnei.
A type of bull terrier called the Staffordshire Bull Terrier was bred for hunting purposes in this county. They are known affectionately as “staffs”, “staffies”, and “nanny-dogs”. Staffies should not be confused with the considerably larger American Staffordshire Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, and (English) Bull Terrier.
Town center
The town center has a relaxed feel about it, like many other English towns cars are banned from the centre so you can stroll casually and take in the scenery.
St Chad’s Church
The oldest building now in Stafford is St Chad’s Church, dating back into the twelfth century.
Ancient High House
Behind the street buskers is The ElizabethanAncient High House in the town centre is the largest timber-framed town house in England.
The Bear Grill
Looks like a typical British pub to me. 🙂
Ian’s Kitchen
Well the day I was there Ian didn’t seem to be doing much business even though he sits in a prime position in the town centre.
Farewell Stafford
After a few pleasant hours in this nice town where I saw my friend in the local prison, I boarded the train and headed back to London. The following day I was on a flight to South Africa. Finally I must relate a nice story surrounding my visit to Stafford prison. My friend had recently been moved from Uttoxeter so I could not arrange a regular visit, instead a visit was organized through the prison chaplain Jeff Bird. As it turns out Jeff was a New Zealander and a very nice man. He gave me a tour of the prison and pointed out some of the interesting prison history, I would like to thank him for his kindness.
The infamous Australian Rolf Harris now resides in Stafford prison, read about it here.
My friend Alan
Here is the friend I visit with his Brazilian wife in Rio de Janeiro in 2006. He expects to serve 13 years behind bars.
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My history, particularly over the last 30 years is dominated by overseas travel. I sold my home in Australia October 20th 2011 and have have been living in Thailand since then. I don’t know where the time has gone? It seems like you go to sleep one night, wake up the next morning, and 20 years have flashed by. Not sure how many years I have left, however I have enjoyed a wonderful charmed life, and if it all ended today I would leave this world with no regrets.
I was born in Sydney halfway through the last century, started my travels in the 60s with the usual U.K. Europe adventure at the age of 20, back to Australia and worked in Sydney, Melbourne & Adelaide in Sales & Marketing with multinational companies including Sanyo, Canon & Remington.
Engaged to be married 3 times and never quite made it to the alter, finally realized by the mid 90s I was not cut out for "long term relationships" so I moved to the Gold Coast in Queensland in January 1987, worked for a couple of banks as a Financial Planner, I took a year off work in 1998 to travel and never went back to full time work again, after 25 fun filled years on the Coast I packed up and moved to Thailand.
What is the purpose of this blog? Well I really want to use it to record my travel experiences & to display my photographs, give and receive travel tips, comment on places I visit, restaurants I eat in and use it to replace the autobiography I intended to write, apart from all that it helps me fill in my day. :)
I moved to Thailand mainly because I wanted to keep travelling while my health allowed me to, there are huge advantages being closer to all the places I want to visit.
Cost of living in Thailand is around 35% of the cost in Australia, plus flights are 50% cheaper because you are much closer to everywhere. ????
Consequently I am able to travel to many more places compared to living in Australia.
Having said all that, it is & has always been my intention to return to Australia when my travelling is finished, I predict this will happen around 2021.