6th February

Today's "Wide Wednesday" challenge prompt of "Tradition" with suggestions of a church, public building or festival, meant a trip down to the bottom end of town with a plan to grab a possible 2for1 or even 3for1. The plan was to photograph an abandoned church a short walk from Torquay's harbourside, perfect for Wide Wednesday as even in portrait orientation I needed my 10-20mm lens to get all the church in. But also perfect for the "Derelict Sunday" challenge. The shot to the right is a slightly different angle to my Blip, click the date to see that one, 6th February. The church has had a varied life so far. Not sure about its religious life but in the 80's it was a snooker hall called the Breakaway and from the late 90's early 2000's it was a children's play café, which closed about 3 or 4 years ago, Then for a while it was occupied by squatters, who were evicted about 18 months ago. Since then it has been abandoned and boarded up.
As I headed down through town I took some photos of Torquay Town Hall.

This shot shows the entrance to the "Concert Hall" which in the 60's and 70's was a popular concert venue hosting some well known acts including The Who, The Kinks, David Bowie and Eric Clapton. One band Torquay missed out on though was the Beatles because their agent refused to lower the appearance fee by £50 to what the Town Hall's booking agent wanted to pay.

My final extra for today shows the main entrance to the Town Hall and the clock tower above it.

Torquay's Town Hall was built in 1911 and during both world wars was used as a hospital for the Red Cross Society and in 1914 a young lady by the name of Agatha Christie served as a nurse (that same year she also started writing her first novel).