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Just as the sun rose these youngsters were in full action practising martial arts. This was taken at the Tughluqabad Fort in New Delhi, India with Nikon D300 at 1/640 sec, f/13, 200mm and ISO 200. Had to use maximum focal length as I was quite far away. Also as I had arrived a bit after the sun had risen, I had to position myself on a hill in a way that it still had the sun behind the fort wall.
The small harbour of Ognina, Catania, Sicily
On Explore. Highest position: 99 on Monday, August 17, 2009
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Troy Bayliss is on pole position for the British round of the World Superbikes at Brands Hatch. Here he is in practice showing how to take the bend at Druids.
2024 Rali Ceredigion, round 7 of the European Rally Championship and Round 5 of the British Rally Championship.
Car: Ford Fiesta Rally 2.
Class: M6 (National rally).
Driver: Neil Roskell (GBR).
Co-Driver: Rob Fagg (GBR).
Overall result: 2nd.
Position in class: 2nd.
Date taken: 31st August 2024.
Album: Rali Ceredigion August 2024
Highest Explore Position #251 ~ On January 27th 2008.
Goose - Regents Park, London, England - Friday January 25th 2008.
An eastbound Norfolk Southern stack train passes beneath the eastbound home signals for CP Leets on the Fort Wayne Line in Leetsdale, Pennsylvania.
On Explore. Highest position: 122 on Sunday, November 22, 2009
Many thanks!!
Click here to view large on slideshow
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I took 2 capes and put one hole from each over the arm-hole, then glued the arms in this position over them. The I glued the capes to the back when they were in the right position.
Taken from the same position as the previous photo, but looking in the opposite direction, this is the half-timbered gatehouse of Frocester Court, which is a largely medieval manor house, of great antiquity, which was granted to the monks of St Peters Abbey, Gloucester, in 823 AD.
This building however, is much later, and seems to have been built towards the end of the 16th century, and although not quite in the Cotswolds, it has the typical steeply pitched gabled roofs and mullioned windows with prominent drip moulds, that are characteristics of the genre. Another cold, windswept day in July !!
Taken with a 1960 Kodak 66 Model III, f4.5/75mm Anaston lens, x2 yellow filter. Fomapan Ultra 400 in Thornton's Two Bath, 5+5 mins @21C, & scanned @1200dpi on an Epson V500
NBER-3 ducks under the forlorn PRR signals at Milesburg, PA as they pull to clear the switch onto the Bellefonte Branch at BELLE. April 10, 2019.
Lesson 45 took 20 minutes to complete. Leave a comment on what you think could be better or what you like about it. Thanks :)
A view of the medieval castle in Lewes shortly before a shower of rain. Originally called Bray Castle, it occupies a commanding position guarding the gap in the South Downs cut by the River Ouse. Constructed from local limestone and flint blocks, it stands on a man-made mount just to the north of the High Street.
A girl is sat outside with her hands out meditating doing the lotus pose
We welcome you to use any of our images, please credit our site MeditationMusic.net as the original source if you do.
Railfreight makes a welcome return to Penmaenmawr Quarry after a decade and in some style in the form of one of GB Railfreight's premium Brush Traction locomotives, Class 60, 60087.
The working was a trial run ahead of a new flow of aggregate for concrete construction projects to the relatively new Hanson terminal at Tuebrook Sidings, due to start in earnest in the New Year. The 60 arrived on 6D60 07:08 Tuebrook Sidings to Penmaenmawr Quarry.
After arriving in the quarry sidings and splitting its rake of 23 JNAs, the loco drew the front portion forward and then ran round the whole rake, before shunting back on to the east end of the portion nearest the camera and propelling it back to reattach to the other portion. The whole train was then propelled further back into the sidings until the first wagon was positioned under the chute ready for loading (seen here).
GB Railfreight Liverpool Depot’s Mark Jones - born and bred in North Wales - was back on his home turf in the chair.
Wilmerding still sports a full set of PRR PLs on the busy NS Pittsburgh mainline. I'm thrilled these still stand, and will be making one last trip to capture these one last time before NS makes them history. The stories that these could tell...
There is a bit of background required to put this portrait in context. By mere chance, I discovered online that a fully-restored Boeing B-17G World War II heavy bomber was going to spend a week at the small airport in Kingston Ontario. Kingston is a beautiful, historic city three hours east of Toronto. It is also home to my son and his fiancée. While I wasn’t in a position to take a flight on Sentimental Journey, I was determined to see the plane, tour it on the ground, photograph it, and watch it take off and land.
When I saw it sitting on the tarmac of the Kingston Flying Club at the south edge of the airport, it was truly a thing of gleaming beauty. The plane is owned by the Commemorative Air Force, a nonprofit which is dedicated to preserving historic aircraft. It has chapters throughout the U.S. Sentimental Journey’s home base is in Phoenix Arizona but it tours and is available to the public every summer.
The man you are looking at was one of the volunteers who was available to explain about the airplane and answer questions and he was a treasure trove of historical and aviation information. Sensing my eager interest, he kindly made himself available to talk about airplanes and World War II and when I expressed interest in him, he also shared a bit about himself. Meet Bruce.
Bruce is a member of the Commemorative Air Force chapter in Indiana and he told me every year he likes to donate a couple of his vacation weeks to the organization. This summer he flew up to Toronto from Indiana on a commercial flight and met Sentimental Journey in nearby Peterborough Ontario. He spent that week hosting visitors and accompanying them on demonstration rides on the plane. He then accompanied the plane from Peterborough to Kingston where he is doing his last week of volunteering before returning to his “real life” in Indiana.
What is Bruce’s “real life?” Interestingly, it has nothing to do with aviation. He is a PhD research chemist at Purdue University in Lafayette Indiana. His work has to do with analyzing the quantities of medications in bloodstream samples and much of his work has to do with the pharmaceutical industry. He directs the university’s Metabolomics Facility (yes, that was a new one for me too.)
Understandably, most of our conversation was about Sentimental Journey and historic aircraft and it was clear that Bruce is a very informed student of history and lover of airplanes. He had a very warm, pleasant manner, which combined with is knowledge of the plane, made him the perfect tour guide. He had a very pleasant accent which I think was a mix of North Carolina where he did his PhD and Indiana where he lives currently.
When I explained my Human Family photo project to him, Bruce was interested and was happy to participate. We had a few minutes while other visitors were inside the plane and I suggested posing him inside the bomb bay, the doors of which were open and provided sheltered light on this bright day. We both had to duck to get into the bay and I took a couple of portraits with sample bombs hanging on the racks above his head. When I invited him to share a message with the project he thought for a moment and said “We should not glorify war, but we should not forget the past either. This plane serves as a memorial to the young men, often just 20 and 21 years of age who risked and lost their lives in these machines while serving their country.” He went on to reflect about the fact that many of the pilots, navigators, radio operators, and bombardiers were just kids and many of them had never been more than 25 miles from their Midwestern farm lives when they entered the military, were taught to fly and fight, and found themselves over the heart of Germany in the dead of night at 30,000 feet, dropping bombs and fighting for their lives. It is a sobering thought indeed. Bruce concluded with the comment “I wonder how many 20 year-olds would be able to manage that today?”
Thank you Bruce, for a fascinating conversation, a wealth of information about B-17s, and for participating in The Human Family. This is my 522nd submission to The Human Family Group on Flickr.
I hope you had a great two weeks of volunteering and return to your university job with fond memories of Canada.
You can view more street portraits and stories by visiting The Human Family.
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle here since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until the Union of the Crowns in 1603. From the 15th century the castle's residential role declined, and by the 17th century its principal role was as a military base with a large garrison. Its importance as a historic monument was recognised from the 19th century, and various restoration programmes have been carried out since. As one of the most important fortresses in the Kingdom of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle was involved in many historical conflicts, from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century, up to the Jacobite Rising of 1745, and has been besieged, both successfully and unsuccessfully, on several occasions.
Few of the present buildings pre-date the Lang Siege of the 16th century, when the medieval fortifications were largely destroyed by artillery bombardment. The notable exception is St Margaret's Chapel, the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh, which dates from the early 12th century. Among other significant buildings of the castle are the Royal Palace, and the early-16th-century Great Hall. The castle also houses the Scottish National War Memorial, and the National War Museum of Scotland.
Although formally owned by the Ministry of Defence, most of the castle is now in the care of Historic Scotland, and it is Scotland's most-visited paid tourist attraction. The garrison left in the 1920s, but there is still a military presence at the castle, largely ceremonial and administrative, and including a number of regimental museums. It is the backdrop to the annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo and has become a recognisable symbol of Edinburgh and of Scotland.
History:
Pre-history of the Castle Rock Geology
The castle stands upon the plug of an extinct volcano, which is estimated to have risen some 350 million years ago during the lower Carboniferous period. The Castle Rock is the remains of a volcanic pipe, which cut through the surrounding sedimentary rock, before cooling to form very hard dolerite, a type of basalt. Subsequent glacial erosion was resisted by the dolerite, which protected the softer rock to the east, leaving a crag and tail formation.
The summit of the Castle Rock is 130 metres (430 ft) above sea level, with rocky cliffs to the south, west and north, rearing up to 80 metres (260 ft) from the surrounding landscape. This means that the only readily accessible route to the castle lies to the east, where the ridge slopes more gently. The defensive advantage of such a site is clear, but the geology of the rock also presents difficulties, since basalt is an extremely poor aquifer. Providing water to the Upper Ward of the castle was problematic, and despite the sinking of a 28-metre (92 ft) deep well, the water supply often ran out during drought or siege, for example during the Lang Siege of 1573.
Earliest habitation:
Documentary reference to occupation of the Castle Rock can be found as early as the mid-2nd century AD. Ptolemy (c. 83 – c. 168) refers to a settlement of the Votadini known to the Romans as "Alauna", meaning "rock place", which may be the earliest known name for the Castle Rock. The Orygynale Cronykil of Andrew of Wyntoun (c. 1350 – c. 1423), an early chronicler of Scottish history, alludes to "Ebrawce" (Ebraucus), a legendary King of the Britons, who "byggyd [built] Edynburgh".[9] According to the earlier chronicler, Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100 – c. 1155), Ebraucus had fifty children by his twenty wives, and was the founder of "Kaerebrauc" (York), "Alclud" (Dumbarton), and the "Maidens' Castle". John Stow (c. 1525 – 1605), credited Ebraucus with building "the Castell of Maidens called Edenbrough" in 989 BC.
Variable wing-position. The bottom-right image is the angle it was at in the original version, but I feel that the top image is best representative of the in-game ship
With nearly 90-degree side lighting and a group of trees casting a large shadow, it's tough to squeeze off a shot of the color position light at the south end of the siding at Wapakoneta.
Different Position – Sir you are now a women 10
sissy.silicone-breast.com/2016/11/08/different-position-s...
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Notice : Releasing this comic on every Monday to Thursday
Rue St Féréol - Marseille
Listen to the real Sputnik 1 launched on October 4, 1957
Explore highest position : # 177
Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this illumination occurs.
The lower the Sun is beneath the horizon, the dimmer the twilight (other factors such as atmospheric conditions being equal). When the Sun reaches 18° below the horizon, the twilight's brightness is nearly zero, and evening twilight becomes nighttime. When the Sun again reaches 18° below the horizon, nighttime becomes morning twilight. Owing to its distinctive quality, primarily the absence of shadows and the appearance of objects silhouetted against the lit sky, twilight has long been popular with photographers and painters, who often refer to it as the blue hour, after the French expression l'heure bleue.
By analogy with evening twilight, the word twilight is also sometimes used metaphorically, to imply that something is losing strength and approaching its end. For example, very old people may be said to be "in the twilight of their lives". The collateral adjective for twilight is crepuscular, which may be used to describe the behavior of animals that are most active during this period.
Twilight is defined according to the solar elevation angle θs, which is the position of the geometric center of the Sun relative to the horizon. There are three established and widely accepted subcategories of twilight: civil twilight (nearest the horizon), nautical twilight, and astronomical twilight (farthest from the horizon).
Civil twilight is the time when the geometric center of the Sun is between the horizon and 6° below the horizon.
Civil twilight is the period when enough natural light remains that artificial light in towns and cities is not needed. In the United States' military, the initialisms BMCT (begin morning civil twilight, i.e., civil dawn) and EECT (end evening civil twilight, i.e., civil dusk) are used to refer to the start of morning civil twilight and the end of evening civil twilight, respectively. Civil dawn is preceded by morning nautical twilight and civil dusk is followed by evening nautical twilight.
Under clear weather conditions, civil twilight approximates the limit at which solar illumination suffices for the human eye to clearly distinguish terrestrial objects. Enough illumination renders artificial sources unnecessary for most outdoor activities. At civil dawn and at civil dusk sunlight clearly defines the horizon while the brightest stars and planets can appear. As observed from the Earth (see apparent magnitude), sky-gazers know Venus, the brightest planet, as the "morning star" or "evening star" because they can see it during civil twilight.
Lawmakers have enshrined the concept of civil twilight. Such statutes typically use a fixed period after sunset or before sunrise (most commonly 20–30 minutes), rather than how many degrees the Sun is below the horizon. Examples include when drivers of automobiles must turn on their headlights (called lighting-up time in the UK), when hunting is restricted, or when the crime of burglary is to be treated as nighttime burglary, which carries stiffer penalties in some jurisdictions.
The period may affect when extra equipment, such as anti-collision lights, is required for aircraft to operate. In the US, civil twilight for aviation is defined in Part 1.1 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) as the time listed in the American Air Almanac.
Nautical twilight is defined as when the geometric center of the Sun is between 12° and 6° below the horizon.
Before nautical dawn and after nautical dusk, sailors cannot navigate via the horizon at sea as they cannot clearly see the horizon. At nautical dawn and nautical dusk, the human eye finds it difficult, if not impossible, to discern traces of illumination near the sunset or sunrise point of the horizon (first light after nautical dawn but before civil dawn and nightfall after civil dusk but before nautical dusk).
Sailors can take reliable star sightings of well-known stars, during the stage of nautical twilight when they can distinguish a visible horizon for reference (i.e. after astronomic dawn or before astronomic dusk).
Under good atmospheric conditions with the absence of other illumination, during nautical twilight, the human eye may distinguish general outlines of ground objects but cannot participate in detailed outdoor operations.
Nautical twilight has military considerations as well. The initialisms BMNT (begin morning nautical twilight, i.e. nautical dawn) and EENT (end evening nautical twilight, i.e. nautical dusk) are used and considered when planning military operations. A military unit may treat BMNT and EENT with heightened security, e.g. by "standing to", in which everyone assumes a defensive position.
Astronomical twilight is defined as when the geometric center of the Sun is between 18° and 12° below the horizon.[3][4][2] During astronomical twilight, the sky is dark enough to permit astronomical observation of point sources of light such as stars, except in regions with more intense skyglow due to light pollution, moonlight, auroras, and other sources of light. Some critical observations, such as of faint diffuse items such as nebulae and galaxies, may require observation beyond the limit of astronomical twilight. Theoretically, the faintest stars detectable by the naked eye (those of approximately the sixth magnitude) will become visible in the evening at astronomical dusk, and become invisible at astronomical dawn.
Observers within about 48°34' of the Equator can view twilight twice each day on every date of the year between astronomical dawn, nautical dawn, or civil dawn, and sunrise as well as between sunset and civil dusk, nautical dusk, or astronomical dusk. This also occurs for most observers at higher latitudes on many dates throughout the year, except those around the summer solstice. However, at latitudes closer than 8°35' (between 81°25’ and 90°) to either Pole, the Sun cannot rise above the horizon nor sink more than 18° below it on the same day on any date, so this example of twilight cannot occur because the angular difference between solar noon and solar midnight is less than 17°10’.
Observers within 63°47'50" of the Equator can view twilight twice each day on every date between the month of the autumnal equinox and the month of vernal equinox between astronomical dawn, nautical dawn, or civil dawn, and sunrise as well as between sunset and civil dusk, nautical dusk, or astronomical dusk, i.e., from September 1 to March 31 of the following year in the Northern Hemisphere and from March 1 to September 30 in the Southern Hemisphere.
The nighttime/twilight boundary solar midnight's latitude varies depending on the certain month:
In the months of January or July, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 48°54' North or South, because in the months of January or July the Sun's declination is less than 23°06' from the Equator;
In the months of February or August, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 54°02' North or South, because in the months of February or August the Sun's declination is less than 17°58' from the Equator;
In the months of March or September before the equinoxes, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 63°47' North or South, because in the months of March or September before the equinoxes the Sun's declination is less than 8°13' from the Equator;
During the equinoxes, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 72°00' North or South, because during the equinoxes the Sun is crossing the Equator line;
In the months of March or September after the equinoxes, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 67°45' North or South, because in the months of March or September after the equinoxes the Sun's declination is less than 4°15' from the Equator;
In the months of April or October, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 57°09' North or South, because in the months of April or October the Sun's declination is less than 14°51' from the Equator;
In the months of May or November, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 50°03' North or South, because in the months of May or November the Sun's declination is less than 21°57' from the Equator;
In the months of June or December, astronomical dawn to sunrise or sunset to astronomical dusk occurs at latitudes less than 48°34' North or South, because in the month of June the Sun crosses the Tropic of Cancer (about 23°26' North) and in the month of December the Sun crosses the Tropic of Capricorn (about 23°26' South).
At latitudes greater than about 48°34' North or South, on dates near the summer solstice (June 21 in the Northern Hemisphere or December 21 in the Southern Hemisphere), twilight can last from sunset to sunrise, since the Sun does not sink more than 18 degrees below the horizon, so complete darkness does not occur even at solar midnight. These latitudes include many densely populated regions of the Earth, including the entire United Kingdom and other countries in northern Europe and even parts of central Europe. This also occurs in the Southern Hemisphere, but occurs on December 21. This type of twilight also occurs between one day and the next at latitudes within the polar circles shortly before and shortly after the period of midnight sun. The summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere is on June 21st, while the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere is on December 21st.
Civil twilight: between about 60°34' and 65°44' north or south. In the northern hemisphere, this includes the center of Alaska,Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Faroe Islands and Shetland. In the southern hemisphere this includes parts of the Southern Ocean and the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. When civil twilight lasts all night, this is also referred as a white night.
Nautical twilight: between about 54°34' and 60°34' north or south. In the northern hemisphere this includes the center of Alaska, Russia, Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Scotland, Norway, Sweden,Finland, Lithuania, and Denmark. In the southern hemisphere this includes the southernmost point of South America, and Ushuaia in Argentina. When nautical twilight lasts all night, this is also referred as a white night.
Astronomical twilight: between about 48°34' and 54°34' north or south. In the northern hemisphere, this includes the center of Isle of Man, Aleutian Islands, United Kingdom, Belarus, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic, Bellingham, Washington, Orcas Island, Washington, Vancouver, British Columbia, Paris, France, Luxembourg, Guernsey, Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary. In the southern hemisphere this includes the center of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Bouvet Island, Heard Island, Falkland Islands. It also includes El Calafate and Río Gallegos in Argentina, and Puerto Natales in Chile. When astronomical twilight lasts all night, this does not constitute a white night. This phenomenon is known as the grey nights, nights when it does not get dark enough for astronomers to do their observations of the deep sky.
In Arctic and Antarctic latitudes in wintertime, the polar night only rarely produces complete darkness for 24 hours each day. This can occur only at locations within about 5.5 degrees of latitude of the Pole, and there only on dates close to the winter solstice. At all other latitudes and dates, the polar night includes a daily period of twilight, when the Sun is not far below the horizon. Around winter solstice, when the solar declination changes slowly, complete darkness lasts several weeks at the Pole itself, e.g., from May 11 to July 31 at Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. North Pole has the experience of this from November 13 to January 29.
Solar noon at civil twilight during a polar night: between about 67°24' and 72°34' north or south.
Solar noon at nautical twilight during a polar night: between about 72°34' and 78°34' north or south.
Solar noon at astronomical twilight during a polar night: between about 78°34' and 84°34' north or south.
Solar noon at night during a polar night: between approximately 84°34' and exactly 90° north or south.
At latitudes greater than 81°25' North or South, as the Sun's angular elevation difference is less than 18 degrees, twilight can last for the entire 24 hours. This occurs for one day at latitudes near 8°35’ from the Pole and extends up to several weeks the further toward the Pole one goes. This happens both near the North Pole and near the South Pole. The only permanent settlement to experience this condition is Alert, Nunavut, Canada, where it occurs from February 22–26, and again from October 15–19.
The duration of twilight depends on the latitude and the time of the year. The apparent travel of the Sun occurs at the rate of 15 degrees per hour (360° per day), but sunrise and sunset happen typically at oblique angles to the horizon and the actual duration of any twilight period will be a function of that angle, being longer for more oblique angles. This angle of the Sun's motion with respect to the horizon changes with latitude as well as the time of year (affecting the angle of the Earth's axis with respect to the Sun).
At Greenwich, England (51.5°N), the duration of civil twilight will vary from 33 minutes to 48 minutes, depending on the time of year. At the equator, civil twilight can last as little as 24 minutes. This is true because at low latitudes the Sun's apparent movement is perpendicular to the observer's horizon. But at the poles, civil twilight can be as long as 2–3 weeks. In the Arctic and Antarctic regions, twilight (if there is any) can last for several hours. There is no astronomical twilight at the poles near the winter solstice (for about 74 days at the North Pole and about 80 days at the South Pole). As one gets closer to the Arctic and Antarctic circles, the Sun's disk moves toward the observer's horizon at a lower angle. The observer's earthly location will pass through the various twilight zones less directly, taking more time.
Within the polar circles, twenty-four-hour daylight is encountered in summer, and in regions very close to the poles, twilight can last for weeks on the winter side of the equinoxes. Outside the polar circles, where the angular distance from the polar circle is less than the angle which defines twilight (see above), twilight can continue through local midnight near the summer solstice. The precise position of the polar circles, and the regions where twilight can continue through local midnight, varies slightly from year to year with Earth's axial tilt. The lowest latitudes at which the various twilights can continue through local midnight are approximately 60.561° (60°33′43″) for civil twilight, 54.561° (54°33′43″) for nautical twilight and 48.561° (48°33′43″) for astronomical twilight.
Winlaton Mill is a village in Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is not to be confused with Winlaton to the northwest which now comprises the southern part of Blaydon. The village is halfway between Gateshead to the northeast and Rowlands Gill to the southwest. Statistically Winlaton Mill is part of the ward of Winlaton and High Spen which contains part of Blaydon, High Spen and other outlying villages. The village is on the A694 which joins the A1 at Swalwell and contains the Red Kite Pub and Restaurant. Winlaton Mill is near the River Derwent which may suggest its name.
Tyne and Wear is a ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne.
The county is largely urbanised. It had a population of 1.14 million in 2021. After Newcastle (300,125) the largest settlements are the city of Sunderland (170,134), Gateshead (120,046), and South Shields (75,337). Nearly all of the county's settlements belong to either the Tyneside or Wearside conurbations, the latter of which also extends into County Durham. Tyne and Wear contains five metropolitan boroughs: Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, North Tyneside and South Tyneside, and is covered by two combined authorities, North of Tyne and North East. The county was established in 1974 and was historically part of Northumberland and County Durham, with the River Tyne forming the border between the two.
The most notable geographic features of the county are the River Tyne and River Wear, after which it is named and along which its major settlements developed. The county is also notable for its coastline to the North Sea in the east, which is characterised by tall limestone cliffs and wide beaches.
In the late 600s and into the 700s Saint Bede lived as a monk at the monastery of St. Peter and of St. Paul writing histories of the Early Middle Ages including the Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
Roughly 150 years ago, in the village of Marsden in South Shields, Souter Lighthouse was built, the first electric structure of this type.
The Local Government Act 1888 constituted Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead and Sunderland as county boroughs (Newcastle had "county corporate" status as the "County and Town of Newcastle upon Tyne" since 1400). Tynemouth joined them in 1904. Between the county boroughs, various other settlements also formed part of the administrative counties of Durham and of Northumberland.
The need to reform local government on Tyneside was recognised by the government as early as 1935, when a Royal Commission to Investigate the Conditions of Local Government on Tyneside was appointed. The three commissioners were to examine the system of local government in the areas of local government north and south of the river Tyne from the sea to the boundary of the Rural District of Castle Ward and Hexham in the County of Northumberland and to the Western boundary of the County of Durham, to consider what changes, if any, should be made in the existing arrangements with a view to securing greater economy and efficiency, and to make recommendations.
The report of the Royal Commission, published in 1937, recommended the establishment of a Regional Council for Northumberland and Tyneside (to be called the "Northumberland Regional Council") to administer services that needed to be exercised over a wide area, with a second tier of smaller units for other local-government purposes. The second-tier units would form by amalgamating the various existing boroughs and districts. The county boroughs in the area would lose their status. Within this area, a single municipality would be formed covering the four county boroughs of Newcastle, Gateshead, Tynemouth, South Shields and other urban districts and boroughs.
A minority report proposed amalgamation of Newcastle, Gateshead, Wallsend, Jarrow, Felling, Gosforth, Hebburn and Newburn into a single "county borough of Newcastle-on-Tyneside". The 1937 proposals never came into operation: local authorities could not agree on a scheme and the legislation of the time did not allow central government to compel one.
Tyneside (excluding Sunderland) was a Special Review Area under the Local Government Act 1958. The Local Government Commission for England came back with a recommendation to create a new county of Tyneside based on the review area, divided into four separate boroughs. This was not implemented. The Redcliffe-Maud Report proposed a Tyneside unitary authority, again excluding Sunderland, which would have set up a separate East Durham unitary authority.
The White Paper that led to the Local Government Act 1972 proposed as "area 2" a metropolitan county including Newcastle and Sunderland, extending as far south down the coast as Seaham and Easington, and bordering "area 4" (which would become Tees Valley). The Bill as presented in November 1971 pruned back the southern edge of the area, and gave it the name "Tyneside". The name "Tyneside" proved controversial on Wearside, and a government amendment changed the name to "Tyne and Wear" at the request of Sunderland County Borough Council.
Tyne and Wear either has or closely borders two official Met Office stations, neither located in one of the major urban centres. The locations for those are in marine Tynemouth where Tyne meets the North Sea east of Newcastle and inland Durham in County Durham around 20 kilometres (12 mi) south-west of Sunderland. There are some clear differences between the stations temperature and precipitation patterns even though both have a cool-summer and mild-winter oceanic climate.
Tyne and Wear contains green belt interspersed throughout the county, mainly on the fringes of the Tyneside/Wearside conurbation. There is also an inter-urban line of belt helping to keep the districts of South Tyneside, Gateshead, and Sunderland separated. It was first drawn up from the 1950s. All the county's districts contain some portion of belt.
Although Tyne and Wear County Council was abolished in 1986, several joint bodies exist to run certain services on a county-wide basis. Most notable is the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority, which co-ordinates transport policy. Through its passenger transport executive, known as Nexus, it owns and operates the Tyne and Wear Metro light rail system, and the Shields ferry service and the Tyne Tunnel, linking communities on either side of the River Tyne. Also through Nexus, the authority subsidises socially necessary transport services (including taxis) and operates a concessionary fares scheme for the elderly and disabled. Nexus has been an executive body of the North East Joint Transport Committee since November 2018.
Other joint bodies include the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service and Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, which was created from the merger of the Tyne and Wear Archives Service and Tyne and Wear Museums. These joint bodies are administered by representatives of all five of the constituent councils. In addition the Northumbria Police force covers Northumberland and Tyne and Wear.
There have been occasional calls for Tyne and Wear to be abolished and the traditional border between Northumberland and County Durham to be restored.
Tyne and Wear is divided into 12 Parliamentary constituencies. Historically, the area has been a Labour stronghold; South Shields is the only Parliamentary constituency that has never returned a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons since the Reform Act of 1832.
Newcastle and Sunderland are known for declaring their election results early on election night. Therefore, they frequently give the first indication of nationwide trends. An example of this was at the 2016 European Union referendum. Newcastle was the first large city to declare, and 50.6% of voters voted to Remain; this proportion was far lower than predicted by experts. Sunderland declared soon after and gave a 62% vote to Leave, much higher than expected. These two results were seen as an early sign that the United Kingdom had voted to Leave.
Offshore Group Newcastle make oil platforms. Sage Group, who produce accounting software, are based at Hazlerigg at the northern end of the Newcastle bypass. Northern Rock, which became a bank in 1997 and was taken over by Virgin Money in November 2011, and the Newcastle Building Society are based in Gosforth. The Gosforth-based bakery Greggs now has over 1,500 shops. The Balliol Business Park in Longbenton contains Procter & Gamble research and global business centres and a tax credits call centre for HMRC, and is the former home of Findus UK. The Government National Insurance Contributions Office in Longbenton, demolished and replaced in 2000, had a 1 mile (1.6 km) long corridor.
Be-Ro and the Go-Ahead Group bus company are in central Newcastle. Nestlé use the former Rowntrees chocolate factory on the east of the A1. BAE Systems Land & Armaments in Scotswood, formerly Vickers-Armstrongs, is the main producer of British Army tanks such as the Challenger 2. A Rolls-Royce apprentice training site is next door.[18] Siemens Energy Service Fossil make steam turbines at the CA Parsons Works in South Heaton. Sir Charles Parsons invented the steam turbine in 1884, and developed an important local company. Domestos, a product whose main ingredient is sodium hypochlorite, was originated in Newcastle in 1929 by William Handley, and was distributed from the area for many years.
Clarke Chapman is next to the A167 in Gateshead. The MetroCentre, the largest shopping centre in Europe, is in Dunston. Scottish & Newcastle was the largest UK-owned brewery until it was bought by Heineken and Carlsberg in April 2008, and produced Newcastle Brown Ale at the Newcastle Federation Brewery in Dunston until production moved to Tadcaster in September 2010. At Team Valley are De La Rue, with their largest banknote printing facility, and Myson Radiators, the second largest in the UK market. Petards make surveillance equipment including ANPR cameras, and its Joyce-Loebl division makes electronic warfare systems and countermeasure dispensing systems such as the AN/ALE-47. Sevcon, an international company formed from a part of Smith Electric, is a world leader in electric vehicle controls. AEI Cables and Komatsu UK construction equipment at Birtley.
J. Barbour & Sons make outdoor clothing in Simonside, Jarrow. SAFT Batteries make primary lithium batteries on the Tyne in South Shields. Bellway plc houses is in Seaton Burn in North Tyneside. Cobalt Business Park, the largest office park in the UK, is at Wallsend, on the former site of Atmel, and is the home of North Tyneside Council. Swan Hunter until 2006 made ships in Wallsend, and still designs ships. Soil Machine Dynamics in Wallsend on the Tyne makes Remotely operated underwater vehicles, and its Ultra Trencher 1 is the world's largest submersible robot.
The car dealership Evans Halshaw is in Sunderland. The car factory owned by Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK between North Hylton and Washington is the largest in the UK. Grundfos, the world's leading pump manufacturer, builds pumps in Sunderland. Calsonic Kansei UK, formerly Magna, make automotive instrument panels and car trim at the Pennywell Industrial Estate. Gestamp UK make automotive components. Smith Electric Vehicles originated in Washington. The LG Electronics microwave oven factory opened in 1989, closed in May 2004, and later became the site of the Tanfield Group. Goodyear Dunlop had their only UK car tyre factory next to the Tanfield site until its 2006 closure. BAE Systems Global Combat Systems moved to a new £75 million factory at the former Goodyear site in 2011, where they make large calibre ammunition for tanks and artillery.
The government's child benefit office is in Washington. Liebherr build cranes next to the Wear at Deptford. The outdoor clothing company Berghaus is in Castletown. Vaux Breweries, who owned Swallow Hotels, closed in 1999. ScS Sofas are on Borough Road. There are many call centres in Sunderland, notably EDF Energy at the Doxford International Business Park, which is also the home of the headquarters of the large international transport company Arriva and Nike UK. Rolls-Royce planned to move their production of fan and turbine discs to BAE Systems' new site in 2016.
Hamburg
The Hamburg flak towers are two large, concrete, steel-reinforced air defense and air defense structures in the Hamburg districts of St. Pauli and Wilhelmsburg. Originally, four towers were built during the Second World War, more precisely in the years from 1942 to 1944, two of which were designed as bunkers with mounted anti-aircraft guns and two as smaller control centers. The towers could only partially meet the military requirements for a combat position; But they were all the more successful as a shelter for the population and in terms of propaganda because they were designed as almost indestructible fortresses. Because of their self-sufficient construction, they might have had a long-term defense against attacking ground troops. Of the four built towers, the two battle towers have been preserved.
In response to the Allied air raids on Berlin, the “Führer order to erect flak towers in Berlin” was issued on September 9, 1940, which was extended to the cities of Vienna and Hamburg by the end of 1942 in order to protect them from bombing raids. During the Second World War, Hamburg became the target of Allied air raids, among other things because several large shipyards such as Blohm & Voss, Howaldtswerke, Deutsche Werft and H.C. Stülcken's son who produced many of the German submarines. The flak towers were designed by the architect Friedrich Tamms under the direction of Albert Speer, General Building Inspector for the Reich capital, and realized by the Todt Organization, also with the use of thousands of foreign and forced laborers.
The Flakturm IV in St. Pauli belongs to type 1. The high-rise bunker on Feldstrasse was built in 1942 by 1,000 forced laborers in 300 days. He was armed with four 10.5 cm anti-aircraft guns, which were replaced by four 12.8 cm Flakzwilling 40 in August 1942. The Flakturm IV is one of the largest bunkers ever built. The base measures 75 meters by 75 meters and is 38 meters high. The wall thickness is 3.5 meters; the ceiling is five meters thick. Windows were built in and sealed with concrete seals. Although the capacity was limited to 18,000 people, up to 25,000 people sought refuge in the bunker during the heavy air raids on Hamburg in the summer of 1943. There was a special pram entrance for women with children. In the bunker there was a spiral staircase to the top, which initially had no handrail and was life-threatening in crowded conditions.
The bunker Feldstrasse was used by civilian tenants after the war, as there was a great shortage of living space in Hamburg at that time. That is why the tower was prevented from being blown up in July 1947, and the required explosive force would probably have affected large parts of the city center. Corresponding experience was gained from comparable systems in Berlin. During the Cold War, the intact combat tower was reactivated as an air raid shelter.
In 1990 the building was sold for around 1.6 million DM and converted into a media center, which today houses the Uebel & Dangerous disco and a large branch of the musical instrument dealer JustMusic. In 1993 the investor Thomas Matzen acquired the heritable building right for the bunker until 2053 for 6 million DM at that time. In the meantime, this heritable building right has been transferred to Matzen Immobilien GmbH. Together with a group of investors, the company applied to add five floors to the listed building with a height of around 20 meters. A hotel, a fitness club, restaurants, an event and sports hall are to be built. The investment also includes planting on the roof. The estimated investment costs of around 30 million euros are to be offset by the commercial uses. After approval by the district office in Mitte, on July 12, 2017, the citizens also approved the building plans and the extension of the long-term lease with the votes of the SPD and the Greens.
The first of five floors to be added was concreted in June 2020. A lawsuit against the increase was dismissed in July 2020.
Increase and greening
In advance of these decisions, there was criticism of the plans presented. At the beginning of June 2017, construction plans were published according to which the often advertised green increase can only be realized in a significantly reduced manner due to fire protection requirements. The Left criticized the agreed conditions that instead of the actual land value of around 1,500 euros per square meter, only a value of just under 980 euros was calculated, plus a discount of 30 percent. In addition, a parking space fee of 744,000 euros was waived.
In May 2019 it became known that tenants in the bunker would suffer disadvantages due to the addition work.