Packington Estate

Photograph Quiz:

Photo no 48:- The London to Brighton stage road relay took place from the twenties to the mid 1960s. So why is this take over on grass?? And why does the banner say 'Start and Finish'? And who is the Olympian finishing his leg? And what is the name of the athlete starting? A clue ... the club is Coventry Godiva Harriers.

Dear Blog,

 Can you believe it or can you believe it? I was doing a fartlek session up at the War Memorial Park on Saturday. I don’t mean, can you believe that I was doing a FARTLEK session up at the War Memorial Park on Saturday, but, can you believe the incident that happened during the session. I say fartlek but it was rather a cross between an interval type session and a true fartlek session, a standard format that I have used for years. I had done about four miles when I went a**e over t*t at the junction where the tarmac footpath becomes the car park entrance road to the park. Down I went. Crash. Lacerated flesh and spurting blood. I think I went down because I was watching an approaching car, slowly leaving the car park travelling towards me. Anyway I went down with a crash, taking the skin off my left arm and right knee and very badly bruising my dignity. As I lay there with tears welling up into my eyes, the car I had been watching continued to slowly edge towards me, mounted the kerb to get past and carried on out of the park!!!! I kid you not. ‘Thanks mate, sorry if I’m in your way laid here sunbathing in the middle of the road. I find I get a better tan stretched out in the roadway, something to do with the sun’s rays bouncing off the tar macadam, I think.’ Can you believe that, Blog? The caring big society? ‘I am in my car and you happen to be in my way. Don’t bother moving, I can get round you, no problem.’ I suppose I should be grateful that in addition to my bloody arm and leg, I didn’t have tyre tread marks across my chest. Anyway I was very brave, I mopped the tears from my eyes, wiped the blood from the gash on my arm and completed the session. Boy, was I sore the following day. So, instead of the intended session, I did a modified ‘10’ on the road to make sure that I recovered enough for today. I was trudging so slowly that a stag beetle crossing the road in front of me was faster, I kid you not. I trudge up the hill towards the radio towers, towards Maxstoke. Down one of the country lanes, I passed a small triangular grass traffic island at a lane junction, on which there is a very old oak tree. On the trunk is mounted a brass plaque denoting the fact that John Wesley preached there; no date given. As I continued to drop down the lane, I could see the huge tip at Packington. My first ever long run, forty years ago, when I came to Coventry, took me passed the tip. In the morning, I had ridden on my moped and found the track at Nuneaton so I could do a 10 by 440 interval session. I was amazed at finding the track because on arrival, I recognised it as the track I had run on in an Inter Counties 1500m a year or so earlier. I had travelled to the match on the county coach and had not taken too much notice about where we were travelling to!!! Surprised I was!!! I did my session, had some lunch, a rest and was ready for my ‘20’. For the long run in the afternoon, I went from the pit village of Arley, through Fillongley village, over Meriden top, down past the ruined Abbey at Maxstoke, through Coleshill, down the Packington Lane before turning for home along the A45 trunk road, back to Arley. Little did I realise that in a couple of year’s time, I would be running up and down the Packington Lane to and from work at Coleshill School. I went down the lane, passed the tip. It stank. There was rubbish everywhere. The tip was a series of gigantic holes about 50 or 60 feet deep. Tipping had recently begun I think. I later learned how interesting the enterprise was. The tip was on Lord Aylesford’s land, part of the Packington Estate. Apparently, a few years before, the estate was having severe financial problems; minimal income from farm lets, set on not very good agricultural land. Packington Hall, sat stately in the middle of heath land, was in dire need of restoration / preservation work. So was the estate church. So was the North Hall. So were the many farms on the estate. But there was no money. Then things changed. I don’t know who was responsible for the transformation but the ‘how’ is extremely interesting from a conservation point of view. The first thing to happen in the sequence of events that led to liquidity was that acres of the estate were turned over to sand and aggregate extraction, thereby creating those massive holes I mentioned but also creating a source of income for the Packington Estate. The holes were then licensed to the surrounding local authorities to be filled with household waste, thereby creating a source of income for the Packington Estate. Then the motorway (M6) was built along the northern boundary of the estate thereby creating a source of income for the Packington Estate. Some of the large holes were turned into fisheries, thereby creating a source of income for the Packington Estate. Some of the land near the motorway was turned into a golf course, thereby creating a source of income for the Packington Estate. A hotel / conference centre was built beside the golf course, thereby creating a source of income for the Packington Estate.  When the holes were filled with rubbish, the local planning authority gave planning permission for the tipping to continue, the hole slowly growing into a huge mound a couple of hundred feet high spread over many acres, thereby creating a source of income for the Packington Estate. The mound was then covered with a membrane of plastic, trapping the methane gas which had been produced by the millions of tons of rotting household waste dumped at the tip over the years. The captured gas was piped to a generating station built nearby on the old railway line (thanks to Dr. Beeching) that ran through the estate. Electricity was produced by the generator which was sold to the Electric Generating Board, thereby creating a source of income for the Packington Estate. The mound has been grassed over and returned to agriculture which is of a better quality than the original land, thereby creating a source of income for the Packington Estate.

I do think that the whole enterprise is extremely praiseworthy. Intrusion and inconvenience for a period of years, but then a return to the natural order of things. And a part of England’s heritage has been saved because the income generated has been used for restoration on the estate fabric, and the Packington Hall preserved despite a disastrous fire at the Hall a few years ago. If only other industries were half as successful or committed, our countryside would be all the better. Let me now declare an interest. For very many years, Lord Aylesford, then his son on inheritance, gave me permission to run through his private estate to and from my place of work at Coleshill School. There was no public access to the estate. Also, a couple of years ago when I was organising the multi stage ‘N.P.Areospace Tour of Coventry and Warwickshire’ to celebrate the first marathon to be run in this country, I was allowed to run one of the stages through the park, at no cost ... as opposed to running another stage at the Prodrive Test Track at a cost of £800!!!!! The run through the Park made a big impression on the competitors ..... past the fishing lakes, in front of the old stately Hall, over the heath land with the deer bemused at the spectacle of a running race, crossing the old packhorse bridge. Not only was the five day event memorable, but this stage in particular, was unforgettable.

Anyways, I completed my ‘10’ and am fit and well for today, just in case you were worried about me, Blog. Joke.

                                                   Colin

PS Don’t forget Tiny Tims Children’s Centre