NAILSEA
PEOPLE
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It was the hairdressers at SP hair company who dubbed the new park being built at the old glassworks as ‘Teletubbyland’.
For nearly a decade customers and staff at the High Street salon have had to gaze out on a deserted wasteland.
But then the contractors Wick moved in and covered the muddy mound with grass.
SP stylist Fiona Mallett, aged 41, said: “It looks much better but it does look like Teletubbyland especially in the morning when the sun comes over the top.
“All it needs is a few flowers and some rabbits.
“My daughter Jessica who is nearly 14 used to watch the television show years ago and we have all been laughing at the salon about Teletubbyland but it is much better than the view we had before.
“We all expect Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po to come dancing over the top of the mound at any moment.”
A new series about the four colourful cult-characters from the award-winning pre-school series is to be shown on CBeebies.
The 14 week contract to turn the historic eyesore into a community park with seating and pathways on the green patch opposite Tesco supermarket is nearly complete although the site is still surrounded by fencing.
Nailsea Town Council clerk Ian Morrell said: “The contractor is responsible for the grass for 12 months after ‘practical completion’ so understandably they don’t want to remove the fencing until they are confident it will not be damaged by people walking across it.”
The leisure facilities committee is due to meet on Wednesday, March 4, to discuss an official opening ceremony.
Teletubbie costumes sell on Ebay for between £33-35 on Ebay.
Fiona added: “It would be absolutely hilarious if the town council invited some Teletubbies to an opening ceremony."
Library gadget club
A new initiative to help residents get online is coming to North Somerset's libraries.
Anyone who has a smart phone, tablet or iPad and needs help using it, or is thinking of getting one and wants to learn more, can get the low-down at the new Gadget Club.
Volunteers will be on hand to demonstrate how to use a range of gadgets and help people explore useful apps and websites using the free wi-fi in libraries.
Free sessions will run in libraries across the area.
The first takes place from 2.30-4.30pm on Wednesday, March 4, at the library in the Town Hall, Weston-super-Mare.
Further sessions in Clevedon, Nailsea, Portishead and around the area will be advertised in libraries and on social media.
The Gadget Club is a drop-in session so there's no need to book.
The Nailsea session is planned for the week of June 1-5.
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A posh people’s shop is keeping the name of Nailsea’s heritage alive with a range of modern glassware.
And thanks to a Daily Mail feature on a kitchen refit at 11 Downing Street we learn that customers David and Samantha Cameron paid £25 for their set of six Nailsea water glasses.
But in all probability the tumblers have as much to do with Nailsea, North Somerset, as a stick of Brighton rock has to do with its seaside namesake.
The ministerial four-bed central London flat got a £64,000 refurbishment when the Cameron family chose it as their home instead of the more cramped accommodation next door at No10.
Mrs Cameron shopped for some of the new fixtures and fittings at OKA an upmarket mail order store launched in the late 1990s by her mother Lady Annabel Astor.
However, in its current catalogue only three items with the Nailsea tag are on offer – small and large wine glasses and some Champagne flutes which all retail at more than £30 a set.
To be fair to the Cameron’s they also shopped at John Lewis and other suppliers for their household accessories.
The first newspaper feature about the refit in 2011 criticised the new kitchen on its ‘formality’ but this was when Mrs Cameron was entertaining US first lady Michelle Obama.
We don’t know if she drank out of anything with a Nailsea label.
A more recent rehash of the story this January shows a more ‘relaxed’ and homely approach for a charity breakfast with special needs children and their parents again with a mention for Nailsea glass.
The history of Nailsea glassworks begun in the 18th century and is beautifully illustrated in a tiled mural on the wall of the Tesco supermarket at the end of the High Street, pictured below.
Most of the glasswork remains are under the store and car park but a new £250,000 park, set to open soon, includes a ‘telebubbies-style’ grass mould under which are what remains of the industrial structure now designated as a scheduled monument.
The cone had all but disappeared and many garden rockeries on the new housing estates are believed to have their roots in the glasswork bricks.
Nailsea workers made bottle glass and some window glass from 1788- 1873 using coal from local mines to fuel the furnaces.
At the end of their shift many glassworkers especially apprentices modelled decorative household items to sell and it is these which have become collectors’ items worldwide.
The Antique Bible warns to beware of fakes ‘...because so few pieces of Nailsea Glass actually were made in Nailsea, England, they are valuable and have become prized possessions...’.
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BREAKFAST GLASS: Mrs Cameron and family, top, enjoying breakfast is part of a photography exhibition Pictures From Home at the end of January at La Galleria, Pall Mall. The Contact A Family promotes positive imagery of families with disabled children. More information about the charity HERE.
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MOTHERING DAY PRIZES
Crown Glass Shopping Centre pose with a posy competition attracted nearly 60 entries - vote for your favourite on Facebook - details of dining out on Sunday, March 15, on the What's On page and the Cadbury House page
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Teletubby land at end of Nailsea High Street
Reflecting on Nailsea glass
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THE online community newspaper for Nailsea people, their family and their friends
February 2015
Part Three
![Nailsea High Street.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d25f96_005de6b398584f49b4222c32df5c5b58.jpg/v1/crop/x_135,y_0,w_690,h_480/fill/w_827,h_575,al_c,lg_1,q_85,enc_auto/Nailsea%20High%20Street.jpg)