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Sat, 15 Mar 2014 16:31:50 +0000

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Thu, 13 Mar 2014 17:42:55 +0000

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Uttoxeter Canal

Tue, 11 Mar 2014 15:59:34 +0000

The Uttoxeter Canal gets a step nearer

Thanks to a study commissioned by Staffordshire County Council and the Caldon and Uttoxeter Canals Trust. The Study looked into the challenges involved into restoring the Caldon Canal from Froghall Basin to the Uttoxeter Gravel Pits.

The Consulting Engineers Halcrow Group Ltd concluded that the restoration project was viable from an engineering viewpoint.

Cost estimates for the restoration are in the region of £90 million but they do state that the work could be undertaken by volunteers. Plans are being drawn up for restoration by volunteers to conserve existing canal features also to explore how inaccessible parts of the canal can be opened up.

How Will This Affect Rocester? The proposed routes through the village are shown Here . They show three routes through the village. The full report can be read on the Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust Website.

UPDATE 04/03/11

Bridge 70

A HERITAGE treasure which has literally stood hidden in a rural backwater, is set to have a new lease of life thanks to a massive initiative spear-headed by the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. continue full story at Uttoxeter Advertiser, also Churnet Valley Living Landscape Partnership at http://www.churnet-valley.org.uk/

Rocester & Surrounding Area Photography By DenHolmes

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 20:40:41 +0000

The Links on the right take you to my local Rocester and surrounding area photographs.

Kedleston Halls 1940's war time event on a beautiful day at the end of May 2009, the event took place on the 30th and 31st the photos are taken on the 30th. This is the second event we attended that year were we had a thoroughly good time in the company of the Spitfire Sisters,

Churnet Valley Railways April 26th 2010 "WHEN THE LIGHTS GO ON AGAIN" 1940's Wartime Weekend at Froghall. Unfortunately I only managed to get there for the last couple of hours but I think I still managed to capture the atmosphere. I thought the Spitfire Sisters were very entertaining, all in all a great performance from everyone concerned.

Prince William HRH visit to Rocester JCB on the 24th April 2009 please take a look.

A few shots of Croxden Abbey The Abbey was one of the later Cistercian monasteries to be built in England, having been established in 1176 Little is known of the history of Croxden in the 360 years from its inception to the dark days of the Dissolution, Croxden was not one of the larger abbeys, in fact it was quite a compact building staffed by no more than 12 monks. It is difficult to fully appreciate the true alignment of the abbey, this is because the lane cuts diagonally right through the nave, highlights of the remaining ruins is the dramatic series of arches standing on the east side of the cloisters; full of exquisite details when examined up close. Croxden Abbey must surely rank as one of the most attractive ruins in the county.

Legal Matters

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 22:48:17 +0000

All materials on this website are created and maintained exclusively by Dennis Holmes unless expressly stated otherwise.

Materials on DenHolmes.uk

“Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re-recording will constitute an infringement of copyright.”

All material on my website is Copyright © 2008-2025 Dennis Holmes. You may not transmit, distribute, reproduce, display, publish or broadcast any of the materials on this website, without prior written permission of Dennis Holmes (www.denholmes.uk) or, in the case of the materials of others, their respective owners. If there is notice of copyright, trademark or other notice, you may not alter or remove it from permitted copies.

Dennis Holmes (www.denholmes.uk) accepts no responsibility whatsoever for the veracity or accuracy of materials on this website.

Links to the websites or materials of others

Links to the websites and materials of others may be provided for information purposes. Dennis Holmes (www.denholmes.uk) was not involved in their creation or maintenance and is not responsible for their content.

Analogue Photography

Thu, 06 Mar 2014 22:24:17 +0000

The first permanent photographic image was produced in 1825 by Joseph Nicephore Niepce. The French inventor produced his photographs on a polished pewter plate covered with a petroleum derivative called bitumen of Judea. As the Bitumen hardens with exposure to light. The unhardened material was then washed away and the metal plate polished, rendering a negative image which then may be coated with ink and impressed upon paper, producing a print.

View-from-the-Window-at-Le-Gras,-Joseph-Nicephore-Niepce

image view from the window The earliest surviving photograph circa 1826 can be seen on the left Click Here for a larger image In 1833 Niepce died of a stroke but not before leaving his notes to Louis Daguerre who further refined the process by a discovery made in 1724 that a silver and chalk mixture darkens when exposed to light. By 1839 he had discovered that exposing the silver first to iodine vapor before exposing to light, and then to mercury fumes after the photograph was taken, could form an image. he then used a bath of salt to fix the image. Daguerre had invented a process of using silver on a copper plate called the Daguerreotype.

About Me

Thu, 06 Mar 2014 19:17:38 +0000

Den Holmes that’s me in the photo above born in the Staffordshire village of Rocester where i have spent most of my adult life, married to Karen.

Some of my many interests are photography, RC Model engineering mainly aeroplanes IC, electric, and gliders and recently 10th scale 3d printed rc model tanks .

Genealogy tracing my family tree is keeping me amused over the cold winter months, i have a keen interest in nostalgia, but having said that also very much like to keep up with the latest technology.

Canals, Travel, Cars, the list goes on.

Den Holmes.uk

If you are having problems with the contact Me page try

Blog

Wed, 26 Feb 2014 19:16:15 +0000

Blog

The Last Post

This is probably the last post on this site due to other commitments and a lack of support for the software i use.

I no longer feel the need to cary on with the expense involved in updating my systems, so I’m afraid it will shortly stop.

Anyone still wishing to refer to my Uttoxeter canal page in the future it has been archived at Wikipedia

bottom of THE UTTOXETER CANAL page under my old domain of denholmes.com

30 Nov 2025 at 17:32

Update January 2025

well where did all that time go, its a very long time since i did any update to this website

but just to let you know I’m still around so lets get this site a little more up to date.

The website first started out as denholmesphotography.com then was shortened to

denholmes.com but that site is now closed as i missed the domain renewal date inadvertently, but that’s a story i preferably don’t want to get into because I’m angry with myself for not keeping track of time.

So here we are at the start of a new year with the new website denholmes.uk

Not really sure what direction I’m going to take yet with the contents of the new site but it will continue to feature more photographs .

23 Jan 2025 at 15:53

Lysander in Flight

After the first maiden flight that did not go exactly to plan causing slight damage, the wheel spats needed a small repair.

My misjudged landing approach was short of the landing patch, resulting in a summersault in the long grass.

All repaired now see the much better successful flight below.

This is the full flight

and one poor landing

17 Sep 2020 at 19:09

Westland Lysander

My Lysander

Westland Lysander I made a start on this model at the start of lockdown this year 2020 it has taken many hours to complete and now is almost ready for its first test flight,

The photos are just some of the many reference pictures I have taken during the build they do give an indication of the complexity involved in the building of this model.

I have based the model on V9367 in the Shuttleworth Collection at the moment i have not replicated the drop tank and ladder.

The details below are from the Shuttleworth Collection website:-

The Lysander was built to a specification calling for a rugged, short-take-off-and-landing (STOL) aircraft for low-level reconnaissance and observation issued in 1934. Westland designed and built a rugged high wing monoplane with fixed spatted undercarriage. It had an exceptional field of view for both pilot and observer, and was armed with two forward firing machine guns and a machine gun fired from the rear cockpit. The first prototype flew in 1936 and production aircraft entered service in 1938. The Lysander entered service with the RAF as an army co-operation aircraft, replacing Hawker Audaxes and Hectors during 1939. However during the Battle of France in 1940, the Lysander proved too vulnerable to survive modern warfare and suffered some terrible losses. After 1940 Lysanders were used by Coastal Command on search-and-rescue missions. Lysanders were also built under licence in Canada and these aircraft were often used as targets tugs at the overseas training bases. The role that the Lysander is best remembered for is as a 'spy taxi', picking up and dropping secret agents behind enemy lines. For these operations, the aircraft were painted black and fitted with a long-range fuel tank beneath the fuselage and a ladder fixed to the side of the aircraft to allow the agents to enter and exit quickly. The Collection's Lysander was built in Canada and was used by the RCAF as a target tug serialled 2355. It was bought after the war by Wes Agnew a farmer, former RCAF instructor and collector of aircraft. In 1971 it was purchased by Sir William Roberts for the Strathallan Collection in Scotland. It arrived in the UK in October 1971 and was registered G-AZWT, and work commenced on restoring it. However, it was not until December 1979 that G-AZWT flew again, painted as V9441 a Lysander operated by No.309 (Polish) Squadron. It was grounded in 1986 and was purchased in 1998 by the Shuttleworth Collection. It has been fully restored, repainted and fitted with dummy long range fuel tank and ladder to represent V9367 / MA-B an aircraft of 161 Squadron, flown by Pilot Officer Peter Vaughan-Fowler on operation Apollo during the winter of 1942. In it's all-black colours, it makes an unusual sight in the skies over Old Warden and is the last airworthy example of this historic type.

The Plan

Ribs and formers

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Almost ready to go

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4 Sep 2020 at 16:55

site Update

Another revamp of my website in progress, please stick with me while i bring it up to date with a style that is more suited to mobile devices, the old one was not very phone friendly.

it’s making the old grey matter work overtime but I’m getting there slowly, should be worth the effort in the end (i hope)

so far so good do you like the new header

20 Oct 2016 at 20:38

Mel’s photos

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A few photos of a some of my RC planes sent to me by my friend and fellow DMFC club member Melvyn Hillman, great photos Mel thanks.

20 Oct 2016 at 19:47

More 2016 Holiday Photos

Just managed to get around to sorting our Holiday Photos out, thats me on the ship all “scrubbed” up and ready for diner. more holiday photos may be found Here.

Just a few of the many holiday photos of our 14 night Italian Mediterranean cruise on Royal Caribbean INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEAS 04 June 2016

8 Jul 2016 at 16:09

2016 Holiday

Just returned with friends Brian and Kim from Southampton, we have had a fabulous 14 night Italian Mediterranean holiday cruise on “Independence of the seas”, this was our second time on this Royal Caribbean Ship,

4 years have passed since we were last onboard, we don’t intend leaving it that long again Royal Caribbean know how to provide a wonderful holiday experience,

Ports of call were Gibraltar, Nice (Villefranche) France, Rome (Civitavecchia) Italy, Florence/Pisa(Livorno) Italy. Provence (Toulon) France, Malaga,Spain, Lisbon,Portugal.

Our dining group photo taken on the last night

More Cruise photos here

20 Jun 2016 at 11:29

Save money on your phone

Just found this useful app see below for info could save you loads of money

Oxford graduate Matt King has invented an app you won’t believe you survived without until now. WeQ4U is his creation and – although the average person wastes 45 hours a year waiting on the phone – it has more benefits than merely avoiding endless loops of irritating hold music.

Simply put, it is what is claims to be. It will staying queuing on hold for you so you can spend your time doing something else. When you’re through to someone it will automatically dial back and connect you.

As well as saving you time, the app saves you money in two ways – firstly, you don’t waste minutes while the app is queuing for you and secondly it replaces price premium rate numbers with standard national-rate calls included in your monthly allowance.

If you find yourself on hold, you just need to tap 9* and the app will take over and end the call until it automatically redials once someone’s ready. The only time you pay for the call is while you are navigating through the call centre menus or actually talking to someone. It even reconnects you if the line drops.

You’re probably aware from our comparison table just how much some networks charge for typical call centre numbers starting with 08. Because WeQ4U works on an 03 number, the calls are charged at the lowest rate and if you have a monthly bundle, they’re always included.

Even if you don’t get stuck on hold, it’s smart to use the app for 08 numbers in order to avoid exorbitant the mobile rates.

Matt King actually tried to get a £150,000 investment on the TV show Dragons’ Den but unfortunately none of the Dragons quite managed to comprehend the concept and ended up arguing against the problem WeQ4U actually solves. Luckily for him, he’s now making much more than because the app allows him to identify the call centres with the biggest queues and then sell them his WeQ4U 4 Business commercial product.

This is some pretty fancy software with tons of analytics to save companies money by reducing abandoned calls by about 90%. And it makes enough to offer the app completely free as well as to cover all the call charges for you.

So really it’s a win-win situation and it’s so easy to use and to save money there’s no reason not to use it. Let’s just quickly show how it works in practice.

You can use the service on any phone and any network but this tutorial is to use the Android appto make things even easier. The first thing we need to do is to open the app. And then simply just go ahead and type in the phone number we want to call. You can see here there’s an option to automatically use the app each time you dial an 08 number to help you save money in case you accidentally dial it on your normal dialler.

Once you’ve typed in the number you just need to press Call. The app is going to switch over to the normal Android dialler and start calling. Once the call’s connected, if you find yourself on hold just to press 9* and the app will take over.

It will then play a message telling you what to do and will automatically hang up for you then bring the app back up again. Then it will stay on hold showing you how long you’ve been queuing for and you can just put it on the table and ignore it until you’ve reached the front of the queue.

Once you have an agent pick up the phone WeQ4U will dial out and reconnect you. All of this is automatic having to press anything.

So that was WeQ4U, probably the easiest way to cut down on your phone bill and save time and stress. What are your other must-have apps? Let us know and we might cover them in our next video.

24 Apr 2016 at 18:30

To change or not to change

That was a question I asked my self way back in August do I change my internet service provider, simple question you may think and so did I what could go wrong, not a lot I foolishly thought just a quick matter of trolling around the net for a good looking deal.

After all I have changed my Gas and Electricity suppliers numerous times in the past with out an hitch, just give them all the details and let them do all the work in the background.

Its got to be the same for my Internet connection surely?, Wrong Wrong Wrong very much wrong after sifting through all the available deals one seamed to stand out from the crowed for me, thats the one I thought “go for it”

A quick phone call and its job done.

Ho no its not, its actually taken more like 20 long phone calls and hours and hours of listening to rubbish music why some poorly trained operative does their best to frustrate you even more.

Its taken from the 26 August to today 5 November to get my new connection, it’s totally unbelievable the trouble I’ve had to go through you would not believe, I’ve been passed from department to department, operative to operative, cut off, had the promise to start my connection numerous times, I’ve provided them with three mac codes.

All failed until today I now have a new connection albeit not what i originally ordered but I have a connection and can you believe its more expensive than my previous supplier.

I have the promise they will change me over to the original package I ordered back in August soon, mmmmmmm

Thats Life.

PS. No I’m not going to tell there name on here but can you guess? pm me if you must know lol

5 Nov 2014 at 13:23