Sir Bobby Robson Memorial Garden

i got an e mail from Newcastle United a couple of weeks ago giving details of some Digital Ticketing Workshops they were holding this week.  I decided to book a place for one of this afternoons sessions.

Got to Newcastle early so I could check out some of the Shaun the Sheep sculptures. I saw a lot of children with parents and grandparents following the trail.  I managed to take photos of another five Shauns.... collage in Extras ( there are 6 photos because I took two shots of the one at St James Park ).  Sad news about the sculptures .... five have been vandalised and have had to be taken away to be repaired.  I saw two empty plinths as I wandered around today.  As if that wasn't bad enough St Oswalds Hospice who put the trail in place are now saying that they probably won't have another sculpture trail in Newcastle in the future as it costs too much time and money to repair vandalised sculptures.  So shocking that anyone would want to damage the sculptures which are placed there by a charity and which bring joy to those following the trail.

Before going into St James Park for the workshop I got my blip shot of the Sir Bobby Robson memorial garden which is near the ground. This 'pocket park' was opened in May 2011 and has five stone plaques sculpted by artist Graeme Mitcheson. Sir Bobby supported Newcastle United as a boy and managed the team  for five years between 1999 and 2004. The five plaques each represent an era of Sir Bobby's life.  Ive added a collage showing close ups of each plaque - plus a shot of Sir Bobby's statue.  As the Wide Wednesday theme is "an odd number" the 5 stone plaques seemed like a good fit. Thanks to BobsBlips for hosting.

Next I headed for the football ground - the workshop took place in the Heroes Suite on the 3rd floor.  Walking through the corridors was like being in a different world compared to my own matchday experience in the East Stand. Its very " posh " behind the scenes.

There were 9 of us at the workshop.  The reason behind it was to explain about the new digital ticketing system which has just been brought in.  I can see from Facebook that lots of fans are having problems... mostly with downloading their season ticket to their phone.  ( When I got to the ground I could see there was a very large queue at the box office.  The phone lines have been so busy that folk have had to come down in person to try and sort out whatever problem they are having )

I had already downloaded my own digital season ticket to my phone so that wasn't a problem but there were a few other things I wasn't sure about.  I find that the NUFC website is not user friendly - I think all the info is there .... somewhere... you just need to know how to find it.  Anyway Richard - who was running the workshop - was very helpful and I came away with all my queries answered.

Its Taster Night at slimming group tomorrow so this evening I made some mini quiche muffins to take as my contribution..  I might make something else tomorrow if I get the time.

Steps today 10,508