Civic Centre Newcastle

Yesterday's blip was taken from those railings up there at the top of Newcastle Civic Centre! I love this building and went on a fantastic guided tour yesterday. This included a long awaited trip up to the top of the tower, which gave fantastic views across Newcastle city and Gateshead. I've climbed many other buildings and monuments in a Newcastle but this was by far my favourite.
I took a photo of the tower today to blip where I've been. I love the green tower and bronze seahorses. Few people realise looking up from the ground how large those seahorses really are (1.4 metres high). The Civic Centre was designed by George Kenyon and completed in 1967. No expense was spared in its making and it has remained a building the city can be proud of (unlike a lot of other 60- 70s architecture). It is very unusual in style for Britain and is more like public buildings of Scandinavia. Maybe it was therefore fitting that it was opened by the King of Norway!
Inside the tower are carillon bells, which are played through a "keyboard" below. We got to see this and have a go! The keyboard has batons and pedals which are extremely heavy and take a lot of force to make even one note! It's a very physically demanding task. Not many people can play the carillon bells, the Civic centre has been lucky enough to have Dr Ian Brunt playing for them over the past 22 years ( interestingly he is a hospital doctor but took up carillon playing as a student in 1982!). My grandpa remembers local Geordie songs being played daily from the bells, but it's less common to hear the bells now. Perhaps I could be the next doctor to take up bell playing in my free time (although I am not sure I'd be very good at it!)