This year in a bit of radical departure we are throwing all our ‘eggs’ into a show basket and trying our hand in the much grander Shropshire and West Midlands show 23rd and 24th June, and the Oswestry show the first Saturday in August and this year we are heavily involved in Oswestry’s inaugural food festival.
Its great to take a little bit of The Walls out to meet you in the glorious context of these special shows.
The usual spectacular raffle prizes are being offered in an attempt to bribe you into surrendering your e-mail address so that we can bombard you with gigabytes of our home produce marketing ‘spam’. The reality is an occasional almost bi-monthly ‘The Walls Street Journal’ detailing our latest series of events, scams and stories, clogging up your inbox.
SUCCESS FOR 1ST OSWESTRY FOOD FESTIVAL
During the spectacularly wet weekend of 13th and 14th July the first Oswestry Food Festival burst into life. Interminable hours in meetings rather than steam-filled kitchens have seen the creation of what proved to be a real gastro highlight in the annual scheme of things in Oswestry.
Oswestry may not have the profile and Michelin stars that decorate Ludlow but it’s a pretty good place to find decent food to cook yourself and, next to charity shops and pubs, most trading establishments are restaurants of some persuasion or other.
A vibrant and competitive restaurant market means only one thing; added value for the customer and it’s a very healthy thing.
On this subject, I’d just like to say how genuinely sorry I am that ‘the other place’, LOCO, had finally closed. I put a lot of energy and thankfully no money into that venture and its never a good thing for a bold and potentially successful business to fold. I’m sure it will be re-invented before too long.
During the festival we served a special menu which was hugely successful. The whole event was very productive and well worth the effort all had put in. I wholeheartedly support these local events and wish it every success next year.
CHRISTOPHER DUNBABIN R.A.
It is with great sadness that we learnt this week of the sudden and unexpected death of Oswestry’s most charismatic and dashing painter.
Chris could be a difficult man, who often gave himself and his immediate friends a hard time. But despite his guilt, which he’d almost cornered the market in, he retained an impish charm and a sense of mischief and the ridiculous.
He was nearly always able to see the funny side of his various predicaments. His paintings bear witness to his inner struggles and dilemmas – which most men know they are destined to lose occasionally.
He was a deep thinker and remained totally fascinated with the flaws, foibles and talents that go together to construct the human condition. Despite the “cross” of his art he was a warm and charming man who gave a lot of pleasure and thought provoking works to a great number of people.
Chris had been inextricably linked with The Walls throughout its life – painting all its signs, designing menu covers etc, hosting some of our best and most dramatic art exhibitions and on numerous occasions as a regular customer.
We chewed the cud into the small hours on lots of occasions. Our thoughts are with his immediate family; he will be deeply missed.
The Vagaries of the Weather
& Summer Menus
Having had our best summer for a while in April – it was full steam ahead with the lighter brighter summer menus, beefing up the terrace etc.
Then halfway through May, autumn arrived, we had to order more logs, switch the heating back on and put the buckets back under the leaks in the roof.
Adrian, ‘Borat’ had been itching to electrically pulverise acres of fruit and veg into radio active looking smoothies – but as yet his liquidiser is still a virgin.
However the prospects are reasonable that once the famous British rain magnet – Wimbledon – is out of the way, then we might get another summer and you’ll be able to order a lettuce and radish smoothie. I bet you can’t wait!
CHRISTMAS MENUS
NOW AVAILABLE
All Christmas menus along with booking forms for parties and Christmas day are all now available from The Walls or online.
We are going to be massively busy this year so you really, really must get your bookings in early with the relevant confirmations to avoid disappointment.
FUTURE EVENTS
14th October is set for a wedding fair at The Walls. Still in its infancy, it is planned to have every wedding aspect covered in order to give any prospective bride or groom something interesting to think about. And, talking about weddings, we have recently put our new Wedding Brochure online.
Two further events are purely in the Walls' ‘minds eye’ at the moment. Dependent upon interest, another Bollywood night and Casino night are on the cards (excuse the pun).
Any thoughts would be gratefully received. Both nights would be a ticket price to include a two-course meal. A great chance to dress up for both!
EXHIBITIONS
Following on from the very successful and much lauded exhibition of charming paintings by Peter Kindred, we have an exhibition of photography by Vanessa Fairfax-Woods.
Her exhibition is closely related to the Oswestry Food festival and features local characters and chefs captured for prosperity, Police Five and the immigration bureau, doing unspeakable things in their own kitchens – at least that was what I was up to!
Once July is over Vanessa’s other half, our very own Mr Richie ‘Pastry’ Fairfax-Woods has an exhibition of his photography of local landscapes dusted with icing sugar, caramel and hundreds and thousands – you’ll have to come and see if I’m serious.
During the spectacularly wet weekend of 13th and 14th July the first Oswestry Food Festival burst into life. Interminable hours in meetings rather than steam-filled kitchens have seen the creation of what proved to be a real gastro highlight in the annual scheme of things in Oswestry.
14th October is set for a wedding fair at The Walls. Still in its infancy, it is planned to have every wedding aspect covered in order to give any prospective bride or groom something interesting to think about. And, talking about weddings, we have recently put our new 
