Coventry makes us proud!

In view of some of the recent negative comments about Coventry on the Forum, I thought it would be good to start a thread where people listed what there is about Coventry that makes you proud. In different threads Philipincoventry stated Coventry University was performing well and TonyS mentioned the Ofsted report on City College which said the same. One of my personal favourites is St Mary's Hall which I think is wonderful. Please post what makes you proud. (no adverse comments allowed!)

Good call ! Philip has also mentioned sitting in the ruins of St Michael's Cathedral, listening to the bells ringing out - I'd go with that for starters

What I take pride in is Coventry's engineering history; the quality and ingenuity that went into its products, the world-famous names like Alfred Herbert, Jaguar, Standard-Triumph, Rover, Humber and so on. Coventry long had a reputation for quality and craftsmanship, and few cities anywhere can boast such a wide spectrum of products based on high skill and engineering, from silk weaving and Stevengraphs through to motor vehicles and aircraft.

Our nature walks around our city which I have already said on another thread Our countryside which is so near to hand Our yearly vintage car run and car show Transport museum also free entry Herbert also free entry Our pop concerts at the Ricoh Lady Herberts gardens Our wild life living amongst us Our history most of all also through the war where all the people stuck together that I am proud of. I have on world wide garden sites already spread the word before you say haha how far has you word spread hehe

Coventry City FC made me extremely proud in 1987 when we won the FA Cup. I was there with my Son at Wembley, pretty much level with the goal line at the end where Keith Houchen scored his famous goal! It has been officially declared one of the best finals ever - and Houchens goal is high on the list of most memorable. It is impossible to explain the feelings and emotions that ran through every Coventry supporter (and probably every Coventry resident) that day. The "homecoming" through the City made everyone proud to be Coventrians!

Hi all It makes me proud that someone had the idea to start this site. History is in the making, & we on this site are all part of it, both the making & the history. Some issues or subjects maybe rather more narrow interest for some, but all together we have a city that was for nearly a century the administrative centre of the uk. However we might knock our city planners, we all make mistakes from time to time, the foresight both with our education & health shown in Coventry is really good in spite of bits that still need sorting. Coventry has given me a very good living & continues to do so into my retirement. That's why I have time to enjoy our city.

Hi again. Our take on any issue is so often coloured by our own state of mind. Years ago, I was on a course at Warwick uni, where I learned a new word 'Scotoma' It is a US expression that descibes our reaction to a situation. The child riding their bike always hits the tree or the small stone in the middle of the road. The lady who loved her kitchen units until one day a small handle fell off. Even though it was fixed for less than £10, from that day on, she hated her kitchen units. Last autumn, I went with friends for a break to Torquay. It was lovely. Being a walker, I was up & out every morning before breakfast. How many times I walked past where someone had been ill & left it on the pavement from the night before. I walked passed the OLD GRANDE HOTEL, now a burnt-out wreck. Let me tell you, it does not matter where we go, there will be bits that we wish we had not seen. On the Friday afternoon that we returned to Coventry, I was so glad to come home. I am always glad to come home. My parents went to live in Cornwall when they retired. Wonderful until the day came & dad could no longer drive. They became prisoners in their own home, it was a lovely home. I have no intention of doing that. It takes me seven minutes to walk to my doctors & dentist. Mum & dad had a half hour ride in a taxi for theirs. Do you see what I am saying? I have a rough idea where some of our site members live & one day it will be my delight when I see one of them getting on the bus that I am on. Where my mum & dad lived, they had not got a word for a bus!!! "What do you call it"??? For all of its issues, you will have to put up with me living here in Coventry as I have seen nothing to entice me away. Remember this, if you think that the grass is greener elsewhere, when you do get there it will be just the same colour. If it is greener, then it will need a heck of a lot more mowing. Best wishes

I could not describe it better myself Philip. Beautifully put. My main reason for being proud of Coventry, is because it became the adoptive home of my parents, who left the valleys of S Wales to find a better life during the depression of the 1930s . It also is the city of my birth, and I will always be proud to say I was born in Coventry.

For several years Hillfields hasn't had a very good reputation (drugs, prostitution, crime) but I am so very pleased and proud that I grew up in the area. Of course, Coventry winning the FA Cup made me proud to be a Coventrian. How the people of Coventry came together and coped after the terrible bombings makes me feel proud. And as Philip says 'There is no place like home'.

Now you give over you lot, I am sitting here with tears in my eyes !!!!!!!

Hi all We all have our reasons for living where we live. Jobs, work, family & so many other reasons. I nearly moved to Cornwall in 1976. Circumstances were all ok, but I was happy here. I value my friends for one thing. Being an accountant at least meant I had learned to seperate fact from fiction. I would love to have shown Dreamtime or Tricia the views from my mum's home in Bodmin. As you read in my last post on this, there is a lot more to life than lovely views from anyone of several house windows. My home (picture in gallery) was all we could afford in 1968. After forty odd years I think that I like it. Sometimes we can be so full of enthusiasm for somewhere else to live, that we fail to take on board the true reality. It might just be that where we are is quite good.

Good evening Philip, You are so right in what you say and I can imagine your Mum's views. I remember well Bodmin on the Moor. As we lived in Coventry we always made it down to Cornwall for our yearly two weeks. Our last holiday was just to Falmouth as we knew it would be our last before coming to Australia. It is funny but whenever we went away no matter how we enjoyed it it was always lovely to be home. Needless to say we have lots of photos to cherish.

Hi Good evening to you Dreamtime although it must be Saturday morning for you? A nice thing for me is the fact that people like you, love to reminisce about Coventry & I delight, as I am sure other local members do in being your eyes & ears on the ground here. I could tell you one or two bits of the time when my grandmother lived your side of the world, but that would be going off subject. Besides I do not know that much other than my dad having to meet her off the boat at Southampton in August 1939. Cornwall was a big hit for Coventry people in the fifties & sixties, the queues at Honiton & so on, along with Kelly's ice cream, but back to D-Di ice cream land, here, the title here is 'Coventry makes us proud' and that it really does for me. Somethings in Coventry for me might be better than anywhere else. We often imagine that traders who are in competition with each other would never cooperate to help another trader as they did after the blitz, but last week I was so heartened when a market trader had brought another member of her family in, just to help her look after another traders stall. That was bril! If the Queen comes to Coventry again, I will offer to escort Her Majesty & the Duke to our market. She can visit the ladies lingerie stall where she will receive only the best attention, whilst the Duke has a new pair of shoes.

How lovely Philip for another market stall holder helping out another was that Ginell by any chance she would do that or her brother, as for the lingerie that might be the Dukes department to buy for his queen as new shoes is womans top accessory

Hi You are very warm on that, Morgana. I am sure the Royals would much prefer a nose around the market stalls and maybe even a cuppa with a bacon roll, whilst they chat about how much more interesting the market is rather than the civic duty later in the day. I love our market. It's existence is so important for the existence of our city. Sat in the market listening to the banter of the traders is for me is so very down to earth. Coventry Market Tour This BBC link is from 2008 & Rupert the fish has retired, but I love the sentiment of the article. ps. I often hear Rupert talking to Marian on her local pre-breakfast time show. You have to be awake before six am to hear that.