Nicks` Cabinet of Curios

These are the Tropic Shadows, one of my favourite reggae groups of the late `60s/early `70s.  They made a number of recordings during their existence - Anniversary (aka Our Anniversary),  Bangarang Festival, Do What You Want, You Can Believe and a couple of others. I believe they are the same band as Tropic Sunlight who recorded Labour Day  for producer D C Anderson (compare Labour Day and You Can Believe and see what you think). I notice Anderson also recorded two similarly named bands, The Tropicans and the Tropicsons but whether these were also The Tropic Shadows/Sunlight I don`t know.  Anyway, I tend to have a Lieutenant Columbo mind. Loose ends and unanswered questions bug me and it bugs me that I know almost nothing about this fine band. If anyone does know anything about them, I`d be very pleased to hear from you. 

Friar Gate Station, Derby was closed down during the `Beeching` cuts of the 1960s. As people and trains moved out, wildlife moved in. Various proposals have been made for development of the site, but not one has come to anything. While I`m not claiming that the area has existed in a hermetically-sealed bubble since that time - there are periodic complaints of fly-tipping, vandalism etc - you can readily see that nature has been gradually taking over for 50-60 years. Technically, this is a brownfield site - it`s previous use was industrial. It`s a half-truth at best that brownfield sites automatically have no environmental merit, but in this case, when the last train to run along the tracks did so decades ago, the `brownfield` designation is in any case meaningless. A number of rare/unusual species have been found there, and 23 species of butterfly have been recorded at the site.   A Facebook group has been set up "to promote the site, hopefully helping to conserve at ...