My entry for “Photo Friday” where this weeks challenge is Curvature.

Originally built in the 1930’s the Olympic Stadium in Berlin underwent a complete refurbishment for the 2006 World Cup, a project that included this new roof structure that rises at its high point to 68 metres above the seats below, and covers 37,000 square metres.

Outside though the stadium roof is barely visible delivering a visual ‘wallop’ – that my photo does not do justice – once you get inside.

The Ridgeons League kicked-off in anger on Saturday and for anyone intending to travel around East Anglia to watch any of its 37 clubs in action over the next 9 months here’s a handy map to point you more or less in the right direction.

Brightlingsea Regent are making their debut in the league whilst three sides have exited stage left. Leiston were promoted to the Isthmian League, Histon’s second string withdrew early this summer along with Saffron Walden Town who withdrew just this month citing financial problems.

I’ll be endeavouring to complete my ‘set’ of Ridgeons League stadia with a visit to Dereham Town’s Aldiss Park a ground that has proved to be somewhat elusive over the last year or two.

Today we took advantage of the sunny weather to do a 4 mile circular walk beside the River Stour and Alton Water taking in Lower Holbrook, Holbrook Creek, Stutton, Alton Water and Holbrook.

Starting out at Holbrook Creek the path runs along the top of the river wall giving great views out over the Stour on one side and the grounds of the Royal Hospital School on the other. The RHS, originally created for the sons of officers and men in the Navy and Marines,  moved here from Greenwich in the early 1930′s.

The route then turns inland passing St Peter’s Church, Stotton and Stotton House (mentioned in the Doomsday Book), along a wooded lane and onto Alton Water Reservoir which supplies drinking water to the majority of homes in the south-east of the county and is a popular spot for boating, biking and walking.

Crossing the dam at the eastern end of the reservoir the walk continues down into Holbrook, through a tree plantation and past the 15th-century Holbrook Mill, now residential but an operational mill for some four hundred years.

The final 1,000 yards has you follow the mill brook as it winds it’s way down to Lower Holbrook to conclude the walk back at Holbrook Creek.

One of seven new arrivals already this summer the signing of the enigmatic Arsenal youngster Jay Emmanuel-Thomas for £1m seems like good business to me provided Paul Jewell can convert this huge talent into a consistent performer on the pitch. Gunners boss Arsene Wegner had spoken often about JET’s undoubted ability but left a question mark hanging over his work ethic.

JET had an impressive spell on loan at Doncaster at the beginning of last season followed by an equally unimpressive one at Cardiff (although in fairness the latter was hampered by injury). Reading through comments by Gunners fans on an Arsenal message board it seems they are disappointed that he hadn’t made the type of progress that someone like Jack Wilshere had, by backing up talent with real effort.

But initial signs for his Portman Road career are encouraging. A good performance at Bristol City at the weekend, where he laid on a superb pass for Town’s second goal, and tonight he opened his Town goal account in the 11th minute, receiving the ball on the left hand edge of the penalty area and sending a powerful strike over the Cobbler’s ‘keeper and into far corner of the net.

JET was easily the best performer for me tonight in a Blue’s side containing nine changes from the side that won 3-0 at Ashton Gate at the weekend. With that number of changes an upset was always likely. The Cobblers went 2-1 up ten minutes after the break leaving Ipswich plenty of time to force extra time (JET almost did so from a free-kick) or even to have won it but, as was so often the case last season, they just couldn’t convert numerous chances into goals.

Whitton United had a storming end to their 2010-11 Ridgeons League campaign finishing as runners-up to Gorleston and five points ahead of third placed Diss Town. Unfortunately their King George V Playing Fields ground failed to meet the minimum requirements for the Ridgeons Premier Division at the time of the League’s AGM (in fact it didn’t meet those for Division One either) and so their application for promotion was denied.

There’s a certain irony here in the fact that work to upgrade the ground (including the construction of a 113-seater stand) was started in March, just as their impressive end of season run was underway, but could not be completed in time. Anyway the new McDonald’s Stand is now completed and was officially opened today by Russell Osman – a UEFA Cup winner with ITFC in ‘81 and now U-18’s coach with the ITFC Academy – and Mark Richards, owner of a number of McDonalds franchises.

Two miles to the north of Felixstowe, on the mouth of the river Deben, sits the small hamlet of Felixstowe Ferry, so named after the small ferry that takes foot passengers across to Bawdsey on the other side of the estuary. Coastal erosion is a serious problem here and millions have been spent in the last decade on the sea walls to prevent this small community from being washed away. Its pub – The Ferryman – is an enduring favourite as is it’s café which serves up decent food at sensible prices. There is a small boat yard, a multitude of small yachts and boats anchored just up river, a Martello tower, a small shop (selling locally caught seafood) and a few spots for kids to do a bit of crabbing. All unspoilt and it rarely gets crowded (well not so on any of my trips there). Available from the same jetty as the ferry are boats offering trips up and down the Deben, while on the Bawdsey side is Bawdsey Manor, a top secret RAF research centre during WWII, that became one of Britain’s first radar stations.

By sculptor and environmental artist Diane Maclean ‘Green Wind’ sits on top of The Tump, a sculptured earth mound on the Ravenswood housing development on the south-east edge of the town (the one time site of Ipswich Airport). Made of stainless steel the artwork consists of a dozen columns, varying in height from seven to ten metres, topped with coloured vanes that rotate in the wind. The columns are covered with a layer of oxidant that makes them change colour according to the amount of sunlight playing on them.

Full Artathon details here.

Ipswich’s latest listed building is St Thomas’s Church on Bramford Lane which was awarded Grade 2 Listed status by English Heritage just this week. Sitting amidst Victorian terraces and 1930s semi’s on the west side of Ipswich is was built two years before WWII on land donated by Edward Coleby Ransome, one-time Mayor of the town, and was designed by the prolific ecclesiastical architect Nugent Cachemaille-Day.

With a population around the eight-and-a-half thousand mark Brigthlingsea sits on the estuary of the River Colne, 10 miles south-east of Colchester and eight miles west of Clacton on Sea. Once known for its oystery fishery and shipbuilding industries these have all but vanished although the town does have a marina and a recently refurbished yacht club to retain a ‘working’ link with the sea. You may remember the series of protests against the live export of animals through the town in 1995 that became collectively known as the ‘Battle of Brighlingsea’ and kept the local Police busy for some nine months.

The western promenade, which is overlooked by Bateman’s Tower, boasts hundreds of beach huts and a 1930’s open air swimming pool. Although nowhere near as grand as Ipswich’s Art Deco Lido at least it’s still functioning. The tower (which leans in a similar fashion to its more famous counterpart in Pisa) was built in 1883 by John Bateman as a folly for his daughter as she recovered from consumption.

Former Ipswich captain and midfielder Matt Holland swore by the healing powers of the sea water here. Football’s Mr Indestructible regularly paddled along the beach at the Essex coastal town following manager George Burley’s recommendation of salt-water therapy to a reduce the swelling in a ankle injury. He’d picked up the knock during the home match with Manchester United – Town’s first following their return to the Premiership in 2000 – to put in jeopardy a remarkable record of 171 consecutive appearances in Cup and League games. But the treatment worked and Holland went on to extend the run to 223 consecutive appearances for the Blues!

Steve Sedgley a midfield predecessor of Holland’s at Portman Road is probably more commonly associated with Spurs and Coventry than with Ipswich. In a playing career that spanned fourteen seasons he made 84 league appearances for Coventry, 164 for Tottenham, 105 for Town and a further 106 for Wolves. He picked up two FA Cup winners medals, one with Coventry as an unused substitute in the Sky Blue’s 3–2 defeat of Spurs in the 1987 final, and one four years later, with Spurs this time, as the North Londoners beat Forest 2-1.

Ipswich paid £1 million for Sedgley in the Summer of 1994 and he spent three eventful seasons in Suffolk as Town were relegated a year later, just missed out on the play-offs in 1996 and were close to a Wembley appearance in 1997 but lost out to Sheffield United in a heartbreaking play-off semi-final second leg. His languid playing style saw him spend most games wandering seemingly disinterested around the centre circle before coming to life to make a crucial tackle or to ping an inch perfect pass out to the flanks.

And that’s pretty much how he played this afternoon as he and a Tottenham Hostpur Legends side took on Brigthlingsea Regent – new members for the coming season of the Ridgeons League – in a Charity match in aid of ‘Cardiac Risk in the Young’. While I recognised many of his teams mates faces, and their names as the teams were called out over the tannoy, I can’t claim to be able to match one with the other. Perhaps a passing Spurs fan could take a look at the team picture above and do the honours. In any case good on them for putting on a decent performance and Brigthlingsea Regent too who, on this showing anyway, should prove a handful for other clubs in Ridgeons Division One.