The Orwell Bridge
Why the Orwell Bridge?
It was just by chance that I stumbled across Lee Rudland’s magnificent photograph of The Orwell Bridge at twilight. Scrolling through pages of images brought up by a Google search for “dawn of a new era” – which Google seems to think includes sunset as well as sunrise – I was immediately struck by the vibrant colours and striking silhouette.
After 3 weeks of deliberation over a name for my new business idea – the dawn of my new era – I had been struggling to come up with a logo for Springreach Training and Coaching. Vague images – of seedlings uncurling, fern fronds unfurling, butterflies taking flight; nurturing hands, an elegantly outstretched arm – all dissolved before I could sketch them adequately. Artistic variations loosely based on the letters SR looked more promising, but I still hadn’t designed a logo I was happy with.
So there I was, on the internet, hunting for an image to use in a Self-Employment and Bookkeeping presentation I was putting together. Every time I scrolled past it, The Orwell Bridge at twilight photo would catch my eye. It wasn’t what I needed for the presentation, and yet time and time again my eye was drawn back to it.
Right from the start, I’d told myself I wanted my logo to be inspired by nature, to reflect my love of the outdoors. The bridge, as a man-made structure, didn’t fit with that pre-conceived idea. But what if I removed the self-imposed limitation of wanting a wholly natural image?
The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of basing my logo on the Orwell Bridge. The bridge was still under construction when my family first moved to Suffolk. A distant relative of my father’s, born in 1892 and already in her late-80s when we moved here, would regularly ask us to drive her out to Wherstead Strand so she could see how the bridge was coming along. Whilst 11-year-old me had little idea of what a balanced cantilever technique was, I watched wide-eyed as the two sides of the bridge reached out across the river and slowly grew towards each other – looking as if each side might topple at any moment – until they were (in my eyes) “made safe” by being joined.
I have many more memories of the bridge – cycling up the river bank from Felixstowe and under it with my brother (just to prove that the eastbound and westbound carriageways are actually two separate bridges); passing under it on the 25-mile Orwell Challenge; and ambling across it taking photographs before it was closed to pedestrians (amazing views but the traffic noise is deafening!).
How many more reasons do I need to feature a photograph of this amazing structure on my website? And, on reflection, what could be more natural than the colours of a sunset?
With thanks to Lee Rudland for permission to use his image – see leerudlandphotography.co.uk .
The Orwell Bridge – A few facts
Construction of the Orwell Bridge commenced in October 1979 and was completed on 1 April 1982. It was opened to traffic on 17 December 1982.
The total length of the bridge is 1,287 metres. The main span is 190 metres which, at the time of its construction, was the longest pre-stressed concrete span in use in the UK. It is 24 metres wide with an air draft (clearance from the surface of the water at Mean High Water to the underside of the bridge) of 43 meters.
Source: Wikipedia