Bradford Mirror Pool - Lighting Columns

These Galvanised Steel lighting columns are positioned around the periphery of the new Bradford Mirror Pool. They have been designed by award winning artist Wolfgang Buttress and represent reeds and rushes at the waters edge. The lighting units at the top of the columns contain laser lighting equipment and motion sensors, which I believe give some kind of interactive display. I haven't seen them working yet, but everything should be up and running for the official opening at the end of March.

John Smyth Memorial Tablet - Bradford Cathedral

The upper part of this tablet on the wall of Bradford Catherdral is a memorial to John Smyth who died in 1686, his wife, and their ten children. All the names of the children are recorded on the tablet but Thomas gets a special mention 'a merchant at Dantzic and buried there'. I don't know why he gets a special mention, maybe it's because he was the favourite son, or possibly because he died abroad, as I say, I don't know. Another thing that puzzled me a little was that the family came from Miryshaw, not a place name that I was familiar with. I did a little digging around on the Internet and found a mention of Miryshaw as a farm just above the Barkerend area of Bradford, it's now covered in Victorian terraced houses but was probably open farmland back then.

Five Rise Locks - Gate Replacement

The Five Rise Locks on the Leeds-Liverpool canal at Bingley are currently closed to waterway traffic but have been open to the public this weekend. The locks were built in 1774 and are the steepest lock staircase in Britain. Four of the six pairs of lock gates are being replaced as well as repairs to the lock chamber brickwork. I went along yesterday but hadn't expected a queue of several hundred people patiently waiting to descend into the drained locks, an hour or more queueing didn't appeal to me so I came away. I returned this morning at opening time and joined a queue of around a dozen people (more my kind of queue), but when I left around half an hour later the queue had grown to several hundred people again, I had no idea our industrial heritage could be such a crowd puller!

Saltaire - Winter Sun

There were plenty of people out and about in the historic village of Saltaire today taking advantage of some rather welcome winter sunshine. Personally, I think Salts Mill looks at its best at this time of year, provided that the sun is out of course. The footpath in the picture runs from Saltaire village to nearby Roberts Park.

Undercliffe Cemetery - Big Sky

From this part of Undercliffe Cemetery you can look down onto the centre of Bradford and across to the moorland beyond. On a stormy day it's also a good place to watch the sky, you get an uninterrupted view, it's a sort of big sky vantage point.

Mirror Pool - Work Continues

Work is continuing on the mirror pool, I believe the official opening has been scheduled for late March.

Travellers Entrance - Sackville Street

This delivery door and 'travellers entrance' in Sackville Street is now bricked up, but I wonder what sort of greeting a traveller would have received had he inadvertently used the main entrance instead of the 'travellers entrance'.

Staircase - Bradford Interchange

I usually struggle a bit for photographic inspiration at this time of year, it's cold, wet and dark all day, and the summer seems a long, long way off. I'm not down to taking pictures of my sandwiches yet, but I do find myself taking pictures that I wouldn't normally take. This staircase at Bradford Interchange (a combined bus and rail station) is one of them. I attracted the attention of a Security guard while I was taking this picture. I did try to explain what I was doing, but it didn't sound very plausible, not even to me, the poor chap looked perplexed. When I said I intended to crop the picture a little and convert it to black and white he looked even more perplexed, different worlds, I suppose.

Undercliffe Cemetery

I have posted pictures of Undercliffe Cemetery before, but this is a different view. The steps in the distance lead up to the promenade and the rest of the twenty five acre cemetery in which many of Bradford's rich and notable inhabitants have been buried.

Chinese New Year Celebrations - Leeds

I'm a bit off my usual patch here, in the city of Leeds for the Chinese New Year celebrations held at Leeds Town Hall. I have never been to one of these events before, it was quite entertaining, colourful, but a bit tricky to photograph successfully and I didn't come away with many decent pictures. This is one of the better shots.

Grocery Store - Victor Road

The Manningham area has many of these corner shops, shops that open early till late most days of the year and sell a bit of everything. They are also a place for a short chat, with friends, with neighbours, a place where you can catch up on what's been happening in the next street.

Frosty Morning - Lister Park

This picture was taken a few days ago when it was cold and dry, now it's just wet and windy again. I believe the bandstand was built in 1908 and then restored around ten years ago when the rest of the park was refurbished.

Ekco Radio - Saltaire

I spotted this old radio in a second hand shop window in Saltaire the other day. Ekco, the manufacturer of the radio, also made television sets, television sets with big chunky clunky dials, and an especiallly chunky clunky dial for changing channels. So what? Well, when I was a boy I was intersted in space, it was the space race, Apollo missions to the moon and all that, and it was also the time I made my first Airfix kit, a rather tall Saturn V rocket complete with detachable Command Module and tiny Lunar Module with opening landing gear. After painstakingly assembling and painting the model I placed it on top of the television set, the Ecko television set with the chunky clunky dials sat on top of the wibbly wobbly television stand. You can guess what happened the first time someone changed channels, it wasn't all bad news though, I still had some glue left.

Shades Of Grey

New granite setts alongside alongside City Hall, I like the different shades of grey.

Busker - Forster Square

I didn't know whether to post this picture or not, it has every technical fault going, camera shake, subject movement, burnt out highlights, picture noise, there wasn't really enough light to take a picture in the first place, so why did I take it? Simply because the musician (and he was a musician, quite a good one) asked me to. I'm always willing to send someone a picture if they want one. I did point out that there wasn't really enough light and the resulting pictures would be poor. Sure enough, the pictures were poor, soft, grainy, not worth bothering with, and I came away promising to have another go if our paths crossed again in the future. Looking at the pictures again though, a few days later, and I'm not sure if the technical quality really matters, maybe I should have just sent them on in the first place.

Where Did That Rocket Go?

This was part of the Stargazing Live event on Saturday. The contraption on the ground fires a small rocket into the air, I did try to capture the rocket leaving the launcher, but it shot into the air far too quickly for me to catch with the camera. The chap with the firing button is part of a two man film crew who work in Centenary Square when there is a big event on. The pictures are edited and then relayed to the BBC Big Screen which is a permanent fixture in the Square.

Cold Feet

Why walk round when you can go straight across?

Stargazing Live - Bradford

Today has been a day of science and astronomy in Bradford with events aimed mainly at families taking place in and around Centenary Square. Passers-by could visit the Space Bus to learn about life as an astronaut, visit the Impressions Gallery to talk to experts about astronomy, or interact (as in the picture) with the outdoor BBC Big Screen. I thought I was being unobtrusive when I took this picture (a sort of Cartier-Bresson moment), I didn't realise I was also on the big screen, crouched down taking the photo.

Pendulum Clock - Bradford Club

This pendulum clock hangs on the wall at the Bradford Club. The inscription on the face reads 'M. Rhodes & Sons, Bradford'. I didn't notice this at the time I took the picture, not until I went through the photos later at home. I had a quick look on the internet and came up with a little bit of information on Manoah Rhodes. Born 1810 and indentured to silversmith John Allot in 1822, set up his own business in Bradford in 1836 and was joined by his two sons as the business expanded in later years. Not a great deal of information, but interesting nonetheless.

Snooker Cues - Bradford Club

I could have happily spent all day taking photographs at the Bradford Club yesterday, the place is just so interesting. I didn't have my tripod with me and did the best I could hand held. If I take the tripod with me I generally find that I don't need it and carry it around all day for nothing, and when I don't take it...

Bradford Club - Snooker Room

I went along to the Bradford Club for a very interesting talk on the battle of Marston Moor this morning. The talk was given by Dr Peter Palmer at the invitation of the Bradford Historical and Antiquarian Society. I believe it is the first time that the society has used the Bradford Club as a venue for one of its meetings and members were later invited to explore the building. The building was quite fascinating, a Victorian gentleman's club (now also open to lady members) complete with leather armchairs, pendulum clocks, and this snooker room with enormous potted plants.

Salami Manufacturers

I wonder how many years ago it is since Salami was made at this shop in Great Horton Road.

Chris Howson - Desmond Tutu House

I found out quite a few things I didn't know yesterday. I was taking a picture of the artwork on a garage door next to the building in this picture when Chris Howson, the inner city priest for Bradford arrived on a bike. I didn't know that he cycled and I didn't know that he worked from this building, Desmond Tutu house. I've seen Chris quite a few times at various demonstrations and rallies around the city centre but I've never really had the chance to talk to him. What is he like? He's enthusiastic about his work, about Bradford, and about the people of Bradford, he's also quite outspoken on human rights issues, nuclear disarmament and social injustice. What else did I find out? Chris has recently had a book published, the title is 'A Just Church'.

Biking is a Breeze

If you fancy a bit of fresh air and exercise but are not confident on a bike you could always try an organised local bike ride. Anna (on the right) and her colleague are waiting for women cyclists to join them on a nice and easy ride from Bradford University to Horton Park and back. These regular women specific rides are organised by 'Breeze' (part of British Cycling) with the aim of getting more people to take up cycling on a regular basis. I believe mixed rides are available under the 'Skyride' banner.

Back Ash Grove

Just a ten minute walk to the west of the town centre and you are into an area of run down property, cobbled back streets and dumped rubbish. This street is up by the university, the steel gates must be to keep undesirable people out.

Mirror Pool & Odeon Cinema

The new mirror pool looking towards the former Odeon Cinema. The cinema closed several years ago and has been left to deteriorate. There are plans to demolish the building and redevelop the area, it seems a shame that the facade of the building cannot be saved even if the body of the building has to go, it's one of Bradford's more distinctive buildings and I kind of like it.

Underneath The Arches

Depending on your views regarding Victorian industrial architecture these arches near Forster Square Station could be a work of art, or a pile of old stones. I quite like old buildings myself, they seem to fit into the landscape or cityscape better than modern buildings. I think it's because they are usually constructed from local materials and have been designed and built by people who knew what they were doing, people who built things to last. These arches look like they were built to last, they probably will last, for another hundred years or more, not bad for a pile of old stones.

Wharfemeadows Park - Otley

Alongside the river Wharfe at Otley there is a sixty acre area of parkland with tennis courts, a skateboard park and a fantastic children's playground, this is one of the playground features, a sort of mini roundabout.

Otley Cycle Club - New Years Day Ride

Members of Otley Cycle Club left the Buttercross in the centre of Otley for their first ride of the year yesterday. The group of around twenty or so cyclists (I couldn't catch them in a group because of the traffic) were headed for Bolton Abbey and a cup of tea before returning to Otley. The weather wasn't ideal with heavy showers of rain and the odd strong gust of wind, but I did find myself wishing that I could have gone with them, cycling is my kind of hobby.

New Year River Swim - Otley

I suppose there is nothing quite like a plunge in the River Wharfe on New Years Day after all that eating, drinking and watching TV over Christmas. These swimmers do it every year, (the swim that is, I don't know about the eating and drinking), they seem to enjoy it, the event also raises money for local charities. Did I go in? No I didn't, I think I'll just stick to the photography side of things for now.