Spellbound - City Park

The performance by street theatre company 'Spark' was definitely a crowd pleaser at last nights Spellbound event in the city centre, a visually and aurally dynamic spectacle!

Sky Ride Bradford 2014

Sky Ride ambassador Sir Chris Hoy leads a procession of cyclists as they leave City Park and head for Lister Park along a traffic free route.  A record 6500 cyclists took part in Sunday's Sky Ride event.

Chill Out Zone

We've had some quite nice weather here recently.  It's been warm enough to just sit around and watch the world go by, or have a paddle in the mirror pool, or just lie back and have forty winks....

Beer, Wine & Bubbles!

The World Curry Festival has taken place in Bradford this weekend with chefs from around the world demostrating their curry making skills.  The restored London bus makes an unusual mobile bar.

Sheelangig - Bradford Festival

A Balkan style folk band, good musicians with a bit of slapstick thrown in for good measure, very entertaining.

Transglobal Underground - Bradford Festival

Transglobal Underground, a fusion of musical styles including reggae and Punjabi, great music, great musicians.

Hula Hoop Girl - Bradford Festival

I don't think this was part of the Bradford Festival, but entertaining nonetheless.

Bradford Festival - Angelo Palladino

An absolutely storming session from solo bluesman Angelo Palladino helped kick off the Bradford Festival last Friday.  Angelo, originally a Londoner, now lives (and gigs) in West Yorkshire.  If you are into blues music just go and see the man live!

Teacher Strike - Bradford

Teachers marched through the streets of Bradford on Wednesday to highlight their concerns over pay and conditions in the teaching profession.  Many schools were closed for the day.

Commonwealth Flag Raising Ceremony - Bradford

This should really have been posted back on the 10th March.  It's a Commonwealth Flag Raising Ceremony (I think it's the first time Bradford has taken part in this), one of hundreds being held in the fifty three Commonwealth states across the world.  The Lord Mayor of Bradford Khadim Hussain reads a Commonwealth Affirmation before the flag is raised by the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire Dr Ingrid Roscoe.

Eduardo Niebla

A guest on the Radio 4 midweek programme this morning was flamenco guitarist Eduardo Niebla.  Mr Niebla appeared at the Bradford Festival last year and I believe he is also making an appearance at this year's festival  (The Radio 4 programme is currently available on the listen again facility).

Save Our Fields - Cote Farm

Local residents with the support of Bradford East MP David Ward took part in  a protest walk on Saturday to try and save an area of green fields located between Thackley and Windhill.  A planning application to build 330 houses on the 30 acre site has recently been submitted to Bradford Council.  If the scheme goes ahead it will mean the loss of a rather pleasant semi-rural area with an ancient bridleway running through it.

Epilepsy Action 10K

Runners in Market Street at the start of the Epilepsy Action 10k yesterday morning.  Number 1612 Tesfaye Debele was the first over the finishing line with a time of 31min 42sec.  It was a fairly level course but there were some quite strong winds for the 1400 plus runners to contend with.

Downreno At Al's Dime Bar

Local band Downreno at Al's Dime Bar. The four piece band went through their repertoire of American folk pop in front of a very appreciative (and very tightly packed) audience last Thursday.  These guys are real musicians!
(Rick on the upright bass at the back there also plays in the John Palmer Band, another great local outfit).

Michael Hann - Rejections

Stockton based musician Michael Hann made an appearance at the recently opened Fuse Gallery and Art Space yesterday afternoon.  It's a bit difficult for me to describe the audio-visual performance as it's a genre that I am not really familiar with.  I would describe the improvised work as an electronically generated soundscape of industrial noise, haunting, disturbing and captivating.
Michael had an unusual upbringing, spending his early school years in the Middle East before returning to the UK to finish his school education, and then going on to university in the nearby city of Leeds (where he apparently made the occasional foray into Bradford, so he's not a complete stranger to the town).
The Fuse Gallery is currently running The Portrait Salon Photography Show, a 'salon des refuses', work turned down from major art shows.  Apparently, due to the very high standard for exhibitions an awful lot of really good work is refused and not seen by the public, this exhibition redresses the balance a little.  It's a diverse collection of portraits though, great differences in style and technique, but there are some real gems in there.

Memorial Wall Dedication Ceremony

The Bishop of Bradford led a service of  dedication for a new memorial last Saturday.  The memorial, a wall bearing the names of thirty  men and women from the Bradford area who have given their lives while serving in the armed forces since 1947 stands in a small garden close to the existing war memorial.  The service was attended by friends and family of the fallen, local dignitaries, the Royal British Legion and quite a large crowd of the ordinary people of Bradford.

Al's Dime Bar - Open Mic Night

A New York style bar in Bradford with an irresistible combination of American style beers, cocktails and live music, that's Al's Dime Bar on North Parade.  I went along on open mic night and really enjoyed listening to some of the talented local musicians performing there, some young and some maybe not so young, a great evening out.

Fifty Years of Doctor Who Fans

The National Media Museum in Bradford is currently running an exhibition celebrating fifty years of Doctor Who fans (running till 14th Feb 2014).  I was a fan myself back in the distant past but never collected memorabilia, many people did though, and this exhibition is a collection of souvenirs loaned to the museum by members of the public.  The Cyberman outfit brought back memories for me, memories from the 1960's and an army of Cybermen invaders emerging from the London Underground, not really all that scary by todays standards but scary enough back then.  Looking back at the pictures though, late at night, my mind did begin to wander a little.  Could that suit contain a real Cyberman and could there be a plot to take over the world using the Media Museum as the Cyberman headquarters.......and where is the Doctor when you really need him?

Barristers Protest

Barristers gatherer outside of Bradford Crown Court earlier today to oppose further cuts in funding to the criminal legal aid system. The protest is part of a national campaign to highlight government funding cuts to criminal law cases, cuts which may make some cases uneconomic for barristers and solicitors to take on.