Reflections At City Park - Haworth Brass Band

From the Reflections At City Park event and the Haworth Brass Band who gave two really nice performances at the Mirror Pool.

Bradford City Run

There were four hundred or more runners taking part in yesterdays Bradford Run with distances of five and ten kilometers and a half marathon.  The weather was quite windy with a few heavy showers thrown in for good measure.  The picture was taken at the start line, most of the winners are in the first and second rows!

Bradford Sea Cadets - Trafalgar Day

This post is a little late as this event happened last Sunday. Around 150 cadets from all eight of West Yorkshire's Sea Cadet units assembled in the town centre.to mark Lord Nelson's victory at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and also to mark the 75th anniversary of Sea Cadets in Bradford.  Cadets assembled in Centenary Square before proceeding through the streets to Bradford Cathedral where a service was held, the procession then returned to Centenary Square. Pictured is the High Sheriff of West Yorkshire Virginia Lloyd chatting to young cadets.

Reflections At City Park - Punjabi Roots Academy

A Bradford based organization teaching Bhangra and Bollywood dance, dhol drumming and DJ skills.  Punjabi Roots Academy have recently appeared on a number of UK television programmes including The One Show and Blue Peter.

Reflections At City Park - 'Irresistible' By Mind The Gap

A burning car, a motorcycle and singing Sirens suspended over the mirror pool were just part of the story in a performance by Bradford based theatre company 'Mind The Gap'.  The theatre company works with learning disabled and non-disabled artists as equals.  Incidentally, the performance took place in the mirror pool and the water coming down is nothing to do with the mirror pool fountains it's genuine rain.

Reflections At City Park - Brazilian Samba Parade

I spent an enjoyable day yesterday at the Reflections event, a bringing together of local  dance artists, musicians and street theatre performers at City Park in the centre of Bradford.  I am really starting the wrong way around here as this is a picture of the final outdoor event of the day, a Samba Parade from City Park to St. George's Hall (where the entertainment continued indoors with a world dance and music extravaganza to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Kala Sangam, the Bradford based South Asian arts group).
As you can probably see from the picture it was raining quite heavily at the time, the heavens opened during the final ten minutes of the day's performances.  I managed to see things through to the end though and went off to catch my bus thoroughly wet through (that's when I found out how abysmal my bus service is after 6PM, but that's another story really)!

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame - Bradford Cathedral

This picture was taken last Friday when I made a short visit to Bradford Cathedral.  The large screen had been erected for a showing of the 1923 version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame accompanied by the cathedral organ, which I imagine would have been quite impressive in the darkened cathedral.  The flowers were left over from an autumn flower festival which had been held the previous week.

Bamboo Sandals - Saltaire Festival

I never got around to posting anything from the Saltaire Festival last month, so here is a picture of the lead singer of Bamboo Sandals, a talented four piece band that perform regularly in the Leeds and Bradford areas.  The band went down well with all age groups at the festival, particularly well with some of the younger members of the audience, and quite well with myself.  I'm sure the band will be going places in the future!

Positive Bradford Day

It's a bit of  a late post as the event took place a couple of weeks ago in the town centre. The weather on the day was considerably better than that of the previous year when wind and rain caused a few problems.  The event is organised jointly by education, arts and business organisations to highlight the positive things going on in the city.  The picture shows drama students from Bradford College entertaining the crowds in Centenary Square.

Bradford - United Against The EDL

A peaceful counter-protest was held at the Bradford Urban Garden on Saturday afternoon.  Faith leaders, student union representatives and Bradford West MP George Galloway were present at the gathering.

EDL Demonstration

This was the scene yesterday afternoon in Bridge Street with the EDL contained in an area adjacent to the Queen pub on the right of the picture.  For safety reasons this was the closest that photographers were allowed.  The demonstration caused some disruption to travellers as the main entrance to the bus and rail terminal remained closed for most of the day.

Bradford Prepares For EDL Demonstration

There were more police officers than shoppers in the town centre this morning as road closures were put in place and barriers were erected to segretate the visiting English Defence League from the main part of the city.  Bradford residents had been urged to carry on as normal, but most stayed away.

Bradford Together

A number of groups came together in Centenary Square yesterday afternoon in a celebration of peace and unity in the lead up to the English Defence League demonstration which is to be held in Bradford today. 

Bradford Chesstival in the Park

International chess master Andy Ledger takes on chess players from the Bradford area at a the Bradford Chesstival, a chess festival held in the centre of Bradford a couple of weeks ago.  I was quite surprised at how big an event it was, with marquees arranged around the mirror pool, musical entertainment, and a number of international chess masters ready to take on local players ten or more at a time!

Baildon Harley Davidson Weekend - 2013

Hundreds of Harley Davidson bikers took part in a mass ride out from the village of Baildon on Sunday, part of a weekend gathering organised by Shipley Harley Davidson Club. The event, which raises money for the Bradford Hospitals Childrens Charity and other charities was started 34 years ago and draws riders from all over the UK and parts of Europe.  It's a great event with crowds of onlookers lining the streets. 
(I did notice that some of the Harley riders are starting to look quite mature and distinguished, so I've chosen a picture with a mature and distinguished machine in it - just a note from your mature and distinguished photographer)!

Aire Do - Georgette Hilton

My apologies as I am about three weeks late with this post.  The Aire Do, an annual music festival held in the grounds of the recently refurbished Cliffe Castle museum at Keighley was held over the weekend of 3rd-4th August.  I was only able to attend on the Sunday but thoroughly enjoyed the performance by talented singer/songwriter Georgette Hilton.

Shipley Pirate Day

There was terrific fun for the kids (and some of the grown-ups) in Shipley market square earlier today as a ship load of pirates, Peter Pan and a dinosaur sailed into town.  The entertainment was part of the annual Shipley Pirate Day with plenty of pirate based activities, face painting, a parade and several very enjoyable pantomime performances.

Celebrity In Settle

Not Bradford but Settle market place and a visit from a TV personality.  I had to ask who this person was as I live in my own insular little world (I do get out though) and have been informed that it is TV chef Paul Hollywood.  He was in Settle yesterday giving a cooking demonstration and interacting with the locals, I believe the programme is to be shown later in the year on one of the BBC channels.

Family With Plant

A family (and their plant) pause on their way through Centenary Square as a group of rappers take to the stage at the Big Gig on Sunday.

Odeon Cinema

I nipped across to take a quick picture of the Odeon cinema yesterday, it's still quite an impressive building, even when it's shrouded in scaffolding.