Bradford is Lit - City Hall

Projection onto City Hall, part of the Bradford is Lit festival.  The work Worstedopolis by artist Ronan Devlin connects the city's industrial textile past with its digital future.

Honk Bradford - Street Band Festival

Street band 'Blast Furness' from Ulverston in South Cumbria taking part in the Honk Bradford Street Band Festival.  The festival features fourteen street bands from as far away as France, Germany, Amsterdam, Spain and the USA as well as UK bands.  The bands were spread out at various locations around the city centre before converging in City Park for the Big Honk Showdown.

Saltaire Festival 2012 - German Sausage

I didn't manage to see everything at the Saltaire Festival, there was just too much to see in the time I had available.  Some of the food stalls were quite colourful, this German sausage was quite eye-catching.

Saltaire Festival 2012 - Reflecting On Fruit

There were a number of food tents at the Saltaire Festival with demonstrations in the art of preparing food, or in this case, turning fruit into amazing floral displays with nothing more than a sharp knife.  The mirror was mounted on the ceiling of the tent to give the audience a better view.  I took a quick picture after the demonstration when members of the audience went up to the front for a closer look.

Saltaire Festival 2012 - Street Fun

An unlikely combination of music, juggling and er... escapology from this duo at the Saltaire Festival, very popular with the kids and adults alike.

Saltaire Festival 2012 - The Plumhall Band

I really enjoyed this set from the Bradford based Plumhall band at the Saltaire Festival.  The band features Michelle Plum (former member of Chumbawamba) and Nick B Hall performing folk ballads through to out and out rock, very nice.

Saltaire Festival 2012 - Street Band

Onlookers are not quite sure what to make of a very entertaining street band in Roberts Park today.  It's all part of the finale weekend at the tenth Saltaire Festival.

Saltaire Festival 2012 - Giant Hippo?

I've never seen one of these roaming around Roberts Park before, it's quite a sight when you see it approaching through the crowds, and there were some crowds today.  It's the finale weekend of the Saltaire Festival and I can honestly say that I have never seen as many people in the village, moving around became a bit of a problem by mid afternoon.  There were a number of Steampunk enthusiasts at the Festival, but I think this hippo was a real showstopper.

Saltaire Festival 2012 - Roberts Park

Live music at the bandstand in Roberts Park, Saltaire.  This was last Sunday but the main weekend for the tenth Saltaire Festival is the coming weekend with live music, a continental market and a number of other events taking place.  I hope to be there.

Saltaire Festival 2012 - Dog Show

There was plenty of activity in Roberts Park today.  The tenth Saltaire Festival runs until Sunday, September 16th and this dog show was just one of the festival events.  I'm not really a dog person, but I did enjoy watching these fine looking animals being paraded up and down the arena.  The photograph looks a little on the dull side, it managed to rain mid afternoon, just a little shower, but enough to send people heading for home.

Ripley Scarecrow Festival

There are quite a lot of scarecrow festivals these days, this one is a little bit unusual as each scarecrow has the head of a pig.  The village of Ripley, which lies a few miles North of Harrogate has a long association with the boar's head, it is used in the emblem of the Ingilby family, granted to local landowner Thomas Ingilby in 1357 when he is said to have slain a boar which attacked the King.

Aire Do - Samantha Binns

A good performance from singer/songwriter Samantha Binns in the Musicians Centre marquee at the Aire Do. 

Aire Do - Jam Community Radio

This is Jordan Cooper outside of the Jam Radio marquee at the Aire Do in Keighley.  I had not heard of Jam Radio before today, so my thanks to Jordan for telling me a little bit about it. It's a community radio station based in Keighley (about eight miles west of Bradford) which is available to listen to via the internet, and Jordan is one of the presenters.
The Aire Do is an annual two day open air music festival held in the grounds of Cliffe Castle on the outskirts of Keighley, hosting bands, singer songwriters and tribute acts both from the Keighley area and further afield.  I did visit the festival last year and it rained, heavily, all day, but today the weather was much better and there was a much larger crowd.  I will hopefully be able to post some more pictures of the event in the next few days (I'm having some computer problems at the moment, so don't hold your breath).

Pontefract Liquorice Festival 2012

I spent Sunday afternoon in the town of Pontefract, famous for its association with the liquorice plant and its annual Liquorice Festival.  It is thought that a member of the land owning De Lacy family may have brought back a liquorice plant from the crusades.  The family were the builders of nearby Pontefract Castle and owned land across the north of England, including Bradford, so you could say there is a somewhat tenuous link between Bradford and Pontefract.  The picture shows one of the street entertainers at the festival.

Rosie And Jim - Skipton Waterway Festival 2012

Brightly coloured boats converged on the town of Skipton at the weekend for the Skipton Waterway Festival.  Many of the boats were decorated with Union Flags as this year is the Queen's diamond jubilee and the Olympic Games are also taking place.  I went along fairly early in the morning, before the crowds arrived and managed to take some quite nice pictures. I liked this one, Rosie & Jim, the other two boats are Bill & Ben, but Ben unfortunately drifted across to the right so you can't see his name.