Mela Cancelled

I was really looking forward to the Bradford Mela today, a celebration of South Asian Culture with street theatre music and dance.  Unfortunately the event was cancelled at the last minute due to ground conditions at Peel Park.  Due to the heavy rain we have had over the last couple of weeks and with more to come, it was considered unwise to allow the event to go ahead.  I had a quick look back and came up with this picture from the Mela in 2010.  I'm going from memory here, but I think the performer had flown from Pakistan especially for this performance which involved balancing a number of those vessels on top of her head (I can't remember how many, but it was a lot).

Cyclo-Cross - Peel Park

Peel Park in Bradford was host to round five of the National Trophy Cyclo-Cross event today. It's the first time that I have been to a cyclo-cross event and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The weather was poor, it was raining heavily, it was cold and it was dark, which perversely makes an event like this more interesting. It means lots of mud, more slipping and sliding and more jumping on and off the bike, it's a really interesting spectator sport. The picture shows a competitor in the first race of the day, the veterans event.

Skyride 2011 - Recumbent Tricycle

There were some unusual machines at the Skyride event, I think the correct name for this one is a recumbent tricycle.

Skyride 2011

I went along to the second Bradfiord Skyride Event today. A four mile route between Peel Park and the Little Germany area of Bradford town centre was closed to traffic for most of the day. The aim of this family friendly event is to increase the number of people cycling in the UK by one million by the year 2013. The picture shows some of the young participants on the start line in Peel Park. Was the event a success? Well the youngsters certainly enjoyed it, I enjoyed it, (I took my folding bike along with the intention of doing one lap and ended up doing four laps) so yes, I would say it was a success!

Bradford Mela - Bollywood

These Bollywood style dance routines probably drew the largest audiences at the Mela.

Bradford Mela - Wayzgoose Morris Dancers

There seems to be a bit of everything at the Mela. This is the Wharfedale Wayzgoose Border Morris Side from the town of Otley.

Bradford Mela - Chhau Dancers

These Chhau dancers from East India put on quite a performance at the Mela. The performers wear elaborate masks and costumes and act out a kind of dance drama with swords, bows, and lots of acrobatic leaping and somersaults.

Bradford Mela - Cuisine

The Bradford Mela was held in Peel Park on Sunday. This years event was slightly smaller than in previous years and held on the Sunday only instead of Saturday and Sunday. The entertainment was still to a very high standard with both traditional and contemporary dance and music from the Indian sub-continent, plenty of entertainment for children, and as usual a wide variety of food stalls. I found it quite interesting to watch the food being prepared and took quite a few photos, the only problem is, it's making me feel hungry looking at the pictures.

Spring Silhouette - Peel Park

     This statue, on the grand promenade in Peel Park is named Spring.  It was donated to the park in Victorian times by the Bradford Band of Hope and Union, a Baptist Society that promoted abstinence from drink.  Bradford has several large parks which were built in the Victorian era.  The textile industry was at its peak at this time and living conditions for the workers were probably at their worst.