Forster Square Station

     Trains leave this station to Leeds, Ilkley, Skipton and beyond.  It's not much of a station really, three platforms, a ticket office, a tiny shop and a few vending machines, a bit sad really.  There are proposals to build a rail link to Bradfords other station which lies on the opposite side of town, although this sounds like a good idea, it could be a long time before anything happens, the plan was first put forward around a hundred years ago.

Midland Mills Bradford

        This McDonalds sign stands on the car park of Forster Square Retail Park in Bradford.  Just beyond the sign you can see an old mill building with an unusual weather vane on top. The mill formerly belonged to British Mohair Spinners, so I'm guessing that's an Angora goat up there.

Swollen River Aire

     We've had nothing but wind and rain for the last few days.  This is the River Aire at Thackley on the outskirts of Bradford.  The river level is quite high at the moment, not the highest I've ever seen it, but not far off.  About a hundred yards downstream from here there was at one time a ford, a metal footbridge now spans the river at this point.

Darley Streeet Musicians

     I was in the town centre the other day and could hear some music in the distance and went to investigate.  A four piece band were on the corner of Darley St. and Kirkgate with an unusual line up consisting of accordion, two trumpets and a kind of tambourine, the funny thing was, it didn't sound at all bad!

Toothy Fish

     This fish, made from coloured pebbles is part of a water feature, a sort of fountain which can be found near City Hall in Bradford.  At the moment there is no water flowing, it may have been switched off for the winter, or simply may not work at all. 

Joseph Priestley Memorial

     This is a detail from the carved memorial tablet of Joseph Priestley, the chief engineer of the Leeds/Liverpool Canal Company.
     Work on the canal began after an act of parliament was passed in 1770, but the project was not fully completed until forty years later. The canal carried coal and textiles across the Pennines and through Lancashire to the port of Liverpool.  Bradford had its own link to this canal.                   
     The memorial can be found on the wall of Bradford Cathedral.  I don't think you need me to tell  you which one of the three figures is Mr. Priestley!

Assorted Ducks

     I had been for a walk around Manningham Park, I was looking for something colourful to photograph, snowdrops or winter flowering shrubs, or failing that possibly a picture of the ducks.  Ducks in public parks are usually quite approachable and easy to photograph, or so I thought.  I had recently read a magazine article on how to approach wildlife without causing panic, 'walk at the speed of a grazing cow' it said.  These ducks must have had a bad experience with a 'grazing cow' at some time as they immediately became suspicious of me and ran en masse for the lake.

Anish Kapoor Sculpture

     This sculpture by Anish Kapoor called 'Turning the World Inside Out' is on display at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford and is part of its permanent collection.  This impressive sculpture stands five or six feet tall and has a dimple in the top.  The sculpture has a highly polished, almost mirror like metal surface which is also populated with the fingerprints and handprints of people who couldn't resist touching (almost had to touch it myself)!  The little sign on the floor says 'please do not touch'.

Mirror Pool - Work Progresses

     There seems to be plenty of activity on the construction site of the new mirror pool.  It's been a month since I last had a proper look and there's still not a lot to see on the surface.  The pool will have a surface area of 4,200 sq. metres and contain 100 fountains so it should be quite impressive when it's finished.
    

Alhambra Theatre

          This Grade II listed building is a Bradford landmark, it was almost demolished and made into a car park in the 1980s.  It was rescued and fully refurbished in 1986, a glass facade and main entrance being added to the front of the building, the original entrance was on the corner beneath the dome.  I was once told that the building was painted black during the second world war, but I can't find anything to confirm this, so it may or may not be true.

Cowpers Cross - Ilkley Moor

     This stone cross stands a short distance from the old Keighley to Ilkley road on the top of Ilkley Moor.  The name Cowper is thought to derive from the local family name of Cawper. The cross has been repaired at some time as the shaft has been replaced by an old stone gatepost.

Ilkley Moor - Path Erosion

     Ilkley Moor lies some seven or eight miles Northwest of Bradford and is part of the South Pennines Moor Site of Special Scientific Interest.
     Many of the paths on the moor are heavily used by walkers, runners, and more recently mountain bikers leading to some serious path erosion. Work is underway to repair  badly affected sections of path using flagstones from demolished mills.  Some of these flagstones are being flown in by helicopter due to the inaccessibility of these paths by normal vehicles.
     This picture was taken at Whetstones, a vantage point from where you can see into the Wharfe valley and beyond in one direction, and into the Aire valley and beyond in the other direction (Listers Mill chimney is plainly visible in the Bradford direction).

Fibres

     This unusual sculpture 'Fibres' by Ian Randall lies between Forster Square Railway Station and the town centre.  The two pillars are constructed from old railway lines radiating out into the surrounding paved area.  The sculpture is popular with young children who run at the pillars to see how far they can climb up!
     The building in the background is the Midland Hotel.  The original railway station was located some 300 yards closer to the town centre, next to this hotel.

Richard Oastler

     This statue of Richard Oastler (1789-1861) stands next to the Oastler Centre at the top end of Bradford.  Richard Oastler was a campaigner for factory workers rights and was involved in the campaign to reduce childrens working hours to ten hours per day.  The statue was the result of a national subscription with most of the funds coming from the Bradford area.

Derelict School

     This derelict building is situated on the corner of Claremont and Morley Street, just a short walk from the town centre.  Composer Frederick Delius was born only a few doors away at No.6 Claremont, but this building was formerly  Fox's School of Commerce.  The school taught shorthand, typing and book-keeping to a high standard and was run by a no-nonsense Mrs. Whitely.  The school closed some years ago and the building is now in very poor condition.  Writing on the door warns not to enter as there is no floor behind the door.

Bradford Women For Peace

     After visiting the Peace Banner exhibition last Friday I decided to look back in my files and came up with this picture. This is Bradford Women For Peace in the city cente of Bradford in August last year, possibly the day before the EDL demonstration.  I think the green banner in the background is on display in the exhibition. 

Priestley Theatre Mural

     This mural is on the wall of the Priestley Theatre and is visible from Leeds road as you leave Bradford.  It celebrates the birth of the Independent Labour Party at Bradford in 1893 following a strike at Manningham Mills two years earlier.

Quaker Graves

     This is the Quaker burial area of Undercliffe Cemetery.  The gravestones are laid flat 'as no man is above another' and usually bear only simple inscriptions of name, age at death, and date of death.

Wool Exchange

     This is the modern plate glass facade of the Bradford Wool Exchange building viewed from Piece Hall Yard.  The building now contains a large bookshop, coffee shop and a number of smaller businesses, wool trading ceased here in the 1960s.

Peace Banners

     This exhibition of peace banners is currently on display at the Pop Up Arts Space in Centenary Square, Bradford.  This is basically an empty shop unit used as a temporary art gallery.  The banners span 100 years of peace protesting.  The most recent of these banners was used here in Bradford in last years demonstration against the English Defence League.