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.

Baildon Scarecrow Walk 2012 - Acoustic Trio

I quite enjoyed listening to this acoustic trio performing at the Scarecrow Walk in Baildon at the weekend.  They go by the name of 'The Broken Hearts Club Band', they were very pleasant to listen to, and who needs amplifiers anyway!

Baildon Scarecrow Walk 2012 - Scarecrow Choir

There was some very nice singing from this choir in the grounds of St John's Parish Church on Saturday, with choir members dressed as scarecrows.

Baildon Scarecrow Walk - 2012

Baildon hosted its annual Scarecrow Walk on Saturday and there were plenty of visitors to the village, many of them young children clutching leaflets showing the locations of the scarecrows.  This years main themes seem to have been the Olympic Games and the Diamond Jubilee, not surprising really.  I didn't see all of the scarecrows, but there were some quite clever ones, some very colourful ones, some that were quite bizarre, and some that just put a smile of your face!

High Royds Hospital Chapel - Heritage Open Day

Just an open space really, but the final resting place of 2,858 former patients of the nearby High Royds Hospital.  The hospital was opened in 1888 as the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum and took in mentally ill patients normally kept in prisons and the workhouse.  Patients would expect to stay at the institution until they died and would then be given a pauper's funeral at this burial ground.  There were no headstones, and probably no relatives present at the funeral as patients were largely abandoned when taken in at the hospital.  The last burial took place in 1969 and the hospital finally closed in 2003.

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.

Bradford City Hall - Heritage Open Day

There was great fun in the former law courts at City Hall today in re-enactments of criminal prosecutions from the 1950's.  The entertainment was all part of a heritage open day at City Hall where visitors could explore this historic building and see areas not normally open to the public.  The chap on the far right of the bench is Lord Mayor cllr. Dale Smith taking part in the proceedings.

Curious Crow

I don't usually take pictures of birds, you need a lot of patience and need to be able to identify the different species, I think this one may be a juvenile crow or rook.  It was taken on a footpath near the river Aire with a telephoto lens. I didn't really need to use a long lens as the bird gradually came closer and closer, I think it was curious about the noise the camera was making, until it was actually too close for the telephoto lens I was using to focus.  I have never experienced this kind of behaviour from a bird before.

Rushbearing Festival - Bradshaw Mummers

The Bradshaw Mummers performing at the Rushbearing Festival at Sowerby Bridge.  The actors are known as 'mummers' and perform traditional folk plays generally on the theme of  the triumph of good over evil, very popular with the youngsters.

Rushbearing Festival - Uppermill Brass Band

Uppermill Brass Band leaving St Patrick's Church at the Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing Festival.  I think the Whit Friday Brass Band Contests at Saddleworth may be worth a visit next year, it's not near Bradford, not even in Yorkshire (although I believe it was at one time), it's over the border into Lancashire and an area of mill towns and villages.

Rushbearing Festival - Persephone Women's Morris

Persephone Women's Morris, Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing Festival, at the Maypole Inn, Warley.  According to their website, Persepone are a North West (old Lancashire and Cheshire areas of England) processional morris side.

Rushbearing Festival - The Powderkegs

The Powderkegs, Border Morris dancers from Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire performing at the Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing Festival.  I think we were at the White Horse Inn at this point, I'm not entirely sure as I'm not really familiar with the area.

Rushbearing Festival - Sowerby Bridge

I spent yesterday at the market town of Sowerby Bridge in the Calder valley, around ten miles south-west of Bradford.  The town hosts an annual rushbearing festival weekend, and I can honestly say that I have never seen anything quite like it.  The festival has been held in the town since 1977 but is a revival of an ancient custom in the area of carrying rushes to church to lay on the earthen floor.  A sixteen foot high rushcart with a maiden perched on top is hauled by a team of local men wearing clogs, black trousers, white shirts and decorated panama hats up and down some seriously steep hills, stopping off at local churches, and local pubs along the route where there is much dancing and general merriment.  The rushcart is followed by a procession of clog dancers, sword dancers and musicians who entertain the crowds at each stop.  I must say that I really enjoyed the day and was exhausted at the end of it, and I wasn't even pulling the cart.  I'd just like to add that the tankards you can see hanging from the belts of the haulers are not just there for decorative purposes!

Manchester Road Bridge

It was the official opening of the new Manchester Road Bridge today.  The structure replaces an existing bridge and joins together a community divided by one of the busiest routes into Bradford.  The bridge is both pedestrian and cycle friendly, having gentle gradients, and is actually part of the National Cycle Networks Route 66.  I took the picture yesterday as workmen added a few finishing touches to the 210 metre long structure.

London 2012 Paralympics - Bradford

Citizens of Bradford watching the London Paralympics on the BBC Big Screen in the town centre today, and unusually for this summer, no rain!

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.