The Sea, The Sea

My mother loved the sea. Go within salt-spray distance of the coast, and you would find her paddling along the shoreline, watching the waves come in. My brother sent me this photograph of her the other day from his island home, way across the ocean. It's been a good few years since I've seen him. Perhaps I should head for the coast, look out, and see if I can see him.

The Cauldron

 

On countless occasions in my youth, I would walk through Northowram village, along Howes Lane to the point where the earth ends and Shibden Valley begins. I would focus my camera on the lip of the cauldron that was Halifax, on the other side of the valley, and try to capture the smoke, soot and industry that was my home town. This photo, however, is only from a few years ago: the fields are green, the sky is blue and the cauldron is still.

Hebridean Dreaming

 

We were whisky distillery-hopping on Islay (can they be a finer way to spend time?) As someone once said (or sung), we stopped into a church, we passed along the way. I took this photograph, and then we moved on. Hebridean dreaming, on such a winter's day.

... And They Sailed Away

 

My trawl through my collection of old photographs to find a suitable illustration for St. Valentine's Day came up with this one. As so often is the case, I have no idea who these two are or where and when the photo was taken. That doesn't matter: it perfectly illustrates what Valentine's Day is all about. Whoever they were, I hope they sailed away to a long and happy life together.

Beacon Hill Timeline

 

I sometimes think that one of my most useful contributions to history would be to produce a Beacon Hill timeline. So many old photographs of Halifax feature Beacon Hill as an ever-present dramatic backdrop, and the changing degree of vegetation on the hill could provide a useful timestamp in dating such photos. After consulting the beta version of my timeline, I suspect I must have taken this photograph in the late 1980s.

Photographic History At Its Best

 

This photograph came to me from my Great Uncle, Fowler Beanland, who, during the First World War, was a foreman at a munitions factory in Keighley. The photo shows fifteen female munitions workers - just a small proportion of the many hundreds who worked for Longbottom and Farrar's, which was, at the time, part of the British Shell Factory. Photographic history at its best.

Scale And Emptiness

When I look back at these old photographs of mine - I took this picture of a street in Stoke-on-Trent some fifty-five years ago - it is the scale that seems to stand out. Were the streets really this wide or were the cars small? Were the telegraph poles so tall or were the people short? There's a feeling of almost emptiness about the scene you just wouldn't get today.

Yorkshire Imperialism

 

I don't know which hillside it was. I remember taking the photograph whilst on the Settle to Carlisle line, so there is just a chance that it might even by a Lancashire hillside. It feels like Yorkshire however, in fact, I hereby claim it as part of Yorkshire (I learnt that trick from a chap in America!).

Film Sets

 

Shaw Lane in Halifax back in the 70s and 80s was a bit like a vacant film set: spectacular backgrounds waiting for a drama to unfold. You could have made any number of films or gritty TV series with those granite sets in the foreground, those sooty walls in the background, and the occasional mill tower to add spice to the scene.

Dam Art

 

Another one of those exercises in black and white and straight lines. There should be a name for this kind of art. Dam art, perhaps?

Five Girls And A Kodak

 

The Sepia Saturday theme this week is old photos of even older photographers, and searching through my extensive (if my wife reads this, I mean very small) collection, I found this 1920s photograph. At first I thought the object in question might be a small handbag, but further research suggests it's a Kodak No 1 Folding Pocket Camera. My research involved me finding one that is for sale on eBay, so I bought it! (if my wife is reading this, I didn't).

Paris Pub

 

I've always been attracted to this part of Halifax: the steep hills, cobbled streets, brooding mills ..... and, of course, the delights of the Shears Inn, whose stone-tiled roof features in this photo of mine from 40 or 50 years ago. There's a story which says the area's name - Paris Gates - came about when the final letter "h" fell off the original "Parish Gates" sign. I prefer the idea that it was the entrance to an early attempt at a Channel Tunnel.

From The Archives

 

I've always had a fondness for old newspapers: give me a half-comfy chair and a pile of old newspapers, and I'm a happy man. If I can't get my hands on the paper originals, then the online British Newspaper Archives is an excellent alternative, and it has the advantage of a very effective search engine. That is how I discovered this newspaper cutting from the Lynn News of the 6th of June 1972 and this rather pleasing drawing by my brother, Roger.

More Shapes

 

Some shapes are instantly identifiable: the distant sweep of the moor-lined hills and the grand lines of a dye-works chimney that had ideas above its industrial station. The whole scene viewed from a promenade that, even after global warming has done its worst, will never see the sea. Sunset behind Wainhouse Tower, viewed from Albert Promenade, Halifax.

The Shape Of Things Gone By

This is not so much the shape of things to come as the shape of things gone by. That unmistakable shape of 1980s cars, TV aerials, telephone lines stretched across streets - they all spell out the eighties. And note the delicious absence of that most twenty-first century visual blight - the plastic wheelie bin. This was Sheffield in the 1980s.

The Only Decent Place In Fixby

 

This early twentieth century picture postcard has a fine view of Fixby Hall, which was one of the ancestral homes of the Thornhill family, but, by the time of this postcard, it had become the home of Huddersfield Golf Club. The message on the back of the card claims that the Hall is the "only decent place in the district", which is a bit of a cheek as I only live just up the road from there!

Timeless Style

 

The Victorian photographer, John Bell, promised "photography in the latest styles" on the reverse of his classic carte de visites. There is, however, something timeless about the face featured on the front of the card. I feel as if I know this lady, we met in the supermarket the other day.

IN A FLAP

 

Our Sepia Saturday theme this week is all about strange shapes, and the closest I seem to be able to get to it is this photograph from almost 100 years ago. I can only be sure about one of the six heads - and that is the third one down, which is my father, Albert. The photograph will have been taken somewhere close to Bradford, where he was brought up, and the occasion, I suspect, will have been a Boys Brigade camp.

NOSTALGIC THOUGHTS

 

When Greenwoods was on't corner, and Marks at top of town; 

when one day you could wait up, and next day you'd wait down. 

When sun was always shining, and it'd never, never rain 

...... why did folk wear thick coats and rain hats, perhaps you'd care to explain.

SHEFFIELD DAYS

 

There are no cars in this scene which always makes dating it a little more difficult. The clothes don't give many clues either: fashion takes a back seat to insulation when it comes to northern winters. Haymarket in Sheffield looks very different these days, and British Homes Stores is long gone. It must have been about 1980 when I took it - back in my Sheffield days.

A POSTCARD FROM KEIGHLEY

 

A POSTCARD FROM KEIGHLEY

Few things can provide a mirror to social history better than the humble picture postcard. On the one side you have the view, and although, as the 20th century progressed, these became more romanticised and stereotypical, in the early years they were often raw and real: horse muck and gaslights. On the other side you have a message which is worth a PhD thesis. This card was sent by my Great Aunt Eliza to my Great Uncle Fowler in 1905.

IT WAS SNOWING EARLIER

 

CROOKES VALLEY, SHEFFIELD 1980 : It was due to snow today, but it is looking like heavy rain instead, so there will be no snowy scene to share. Never mind, here's one I took earlier. Forty-six years earlier to be exact.

PINBALL WIZARD

 

The colours aren't particularly real, and you can't make out much of the scene (it was taken in Akroyd Place, Halifax). It is the lines, however, that are fascinating: the way they bounce your eye around the scene like a ball bearing in a pinball machine.

Rainy Days And Sundays

 

The photograph of Crown Street in Halifax is from a few years ago, and some of the shops have changed since it was taken. It is still raining however. Rainy days and Sundays - not to mention Mondays - always get me down. 

STYLE

 

Our Sepia Saturday theme image this week features a stylish 1920s car, so I thought I would give you both a stylish 1920s car and two stylish ladies from the same era. Both look very proud of their car and their lives, and so they should do. No doubt previous generations had style, but it wasn't until the 20s that style came into its own.