Beautiful Building

Surrounded as we are by beautiful buildings, we sometimes take them for granted. So, the next time you walk through Halifax, pause for a moment and look up at the former Calder and Hebble Navigation Office at the corner of Southate and Alexandra Street. Look up and say, “You’re really quite beautiful, you know”.

A Very Safe Building

Horton House in Halifax now has a sign proclaiming “Unsafe Building - Do Not Enter”. What a reverse for this fine building that once was the school clinic where generations of Halifax children were inoculated against deadly diseases. It was then, a very safe building indeed.

A Quiet Corner Of Sheffield

Like some monumental sculpture, this collection has been assembled. Perhaps the steps leading up to the Church where the light can be seen. Or maybe the lamp lighting the way to the steps of reason. Or maybe a quiet corner of Sheffield 40 years ago.

Watching The World Change

It has the look of a cast outing from Last Of The Summers Wine. It was a group of Sheffield ladies, out for a walk 40 years ago. “Didn’t Doris Greaves live there?” asks one. “Yes, but they knocked the house down and moved her into the flats”, replies one of the others. “She’s gone now”, adds a third. Not too long after the photograph was taken, the flats went the way Doris did.

That's Entertainment

They knew how to enjoy themselves in those days - days of pierrot shows and tenor vocalists. And there is Great Cousin Ivy (cello and pianoforte) with a semi-detached smile.

Not A Deafening Noise

Another of my photos of the Halifax Charity Gala 56 years ago, to mark the day of the 2023 Gala. I'm not sure why the brass band back in 1967 chose to play outside the tent of the Halifax Deaf Association! Brass bands were one of the things I missed most during my deaf years.

Strip Of Six Negatives

The memories of photographers of a certain age tend to be organised in strips of six. We'd develop our films and cut them into strips for storage. So we jump from 1966 to 1967, and drop into the Halifax Charity Gala on Manor Heath to watch a little weightlifting.

Hanging In The Balance

The 2023 Halifax Charity Gala will take place today. To celebrate the occasion, this is a photograph I took at the very same event 56 years ago. That's a long time ago and a long time to have been left hanging in the balance.

Sheffield Rooftops

I spent a fair amount of yesterday in Sheffield and Barnsley, so this seems to be a suitable calendar image for today. It's 40 years since I took it, but still the skyline will be familiar to those who know Sheffield.

Pengo, Pengo, Pengo ....

Detail from a 10,000 Pengo banknote issued by the Hungarian government in July 1945. At the time, Hungary was suffering from hyper-inflation and the note became worthless within a few days of being issued.

Terrible Tragedy In Halifax

 

Don't you just get fed up with the state of the modern media, with all the sensational headlines, lurid stories and titillating images designed to get you to follow links to stories that never live up to what they promised? Take me back to the good old days when serious writers upheld the very highest journalistic standards.