God's Own County

Interlude for Afternoon Tea in Shipley

Posted on December 22, 2016 by Hortoris

King George V would recognise many of the items on display at Interlude the Cafe Society tearoom ‘to be seen in’ when visiting Shipley. Between Elsie Russell’s florists and The Samaritan charity shop is an exceptionally well furbished cafe with great food and an environment to savor. High Tea comes a bit more expensive than Afternoon Tea but with boiled egg with toast soldiers the prices are very reasonable and the choice just right.

All the tables are similar to the one shown with old china crockery and a collection of old art books, comics and magazines to peruse. When you wish to order you have your own little bell to ring and there are numerous other touches to take in whilst you drink your Yorkshire tea.

Upstairs at this Westgate Cafe is a boutique of vintage clothes, although my daughter thought they were more secondhand than 1920’s. Still the sound of syncopated rhythms and an occasional Charleston wafted gently through the rooms. The emporium at the front of the cafe sells cakes and treats for you to take home if you wish and this shows the enterprise a business needs these days to survive. Support your local shops and visit Interlude when in Shipley. More about Interludes history can be found on there own web site.

Posted in Food and Drink & Yorkshire Products, Yorkshire Business and Money | Tagged nostalgia, tea, venues | 1 Comment

Bridge Over Untroubled Water

Posted on December 20, 2016 by Hortoris

Underneath the arches in Leeds usually means the Dark Arches with bridges over the Aire and railway bridges over both. This is the bridge to the Calls on the Calder Aire navigation link.

A view of the Leeds bridge cast ironwork in full painted regalia. Not big enough to require a Forth Bridge paint job.

The Leeds Liverpool canal at Dockfield in Shipley has a packhorse bridge where the old Bradford canal joined.

Walking from Addingham up to Beamsley Beacon I crossed this footbridge over the river Wharfe.

Posted in Photos | 1 Comment

Packhorse Bridges in Yorkshire

Posted on December 20, 2016 by Hortoris

Built like a Packhorse bridge over the Leeds Liverpool canal this bridge has the traditional narrow, one horse wide masonry arch and low parapets so as not to interfere with the horse’s panniers. It is at the junction of the now defunct Bradford Canal and was opened in 1774. The canal and the bridge carried industrial revolution products too and from Bradford. Despite many problems with the water flow into the canal it was a commercial asset until it closed in 1922 due to the high cost of pumping water back to the head of the canal.

Pleasure craft now float under this fine old bridge heading towards Shipley.

The Roman fort of Olicana now known as Ilkley, once guarded this strategic crossing of the Wharfe, on the legion’s road to Boroughbridge (Aldborough). This packhorse bridge was built in 1674 close to the Roman built ford across the river Wharfe. It is an unusual bridge as it is wider than many packhorse bridges and would allow two loaded pack animals to pass on the bridge. It is closed to traffic but you can wheel a cycle across. Continue reading →

Posted in Our Yorkshire, Photos, Yorkshire History and Heritage | Comments Off

Where to Win Lottery Funding

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Hortoris

The Peoples Post Code Lottery has made payment of over £147k to the “Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust” a charity that works to support the environmental, social and economic well-being of the Dales.

The Millenium Trust itself supports many projects in the Dales – like outreach work for disabled and disadvantaged groups, habitat restoration, new woodland planting, providing apprenticeships for young people, and much more besides.

The Heritage Lottery Fund is supporting a major project to restore glass and stonework at York Minster’s East Front. They have awarded a £9.7m boost s in addition to the £10m given to the minster fund in 2007. It will help improve access for disabled visitors but focuses primarily on the restoration of the Great East Window, the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. The project will last 15 years.

Screen Yorkshire distributes RIFE Lottery Funding and Digital Film Archive Fund (DFAF) awards on behalf of the UK Film Council. Or it did until November 2010 when the latest batch of applications were considered. These grants support and extend the provision, promotion and interpretation of specialised and mainstream film in the region.

Screen Yorkshire are also the regional partner for Mediabox in Yorkshire and Humber, the fund that offers disadvantaged 13 – 19 year olds the opportunity to create their own media projects.

Sport England funds projects that help people get involved in sport and physical activity. This includes refurbishing existing facilities or building new ones and developing programmes and initiatives that use sport and activity to support community cohesion, improve health and raise education levels. Minimum grants are £10,000.

Other sources of funding for projects

The Princes Trust – www.princes-trust.org.uk
Big Lottery – www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Heritage Lottery – www.hlf.org.uk

Candlelighters Charity Beer

Posted on December 18, 2016 by Hortoris

Candlelight beer was brewed, by Wold Top Brewery, to help raise funds for the Candlelighter’s charity.I am not sure it is still available and my last bottle is now showing signs of age.

Who and What are Candlelighters

Candlelighters is a charity formed and run by parents of children who have or have had cancer.
Great help is also provided by ex-patients and the medical staff who treat the children.
‘Based in Yorkshire, Candlelighters provides essential services and support to children with cancer and their families.’
Candlelighters charity has operated in Yorkshire since 1976
Candlelighters fund raising provides money for additional medical, nursing and social support staff.

The Wold Top Brewery

Beer is usually packaged in barrels or bottles, large ones for preference.
All credit to Wold brewery for this ‘pack of three’ for transporting my bottles. Good beer packaging of the month award!
Wold Top is on a family farm in Wold Newton near Driffield
Other beers include Wold Gold, Mars Magic and Centenary Way Mild

What about the Candlelight Beer

Despite the power sockets no one can hold a candle to this beer.
Alcohol strength is a sensible 4.3%
It is brewed from Driffield grown malting barley and made from local chalk filtered water.
Maris Otter malt and Wilamette hops give the beer a straw colour and clean crisp finish.

There are many ways to get involved and help with Candlelighters

Wold Top’s suppliers helped them top their dream of raising £10,000 including;

Charles Faram for hops
Croxsons for bottles
Fawcetts for malt
Justinor for gift boxes
Springfield for labels
three60 marketing and pr for publicity
Wicked Poppy Designs for label design
Wellington Inn, Lund for hosting the launch event that raised over £1300.

You can help by drinking the beer as a % goes to the charity. Better still, send them the cash your beer free New Year resolution is saving you.

Posted in Food and Drink & Yorkshire Products, Our Yorkshire | 3 Comments

Band Of Hope Burmantofts to Salvation Army

Posted on December 17, 2016 by Hortoris

Temperance societies in the early 1800’s were worried about drinking amongst the youth of Leeds. The reverend Jabez Tunnicliffe welded several together to form the Band of Hope. He died age 56 but was the chaplain at Burmantofts cemetery where his grave can still be seen close to Stoney Rock Lane.

The Band of Hope started in 1847 when Ann Jane Carlile a temperance pioneer was invited to Leeds to speak at some children’s meetings. She was convinced that children suffered because of the ready availability of ‘strong drink’. Hope UK still works as a children’s charity ‘enabling children to make drug free choices’. ‘First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you’ Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald.

After exposure to the Band of Hope William Booth and his wife Catherine opened The Christian Revival Society renamed in 1878 The Salvation Army. There are many icons associated with The Salvation Army including The Citadels, The War Cry, the Red Shield and the slogan “Blood and Fire”. (Representing the Blood which was shed by Jesus for our sins and the Fire of the Holy Spirit).

The good works of the Salvation Army include

3,000,000 meals served every year at community and residential centres
79,000 prisoners visited each year in 134 prisons
3,200 homeless people given food and shelter every night in 57 centres
709 local church and community centres
636 elderly people accommodated every night in 17 residential centres
300 youth clubs providing a caring environment for young people
120 drop-in centres offering support and help for people in need
70 day centres for elderly and disabled people
50 nurseries and playgroups
30 Red Shield support centres for military personnel in the UK, Germany and the Falkland Islands
10 people reunited every working day with their families through the Family Tracing Service

Perhaps the most obvious icon is the Salvation Army Band that is one of the activities that supports the necessary fund raising activities.

‘Eleven pence halfpenny more to make a bob’ a fund raising slogan of the Salvation army.

Photo credit
Salvation Armys Hope in the City Breakfast presented by Rogers Wireless photos by CIBC-PacBluePrinting and RonSombilonGallery-109.jpg by RON SOMBILON MEDIA, ART and PHOTOGRAPHY, CC BY-ND 2.0

Posted in Yorkshire Arts & Music, Yorkshire History and Heritage | Comments Off

Sheffield Romance

Posted on December 4, 2016 by tejvan

…………for Rose there is the chance to fulfill her dream of becoming a clippie on Sheffield’s trams but war may shatter her ambitions……….

What is a clippie

a woman who is a conductor and ticket-taker on a bus’ – Merriam-Webster dictionary

A bus conductress – Oxford Living

A clippie is a female bus-conductor but a connie, with otherwise the same meaning, need not be female. – Wordnik

Sheffield Humour

A husband was always down at Bramall Lane watching Sheffield United. This caused a a protracted row that had lasted 7 years when the wife questioned the husband
‘I don’t think you love me anymore I think you love United more!’.
The husband replied woman, I love Sheffield Wednesday more than I love you.

All men are not homeless but some are home less than others.

If you want to make your wife happy, tell her she makes you so.

Scottish Kelty Clippie

O’ she’s just a Kelty clippie, she’ll no tak nae advice,

It’s ach drap deid, awa bile yer heid, or I’ll punch yer ticket twice,

Her faither’s jist a waister, her mithers on the game,

She’s just a Kelty clippie, but I love her just the same.

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Why there are Ghosts at Clifford’s Tower

Posted on November 25, 2016 by Hortoris

The original wooden castle keep in York was destroyed by fire in 1069 by locals unhappy with William the Conqueror but it was rebuilt again also in wood.

A more bloody event took place 100 years later. According to the inscription on a commemorative tablet:-
‘On the night of Friday 16 March 1190 some 150 Jews and Jewesses of York having sought protection in the Royal Castle on this site from a mob incited by Richard Malebisse and others chose to die at each other’s hands rather than renounce their faith.’ As the few survivors exited the keep the following day they were set upon and killed by the besiegers and angry mob that they had feared. The protection the Jews had had from Henry ll was dramatically diminished under Richard l for whom they had to contribute ransom money.

In the thirteenth century the keep was rebuilt in stone and later became known as Clifford’s Tower after Roger de Clifford, who was executed by Edward II for treason in 1322. Clifford was reputedly hanged in chains from the walls of the tower until dead. Enough to create a ghastly ghost.

If you take one of the several ghost walks available then you will be regaled by further tales of the walls running red with blood on certain anniversaries. Charred wooden beams have been recovered from deep in the ground as evidence of the early death by fire and this also contributes to the ghost tellers tales. For 5 more ghost tales read Ghosts of York

The History of the Castle of York from Its Foundation to the Present Day, with an Account of the Building of Clifford’s Tower by Thomas Parso Cooper

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923 and that seems to becoming a norm for republishing old books by digitisation,. There are many other books about ghosts at Clifford’s Castle and The Diaries of Lady Anne Clifford on amazon.

Posted in Our Yorkshire, Yorkshire History and Heritage, Yorkshire Trips and Places | 1 Comment

What They Teach in Bradford History Classes

Posted on November 24, 2016 by Hortoris

A good Yorkshire education began with a Bradford wool merchant and Member of Parliament for Bradford in 1861. William Edward Forster was the son of a Quaker who was active in the anti slavery movement.

W E Forster moved to Bradford into premises that were eventually to become Swan Arcade sadly demolished. The business at Waterloo mills employed over 500 at it’s peak and W E Forster organised reading facilities and education classes for his workers that included children aged eight. The workers even enjoyed a ‘works trip’ to London from Apperley Bridge railway station when W E F was elected as a Member of Parliament.
In 1850 with his partner he purchase two cotton mills at Burley in Wharfedale and converted Greenholme Mills into a worsted manufacturer also employing upwards of 500 people.

After the 1868 General Election, William Gladstone appointed Forster as Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education. Forster therefore had responsibility for carrying through the House of Commons the 1870 Education Act. This role had the responsibility of providing some form of education for the hordes of industrial towns children who were not catered for before the act came into force. He set up school boards who had to make provision for schools in their area. Thus he earned the right to be called the father of universal elementary education.
It is for education that W E Forster is best known and he had Braford’s Forster Square and subsequently the Midland railway station named in his honour.

From 1880 he was chief secretary for Ireland, and worked tirelessly on the Compensation for Disturbance Bill a task was made more difficult by the agitation which arose in consequence. ‘During the gloomy autumn and winter of 1880-81 Forster’s energy and devotion in grappling with the situation in Ireland were indefatigable, his labor was enormous, and the personal risks he ran were many: but he enjoyed the Irish character in spite of all obstacles, and inspired genuine admiration in all his coadjutors. On the 24th of January 1881 he introduced a new Coercion Bill in the House of Commons, to deal with the growth of the Land League.’ Read more about Home Rule for Ireland and Forsters part in the process.

W E Forster died in 1886, on the eve of the introduction of the Home Rule Bill, to which he was stoutly opposed and is buried in God’s Little Acre at Burlay in Wharfedale.

‘This looks like it may be a Victorian municipal graveyard. Its name is “God’s Acre Cemetery” and it is situated just north of Menston. There are a couple of churches in the vicinity but nothing immediately nearby. It’s a very pretty place.’

Photo credits
Forster Square – Post Office & Cathedral by Bradford Timeline CC BY-NC 2.0
15a – Swan Arcade, Bradford by Bradford Timeline
01 – Forster Square & Richard Oastler statue, Bradford (1890s) by Bradford Timeline all CC BY-NC 2.0
Village Cemetery by tj.blackwellCC BY-NC 2.0

Posted in Photos, Yorkshire History and Heritage | Comments Off

Plane Crazy Kangaroos, Skuas, Sharks and Hawks in Brough

Posted on November 21, 2016 by Hortoris

Back in 1915 Robert Blackburn (RB) set up a base for the Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Company in Brough. Amongst the aircraft made by the company were the early Kangaroos, Sharks, Skuas and the Swift.

Aeroplanes From Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Company Brough

From 1916 the military commandeered the Brough site building 2 large extra hangers. The Kangaroo was then the first pure Blackburn plane to win type approval for military planes.
In 1920 the Air Ministry asked Blackburn to work with Napier to produce a torpedo plane called the Swift.
The royal airforce reserve training school was set up in Brough for piolts of sea and land planes using Blackburn Dart, Ripon and Velos planes.
Large flying boats were also built at Blackburns including the Iris, Perth and Sydney making inaugural flights from the Humber estuary.
The Blackburn built Skua was the only naval plane for dive bombing and was the first plane to shoot down an enemy aircraft in the second World War. The Shark and the more successful Swordfish were also built around the same time.
180 Botha, 635 Fairy Baracudas, the Firebrand and the Roc naval fighter were built during 1940’s. The Sunderland flying boat was built at Blackburns Dunbarton factory.
In 1948 Blackburns was taken over or amalgamated with General Aircraft and produced the Universal fighter.
The production of the Buccaneer (bottom) dominated output at Brough during the 1960’s.

Modern Brough

In 1960-65 Blackburns became Hawker Siddeley, Brough, and later part of the British Aerospace Kingston-Brough Division.
Arguably one of the company’s best known aircraft is the Hawk or T45. This is the jet trainer plane seen the world over as part of The Red Arrows RAF aerobatic display team.
The origins of the Harrier vertical/short take off and landing multi-role fighter can be traced back to Blackburns in Brough. The Harrier’s vertical take off was a stunning sight. On lookers were amazed to see 6 tonnes of fixed wing jet fighter hover, and even fly backwards.
Earlier this year 2012 BAE Systems announced it would be ending manufacturing at its site in Brough. This will mean 845 employees are redundant and our aeronautical heritage will be cut short.

Photograph Credits
Red Arrows by Richard Towell CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Short Sunderland by Adelaide Archivist CC BY-NC 2.0 ‘Short Sunderland Mk.1 Flying Boat L2163 DA-G of No. 210 Squadron .
Photograph published in ‘The Royal Air Force in Pictures including aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm’, prepared by Major Oliver Stewart, 1941. Page 55.’
Blackburns last by Elsie esq CC BY 2.0 ‘A Buccaneer of the RAF. These aircraft had “wing blowing” a technique to artifically increase the lift of wings by ducting air from the engines over the top surface of the wing. This resulted in very high speed capability at very low altitude. Even today few modern strike aircraft can match the Buccaneers down-low performance’.
See air-ambulances-of-yorkshire

Read about Yorkshires Air Ambulances

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