God's Own County

Thomas Chippendale Staring With Prince Charles on TV

Posted on January 8, 2016 by tejvan

Two hundred and ninety eight years after his birth in Otley, Thomas Chippendale is to star with Prince Charles in a TV series called ‘Great Estates’. This staring role for Chippendale is largely down to his top quality furniture and its preservation in the Scottish stately home Dumfries House.

The TV Show on BBC Alba

The estate and Dumfries House had fallen in disrepair and the huge collection of Chippendale furniture was on lorries on the way to London for auctioning. Prince Charles had been following the demise of the estate and saw the opportunity to restore the buildings, protect the furniture and to provide a community asset in an area of Scotland where unemployment is high.

With the furniture literally on the road adequate funding was found and the lorries recalled probably to the annoyance of the potential auction bidders who already had the catalogue to peruse. Much of the funding came from Prince Charles own charity and his youth project is still involved on the estate. The house was completely renovated and the walled garden was being rebuilt at the time of the documentary.

‘A full reprint of 1762 style book with 200 plates plus 24 photos is an inexpensive reprint of the original production but retains sufficient information to still offer an excellent resource for craftsmen, restorers and cabinet-makers alike.’ amazon review

likenesses of Chippendale, a bronze statue of Chippendale by Graham Ibbeson was erected in Otley in 1986. Another idealised statue of Chippendale adorns the west facade of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Where to See Chippendale Furniture

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Coal Mining History in Yorkshire

Posted on January 5, 2016 by tejvan

Description: “The Overseer’s cabin at West Pit bottom, main coal level”. Manvers Main Colliery, Wath in South Yorkshire.

Date: 1926-42. From UK National Archives, Reference: INF 9/887

There is evidence of coal mining in Yorkshire dating from the Roman era. However, it was in the 19th Century, with the onset of the industrial revolution that coal mining became a major industry. In many villages and towns, the coal mine became the chief source of labour and income.

After the First World War, the coal mining industry began a long period of decline as increasing competition from abroad made many Yorkshire pits uncompetitive.

In 1946, the coal mines were nationalised, partly due to the ideology of the incoming Labour government, but also because the private coal mines were struggling to stay afloat.

In the post war period, miners experienced a relative decline in pay, leading to prolonged and bitter pay struggles, with miners going on strike. In the 1970s, strikes were often effective in gaining increased wages. But, the great Miners strike of 1984, ultimately failed, despite a year long bitter dispute. After 1984, the coal mining industry shrank leaving only a couple of mines left producing coal.

“…At those times the place is like hell, or at any rate like my own mental picture of hell. Most of the things one imagines in hell are if there–heat, noise, confusion, darkness, foul air, and, above all, unbearably cramped space. Everything except the fire, for there is no fire down there except the feeble beams of Davy lamps and electric torches which scarcely penetrate the clouds of coal dust… ”

– George Orwell, Essay Down the Mine

Christmas underground in a coal mine.

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Brazilian Food for the Olympics

Posted on January 2, 2016 by tejvan

Off to the Olympics a August 5-21 2016 in Rio? Get that Brazilian the flavour first! If you are watching from Yorkshire try the local restaurants below.

Eat Brazilian before you go.

Brazilian steakhouses on the Rodizio concept are all you can eat style restaurants where waiters bring a range of meat at regular intervals. In churrascarias or more traditional Brazilian-style steakhouse restaurants, servers come to the table with knives and a skewer, on which are speared various kinds of quality cuts of meat. Tropeiro Brazilian Restaurant Sheffield is a vibrant meat lovers’ paradise based on the Rodizio style. Cuts of meat cooked on an open fire are then carved at the table to eat with South American-style cocktails are bursting with fresh flavours.

The cocktail Caipirinha is made from Cachaca sugar cane liquor and is the official Brazilian drink.
Brazilian finger food includes cheese buns and other typical regional dishes include vatapá, moqueca, polenta and acarajé.
Feijoada is probably considered the country’s national dish. ‘Caruru, which consists of okra, onion, dried shrimp, and toasted nuts (peanuts or cashews), cooked with palm oil until a spread-like consistency is reached; moqueca capixaba, consisting of slow-cooked fish, tomato, onion and garlic, topped with cilantro; and linguiça, a mildly spicy sausage.’

Hair Do’s before you go

It is obvious who is creating some of the sports stars hair styles. Getting a Brazilian takes on a new meaning when linked to a Brazilian blow dry and keratin treatment. Try one of the salons in Yorkshire specialising in this treatment. It would be no use to me unless there is a baldy version.

After the Games are Over Continue reading →

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Indifferent to Yorkshire?

Posted on January 1, 2016 by Hortoris

I would rather be:

Indecisive than in Lancashire
Indentured than live in Accrington
Intellectual than in Blackpool
Indifferent than in Burnley
Inflammatory than in Manchester
Insouciant than in Preston

I would also rather be:

Inebriated than be intemperate
Involuted than inextricably abstruse
Insular than in solitary confinement
Individual than be in with the in-crowd
Intense than sleeping under the stars
Indignant than invidiously Lancastrian
Incontinent than in Europe

More Jokey Bits

How do you make a Liverpudlian Omlette? First steal three eggs…….
A teacher asked the class what ‘indifferent’ meant and one Yorkshire lad put his hand up and said it meant ‘nice’.
A bit puzzled the teacher ask him why he thought that and the lad replied ‘well last night when my mum and dad were in bed my mum said “ooh that’s nice” and my dad said “yes its indifferent.”

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Idle Entrepreneurs Or Working Men

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Hortoris

Idle Working Mens Club is an oxymoron that has raised a smile or two in it’s time. Since opening in 1926 the rugged building has been extended not only in size but in membership which is now open to Idle working women.
As the title suggests it also comprises some Idle Entrepreneurs who have latched on to the clubs name to help raise funds for the Candlelighters Charity. They are selling an honorary membership to the Idle Working Mens Club for £10. Amongst these honorary members are Roger Moore, Lester Piggott, Michael Jackson, Uri Geller, Mohammed Al Fayed, Tom O’Connor, and Paul Gascoigne – so that is a Saint on a horse who thrillingly bends spoons from a posh shop in a way that is so funny that it makes you cry.

Idle today is a revitalised community with lots of places of entertainment and new affordable housing is being built. The village atmosphere is unlikely to return to that of the Edwardian heydays. In the 1950-60’s trolley buses ran past the top and bottom of Idel on their way to Saltaire and Greengates and there were at least 3 cricket grounds. The United Reform Church has been rebuilt and the cemetery is a testament to many local families and contains a surprising number of First World War white marker stones.

I went to Idle youth club, did some courting and still make the journey to visit the village for the odd drink and fish & chips.
Next door village is Greengates the home of
If you want to play guitar in the Aire valley then call in to this shop at Greengates just up the road from Idle and the swollen river itself.
However, if like me you have settled for the Air Guitar then I can sell you one for around £25.

Posted in Villages, Towns and Cities, Wit and Humour | Comments Off

Yorkshire Men Looking Their Best

Posted on December 30, 2015 by Hortoris

Many a sergeant major has bawled ‘Get Your haircut you ‘orrible little man’ as they did in the Carry on Sergeant films. Modern day recruits and city gents now have a far wider choice of methods of ‘grooming’ their hair and ‘improving’ their appearance..

Barbers

The old standby, the traditional barbers is still a firm favourite. How many still have copies of Picture Post or Punch on display? Not many they are too posh but Titbits then that’s a whole different issue.

Short back and sides, a bit of a trim or a square neck were and still may be the top injunctions to the traditional barber. Anything else drives the barber up the pole.

DIY hair has moved on from the traditional pudding basin. Some of the results may not be all that different however. Still for less than £30 you can buy a modern trimmer to do your own (Pudding basin not included.) This should appeal to cost consious Yorkshire folk as it will save paying money to have someone trim your hair for you. It also encourages a more regular trim as it costs nowt after the the trimmer is bought .

Grooming Salon

A new kid on the block is the ‘Salon’.
This is the more upmarket and therefore expensive male version of the ladies hairdresser. The Refinery is London’s one-stop Grooming Emporium for men offering barbering, skincare and spa treatments in exclusive luxury retreats.
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Good Things About Leeds

Posted on December 28, 2015 by Hortoris

Leeds upon Aire is the new seaside location in the middle of Yorkshire. Snorkeling, scuba diving and muddy beaches are waiting for the intrepid visitor. No money at all has been spent on making this a holiday destination of a life time.

The Good Things

The road to Hull but beware the M62 also goes to that other place.
Road to Bradford via Pudsey or any other road out of the city for that matter.
The ring road so you do not have to go into the city centre – not that the Burghers of Leeds want any cars near their city judging by the atrocious parking and one way system. They might as well put up no entry signs!
Leeds bus station a very convenient 1.2 miles from Leeds railway station. That’s the way the silly Burghers encourage the use of public transport.
Only slightly better are the roads to Harry Ramsdens, Bryans and Murgatroyds gold plated fish and chip shops in Guiseley, Headingley and Yeadon.

Take a weekend in Leeds, if you dare and still want to after all this, ‘Leeds love it live it’

On a positive note ……….

Posted in Our Yorkshire, Wit and Humour | Tagged Transport and Travel | 1 Comment

Geoff Boycott in Black or White

Posted on December 26, 2015 by Hortoris

It was always Black or White for Geoffrey Boycott. Whether batting or commentating, his uncompromising attitude was one of his greatest attributes and it is relevant that his autobiography is cased in a Black and White photograph.

Boycott Quotes

‘He’s a typical Yorkshireman, says what he thinks, and his book reflects that.’
‘He puts himself over as one of the greatest batsmen of all time.’
‘Misguided, mishandled, criticised and crucified – and only because he’s different,’ Brian Clough
On facing the England ‘pace’ attack – ‘I’d like to paint my face black and go in for the West Indies against our bloody attack.
I think England will win a Test. My concern is Australia will probably win the others.
To stay in, you’ve got to not get out.’ Geoff Boycott

See also Fiery Fred Trueman Fantastic Raconteur

Posted in Books Club & Literary Work, Wit and Humour, Yorkshire Sport and Pastimes | Tagged Biography, sport | 1 Comment

Fanny Adams Bitter Sweet

Posted on December 24, 2015 by Hortoris

Did the proprietors of this shop in Halifax know the story of the original Fanny Adams? ‘Lest we forget’ here are some of the gruesome details. Eight-year-old Fanny Adams was brutally murdered and dismembered in August 1867. The head, eyes and ears were scattered and this notorious murder of young Fanny Adams made sensational national headlines, creating a wave of horror, revulsion and pity. A solicitor’s clerk was arrested and tried for Fanny’s murder and despite ‘it was my family upbringing defense, after only 15 minutes the jury returned a guilty verdict and Frederick Baker was hanged before a crowd of 5000 in front of Winchester County Prison on Christmas Eve 1867.

When the Royal Navy were served tins of mutton as the latest shipboard fast food in 1869, sailors gloomily declared that the butchered contents must surely be ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’. Thus “Fanny Adams” became slang for mutton or stew and then for anything worthless. Gradually accepted throughout the armed services as a euphemism for ‘sweet nothing’ it has passed into common usage as Sweet F. A.
That seems to be what is on offer in the shop window, certainly not the 1974 record ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’ by the glam rockers The Sweet but inside you may find Sweet Fanny Adams knickers from New Zealand. None of these seem to be great tributes to a murder victim despite the catchy name.

Old Books abound about Fanny Adams. Keep a look out in secondhand shops for ‘Unhand Me, Squire Or Much Ado About Sweet Fanny Adams by Richard Tydeman’ or the compendium ‘The Love, Joy, and Distress, of the Beautiful & Virtuous Miss Fanny Adams; That Was Trapan’d in a False Marriage to Lord Whatley’ and ‘Sweet FA: The true story of sweet Fanny Adams’ by Peter Cansfield.

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Frank Meadows Sutcliffe at Whitby

Posted on December 24, 2015 by Hortoris

You do not need any special reason to visit Whitby but if by chance you have overlooked the Whitby Museum then you are missing a trick. It is located at the Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society where the famous photographer Frank Meadows Sutcliffe was curator. Sutcliffe was born at Headingley, Leeds in 1853 but set up his own professional studio in a disused jet workshop at Waterloo Yard, Whitby in 1875. Photography in Victorian times was not easy to master and people were often content to produce an acceptable image which was sharp and well exposed but there were a handful of photographers who wanted to lift their pictures into the heady realms of ‘Art’.
Frank Meadow Sutcliffe was one of these artists! His sepia toned pictures are world renown recording incidents and images from a bygone era, his most famous photograph was taken in 1886. Water Rats caused much comment at the time as it featured naked children but the image is not erotic and even the Prince of Wales is believed to own a copy. Sutcliffe was using the conventions of the academic nude to show how photography can approach art. However it is said that his local clergy excommunicated him for displaying his Water Rats.

Some of the strongest images are of what was work-a day life in Victorian times like this picture above of ‘The Fisher women Shop’. His fishermen pictures show such detail they repay lengthy study and he also produced farming and landscape pictures around Whitby Sandsend and Staithes of artistic merit.

Frank Meadows Sutcliffe became World famous as a great photographer winning over 60 gold, silver and bronze medals from exhibitions all over the world. He is buried in Aislaby churchyard, north of Whitby .

When you next visit Whitby, and I hope it is soon, take a look at the many pictures that are available from the Sutcliffe Gallery, Flowergate, Whitby.

Photo credits
Rigg Mill, Whitby by Preus museum
Sutcliffe, Frank Meadow
Mølle ved en foss. Whitby, England, 1900
17,7 x 22,8 cm
Sandsend Beck and NMFF.000448 by Preus museum
CC BY 2.0

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