Year: 2019

Looking On

Hidden away at the corner of a throw-away old photo is a haunting image that transcends time and place. The child looks on and, in turn, we look on, whilst the supposed subjects look at us.

Snow, Grit And Cold Stone Steps

Two more from the same strip of negatives from thirty-nine years ago; two more from the area around Union Street and Hunger Hill, Halifax. Snow, back in those monochrome days, was a different entity: always dirty, layered with grit. These houses are built on a hillside, with their own terraced pavements up a flight of … Continue reading Snow, Grit And Cold Stone Steps

Fireworks At The Wes

There is something quite captivating about fireworks: no matter how many times you have witnessed their extrovert performance, their momentary ostentatiousness, you are still drawn to them. This particular display was at Almondbury Wesleyans Cricket Club last night. A cracking good night.

Back Hope

The second of the six negatives from 1980 : this was taken in Back Hope Terrace, Halifax, when standpipes provided drinking water and monochrome snow clung to the rooftops. It all seems so long ago.

Hope Clings On

This is a scan of the first of six 35mm negatives I must have taken in about 1980: which to me sounds like only yesterday, but I am alarmed to realise is almost forty years ago! It was taken in that strange little segment of Halifax that is bounded by Prescott Street, Clare Road, Hunger … Continue reading Hope Clings On

Up The Hill To The Stafford Arms

This is a scene which will be all too familiar for Halifax residents of this present age. After the long slog up Salterhebble Hill, and the inevitable wait at the hospital traffic lights, drivers heading for Halifax can now speed past the restaurant that used to be the Stafford Arms Inn, with no tram lines … Continue reading Up The Hill To The Stafford Arms

Walk On By

Looking at fine buildings in Halifax can be a bit like looking at paintings in the National Gallery, you get drawn by the famous and casually walk passed what would be excellent in other contexts. How can I have walked by Lord Street Chambers for seven decades without noticing them?

Enoch And His Cart

A HISTORY OF MY FAMILY IN 100 IMAGES These two photographs are central to the story of my family because they feature my paternal grandfather, Enoch Burnett. Enoch died a few months after I was born in 1948, and therefore I never knew him, other than by the store of stories and anecdotes that have … Continue reading Enoch And His Cart

Memories

I have so many memories of the Plummet Line Hotel, you could probably fill the old Tap Room with them. Back in the 1960s the family of one of my first girlfriends ran the pub. I remember going to the folk club that used to meet in one of the upstairs rooms. Memories, memories, memories.