A moment snatched from history: a gathering of objects, people and places. At one time they meant something to someone - your Aunty Bess, or Jean's mother before her stroke. Now the objects and people rearrange themselves and mean something about the passage of time - that lamp, those hills, that certainty.
Month: April 2025
Tasty Halifax
Looking Up At Halifax 4 : Three buildings, three styles - let your eyes wander over this rich architectural tapas. On the left the former Halifax Post Office (solid and serious). In the centre, Post office Chambers and the west entrance to the former Arcade Royale (grandiose and rich). On the right, the white Marmo … Continue reading Tasty Halifax
Rejoice, The Market
Looking Up At Halifax 3 : Any picture of Halifax's beautiful Borough Market risks opening the floodgates of nostalgia. Why can't it be full of lovely, quaint shops selling biscuits from large tin boxes? Why can't you get divi by quoting your Co-op number anymore? Forget all that for the moment; just look at the … Continue reading Rejoice, The Market
Another Grand Building
Looking Up At Halifax 2 : To me, this will always be the Halifax Building Society Headquarters. I was leaving the town as the new Trinity Road HQ was arriving, and by the time I returned, everything had changed names. This was the building I got my pass book from and it was here I … Continue reading Another Grand Building
G-Plan Style
The first of a little Easter mini-series, "Looking Up At Halifax". This building on Silver Street is one of my favourite buildings in the town. It is sad and empty now, but I remember it in the 1950s and 60s as a thriving furniture store. If I won the lottery, I'd buy it tomorrow and … Continue reading G-Plan Style
8th November 1905
This image of Doncaster's Corn Exchange is taken from a Vintage Postcard in my collection. The only thing written on the card is a single date - November 8th 1905. That was the day Alfred Buchi was granted a patent for his invention of a turbocharger, the day London was beset by a thick fog, … Continue reading 8th November 1905
Angles And Patterns
This photograph dates back about 45 years to the time when we were living in Sheffield. In the Campo lane area of the city, there were some blocks of flats dating from the beginning of the twentieth century, and I would often wander the staircases and landings looking for angles and patterns.
Mother, When Young
This lovely lady appears on the second of the ten Victorian photographs I bought whilst I was up in Whitley Bay. The only clue to her identity is a pencilled caption on the reverse of the photograph stating "Mother When Young". Try taking a photo like that on your smartphone!
Patterns In The Street
There's enough scrap iron visible in this photo of mine from the late '60s or early '70s to keep a Scunthorpe blast furnace busy. It was taken looking down Blackledge, Halifax, towards Beacon Hill in the background. These days, the stone has been cleaned up, and there is half a forest lining the hillside. The … Continue reading Patterns In The Street
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