Month: June 2025

Dick Hudson’s

I have one of my fathers' old diaries from the 1930s, and it records the weekend cycle journeys he and my mother used to go on from their home in Bradford. Many of these would involve a stop at the popular pub, Dick Hudson's, on the hills above Bingley. I drove past it the other … Continue reading Dick Hudson’s

Headscarves And Wicker Baskets

If you are familiar with Brighouse in West Yorkshire, you might recognise the scene depicted in this photo I took fifty-odd years ago. The flour silos are still there (although they are a climbing activity centre now) and so are some of the buildings at the bottom of Briggate. Many of the other buildings have … Continue reading Headscarves And Wicker Baskets

A Share Of Beauty

I've collected most things at some stage in my life: stamps, bus tickets, banknotes, newspapers, books, and, of course, images. At one point, I acquired quite a collection of old share certificates. The beauty of these is not that I might have a small stake in some defunct American power and light company, but the … Continue reading A Share Of Beauty

The Lady And The Dachshund

There is something strangely modern about this photograph from the studio of the Hebden Bridge photographer, Crossley Westerman. It probably dates from the period following the First World War when the studio was run by Westerman's daughter, Ada, and the young Alice Longstaff. I'm not sure how I acquired the photo, but I like to … Continue reading The Lady And The Dachshund

Mucky, Sooty, Power

I took this photo of Halifax Power Station some sixty years ago, and time, nostalgia and a dusting of Photoshop filters has given it an almost romantic patina. In truth, however, it wasn't all that romantic: it was mucky, sooty, dark and depressing. But still ...

This Frame

It's back in the 1980s, and I'm walking along a canal towpath somewhere in South Yorkshire. The bridge creates a monumental frame for a picture of social and economic change. A man looks down, puzzled by someone wanting to capture such a scene. Film was expensive back in those times, but I don't think this … Continue reading This Frame

Happy Birthday

I have spent some time trying to work out where I was when I took this photograph of my father forty or more years ago. My best guess is Haworth - always a favourite destination for family visits - and one of the steep staircases to an upstairs café on the main street. It would … Continue reading Happy Birthday

Digital De-Cluttering

Trying to de-clutter and decide if I could part with a treasured book from my over-full bookshelves. Flicking through it, I find a wonderful old illustration of an advert from Barnsley Brewery (you could write a PhD thesis on the advert alone). Wouldn't life be easier of my collection of hundreds of books were digitised, … Continue reading Digital De-Cluttering

No Complaints

You can complain about this if you want. You can say it isn't a real photo: it isn't; it's one of my old photos from 55 years ago that I've messed with. You can say they aren't the real colours: they aren't; the original was in black and white, but that wasn't real either. This … Continue reading No Complaints