Author: Alan Burnett

Assessing The Lie

My Great-Uncle, Fowler Beanland, was a crown green bowler. In his youth, he played bowls in his native Keighley, in his thirties he played bowls in Cumbria where he was working, and in his later years he returned to the crown greens of Yorkshire. He was also a great postcard collector and his collection of … Continue reading Assessing The Lie

Flying Through The Skegness Skies

This strange contraption perhaps gives a new meaning to the phrase "fell off the back of a wagon"! The wagon was "on the front" at Skegness, more years ago than I care to remember. It was always a blurred picture, it was always slightly unreal. The only thing to do with it was to make … Continue reading Flying Through The Skegness Skies

Halifax Post Office

I have several vintage postcards featuring Halifax Post Office in my collection, which is only right and proper as it is a fine looking building. The building - and the postcards - date from a time when there was a degree of local pride in such public buildings, and post offices were seen as a … Continue reading Halifax Post Office

Set The Night On Fire

To mess, or not to mess, that is the question. Whichever one you choose, it shows the railway viaduct, part of the Bailey Hall factory of Mackintosh's, and a mill chimney (Clark Bridge Mills, perhaps) with a relatively bare Beacon Hill filling in the gaps between the blackened stone. It is Halifax, of course, and … Continue reading Set The Night On Fire

Click Bait

Twenty-first century media is driven by little other than the remorseless drive to get you to click on some meaningless advert for funeral plans, miracle diets, or mobility scooters. We live in the age of click-bait, and stories that are designed to draw you in, like some digital Venus flytrap, and consume your very soul. … Continue reading Click Bait

Back Yard, Sheffield, 1980

I took this photo in the back yard of our house in Sheffield 40+ years ago. It's sometimes said that Sheffield was built on 7 hills, but, in truth, it's more like 70. Most folk had hills in their back garden and washing banners flying from clothes prop flagpoles.

John King Lane, Brighouse

This vintage postcard of Brighouse dates from the early years of the twentieth century and shows a part of the town that has undergone changes over the last 100 years, but will still be recognisable to those familiar with the town. Just imagine that you are stood near the top of Wilkinson's car park and … Continue reading John King Lane, Brighouse

An Ingbirchworth Walk

A rare combination of blue skies and time to kill saw me take a walk around the lovely reservoir at Ingbirchworth - just over the border in South Yorkshire. I've always been slightly fascinated by Ingbirchworth, whose name always seems to me to have been formulated by a Committee. In fact, the meaning seems to … Continue reading An Ingbirchworth Walk