I took this picture of Cleethorpes back in the 1980s. I've always had a bit of a love affair with the North Lincolnshire town; it's something about the way the land, the sea and the sky merge together. In any week celebrating the British seaside, Cleethorpes has to be included.
Author: Alan Burnett
Random Art
A photo of my Aunty Miriam and Uncle Frank (how can you go swimming in the sea while smoking a cigarette?) and some unknown child. There's a Georges Seurat feel about the scene, and it perfectly illustrates how random old photographs can become works of art in their own right.
Bread Of Bridlington
Seaside holidays in my youth were spent at either Bridlington on the East Coast or New Brighton on the West. Bridlington was always my favourite: you could smell the fish and the candy floss and the chips. You could walk by the Sailors' Bethel, where they sang hymns to those in peril on the big … Continue reading Bread Of Bridlington
Drop The Headless Donkey
I've no idea who the child is or why the donkey seems to have lost its head, but that doesn't matter. It's just one of the prints from my more than plentiful supply of lost and unknown old photographs. It's summer, it's seaside, it's joyous.
Wakes Week
I seem to have ended up with another mini-series this week, and it is all about the seaside. Most northern industrial towns would have a traditional "Wakes Week" about this time of the year, when the mills and factories would close down and the workers would head for the seaside. My Wakes Week starts with … Continue reading Wakes Week
The Buildings Of Halifax 7 : HBS Finish
My little mini-series featuring some of the buildings of Halifax, photographed during my walk last week, ends where it started with the offices of the Halifax Building Society. This isn't the nineteenth-century Victorian building featured on Monday, however, but the modern plate glass and concrete building at the other end of town.
Ingrained History
History is so often written into the very fabric of buildings, but it is also ingrained in the function of the building itself. This glorious building on Southgate, Halifax has, over the years, been home to the offices of a canal company, the William Morris Wallpaper Company and the Hoover Cleaning Company. Now it is … Continue reading Ingrained History
Looking Up
Many of the fine old buildings of Halifax you can look up and discover their history, their architectural merit, and their importance to the cultural landscape. of the town. Others you can just look up at and say: "My goodness, that's a fine old building!"
The Renaissance Comes To Halifax
In 1898, the renaissance came to Halifax in the form of the new Police Station and Magistrates Court building on Harrison Road and Blackwall. When it ceased duty as an offenders' one-stop shop at the start of the current century, it was in search of a new function. Luckily it has found one, and Halifax … Continue reading The Renaissance Comes To Halifax
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