Author: Alan Burnett

Stone History

Few history books compare with a Yorkshire stone wall. There is everything there, from the sandstone of ancient rivers and streams to the carved geometry of hillside stone quarries. There's sculptured trimmings of fine country houses and there's ingrained soot of mills and factories. All children should spend at least one day of their school … Continue reading Stone History

It’s Halifax

I must have taken the original photograph about thirty years ago, although this version of it dates from last night. It's a familiar scene: a mixture of concrete and stone, cast iron and barbed wire, chapels and mill chimneys, It's Halifax.

Keep Still

This photograph comes from the collection put together by my fathers' cousin, Ivy Burnett. She was born in 1906 so she may have been part of this gathering which looks as though it dates from the early 1920s. The faces are fascinating: the studied expressions were a necessity of slow shutter speeds. In every crowd, … Continue reading Keep Still

Some Classroom

Almost forty years ago I was doing some teaching for what was then Sheffield Polytechnic. The course was based at Wentworth Woodhouse, one of the largest and most spectacular country houses in Europe. At the time, only six or seven rooms were being used for teaching; the other two hundred and ninety-odd were unoccupied. I'll … Continue reading Some Classroom

The Keys To The Park

"Now Mr Mayor, I have to present you with the keys and possession of this park for the benefit of the inhabitants of this borough and its neighbourhood for ever. Right happy shall I be to find in years to come many a poor and tried but honest man, wandering here and enjoying the cool … Continue reading The Keys To The Park

Telephone Line

Blue days, black nights, doo-wah, doo-lang;I look into the sky (the love you need ain't gonna see you through);And I wonder why (the little things you planned ain't coming true) ....

O.D.E.O.N.

You can say what you like about the building: some say ugly, some say daring, Pevsner said "jumbled"! Now it is just a sad and boarded-up shell. But for me it will always be six-penny choc ices and the Saturday morning Cinema Club. 2, 4, 6, 8; who do we appreciate? O.D.E.O.N.

Gladys At The Seaside

This photograph of my mother at the seaside was taken eleven years before I was born. A scribbled caption on the reverse of the small print says "Shanklin, Isle of Wight, 1937". Looking at the photograph now, 86 years after it was taken, it is almost like reaching back through time and watching the prequel … Continue reading Gladys At The Seaside

Faith Demolished

Another of my photographs of Rhodes Street, Halifax, taken - I think - in the early 1970s. The call for faith on the church notice board was clearly short-lived: the church was demolished shortly after the photograph was taken.