Category: Old Halifax

Monochrome Memories

HALIFAX POWER STATION FROM CHARLESTOWN ROAD, 1967 : The clouds can't really have been that dark, the walls that soot-encrusted, the chimneys so stark. Time must have paid tricks on the film emulsion, or my exposure calculations were somewhat inaccurate. As for my memory, part of it says the sun always shined and the sky … Continue reading Monochrome Memories

Crowning Glory

This is a sight familiar to a whole generation of Halifax folk. I took the photo from on top of Godley Bridge, but you got the same view from the front seat of a Corporation bus. There was something quite cinematic about the constrained view as the bus made its way up Godley Cutting, and … Continue reading Crowning Glory

Yorkshire Day

I took this photograph of Halifax nearly sixty years ago. I have used it as one of my calendar images before, but that was back in 2021, and, anyway, the rules say that I can use the same image more than once if it is Yorkshire Day. So celebrate this Yorkshire Day with me overlooking … Continue reading Yorkshire Day

Marching, Throwing And Flowing

The fine proportions of Halifax's Victoria Hall, the town's monument to culture. In the 1950s, I remember seeing a Scottish pipe band march down the theatre aisles during a colour slide presentation about the beauties of the Highlands. In the 60s, I saw endless wrestlers thrown from its canvas-floored, rope-encircled ring, and in the 70s, … Continue reading Marching, Throwing And Flowing

Industrial Gravestones

If you walk the cobbled streets of Halifax and other Yorkshire towns, you are surrounded by industrial gravestones, memorials to an age now gone, inscribed with the familiar names - the Crossleys, Akroyds, Shaws, and Crowthers. Beware of nostalgia - these were rarely happy places; more often they were temples to muck, work, sweat and … Continue reading Industrial Gravestones

Familiar Randomness

After a couple of weeks of themed calendar images, it's good to be back on the more familiar grounds of randomness. This means not knowing where I am going with each day's image, but for today - and this photo I took fifty years ago - I'm not sure where I was when I got … Continue reading Familiar Randomness

A Harmless Hunter

Diana The Huntress is about to draw an arrow from her quiver and shoot a passing deer cantering along Park Road at the bottom of People's Park in Halifax. Those familiar with the statue today will note that she's lost a bit of her arm since I took this photograph 60 years ago. Please Note: … Continue reading A Harmless Hunter

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

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 ...