Saltaire beach

What a difference from a few months ago - this area was flooded during the winter (see my earlier post). Now the River Aire has resumed its usual proportions, leaving an area of  - well, earth... not exactly sand. But it may as well have been a beach, as there were children paddling and digging just as though they were at the seaside.  It's great to see Roberts Park in Saltaire, refurbished last year, being so well-used on a lovely, sunny, spring day.  There's something for everyone - cricket to watch, a huge area of grass for games and picnics, music in the bandstand and refreshments from the Half-Moon Café.  It really feels to be back to its Victorian hey-day and that's good to see.  Maybe they should go the whole way and bring in a load of real sand for the summer!

Incidentally, if you're interested in seeing more of Yorkshire's beauty, I have recently posted a number of photos of Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal on my other blog, Seeking the Quiet Eye.

Springtime melodies

The band weren't actually playing 'Younger than Springtime' but they might as well have been ... or maybe 'Younger IN Springtime' would have been a more appropriate title.  Crowds of people of all generations gathered around the bandstand in Saltaire's Roberts Park to listen to the Hall Royd Band giving the first concert of the 2011 season.  The bandstand (new last year to replace the original Victorian one that had long since disappeared) looked picture-perfect encircled by blossom trees, its dome sparkling in the sunshine.  I definitely think that a good brass band playing in the bandstand is my favourite; the sound was terrific.  I've heard smaller ensembles and different types of music but somehow the sound of brass works best.  The audience, including the four silver-haired ladies on the bench, were clearly enjoying the entertainment and the wonderful weather.

Dreich

dreich
(dre·ech) Dialect, chiefly Scot -adj.
1. (intr.) drab.
2. (tr.) dreary (referring to weather or a sermon).
3. often leads to a state of being drookit; grey.

I think this picture just about sums up the weather here at the moment - grey, rainy, very windy - generally dreich, as they would say in Scotland.  ( I am amused that the same word might refer to a sermon as well as the weather!)  The grass is sodden and muddy, there are puddles of standing water everywhere and the river is gently overflowing its banks in Roberts Park.  Nevertheless, there were some brave souls out for a brisk walk, perhaps unaware that what is normally a pleasant riverside path has temporarily become less riverside and more river!  They'll end up drookit (soaked through).

PS: I'm entering this one in the most boring blog picture of the week contest! (If there isn't a theme day for that, there ought to be!)

Heritage Trail 6 - The Boathouse Inn

'Retrace your steps...' from Roberts Park back over the footbridge.  From this viewpoint you can see the old Saltaire boathouse from where, in earlier days, you could hire a rowing boat or take a cruise on the steamboat.  Nowadays it is a popular bar and restaurant, recently revamped after a fire all but destroyed it.  The canal is the other side of The Boathouse Inn and the church, seen through the trees, is on the far side of the canal.

The view to the left, of Saltaire's New Mill and the weir, is equally lovely and I have featured it several times - see here and here and last month on December 18, 'Lights' was a night shot of the view from almost exactly this spot.

There is also the most wonderful piece of film footage in the Yorkshire Film Archive online, shot in 1912, of people on the steamboat outside the Boathouse - see this link.  The relevant snippet is at 2 minutes 53 secs in to the film (2.53) if you don't want to watch the whole film (though I recommend it!)

[Roberts Park is No 3 on the plan]

Heritage Trail 5 - Entrance to Roberts Park

'Turn left down the ramp and follow the path around to the right, to cross the River Aire by the modern footbridge...'  At one time Victoria Road went straight across the river by a road bridge, but the bridge was demolished as unsafe in the 1950s and a metal footbridge now provides access to the park. Saltaire Park, opened by Sir Titus in 1871, was intended to provide leisure space for Saltaire's residents, as most of the open land within the village was given over to allotments.  It contained formal landscaping and flowerbeds with a promenade, bandstand and pavilion, as well as a cricket field and boating area on the river.  The park's name was changed in 1920 when it was gifted to Bradford Corporation by Sir James Roberts, then owner of the mill.  The park underwent a substantial renovation in 2010.  Click the 'Roberts Park' label for more photos.

[No 3 on the plan]

Festive concert

There's so much going on in Saltaire in the run-up to Christmas!  Unlike my daughter, I'm not keeping a tally of how many mince pies I consume (I think she's up to 17 now!) but had I wanted one, there were mince pies and mulled wine for sale in the Half-Moon Café on Tuesday evening - and a Festive Concert with the Hall Royd Brass Band in the Roberts Park bandstand. The snow has all gone now (though it may be back soon) and, despite a light drizzle, it wasn't a cold night so it was quite pleasant standing listening to the music.  I'm sure Sir Titus enjoyed it - his statue overlooks the bandstand and his spirit was with us!

PS: For a view of the bandstand when it was unveiled earlier this year, please see here.

Festival in Saltaire Park

Sir Titus Salt and his daughters, Miss Ameila Salt and Miss Ada Salt, watch children dancing round a maypole in Saltaire Park (now known as Roberts Park) as the grand opening of the park in 1871 is re-enacted as part of this year's Saltaire Festival.

Sunset Sunday Saltaire

Back in Saltaire - and at last, a sunset to be proud of.... not so much proud of my own photograph, you understand, but simply of the fact that we had a decent sunset at all! Living in the bottom of the valley, there isn't a vast amount of sky on view - and what there is of the western sky is largely hidden from my sight by the houses behind mine. So we don't see many spectacular sunsets and, even when we have them, I mostly miss them! Not so last Sunday when I was walking home from church. I took the opportunity to go and stand on the footbridge over the river at the entrance to Roberts Park in Saltaire. From there, you do at least see the sky along the valley. I wasn't disappointed - it was a lovely sky and the cricket pavilion loomed like a white ghost on the riverbank. (And the bridge provided a handy makeshift tripod for my camera.) I think this shot is a match for some of those huge Utah skies that Scott at Finding Another View posts regularly. Go and check his out and prepare to be amazed at this awesome world we live in.

Take a look at more 'Weekend Reflections' at James's Newtown Area Photo too.

Blue sky thinking (Skywatch Friday)

Walking in Roberts Park, Saltaire the other day, I was cheered by this glorious blue sky. The honeyed stone of Saltaire's buildings (in this case the New Mill) looks at its best against a clear blue. But I like the mix of different types of clouds - and the contrails. That is a small reminder that we are only a few miles from Leeds-Bradford airport, though the planes are usually high enough overhead here that they don't irritate with constant noise.

I thought this would be a good entry for Skywatch Friday - I've not joined in that one before, but it's always fun seeing what different people do with a theme. For the other participants in Skywatch Friday this week, click this link.

A few days ago I mentioned a new video about the restoration of Roberts Park. I've now discovered who made it: David Weber of Barleybrook Films - a Leeds-based company. They've also made a film called 'The Story of Saltaire' and one called 'Echo of the Stones' (about the mysterious house at Milner Field.) You can view clips on their website by clicking the title links. They are high quality, well made films, available as DVDs.

Roberts Park, Saltaire

Following on from the pictures I've posted over the last few days, here is a view of the formal promenade terrace in Roberts Park, Saltaire. Having the bandstand on one side and Sir Titus Salt's magnificent statue on the other, this is the heart of the newly-restored Park. It recalls the early days, in the 1870s, when Victorian ladies in their crinolines would walk up and down 'taking the air'. With plenty of benches (to make my dear friend Malyss happy!) and a wind-shelter at either end, the promenade also provides opportunity to sit and rest awhile and watch the world go by. If you need refreshment, the Half-Moon Café is down some steps to the left, overlooking the cricket pitch and river. You can see the tower of Salt's Mill beyond. (Oh yes, and there are plenty of litter bins too - all smartly painted - so please use those and don't litter up our park!)
Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Shelter, Roberts Park, Saltaire

The YouTube video about Saltaire and the recent renovation of Roberts Park has some interesting photos of the park, both in its Victorian splendour (it was opened in 1871) and later, when much of it was becoming run-down and vandalised. There is at least one shot of one of these wind shelters in a very poor state. Part of the restoration work undertaken this year has involved cleaning up and reroofing the shelters, including restoring the very pretty ridge (which you can see in close-up in this picture).

There are three or four shelters around the park - including one at either end of the promenade terrace. You can see how the decorative woodwork (which had been destroyed) has been recreated and painted as it would originally have been. I think they've done a great job.

The shelters once again provide a lovely place to rest - and, when necessary, to shelter from the wind and rain (and occasional sun!) that are so much a part of the British weather. I've noticed in the evenings they tend to attract groups of young lads - but I hope very much they remain unvandalised, after so much effort and money has gone in to improving them. I try very hard to remember that 'group of young lads' is not necessarily the same thing as 'group of young vandals' and I'd like them to prove it!

Victorian basin

This elegant basin is set into the outside wall of the Half Moon Café in Roberts Park in Saltaire. I suppose at one time it might have been a drinking fountain, though it no longer serves that purpose. The stone carving around it is a motif that is repeated throughout Roberts Park, on the buildings and wind shelters. It includes the Yorkshire rose emblem.

Victorian tiles

Saltaire's Half Moon Café (see yesterday) has been attractively refurbished and retains the original Victorian tiles, patterned with what appear to be raspberries and leaves. The end of each run of tiles, where the windows and doors punctuate, has an elaborate carved stone finial, each of which is different. I think the tiles may be faience ware (glazed terracotta) from the Leeds company of Burmantofts, but I am not certain.

Half Moon Café

The Half Moon Café in Roberts Park, Saltaire is a welcome stopping-off place for a drink or a bite to eat, and has been doing a good trade in the pleasant weather we've had this summer. The building is an original Victorian pavilion, and has a statue of Sir Titus Salt on the upper level opposite the new bandstand. The café was run by Saltaire Cricket Club and for a long time was just open at weekends and for providing that long-standing English tradition of 'cricket teas' for the teams. (I have fond memories from my Nottinghamshire childhood of my mother and aunts in my grandma's kitchen, making vast amounts of sandwiches to take up to the cricket club where my uncles played in the local village team.) Since the renovation of Roberts Park, the café now opens every day, thanks to a number of hard-working volunteers.

If you're interested, there is a new video on YouTube all about Saltaire and specifically about the renovation of Roberts Park. It's very interesting - lasts about 10 minutes and has some fascinating old photos as well as contemporary footage. I don't know the person who made it, but it's worth a look.

The Boathouse Inn

(View large)
This is where the locals seem to hang out on a sunny summer evening - The Boathouse Inn, Saltaire, down by the River Aire overlooking Roberts Park. The terrace nicely catches the evening sunshine and it's a soothing and pleasant place to relax, looking out over the water, at the end of a busy day. (You may even be able to watch a cricket match on the opposite bank too!) I had another picture of it on my blog last year (see December 7), when I reported that it has recently been totally rebuilt following a fire. That must, in the end, have been a blessing in disguise because the revamped bar-restaurant is clearly doing a good trade. For a foodie review, see another great Saltaire blog - them apples. I must mention (mainly for Alan's benefit... the writer of the Great Yorkshire Pubs blog has to be interested in the ale...) that it has on tap, among other things, the local Saltaire Brewery's Saltaire Blonde, which I'm told is excellent.

(Umm, I wonder if I should have cropped this and removed the sky? I wanted to show the church tower just peeping through - but that puts the roofline of the pub right in the midline of the picture...)

Tea-towels and cricket

Another day, another cricket match. For the benefit of Malyss, Scott and others who don't really understand this wonderful game (and sparked off by Vicki's comment a few days ago) here is an explanation. It's not from Wisden, the cricket lover's 'Bible' nor even from an encyclopaedia. It is actually, famously, printed on a tea-towel for drying dishes - but it is nevertheless entirely accurate.

'You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.
When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game.'

So now you know! Or, if you don't, and want a lengthier explanation, try this.

This view of the cricket ground in Roberts Park in Saltaire is taken from the riverside beside the scorebox, looking across to the Half Moon Café, which has Sir Titus Salt's statue on its upper level with the bandstand opposite.

Jim Laker

Alongside the opening of the park and bandstand last Saturday, there was a cricket match going on - Saltaire's First X1 team v Bankfoot, which Saltaire won. Saltaire Cricket Club have played on the Roberts Park ground since 1869 (even before the Park was officially opened by Sir Titus Salt.) The Club has a very proud history and has produced some very good players. Possibly the most famous name to be linked to the club was Jim Laker (1922-1986) who famously took 19 Australian wickets for 90 in a test match at Old Trafford in 1956 - a feat that remains unmatched to this day. (The inset in my photo shows a plaque in his memory affixed to the scorebox - click on the pic to read it.)

Another great cricketer, Sir Learie Constantine, wrote: “Some of the loveliest grounds I have played on are Perth in Western Australia, Todmorden (Lancashire League) and Saltaire”. It is indeed a most attractive ground, set alongside the river Aire and with views of Saltaire in the background (see my post of July 5 for a photo taken in that direction). Since the restoration of the park and the Half Moon Café, which is run by the cricket club, it has become an even nicer place to relax with a drink to watch a match. I intend to do a bit of that, if this summer continues to be a good one.

Alice and The Mad Hatter

Many of the attractions in Roberts Park in Saltaire at the grand opening on Saturday had a link back to Victorian times, appropriately enough. The children's book 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' was written in 1865 by Lewis Carroll. This famous story of a little girl called Alice, who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world, includes the bizarre 'Mad Hatter's Tea Party'. A group of local actors, dressed as the main characters, re-enacted the tea-party as a sort of everyone-join-in drama. My picture shows Alice with the Mad Hatter. The March Hare and the King of Hearts were also walking around, but I didn't manage to photograph them. Interestingly, Alice seems always to be dressed in a blue dress with a white pinafore - and yes, an Alice Band in her hair - which is how she appeared in an illustration by an American artist, Peter Newell, in 1890. The original drawings in the book were in black and white, I believe.

The littlest dancer

I presume this little girl's mother was dancing with the Rainbow Morris (see my post yesterday and also 13 September). She was kitted out in a replica outfit (including bells on her shoes) and although I didn't see her dancing, she was tapping out the rhythm. I think she'll probably grow up to be a dancer, just like her mum.

Rainbow Morris

There was lots going on at the commemorative opening of Roberts Park, Saltaire on Saturday. The Rainbow Morris dancers gave a lively display (despite the heat). Sir Titus Salt - on his plinth - watched over them with a benevolent eye and appeared to enjoy it! There were various activities for children including a circus skills workshop, traditional Punch and Judy show and a climbing wall (hard hats and safety ropes provided). It also happened (apparently) to be the International Day for Biodiversity, celebrating the diversity of life on earth, so there were some displays related to that ...including a stall where you could build yourself a nesting box for birds.

I was discussing it with a friend and we agreed that one of the things that made it all seem especially good was how kind of 'wholesome' it was. Families were out picnicking, all generations were present from tiny new-borns (lots of them! Was there a power cut nine months ago?) to great-grannies. No commercialism (not even an ice-cream van on site, though the volunteer-run café was reported to be out of ices by the end of the day), nothing tacky at all. Just lots of fun, family-orientated activities, good quality entertainment - music, dancing, drama, comedy, cricket - and a real 'local community' feel to it. There was plenty for everyone to enjoy - though the glorious weather was the star attraction. All rather old-fashioned really... Sir Titus would have been delighted.