A Silsden specialism: seats and savvy sentimentsThis photograph of genial gents on the Clog Bridge seat in the late 1960s/early 1970s has been provided by Jill Murray (nee Whitaker). On the right is Fred Wellock, who was married to Jill's mum's Aunt Jane. Originally from Appletreewick, Fred worked variously as a farmer, a coalman, a gamekeeper (while living at Blackpots) and finally at Steeton bobbin mill. Jill remembers his favourite saying was: "A day out of Silsden is a day wasted."

Friends of Silsden's Green Places: another spirited addition to community wellbeing

Above: Joyce Kilvington, Darren Edwards (left) and Tim Barker, of Silsden's Friends of Green Places, were hard at work in the rain on Sunday morning, March 19th, digging and tidying the shrubbery on Clog Bridge. The Friends, formed in August 2016, carried out a clean-up at the Howden Road Cemetery as their first project. They have received Bradford council and town council grants to help maintain and improve Silsden's publicly-owned green places. The initiative was sparked by Joyce after she read a Facebook post lamenting untidiness at the cemetery. The Friends now have 55 members.

Signs of the times: from Kirkgate and the Messiah in the 1950s to Tattoo City and Age Concern today

 Above: a 1950s view of the shops from the (Primitive) Methodist Church grounds to the Post Office. The shop with the cigarette advertising boards (Senior Service and Capstan) and chewing-gum dispenser was Marion's, which as well as being a tobacconist sold toys and sweets. The owner was Marion Ritchie (nee Hardcastle). Next door was the chemist Herbert J Clark (with sunblind) and then came the iconic ironmonger Waterhouse's (Esso Blue paraffin stockist). The next shop was Ernest Todd's gardening-supplies outlet. Beyond was Nancy Lund's ladies' outfitters and then the Post Office. The chapel notice board on the left advertises a production of Handel's Messiah, which was an integral part of Silsden's choral calendar for 100 years or so. 
Above: the Messiah soloists, civic dignitaries and worshippers in 1951. Seated are the soloists (left to right) Arthur Gardner (tenor), Ursula Tunnicliffe (soprano), Margaret Bottomley (contralto), Jim Bradley (trumpet), Alice Bradley (accompanist) and Alan Murgatroyd (baritone). The VIPs in the row behind the soloists include Silsden Urban District Council chairman Horace Fortune (fifth from left) and his wife, Nellie Fortune (sixth from left). The Messiah was first performed in Silsden in 1875 and became an annual tradition into the 1970s with united church choirs at its heart.

Above: the same retail parade in 2017. The chemist, now Rowlands Pharmacy (previously Mitchells), occupies two shops. Tattoo City has been established in Kirkgate for three years, occupying what in my 1950s photograph was Waterhouse's ironmongery. Only the Post Office, which opened by the beck bridge in 1907, has outlived all the changes over the years. That too is due to move -- to Twigg's newsagents -- in the near future. What on earth were the planners thinking when they allowed the bizarre top-floor addition to what is now at street level the Dale Eddison premises?  

Above: the tattooist at work. The popularity of the art is a truly modern phenomenon.

Above: intricate designs like this one on the thigh of a customer take hours to accomplish.

Hawber Cote: a pointer to pastoral pleasures but is it a suitable site for a school?

In my following post I refer to the forthcoming merger of the Aire View and Hothfield Street schools and the proposal to move the new primary school to purpose-built premises at Hawber Cote. It could be seen as a delightful rural setting for a school but access looks to be nigh impossible without major disturbances. Bradford council's favoured site is the fenced field bordering the bungalows in Hawber Cote Lane in my photograph above, taken from Hawber Lane, which is the route from Drabble House Farm to Swartha.

Above: the present farm (not public) access to the proposed site for the new primary school is through the gate at the top of Hawber Cote Lane.

Above: the road to and from Hawber Cote Lane is via Banklands Lane opposite the park. The junction is formed by Wayside Mews on the left, a new development, and Hawber Cote Lane on the right. 

Memories of the 1950s as schools prepare for an immense merger and a move to a controversial new site

Above and below: these two photographs have been kindly provided by Marian Barker (nee Phillips), whose family lived in Kent Avenue until moving away about 1960. The teacher in the Aire View School photograph above is Roy Stubbs. Marian, who now lives in Keighley, says she has nothing but happy memories of her Aire View school days.

The nursery school in Prince Street circa 1957. Marian's mum and dad were Leslie and Gladys Phillips and she had four brothers.   

Above: another Aire View class circa 1956. The teacher on the right is Mrs Belton, whose son Andrew became a local GP. 

Above: again from the 1950s, this Aire View class is pictured in the playground with Elliott Street to the left.

Look away now if you don't want to see where a new school might be built. Aire View School (founded in 1877) and Hothfield Street School, which opened in 1914, are to merge.The new primary school will move to purpose-built premises, which are due to be ready for occupation by 2019 with room for 600 pupils. Bradford council's favoured site is the Hawber Cote farmland near to Drabble House. There are already nightmares about traffic and access, not to mention the intrusion into a tranquil rural retreat. The school could be built on the fields bordering the bungalows roughly left of centre of my photograph above.