Category Archives: Sowerby Bridge

30th November picture of the day…

30 Tuesday Nov 2021

Posted by in Bali, Indonesia, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Sowerby Bridge, Travel, West Yorkshire

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The snow that blanketed the Pennines these past few days vanished in the same way it arrived – overnight. I opened the bedroom blinds to a very different world this morning. One that was darker – and soggier! A combination of rising temperatures, wind and rain did for the snow overnight, which was great. The only problem was the rain decided to outstay its welcome and hung around pretty much all day, which led me to having another long day indoors. To be fair, I’d no shortage of things to do and it wasn’t like I needed to dash to the shops to find food. We’ve a well-stocked freezer as we batch cook and there’s enough tinned stuff in the cupboards to make an American survivalist jealous, although the lack of tinned meat may cause them issues…

Instead, I resolutely waded my way through enough paperwork, emails and old slides to have another fruitful day and feel that I was getting somewhere. Well, other than out of the house obviously! In the end, that’s exactly what I did do although my timing was crap. Dawn is out with a friend this evening so I decided to stretch my legs by wandering down into Sowerby Bridge when she left as by then I’d had had more than enough ‘screen time’. The only problem was this coincided with the rain stepping up several notches, so it was a ‘moist’ trip to be sure.

It’s not often I’m in Sowerby Bridge on a Tuesday evening (unless I’m returning home) so it felt quite odd. As I’d a couple of supermarkets to visit I was curious to see how the latest regulations on wearing masks would go down as here in West Yorkshire it seems most folk seem to think they’re immune to Covid in the same way they wear shorts in December. I was pleasantly surprised to see there was a marked uptake with mask wearing in both Tesco and Lidl. The only irony was that those who were still eschewing masks were – how shall I put this – not exactly the ones who looked like they were fit enough to put up a good fight if they contracted it. Even if they were, I’d read this piece in the Guardian newspaper earlier which showed how relying on fitness wouldn’t help you anyway. It’s a tragic story of someone who fell for the anti-vaxx myths and it struck a chord with me as (like me) this person grew up in Southport but moved to London.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/04/fit-and-healthy-man-42-from-southport-who-rejected-vaccine-dies-of-covid

The moral of the story? No matter how physically fit you are, you don’t know what your genetic marker weaknesses are – and they can be deadly – it’s not a nice way to go. If Covid can do this to a a sports enthusiast, what can it do to you? In short? Wear a f*cking mask! It’s no big deal you babies!

OK, rant over. I’m now back at home drying out and editing some of the slides I’ve scanned earlier whilst I wait for the missus to to get in so here’s another antidote to the autumn weather. I took this picture shortly before Christmas 1994 from the ferry returning us to the Island of Bali from Lombok as we passed another ferry heading the opposite way. The weather was stunning, the sea flat and you could see right across the Island to Mount Agung, the most sacred mountain on the island and a volcano that can be capricious – to say the least – as extinct it ain’t…

If you want to see many more pictures from Bali and Indonesia, you can find them on my Zenfolio website by following THIS link.

Oh, on another completely different note…

The 2021 Community Rail Awards will be held in Southampton on Thursday 9th December. This year (because of Covid) the event is being broadcast on the internet. It’s free to join us, so if you’d like to come along (virtually) you can sign up here.

Cheers!

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Thank you!

28th November picture(s) of the day…

28 Sunday Nov 2021

Posted by in Calder Valley, Halifax, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Sowerby Bridge, Weather, West Yorkshire

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Winter’s arrived with a vengeance here in the Pennines although we’ve been very lucky where we live as our little patch of the valley side’s normally sheltered from the brunt of the weather – and this time was no exception. Storm Arwen hit on Friday evening but we’d no idea just how bad it was as we were protected from the height of the winds. Oh, we knew it was gusty but it was only when we woke up on Saturday morning and saw that the high ground around the valley was covered in a blanket of snow we started to realise what had really occurred. Then we started seeing comments from friends on social media and the news wires that made us appreciate just how fortunate we’d been. But, it was a close run thing. Norland, on the opposite side of the valley had the electricity knocked out with places not seeing it restored until this afternoon (Sunday). There but for the grace of God…

This morning the snow returned and stayed with us nearly all of the day, giving us several fresh dustings of varying severities, all of which clung as temperatures were so low and there was hardly a breath of wind. The trees looked magical and the valley below eerie as tendrils of cloud toyed with with the town, grasping at sections whilst leaving other areas unmolested. It was so attractive that the pair of us wrapped up warm and went for a walk through our local woods, along the promenade where we could admire the vista, then circumnavigated an almost deserted Savile Park before returning home to the warm, feeling like we’d earned our evening in together where we relaxed in front of the TV, but not until I’d rustled up a Chicken Vindail curry which added some spice to keep out the cold on a day when you really did need it.

Here’s a few shots from our perambulations…

The view from our bedroom window – looking down over Sowerby Bridge with Sowerby beyond partially hidden by low clouds which slowly drifted through the valley.
Looking across to Norland, which was still suffering from a power cut caused by the storm. It looks beautiful – as long as you don’t rely on electricity for heating! The top of the valley kept disappearing as low cloud kept overwhelming it. This is one of our regular walks because there’s the wonderful Moorcock Inn as a refuge at the end of the trek.
The edge of Norland and Sowerby Bridge just at the edge of the picture on the right hand side. The row of trees in the valley bottom disguise the railway between Halifax and Manchester.
Just a few minutes walk from the house our road has this avenue of trees which look superb in this weather.
Scarr Woods looked stunning after the latest snowfall without a breath of wind to blow the dust off the branches.

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16th November picture of the day…

16 Tuesday Nov 2021

Posted by in Flora and Fauna, Musings, Photography, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire

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It’s been a quiet one here at Bigland Towers – albeit a long on as I was up at 06:30 as I needed to get a magazine article finished and various pictures from COP26 sent out to clients. Not that I minded. The weather’s been pretty miserable here in the Calder Valley so I was happy to be spending most of it in the warmth whilst watching the antics of our feathered friends outside the office window.

I’d completed the urgent tasks by lunchtime, which seemed like a good time to take a break and walk down into Sowerby Bridge as part of my daily constitutional and also pick-up some shopping. I was foiled on the last part. I’ve developed a taste for the low-alcohol version of Leffe, the famous Belgian beer. I can normally pick it up in our local Tesco but they’ve run out. Sadly, it was the same situation in Sowerby Bridge. Oh, well, back to the low-alcohol Adnam’s ‘Ghost Ship’ it is then…

Back home I had the house to myself as Dawn was working in Huddersfield all day, so I knocked off early as I had the kitchen to myself and knocked up a pan of pea and ham soup using the gammon joint I’d slow cooked the day before. I’m gradually restocking the freezer for the winter and home-made soups are a good way to do it. They make a lovely lunch after a chilly walk.

As the weather worsened by the evening I’ve not been tempted to do anything more than stay indoors and catch up on some more picture editing whilst being entertained by the local foxes. I’d cut up the fat off the gammon and put it out the back for the birds – only one of the foxes got there first this evening and snaffled most of it whilst being watched by ‘Popi’, the neighbours three-legged cat. Neither creature bothered the other, although Popi did keep a wary eye on the much larger male Fox – just in case…

Tomorrow’s going to be another day working at home. The weather’s expected to be mild but dull, but I’ll have the excitement of preparing a load of invoices, so I’m not complaining too much as it’s the beginning of the reward at the end of all the hard work. Maybe I’ll get to nip out with the camera later whilst there’s still some leaves on the trees, who knows? They’ve certainly provided some stunning colours this year, as today’s picture which was taken in Sowerby Bridge on Sunday shows…

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Tales from the riverbank (and canalside)…

08 Sunday Aug 2021

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Sowerby Bridge, Travel, West Yorkshire

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Boy, did it rain last night! The noise of it hitting the roof woke me up in the early hours of this morning. Thankfully, with it being Sunday neither of us had anywhere we needed to be so having a lie-in seemed like the best idea. Eventually I rose but had no intention of venturing out at first. Coffee and picture editing felt like the best option, but eventually the wind and rain subsided enough that I thought ‘sod it’. Besides, I’ve a full set of waterproofs and actually I rather like these wild conditions. Besides, I wasn’t going to venture out with the full camera kit, so what the hell…

I ended up getting in a really good walk that took in the the heights above and then the valley floor below. Here’s a small selection of pictures to illustrate my perambulations…

Once the rain had cleared we had these rare patches of perfect weather. Here’s the Rochdale canal in central Sowerby Bridge, just before the wharf which is out of sight behind the trees to the left. A Squadron of the local peripatetic Geese are enjoying themselves here, in between a constant stream of narrowboats returning at the end of their hire period. Some have been gone for a fortnight, one group I talked to had hired a boat for the first time – just for the weekend and only gone as far as Hebden Bridge, but thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Here’s the river Calder about half a mile East from the last picture. The river’s high because of the torrential rain, but nothing like flood levels. I’ve added an arrow to the left to show you how high it got a couple of years ago. That was scary! The road behind the building was completely flooded and you worried about the strength of the bridge I’m stood on to take this picture.
Continuing my walk along the Calder and Hebble Navigation (as the canal East of Sowerby Bridge is called). I passed this lovely little canalside garden and motorboat. I always chuckle when I pass here as the boat takes me back to my childhood and a kids programme called ‘Tales of the Riverbank’. It used models but real animals. The ‘star’ was ‘Hammy the Hamster’ who’d often go sailing off on a similar boat, or have ‘adventures’ in all sorts of strange things like Jeeps or hot air balloons. You’d never be allowed to make a programme like that nowadays because of the stress the poor animals must have been put through! God knows how many ‘Hammy’s’ they went through making it! Even so, I can still hear the theme tune and the dulcet tones of Johnny Morris in my head every time I walk past.
After my stroll along the canal I headed back uphill and towards home. You know the tower you saw on the horizon in the first picture? That’s just to the right of me in this shot and almost on the same level. The arrow shows you where I’d walked from in the previous pictures of the valley floor. At this point the sun’s buggered-off again and the next set of rain’s rolling in over Sowerby Bridge. Still, it was a good day…

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27th July picture of the day…

27 Tuesday Jul 2021

Posted by in History, London, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire

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Today’s been a lot less fraught. No ailing moggie to worry about for a start. Instead the little bugger seems to have made a speedy recovery and spent most of the day either curled up asleep on our bed or mewing for food, attention – or both. Jet’s such a lovely old boy that we can hardly be upset with him. Instead we just cherish the time we have with together.

The weather here in the Calder Valley’s certainly taken a turn. Although the forecast was for rain for much of the day we’ve had very little, merely the odd shower and a few claps of thunder out of some spectacularly threatening skies. Most of the really dark stuff has passed us by – which has allowed me to get in my daily perambulations without getting soaked. I’ve even managed a spot of gardening – cutting back the brambles on the terrace at the back of the house where they’ve made another bid for world domination. I’m sat up on the terrace now, beer in hand, gazing out across the Calder Valley, watching the next phalanx of stormclouds march towards us. It’s looking like this weather’s with us for the rest of the week now which is a shame in one way, but the gardens and woods would certainly benefit from the rain. Either way, I’ve got plenty to occupy myself with, so a few days climate-induced “house arrest” isn’t a problem.

The rest of the day’s not been unproductive. As well as sorting out paperwork I’ve enjoyed a pleasent few hours in the office, lining up some projects for the future now the country’s opening up again, as well as getting more old slides scanned. Right now I’m on an album of really random stuff that never got fully catalogued or filed, so there’s a melange of pictures taken between 1989 – 2003. Travel shots from the USA and Asia or images from my days working in social housing – even pictures of old friends – and of course old shots of Lynn. There’s such a mix of memories in these albums. I’m looking forward to having them all done so that I have digitised access to them in order to do something with them – even if it is just to jog some friends memories on Facebook, saying “remember this”?

This brings me on to the picture of the day which is one of today’s new scans. I took this shot of the old Three Mills complex at Bromley-by-Bow in East London on the 15th February 1990. In those days I lived just down the road on Bromley High St so this place was in walking distance and one day the winter sunshine was perfect for pictures. Built on the River Lea, Three Mills is the world’s largest tidal mill.

The grade 1 listed buildings have a long and fascinating history dating back to the 12th Century. In their time the mills have seen a multitude of uses, from milling flour to grinding grain for alcohol then distilling and bottling it or making gunpowder and used as warehouses right up to their present use for educational projects and as conference spaces. It’s a fascinating survivor of a world long-gone in this part of East London.

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23rd July picture of the day…

23 Friday Jul 2021

Posted by in Photography, Picture of the day, Sowerby Bridge

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I’ve not done one of these for a little while as I’ve been busy with rolling blogs and other things. There’s a few more blogs in the pipeline, including one that’s occurred to me today because of the complete crap that’s come out of some of our ‘new’ media – the people who’re fed up with what they see as ‘biased’ reporting from the mainstream media so are doing their own stuff. The only problem is they fall into exactly the same trap (and worse). I’ll write that one up tomorrow.

Today’s been a mixed bag. After the fantastic weather we’ve had the past few days today has very much been an anticlimax – even though the temperature’s only been 4 degrees cooler. The skies have remained cloudy all day (hang on – wasn’t that a line from an old song?) so the sun’s never really broken through. Because of that I’ve been happy to be stuck in the home office bashing away at the computer to get some paperwork done as well as scan more old slides. Admittedly, I eventually cracked as I wanted to get some exercise so I ended up strolling down into Sowerby Bridge to get some shopping as Dawn had presented me with the challenge of making some veggie burgers – which is a first for me.

Considering it’s a Friday Sowerby Bridge was quiet – apart from the canal, which was busy with narrowboats leaving our local hire company (Shire cruisers). A veritable flotilla of their boats were queuing to head West through the locks on the Rochdale canal. It’s great to see people returning to the canals which is a wonderful way to travel. Ironically, myself and a group of friends did exactly the same thing back in 2005. At the time I never dreamed I’d end up living here, but then life’s full of surprises.

Whilst I was strolling along the canal I came across the picture for today. Sowerby Bridge is famous for its free-range geese. These animals own the town. They don’t just stick to the canal, or the river – they can be found roosting all around the centre of Sowerby. What makes them amazing is that they have incredible road sense. They’re infamous for the fact one of them will stand in the middle of the main road through town like an old ‘Lollipop’ lady, blocking traffic whilst the rest of the band waddle across the road. It’s quite a sight to behold when it happens. So, today’s picture is of the next generation of Sowerby Bridge Geese growing up on the canal earlier today…

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24th July picture of the day…

24 Friday Jul 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Malaysia, Picture of the day, Sowerby Bridge, Travel

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Another busy day today that’s seen us out shopping on the first official day of ‘wearing a mask in shops’ day. I’m relieved to report that most people seem to have got the message and are abiding by the instruction. We visited the Tesco in Sowerby Bridge and I only observed one person (a man) not wearing one. Our local Tescos had one or two more backsliders, but not many. Why did we have to go to two branches of Tescos I hear you ask? They’re on a couple of miles apart but the stock they carry is very different. No, I’ve no idea why either!

OK, here’s today’s picture of the day. If you’re squeamish, I suggest that you look away now….

I took this picture on the 8th February 2009 in Georgetown on Penang island, Malaysia during the Hindu festival of Thaipusam.

TD12441. Thaipusam. Penang. Malaysia. 8.2.2009.crop

Yes, those are hooks in the mans back. He was pulling a wheeled cart with them! Although it’s a Hindu festival other religions join in and I’ve seen Muslims and the Chinese community carrying out such acts of devotional sacrifice (which are frowned upon back in India, where the festival was banned). It’s quite an event to witness and the atmosphere’s anything but painful – even if sights like this do make you wince the first time you see them!

 

 

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13th July picture of the day…

13 Monday Jul 2020

Posted by in Musings, Picture of the day, Railways, Sowerby Bridge, Travel

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For various reasons I took the weekend off from blogging, but now I’m back in a busy week with a heck of a lot going on, despite me staying away from the railway. Well, almost…

Although I’ve not been on a train since the end of March I did pop down to our local station in Sowerby Bridge on Saturday just to get a railway fix and remind myself what the modern railway looks like. It was quite eerie. As it’s the height of the summer season you’d expect the trains to be packed along with the station car-parks. Instead, this was the sight that greeted me.

DG342505crop

This is despite the latest update from the Department of Transport that says cars on the roads have already returned to 83% of pre-Covid levels. Government policy is still to discourage rail travel even though rail operators (now directly managed by the Government) have increased the frequency of trains to 80% plus of normal service levels – yet passenger numbers have actually declined in the past week to around 15% of pre-Covid levels! It’s madness, but typical of the confused and mixed messages this Government has been sending out.

Ok, on to the main reason for this blog – the picture of the day. Today’s comes from my travels in Laos. It was taken in the town of Luang Prabang in the 9th January 2009.

TD09205. Old bomb new use. Luang Prabang. Laos. 9.1.09.crop

The detritus of conflict in Laos is commonplace. During the Vietnam war the USA secretly bombed the hell out of the place. It’s estimated that eight bombs a minute were dropped on average during the Vietnam war between 1964 and 1973 – more than the amount used during the whole of World War Two. Unexploded ordnance is still killing Laotians today. In the finest tradition of swords into ploughshares, here’s a family that’s found a new use for the tailfin of one of the millions of bombs dropped during the war.

 

 

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After the floods…

10 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Sowerby Bridge, Weather

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Despite some awful weather last night where the wind howled and the rain beat down, the waters of the River Calder subsided and the flooding abated. We’re not out of the woods yet as the forecast isn’t exactly brilliant, but Ciara, the storm that’s caused so much damage has blown over. Now there’s time for the poor sods who’ve been flooded to start picking up the pieces. Again.

I’d originally thought I might head over to Mytholmroyd to document the damage but I’ve been too busy to tear myself away from the computer long enough. I had a big batch of pictures to get finalised for one client, then deal with enquiries and picture requests from another, so I’ve spent most of the day huddled in the office cross-referencing picture databases. It’s not the most glamourous side of the job, but it has to be done.

Finally, after getting the pictures away to the client I went out for a stroll to stretch my legs and also clear my head. The wind may not have dropped, but the temperature certainly has. An arctic blast followed me most of the way, especially up on the promenade above our local woods. I’d have liked to have stayed out longer but as I gazed out across the valley I could see the next storm approaching, blocking out the view of the Calder Valley towards Mytholmroyd as it made its way Eastwards.

Uh, oh – it’s coming my way…

Thinking it was a snowstorm I decided to get home before it caught me. I almost made it before the hailstorm (for that’s what it was) nailed me a few hundred metres from home! Drying out at home I thought I’d venture out again once it had passed, but the bugger keeps coming back. Every time I poke my head outside I find fresh hailstones on the door mat!The weather across the North-West and Yorkshire’s looking pretty mixed tomorrow so I may end up having another day in the office. If the Government does finally pull it’s finger out and the speculation is correct, tomorrow will see some big announcements on investment in infrastructure, which *should* include the new HS2 rai line. That said, we’ve been here before, but I’ll be glad to have the time to sit, analyse and blog about the contents of any announcements and see how the predictions I made when the Oakervee review was announced last August have stood the test of time. You can read that blog here.

I suspect we’ll see a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth from those opposed to HS2. Most of it will be pure social media froth from the reprogrammed pro-Brexit trolls, plus the dwindling bunch of real people who live on the route but who’ve spent the past 10 years pretending to themselves that they were some sort of coherent campaign that actually had any political clout. I think for some of them the decision will take some time to sink in as they’ve listened to little else than the voices in their own little echo-chamber for so long. I’ll be interested to see what the announcement does to the tiny protest groups that are on several sites on the route. Will the announcement make more of them realise the futility of what they’re doing? After all, it’s all very well thinking that the decision whether to go ahead with HS2 hasn’t been made so you might actually achieve something. But when it becomes obvious that’s not the case…

Either way, we’ll be moving on to a very different chapter as construction of HS2 ramps up. No doubt there’ll still be some hiccups. On a project this size it would be a miracle if there wasn’t. I’ll look forward to what’s said with interest.

Once the nights get a bit longer I expect to be busy documenting the construction of Phase 1 and some other UK rail projects too…

Storm Ciara floods the Calder Valley.

09 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by in Calder Valley, Flooding, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire

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This morning we woke up to the sound of the arrival of storm Ciara as strong winds and driving rain hit the Calder Valley. This is how it looked and sounded from our bedroom at around 10:30.

It’s certainly been a heck of a storm. I can’t remember when I last saw so much torrential rain arrive in such a short time. When it subsided I started checking social media and found that Ciara was already causing chaos in the valley. Both Hebden Bridge and poor Mytholmroyd were flooding, despite the millions that are being spent on new flood defences – especially in the latter town. Then I saw that our own town, Sowerby Bridge was also flooding for only the second time since 1968.

Dropping what I’d been planning to do I donned my waterproofs, grabbed the camera bag and headed out. Here’s a collection of photographs and videos of some of what I saw.

My first port of call was the new bridge over the River Calder which is almost immediately below the house. The bridge itself is a massive modern structure which was in no danger from the floods. Thankfully, the new housing estate which is sandwiched between the river and the canal was also safe, although the canal was also perilously close to overflowing.

The River Calder at Copley. That group of trees normally sit on an island in the middle of the river. Beyond is the embankment of the railway from Halifax to Sowerby Bridge.
A Landrover drives through floods outside the recycling centre on Copley Valley Rd. Much of the road was flooded, cutting of large parts of Sowerby Bridge from the other, including the railway station. The video below shows the level of the water in the Calder immediately behind where I’m standing. You can see the recycling centre through the trees.

Industrial units on Walker Lane on the banks of the Calder are flooded. The river runs behind them. Note the tail lights are illuminated on the red car as the water fuses the electrics

The river is normally flowing to the left here! This container was bobbing up and down gently, but thankfully it hadn’t broken free to drift downstream. Notice the ironworks has got its flood protection barriers in place. I just hope they worked. Further upstream towards the centre of Sowerby Bridge I took the next video which shows the level of water at the bridge by the old Gasworks site.

The river is overflowing into the Calder and Hebble Navigation in central Sowerby Bridge whilst narrowboat owners can only sit it out and hope their homes don’t get beached.
Debris builds up on a bridge across the Calder.
Looking back from the last shot with the railway passing overhead.
The A58, West St is submerged under several feet of water. This is the lowest point in Sowerby Bridge. Behind me is the Calder whilst the Ryburn flows behind these buildings to the left, where it joins the Calder just under the railway bridge. This area bore the brunt of the Boxing Day flooding in 2015.
The view of Sowerby Bridge from the bridge over the Calder.
Flooded properties in central Sowerby Bridge next to the river.
A drowned car in a residential carpark with the river behind.
Water boils under the main bridge across the Calder in the centre of Sowerby bridge whilst detritus builds up against it. Police had closed the bridge due to the flooding on the other side.

16:29.

The storm (for now) has abated. But more gales and rain are forecast later. It’s been impossible for me to get over to Mytholmroyd as the roads are flooded, as is the railway further down the valley at Walsden. So, spare a thought for those who’ve been flooded out of their homes once more.

Here’s a look at the railway at Walsden which graphically illustrates why the Calder Valley line’s closed.

It’s now 23:41 and I’m about to call it a day. I’m lying in bed listening to the wind and the rain beating against the window once more. God knows how things will look in the morning…

A Favour.

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