Gordon Bennett – has the weather forecast got it wrong again! Having thrown open the bedroom blinds expecting the promised cloudy but clement day I was greeted by the sight of trees being battered by blustery winds and rain sweeping in from across the valley. This mornings walk to the station may prove to be a bit of an endurance test.

07:50

As I mentioned yesterday, today I’m off to Bradford to meet up with some of the Northern rail company’s management team for a visit to some of the city’s religious centres as part of their annual Interfaith and Cultural awareness event. It promises to be an interesting day, but first I’ve got to get there. Let’s see how things pan out. Railhead conditions are going to be difficult today, so I expect some late running…

09:05.

Mt predictions about late-running were correct, but with weather conditions like this that’s hardly surprising. Here’s the view across the Calder Valley from my walk to the station.

I was aiming for the 08:57 but arrived in time for the 17 mins late 08:43, one of a slew of Leeds bound trains that were arriving within minutes of each other.

09:40.

The day’s starting at the Great Victoria hotel with a briefing for all those attending. So far there are representatives from the Canal and Rivers Trust (CRT). Yorkshire Cricket and me, wearing a Community Rail Network hat. Northern have a range of staff here, including some of their Conductors and train preparation teams. Here’s the group just before the off…

Our first port of call was the Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara, one of several Sikh temples in the city. We were given a really interesting historical background on the origins and practices of the Sikh faith by Amandeep Kaur Maan. One of the things I’d never realised was how important baptism is as that cements someone into the purer, or stricter, version of Sikhism (vegetarianism, no alcohol or tobacco) compared to Sikhs who haven’t been baptised into the faith.

Our second visit of the day was to the Shree Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple which was only a short walk away. A crash course in what’s considered one of the oldest (if not the the oldest) religions in the world that has over 300 million gods is no easy matter. The devotees did their best, it’s not easy – especially when you’re touching on concepts like Karma and reincarnation that are alien to Christians.

After tea, biscuits and the chance to chat to some of the devotees our third stop was another short walk away – the Abu Bakr Masjid.

16:15.

What an interesting day – and a bonus is that despite the hairy weather and walking between temples we didn’t get soaked once!

Right now I’m back in Halifax, wetting my whistle with a pint at the new Grayston Unity before walking home.

The Grayston’s interesting. This afternoon they’re having a Northern Soul event downstairs. It’s early days but they hope to do it every month. Judging by the numbers coming up to the bar to buy drinks it’s well attended but its obvious from the demographic it’s still the same people from the 1970s – they’re just 40 odd years older – so the dancing may be a little more sedate! Of course, in those days Northern Soul was fuelled by amphetamines, now it’s probably Sanatogen!

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