Lister Park and its ladies

After a few days of crisp, bright, chilly weather we are back to mild, dull and damp. Country walks are muddy so a walk in the park seemed more sensible. This is Lister Park, in an area of Bradford called Manningham. Once the home of wealthy Bradford industrialists, Manningham is long past its glory days. It became a student haunt (those huge Victorian houses made excellent bedsits and I roomed here myself in student days) and it now has a sizeable Muslim population. The park is well-used and at its centre has Bradford's art gallery, Cartwright Hall (in the background of my photo.)

I popped in to the gallery see an excellent exhibition of photographs called '100 Leading Ladies'. The photographer Nancy Honey has taken portraits of a hundred of Britain's most respected senior (all over 55 ) women: academics, entrepreneurs, scientists, politicians, lawyers, doctors, actors, artists, architects, designers, journalists. They are engaging views of women who in the main are not 'celebrities' though greatly respected in their own fields. They are photographed in a variety of settings, chosen as meaningful and inspirational to each individual. The pictures are wonderfully colourful, which seems to say quite a lot in itself. I was also struck by how beautiful these women look, though not necessarily conventionally so. Their confidence and personality seems to come from them sitting comfortably in their own skins. Maturity has some benefits, it seems. The exhibition runs in Cartwright Hall until 10 April - well worth seeing.  I was tempted to buy the book, which also has interviews with each woman, but at £30 it seemed a little more than I felt justified in spending on myself!