The full Half-Moon

It is very good to see the Half-Moon Café in Saltaire's Roberts Park open again this summer. It was badly damaged in the massive floods on Boxing Day 2015. Leased from Bradford Council by Saltaire Cricket Club, it took ages to be dried out and repaired. Other local facilities were up and running after a few months and no-one seems sure why it took nearly 18 months to refit and re-open the café. Anyway, it is now open, from Wednesdays to Sundays. It is a well-used facility for the many visitors to the park.

Spring in the park

As you walk down from the Victoria Road bridge towards Roberts Park you get a glimpse into the park that is especially delightful when the trees are in blossom. To the left is the entrance to The Boathouse, now a bar and restaurant. To the right is the path to the footbridge into the park over the River Aire (which you can just see).  The building across the grass is the Half Moon Café, closed since it was badly flooded in late December 2015 - but now, I am pleased to say, reopened on certain days of the week (Wednesdays to Sundays, I believe). It has been much missed in the 17 months it has been closed; it's such a great facility for the many visitors to our lovely park.

Shuttered

A threatening sky (it started to sleet a few minutes later) and the Half Moon Café in Roberts Park was illuminated by a sudden shaft of winter sunshine. The café is normally open until 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays in the winter but they must have decided to close early. The usually busy park was rather quiet, just a brave runner and a few dogs walking their people, so I don't suppose they were doing much trade. I find the park is beautiful in all seasons. Even when the wind is howling and sleet is stinging my face, I can enjoy a walk there. It is just far enough from home to make it feel worthwhile. There are plenty of paths, so you can vary the route a bit and there is always something new to see - an explosion of red branches in the shrubberies, a few brave green shoots beginning to poke up from the earth... Good to be out and about; just as good to get back home for a comforting, warming cup of tea and a slice of toasted fruit loaf.

Summer cricket

I love walking round Roberts Park at weekends. There is always something going on, and often a cricket match underway on what must be one of the most picturesque cricket fields imaginable. Such a leisurely game, lots of walking about and chatting as well as bursts of activity. I enjoy settling down with a coffee or an ice cream outside the Half Moon Café and watching other people being energetic. On Sundays you can eat, watch cricket and listen to a bandstand concert all at the same time!

Signs of Spring

Last weekend was bright and sunny, chilly in the wind but warm in sheltered spots.  It felt like all of creation was waking up and stretching.  Not that we've had a bad winter, far from it, it has been very mild, but even so the long dark days take their toll.  I went out looking for signs of Spring in Saltaire.  There were plenty of people about, enjoying the space in Roberts Park. (See my last two posts for a short biography of the man after whom the park is named.)  The daffodils are beginning to flower in sunny spots (and they're a cheery sight, aren't they?)  It was warm enough, too for a few folk to sit outside the Half Moon Café (though I did secretly want to shout "Go in, go in and look at my photos..." - ha!)

Flying solo

I've mentioned the community-owned Half Moon Café in Roberts Park before; it was attractively refurbished a couple of years ago.  Saltaire Cricket Club, who oversee the running of it, have built it up into quite a successful venture, with the help of a manager and a lot of volunteers.  It has limited opening hours during the winter (Wed to Sun: 10am - 4pm) but seems to remain popular... you often see people sitting outside, even when it's quite cold, though it's very pleasant inside too.

For some time now, they have had a regular programme of exhibitions of work by local artists, which provides a point of interest along the long, curved wall inside.   I'm pleased to announce that the exhibition during February and March will be some photographs of mine... my first solo exhibition.  Sounds really grand, doesn't it?  It helps that the organiser of the exhibition space is a good friend, but I do know she wouldn't have asked me if she hadn't thought my work was up to scratch.  It's been quite a process trying to decide which photos to display (and due to the nature of the space I had to choose mostly 'portrait format' prints).  In the end I decided to use my blog as the theme and to concentrate largely (though not exclusively) on photographs of Saltaire, as I think they will be interesting to most of the folk who drop into the Café.  The prints are all prepared and framed - they will be hung this weekend (unless we get snowed in!)

If you live locally, do please drop in and see them and enjoy a coffee and a cake in the Café whilst you're there.  All the photos have been shown on my blog at some point in the past, so if you're not local you're only missing the fun, not the pictures!

(This has blown my cover now, hasn't it?  But it didn't seem quite right to use 'jennyfreckles', my blog identity, for an exhibition.  In the beginning I was ultra cautious about blogging but I don't think I need to worry any more.)

Two red tulips

I was idly waiting in the queue for an ice-cream in the Half Moon Café in Roberts Park...  They do very nice ice-cream and it was a warm day, so there was a long queue .... Anyway, my eye was drawn to these tulips, artlessly stuck on a shelf - away from some child's grasping little hand, I guess.  (The vases are usually on the tables). The unconscious arrangement and the colours struck me as rather pleasing so I took a photo - a candid still-life, if you can have such a thing.  I quite liked the photo as it was but then I started playing around with filters in Photoshop... I can easily get carried away!  This is a touch of 'rough pastels' and a bit of vignetting.  Oh, it's fun to play!