Charity car wash

I don't think I've ever mentioned before that Saltaire has a fire station. Actually I'm not sure if it is technically in Saltaire but never mind, it is just across the road from Fanny's Ale House and that's in Saltaire. On the final weekend of the Saltaire Festival, the firefighters on the day's watch were holding a charity car wash, hosing down cars in a very good-humoured and quite dramatic fashion.  They must have been fairly sure they wouldn't get a 'shout', although they would have been ready to run, I think.

Patriot colours

A reminder of our Jubilympic summer full of red, white and blue - one of the flowerbeds in Roberts Park, Saltaire.

As well as being very wet, the weather is feeling distinctly autumnal here now, with very cold nights (extra duvet weather!). I am loathe to leave the summer behind, still needing a dose of sunshine that I don't feel to have had. Happily I can visit my blog friends in Australia and other sunny climes when I need cheering up - among them Diane, Grace, Dianne and Fiona. Make sure you all keep up a supply of spring photos!

The Night Watch

I think there has probably been a night watchman on duty at the gates of Salts Mill for the last 160 years. (Not the same one, of course!)

This gives me an excuse to mention that I bought a print at an exhibition during the Festival. It's called "Hidden Treasure" by local artist Jane Fielder (see here).  She apparently came to Saltaire one evening and was inspired to paint some very atmospheric pictures, in a style quite a lot different from her usual technique. The one I bought shows this area of the Mill, though from a different angle, at night with a few lighted windows. It's very mysterious and I love it. Click here (Jane's website) to see it - the third picture from the top.

River watching

Well, it's still raining as I write this on Wednesday evening. Though there was a brief respite in the middle of the day it started up again later. The River Aire through Saltaire is as high as I've ever seen it, though still largely contained, apart from this overspill into Roberts Park. I'm not sure that it has peaked yet. We will get a lot of water coming down from the Yorkshire Dales overnight. It makes an interesting subject for the camera. These were taken on my iPhone on the way home from work.... Not bad, I think....

The water at the New Mill is thundering over the weir; such power there.  Contrast with these photos - here and here - for previous flood conditions. You can see it is much worse now.

The fisherman seen in yesterday's blog photo was standing in the middle of the river just below the weir, alongside the mill wall seen here top right.  What a difference in a week or so!

It seems even worse further north and east. Some of the city centre in York is flooded, trains between York and Newcastle are disrupted and the main north-south road, the A1, is closed for miles due to flooding. What a pity we can't send some of this to those areas of the world that are drought-stricken.

Fly fishing

I was aware that fly fishing took place on the River Aire around Saltaire but I have never actually seen a fisherman until the other day. He was standing just downstream of the weir beside the New Mill. I gather there are brown trout, grayling and chub in the river. I wonder if he caught anything?

I imagine all fishing is suspended again, as we've had continuous heavy rain in Yorkshire (indeed across much of the country) for three days and nights now, with high winds too. They say we've had two months' rainfall in that time! There is a flood warning out on the River Aire and the situation is bad on the River Wharfe around Otley and Ilkley. Saltaire won't flood (not from the river anyway, maybe from the drains!)) as it's higher than the river, but Roberts Park might, and there are areas along the other side of the river that are low-lying and designed to allow some flooding.

Fine China in the canteen

The Saltaire Festival offers opportunities to venture into areas where the general public is not normally allowed. Housed in what was originally Salts Mill's combing shed (where wool was straightened and sorted), this canteen belongs to Pace plc, the electronics company that now uses much of the Mill for its production. It provided a calm and airy space to escape the Festival crowds, chill out, have a coffee and watch old films of Salts Mill's workers' outings. (See also here).

I was a little surprised to see this replica of one of China's Terracotta Warriors. According to its label it was a gift to Pace plc from Uniserve 'to commemorate our partnership and the logistics services we provide from China and the rest of the world'. The Terracotta Army are of course a series of sculptures depicting the army of Qin Shi Huang, China's first Emperor. Buried with his body in 209-210 BC, they were supposed to protect the Emperor in the afterlife. The Mausoleum, discovered in 1974, is another UNESCO World Heritage Site like Saltaire. (I wonder if they have a bust of Sir Titus in China?)

Hidden corner

This charming corner is normally hidden from view, except to students and staff at Shipley College.  It's tucked away in the gardens attached to the Exhibition Building. These gardens and some of the allotments across the road are tended by students studying horticulture. (It's where the TV celebrity gardener and novelist Alan Titchmarsh began his training.)  The gardens were open to the public during the recent Saltaire Festival's Open Gardens weekend. In the background is the long south frontage of Salts Mill.

Aagrah Food Festival

Another 'first' for this year's Saltaire Festival was the Aagrah Food Festival in Roberts Park.

The Aagrah is a local Asian restaurant chain, based in Shipley, that produces high-quality foods that are justifiably popular among all sections of the local community. I'm not a huge fan of curry generally but the cuisine in the Aagrah is really tasty and very subtly flavoured.  There is a help-yourself buffet, so it's easy to try new things.

They have for several years been a major sponsor of the Saltaire Festival.  This year they had a garden restaurant in the park, where you could sample all sorts of foodie treats. They also hosted a series of masterclasses and demonstrations of Asian  cuisine.  Stephanie Moon, a well-known 'celebrity chef' (daughter of a Yorkshire farmer, who started her training at Craven College, Skipton) was also due to give a talk and demonstration.

This handsome young man was 'drumming up custom' and welcoming visitors; he happily posed for a photo. He is wearing traditional south Asian costume and carries a dohl drum.

An elaborately carved water-melon.

Mehndi

There were lots of youngsters walking around the Saltaire Festival with beautifully painted faces - tigers and butterflies and all manner of other creative face-paintings. I also came across this young lady doing Mehndi tattooing, an elaborate but temporary tattoo drawn in henna. It's an art form that developed in the Indian sub-continent but is widely practised here among communities of Asian origin, for ceremonial occasions like weddings and festivals. It seems to be something that has developed a wider appeal for young girls and it's a nice thing to see them carefully painting each other's hands with these ancient and traditional patterns.

Saltaire Sing

Music lovers of a different persuasion are also well-catered for at Saltaire Festival, since several local community choirs get together to perform.  They all 'busk' around the village during the day and then hold a concert in the late afternoon in Saltaire's United Reformed Church.  I wasn't able to discover the name of this choir (anybody know?) but they were making a cheerful sound, delighting those listening in the grounds of the church.  It's a pity I can't sing (too deaf) as it seems a lovely, healthy pastime - social and creative.  It's hard to sing and feel glum at the same time.

Broken hearts

The final weekend of the Saltaire Festival always has so much going on that it's hard to cover all of it.  In particular there's lots of music - in the Piazza (aka the Caroline Street carpark!), in the bandstand in the park, choirs in the church and around the village, and impromptu concerts wherever people can park a drum kit.  I came across The Broken Hearts Club Band playing a set down by the canal bridge (and they were also scheduled to play on the Piazza stage on Sunday).

The band is made up of Mark Yates on double bass, Craig Bussey on drums & vocals, Alice Gilmour playing violin, and Jez Barraclough, guitar & vocals. They write all their own material with a 'skiffletastic, folk, country feel' and have recently recorded their debut album "ElectricPictureShop" available on CD.  If that title rings a bell, look here....  It's not much good asking me (since I'm pretty deaf) whether the music was any good, but even I found I wanted to jig about a bit - music to dance to! There are (of course) videos on Youtube - see this.

Far from the Madding Crowd

.... though some people managed to get away from it all.  (The power of a Kindle!)

The Madding Crowd

During the Festival, Saltaire can get a bit busy....

Pots of colour

Another delightful 'Open Garden' from this year's Saltaire Festival. This is a tiny back yard, only about six feet square, belonging to one of the village's smaller cottages that, according to the trail leaflet, has been in the same family for 77 years. Despite its bijou size, the yard is packed full of colour and interest. There are topiary evergreen box trees in there (one looked like a cat) and a wonderful Mediterranean-blue wall, so that the garden has interest and colour all year round. Delightful - and apparently a past winner of the 'best back yard' award. I can see why.
(Mental note to self.... must try harder with my little patch next year... it could look really pretty if I made more effort.)

Pink pedal power

When Saltaire Festival and the Arts Trail were a combined event, one of the most interesting features was always the 'open houses', when some of Saltaire's village houses are turned into mini-art galleries and opened for viewing.  The Arts Trail now occupies its own slot in the spring, so the open houses have migrated to that.  Instead, the Festival this year saw the first (I'm sure it will be repeated) Open Gardens trail, and very fascinating it was too, peeping into people's back yards.

It's truly amazing what some people have managed to cram into their tiny little yards - and in some cases even tinier front gardens.  It has not been a good year for gardens (far too wet and grey) and even the best show few signs of colour at this late stage - but that hasn't stopped people from injecting colour in the form of pots, painted walls, bunting and other 'props'.  I particularly liked this pink bicycle, a key feature in a showstopper of a garden, whose visionary owner has filled it with attractively painted flowerpots in pinks, blue and purples with planting to match.

White Rose Parade

Thursday of Saltaire Festival week is traditionally children's day, when youngsters from our local schools join together in a pageant.  This year the theme was "The White Rose Parade". The children, most in costume, 'traced Yorkshire's colourful history from the dawn of time to the Jubilee celebrations of 2012'.  Lively marching music was provided and the spectacle was witnessed not only by parents and local residents but by some illustrious visitors. Pictured above are Dave Shaw (founder and president of Saltaire's History Club); Denys Salt, the great-grandson of Sir Titus Salt, who is 94 and now lives in Graz in Austria; a gentleman whose name I do not know, I'm sorry (I will endeavour to find out), and the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Major Stanley Hardy. Sadly, the lovely weather of last weekend didn't last. It was so cold that I'm surprised the children didn't die of hypothermia.

Bandstand Marathon

Amazingly, the weather was warm and dry for the first weekend of the Saltaire Festival. People flocked to Roberts Park, where there was enough going on to satisfy all comers. As well as lots of activities for children (see also yesterday), there was a cricket match (one of the last of the season, I guess) and a 'Bandstand Marathon' of music. I arrived quite late in the day but in time to hear most of the set from this local blues player, Gerry Cooper. Really nice music to relax to and there were lots of people enjoying it, many with quite elaborate picnics, having obviously prepared well for a lazy Sunday in the park.

Pets in the Park

There was lots happening in Roberts Park on Sunday, including Saltaire's version of Crufts, the famous Dog Show. Some fun classes included 'the dog most like its owner', and 'the dog with the waggiest tail'. Nearby, there were small pets to admire, including rabbits and rescue chickens - and people were either fascinated or horrified to see the spiders, scorpions, lizards and snakes displayed by 'Predators' in Shipley, a supplier of exotic pets. The one the girl is holding, below, was I think a fairly harmless corn snake (familiar to my American friends?) and there was also a large yellow Burmese Royal Python. That seemed content to be stroked but it was a bit big for my liking! I was brave and touched the corn snake. (Touched it, not held it!) I expected it to feel damp and slimy but it didn't.

Knit wit

The tenth annual Saltaire Festival began this weekend and continues until Sunday 16 September.  Every year it seems to get bigger and buzzier, and every year there are new aspects to enjoy. I found something small but amusing sitting on a radiator in the Victoria Hall - this 18" high knitted "Sir Titus Salt". Created by Heather Savage, it pays homage to the visionary Victorian who built the village of Saltaire and the mill. I gather 'he' will be visiting a number of different venues during the course of the Festival - I will see if I can spot him again. (I think he may have had a drop of 'Saltaire Blonde', despite his well-known views on the perils of alcohol consumption!)

Heather has been instrumental in galvanising a thriving little local knitting community. She runs a 'Knit and Natter' group at Shipley College. It seems an appropriate pastime for an area built on the fortunes of the woollen spinning and weaving industry. Sadly it's not something I'll be joining in with; my knitting career got no further than a small scarf at Primary School, which I cast off prematurely in disgust, only to receive a severe telling-off from my needlework teacher!

The romance of steam

The trouble I went to, to get this photo... (and it's not even that brilliant, but never mind that). Over the summer, the Railway Touring Company run a few Sunday steam train excursions (The Waverley Tour) from York to Carlisle on the famous Settle-Carlisle line, over Ribblehead Viaduct. On the way, of course, they have to pass through Saltaire. I have many times heard the familiar chug-chug from my house and thought "one day I must go out and take a photo of that". So I got up especially early one Sunday morning (I normally enjoy my lie-in!) and stood on the bridge and waited... and waited... and it didn't come. A couple of Sundays later I got up again and this time it did come, but my photos didn't turn out very good at all from the high bridge viewpoint - too many cables in the way and other distractions. This last Sunday I got up again and staked out a place on the station platform. The train was a good half-hour later than scheduled but at least it came.  With the camera on 'continuous' shooting, I almost have a video (!) but this is possibly the best of the bunch.

The hauling locomotive is LMS 'Black Five' No 45305.  There are lots of great photos of it on Flickr - and this video, also taken on Sunday somewhere further up the line.

I love steam trains anyway, and to be in such close proximity to one, going at quite a lick (as they don't stop at Saltaire station) is a real thrill.  I actually found myself teary-eyed, it was so romantic!  There's something so right about seeing one in Saltaire's Victorian setting, knowing that when the village was first built, they would have been a regular sight - and sound - up and down the line.