Hebden Bridge & Hardcastle Crags

It was another lovely sunny day today and we were loathe to waste the fine weather, so we set off, as usual, without a clue where we were heading to! This way it is always a nice surprise when you get there!!!

Heading out of Cottingley we turned up Cottingley Moor Road, and on to Cullingworth, Haworth and Oxenhope, and eventually landed up in Hebden Bridge.

This is a view loking down Bridge Gate towards St George's Square. Since we were last in Hebden Bridge we were surprised to discover that the centre of the town has been pedestrianised, which makes it much easier to wander around, without having to be on the lookout for traffic.

A small stream runs parallel with Bridge Gate, and there were some ducks swimming in the water under the bridge. We spent about an hour in Hebden Bridge, with Dot looking in her choice of shops and me looking in my choice of shops. 

Then we headed for Hardcastle Crags, which is situated at the end of a short valley about a mile out of Hebden Bridge. Gibson Mill is situated in this area.

Gibson Mill

There are lots of fine walks in the valley, so Ruby got a good walk around the crags, and found a wet muddy stream to paddle in!

The lichen covered wall on the way up to the crags.

Beautiful early Spring colours.

The Stones erected at the entrance to the car park.

The stream running down into the valley bottom.

 Lichen covered wall top at Hardcastle Crags.



A Day Out in Pateley Bridge and How Stean

 This morning dawned cold, windy and rainy, and it looked anything but the sort of weather you would venture out into, but surprisingly by mid day the sky was clear and bright, so by two o'clock we decided to make the most of the day and headed for How Stean & Pateley Bridge.

There is a small cafe at How Stean Gorge, whcih serves up very tasty and satisfying food, so this was our first port of call.

About the time we purchased the Vauxhall Meriva, from Nidd Vale Motors in Pateley Bridge, we paid two or three visits to the How Stean Cafe, and on one occasion Mum let slip that I was an organist. No sooner said than the owner of the cafe persuaded me to play him some tunes on the rather fine electronic organ he had at the rear of the cafe.

On another occasion when I had gone up on my own, I was again persuaded to play the instrument and was rewarded with free drinks!

How Stean Cafe

 How Stean Cafe showing the electronic organ (back right)

The car bridge over the gorge has been widened and there is a new toilet and shower block near the site of the car park. The gorge itself is still as impressive as ever.

We then decided it was time for Ruby to have a walk. About a year previously we had discovered an impressive road which runs from Pateley Bridge to Wath along the top edge of the valley. There are some fine views of the valley from the road, and it is an ideal spot to take Ruby for a walk.

 

The View from the top Pateley Bridge - Wath Road

Gouthwaite Reservoir seen from the top Pateley Bridge - Wath Road

By the time we got back into Pateley Bridge, most of the shops were either closed or closing, so we headed home via Summerbridge, Burnt Yates, Killinghall, and Otley, to complete a circular tour!

A Clear Out in the Garage

The lady of the house was all fired up and ready to go, so it was all hands on deck and we started to clear out the garage. Truth to tell this has needed doing for some considerable time!

We had a old lounge door cut in half and resting on the back patio since we had the new kitchen fitted, and there was also an old industrial vacuum cleaner out there as well.

The Christmas Tree had found its way into the garage and had been steadily shedding its needles and there were numerous tins of paint which had endured the freezing conditions and were no longer usable, as well as half empty tubs of timber preservative, tile cement etc. 

The first thing that had to be done was rearrange the contents of the garage, as space had had to be made for Hannah to store her Pink Peril when she and Ben had gone on holiday.

Numerous off cuts and pieces of timber had been left in the garage after the new kitchen was fitted, including about three quarters of a worktop, which was surplus to the kitchen needs. (We had already had the joiner make us a table with some of the surplus worktop.) I had also made a shelf unit to store CD's in from some of the surplus plinth base timber.

After a general tidy up, and two visits to the local tip the garage now looks quite spacious again - still not enough room to get the car in, but at least I don't have to squeeze between piles of timber, tins of paint, empty plastic containers of tile cement, etc.

The First Trip Out in Spring & a New TV Purchased

By dinnertime Dot had recovered from her two day trip to London, with the Grandchildren to see Shrek, the Musical, so we decided to go for a run out.

The weather was bright and sunny, and quite fresh, so we first headed for Airton and called in Town End Farm for something to eat.

 

Starters of home made soup were followed by a quiche platter for Dot and a ham and pork pie platter for me. All the food was delicious (as usual) and we were too full to partake of the home made cakes and sweets!

We then took the road to Malham, and over the tops to Arncliffe, stopping on the tops for Ruby to have an exhilerating walk. As you can see from some of the photographs, it was bright and sunny, but there was still a smattering of snow left in the hollows.

We then headed to Arncliffe and the church. The churchyard is well known for its displays of snowdrops at this time of year.

On the way home we called into Currys Electrical Retail Store in Keighley, because for a few months our old faithful CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) Hitachi Television has been in need of upgrading. It wasn't designed to receive a digital signal, so we had subscribed to Virgin Media to get the signal to play through the old set.

Whilst Dot was in London I had done a careful survey of the type of set to upgrade to - Plasma LCD or LED, and overall and LED set won out, giving a clearer more vibrant picture, and having more connections than the equivalent LCD sets.

A consultation of a "Viewing Table" which gave sizes of screens for distance seated from the screen suggested we needed a 40" set as minimum.

I had more or less decided on a Samsung as they seemed to give good value for money, excellent reliability and very good sound and picture quality. The next choice had to be did I get a Digital Ready TV, A full digital TV, a 3D TV, and did I choose one with SMART TV fitted?

Spending almost 2 hours in Curry's yesterday, and discussing all the pros and cons with a very helpful and knowledgable assistant I eventually narrowed my choice down to a Samsung 40" UE40D5520 with 16:9 capability, with full teletext and HD Freeview and SMART TV inbuilt. SMART TV, with the addition of a dongle, gives you most of the apps you can get for a computer.

This is what the beast looks like:-

[Special Note for Hannah - who is used to bargaining! I managed to get a 10% reduction off the price of the HDMI lead, 25% off the original cost of the TV Table, then a further £10 off on top of that. Oh, and I also get free delivery and disposal of the old TV]

So we now look forward to Saturday 10th March when our new arrival should arrive!

Snow at Night

Having just taken Ruby for her evening walk, when I got back I thought I'd try  and take a few shots of the snow by the existing light.

Here are the results....

All these were hand held, so if you can detect a slight blur on one or two of them, that's why. Next time I may well get the tripod out and do a proper job!

Snow (at long last!)

For a few days now the forecasters and weather people have been making a great to do about the vast amounts of snow that has been falling on the continent. They have also been telling us that the temperatures have fallen very low indeed. People have been dying of hypothermia.

Over the last couple of days we have been getting yellow warnings, then upgraded to orange warnings, that snow was on its way, and finally today it has arrived. Not huge amounts, but it has been continually falling since just after 12.00 mid day. It doesn't seem to be the stuff that piles up to any great depth, but it has been a continuous downpour of very wet tiny flakes.


I grabbed the camera a few minutes ago and got these shots......

The view up the fields - the horizon completely lost in the fine snowflakes.

Somehwere out there on the far horizon (if you could see it) is Bingley Moor, the caravan park at the top of Shipley Glen and Dick Hudsons!

I can't remember the last time I saw children with sledges!

Keeping it in the Family

I was having a wander through the family facebook pages and came across this on Hannah's page. I couldn't resist republishing the photo.

Farewell Old Friend!

Some rather sad news today. Although it occurred on Sunday (so should that be history?) Hannah waved bye bye to her first car. Recognised throughout the Bingley district because of its rather different colour scheme!

I had christened it the "Pink Peril", although Hannah refers to it on her facebook page as "Princess."

"Princess" just before she left for some Essex Girl to own!

However there was some good news too. She had been offered a paltry sum in part exchange for the Pink Peril - slightly more than half the top book price, so being the entrepreneurial type she advertised it on E Bay.

Within a very short space of time she had 8 people interested, and a car dealer from down south decided he would pay the "Buy Now Price" (the top book price for it.) He did admit when he came to collect it that he already had a buyer for it, but after test driving it, and with a bundle of £20.00 notes he clinched the deal!

So "Princess" will be starting a new life down Essex way!

To misquote Mr Grumpy "I Don't Believe It!"

I don't know about you, but I sometimes wonder if we live in a madhouse. I don't mean our homes, but the world in general, and education circles in particular.

You may well be aware that for some days now Michael Gove has been banging on about improving standards in schools. Over the last few years the Primary sector have been scrutinised, measured, checked, Ofsteded etc. Primary League Tables have been published and his latest idea is to change one of the categories of the Ofsted results.

A school will no longer be classed as "satisfactory" (for according to Mr Gove this implies that the school is just ticking over.) It must show steady progress and improve year on year! I ask myself is the man mad, has he taken leave of his senses, or is he just living in cloud cuckoo land?

I wonder if he has had the experience of trying to teach a class where over 50% of the children are classed as ESL (English as a second language.) It seems to me to be an exercise in futility trying to teach all the academic subjects to some poor little person who can barely speak (or understand) English.

But all of this is not my real concern about the world being mad. Oh No!
If I hadn't read it on the BBC interrnet news I would have hardly believed it.


Did you know that at the present moment a course in horse care is equivalent to four (yes you did read that right - FOUR) GCSE's?

A BTec level 2 in fish husbandry, and a level 2 certificate in nail technology services (both worth the equivalent of 2 GCSE's) could also be taken out of the GCSE equivalents. Whoopee I say! The sooner the better!

How on earth could these three examples be compared to a decent GCSE, let alone two or four GCSE equivalents?

With equivalents like these I wouldn't have been surprised to have seen breathing being given a GCSE equivalent!

No wonder our Secondary education system is in such a mess!

It seems that Secondary Schools are now in the firing line. Prof. Alison Wilson has decided that some of the courses offerred as equivalent to GCSE's will either be downgraded or removed from the equivalent status altogether! Do I detect a movement towards common sense at last?

Four Funerals and No Weddings

I have been a bit busy this week with funerals! Monday was a relatives, and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were due to me being an organist!

I thought that a bit of relative peace and quiet was due, but no such luck. I already have a funeral to play for on Wednesday and another on Friday. In fact next week is already building up. On Monday there is a trip to Harrogate for Dot to visit the Eye Clinic, and on Monday evening I have a practice for the Male Voice Choir. We are due to give a concert at Dalesway (A BUPA home) in Thornbury on the following Monday. As I missed last Mondays practice due to being at the funeral of a relative, there will be quite a bit of work to put in at this Mondays practice!

I am also booked to give a talk to the Hall Royd Methodist Group an hour after the funeral on Wednesday.

TOWIB

Youv'e no doubt all heard of, and probably seen the TV programme The Only Way Way Is Essex (TOWIE for short) well read on to discover what TOWIB is.....

To put it mildly,this week does not promise to be an auspicious one.

Hannh managed to pick up a screw in the rear near side tyre of her new car, and on taking it to Quickfit on Sunday, after a two hour wait she was told that the tyre was beyond repair. On asking the price of a new tyre she was told £150.00 - it's a Broadstone low profile one. There were none immediately available, and it would  probably be Monday or Tuesday before she could get it repaired.......

QUICKfit - what a misnomer if ever there was one!

So yesterday and today the Bentley Taxi Service has been in full swing, but seeing as Dot and I had to attend a relatives funeral on Monday afternoon, Sarah had to do the honours and collect Hannah from school on Monday afternoon.

Whilst all this has been going on I have had to cancel a wedding I had been booked to play for at Rudding Park Harrogate on Saturday 28th April due to the fact that the new Vicar of Bingley is being inducted one hour before the wedding is due to take place and my first call has to be on the organ buffet in Bingley!

In and amongst all this I have been booked to play for no less than three funerals this week - so like the title of this blog suggests The Only Way Is Better - it surely can't get any worse, can it???

Katherine Jenkins Concert (2)

We attended the Katherine Jenkins concert at the Harroagte International Centre yesterday evening. We knew that the concert was a sell out, and that the auditorium holds 2,000 people, and we were expecting car parking to be at a premium, so we set off in plenty of time and managed to find space in the multi-storey park at the centre itself.

Amazingly the cost of parking was only £2.00, which compares very favourably with the on street parking where the fee is £1.40 for the first hour, up to a maximum of three hours.

The concert was (as expected) most enjoyable. Among the songs that Katherine sang were: Black is the Colour, J'Avais Reve D'Une Autre Vie (the French words to "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables), Love Divine to the Welsh Tune "Hyfrydol" , Calon Lan (Welsh Words to Blaenwern) and Break it to My Heart.

As usual she had 3 dress changes, wearing, in total, four very elegant dresses. Sorry no photos as photography and recording was banned in the centre!

We purchased her latest CD (Daydream) which has three or four of the songs she featured in last night's concert.

Katherine Jenkins Concert

I am looking forward to Saturday evening. We are going to the Katherine Jenkins Concert at the Harrogate International Centre. We have got front row seats thanks to a present from the Phillips family - it was their Christmas present for us!

Having met the aforementioned lady, and spoken with her, a few years ago (she was a guest at a wedding I was playing for) I can vouch for the fact that she is a very natural person and seems totally unaffected by her fame.


Oh, and just in case you didn't believe that I had spoken with her, here's the proof......

The broad grin was caused by me suggesting that she may like to audition for my choir!

Pantomime and Cold Weather

We paid our annual visit to the Harrogate Pantomime last night (Beauty & the Beast) and had a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining evening. As usual the cast were splendid. Tim Stedman as Muddles was his usual idiotic and simple self, whilst the Dame (Sue the Sous Chef) and Baron Bon Bon gave excellent support. Polly Lister was outstanding as the Sorceress. She played an evil Baddie, and has great stage presence and a very good voice too.

One of the highlights of last night's performance was the plate catching scene. There are two chutes (one each side of the stage), and the crockery is sent down these chutes for Muddles and Baron Bon Bon to catch them prior to
washing them. All works well when Sue the Sous Chef demonstrates, but when Muddles & Baron Bon Bon take over there is chaos. They are at the wrong chute when plates come hurtling down. The idea is that the precious plates smash, but last night they refused to. Muddles and the Baron did an superb job of ad libbing each time the plates refused to smash.

During the following scene there was a tremendous crash back stage and Muddles could be heard shouting "They still won't smash even after seven weeks!"

There was the usual selection of a member of the front row of the audience to be the butt of many jokes (Michael was the man's name) and he was persuaded to stand up and conduct the theatre (complete with follow spot on him) in the silly song routine.

When we came out of the theatre there was a distinct nip in the air. The car temperature gauge read - 4.0 degrees, and this morning you could see the result of the freezing cold night.

We have a water bowl on the garage roof, for the birds, and I was amazed to see what looks like an upward growing icicle had formed.......

As there was nothing dripping into the bowl from above it I am at a loss as to how this has formed.

The field behind our house looked quite picturesque, with the sheep standing about.

and one of them obviously remembered that they sometimes get fed with the vegetable left overs, and came to beg!

Our car usually misses the most of the frost, as it sits between our house and next door's extension, so is quite sheltered, but this morning there was evidence on it of just how cold it had been during the night.