Sarah’s magic trick

Tribute to the 22 bombing victims last month, Manchester Victoria station

My new living room has a verandah overlooking the  weir

Pretty bedroom

Just before dinner I walked from my mill to Mytholmroyd.

Fishermen on the Rochdale canal in Mytholmroyd

These geese have obviously been told to ‘keep their ducks in a row!’

Sarah on Blackstone Edge, a last view of T’tops before she flies home

A last glimpse fittingly rainy and misty

One of my ancestors lived in this White House in Manchester. He was a schoolmaster. In 1905 he walked out of his house and drowned in the Rochdale canal a few yards from his house.

The Rochdale canal adjacent to Sydney Herbert Cooper’s house

The note I put through the letterbox 

‘Heather’ court in . . . 

Denton ( my maiden name)

Our hotel in Stockport so that we are close to Manchester airport.

Chicken korma and chips in the hotel

Children walking home from school in the rain. Very few umbrellas about.

Yorkshire soap shop was good for a place to stay dry and for Sarah to do some souvenir shopping

Beneath the railway viaduct in Todmorden, a small market town on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border

A full English breakfast – for lunch

I bought some artwork from this guy last year and I went to chat to him about the new mascot for Todmorden: Stanley Pike (see our Stoodley Pike hike)

Great window display in the chiropractor’s office

The stunningly beautiful St Peter’s Sowerby, a Grade 1 listed building, and the best example of a Georgian church outside London. The current congregation is between 15 and 30.

The church warden agreed to open up the church for us. He came with his two dogs who were enchanted by the organ music!

The view from Jean’s front window – spectacular, even on this wet afternoon

With author Jean Illingworth and her husband.

It turns out that my Barraclough ancestors dating from the mid 1600’s  are buried here. The church is very austere on the outside but beautiful inside.

This evening’s entertainment: an interview with Dr Mike Green, home office pathologist who worked on the Yorkshire Ripper case and the Ian Brady and Myra Hindley moors murders.

In conversation with Mike Green in Hebden Bridge library.

We were fortunate enough to be able to have a celebratory breakfast in the room where Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell Bronte were actually born. Many years ago we visited the place and at that time it was the home of a novelist. She was happy to take us on a tour of the small house in Thornton where Rev Bronte was an assistant minister. This was before the family moved to Haworth.

A pot of Darjeeling came with its own timer!

Inside the Bronte Birthplace. It’s now a cafe. 

We were served some delicious pastries

The place was being painted.

The railway viaduct near Thornton

A late lunch in Wetherspoon’s pub in Brighouse. Originally this was a Methodist chapel, and the organ and pews in the balcony are preserved.

I had to sample this beer – in honour of all the Bobs in my life!

Driving back on’t tops

Instead of ‘designer Zales’ we found ‘designer bales’ just outside Mytholmroyd.

More artwork from the festival

An evening stroll along the canal

Refreshments at Stubbings Wharf

Beautiful evening light – 10:15 p.m.

These beautifully decorated organ pipes were removed from All Souls years ago because of vandalism. They have recently been returned and just lie on the floor in the sanctuary

All Souls, Halifax

My great aunt and uncle’s grave at All Souls, Halifax

Industrial Halifax

The market hall

Window shopping

Dean Clough mill

(Above) A Muscovy duck welcomes visitors to the Visitors’ Centre.

(Above) Stoodley Pike is visible from all of Calderdale. Last year I bought a postcard of the monument and I’ve looked at it every day when I opened the fridge. Today, with Sarah’s encouragement we climbed to the Pike and ascended to the  viewing tower. 6 miles and 50 storeys.

(Above) I sang ‘sheep may safely graze’ to these sheep but for some reason they didn’t seem too impressed.

(Above) Ancient gateposts above Withins reservoir, and yes, the water really was that colour.

Spooky-looking farmhouse

(Above) Journal writing in The Lord Nelson at Luddendenfoot. This was the favourite tavern of Branwell Bronte. He wrote some of his poetry in this pub, and drank many a pint when he was working as a railway clerk at Luddenden station

(Above). A much-deserved pot of tea in the Lord Nelson after our strenuous hike to Stoodley Pike

Branwell’s hangout

Through the bartender in the White Lion in Heptonstall we managed to connect with with these three current residents of Lilly Hall, Heptonstall. My great great great grandparents lived there in 1841 and though William died in 1837 Sally, his wife,  gave birth to a baby girl, Elizabeth Ann three years later! Over the course of this last year I have discovered that Elizabeth Ann’s father was, in fact, James Wrigley, the man who lived in the other half of Lilly Hall. The Hall, probably built around 1770 is currently divided into 4 dwellings. We arranged to meet the current owners at Quiz Night in the White Lion – which began at 9:30 p.m and finished at 11:15 – a long day out!

Careful you don’t fall into the sheep fold

Attending a meeting of the Ted Hughes society. They are currently planning the  2018 festival to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the former poet laureate’s death. Two of the attendees are Literature professors at Huddersfield University, one of my alma maters.

Family connections? I have both Barracloughs and Gledhills in my ancestry.

Warley Town’s museum provided a lot of useful information- honestly

Home of Joseph Crossley who developed the largest carpet factory in the world. Several of my ancestors worked there

Heading for the Gibbet, last used in the 19th century

Logo model of the Crossley carpet factory where some of my ancestors worked