Monday 7 November 2011

West View Park, Halifax

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West View Park does what it says on the tin.  This is the view and it is due west towards Lancashire.  Like so many people, we tend to neglect our local attractions but are trying to get round them.

Certainly, with the lovely Autumn sun and the leaves turning, we will not find anything better farther afield.

 

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The park is on the west edge of Halifax and was proposed by two local businessmen, Mr H C McCrea and Mr E Robinson, in around 1894. The Parks Committee Minutes do not refer to the design of the park; it is implied that the benefactors, McCrea and Robinson, undertook responsibility for the park's layout. In July 1896 the park was opened. We forget how much we owe our Victorian ancestors for establishing such lovely green spaces in our towns.

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Most of its ambitious design is now lost but it is still ‘a nice place to be’ and traces of the original design can be found here and there.

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And this brave soldier from the Boer War has looked out towards Lancashire since at least 1905.  Perhaps he anticipates a return of the War of the Roses.

Wednesday 2 November 2011

Wainstalls and Luddenden

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This morning was so bright and sunny that we just had to get out and take advantage of the weather.  We went past Mount Tabor and down a road which goes nowhere except past the popular Cat-i’th-well Inn.

We parked just before the Luddenden Dene Wesleyan Cemetery and walked along the narrow lane to the Cemetery where some orphans from Liverpool, brought over the hills to work in a local mill are buried.  We visited the grave back in February 2010 and haven’t been back since.

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One thing I hadn’t thought of before was the amount of room left on the stone for further burials.

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It is a lovely spot with views across the valley.  A shame that these children probably never got to enjoy the view.

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At the other end of the Cemetery, where the modern burials take place, we found someone we had never heard of – though I wish we had known him as he sounds quite a character.

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‘Sithee lata’ is our local dialect for ‘See you later’.

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A Google later and I found that he was just known as Malcolm Lund of Wainstalls and died 31st March 2011.  He left 6 children and a partner but I can’t find out anything else about him.  If anyone knows more, I’d love to hear from you.

We walked on and I’ll just share some of the beauty with you – it doesn’t need words.

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The last of the blackberries

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A woodpecker lives here.

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And home for lunch.

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