Lou Henry - Doing Things Differently

This photograph is of Lou Henry the the owner of the Opposite Cafe, pictured at work in the Victoria Quarter in Leeds city centre.

I had heard good things about her cafe in Headingley in the student district of the city of Leeds here in Yorkshire. Over this weekend I read an article in The Guardian (UK national newspaper) titled "Ten of the best UK coffee shops" and was pleased to note that at No 1 on the list was Opposite, right here in Leeds.

I quite often walk through the Victoria Quarter and went over to say that I had seen the article and that I was pleased for them not realising that it was Lou the owner that I was talking to. As a supporter of independent business and a coffee lover I said would she mind if I photographed her and put the picture on my Leeds daily photo blog. As you can see from the above photo Lou said yes.

Lou is passionate about coffee, came second in the UK Barista Championship and knows her beans.

The Opposite cafe in the Victoria Quarter is the second opened by Lou here in the city of Leeds the original one is the Opposite cafe in Headingley, launched in 2005 "opposite to" Leeds university.

You can see a foodie review of Opposite in the VQ, Leeds by Katie at Leeds Grub.

Lou is also a photographer and like me has a Canon.

If you are ever in Leeds don't go to Starbucks... Get some real coffee from Opposite cafe.

Meadow Brown Butterfly - Yorkshire

Perhaps I do not get out in the countryside as much as I did at one time but this year I have not seen many butterflies.

I saw the this butterfly whilst walking around the village of Haworth here in Yorkshire. This butterfly is the Meadow Brown butterfly (maniola jurtina) and I think the plant in the photo is a bramble.

Su Embroidery - Gallery in Leeds City Centre

This photograph shows a sample of Su Embroidery in a frame as a part finished piece to demonstrate the art of this method of Chinese embroidery.

Suzhou embroidery, also known as Su embroidery is one of the four traditional Chinese embroidery styles. Suzhou embroidery, or 'su xiu' has a history of more than 2,000 years. Suzhou embroidery is crafted in areas around Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. It is famous for its beautiful patterns, elegant colors, variety of stitches, and consummate craftsmanship. Its stitching is meticulously skillful, coloration subtle and refined.

Walking out of the railway station in Leeds city centre I noticed a new (to me at least) gallery occupying the rotunda opposite the main entrance to the station by the M&S. I wandered over and looked around the gallery which is a selling art gallery dedicated to the exquisite art of fine Chinese embroidery.

The young Chinese girl at the gallery told me that the piece in the frame was done by her aunt back home in China not too far from Shanghai. She also told me that her aunt was very skilled at the ancient art of Su embroidery. Also that on this particular piece the work was double sided, so you got the same work of art on both sides of the cloth.

I had hoped that this girl, also an artist would appear next to the frame in the photo, but then the penny dropped and she very politely declined.

I am a great believer in independent shops and galleries like this one and am very pleased to feature the Ascent Gallery on the Leeds daily photo.

The Ascent Gallery Leeds can be found at:

The Rotunda
New Station Street
Leeds
LS1 5DL

Telephone: 0113 234 0988

City Inn - Granary Wharf, Leeds

The building in this photo is the City Inn part of the Granary Wharf development on the Leeds waterfront.

City Inn Leeds offers 333 rooms and suites all featuring an award winning iMac multimedia computer, complementary WiFi and SKY.

Visitors should ride the lift to the 13th floor and try the Skylounge which has excellent views over the city of Leeds.

I found this the latest hotel in Leeds city centre to be stylish and with helpful friendly staff.

The Leeds City Inn is finished, the crane in the photo is on the soon to be finished Candle House apartment building.

Candle House, Granary Wharf, Leeds

The building in this photograph is Candle House the city of Leeds latest apartment building, part of the Granary Wharf development.

Granary Wharf is the latest part of the redevelopment of the Leeds waterfront. The canal was at the heart of the industrial revolution in Leeds and this area adjacent to both the canal and the railway is being revitalized.

The Granary Wharf development consists of 282 waterside residential apartments in 2 buildings Watermans Place and the building above Candle House. Also in the development is a fine new Leeds hotel the City Inn. There will be retail units at Granary Wharf too.

Candle House is named after the candle and tallow packing warehouses that were previously on the this site. Candle house is a 23 story round tower with 160 apartments and I may be wrong but I think the 7th tallest building in Leeds.

Network Rail recently announced plans for a new south entrance to Leeds railway station that would give easier access via Granary Wharf to the newly vibrant areas of Holbeck Urban Village, the canal basin and Bridgewater Place.

Bridgewater Place, Leeds - Tallest Building in Yorkshire

The building in the photograph is Bridgewater Place in Leeds city centre.

I have photographed this building several times but have never quite got the picture to do the tallest building in Yorkshire justice. This photo I am quite happy with, you can see the older original buildings of granary wharf in the foreground as well as Bridgewater Place itself.

On the left in the foreground on the photo you can see a view of the newly built Watermans Place apartment building part of the current Granary Wharf development, Leeds.

The Bridgewater place development is both office and residential with some retail too. When building work was completed in 2007 Bridgewater Place became the tallest building in Leeds by a good margin and also the tallest building in Yorkshire. (By this I mean proper building rather than radio or TV mast).

Bridgewater Place, Leeds is 110 metres (360 ft) tall and by the time it had been completed work had started on a taller building in Leeds city centre the Lumiere Tower also known as West Point. However the Lumiere project is now just some foundation groundworks and work has been put on hold.

I was really disappointed to watch the progress on Wellington Street of Lumiere grind to a halt, I used walk past the development most days of the way to the office. I had watched the builders tear down the office block that was the previous building on the site and was amazed to hear that the new development was to be the tallest residential building in Western Europe at 171 metres (564 ft). All this right here in the heart of Leeds city centre, not quite just yet though.

Dragonfly Spotted - Saltaire Festival

This is probably the last photo I will post on the Saltaire Festival this year. There is a direct connection between the photograph of a dragonfly and the Saltaire Festival. I saw this dragonfy in the sitting room of an artist who lives in Saltaire and he had opened his house to the public as part of the 2009 Saltaire Arts Trail.

The Saltaire Arts Trail is interesting because artists based in the village of Saltaire open their homes to the public and display on the walls paintings, prints, photographs, textiles, ceramics and sculpture. So visitors can see fine works of art and get to look around other peoples houses.

I had never been in the house where I spotted the dragonfly before but I already knew the owner to say hello to because he is a good friend of a good friend of mine who also lives and works in the village. I took some photos of rooms and his art thinking I might put them on here but then I thought this is someones home, so I will let him see them first.

Autumn is now here in England so I guess this could well be the only dragonfly I have caught with my camera this year.

Saltaire Festival - Intrepid Flyer

I watched most of the performance that this man gave as part of this years Saltaire Festival on the grass outside the Victoria Hall in Saltaire, Yorkshire.

I missed the first couple of minutes so sadly I do not know either his real or stage name that he works under. Dressed as an early aviator with his moustache, flying helmet, goggles and flying machine (tall unicycle) he gave a polished and funny performance to a good sized crowd.

I liked the way that he got some volunteers from the audience to assist him in his daring and intrepid flight.



You can see the finale of his performance having taken off and was now flying solo on his unicycle complete with fire sticks to juggle with in the picture above.

I really like good street theatre and am only too happy to stay and watch it if I come across a performance and I have the time to do so. There are quite a few good street entertainers in and around Leeds here in Yorkshire.

Saltaire Festival - Ian McMillan "Taking Myself Home"

It is not often I get to photograph a famous Yorkshireman and there is no denying that the man in the picture, Ian McMillan is famously from Barnsley.

Of course Ian is not just famous for being born, growing up and living today in Barnsley, there is much more to him than that. Proud to be known as the Barnsley Bard, Ian McMillan is a poet, writer, newspaper columnist, wit and appears regularly on TV and BBC radio.

By chance a couple of weeks back I heard Ian on BBC radio 4 in pursuit of the Wantley Dragon. A bawdy 17th-century comic poem The Dragon of Wantley that in its day, this Yorkshire-based story was as famous as that of Robin Hood.

Performing as part of the Saltaire Festival his verse autobiography Talking Myself Home, Ian McMillan was invited to Saltaire by David from the Saltaire Bookshop.

In the photo you can see Ian after his performance at the Saltaire United Reformed Church.

Having been in the audience sat on a pew in the church to see Ian perform I am very pleased to have been there, Ian is a natural raconteur and a very amusing man. If I had any influence over it I would make Ian McMillan the next poet laureate, he would make a lot more kids take an interest in poetry.

Outdoor Theatre - Hamlet Comes To Saltaire, Yorkshire

I have seen the play Hamlet in the theatre before but never quite like this, performed in a car park in Saltaire village as part of the Saltaire Festival.

In the photo above you can see the Penny Plain Theatre Company performing as ‘Hardcastle’s Mighty Excelsior Theatre Company’, a rabble of destitute Victorian thespians travelling with their own stage. This particular Hamlet is the Improv'd Hamlet version as written by a member of the cast who doubles as their playwright.

All this in the car park of Shipley College with a mobile theatre booth based on a Victorian model.

It was great fun and both the audience and I enjoyed it. There were many young children in the audience and I doubt that they would normally be fans of the original version of Hamlet. However I could easily apply one of my favourite words to The Penny Plain theatre company performance bonkers, but great fun.

Penny Plain were founded and are based in the village of Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales.

Saltaire Festival - Powerbocking

In the above photograph you can see some young people peforming Powerbocking during the Saltaire Festival 2009. From L to R in the picture they are Peter Laffan, Victoria, Romeo and Steve. The guy in the air above them is Simion.

Now that I live in Saltaire, Yorkshire attending the Saltaire Festival is a short stroll from my front door.

I was very pleased to catch these young people on their spring-loaded stilts performing acrobatics for a crowd of people outside the Victoria Hall in Saltaire. I say pleased because by chance I took pictures of a couple of lads powerbocking in Leeds city centre a few weeks back.



I like many in the crowd watching was amazed by some of the acrobatics performed for the crowd by Simion, seen doing a somersault in the above photo.



Peter Laffan is upside down whilst somersaulting in the above image watched by Victoria and some junior members of the crowd.

I will post a few more stories from the Saltaire Festival 2009 over the next few datys.

Street Escapologist - Briggate, Leeds

I was wandering around Leeds city centre one afternoon looking for subjects to photograph for the Leeds daily photo when I saw this guy performing on Briggate.

I had not seen him before so I watched his act for a while, he really knew how to attract and work a crowd. He got some people from the audience to chain him up and padlock the chains then climbed up his ladder.

In the picture above you can see this street entertainer, padlocked in chains about to catch his hat on his head. Yes he caught it.



You can see his volunteers from the crowd chaining him up in the image above.

That is one of the great things about the city of Leeds, you just never know what will be happening from day to day. I featured another street entertainer in Leeds city centre a while back.

Golden Cock Public House - Kirkgate, Leeds

This photo shows a sign of a former Public House, the Golden Cock on Kirkate in Leeds city centre.

From the street this is the only sign that this building was once a public house, today the premises 13 and 14 Kirkgate now are occupied by Superdrug.

The Golden Cock on Kirkgate dates back a long time before this more recent pottery sign on the front of the building just below the rooftop. The building next door was bookseller Joseph Ogle and upstairs on the first floor was the first home of The Leeds Library which opened on 1 November 1768.

School Board Building - Calverley Street, Leeds

The photo above shows a view of the front of the historic building that was built to house the Leeds city school board.

This building was designed by the Scots born architect George Corson.  In the image above the building to the right of the School Board building is the building also by Corson that now houses the Leeds Central Library.



There is a blue plaque by Leeds Civic Trust by the entrance to the former School Board building now listed as Grade II.

The Blue Plaque reads:

Leeds School Board

erected this fine headquarters and examination centre in 1878 - 81. First elected by the ratepayers of Leeds in 1870. the board built sufficient schools to ensure that for the first time every child in Leeds received an elementary education.

Architect George Corson

When I started this blog I thought that I would struggle to get enough photographs that had some kind of interest in them to merit me posting about them. I had quite underestimated then sheer number of buildings, statues, churches, businesses both large and small and of course the Yorkshire people going about their daily life.

Of course there is also the beautiful countryside of Yorkshire, both just outside Leeds and also a little further afield.

I want to feature places around Leeds that people as visitors to Leeds and also the locals might like to visit perhaps for a few hours or maybe a few days. I have already started to do this with my few pages about the small North Yorkshire city of Ripon.

Meerkats Revisited - Roundhay Park, Leeds

On the theory that you can never have too many meerkats, I revisited them and got some better meerkat portraits. You can see one fine fellow posing for me in the above photograph. Then again it could easily be a girl meerkat, I really cannot tell them apart.

Coming from Southern Africa, both South Africa and the Kalahari Desert in Botswana the meerkat or suricate Suricata suricatta is a small mammal and a member of the mongoose family.

Leeds is home to a gang of meerkats, living as they do at Tropical World, Roundhay Park in North Leeds.

Tropical World, Roundhay Park, Leeds is open daily except Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Fine Statue - Boar Lane Leeds

This fine statue stands proud on the Leeds skyline on the roof of a building that was the Yorkshire Banking Company, that company was taken over by the company that became the Midland Bank of which this became a branch. The Yorkshire Banking Company building was built on Boar Lane, Leeds in 1899.

Today the former bank is now a bar and rather down at heel, at least on the outside. But way up on the roof this nice statue looks out over Leeds and is probably missed by many people on the ground. As you exit Leeds train station by the main entrance if you look up and around you get quite a nice view of him.

Here is a view from Leeds train station the green domed building in the photo is where he stands looking out across a very changed city since he was first placed there.

Leeds Central Library, Headrow, Leeds

Not sure why I have not done a photograph of this building before, you can see I took it in the spring, no leaves on the trees. In this photo behind the library you can see one of the 2 towers of the Leeds Civic Hall.

This photo shows the Leeds Central Library on The Headrow in the city centre. This is the main public library for the city of Leeds.

The Leeds Central Library is both the central lending library for both fiction and non-fiction as well as housing a specialist Art Library, Music and Audio Library inc DVDs,

The Information Centre has online resources, reference books, newspapers and journals.

Local and Family History Library - The largest collection of books, maps, directories, journals and pamphlets on Leeds and West Yorkshire in the region. This resource would be good for researching your family tree because you can access both Ancestry.com and Origins for free online here.

The Central Library is open daily:
Central Library
Municipal Buildings
Calverley Street
Leeds
LS1 3AB

Library Enquiries: Tel 0113 247 6016

Dr Hook - Statue in City Square, Leeds

Picture of Dr Hook Statue in city square, Leeds.

I am of an age that if someone was to mention Dr Hook I would most likely think of the band of that name. However there is an earlier Dr Hook and the statue in the photo is of him.

Walter Farquhar Hook (March 13, 1798 – October 20, 1875), was an eminent Victorian churchman. Born in London and educated at Winchester College, then Christ Church, Oxford (which makes me formerly a near neighbour separated by 150 years and a wall).

On taking holy orders he first served as a curate at his fathers church on the Isle of Wight, later becoming vicar of Coventry.

Hook was invited to become Vicar of Leeds in 1837, this being a time of rapid expansion both in the size of the city and its population.

Dr Hook was a supporter of the Tractarians (The Oxford Movement or Tractarianism was an affiliation of High Church Anglicans, most of whom were members of the University of Oxford, who sought to demonstrate that the Church of England was a direct descendant of the Church established by the Apostles)

The Church of England was at this time in the city a minority denomination, with non-conformists and dissenters in the majority.

Hook caused to be built the re-built Leeds Parish Church that stands today. By the time he left Leeds to become Dean of Chichester in 1859 he had caused to be built 21 churches in the city of Leeds.

Hook was also a passionate believer in the education of children and as such rather out of step with the most of the city elders at that time. Also indeed some of
the leaders of Britain too were not really in favour of the education of the children of working people. The Factory Act of 1847, also known as the Ten Hours Act, restricted the working hours of women and children in British factories to effectively 10 hours per day. The bill was introduced unsuccessfully several times before Parliament finally passed it in 1847.

Hook left a legacy to Leeds of around 30 schools built due to his efforts.

Walter Hook left Leeds to take up the Deanery of Chichester in 1859, and died and was buried in the city's cathedral in October 1875.

Today many people pass the statue that was erected to his memory standing tall in City Square, Leeds and I guess not many take any notice of the statue to some long dead Vicar. Before writing this I knew little about Dr Hook and his time as Vicar of Leeds but I am pleased to have discovered a little about the man behind the statue. The statue is dated 1902 and the sculptor was F. W. Pomeroy RA.

The statue to Dr Hook is one of 4 standing in front of the old Post Office building in City Square commemorating local worthy people. Besides Dr Hook the other 3 statues are Joseph Priestley, John Harrison and James Watt.

Hannah Trigwell - Leeds Singer-Songwriter

The girl in the photo is Leeds singer songwriter Hannah Trigwell busking on Briggate in Leeds city centre.

I think Hannah is probably the youngest regular busker that I have photographed for this blog, by several years I think as she is 18. I have heard Hannah play guitar and sing several times over that last few weeks and I do like her sound.

I am pleased that I did not get round to doing this post about Hannah till now because since I took this picture she has uploaded a new video onto Youtube. I think you will get a better idea of her talent from this than some of the earlier ones.

Hannah Trigwell singing Come Home Soon (Original)

Hannah Trigwell can be heard on her Myspace.

Leeds has several good regular buskers in the city centre, like many towns and cities Leeds has a permit system in place. Now I know there are people that disagree with this but I think it is certainly a factor in the quality of the musicians on the street in Leeds.

Check out my earlier post on Leeds musician Tristan MacKay

Sundial - Ripon Cathedral

On my visit to the small city of Ripon in North Yorkshire recently I took some photographs of things and places that took my interest.

This photo shows a sundial on a wall of Ripon cathedral. It looks at first sight to be quite modern, but is actually earlier than I thought. This mural sundial with Roman numerals marking the hours is from the late 17th or the early 18th century. The sundial shows sign of restoration.

Should you ever visit Ripon I would recommend a viewing of the 12th century Leper Chapel.

Leper Chapel - Ripon, Yorkshire

This photograph shows a view of St Mary Magdalen's Chapel (Leper Chapel) in Ripon, North Yorkshire.

Founded by Archbishop Thurstan (1114-1141) as the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene it was for secular brethren and sisters, and one chaplain. The brethren and sisters were to minister to lepers and blind priests born within the Liberty of Ripon.

In 1334 one John Warrener, of Studley Roger, founded a chantry here of two or three priests.

Originally on this site were more buildings long since demolished including a brewery and the Masters House.



In the photo above you can see a view of part of the interior of the Leper Chapel. This chapel is among the very few churches in the country which retain the pre-Reformation stone altar that can be seen in this picture.

Not really apparent in the picture above is a black and red piece of pavement with a circular medallion of a red and white flower, this having come from a nearby roman building.

Whilst the Leper Chapel is small it is well worth a visit being a little gem of a place of worship for around 900 years.

Address:
Magdalen's Road,
Ripon
North Yorkshire
HG4 1HU

Free entry
If locked the Leper Chapel key can be obtained from almshouses opposite.

12th Century Doorway - Ripon, Yorkshire

This 12th century doorway in Ripon, Yorkshire has the door that can be opened with the large key shown on the Leeds daily photo yesterday.

Now Thats What I Call A Key

I visited North Yorkshire a few days back, just for the day which I spent in and around Ripon a city that historically was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Ripon is the fourth smallest city in England and after a period of building projects under the Plantagenets, the city emerged with a prominent wool and cloth industry. Ripon became well known for its production of spurs during the 16th and 17th century, but would later remain largely unaffected by the Industrial Revolution.

Ripon is noted for Ripon Cathedral which is the seat of the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds and the mother church of the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds.

I like Ripon because although it is a city, in reality it is much more like a market town.

The key in the photograph was handed to me when I wanted to visit a small chapel in Ripon. I had found the door locked with a notice that the key was available from a cottage nearby. I knocked on the door and the old lady produced this key. I laughed because of its size and promised to sign the visitors book and return the key when I had looked inside the chapel.

I just had to take a photo of the key, so I placed it on a rug on a pew in the chapel with a 10p coin for reference. The UK 10p is about the size of a quarter dollar US, I happen to have a Minnesota commemorative quarter-dollar coin handy to compare the two coins.

I will post about the chapel on the Leeds daily photo tomorrow.

Leeds Parish Church - Kirkgate, Leeds

The church in the photograph is Leeds Parish Church on Kirkgate in the city of Leeds in Yorkshire.

This church is also known as the Parish Church of Saint Peter-at-Leeds.

There has been a church on this site since the early 7th century and the Domesday book of 1086 mentions a church in Ledes. The church on the site today was built in the 19th century by the then Vicar of Leeds Walter Farquhar Hook and it was consecrated on 2 September 1841 with Florence Nightingale in the congregation.

The architect was Robert Dennis Chantrell and at the time of its construction Leeds Parish Church was the largest new Church in England built since Sir Christopher Wren's new St Paul's Cathedral erected in the years following the Great Fire of London and consecrated in 1707.

The Parish Church is at the easternmost extremity of the modern-day city centre, within a spacious precinct bordering on two of the city's oldest thoroughfares - Kirkgate to the north and The Calls to the south.

The church is in the Anglican Diocese of Ripon and Leeds (which has its cathedral at Ripon).

The building is open to visitors for at least seven hours each day. Café Create, a community enterprise established from St George's Crypt, serves refreshments and light meals.

East Bar Stone - Medieval Leeds Boundary

This photo is of the wall in front of Leeds Parish Church of St. Peter on Kirkgate and shows the East Bar Stone and also a Leeds Civic Trust blue plaque.

I have passed this way quite a few times and never noticed either the blue plaque or the stone that it marks.

Kirkgate is from the Old Norse language used by the Vikings meaning "kirk" = church and "gate" = road or way. So Kirkgate becomes church road or way to the church. Although the current church on this site dates to the Victorian period of 1837, there must have been a church here perhaps for more than 1,000 years.

Not that this stone goes back that far, the East Bar Stone marked the Eastern boudary of the medieval town of Leeds.



As can be seen in the above photograph the East Bar stone is marked by a blue plaque by Leeds Civic Trust. The blue plaque reads:

EAST BAR
This ancient stone marked the eastern boundary of the medieval town of Leeds

Some time soon I must pay a visit to the people at Leeds Civic Trust, I pass their office quite often but it is always closed at that time.

Sheep Behind Bars - Temple Newsam, Leeds

I took this photograph of a sheep on the Home Farm, Temple Newsam Estate, Leeds a few weeks back.

I have thought about posting this photo for a while and then discounted it but I do quite like this picture of a sheep behind bars.

There are quite a few farm animals on the Home Farm and all the ones I have encountered are quite friendly. This I think is because the Temple Newsam Estate is quite a tourist attraction and small children have few hangups about approaching sheep to say hello!

Visitors to the Home Farm are given a small tub of feed pellets and the animals have long since figured out that a visitor equals a light snack.

Temple Newsam House - More Than Just a House

This is a photograph of the Tudor-Jacobean Temple Newsam House, showing the front elevation with the 2 wings at either side.

This magnificent country house dates back to the 1500's and has been described as the Hampton Court of the North being set in its own parkland landscaped by Capability Brown.

Temple Newsam house houses important collections of fine and decorative arts. There is wonderful furniture including pieces by Thomas Chippendale, Leeds pottery, silver, porcelain and rich textiles.

With over 30 rooms including both stately and the more modest, on the numerous walls hang many fine paintings and mirrors. The picture gallery aka the long gallery is magnificent with a rich display of paintings.

Temple Newsam House is today listed a Grade I listed building, defined as a "building of outstanding or national architectural or historic interest". The home farm stables are Grade II* listed ("particularly significant buildings of more than local interest"), and ten separate features of the estate are Grade II listed ("buildings of special architectural or historic interest"), including the Sphinx Gates and the Home Farm Barn.

No visit to Temple Newsam would be complete without a visit to the Temple Newsam Estate, Home Farm which today is the largest working rare breeds farm in Europe. It is also one of only 16 nationally approved farms by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Children especially love a visit to get up close and personal with piglets, lambs, chickens, cows and Guernsey Goats.

Temple Newsam is also reputed to have ghosts or spirits.

Temple Newsam is open to the public Tues-Sun, closed Mon except bank holidays.
Closed Christmas day, Boxing day and New Years day

There is a charge for entry into both the house and the home farm, Leeds card holders have free entry to House and Farm. So if you live or work in Leeds this is a good reason to get a Leeds card.

Temple Newsam
Temple Newsam Road,
off Selby Road
Leeds LS15 0AE

Telephone 0113 264 5535

Whisky and Soda or Perhaps Diet Coke

I walk past this statue often, it stands in City Square in the centre of Leeds, just across from the rail station.

There are four life size statues on plinths in front of the victorian building that once housed the main post office in Leeds. This one is of the polymath Joseph Priestley who is best known today as the discoverer of oxygen and if you are local to Leeds there is a college named after him.

This statue of Joseph Priestley is by sculptor Alfred Drury who has several other major works around Leeds city centre in including those of Morn and Even around city square.

When I stood with my camera in front of this well known statue I had no idea that we today, most of us at least, use something that he invented in 1767 Soda water also known as Carbonated water. Priestley first discovered a method of infusing water with carbon dioxide when he suspended a bowl of water above a beer vat at a local brewery here in Leeds, England.

So, if your tipple is whisky and soda, diet coke or an ice cream soda Joseph Priestley is the person to think of.

One last thing because of his radical views on religion and the French revolution he fled England to live the last ten years of his life living in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. This was after a mob burned down his house and church (he was not only a scientist but a clergyman too)

All The Way From Georgia - Holoman

I have seen this guy singing in the city centre of Leeds a few times over the last couple of weeks, he is good.

Not spoken with him before just listened to a bit of his performance. I say performance because he puts his heart and soul into his singing.

Chatted to him for a little bit, he is from Ellenwood, Georgia and therefore a long way from home.

He calls himself Holoman and is on Myspace at Holomanmusic

In the photograph above Holoman is performing on Briggate in the heart of Leeds here in Yorkshire.

I like to feature the buskers of Leeds here on my photography of Leeds blog. I may not be a musician, but I know what I like and appreciate how good many of the buskers here in Leeds are.