Mad Shopper's Tea Party at VQ

Picture of Neil and Eva at Mad Shoppers Tea Party held at VQ Leeds

There was a shopping event held at the VQ one evening at the end of last week and many of the stores in the Victoria Quarter made an effort and joined in.

It was an Alice in Wonderland theme and in the above photo we have Neil a dancer in a rabbit outfit and Eva who works in one of the stores in the VQ.

I always try to catch events at the Victoria Quarter here in Leeds because they are always fun and colourful too.

Park Square Leeds

Picture of Park Square Leeds.

This picture of Park Square was taken from the SW corner looking towards Leeds Town Hall of which the clock tower can be seen in the background.

Park Square lies in the financial district of Leeds and is a small public park formed from the original Georgian town square.

During the warmer months the square is a popular place for office workers to take their lunch break. Many of the surrounding buildings are offices of solicitors and other legal firms.

Dandelion Clock - detail

Picture of detail in dandelion clock.

Looking back through some of my back catalogue of photos looking for a particular photo that I took a while back, here is one I that I took in April 2009. Not that this is the picture I was looking for that is for a different project.

I saw a lone dandelion flower on some grassland at Temple Newsam where I was walking and I have cropped this photograph and made it black and white.

Seagull No 1 City Square

Picture of seagulls outside No1 City Square, Leeds.

This is not the first time I have feature this small flock of seagulls cast in bronze outside the tall white building that is No1 City Square, Leeds.

Leeds Airport Bus

Picture of No 757 airport bus at Leeds rail station.

Having recently been over to Leeds Bradford International Airport to pick up some friends it was a coincidence that I should see the 757 bus that run from Leeds train station to the airport the other evening.

The No 757 bus runs Leeds - Kirkstall - Horsforth - Rawdon - Leeds Bradford Airport. I have traveled on this route a couple of times in the last year or so, the last time I think was the evening of the BBC Frankensteins Wedding Event at Kirkstall Abbey.

Platform 4 Leeds

Picture of commuters walking along platform 4 at Leeds train station.

As I was walking along the platform at Leeds station towards my train home I stopped and quickly took the above photo. Night is drawing in and people are like me traveling home from Leeds city centre.

Leeds Petrol Prices - 2

Picture of Leeds petrol prices forecourt sign at Horsforth.

I first visited this petrol station price sign on Jan 19th of this year at the Shell station on the Leeds ring road at Horsforth.

Since then 2 things have changed, the sign itself is a more snazzy electronic display one and more to the point the petrol and diesel prices have gone up.

Back in January the prices were 126.9 unleaded and 131.9 diesel, these prices are in UK pence per litre. Now the prices are 133.9 unleaded and 137.9 diesel. This means that unleaded has gone up by slightly over 5.5% and diesel by marginally over 4.5% in 4 months.

Leeds Bradford International Airport - Control Tower

Picture of Leeds Bradford airport control tower.

Known around the world by its IATA airport code LBA started life in 1931 as Yeadon Aerodrome and for a few years it was as much a flying club as a commercial aerodrome.

The build up to World War 2 changed all that when in 1936, No.609 (West Riding) Squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), Royal Air Force (RAF) formed at Yeadon. Initially No 609 was a light bomber Sqn, but in August 1939 the Sqn converted to fighters equipped with the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I. in the Spring of 1940, the Sqn moved south to Northolt and was heavily involved on operation Dynamo over the beaches of Dunkirk and never returned to Yeadon till after the war ended.

Through the war years Yeadon Aerodrome, now expanded was involved in aircraft testing because Avro built an aircraft factory nearby producing variously the Bristol Blenheim (250), the Lancaster bomber (695), the Anson (over 4,500), the York (45) and the Lincoln (25).

Civilian flights resumed at Yeadon in 1947, for a short while from 1984 you could fly across the Atlantic to North America, OK Canada. In 1986 the first Concorde flight landed at the by now known Leeds Bradford airport.

Since 2000 Yeadon has been home to the helicopter of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Oddly, at least to me, Leeds Bradford may be international now but there is currently no flight to London from Yeadon.

Since 2007 LBA has been a privately owned airport which may explain why when I dropped my friends off a week back there was a short period that you could enter the drop off point and leave without charge. This had changed when I collected my friends from the return trip this weekend, there is now a minimum charge of £2.00 for the first 30 minutes.

Yorkshire Aircraft

Picture of Yorkshire Jet2 Aircraft coming in to land at Leeds Bradford airport.

I picked some friends up from Leeds Bradford airport this weekend and got there early and whilst mooching around noticed this plane coming in to land. Never having traveled with Jet2 myself I was surprised that this jet airliner had Yorkshire on it as part of its livery and the Yorkshire rose on the nose. This aircraft is Jet2 Boeing 737-377 G-CELB "Yorkshire".

St Marks Avenue Woodhouse - Springtime

Picture of St Marks Avenue Woodhouse, Leeds.

Walking past the entrance to St Marks Avenue the other day I looked down this short lane and was surprised by how many trees there were and also how green it looked.

At the far end the lane is not accessible to vehicles only to people on foot leading down towards the church of St Mark, Woodhouse.

Benjamin Gott Statue

Picture of the statue of Benjamin Scott in the church of St Bartholomew in Armley, Leeds.

I should really have written and posted this some months back but it slipped by me until a sharp eyed reader noticed that I had not followed up on my question whose foot is this?

Benjamin Gott (24 June 1762 - 14 Feb 1840) was one of the leading figures in the industrial revolution, in the field of textiles.

Bejamin Gott was born in Calverley the son of an engineer. In 1805 when he opened his rebuilt Armley Mills it was the largest wool factory in the world. Other mills built by Gott included Bean Ings (1792), the first wool factory, Burley Mills (1798), and St Ann's Mills (1824)

Gott was one of the founding members of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, founded in 1819 and was a patron of the arts. Benjamin Gott became Mayor of Leeds in 1799, I by coincidence met and spoke with the current mayor of Leeds this week, but more of that tomorrow.

Milepost on Woodhouse Moor

Picture of a milepost on Woodhouse Moor, Leeds.

I have walked around Woodhouse Moor on many occasions over the years and when I was a student here in Leeds, at one time I lived adjacent to this park and I used to jog around it. Oddly I cannot recall seeing this milestone before, though that could be because before I started photographing anything that I thought was of some interest in and around the city I perhaps paid less interest.

This milepost lies on the East of Woodhouse Lane, on which are the following distances 187 ¼ miles to London, 1 mile to Leeds and 9 ½ miles to Otley. I find it interesting that the Victorians, those men of science and engineering who I think most likely placed this milepost adjacent to Woodhouse Lane should think the ¼ of a mile over and above the 187 miles to the metropolis was necessary. The first milestones were used by the Romans on their famously direct roads these milestones are also known as mile markers, mileposts or mile posts.

Having now posted more than 850 photos and articles about the city of Leeds and the surrounding villages and towns I am somewhat surprised to realise that this is the first milestone to feature here on the Leeds Daily Photo.

Leeds Springtime

Picture of bee on French Lavender in Leeds city centre at Merrion Gardens.

I love the springtime, the warmth, the birds and bees and many flowers in bloom, both wild and cultivated.

Walking through Merrion Gardens in Leeds city centre today the French lavender (Lavandula stoechas) has quite a few bees around the flowers. My photograph today is a bee on the French Lavender in Leeds city centre in the small park by the church of St John.

Sam at Haworth 1940s Event

Picture of border collie dog at the Haworth 1940s event.

Meet Sam, Sam is a border collie that I met whilst walking around the village of Haworth not far from Leeds where this last weekend it was the annual 1940s weekend. Sam is 2 years old and is a pet rather than a working dog and he was sitting in an old jeep that belonged to his owner.

Of all the dogs that you are likely to encounter in the hilly farming districts of Yorkshire the border collie is I think perhaps the farm dog of choice. Also I think here in Yorkshire and other rugged farming counties of the north of England if you said sheepdog most people would assume you meant border collie.

Haworth 1940s Weekend - 3

Picture of woman dressed as officer in the Wrens at Haworth 1940s weekend.

Continuing with a couple more photographs taken at the 1940s weekend at Haworth village here in Yorkshire. The above lady is dressed as a Third Officer in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the Royal Navy.

Picture of Military Police at Haworth 1940s event.

Another picture from the 1940s with a couple of MPs (military police aka redcaps). From the brolly you can see the was a light drizzle for some of the afternoon.

Haworth 1940s Weekend - 2

Picture of Haworth Main Street during 1940s weekend 2011.

The above photo of Main St in the village of Haworth here in Yorkshire is another taken during this weekends 1940s event. I can see why people might like the idea of dressing up and playing someone that they are not. I have no idea who this smartly turned out chap in the commando uniform with the prized green beret and Combined Operations HQ formation badge, just underneath the commando shoulder title looks the part, but it is just a hobby. For anyone that likes details the RAF jeep is a 1943 model and it is in great shape.

As I walked around the village I was interest to not how many of the men were wearing the WW2 uniform of various units of the armed services of the USA, I can understand that even now after all these years the uniform looks more glamorous than the British equivalent. There were even some people rigged out as German officers and soldiers.

Picture of Haworth 1940s weekend event with 2 members of the French Resistance posing for a photo.

The couple in the above photo were rigged out as members of the French resistance, someone else asked them to pose for a photograph so I just snapped them from where I was stood, rather than intrude.

Haworth 1940s Weekend

Picture of group of ladies dressed up at the Haworth 1940s event.

I was over in Haworth today for the annual 1940s weekend, though only for the Sunday. I had been meaning to catch this event for the last last few years but had never managed to do so.

I think it has grown over the last few years, people travel here to this small Yorkshire town dressed up to look the part. Fur maybe be out of fashion these days but in the 1940s it was quite fashionable and these ladies look happy wearing it.

Picture of crowds on Main Street Haworth at 1940s event.

The above scene is what I saw looking up the street towards one of the scenes, the military police raiding a brothel. On the right of the above photograph you will see a redcap (MP) and this was the nearest I could get. I love Haworth, it is a nice, interesting small town, known the world over because of the Bronte sisters. The town centre however is mostly one narrow steep road, which makes this rather crowded on this weekend.

St John the Evangelist Church in Spring

Picture of the church of St John the Evangelist, Leeds in springtime.

This is not the first time I have featured this fine old church building that is located in Leeds city centre. Because of its location I suspect quite a few people in Leeds never notice this old church. Since St Johns was built in the early part of the 17th C there is today a much more recent shopping centre standing between the church and the Headrow.

Here you can see another view of the church of St John, Leeds taken in the last of this winters snow but from the other side.

I photographed some Welsh poppies growing adjacent to this wall of the church a few days back.

Bendy Bus in City Square

Picture of a bendy bus driving through City Square in Leeds city centre.

I first traveled on a bendy bus in Germany many years ago, quite a while before they were a common sight in the cities of the UK. I thought that these articulated buses were a great idea then and I still do. Though these days I cannot recall when last I was a passenger on the long buses, but it was some years back.

This particular bus is the No 95 which run between the Leeds railway station and Boddington Hall, this being a university of Leeds site where the main playing fields and the largest hall of residence is located.

The building behind the bus in the photo is the old General Post Office building and the building on the left is the former Majestic Cinema a building that dates from 1921 but of late was a nightclub and is now being redeveloped.

Sorry for the interruption in normal service Google did an update to Blogger, it fell over and it took them a while to fix it.

Libraries in Leeds

Picture of children and family mobile library in Millennium Square Leeds.

The recent news on public libraries in Leeds is good and bad... The good news is that some libraries will open for longer hours. The bad news is that 15 libraries are earmarked for closure, these being at Allerton Bywater, Armley Heights, Belle Isle, Broad Lane, Cow Close, Holbeck, Ireland Wood, Kirkstall, Lofthouse, Osmondthorpe, Rawdon, Richmond Hill, Swarcliffe, Swillington and Swinnow.

Oddly in all the many years that I have lived and worked in Leeds I have never visited any of the above libraries and I should add that I do visit libraries several times per week and quite often visit more than one in any week.

There is another slightly good bit of news the mobile library fleet of 7 vehicles will visit more locations to replace the libraries that are due to be closed. I chanced upon this bright new shiny example in Millennium Sq in Leeds city centre and I was quite impressed. This special childrens mobile library was a far cry from what I had thought was used. Though in fairness I have not encountered a mobile library since my far off childhood in rural Oxfordshire.



The above view gives some idea of the layout and facilities offered in this childrens mobile library. There are 3 laptop workstations and a small play area and quite a few books, I glanced through a shelf and found a couple that I would not mind borrowing. I love reading and always have done and the closure of any library is I think a bad thing. However I can understand that the council are under financial pressure and will have to make some difficult choices.

Welsh Poppies in Leeds Churchyard

Picture of Welsh poppies in the churchyard of St John in Leeds city centre.

This last few days here in Leeds we have had the first heavy rain in quite a while and I am quite pleased about this. I think the grass and plants generally will be in better condition and I know a couple of gardeners who will much happier about their plants.

These yellow poppies, the Welsh poppy (Meconopsis cambrica) are looking a little battered by the recent rain, some of which can be seen on the flowers in a small flower bed adjacent to the wall of the church. The Welsh poppy is the only native plant of the poppy family in Europe, this perennial plant is I think a very pretty flower and I have always been pleased to have it grow in any garden where I have lived.

Walk to Work Week - Leeds

Picture of walk to work week promotion on Briggate in Leeds city centre.

This week 9-13 May 2011, is National walk to work week and Leeds city council had some people out on Briggate here in Leeds to promote the idea.

They were handing out maps and leaflets with the details of walkit the urban walking route planner. I do quite a bit of urban walking, as a photographer and blogger about Leeds I would miss some much that was around and happening if I just used vehicles for my journeys around the city.

Last week was Hedgehog Awareness Week from 1st – 7th May, which I would have written about but I do not know any hedgehogs, nor have I any photos of them.

The people in the above photo are sports students at Leeds Met who were out on Briggate helping with the promotion event.

Leeds Girls

Picture of Leeds girls on the Headrow in Leeds city centre.

I was walking along The Headrow in the city centre a few days back and was stopped by a couple of girls who having seen my camera asked if I would take their picture.

I know that others on the City Daily Photo community produce a series of portraits of people that they encounter during their daily lives, called perhaps 100 strangers. I have thought about doing this once or twice, most recently in the last couple of weeks, however perhaps I will at some time in the future, just not now.

In the above picture are Hannah and Carmen, the clock tower of Leeds town hall can be made out in the background between the girls.

Garden Chickens in Headingley

Picture of chickens in a garden in Headingley, Leeds.

I was exploring Headingley 2 years ago this week and was walking along Cottage Road, home of the well known Leeds cinema, when I spotted these chickens in a garden.

I was surprised because Headingley is not at all rural, today being best known as the home of Yorkshire Cricket.

During my childhood my family kept a few chickens, so I am always pleased to see some in a family garden.

Star Trooper on Briggate

I saw this guy on Briggate in Leeds city centre a while back and had been meaning to use this picture for a while now.

An odd form of busking, but what do I know!

Mallard

Picture of mallard duck in Leeds city centre.

As I walked through the small public park Merrion Gardens in Leeds city centre and up past the church of St John I saw something that surprised me, a pair of mallard ducks.

I have no idea why these 2 ducks were waddling around this small park, there is no pond or water of any kind. Also the kind of people that were lounging in the park do not strike me as the kind that would feed ducks. Bearing in mind ducks generally do not drink cider or sherry before 6pm, these two seemed to be rather out of place.

Circus Comes to Leeds

Picture of Mocow State Circus clowns in Yorkshire.

This next few days the Moscow State Circus is here in Leeds at Woodhouse Moor, Wed 4th May - Sun 8th May.

Until recently I knew very little about the circus and how they operate. Then a couple of months ago I was invited to see the Moscow State Circus at a theatre in Halifax. Best of all I was allowed to take photographs during the performance in the Victoria theatre.

I did not realise that the circus operates in the winter months in theatres rather than the big top.

The Moscow State Circus has a great show, but I had to pick one act and here in the above photo is Valik & Valerik the clowns.

Spoiled For Choice

Picture of mobile phone shop signs on Commercial Street Leeds.

I noticed this a little while ago, if you stood on Commercial Street in the heart of the Leeds shopping district, if you stood in the right place you could see 4 different mobile phone shop signs in a row.

I was stood outside the Three store, just across from the Carphone Warehouse store to get this photograph. So if you are undecided about which network is right for you and you live in or near Leeds this spot is ideal, within a few yards are the Orange, T Mobile, Vodafone, Three, Phones 4U and the lastly the Carphone Warehouse store.

If all this is all too commercial for you, The Leeds Library is just along the street where you can take the weight off, get a coffee and read the newspapers (assuming that you are a member).

Eddie Says Yes to AV

Picture of Eddie Izzard promoting yes to AV campaign in Leeds.

The comedian Eddie Izzard was in Leeds this morning on a personal campaign trail, promoting AV to the public who will vote in the referendum this Thursday.

Picture of Fabian Hamilton MP and comedian Eddie Izzard in Leeds to promote AV.

Fabian had cycled into the city centre, hence the outfit. I discovered that this local MP cycles to and from home to the office at both ends of his regular commute from here in Leeds, where he is MP for Leeds NE and parliament in London.

Picture of Root One Band performing on Briggate, Leeds in support of the yes to AV vote.

A Leeds based band Root One was also on Briggate performing in support of the campaign for a yes to AV. I had not seen this band before, but they could play. They had an interesting method of generating power for the sound system, two old bikes, that when pedaled produced electricity.

Duke of Wellington - Statue

Picture of the statue of the Duke of Wellington on Woodhouse Moor, Leeds.

Two years back I featured this statue of the Duke of Wellington that stands in the park at Woodhouse moor, Leeds.

I walked past him a couple of days back and thought it would be nice to re shoot the picture and bring him out of the cold and into a beautiful, warm and sunny spring day.

The red paint on his wellington boots is still there!