Prepare to have your socks blown off when you visit the new Creating Spaces showroom at Copley.

The old engineering works is being transformed into a state of the art showroom. As a retailer, it’s the biggest, luxury investment Copley village has seen in years. Situated on Wakefield Road, it’s well placed for a visit and there’s plenty of on road parking. The Creating Spaces exterior looks very like the original building and as you get closer you’ll spot the HUGE windows that allow vast amounts of light into the building.  And inside, the space has been thoughtfully designed, ensuring accessibility for everyone; slopes have been added and doorways widened to ensure wheel chair users can visit with ease.

For your kitchen, bedrooms, office space, utility, or even a new boot room, Yorkshire based specialists have been selected to provide high quality, bespoke furniture for Creating Spaces customers. There will be 15 different display areas in the Creating Spaces showroom, there’s even a secret bedroom space created just for the youngsters amongst us. The latest in home technology has been catered for in the new space. Creating Spaces have fully researched the extensive array of home products for the future; lifestyle products and technology to enrich your living experience in the space you live, sleep and eat are on display and working for you to see in action including pop-up, draught-down cooking extractors (this you have to see!).

If you choose to avoid light pulls and switches then light sensors and apps will give you the opportunity to conserve and plan the energy you use in the home. In fact, when it comes to saving energy and the planet, Creating Spaces says this is at the heart of the business. With modern solutions to waste disposal and water filters, they have thought of everything. The man to talk to is Matthew Shackleton, he’s lived and worked locally all his life. For the last 20 years’ he has been a planning and design consultant for a local kitchen and bedroom retail showroom. He is thrilled to be part of setting up a business in Copley and has the backing of two successful partners to support him on his journey.

Matthew is looking forward to working with his new clients; creating new stunning spaces; he will project manage the installation, overseeing hishighly-qualified team of reputable tradesmen allowing you to relax whilst your room is transformed. The Creating Spaces team are thrilled to be able to provide a 20-year guarantee on all their kitchens. Matthew and the Creating Spaces team wish to strive to be different and by way of saying thanks to their clients, they have a rather special plan! Matthew says ‘We are planning to invite our satisfied customers back to our ‘totally unique’end of month celebration night, with live cooking displays from both local and national professional chefs’. What a good idea! So, if remodelling a room is on your list,Matthew is available to listen to your requirements ,offer advice and guide you through the process.

The product ranges are for all budgets and use the very latest state of the art software including an informative professional home survey. The extended opening hours allow you to pop in after work, up to 7 pm from Monday to Friday. Weekend hours will be 10 am-4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

To contact Creating Spaces, call 01422 355425 or email hello@creatingspacesgroup.com

For September, I am choosing one of my own poems from my new pamphlet. I made notes for this poem after I’d driven to Calderdale Royal Hospital for my first baby scan when I was expecting my son. Many years later, the poem was written and the start of autumn always reminds me of that special time in my life.

WEB ON THE WING MIRROR

The morning I drove to the hospital
hedges glimmered and a web,

silver-beaded, spanned the wing-mirror,
a spider crouched tight on the edge.

I imagined her, grafting all night-
constructing the scaffolding,

strengthening, testing, tying-off,
suspended like a climber on a rope,

all her energy in this creation,
something of her in every strand.

I could have destroyed her work
with a brush of the hand and yet

I drove so carefully that day–s
lowing each time the wind

forced her silk to billow, to bend
and she hung on in there

on a line taut as hope, flickered
like a heartbeat on a twelve-week scan.

Taken from The Mechanics of Love published by smith I doorstop.

I live in Calderdale with my family and have two books of poetry published–Light After Light by Valley Press and most recently The Mechanics of Love which was chosen by Carol Ann Duffy as a ‘Laureate’s Choice’ pamphlet. I will be reading alongside other local poets at the Halifax Festival of words at the Book Corner on 6^th October. More about me and my poetry can be found here https://www.poetrybusiness.co.uk/victoria-gatehouse

L4N UK is a monthly Halifax based ladies networking group, who aim to encourage, support and generally help grow connections and business for female owners and executives in pleasant surroundings. We’re based in Croft Myl, a fantastic office space at the top of the town centre. The friendly and casual networking meetings will be held at the new time on the last Thursday of each month, from 12 pm–2 pm, with some lunch included too, and the best bit, it’s free to attend.

“Networking at L4N is easy! You can make so many contacts in this relaxed and friendly atmosphere”said Liz, from George Knows,the new owners of L4N.“I’ve enjoyed the networking sessions and have ended up working with some of the people I met and also made some new business friends. If you wish to, you can get advice and help from people in the room as many attendees are from diverse and different businesses and backgrounds.

At L4N we want to make it as welcoming as possible. It’s not a formal meeting at all, we want everyone to be at ease when they come to a meeting, with coffee and tea on tap, and a friendly atmosphere. Gone are the scary 60 second pitches you may have heard about, instead we have open conversations about how we can all work together and help each other succeed!”

If you’re new to networking, or not confident about it, here are our top three networking tips to really get the most out of your networking experiences!

1. Practice what you are going to say! You will need to be able to talk about you and your business. So, practice a little introduction, and cover who you are, what your business is, and why you came to network today. It could be that you’ve never been to networking before, or you want to make new contacts. Make sure you say everything you want to say, you don’t want to miss something out!
2. Get business cards printed! Business cards are an easy way to give out your business details quickly, and it’s a reminder to them of who you are. Remember to bring a few, (it’s better to have too many, than to run out) and make sure they look good
3. Enjoy it! It shouldn’t be a chore to go to networking. After all, it will benefit your business, which will then in turn benefit you. It may be nerve-wracking at first, going to a room full of people you don’t know, but once the initial nerves settle, and you talk to people, you’ll relax and enjoy it.

Our speaker for September is Sally from Valley Will Writing, and we have a pop up shop from local jewellery maker Ami Hallgarth!

If you are interested in coming to the L4N September meeting, you can book your space here via Eventbrite. Places are limited so please book in advance. We look forward to seeing you there! or email

This past month has been quieter than the first half of the year, as I wind down (but not completely stop) work for the school summer holidays when both my children will be at home with me.

My recent studio work includes mounting my Cap Stories caps on boards to be installed in Elland Library. The exhibition will be up over summer until October when the library undergoes a refurbishment. I’ve also been running some more workshops in schools using The Very Hungry Caterpillar and George’s Marvellous Medicine as inspiration to illustrate the stories in caps as part of Arts Week and tying in with the schools’recycling projects.
https://capstories.home.blog/

One of my other major projects Dwell Time is out and about at Wellbeing Festivals this summer undertaking interviews about mental wellbeing. DwellTime Issue 2 open call for contributions is also now live. Dwell Time is an arts publication reflecting on mental wellbeing produced in collaboration with Penistone Line Partnership. We are seeking drawings, illustrations, poetry and stories about real life, raw feelings and survival stories; more about the journeys more than the destinations. The title Dwell Time comes from train terminology (as we are partnered with a community rail partnership and produce our publication to be distributed along the railway line) :Dwell time: The time a train spends at a scheduled stop without moving. Typically, this time is spent boarding or alighting passengers, but it may also be spent waiting for traffic ahead to clear, or idling time in order to get back on schedule.

Dwell Time also has a survey open about working in the arts and mental health: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/8R3TVRF
This survey is looking specifically at arts practitioners and how their work affects their mental health (either positively or negatively) as, whilst it is generally well-evidenced and acknowledged that participating in art usually has a very positive impact on mental health, there are many examples of the stress, isolation and loneliness that working freelance and in the arts can create. We are looking at what issues people are encountering currently and what things people can see would benefit them.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss this issue in more depth .https://dwelltimepress.wordpress.com/

My research and development project for Compass Live Art around dialogue will continue over summer too and now has a blog that I update daily. The blog is reflections on daily learning, thoughts and exchanges centred on dialogue: dialogue as subject and dialogic practices in contemporary art practices. The idea to blog daily for this project specifically comes from a play on the etymology of the word dialogue: From the Latin ‘dies’ translating to‘day or period of light’and ‘log’ meaning achronological record. I would quite like this research and development to culminate in a piece of work at the end of the process (maybe a publication, performance or symposium) but it is not essential to have an outcome as part of this project.

https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/dialogue/

Alice Bradshaw https://www.alicebradshaw.co.uk/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/alicebradshawartist/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/alicebradshaw.co.uk/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/alicebradshaw

At Digital Renovators, we want everyone to have beautiful websites. Whether you are a one-man band, or a large company, websites are vital to your business.

We know that there’s a lot of jargon out there. Words, phrases, terminology that web agencies like to throw around which you might not understand fully. And that’s why we’ve created this jargon buster, to make sure that when you have your website built, you know exactly what is happening.

Domain Name

If you think of your website as your house, your domain name is your address. It’s unique to you and your business, and it is how people can find your website. For example, our “address” is DigitalRenovators.com

Hosting

Back to the house analogy, the hosting is the electricity. You pay for electricity for your house and you can use your appliances. You need to pay for hosting for your website to be live and your emails to be delivered. Otherwise your website won’t be live on the internet, and then no one can find it.

Plugins

Plugins are extras that are ‘plugged in’ to your website to allow for extra features such as taking online payments, or pulling reviews through from google.

A plugin is much like a table,an added piece of furniture in the house for extra functions, but not always needed.

Updating websites

There are two ways to update a website. The first way is to keep putting new content on your website to show your customers you are still there.
Much like tending to the front garden so it doesn’t look abandoned.

The second is updating your technology. Much like updating an app on your phone. This makes sure that your website is secure, and prevents hacking. Updating your website is like closing your windows and locking your doors when you leave the house. It doesn’t guarantee security, but it increases your safety significantly.

Hacking

Hacking is when someone maliciously tries to attack your website, through malware or viruses. It’s much like someone breaking into your home. It’s vital to update your website to reduce the risks around hacking.

Virus Removal

Agencies can offer virus/malware removal, which is a pest control service for your website. They will go into the website and remove the virus, just like going room to room and removing the wasp nests.

We’re very excited to announce that we ourselves have a shiny new website. Packed full of case studies, blogs and it’s constantly being added to, we’d love it if you checked it out.

www.digitalrenovators.com

It’s a fact that at various times in our life we will have to re-invent ourselves whether we like it or not. The choice won’t be ours to make, and it occurs during illness, bereavement, separation, job loss, bankruptcy and a plethora of other life-changing situations suddenly thrust upon us.

It can be quite shocking at first, and alongside accepting this new ‘new,’ we’re also tasked with having to re-invent ourselves to best cope and accommodate these changes.Our old self may not be able to handle this ‘newness’ but once re-invented, most of us have the ability to think and behave in new ways so we can learn to live within these new situations.

Following an enforced and unwanted change, you need time if possible, to allow yourself to go through the emotional pain, in order to let your mind and body start the healing process.You need to really feel the ‘low,’ because believe it or not,some day in the future you’ll feel equally ‘high.’It’s often during our most tortured moments we learn the really powerful truths that can transform and set us free.

If you are currently going through a process of big change and having to re-invent yourself,then have the confidence to trust the choices you are making. Listen to others who’ll want to advise you but don’t be co-erced by them. Even if you’re at an all-time low right now,don’t think you are not capable of re-invention. Even at our most depressed, we can start making waves in the right direction without even realising we are doing it!

Have faith in yourself and learn to TRUST your decisions and life choices. It’s when we trust our gut that inspirational things happen.

Marica x

For more of Marica’s self-help blogs visit www.calderdalecounselling.com maricawebley@gmail.com 07759 014131

It might seem a bit odd to choose a poem about rain for the month of August, but we do live in the Pennines after all and have certainly had our share of rain this summer! And sometimes, after a spell of hot weather, rain can be blessing. Caroline Hardaker’s short poem is both beautiful and meditative and I love both the skilful use of rhyme and the detail about her grandmother at the end.

The Rains

Each raindrop contains a soul
I’m told and sleet is nought
but the urgent need of the dead to meet
their loved ones once more in the mortal world.
To stroke their skin, to leave a living trace;
a tear drop–a thin, translucent meridian.

My grandmother never used an umbrella
and would tip back her head and eat the rain.
She said it made her feel alive again.

Taken from Bone Ovation, published by Valley Press.

Caroline Hardaker’s ’s poetry has been published worldwide in numerous magazines and anthologies. Her first poetry collection Bone Ovation was launched in 2017 by Valley Press, and her second Little Quakes Every Day will be published in winter 2019. Caroline’s also worked with various organisations and community groups to advocate the holistic benefits of writing and making.More about Caroline can be found here carolinemhardaker@gmail.com

Recently, fresh interest has been shown in Hope Hall, Clare Road, now The Albany Club. This is because it was once the home of Christopher Rawson, who appears as an opponent of the title character in the new HBO/BBC TV drama Gentleman Jack.

The house in question was completed in 1765 for David Stansfeld, a Leeds cloth merchant, descended from the Sowerby family of that surname.The separate wings were used as stables and a warehouse. An earlier house on the site had been known as Hunger Hill, which may have dated back to Elizabethan times.David Stansfeld died quite young in 1769, and the house was then rented out to other such as James Waddington, William Swainson and Richard Broome. Many who have memorials in Halifax Minster today.

In 1808, the property was purchased by David Stansfeld’s daughter, Nelly, wife of John Rawson of Stoney Royd–across the valley–as a home for her eldest son, Christopher Rawson, and his wife. Christopher married Mary Anne Brooks of Westminster in that year.The Rawsons–originally from the Bingley area-had made much money in the textile trade,and by the early 19th Century also ran Rawson’s Bank from Somerset House, Halifax.

Born in 1777, Anne Lister records that Aunt Ann Walker of Cliffe Hill told her that as a boy, Christopher had stolen money from his father’s desk.“His father said he was born a thief,” said Miss Walker. Christopher was disinherited for a time.

Having run away from home, Christopher served with the East India Company’s Navy in the China Seas.This naval service was distinguished, and in February 1804 as chief officer on the ship ‘Exeter’, he took part when the fleet of Commodore Dance engaged with a squadron of French ships under Admiral Linois, in which the latter were soundly defeated.  On his return to England, Christopher received commendations from the East India Company, along with two Silver salvers.

In 1808 they had no children.There are various references to them both in Anne Lister’s diaries.Initially popular with Anne, Christopher shared the same side in politics. He signed her membership Certificate for the Halifax Literary and Philosophical Society, of which he was president; and she was the only female founding member.She once described him as ‘a merry fat gentleman’ but they fell out over coal mining issues; becoming bitter enemies.

Christopher was powerful, being a magistrate, a deputy lieutenant of the West Riding, and Lord of the Manor of Southowram. He was also a great supporter of the local newspaper, the Halifax Guardian. So Anne Lister had to be careful! In his middle years’, he used to ride around Skircoat Moor on a dapple-grey horse. Later he would be driven round in his fine carriage, which was drawn by a pair of greys. He was popular in that he used to scatter coins among the local children as he passed. If a boy saluted him for fun by touching his own cap, Mr Rawson would always courteously do the same in return. Before his death he was even dubbed “The Father of the Borough.

Periodically he made short stays at Old Cragg Hall, in Cragg Vale, which he had almost entirely rebuilt around 1840, when he obtained possession of the estate. In 1830, on the south wall of the Halifax Parish Church,he funded the addition of oval window which was influenced by the Marigold Window in York Minster.

However, Christopher suffered some setbacks. For example, in 1835 the windows of Hope Hall were broken by “Radicals” following a closely contested General Election result.

Christopher Rawson died in 1849, and was buried in Holy Trinity Churchyard, with his wife who had died in 1836. There is a fine memorial to the couple in the former church. This was carved by local sculptor Joe Leyland, who had been encouraged in his early career by Christopher.

For the first time in many years, Hope Hall will be open to the public during Halifax Heritage Festival on Sat. 14th and Sun. 15th September, from 11 am to 4 pm.

To be continued

David C Glover

Now that the dust has settled on the launch of our brand new local magazine, Halifax Directory, we thought we’d check in, and look back at as to why we launched magazine number two!

We have been running for 14 years, and are currently on issue number 159 with our August edition.

We’re not the only local directory magazine in Halifax, there are several others, but we all have our own areas that we cover. We deliver to areas in the HX1 and HX3 postcode, and to shops, the tourist information centre and a few other places in Halifax town centre. We’re proud of the community that our magazine has built up over the past 14 years, and we have our readers comment on the quality of our magazine, and the “keep-a-bility” of it.

We realised that there were areas of Halifax which didn’t receive any kind of local directory, and we decided to change that, hence Halifax Directory was born.

We’re now 2 issues in, and currently working on our third issue, and the magazine is growing from strength to strength. We’re getting great feedback from our new readers, not just about the content, but the fresh look we went for in the magazine.

A big thank you to all those advertisers of Skircoat Green Directory who decided to advertise in our first edition of the new magazine, and to those who are newly advertising with us, for having faith in us and our new venture. And to Nicola from the sale team who has worked so hard to fill our magazines each month!

Teresa Plant Acupuncture has advertised in the Skircoat Green Directory for a few issues, and she said “Having used SGD to successfully promote my new acupuncture practice, it seemed natural to advertise in their new directory to continue our successful partnership.”

We’re very excited for the growth of the Halifax Directory, and cannot wait until it gets as big as this magazine!

Each Directory is delivered to 8,000 homes with a combined estimated readership of over 35,000!

Advertisers also appear on our website and our Facebook pages which currently have over 3600 followers.

The Halifax Directory is delivered to homes and businesses in Warley, Wainstalls, Mount Tabor, Fountains Head Village, Bradshaw, Illingworth, Holmfield, Claremount and Southowram.

The Skircoat Green Directory is delivered to Skircoat Green, Savile Park, Copley, Scarr Wood Bottom, Wellhead, Central Park, Salterhebble, Siddal, Exley, Pye Nest, Willowfield and Norton Tower.

If you are interested in advertising in either directory, contact Nicola on 01422 646400.

Follow Halifax Directory on Facebook & Twitter!