It’s that spooky time of year again where the monsters come out and so do their parents! Trick or treating will undoubtedly be in full swing but there are also plenty of other activities to get involved in this Halloween. So, let’s get into some of our favourite choices for this year and discover what you’ll be able to get involved in.

The Big Halloween Draw at the Piece Hall

31 October (10:30am, 11:30am, 1:00pm and 2:00pm)

The Piece Hall invites you to a Halloween themed drawing festival, hosted by local artists Chris Mould and Matt Howarth. This is a FREE event where your child can learn how to illustrate Halloween characters and use specialised software to create them on a computer. The artwork that your child produces will become part of the spooky haunted house silhouette window display.

Ghoul School at Eureka

20 October – 4 November (9:30am every weekday)

Eureka is hosting a Ghoul School over the Halloween period where your child can take part in Dr Frankenstein’s Science Lab, cast spells and mix potions, join their werewolf for survival skills, meet Beastie – a monster who just want a hug and learn some spooky dance moves! Your child is encouraged to come to the event in their scariest costume and really get into the action. All activities are included in the price of admission to Eureka.

Halloween Party at Play Palace

31 October (4:00pm)

Your child is invited to the Play Palace for a spooky Halloween party where there will be plenty of fun and games for them to take part in. Make sure they dress to impress!

Harry Potter Halloween Extravaganza at Brighouse Library

31 October (8:00am to 5:00pm)

A family event taking place at Brighouse Library where your child can celebrate all things Harry Potter. It will involve storytelling, crafts and more magic that you can imagine!

Various Events Hosted by Sparks! at the Bankfield Museum

31 October (11:00am, 1:00pm and 2:00pm)

Sparks! is hosting spooky tales, create your own pop-up Halloween scene, spooky games, make a magical spell book and enjoy a spooky trail.

 

We hope you enjoy Halloween and you enjoy plenty of sweets!

Wow, it’s been a busy month talking rubbish!

I’ve been Brighouse Arts Festival 2018’s artist in residence at Brighouse Household Waste Recycling Centre and opened my end of residency exhibition at Smith Art Gallery and Brighouse Library. I had a brilliant time at the Recycling Centre and made some new work based on the ‘recyclables’ I found there and the ‘rubbish conversations’ I had with visitors and staff.

Somebody brought a paint tin of ‘Oro Antico’ yellow ochre paint to be recycled. It was from a relative’s house being decorated after a relationship breakdown. There were so many stories of loss and sadness at the Recycling Centre; house clearances after a bereavement, clear outs after a break up; broken objects beyond repair. I was really drawn to this yellow paint and dubbed it ‘Split Paint’. I was making some collages out of discarded printed material (magazines, books, leaflets) and come across some interior design magazines. I cut out some images of household objects and tore them in half. I went to Seagull Paint Recycling in Leeds and asked them to colour-match the ‘Oro Antico’ yellow ochre paint and used this to paint the missing half of the pictures.

I was also given a broken and repaired plate of Bishop Bonner’s Cottage in Dereham by a customer at the Recycling Centre after photographing some of their other rubbish. We got talking about our travels to Norfolk where my late mother was born and grew up and where the plate gifter still regularly visit. There is a Japanese art of mending objects with gold called Kintsugi (golden repair) so that the imperfection is highlighted as opposed to disguised. Inspired by this technique, I used my fake, colour-matched, ‘Oro Antico’ yellow ochre to paint over the heavily glued crack in the plate. This plate and my ‘Split Paint’ household objects pictures feature in my exhibition alongside a short film of selected objects I photographed and my self-published, small edition publication about my residency process. They are also online on my website and blog (links below).

I really have talked rubbish a lot this month! On 10 September, I went on Phoenix Radio to talk about my residency at Brighouse Household Waste Recycling Centre and also to talk about Dwell Time on World Suicide Prevention Day.

Dwell Time is a newspaper project of art, poetry and stories reflecting on mental wellbeing that I’m co-producing with my two artist-friends Vanessa Haley and Lenny Szrama. We ran an event called Interchange on the Penistone Line trains for National Poetry Day on the 4 October: reading out contributors’ poems about change and mental wellbeing. As well as reading out poems, we had some great conversations with the people who joined us on the trains.

Next month is slightly less hectic, but still with plenty more rubbish conversations to be had, plus Dwell Time planning for our launch programme for Penistone Art Week in March 2019. As well as some semi-structured interviews with other artists working with rubbish, I’m planning a series of artist peer group crits at Dean Clough in 2019 and our monthly Mothers Who Make Halifax meetings at The Artworks in Halifax and Word of Mouth in Hebden Bridge. MWM meeting details can be found on our facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MWMHalifax/

More talking rubbish from me next month!

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

Museum of Contemporary Rubbish http://museumofcontemporaryrubbish.blogspot.com/

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

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

Twitter https://twitter.com/alicebradshaw

 

 

The death of John Waterhouse in 1879 left just one male of the Well Head family, his younger brother Samuel. Born in 1815, he was a healthier child than John. Part of his education took place in France.

On 25^th August 1840, aged 25, Samuel Waterhouse married Charlotte Lydia, sister of Sir Henry Edwards of Pye Nest, although at the time Edwards lived at Hope Hall (now The Albany Club).  Samuel Waterhouse was to follow him as a resident there.

Samuel took his seat on Halifax Town Council as a Conservative in 1851, and the same year was elected Mayor, aged 36.  Besides being a Borough and a West Riding magistrate, he was Treasurer of the Halifax Infirmary for twenty years, on the Board of the Waterhouse Charities, and a Governor of Heath Grammar School.

At the General Election of 1859 Samuel stood as a Conservative candidate for Halifax, but was defeated. The following year, he contested and won a seat at Pontefract, and was to be one of that town’s representatives for seventeen years. He continued to live mainly at Hope Hall, Halifax and was closely involved with the 2nd West Yorkshire Yeomanry Cavalry, holding the rank of Major on his retirement in February, 1873.

By 1877 Samuel was already failing in health, and suffered from paralysis.  On his brother John’s death in 1879, he succeeded to Well Head mansion, but he was only to be its master for a couple of years.  Samuel’s end came on 4^th March 1881, at the age of 65, and he was almost as widely mourned as John had been.  He was buried in the family vault, and a stained-glass window in the Parish Church’s Rokeby Chapel was placed in his memory.  His widow survived for twenty years, dying in 1901, aged 80.

 Last of the Well Head Branch: Catharine and the Forgotten Scandal

The very last of the Waterhouses at Well Head, was Samuel’s only child, Catharine Grace, born in 1842. In the Halifax Courier for 13^th July 1872 appeared the announcement of her marriage, which included this paragraph:

“On Thursday there were many pleasing evidences of rejoicing in the town, on the marriage of Miss Waterhouse in London, to Captain Doherty; Flags floated from the Parish Church Tower, the Conservative Rooms, White Swan, &c., and the Parish Church bells during the day rang merry peals.”

Catharine’s groom was Captain Daniel Henry Doherty, 3^rd Hussars (ret’d), born near Dublin in 1839, the younger son of a senior Anglo-Irish judge.  As his bride was the last of the male-line Waterhouses of Well Head, on his marriage, Doherty added her surname after his own, by deed poll.

The more I looked into the life of Catharine Doherty Waterhouse, the more puzzled I became.  This was chiefly due to the apparent disappearance of her husband from local records, though I soon discovered he did not die until 1913.  Records indicated Catharine lived from the 1880s with her mother at Well Head; and, after the latter’s death, on her own, though she also spent time at Scarborough, where she had a house on the Esplanade. or at the said house.  Yet through these years her husband’s address was regularly recorded elsewhere.

Eventually I located information which helped explain this unusual situation.  In 1875, just three years after the marriage of Catharine to the Captain, her husband was in serious financial trouble.  In the London Gazette, all records of bankruptcy are recorded, even today. There in the first issue for November 1875, I found that Captain Doherty Waterhouse had been declared a bankrupt.

What a shock – the heiress of the Waterhouses of Halifax was married to a bankrupt!  There is also evidence that Captain Doherty was a heavy gambler.  And in 1882, he was involved in a legal dispute with the stewards of the prestigious Jockey Club.  Testifying as to his own name in court, he stated: “My name is now Daniel Henry Doherty; it was different for a short period. It was Waterhouse then for some years, from 1872.”  Apparently he never returned to Yorkshire.  Captain Doherty died at Weston, near Bath, in 1913; he was far from bankrupt then, for his estate was worth nearly £70,000 – and nothing was left to his (ex) wife!

Did Catharine’s uncle and father, still alive in 1875, men of impeccable character, persuade the Halifax Press to cover up the scandal of the marital separation of the daughter of one of the borough’s most illustrious families?  Even in Catharine’s obituaries (1916), no mention is made to a marital breakdown; and there is no divorce record.

In her later years, Catharine became a benefactress herself. But she did so very quietly, contributing unobtrusively ‘to many a struggling church.’  She also supported liberally and more publicly, the foundation of the Mission Church of St Michael and All Angels on Southowram Bank, in 1887; and early in the 20^th Century, she donated generously towards the erection of the new church of All Saints’, Elland.  Finally Catharine funded the full refurbishment of the Rokeby Chapel at Halifax Parish Church, to the design of George Fellowes Prynne, architect of All Saints’.  The scheme was completed in May 1915, and involved the installation of a carved reredos and a fine new altar with a beautiful tessellated frontal depicting the Virgin Mary.

Latterly, Catharine lived mostly at her house in Scarborough, No. 6, The Esplanade. After the outbreak of The Great War, she devoted herself to the various Halifax funds for the soldiers abroad, and Red Cross work.  In 1915 she held a large fundraiser at Well Head in aid of the Mayoress’s Fund for Soldiers’ Comforts. On that occasion, the gardens and green­houses were opened to hundreds of visitors, and bands were playing in the grounds.

Unlike her husband, Catharine kept her double surname until her death at Well Head in August 1916.   Her burial was the very last in Halifax Parish Churchyard.  After her death, the house and its contents were sold.

Researched and written by David C. Glover 

Chair of the Halifax Antiquarian Society

David Glover  is reading Great War Poetry at Halifax Town Hall Nov 2018, more information at:

https://www.calderdale.gov.uk/v2/residents/leisure-and-culture/whatson/events/poetry-great-war-read-and-explained-david-glover-and

 

The Well Head Mansion story – part two

John Waterhouse III was born at Well Head mansion in August 1806, elder son of John Waterhouse senior and his wife Elizabeth Rawson. A delicate boy, in his youth he was subject to occasional epileptic fits, and his parents thought him unlikely to reach adulthood. Yet he was to become one of the most outstanding members of his family.

John was a studious lad. Isaac Newton was his hero, and a bust of this famous scientist stood prominently at Well Head. When he reached maturity, John had two good friends nearby who shared his interests – experiments in early photography, in scientific matters, and his interest in botany and in natural history. One was Solomon Smith, a young doctor who had settled in Halifax; the other was Leeds born Rev. Joseph Bancroft Reade, curate at Halifax Parish Church from 1829. John and Joseph spent much time together at Well Head, exploring new sciences that were opening up early in the 19th Century. When John experimented with a micro¬scope, he came to realise the marvels of the colours of the spectrum produced by light through a glass prism, so he investigated the construction and uses of lenses. Guided by Reade, whose special interest was photography, John produced repetitions of photographs printed from images on glass and paper, and the chemical means of giving permanence to such images – both developments in photography which were then quite new. In this connection, an important invention of John’s, known as the Waterhouse stop, was once in general use; this was an interchangeable diaphragm with an aperture for controlling the entry of light into a camera.

Unlike many, John had the funds to travel, and in 1839, aged 33, he set out to see for himself those foreign countries of which he had read. In those days, such voyages were rare, arduous and hazardous, and against the advice of his family, John set out to voyage around the world.

John visited every continent (except Antarctica) at one time or another, and his adventures in search of rare plants, ferns and flowers, which he sought with true botanical interest, must have been fascinating. And he, the delicate one, survived the most primitive and rigorous conditions during long spells of travel; yet his healthy companion James Riley of Halifax was taken ill and died during the return voyage. Restored in strength, John returned home, alone.

The founding and establishment of Halifax’s Literary and Philosophical Society in 1830 was largely due to John Waterhouse, though the major initial work was carried out by his uncle, Christopher Rawson of Hope Hall. The Society’s new Museum in Harrison Road cost £2,000, and was opened on November 30th, 1835. In due course this benefited immensely by gifts from John Waterhouse of an amazing range and quantity – 150 specimens of birds from India, Brazil and the West Coast of Africa, quadrupeds and reptiles, fossils from Egypt, gold crystals, mummy skulls, poisoned arrows, musical instruments from China, the skeleton and skin of a gigantic crocodile, and many other items.

At Well Head too, were exhibited the results of John’s journeying around the world. Glasshouses had been constructed in the gardens, to receive such rarities in plants and flowers that followed him home after his return; also, there were trees and flowers for the grounds.

Besides John’s interest in botany and natural history, he took a keen interest in geology and astronomy. He designed and erected an observatory with a revolving dome in the gardens at Well Head, to view the heavens through his powerful telescope. Over a period of eight years from 1866, he made detailed observations of the weather and of the night skies from Well Head, which he published in 1874. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, of the Royal Astronomical Society, of the Geological Society and of the Royal Microscopical Society.

John also rendered much public service; he was a Justice of the Peace and a Deputy Lieutenant for the West Riding. Among his educational interests locally was the development of the Mechanics’ Institute, of which he became a Governor, and served as one of its early Presidents. Like many of his family, he was a Governor of the Waterhouse Charities.

During the last few years of his life John Waterhouse became frail, and then his greatest pleasure was to be wheeled around his garden in a bath chair. When he died on 13th February 1879, at the same house in which he had been born, he had reached the age of 72, remarkable for a boy not expected to survive childhood.

John was buried in the Waterhouse vault in Halifax Parish Churchyard, his name being added simply at the foot of a long list of others of his family. Perhaps his greatest surviving memorial is the fine stained-glass to his memory in the east window of Halifax Minster’s Rokeby Chapel.

To be continued…

David

David’s Speaking engagements this month

EMILY BRONTE: LAW HILL, WUTHERING HEIGHTS and HIGH SUNDERLAND. 6.30 pm on Monday 8th October
at Central Library & Archives, Square Road, Halifax HX1 1QG Tickets (£2) available from Local Studies in the Central Library 01422 392631 or via TicketSource (search Emily Bronte)

Halifax Festival of Words – Branwell Bronte and his friends, an illustrated talk at The Grayston Unity, opp the Town Hall. Date Tues 11th October, 7.30pm and again at 8.45pm. Tickets can be booked at the bar or 07807 136520. £3 pp

First of all I should introduce myself: I’m an artist, curator and writer working out of my shed studio in Elland. I’m a multidisciplinary artist which basically means I dabble in all sorts: sculpture, video, print, drawing, performance, sound, publishing. My current obsession is rubbish – I completed my Masters by Research at the University of Huddersfield in the value of rubbish in art practice – and I’m passionate about talking rubbish!

I know our lovely editor Liz through Mothers Who Make Halifax and the Calderdale Breastfeeding Peer Support Network as we both trained as volunteer peer supporters. I currently coordinate the Mothers Who Make Halifax group which meets monthly to talk about our current activities as makers (artist, writers, crafters, bakers, etc) and juggling making and motherhood. This is an open group and all mothers who make are welcome to attend, children welcome too (and there’s cake!). Our October meeting is on the 19^th at 11am at Word of Mouth in Hebden Bridge. https://www.facebook.com/groups/MWMHalifax/

I often have several project on the go at once and this Autumn is no exception. I’m Artist in Residence at the Brighouse Recycling Centre for Brighouse Festival 2018: This will involve researching and documenting rubbish on site, resulting in a performance on site and an exhibition at Brighouse Library for the Festival. I’ve curated projects for Brighouse Festival previously on the theme of discarded materials, and have long been keen to be resident artist in a tip, so this is a dream come true! You can book onto the performance here http://www.brighouseartsfestival.co.uk/alice-bradshaw-guided-tour/ I’ll update how that’s going in future issues.

I’m also producing a project called Dwell Time which is concerning reflections on mental wellbeing. The project is in partnership with the Penistone Line and we’re publishing a newspaper of art, writing and poetry about mental health in 2019. We’re also performing poetry on the Penistone Line for National Poetry Day (4 October 2018) and welcome submissions to our open call http://dwelltimepress.wordpress.com/  Mental health can be ‘rubbish’ in that sometimes our mental health is good, sometimes it’s rubbish. Everybody has mental health just like physical health, but it still remains a taboo subject that’s difficult to talk about sometimes. Art and poetry has the power to convey what we experience in great magnitude. And talking about mental health is important too! It’s good to talk.

Feel free to contact me via the links below to talk rubbish! I’ll be back next month with more rubbish.

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

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

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

Twitter https://twitter.com/alicebradshaw

The Well Head Mansion story – part one

At the top of the slope above The Shay mansion, about which I wrote last month, once stood another lost architectural gem of Halifax.  This house overlooked Well Head fields, for generations before the Skircoat Road embankment was built.

Well Head mansion was home to the senior branch of the Waterhouse family from the 1760s down to 1916.   They were descended from one of the elder half-brothers of Nathaniel Waterhouse, the great benefactor of Halifax, and saw themselves as guardians of his legacy, and regularly served on the governing body of his charity.

To explain the name Well Head: The wells that from at least Tudor times until the 19^th Century supplied much of Halifax’s water, were located on Well Head estate. From there, water was channelled, first by open conduit, then by underground wooden trough to stone troughs at the bottom of what is now Fountain Street, and to a 500-gallon tank in the Old Cock Yard.  At the stone troughs and at Old Cock Yard, water could be collected by those who needed it. By 1852, when the town began to construct­ its own supply reservoirs, 80,000 gallons daily were flowing from the Well Head springs.   Back in the 18^th Century, “Well Head Spa” was a popular and busy rendezvous, where people went with all manner of containers to fetch the pure spring water that was scarce elsewhere.

There was a house in the area in the reign of the first Queen Elizabeth.  In the reign of Queen Anne, a later house was erected, which eventually became known as Old Well Head.   This was not connected with the Waterhouses before the later 18^th Century; it was demolished in 1961.

The ancestors of the John Waterhouse who erected a new Well Head mansion in the 1760s came from Lower Ranns on Range Bank, near Haley Hill.  In the mid-18^th Century, there were two Waterhouse brothers, Samuel, born in 1727, and John, born in 1736.

It is usually stated that it was in or before 1766 that Well Head mansion was erected, apparently on a new site; but no Abstract of Title nor original Conveyance seem to have survived.  The architect is usually given as John Carr of York, and was in his style.  Here is a brief description, taken from the Listed Building record of 1954: ‘Large stone house. 3 storeys. 5 windows plus single storeyed wings of 2 windows each. Round-arched entrance with fanlight and pair of engaged Doric columns supporting pediment. Balustraded aprons to 1^st floor windows continued in parapet to wings. Main cornice topped by blocking, raised in centre. Slated roof.’

It has been suggested that Well Head was built for John Waterhouse and his bride to occupy after their marriage; for John is referred to as “of Well Head” in records dating after 1766, the year of his marriage.  His bride was Elizabeth Beaty, one of the three daughters and heiresses of Charles Beaty of Louth, Lincolnshire, a prosperous ironmonger.

Brothers Samuel and John were closely involved in business, and also with the installation of Halifax Parish Church’s first organ in 1766.  Samuel was one of the two churchwardens who promoted the citation in 1763 relating to the addition of the organ, and the following year John, a church­warden, signed with several others the Consent to its erection. The deed granting the organ site up in the west gallery had been com­pleted in 1764, and the instrument was to the design of Snetzler, the Swiss / German organ builder. In six months the subscription fund for the organ’s purchase, erection and endowment had reached £12,000. Besides this a “defence fund” of £728 was commenced to meet the suit entered against the church­wardens in the Ecclesiastical Court at York by the chapelwardens for Sowerby.  Both Samuel and John Waterhouse were among the twelve gentlemen chosen as Trustees of the Organ, at a meeting at the Talbot Inn. The instrument was opened in 1766.

In 1770, Snetzler also installed a chamber organ of his own making at Well Head, for John Waterhouse.  This was recently returned to Halifax after many years’ absence, and is now located in the Minster’s Holdsworth Chapel.

The family business of Samuel and John Waterhouse, woollen cloth merchants and exporters, was conducted at Hollins Mill, Sowerby Bridge, at Boys Mill at Bottoms, and had their warehouse near what is now the junction of Savile Park Road and West Parade; the latter building is rather hidden but survives.  The Waterhouse drying houses occupied part of the ground on which the Waterhouse Almshouses were later erected in Harrison Road.  Samuel died in 1800, and John in 1801. The business was taken over by John’s sons, also called John and Samuel.

John’s eldest son, John II, was born in 1773 at Well Head, and lived there throughout his life. A man who was regarded with the highest respect, he took a close interest in the town’s affairs. His wife Grace Elizabeth, was a Rawson of Stoney Royd, on the other side of the Hebble valley, and John was closely associated in many matters with his brother-in-law, Christopher Rawson.  Both became magistrates and Deputy-­Lieutenants of the West Riding; they were also Town Trustees in pre-Corporation days. John Waterhouse II’s life came to an end on 11^th June 1847, when he was 73.  The family vault lies outside the north of the Minster.

To be continued…                                                                  David C Glover

Shibden Hall Talk on Friday 14th September Book via EventBrite on Halifax Minster website or via office 01422 355436

 

 

I was lucky enough recently to travel to London for the day to visit the V&A Museum. They have an amazing array of textile exhibits from all periods of history and all parts of the World. The Tudor and Stuart pieces of Goldwork and Stumpwork embroidery are breathtaking.  However, if the V&A is a little too far away we have our own superb museum on our doorstep!

Bankfield Museum in Akroyden, Boothtown is one of Halifax’s secret gems. It was originally the family home of Edward Akroyd, born in 1810. He inherited the family business, Akroyd and Son, which was the country’s largest worsted textile producing company.

The museum opened in 1887 and is home to the Duke of Wellington’s Regimental Museum, local history, art, costume and textiles. There are two changing exhibition galleries and an award-winning First World War exhibition. It is also home to Akroyd Library. The King and Country WW1 exhibition closes on 22^nd December 2018. This floor is then due to become the Fashion Gallery from May 2019 when it will be displaying many items from the museum’s collection . This promises to be an exciting exhibition !

There are many textile pieces currently on display at Bankfield. Some of my favourites are from the Edith Durham collection in the newly renovated Oak Gallery. Mary Edith Durham was an anthropologist who travelled extensively during the early 20^th century. She particularly focussed on Albania, working with relief organisations, whilst painting, writing and collecting folklore and folk art. In 1935 she donated her diaries plus her collections of Balkan costume and jewellery to Bankfield Museum. Currently on display are beautifully embroidered items such as a ‘jelek’ – a short waistcoat or bodice, and socks, along with one of Edith’s scrapbooks.

The main exhibition in the Link Gallery is ‘Shoes’. This celebrates the history of shoes and stories about the people who wore them. Some of my favourites in this exhibition include the pale blue silk brocade shoes from 1740 which are embroidered with silver wire and sequins, the Turkish shoes with their curled up toes, the beautifully beaded doeskin moccasins from Hudson’s Bay, Canada, 1865 and the amazing red glittery super high platform boots belonging to Brighouse’s own Divina De Campo !

This exhibition is on until 17^th November this year.

Along with all this the North Gallery has an exhibition called ‘Sweets’ which includes a dress from 1936 made of Quality Street paper bags, and the Calderdale Open Art Exhibition and Bankfield’s Christmas Fair are events to look forward to later this year!

I run a wide variety of textile courses from my studio in Croft Myl, Halifax. Many of which are suitable for beginners and those with more experience. They costs £45 which includes all materials and tuition plus morning coffee, lunch, tea and cake. Courses can also be arranged to suit you, for groups of between 2-12 people.

Have a look at my website to see the list of courses I run. www.RaggedyAnnie.co.uk. To book on any of these email me on RaggedyAnnie1@virginmedia.com or get in touch via Facebook www.facebook.com/annie.lancaster.948

Editors Comments: Many thanks to Raggedy Annie for producing the articles for the last 12 months. They’ve made very enjoyable reading for many of our readers. Annie is having a break from producing articles for SGD but you can follow her work online or book a course!

In addition to the Heritage Week celebrations all over Halifax town, there’s a Vintage theme also being celebrated. Vintage is enjoying a very public revival in fashion and interior design allowing and promoting the re-purposing of many aged goods and re-inventing the Vintage vibe in fresh and innovative ways. What better place to experience this resurgence than in Halifax, where old and new structures can be found living synergistically in many public and private buildings.

Vintage Fair

A prime example of this is the Square Chapel Theatre which has recently celebrated a year since it’s re-opening, following a multi-million-pound renovation and re-invention.  This will be the jaw dropping back drop to the centre’s first Vintage Fair on Saturday 8^th September. With nearly 20 premier vintage sellers selling a wide range of ladies and gents fashions, accessories, furniture and household goods in the Red Brick Auditorium, the event is guaranteed to look stunning in the re-invented setting.

Singing throughout the day in the café bar will be vocalist, The Fabulous Miss G, well known for her pitch perfect soulful renditions of classics from Dusty Springfield and Etta James. There will also be bookable swing dance lessons from award winning dance duo, The Swing Cats, in the Copper Auditorium in the morning (with a ‘free for all’ mini swing dance social in the nearby Woolshops Centre in the afternoon), plus a film screening of Marilyn Monroe classic, Some Like it Hot.

For further information or to book the swing dance workshop (or buy as gift voucher for someone else!)  visit: www.yorkshirevintagefairs.com To book for Some Like it Hot, visit: www.squarechapel.co.uk

Lord & Lord Vintage Pop-Up

Also, this weekend Lord and Lord, based below the Square Chapel, have a Vintage Pop Up event in the gorgeous surroundings of Chris Lord’s Photography Studio.  Lord & Lord are showcasing Bespoke and Up-cycled furniture, unique finds and more, in a mix of styles ranging from Vintage to Industrial, Rustic to Retro! It’s free entry and refreshments will be served in the pop up café.  Open Saturday and Sunday, the studio is situated in Greenwoods Mill on Square Road, just a minute from the Piece Hall, the Train station and the Halifax Minster.

For further information check out https://www.facebook.com/events/964241647104782

Chris Lord Photography Studio, Greenwood Mills, 25 Square Road, Halifax, HX1 1QG

 
Al’s Emporium

But just like cute little puppies, Vintage and Pre-loved is not something to be loved for one weekend of the year! Fortunately for Halifax and the surrounding area there’s have a new shop in the Piece Hall to meet our needs: open all year round, 7 days a week is Al’s Emporium at The Piece Hall. The owners have recently doubled the size of the shop due to the popularity of the business. With wares from every era, there are over 60 cabinets rented by independent sellers with a passion for pre-loved. There are also cabinets with handmade items from local Textile artists, Jewellers, Card Makers and more.

Al and his wife Simone’s shop is situated above the Corner Book Shop in the top corner of the Piece Hall. Having recently re-located the business from Todmorden, they have an active Facebook page and have launched a website.  Take a trip to Al’s emporium where you’ll find a huge range of gorgeous items, big and small, with a price for every pocket.

For more information, take a peek at https://www.alsemporium.co.uk/  or https://www.facebook.com/AlsEmporium/

Charity Shops

And whilst there are many folk out there that don’t like seeing Charity shops on the High Street, there are lots of us that love it.  With quite a few to choose from in Halifax, buying pre-loved items can also make you feel doubly good on the inside when you’re supporting a charity.

Have a great vintage weekend!

Thanks to David for continuing the history of The Shay Mansion.  Parts 1, 2 and 3 can be read in the May, June and July 2018 editions or read the un edited articles online at www.skircoatgreendirectory.co.uk.

The next – and final – tenant at The Shay was William Henry Boocook.  He was born at Southowram in 1838. William was the son of James Boocock, card­maker, later of 5 High Street, Halifax.  Educated at Rishworth School as a scholarship boy, later he was virtually ‘adopted’ by a prominent local solicitor, a bachelor, Joshua Fourness Perkinton (1818-81), who lived at Hazelwood, Skircoat, having chambers in Black Swan Pass­age, Silver Street.  In 1865 William was articled to Perkinton for three years; he was admitted as a solicitor in 1870. On Perkinton’s death he took over his practice, renaming it, and moving premises to Imperial Chambers, George Square.

Williams success may be indicated by the fact he was elected President of Halifax Law Society in 1893. He served as Clerk to the Luddenden Foot Local Board and to the District Council from 1878­ to 1897; and for several years was Chairman of the Northern Theatres Com­pany, Ltd. He travelled ex­tensively abroad, in Europe, South Africa and Egypt.

The Boocock family was very musical, and for many years William sang as a bass in Halifax Parish Church choir.  In 1870, at All Souls’ Church, Haley Hill, William married Frances Ann Thompson, daughter of James, a local woolstapler.   They had three sons and a daughter; Frances died in 1885.  In 1890, William married Lilian Emma Elstob in London.

In his early married life, William lived in Gerrard Street, and then in New Bond Street.  By 1891 he was resident at Kensington House, Skircoat Moor.  He rented The Shay for about five years until he retired in 1901.  In that year, he moved to London, where he died in February 1911.   He was buried with his first wife in All Saints’ Churchyard, Dudwell Lane.   His widow died in 1937.

William’s youngest son Herbert took over his father’s practice; and the name W H Boocock is still well known in Halifax.  Within two years of Mr Boocock’s departure, The Shay mansion was bought by Halifax Borough Council, Skircoat Road was cut through its grounds.  The house itself was demolished soon afterwards.

My friend Bob Donald, who lectures about ‘Simpsons of Silver Street’, has explained to me how that company’s cabinet furniture manufactory was established on the site of the former stabling and outhouse premises of The Shay, to the west of Skircoat Road.  Later, these premises were mostly demolished and a petrol station developed there.  Following the closure of that facility, The Hub apartments have been erected on the site.

However, this edifice hides a secret, for a few walls once part of The Shay’s ancillary buildings still survive around the west and north sections of the The Hub’s car parking area.

During August, I will be leading a number of Heritage Walks in Halifax, and is also hoping to help host a Poetry Reading at Lister Lane Cemetery.  Please watch the Press for more details.

Next month, I’ll be sharing information about the Well Head Mansion.

Many thanks,

David

Chair of the Halifax Antiquarian Society and the Friends of Lister Lane Cemetery

David Glover Autumn 2018 Talks at Square

 

Following on from last month’s article history of embroidery article, I thought it would be good to share a stitch project that I’ve have designed. Using simple embroidery stitches worked in quite a free way, it can be completed in just a few hours.

You will need :-

Background fabric – calico, linen or a furnishing type fabric are ideal

Embroidery hoop 6”/15cm

Paint – green, blue, orange, white (fabric paint/acrylic/watercolour are all fine)

Paint brush

Variety of embroidery threads and yarns in different thickness (pink, purples, greens, white, orange, yellow)

Needles (Chenille needles are best as they have a sharp point and a large eye which can accommodate the thicker threads)

Sharp scissors

See below for the stitch diagram for the stitches required 

 

To work the project:

Iron your fabric and put in the embroidery hoop. Make sure it is held tightly in the frame. Using a tacking thread sew a rectangle shape 2 ½ “ x 3 ½” onto your fabric following the vertical and horizontal threads of the weave. This is the outer edge of the piece you will work.

With your paintbrush paint inside the rectangle just using water initially, then paint the top 1/3 of the area blue and white for the sky, then paint a strip of orange about 1cm deep across the fabric. Fill in the area below this with green paint. Keep the painting fairly loose for a more natural appearance.

Once the paint is dry you can begin stitching.

Use the following stitch placement diagram as a guide to where you work your embroidery, although you don’t need to follow this to the letter.

A – Flowers – French knots in variety of purple threads When making the knots wrap the thread once around the needle for the smaller buds at the top of the flower and twice around the needle for those at the bottom.

Leaves – Straight stitch in green thread

B – Flowers – Detached chain stitch in white with a French knot in yellow for the flower centre.

Leaves – Straight stitch in 2 shades of green thread.

C – Flowers – Star-filling stitch in orange thread

Leaves – Fly stitch in green thread

D – Flowers – French knots in pink thread (shaded thread looks effective).

Leaves – Straight stitch in 2 shades green thread.

E – Trees – Fly stitch in fine green thread.

To complete: Fill in any spaces between the flowers with green straight stitches. Remove fabric from hoop and secure behind a mount and place in a frame.

Why not design your own embroidered garden? I often use a picture of a flower bed as my starting point, a photo from a gardening magazine or one you have taken yourself is ideal. Choose an area of the picture you want to replicate, don’t be over ambitious in trying to work the whole garden! Just make a start and enjoy!

I run a wide variety of textile courses from my studio in Croft Myl, Halifax. I am running a day course on ‘Embroidered Gardens’ on Sunday 30^th September. This course is suitable for beginners and those with more experience. It costs £45 which includes all materials and tuition plus morning coffee, lunch, tea and cake.

Have a look at my website to see the other courses I run. www.RaggedyAnnie.co.uk. To book on any of these email me on RaggedyAnnie1@virginmedia.com or get in touch via Facebook www.facebook.com/annie.lancaster.948

Courses can also be arranged to suit you, for groups of between 2-12 people.