Inside St Paul's, Shipley

Before and after the 200th anniversary service, I took a few photos of the interior of St Paul's Shipley. It has retained many of its original features: the wooden pews, the gallery around the sides that provided extra seating, the pedestal pulpit (designed to allow all the congregation to be able to see the  preacher), the choir stalls and the elevated organ loft. 

What made it special 200 years ago isn't necessarily what now works for modern congregational worship - but no-one here, it seems, has dared to grasp the 'major re-ordering' nettle! Many years of stretched funds also means there is considerable interior damage from damp that will at some point have to be sorted out. Our churches, contrary to many people's understanding, are entirely funded by their congregations, along with any legacies and grants they are able to access. There is no ongoing funding from central government, even for our most historic and significant cathedrals. So it's a constant headache as to how to maintain them.

Nevertheless, there are usually signs of the care and affection that our congregations have for our places of worship, not least in the beautiful flower arrangements and colourful banners. 

Two hundred years

St Paul's Church in Shipley has recently commemorated its 200th anniversary with a weekend of celebration and worship. I went along to the morning service on Sunday, which was led by our vicar Rev'd Natasha Thomas and the Right Rev'd Dr Toby Howarth, currently Area Bishop of Bradford and soon to be the new Bishop of Leeds diocese. 

St Paul's was built as a 'Waterloo Church', by a grant from the British government in thanksgiving for peace after the victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The new churches were intended to provide accessible places of worship for the rapidly growing industrial and suburban towns.

Some years later, the vicar of St Paul's decided to raise funds for the construction of a daughter church, St Peter's, on the edge of Saltaire village, which was consecrated in 1909. Again, this was deemed necessary at the time to serve the needs of the growing population in Saltaire and the new housing developments in the Moorhead and Nab Wood area. Ironically, now, our congregations are dwindling and there is a plan to merge the three existing parishes of Shipley (St Paul's, St Peter's and Windhill).  

There was a service of Holy Communion, after which the Bishop buried a Time Capsule in the churchyard, full of our prayers for the next 200 years of Christian presence and ministry in Shipley. Then, of course, coffee and cake was served! 

Peak autumn

I think we've hit 'peak autumn' along the canal. I wouldn't say the colours have been as spectacular as some years but it's pleasing to see the rusts and greens mingling, especially with a blue sky.  I always enjoy the view of the river from the canal aqueduct (above). 

This year I haven't really been to any gardens or arboretums (arboreta?) so I feel I've missed out on catching the red maples and other showy trees. Because of the dry summer, many of our local trees were showing signs of desiccation long before autumn came along and I suppose that hasn't helped the colour progression either. Nevertheless I've been enjoying my walks, when I've been able to fit one in among the gales and rain showers! 

Tweaking (not twerking!)

It's quite a long time since I had a 'play' in Photoshop. I took a photo of a little cluster of saplings along the river at Bolton Abbey. I kind of liked the image but it lacked something, so I spent a happy hour or so making it a little more painterly. I know the final image won't be everyone's cup of tea - but it's good to find I can still remember how to do a few tweaks. I'm keen to keep my brain cells firing!!

The pesky clock change

A week or so ago we went through the bi-annual ordeal of 'changing the clocks'. I think a lot of countries do the same. In our case, in the autumn, we put the clocks back by an hour, moving from British Summer Time to GMT. I absolutely hate it. It seems to take my body weeks to adjust properly. (For some reason I don't find the opposite change in spring to be quite so disruptive, though its still a nuisance.) It means that it's already dark now by 5pm and dusk will get earlier and earlier until late December. It also means that it starts to get light just a wee bit earlier in the morning but that doesn't seem to make a great deal of difference. I still wake up in the dark. 

I have to take care to ensure that I fit in my usual, almost daily, walk along the canal towpath well before dark, as the towpath - unlike our streets - doesn't have many lamps. I don't like walking along there in the dark, as it is potentially more dangerous from a number of points of view. 

Having said that, where there are lights, the effect as dusk falls can be quite magical. 

Genghis Khan

The exhibition I went to see at the Royal Armouries was 'Genghis Khan - How the Mongols changed the world'.  I had no real knowledge of this part of the world or this period of history and there was almost too much to take in without any prior knowledge to hang facts on. I enjoyed it nevertheless and came away with a few interesting nuggets to ponder upon.  

The first piece of information is that 'Genghis Khan' is an anglicised version of his name, and he should be called Chinggis Khan, which the exhibition adopted throughout. He was born around 1162 and died in 1227 (so that corresponds to our English Plantagenet dynasty from Henry II onwards). He was born into poverty but his charismatic personality and ability to form alliances meant a gradual rise to prominence and his military campaigns started to expand the Mongol empire. 

The second interesting fact is that no portraits of him were made during his lifetime - so any pictures of him are a kind of stylised representation - and no-one really knows for sure where he is buried. He married Börte, who remained his 'senior wife' and was a powerful and influential woman in her own right, giving birth to four sons and five daughters who all became significant figures in the empire. He had 'junior wives' too! 

Fact three: women were significant and powerful in this culture, as well as men. (Kind of ironic when you think how women are treated now across parts of what was the Mongol empire.)

The exhibition contained many artefacts from different eras of the Mongol empire, most on loan from the Chinngis Khaan National Museum in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The empire continued to expand after Khan's death, under the leadership of his sons. It split into four independent khanates but they started to fight each other rather than co-operating. The empire gradually foundered due to any number of different pressures - economic, political and administrative - in the late 1300/early 1400s.

The items above are from the Xiongnu period (3rd century BCE - 2nd century CE); those below from the 13th/14th century. I loved the little silver bowl on the left, with such delicate engraving. 

Fact four: the Mongols were nomadic people, moving across the steppes in large groups called 'hordes', which were effectively travelling cities. They lived in strong, round, felted wool tents called gers. A few settlements like Karakorum acted as administrative and cultural centres.

Fact five: as a mainly nomadic people, horses were of crucial importance. Children learned to ride by the age of three. Horses - small, stocky but resilient - were used for transport, chores and herding livestock. The national beverage - airag - was fermented mare's milk. Horses were crucial in the military successes of the expanding empire; skilled riders could accurately fire arrows at full gallop. The empire also had an established system of communication using post riders and strategic waystations across the vast lands. 

The exhibition had a replica saddle to try out.

I loved the charming picture (below) of a horse and its minder being buffeted by the high winds across the open steppes. 

It seems that the whole culture was well established and innovative. I was interested in the armour their warriors used - some chain mail such as you find in our own history but also the lamellar armour (below), made of leather and metal discs, that was designed to be less restrictive for fighting on horseback. 

As I said, it was a fascinating exhibition with far too much really to take in - but well worth seeing. 
 

Royal Armouries

The old docks area in Leeds was originally constructed in 1843 to link the Leeds-Liverpool Canal with the Aire and Calder Navigation, primarily to enable coal to be transported to where it was needed to power industries. It inevitably declined in the mid/late 20th century, as road and rail freight took over from the waterways. Its regeneration began with the opening of the Royal Armouries museum in 1996 and the subsequent construction of offices and residential blocks, with the aim of forming a vibrant mixed-use neighbourhood around what is now called Leeds Dock (above). This has, I think, to some extent been successful. It's quite an interesting quarter, with plenty to see and photograph. 

The Royal Armouries, a rather forbidding-looking grey fortress, sits between the Dock and Leeds Lock. It holds the UK's national collection of historic arms and armour, one of the largest such collections in the world.

It is one of three linked sites, along with the White Tower in the Tower of London, and Fort Nelson at Fareham near Portsmouth. I don't visit very often since arms and munitions don't really excite me but occasionally they have some interesting temporary exhibitions, and sometimes hold live displays of jousting and suchlike in the summer. 

The Hall of Steel is a glass tower, functioning as a staircase and holding 2500 items of arms and armour artistically displayed on the inner walls. It's quite a sight! 

 

Leeds waterfront

I'm not honestly a big fan of city centre life these days but I had a couple of things I wanted to do in Leeds so I hopped on the train and made the journey. I'd intended to go the previous day but woke feeling oddly dizzy so I decided I'd better have a lazy day at home. (I think it may just have been dehydration and I soon recovered but it's an unpleasant feeling.) In the end, it turned out to be a good call because the following day was much brighter and sunnier, a very pleasant day for walking, even in the city.  

My first destination was the Royal Armouries museum, to see an exhibition. I could have caught the yellow water taxi from the railway station but it was such a lovely day that a walk along the waterfront seemed like a better idea. It's only about a mile anyway, passing some interesting old buildings: Victorian warehouses and factories now repurposed into offices and apartments, with new builds in and amongst.  

The route took me under Crown Point Bridge, originally built in 1842 to span the River Aire. It was strengthened and widened (rather imaginatively) in the early 1990s to make it suitable for our modern heavy good vehicles. I think it's one of the nicest iron bridges that I know. It's a pity people want to spoil it with graffiti. 

In the view below, you can see the stone tower of Leeds Minster just poking up among the modern buildings now surrounding it. (Note to self: must visit the Minster sometime. I've never been inside it!) 

Traction Engine models

In a corner of the room where Bingley CC had their photo exhibition, there was a display of (to scale) working models of steam engines. The one above is a late 19th century agricultural traction engine, manufactured by William Allchin Ltd in Northampton. These machines revolutionised farming, often travelling from farm to farm, replacing teams of heavy horses, pulling machinery and driving threshing machines and saws. 

The one above had itself to be moved by a team of horses but, once in place, drove belts to power machinery. The chimney stack could be lowered to allow it to navigate low clearances in transit. 

This one is a replica of a late Victorian 'undertype' steam engine, generally used as a source of power in factories and mills. 

That below is a model of the William Allchin 'Royal Chester' traction engine, another late 19th century general purpose engine used in agricultural settings. 

I actually quite like all the old steam-powered machines - you sometimes see them at steam fairs - and to see them replicated in miniature in such faithful detail was really interesting. I'm not sure who these models belong to; it didn't seem to record that. 

Wharfe water

I'm always fascinated by the patterns that water makes, swirled by currents, blown by the breeze. These are a few shots of the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey. 

I've put them into a grid as that is easy... but I'm not sure that a square format - steady and solid - is right for a linear, flowing river. So I went back and experimented again using a more elongated format. What do you think? 

Requiem for a tree (and a trolley!)

Following on from my post yesterday, when I went for my usual walk on Monday I was able to inspect the damage that the beautiful tree suffered in the storm on Sunday. In fact it is only one large limb that has sheared off but the rend goes right down the trunk. I guess there must have been some rot there so I wonder how long the rest of it will survive. It was by far the most colourful part of the tree. How ironic that I had chosen to feature it at the very time of its demise! (The debris had been cleared very quickly as it had been blocking the road.)

Still, there are other autumn colours to enjoy, though many fewer leaves, of course, after the gales. The fallen, wet foliage made some parts of my walk quite slippery but I was glad to be able to get my exercise during a lull in the rain. 

I had been to the supermarket in the morning, in the pouring rain ... what chaos! One might have thought it was a few days before Christmas! There were so many people there that there were no empty grocery carts left. I had to follow a chap to his car and wait until he'd unpacked before taking over his trolley. Then, once inside, I discovered quite a few things on my list were either sold out completely or had few items left and very short 'use by' dates. I suppose the awful weather must have interrupted deliveries and kept the weekend customers away. It wasn't an experience I would care to repeat... Then, to cap it all, on my way out of the car park, a lady suddenly swung her emptied trolley right out into the path of my car and scraped my paintwork! She had her coat hood up, as it was raining, and she clearly neither saw nor heard my car.  I was only going at crawling speed and thankfully only hit the trolley and not the lady, but it was a shock. She came from my blind side, out of nowhere. She was very apologetic, as was I, but it was an unpleasant little incident and I was glad to get safely home! 

 

Not so boring

Even the more mundane corners of our suburban landscape are lifted by the colours of autumn. 

As a PS, ironically but very sadly, I just learned the beautiful tree above succumbed to last night’s wind and has fallen. Isn’t that tragic? At least I’ve immortalised it.