Thanks to Sir Norman Rae

I enjoyed a sunny autumn stroll through the woods of Northcliffe Park, giving thanks to Sir Norman Rae, whose bequest of land to the local council in the 1920s means that we have this lovely area to enjoy at our leisure. The woods line a steep ravine, so there is a high path and a lower path. I often take the lower path alongside the stream but this time I stayed high, enjoying the sunlight filtering through the canopy of beech and oak trees. I noticed how beeches are often straight trunked whereas oaks tend to have twisted trunks and branches, looking like they're dancing. You can just glimpse the stream glinting in the valley, through the trees. 

The western side of the park has sweeping areas of grassland, with specimen trees lining the paths. The coppery leaves of this one looked amazing against that blue sky, though my phone didn't do a great job of rendering the bright clouds. 

 

I read an interesting piece, reproduced by Saltaire History Club from a newspaper dated June 1922, that notes how Sir Norman Rae declared, in a speech when he was opening the Northcliffe Golf Club (adjacent to the park), that he had been influenced by Sir Titus Salt's philanthropy. Worth a read: 

  

He was right!