Saltaire Festival 2025

September is the month for the annual Saltaire Festival. It's much the same year on year and I prefer the first weekend, which tends to be a bit more 'local' and less crowded. This year there was a lot going on in the park, so I made my way down there for a while. I didn't actually take all that many photos. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood.

I did enjoy watching the Dragon Empress Saphira, above, with her colourful swirling dragons. The flow of the 'dragon' as she twirled was mesmerising and rather beautiful. She was part of Guiding Sparks Circus, who had an arena where children could learn how to 'tame' the dragons. It was quite early in the day when I took the photos. There were more people in the park than it appears. 

The highlight of the day for me was a short, free concert by the wonderful Bradford Festival Choral Society, one of the oldest (established in 1856) and most renowned choirs in the north of England. Under their musical director, Thomas Leech, they gave us a taste of some of their classical repertoire, starting and ending (joy, oh joy!) with the rousing 'Hallelujah Chorus' from Handel's 'Messiah'. I was surprised how good it sounded, even outside with various competing noises. A couple of brief showers didn't dampen the mood either. Truly wonderful. It made my skin tingle! 

I also enjoyed a short piano recital by a pianist from the Yorkshire Music School, based in Salts Mill. They had pianos in various places within the village. My choice was Cultures café. I thought I'd get a decent coffee whilst I listened to the music. Unfortunately somehow my order was missed and I had to chase it up, so the music was almost over by the time I got my drink! Then I popped into the church where the Saltaire Art Group had an exhibition, but took no photos there. 

Some of you may recognise (I didn't!) this sleek and futuristic car - KITT the talking car, no less, from the action franchise 'Knight Rider'. I didn't hear it talking but it was a wonder to behold, with a control panel more like a spacecraft. Maybe one day all our cars will look like that, though with a bonnet as long as that on an E-type Jag, it wouldn't be very practical for trying to edge out into traffic. 

Another car on show was one from the long-running British police drama 'The Bill'. 

There were reputed to be several 'characters' wandering around. I came across Chewbacca, the legendary Wookiee warrior from 'Star Wars', who was quite friendly really.