In City Park

With the buzz around the Flower Carpet in front of City Hall, the rest of Bradford's City Park was relatively quiet and calm. Children are mostly at school and, anyway, the fountains were only just getting going, so there wasn't much water for anyone to play in. (Over the course of a day they gradually fill up the pool and then it's drained again.) It was a good chance to practice slow-motion blur on the water. (It's amazing how steady modern cameras are, even without a tripod.) 

Some of the jets are coloured by lights - quite pretty. 

I  passed the rather poignant memorial to the victims of the Bradford City Fire. It commemorates the tragic fire of 11th May 1985 at Bradford City football ground, in which 56 people lost their lives and around 300 were injured. The names of the lost, set within the broken stadium, extend out to touch the cloaks of the three figures, symbolising the eternal bond between the living and the dead. It was given to the city by our twinned city of Hamm in Germany. 

Flower carpet

I went into central Bradford to see the Flower Carpet being created, another event as part of the district-wide Nature Season. A regular feature in Belgium, this is apparently the first time such a carpet has been created in the UK. (Though in Derbyshire we do have traditional 'well dressings', which are upright pictures made from flower petals and seeds.)

Around 40 volunteers were up at the crack of dawn to start creating it, using more than 300,000 dahlia heads laid out carefully to follow a pattern etched on sheeting underneath. 

Measuring 29 metres across, the floral installation was designed by Bradford artist Shiraaz Ali and draws inspiration from the city’s textile heritage and our diverse communities. The flowers were brought over from Belgium in a refrigerated truck. 

I arrived around noon, when the carpet was about 75% complete. I watched for a while and returned later, when they were putting the finishing touches to it. It was very beautiful and the colours were absolutely stunning. It was designed to 'evolve' over the four days it was scheduled to be there (hoping the weather was kind to it). In the evenings there was a sound and light display planned, and ultimately the flowers will be composted. 

There were a limited number of tickets to view it from above, through one of the windows of City Hall. They were very quickly snapped up, so I missed that chance. Standing on a low wall was as high as I could get! I'm being naughty and copying one of the photos from the Bradford Culture Company FB page, presumably taken by a drone, just because it is so amazing. (Image copyright James Speakman/ PA Media Assignments and/or Andrew Benge. I hope they'll forgive me!)

BD: is LIT #2

More photos from BD: is LIT, the light show in Bradford. City Hall was bathed in a moving tapestry of colour: 'Worstedopolis' by Ronan Devlin, which celebrated Bradford's textile heritage. 

Elsewhere, 'Eternal Ensemble' (ONYVA studio) had four screens showing ethereal projections of a cellist, with accompanying music - 'music as living light'. It was rather beautiful (even though deaf old me couldn't hear the music!)

My own favourite was 'Rainforest Butterflies' by Anne Bennett. Inspired by the iridescent blue morpho tropical butterfly, they shimmered among the trees in Norfolk Gardens. Such a gorgeous blue, they looked quite real and were rather beautiful.

'Phenix' by Julien Menzel was also rather delightful, 'rising in light and flame' with ever changing colours from cool to warm and back again. It looked amazing set against the back drop of one of Bradford's Victorian jewels, St Georges Hall, attractively floodlit. Perhaps it's a good metaphor for our city, which is striving to 'rise again'.

BD: is LIT #1

It's not uncommon for cities to stage 'Light Nights' at this time of year. Bradford, as part of the City of Culture 2025 celebrations, was lit up for two nights so I popped down to the city centre to see it. I really enjoyed it. The light installations were, for the most part, rather good and the atmosphere around town was good too - a kind of buzzing calm; lots of people, lots of families out enjoying the sights. 

'Monolith' by  Urban Spy 'explored humanity's shifting relationship with data and technology'. It was huge and impactful, whether you made sense of that narrative or not. 

'End over End' by Studio Vertigo was a giant, colour-changing Slinky, playfully tumbling off the building. 

'Rever' by Outpoint Studio was again a colour-shifting display: 'a cascading waterfall of colour and music', with wreaths of mist giving a dreamlike sense to it. 

Norfolk Gardens

For many months, the centre of Bradford around City Hall has been a mess of roadworks. The transformation is finally complete, so I went along to see what they'd done. They have, rather boldly, closed a large area to traffic, making it safe and accessible for pedestrians and cyclists. They've landscaped it, turfed it and planted it with nearly 8000 plants, including 57 new trees: birch, rowan, maple, lime and juneberry, with cherry trees to form a blossom boulevard.

Joining up with the mirror pool in City Park, on the other side of City Hall, this central area of town is now largely focused on the civic and cultural life of Bradford. Newly pedestrianised streets from here down to the Broadway Shopping centre are all part of a bold vision to 'zone' the city centre, reduce the sprawling and mostly empty former shopping areas and make it a more pleasant, safer and more compact city centre. Buses and traffic have largely been diverted to a circular route around the centre, with the exception of vehicles necessary to service the central area. 

One of the claims is that it will increase biodiversity in the city and, judging by the number of bees, butterflies and other insects on the plants, it certainly looks to have attracted wildlife. Money came from from the Transforming Cities Fund, awarded by the Government in 2020. I think, personally, it has been well spent and will make the city more attractive for visitors, both local and from further afield. 

Around City Park

This is the first time I've seen the newly constructed One, City Park. A controversial multi-million pound high grade office development, it's hoped it will attract new, prestigious businesses to the city centre. It looks better than the old Tyrls police station that formerly occupied that area, though whether it will be worth the investment, who knows? 

Close by is the former Odeon cinema (left, below), long derelict and now being transformed into a live music venue, Bradford Live. There also appears to be some controversy over that, with uncertainty over the scheduled opening date and the status of the organisation supposed to be running it. 

City Park's central area gradually fills with water as the day goes on, and can be drained to provide venue space. 

Bradford's magnificent City Hall stands proud as a legacy of the glorious Victorian era in this city. 

City Hall candid

Bradfordians are justly proud of their magnificent Victorian City Hall, and it does have an impressive facade. Over the years, the area around it has been cleared and improved, now boasting wide open spaces and the mirror pool in what's now known as City Park. (See HERE for photos). 

When I was passing through, a group of young men were having an impromptu game of football - and my eye was caught by the flash of red on the steps, which turned out to be a lady in a red dress and her partner, having their photo taken. They may have been models though I think it more likely they'd just got married, perhaps in City Hall itself. How she walks in those shoes is anyone's guess! 

City Park

One of the better decisions that Bradford City Council made in recent years was to redevelop the area around City Hall (in the background above) into a water park. It starts off each morning dry and then, as the fountains play, it gradually fills up with shallow water. It can also be drained to allow concerts and events in the arena. I wasn't at all sure about the concept initially but I'm won over now. It is an attractive area, well-used both as a playground, park and event space. They have an innovative programme and people enjoy it. I watched an elderly lady in a wheelchair being pushed through the fountains. She didn't actually get wet at all and clearly relished the fun of it. 

Surrounding the park there are food and drink outlets, the library and the Impressions photographic gallery, as well as the Magistrates' Courts which predate the park. 

On the outer rim there are theatres, the Media Museum and the iconic old Odeon cinema (see below), currently shrouded in plastic, which is being redeveloped as a major music venue. 

 

There is a lot of redevelopment currently going on and planned in the city centre, as I explored in my post yesterday. Where the old Police HQ used to be, they are building a prestigious new office block, One City Park. Again, I'm not entirely sure of the value of that but time will tell. I think the Council are desperate to lift the perceived prestige of the city, after years of it being rubbished and largely ignored at a national level. That's why securing the 'City of Culture 2025' accolade has been so important. We want to be on the map for the right reasons (not poverty, race issues, child abuse, industrial decline and all the other woes that we have often been tarred with, most with some root in reality but usually stereotyped and misunderstood in the national media coverage). As the old slogan used to have it: 'Bradford's Bouncing Back'. Perhaps we really are, this time. 

The Rite of Spring Re-imagined

Over the Bank Holiday weekend, I nipped into Bradford to watch a dance performance in City Park.  The advertising said: 

'The award-winning Seeta Patel Dance Company re-imagines Igor Stravinsky's iconic ballet, The Rite of Spring, in the powerful Indian classical dance style, Bharatanatyam. Showcasing some of the finest dance talent from across the globe, this unique re-telling of a pagan folk story celebrates the re-opening of our city by bridging two cultures, and two technical, powerful and evocative art forms: Western classical music and Indian classical dance. Expect expressive prowess, intricate rhythmic footwork and dynamic movements, creating one of the most exciting flirtations between East and West and a truly not-to-be-missed event for Bradford. 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Stravinsky, a commemoration marked and celebrated by thousands around the world.'

Beautifully danced, it was wonderful and quite moving to watch, although - with my hearing aids - I found the music a little hard to follow in the open air. 

I've done my best to dim the rather ugly metal railings that surrounded the platform, so that you can see the lovely movements and expressions of the dancers. I almost didn't stir myself to go down to see it but I am very glad I did.