Festival fun (not) #3

Maybe I'm just getting old (!) but, as the years go by, I've found I'm less and less enamoured with the second weekend of the Saltaire Festival. The first weekend has some local input and I can usually find something to interest me. The second weekend has always been about music and food, but it has grown bigger and louder and attracts people from well beyond the local area. I suppose that's not necessarily a bad thing but the crowds, traffic chaos and noise are not at all appealing to me. I did have a walk down to the village but I didn't linger. 

Exhibition Road (above) was closed to allow the usual 'Continental Market'. These days it's mostly street food outlets and not much 'continental' about it as far as I can see. Caroline Street carpark becomes one large bar area, with a music stage. No-one really looked as if they were enjoying themselves... maybe that was just because I happened to pass in between acts on the stage. 

The church drive was hosting a few local organisations and charity stalls, with an art exhibition in the church itself.

Roberts Park holds more food and drink outlets, a market and two music stages (one in the lower park and one in the bandstand). You could hear the noise from miles away. I didn't even bother to fight my way over the footbridge to explore what was there. 

At least these days they close many of the roads through the village, which makes it a good deal safer for pedestrians - though a good deal more annoying and inconvenient for residents, particularly this year with Saltaire Road being closed for roadworks too.  On Victoria Road, they weren't taking any chances with ramming incidents. It had barriers at the top and a large lorry parked across the carriageway further down. I'm really glad to have moved out of the village itself. At least I knew my car was safely parked out of danger in our driveway. 

Well, that was a big grouse wasn't it? I'm turning into a bit of a curmudgeon in my old age, haha. 

Festival fun #2

 

At the entrance to Roberts Park, I came across these three young musicians busking. Their music stand says 'Francis McCann Music' and I think he's a local musician, possibly from Ilkley. They sounded good to me. 

There was a whole programme of musicians scheduled to perform in the park bandstand. This lady was Cheryl Holland, who describes herself as 'a sober dance music vocalist and DJ from Leeds, who writes uplifting, positive music'. Well, we can all do with lots of that. I only caught the last song of her set but I enjoyed it very much.

Good Rhythm Drumming Circles had taken over one of the park shelters and were inviting anyone to join them in playing the djembe drums. I even had a go myself. I couldn't hear the sound of my own drum against the others (though I could feel its vibration) which made it hard to find the rhythm but it was a few minutes of good fun. They work in the community, in care homes and schools, to celebrate the collective and bring enjoyment and laughter. Circles of Joy!

The two young ladies below were both doing a great job of picking up the beat. 

At the other end of the promenade, 400 Roses were dancing to music played by their band, t’Thorns. They are a unique group of tribal folk fusion dancers from Yorkshire and Lancashire, blending UK-style folk dance with tribal belly dance moves.  It's always fun to watch and they too had attracted quite a crowd. 

Festival fun #1

September sees the annual Saltaire Festival and there is always plenty going on in the village. It was drizzly and I had other engagements but I managed to fit in a brief visit on the first Saturday. 

I came across this amazing music collective playing in a corner of the church grounds. They were 'Mojojack Music', whose strapline is 'Disability Rocks'. Some if not most of the performers had some kind of learning disability but their music was excellent and quite a crowd had gathered to listen. They are apparently very inclusive. One young man playing the keyboard was simply playing a single repeated note but it all fitted together beautifully and everyone was enjoying it hugely. 

I've done a little research as I didn't know anything about them. It seems that what used to be Salts Sports Club Bar, which had been empty for a while, has been taken over as 'Salts Hub', a day-care centre for adults with learning disabilities, neurodivergence and autism. I hadn't heard about this but it's existed for about three years now. Mojojack Music is a dedicated day care service centred around enhancing the lives of individuals with learning disabilities through music. In the same premises, Skills Kitchen is 'a fun & practical home cooking day service, providing training & skills while promoting self reliance & independence'. What good stuff. 

Skipton Pride

One recent weekend, I decided to go to Skipton as I needed to restock on the very expensive eye drops I have to use. My optician sells them more cheaply than I can source them elsewhere. I chose to go on the train as Skipton has a market on Saturdays so it's always busy. Boy, was I glad I did! The town was absolutely heaving with people - and cars. 

I had not realised it was Skipton Pride Day so the central car park was given over to a festival (meaning there were even fewer parking spaces than usual). I didn't wander round the stalls but there was a music stage and a small funfair. 

It was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny without being too hot or humid. That brings the crowds out anyway. The pubs were busy and there was long queue for rides on the trip boat on the canal. 

It was all rather nice, a good atmosphere with people enjoying themselves. I bought my eye drops - and a long, swishy skirt that will do nicely if we have any more hot weather (and whose purchase will probably ensure that we don’t!)

Colourful Pride

There was a Pride Festival in Bradford's City Park, a 'loud and proud' event celebrating our local LGBTQ+ community. It had a stage with live music and comedy acts, merchandise stalls and some local organisations offering support services.  

People had come to enjoy themselves, with some very colourful and individualistic outfits on show. And I think they were deliberately 'on show', so I didn't really worry about taking a few street photos (although I tried to avoid photographing children).  

The rather glamorous drag queen in the sparkly dress is known as Nova Gina, one of the event's hosts.  

Music was provided by a number of different acts and bands. When I was watching, the main performer was Sam Ashby (Smashby), whom I rather took to - high energy and catchy pop music. He's a singer, Zumba instructor and was a housemate in the 'Big Brother' house on TV in 2025. 

The act below is 'Lady Bushra' (aka Amir Dean), a British South Asian drag comedy character, quite funny and very professional. It strikes me as being rather courageous to personify such characters. 

 

All good fun, though I didn't stay for the whole thing. (Waterstone's wonderful Bradford bookshop in the historic Wool Exchange was emitting its siren call!) 

Lantern Parade

As part of the World Heritage Day celebrations in Roberts Park, Cecil Green Arts collective organised a lantern parade. The puppets are amazing. Lots of children had attended workshops to make illuminated willow wands and colourful paper lanterns too. The atmosphere was wonderful as they paraded around the park at dusk. It was actually darker than it looks on some of my photos, but I've lightened them so you can see some detail. 

 

Kirkgate Bateria!

Kirkgate Bateria! are a relatively new, local, percussion group bringing 'high-energy Afro-Brazilian drumming' to our celebratory events. Here they are in Roberts Park, playing as part of the World Heritage Day festival. Seemed like they were having fun and it was certainly an infectious rhythm. I did video them but the clip turned out to be too big to upload. Boo. 

World Heritage Day

World Heritage Day brought a day of celebration to Roberts Park, marking the special milestone of 25 years since Saltaire’s inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There was music in the bandstand, a craft market along the promenade and a fun fair and street food stalls on the lower field. 

Conversations were going on at the Dog Show: 

and I spotted a small dog that must surely be called Yoda? 

There was a lady playing a rather lovely vintage hand organ ....

   ... and Sir Titus Salt leaping around on his alpaca. He often turns up at our festive events. 

Meanwhile the cricket season has begun and Saltaire Cricket Club weren't going to allow a festival to get in the way of their fixture list. Thankfully there's enough room on the bottom meadow for the funfair and the cricket. 

Continental street market

The second weekend of the Festival had a poor weather forecast and, anyway, I had other things to do so I gave it a miss. It's mostly loud music, eating and drinking, none of which excites me greatly (can't make sense  of the music with my awful hearing). On Friday, however, I was walking up through the village and realised the continental street market was already underway, so I walked up that way along Exhibition Road. You can buy street food from all over the world here. I follow a gluten free diet so most of it isn't suitable for me, which is just as well or I might be tempted by the Portuguese Pastel de Nata (egg custard tart) or the churros.

In and amongst, there are a few stalls that sell novelty knits and colourful clothing. I was happy to see an alpaca, a nice little nod to Saltaire's heritage, since it was alpaca wool that made Sir Titus Salt a rich man.  

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.