Cat emulating cat

It's not often that I photograph Saltaire from this viewpoint. It's the back of Shipley College (the former Saltaire Factory Schools), looking across the former playground (now staff carpark) from George Street towards Upper School Street. It was the cat walking purposefully across that attracted my attention - and then I saw the cat cutout in the window. 

Exhibition Building

Shipley College, our local Further Education college, cares for and uses many of the original public buildings in Saltaire. Without that, the village would probably not be thriving in the way it is. The Exhibition Building opened in 1887, built by Titus Salt Junior in memory of his father Sir Titus. The building costs were supposed to be covered by the Royal Yorkshire Jubilee Exhibition held in 1887 to mark 50 years of Queen Victoria's reign. In the end the sum raised wasn't sufficient but it seems Titus pressed ahead anyway, determined to add an adult education facility to the existing educational provision in Saltaire. It was built as the School of Art and Science, later becoming Shipley Technical College. 

The only recent addition to our historic village (below) was added on the same site in 2015, designed by local architects Rance Booth Smith and named the Jonathan Silver Building in memory of the entrepreneur who bought and renovated Salts Mill after the textile business closed down. It was specifically intended to accommodate young people with learning difficulties and mobility challenges, free of the barriers they often face in accessing further education. 

Adjacent to it is the college's horticultural training facility: greenhouses and gardens, with an allotment across the road. 

Potato Day

14th February was not only Valentine's Day but, in Saltaire, Potato Day. That's something organised here annually by the West Yorkshire Organic Group. They take over the hall of Shipley College's Exhibition Building to sell seed potatoes to gardeners and allotment holders. In this way, people can get advice and growing tips, access unusual varieties and buy smaller quantities, without having to resort to online suppliers. It has become something of a celebration, with stalls selling craft items, fruit, veg and preserves, many grown or made locally. There's a seed swap organised by Veg on the Edge, our community gardening group, and a café too. It's surprisingly popular with local residents. 

The red-skinned, organic, Sunset variety had already sold out - but I wasn't buying potatoes anyway, as I don't have a garden. I bought some apple and pear jam from the Community Orchard. 

The logo made me smile: Mr Potato Head! I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers having a kit of plastic parts that you stuck into potatoes and other veg to made characters. 

Advent Windows #5

2025 Advent Windows #5

The Living Advent Calendar windows designed by Saltaire Art Group are reliably impactful, colourful and often quite amusing. I'm not sure how a four-eyed spider fits into Christmas but he's quite cute. 

In contrast, the windows crafted by students at Shipley College are intricate, detailed and reward study. The one above is a woodland scene, a hollow tree trunk with all sorts of flora, fauna and fungi. The one below has some pretty little houses that remind me of gingerbread, and some dancers or fairies. Maybe it's the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies?

Hard work!

I've been working really hard to get my flat into shape, so hard that I have callouses on my hand from the paint roller I've been using! It is slowly but surely rising from the ashes, as it were, and becoming the home I hoped for. I'm building in some breaks, of course. Normal life has to go on. There are everyday chores to do, and exercise is necessary. I walked into Saltaire to stretch my legs and all I encountered were other people also working hard. 

There was the groundsman mowing the cricket pitch. 

There were contractors removing all the pontoons and temporary buildings that had been erected in the park for last weekend's Dragon Boat Racing. (I didn't go down this year; I was too busy with other things. It's more or less the same format every year and, whilst fun for those who participate and a great way to raise money for charity, photographically there's not much new.)

Such large scale events produce a lot of rubbish! 

In Saltaire village, I found scaffolders just finishing a structure around the Dining Hall, now part of Shipley College... and another up at the College's old school building...

and another at the almshouses. It must be the time for roof and stonework repairs. 

Finally, at Hirst Weir, there are big diggers doing some work to rearrange the boulders that have over the years broken down and spread the weir into a rocky cascade. I think they are trying to smooth out some of the slope so that fish can more easily make their way upstream to their spawning grounds. It happened to be the lunch break as I walked past. The machines were idle and the workmen were chatting and eating their sandwiches. 

After seeing all that hard work going on, I came home exhausted! 

Festive shops

I love the way Saltaire looks, early on a winter's evening. Despite the chill, the shops are lit and all look festive. Rad Studio is a lovely 'design-led gift and lifestyle shop' and always seems to have people browsing inside. It prides itself on offering something stylish and different; its displays are modern, classy and colourful. The shop opened in 2013 and seems to thrive so it must be getting a lot right. 

Salt Village Bakery is another long-standing outlet, open long hours and always looking bright and inviting. Next door, the bar called 'Don't Tell Titus' has red lighting that makes it look warm and cosy. The stylish blue Christmas tree is in the hairdressing salon XS Hair and Beauty.  

Further down Victoria Road, the Mill Building that used to be the Dining Hall for Salts Mill, opposite, is now used by Shipley College. Its floristry students have created festive wreaths and rather amazing Christmas tree dresses to decorate the windows. 

Saltaire by night

Here are a couple more pictures I took when I went out on a night shoot in Saltaire recently, though I was rapidly running out of 'blue hour', when the sky still has some colour. (Entirely my own fault, as I wasted precious minutes having to run back home to collect a new camera battery, as I'd forgotten to take a spare. Rookie error!)

A few of the lamps on the church drive were not working, so I decided a non-symmetrical composition was required. I enjoyed the shadows of the gates enlivening the foreground and leading you in to the picture.  

The picture below is the floodlit central upper frontage of Shipley College's main building, formerly the Factory Schools that were originally opened in 1868. Under the bell tower is the Salt family's coat of arms and two alpacas, whose wool provided the basis of Sir Titus's fortune. 

Pride

I noticed these bright rainbow banners in the window of the main Shipley College block, celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride month. 

The building was Saltaire's original Factory Schools, opened in 1868 to educate 750 children who worked in the mill and lived in the village. There were two schools side by side, boys and girls being educated separately. They had very advanced facilities for the time, with central heating and gas lighting. I always think that it's good that is has continued ever since as an educational establishment. 

The crest below the bell tower is the Salt Family crest - and more alpacas! 

No show for April showers

April 2021 was a strange month for weather. A month traditionally renowned for 'April showers', this year has been one of the driest Aprils on record. Despite the blue skies and sunshine, it has also been one of the coldest Aprils for a long time, and one of the frostiest on record. 

It was only in the last few days of the month that we had a little rainfall. I did enjoy seeing clouds again! The sky over Saltaire was dramatic and threatening on the 30th. There's something about the colour palette of our honeyed stone buildings against blue-black clouds that I find photographically very pleasing. 

The photo above shows the back of the newest block of Shipley College: the Jonathan Silver building, and the greenhouses used by the horticultural students, some of whom were busy in the nearby allotments. It's been a tough month for gardeners.