The Beauty of the Yorkshire Dales from Malham Cove.
The craggy limestone pavement at top of Malham Cove. Foreboding clouds in the background heigten the atmosphere, but, the sun manages to come through
photos by Tricky (flickr)
See also images of Wharfedale
What are the following or what do they have in common? Lizzie Dripping, Yorkshire Chandelier, Gift Rapper, Slubbin Billy’s, T’Gradely Lasses, Rhubarb Tarts, Goatland Ploughstots, Betty Lupton’s Ladle Laikers , Flag Crackers of Craven, Kitchen Taps, Inclognito, Lord Conyers Morris Men and I could go on with lots more. From Rotherham, Green Ginger, Richmond and Otley there is a local Folk Dance troupe ‘or side’ near you. For a full list and contact points you could do worse than start with Yorkshire Folk Arts. Patrons are two female folk legends Norma Waterson and Kate Rusby.
Folk dance including Maypole dancing and Clog dancing take many forms and if you want to be amazed at the variety try ‘The Day of Dance’ at Saltaire on May 9th 2009. Below are some notes on a couple of dance routines popular in Yorkshire. Yes I said popular, it is not just a minority participation activity it draws the crowds when Ale and dancing come together at festivals.
The Long Sword Dance of Yorkshire and the rapper sword tradition was traditionally performed in the mining villages. The dance involves five people (often accompanied by two Tommy and Betty characters) connected by short two-handled flexible swords, called rappers, forming an unbroken chain. There are many variations of this dance creating different patterns with the swords. 16 colleges run folk dance courses in Yorkshire And Humberside as well as numerous private clubs.
How the Mighty Have Fallen
April 2001 and Leeds United are in the last 4 of UEFA’s prestiguous Champions League. At stake are millions of pounds of TV and sponsorship money.
Leeds United have won the League Championship on 3 occasions, became runners up on 5 occasions. Leeds had been one of the few teams to win the League Championship in the 1990s winning in the 1991 -92 season. They had also reached the semi final of the UEFA cup the previous seaon.
Yet within a couple of years Leeds United had slipped into the third tier of English football and faced the indignity of bankruptcy and administration. From playing the likes of Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid, Leeds United faced the indignity of playing the likes of Colchester United, Milton Keynes Dons and Hartlepool. In the 2008-09 season there much less renowned local rivals Doncaster United leapfrogged over them gaining promotion to Division One.
It is a tale of financial mismanagement, greed, overconfidence. The bubble that spectacularly burst. Bad signings on credit and the loyal supporters of Leeds United let down by the top management.
How Leeds United could do with a Brian Clough at the moment..
Well to me filtered milk is not milk and Cravendale is not a Dale. But Branders can’t be choosers – Oh yes they can and I suppose this is a canny name from Arla Foods the Leeds based dairy food specialists. Filtered milk has had ‘the bits taken out’ so is it still milk or white water? One thing is sure it is better than the old Sterilized milk that came in tall crown Stoppered bottles or that cloudy plasticated creamer you get in little plastic pots.
The Craven Museum in Skipton is well worth a visit followed by a cup of tea in the Organic cafe with real milk.
Craven District encompasses an area twice the size of Singapore and half the size of Luxembourg yet is one of the most sparsely populated areas in England to say nothing of being one of the most beautiful. One third of the Craven district is within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The Craven District Council seems to be appropriate for the rural community it serves with Environmental, Planning and Leisure services for Skipton, Settle, Bentham and Ingleton amongst others. Some Council services are provided by North Yorkshire County Council.
The Craven Herald and Pioneer is the useful local media with a wide ranging whats on events guide from Belly Dancing classes at Craven College to Boxersise and Yoga.
Take a great club and a great, if temperamental manager, and you have one of the most explosive 44 days in British Football.
After leading unfancied Derby County to the top of the English division One, Brian Clough was brought into Leeds United (who in the 1970s were one of the great teams in England) However, Brian Clough’s abrasive style did not endear him to the highly paid stars of Leeds United. Within 44 days the greatest manager England never had (Cloughies own words) was forced out by a player revolt.
David Peace writes a gripping account of this unique episode in Leeds United FC. Now a major film with many glowing reviews.
GB84 By David Peace – A Miners story
A trip around Morley, which is 4 miles from Leeds, will take you to a place that was affluent long before Leeds was on the map. Outside the sadly dilapidated and unused church of St Mary’s in the Wood is a helpful sign that starts the history trail from Domesday to Doomsday for some of the local Churches. The Wapentake of Morley was formed in the time of King Alfred comprising four parishes Birstall, Bradford, Calverly and Halifax.
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The town is built on seven hills Scatcherd Hill, Dawson Hill, Daisy Hill, Chapel Hill, Hunger Hill, Troy Hill and Banks Hill and got it’s name from ‘The Moor in the Wood’. The town has been a settlement for over a thousand years and was mentioned in the Domesday Book. Morley became a borough in 1886 after intense development following the Industrial Revolution and finally became a district of Leeds in 1974 (not a great year for Yorkshire reorganisations).
The Industrial revolution worked well for Morley and the town’s Municipal Coat of Arms features the symbolic principal industries of Coal mining, Cloth manufacture and Quarrying. Sir Titus Salt the mill owner and industrialist was born in Morley. The affluence of the 19th Century can be deduced from the now re-purposed churches below
‘The Zoar Particular Baptists’ Commercial Street also called Zora Chapel is now the Labour Rooms.
With a name like Shirley Crabtree you were bound to learn to fight and so it must have been for young Shirley in Halifax in the 1930′s. Early stints as a miner and in the Coldstream Guards did not prepare him for a regular place in the team at Bradford Northern so he took his 64 inch chest into professional wrestling. After a collection of ‘stage names’ the Blond Adonis, Mr Universe and Battling Guardsman Shirley opted for ‘BIG DADDY’ for his matches and became a cult TV personality.
Big Daddy feuded with Mick McManus, Steve Veidor and Giant Haystacks among others and would also be noted as the first man to remove the mask from Kendo Nagasaki during a televised match. I wonder who wrote that script, everyone knew who was going to win but we had to go through all that nonsense before hand before Big Daddy was once again declared the winner. World of Sport on ITV was the escapism with Dickie Davis and Saint and Greavesy from the more serious Grandstand on the BBC and the All in Wrestling was a major part of the attraction.
According to Shirley Crabtree entry in wikipedia ‘In August 1987, Big Daddy bowed out of the professional wrestling spotlight after a turn of events during the final moments of the match against Mal “King Kong” Kirk. After Big Daddy had delivered his belly-splash, rather than selling the impact of the finishing move, Kirk turned an unhealthy colour and was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival. Despite the fact that the inquest into Kirk’s death found that he had a serious heart condition and cleared Crabtree of any responsibility, Crabtree was devastated and nevertheless blamed himself for Kirk’s death. ‘
Simon Armitage
Will a Yorkshire man be the next Poet Laureate to follow in the path of another great Yorkshire poet Ted Hughes (1984-98). Simon Armitage a joint favourite was born in 1963 in the village of Marsden and lives in West Yorkshire. He has published several volumes of poetry with Faber & Faber including Killing Time, and Selected Poems, and Book of Matches His latest collection of poems was Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid.
Let us hope he beats all comers to the title later this year. In future it may be possible for The Barnsley Bard’ Ian McMillan to be considered as Poet Laureate but probably not whilst the current monarch is in place.
Ian McMillan
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What do an apothecary, confectioner and citrus peel importer have in common? When one of them was Joseph Terry you may make the connection to Terry and Berry the forerunner to Terry’s of York. Joseph Terry married into the partnership that had worked from 1767 and brought his Apothecary skills to the business with a factory in Brearley Yard and a shop next to the Mansion House.
Early products included candied peel, marmalade and medicated lozenges as wel as cakes and confections. In the early 19th century the conversation lozenges bore messages a bit like modern day Love Hearts such as ‘Can you Polka’ and the racy ‘Do you flirt’. After the arrival of the railway to York Terry was selling his Coltsfoot Rock, Jujubes, Gum balls and Acid drops to many towns throughout the country. (Price 52/- per cwt Mmmm a sweet price).
Joseph Terry died in 1850 but his 3 sons including Joseph jnr took the business forward building a Chocolate factory in Clementhorpe in 1887. The business grew through two world wars and remained in family ownership and management until 1960. It then passed through various corporate hands including Forte, Colgate Palmolive, United Biscuits, Philip Morris, Kraft and Suchards.
The family were civic minded and Joseph Terry jnr was Lord Mayor of York during Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. The war office recognised the value of chocolate for the troops before the first world war as being of benefit ‘…..on the march, at manoeuvers or any occasion when staying power is needed’. Between the wars new products were created including Spartan and All Gold.
Sadly in 2004 the production at York was stopped and transferred to Europe bringing an end to a proud Yorkshire food manufacturing operation.
Other products you may remember include Neapolitans, Twighlight, Waifa, and York Fruits. I am not sure this product below was quite the success of the Chocolate Orange that goes right back to the companies origins as peel importers. In fact I never saw a Chocolate Banana or the Chocolate Apple for that matter.
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