Wednesday, March 07, 2018

" I used to dream as a child whenever I passed that shop of trying that spaceman looking helmet on and going to the moon lol "

above.....a quote by someone on facebook this week about Scott & Varley
Continuing on from my sepia saturday post last week here is a photo i found today (not even scanned:see my thumb!)
I'm kind of "there"in the photo.But you cant really see me.Maybe an ankle/leg?This is perhaps a reason I have never bothered before with this photo.
I'm in blue.With my back to camera .In the middle of the "scrum".[you will just have to take my word for this!]
Still .It meets a critera for this week's theme of "Sports Fields".

See this week's  other sepian posts  here:

My photo must have been taken in 1966. I played for Clare Hall School, Halifax. We were unbeaten that season.I played in every game as "hooker".[The bloke in the middle of the scrum who has to win/gain the ball for his team]
. The game you see in this photo is being played on Savile Park (aka "The Moor"}.I think it is  Haugh Shaw School we were playing that day.
I seem to remember I got my nose bloodied that day.Sadly I have no photographic record of the exact moment  i lost my good  looks.......... Less than a couple of miles from where this photo was taken in 1966 was Scott & Varey 's Antique Shop on Prescott Street in Halifax.
Antique Shops were an usual thing in 60's Halifax.(everybody then wanted "new").
The shop had opened in the early 1960's .For  a hundred years before ( built in 1862.)It had been the town's  Co-Op/Industrial Society shop.
Scott & Varley's stopped trading  in the early 1970s.
It had been owned by 2 brothers.
One died.The other remained,living above the shop but keeping  the shop below shut.
The strange thing is ,the window display & items for sale have remained unchanged for over 40 years.
The doors are always locked.Nobody asnswers if you knock.
Sometimes,at night, you can see a light on in the back of the shop. Shades of the Twilight Zone!
Its one of those things that if something remains the same for long enough ,you forget about it!
It was only from me reading a facebook discussion this week, that i remembered about its existence .
I  took these photos yesterday
. Incidently.I attended Clare Hall School  between1963&1967 and is only half a mile from Scott& Varleys.
Which means they are displaying the exact same items today, as they did when i was a pupil
it's nice to know some things dont change!
https://zimnoch.smugmug.com/Scott-Varley-Halifax/
A team photo taken straight after the  game on The Moor.(that's me ,extreme right of the bottom row)
I had some nice news today .
The date has been fixed for the 50 th Aniversary of the opening of Carter Lane Youth Hostel in London.
Carter Lane is the old Choirboys School opposite St Pauls in The City of London.
https://www.yha.org.uk/media/blog/hostel-week-archive-london-st-pauls 
 I left school in 1968. I then worked as a nurse in a mental hospital in Todmorden (Stansfield View) In early 1971 I jacked that job in and moved to work at Carter Lane.
I had a ball! Sex Drugs & Rock N Roll!
 I have posted here previously: about some of my adventures!
So.The weekend of 25 th July I plan to attend that weekend reunion!
 We get to look around the building ,then tour the local old pubs inThe City.(a couple are mentioned in Dickens).Meet up with some people I used to work with then( & have kept in touch with since)
(Nine years later I returned to London as a teacher in the East End )
 a feast of nostalgia awaits!

Thursday, March 01, 2018

all and sundry.




This week's sepia saturday holds the theme of "groups".

Feb: 1965.
My brother Zyg's 21st Birthday Party in a club on  Clare Road ,Halifax.
Top Row.(l/r) Uncle Gordon ( ex-RAF prisoner of war in Germany for 3 years):Zyg:Me (stood on a box):my Dad Wladylaw (ex-Polish Air Force /got a gong inThe Battle of Arnheim).
Bottom Row (l/r) Aunty Brenda :My Mam,Marjory : Aunty Dot :Cousin Pat.
1967:
Huddersfield   Road,Halifax.
 (photo by Halifax Courier)
Clare Hall School Rugby League team.1966/67 season.
 That's me 4th left/back row .I dont think it looks much like me ? Behind the cameraman were members of the girls hockey team .I think I was attempting to appear hard  !
1996. me with my Transpersonal Gestalt Oasis  Group in Boston Spa. That's me on the floor 'looking a right spangle!


1999? Rochdale Turkish Baths. Me:front row middle.

"The Shining" meets Hitchcocks's "Birds"................caught by Cath this afternoon in front of our new  Living Room  window..
As I create this post  I listen to this .At the end of March me & Cathy have Tickets for Young Fathers! 'lovely Band!
Finally i found  here:  a mystery photo..............just because everybody is looking at you...doesnt mean your paranoid.

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Strange Face in Halifax.



Me & Cath went to Square  Chapel    Halifax  last night to  see  Strange face: Adventures in a lost Nick Drake recording
A full house .
Watch below a you tube video for background of the project.
Michael Burdett is a lovely bloke who talked and held the audience comforably for over two hours.
Ironically Amusingly.I had wanted to take a photo of Michael talking during the show ,but such things it seems are copyrighted...........
Instead ,I share a photo of me in Halifax in the early 70's (channelling my 'inner-drake' )I was one of those (very) rare souls who actually bought a Nick Drake album (Pink Moon)  in his lifetime.
Below ,some photos from  the past 2 days...........
You can "borrow" this book for 14 days .Simply go here: for free download (it's copyright free)

All The Young Dudes

  Me ,in white,  throwing some glorious "Sid Viscous Shapes" :)