The coming of summer means summer festivals, and this year’s have been wonderfully successful. Each of them has their own character.
Hunslet is cheerful and compact with some visiting chickens this year and a popular climbing wall. The Beeston Festival just seems to get bigger and better every year, with huge crowds, music and a great range of food on offer. Belle Isle had a brass band and another climbing wall, although the wind was so strong that several stall holders were hanging onto their gazebos for dear life to stop them sailing off down Belle Isle Road. And the Holbeck Gala was as the Holbeck Gala always is – splendid on the Moor and a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere.
And at every event a large number of stalls are run by community organisations and volunteers promoting a wide range of worthy causes. There’s nothing I enjoy more than stopping to chat with old friends or making new ones, like the veteran I met at Belle Isle who is working with other veterans to help them with their mental health (the group is called VINT (Veterans in Need Together) ; or the team from the Holbeck Viaduct project – a great scheme that I’ve written about before – that wants to turn the old railway viaduct that runs from near the city centre to Holbeck into a high-level walkway that people can use; and the team from Slung Low, the wonderful theatre and arts company that is forever doing new things. One of their current projects is designing a range of colourful flags to represent “awe and wonder”. There then followed a conversation about types of awe and wonder including “epiphany” – I had to look up the exact definition which is apparently to experience a sudden and striking realisation; “collective effervescence” – an example being what we all felt recently when Harry Kane scored that second goal against the Congo; and “moral clarity” when you come across goodness in someone. Apparently, the flags will be on display next year’s Holbeck Gala.
The Middleton Railway is a precious jewel in Leeds’ crown. A couple of weeks ago I went along to an event to name one of their locomotives Salamanca after the pioneering steam engine designed by John Blenkinsop and built by Matthew Murray in Leeds in 1812 – a full 17 years before Stephenson’s Rocket made its appearance. What was so distinctive about it was its side cogwheel that bit into a toothed rail. This allowed the engine to pull much heavier wagons full of coal from the pit at Middleton into the centre of Leeds. I also learned that one of the motivations for the development of the engines was that horses had become very scarce because of the Napoleonic wars and were taxed. A case of circumstances being the mother of invention.
To add colour to the occasion, a group of re-enacters dressed splendidly in their early 19th century army uniforms as the Duke of Wellington‘s regiment were in attendance. It was a baking hot day and their ability to stand to attention while wearing their heavy red woollen jackets was a wonder to behold.
The Middleton Railway is really very special. It was the first railway to be opened under an Act of Parliament, the first to use steam locomotives and the first standard gauge railway to be preserved.
The Methodist Chapel at the top of Wesley Street at the junction with Town Street has been a feature of the Beeston landscape for well over 150 years. It’s been empty for quite a while now and the Mosaic church is now starting a project to breathe new life into this great building.
Many local people will have memories of coming to the church, whether it was for the scouts, a jumbo sale, racing around on pedal go karts or to worship. I remember coming to a couple of meetings there when I was first elected.
I had the chance to look inside the building a couple of months ago and you can see how much work there is to do. But it is a wonderfully large space and some of the architectural details are a delight to behold. In particular, having pulled down the old false ceiling you can now see the roof beams once again. The plan is to convert it into a multipurpose, multifunctional space – as modern parlance would have it – and we will be seeing more activity around the building in the months ahead.
There’s not much thanks in the world of politics but given that Keir Starmer will shortly be stepping down as our Prime Minister, I want to thank him for everything he has done in the last two years. What I know from working with him, and what we saw from his speech on the steps of Downing Street, is the dignity and decency that he has brought to the job. Keir has restored the UK’s reputation on the world stage after a period in which it was severely dented. To take just one example, he saved the car maker Jaguar Land Rover from serious damage when he managed to persuade President Trump not to impose 25% tariffs on UK-made cars. That’s why international relationships and diplomacy really matter. I know he has not been popular with everyone, but I think we owe him our profound thanks for his service to our country.
And finally, a quick update on the Middleton Pride in Place project. We’ve had a number of applications to serve on the board and the first meeting will be held very soon.
Hilary Benn is our Member of Parliament. He represents the Leeds South constituency.
Email: hilary.benn.mp@parliament.uk | Website: www.hilarybennmp.com
Constituency office:
Unity Business Centre, 26 Roundhay Road, Leeds, LS7 1AB
Tel: 0113 244 1097
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