What's happening in Beeston, Belle Isle, Cottingley, Holbeck, Hunslet, Middleton and Stourton
A gloomy topic of conversation in my household recently has been the disappointing Test results in Australia. I recall the time, throughout the working day, men would be enquiring of what the test score was. It was our ‘national game’ but other sports, hobbies and interests have now supplanted it,
It was upsetting to local residents when the Church of England had the bells from the listed St Mary the Virgin spire removed and loaded onto wagons and driven away. Part of Hunslet’s history had gone and this was done without any warning or notification to residents and your local
One of my jobs as a councillor is that of the Council’s Heritage Champion. My brief is to watch out for any buildings of architectural and or historic value which may be at risk from demolition or alteration. Most, although not all, of these buildings are listed as Grade I:
For many years my Father worked at Hunslet Engine Company on Jack Lane which built small steam engines for industrial use. “Shunting engines” my Dad called them, as they were used to move heavy loads and equipment around work sites. The company were producing two engines per week which not
We councillors receive scores of queries and problems from our constituents and we always try to solve them immediately. But every so often we are presented with a problem which takes weeks, if not months, to sort out. I received one such problem from the Chief of Middleton Railway which
As I write this at the end of July, I was shocked and saddened to hear that six people in Yorkshire, within the five days of hot weather, had lost their lives by drowning. Fortunately for us, none were from Leeds and, therefore, we do not have grieving families in
Following my piece last month in South Leeds Life on the Litter Pandemic, we are seeing in South Leeds a Fly-Tipping Pandemic. Undoubtedly, there are some amongst us who are anti-social in that they do not care how their area looks, but most residents are very angry that dumping rubbish
It must go without saying that we are all very grateful for our wonderful National Health Service especially during this awful pandemic. But we did not always have the NHS. It was the post-war Labour Government which created the NHS in 1948 to give treatment free of charge at the
When a modern advertising hoarding was removed from the end of a row of houses at the Balm Road junction in Hunslet Carr several years ago it revealed an old hand painted sign promoting Bile Beans. This type of advertising sign was the forerunner of the modern advertisements papered on
Rumours that the tower and spire of St Mary’s church in Hunslet might be demolished have been firmly scotched by the Church of England and Leeds City Councillors at a meeting last week (24 October 2019). The spire, visible from many parts of South Leeds, dates from 1864 and is